April, 01 2021, 12:00am EDT
Stand Up America Blasts Texas GOP After SB7 Passes Texas Senate
Group drove hundreds of constituent calls to Senate opposing bill.
WASHINGTON
After the passage of SB7 through the Texas State Senate, Stand Up America Political Director Brett Edkins issued the following statement:
"This shameful attack on the right to vote is a disgusting display of partisanship from Texas Republicans. It's clear that the Republican Party believes the only way they can win future elections is to keep millions of Americans from casting their ballots.
"Congress must act immediately to prevent the Republican Party from stripping millions of Americans of their right to vote in Texas, Georgia, Arizona, and many other states. The only path forward now is to nuke the filibuster, pass the For the People Act, and protect voters from the GOP's brazen assault on our constitutional rights."
In recent weeks, Stand Up America's Texas members made hundreds of calls to their state senators in opposition to Senate Bill 7. The group has also mobilized its members in several other states to oppose Republican state lawmakers' attempts to suppress the vote and in support of the For the People Act, the most comprehensive package of anti-corruption, voting, and ethics reforms proposed in generations.
Stand Up America is a progressive advocacy organization with over two million community members across the country. Focused on grassroots advocacy to strengthen our democracy and oppose Trump's corrupt agenda, Stand Up America has driven over 600,000 phone calls to Congress and mobilized tens of thousands of protestors across the country.
LATEST NEWS
Trump Continues 'War Against Renewables' With Halt of Five Offshore Wind Farms
"Trump is killing jobs, raising energy costs, and harming the planet," said Sen. Tim Kaine. "Grinch!"
Dec 22, 2025
The Trump administration's efforts to thwart a transition from climate-wrecking fossil fuels to renewable energy continued on Monday with a halt on five wind farms along the US East Coast under the guise of national security concerns.
The US Department of the Interior announced that it is immediately pausing Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind off Virginia, Empire Wind 1 and Sunrise Wind off New York, Revolution Wind off Rhode Island and Connecticut, and Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, citing unclassified government reports that "the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called 'clutter.'"
Bloomberg reported Monday that "President Donald Trump has long opposed offshore wind power and began imposing restrictions on it within hours of taking office this year. The policies have led to numerous court battles, and a federal judge this month ruled his ban on projects was illegal. Citing national security issues may be a more legally durable way to keep wind turbines out of US waters."
"Offshore wind farm projects raised national security concerns under previous administrations, too. The Defense Department under former President Joe Biden pushed successfully for changes to leases being sold along the West Coast to address some of the issues," Bloomberg noted. Elsewhere, such as in the United Kingdom, government and industry have responded to radar interference issues by investing in mitigation technologies.
Responding to the news on social media, American anthropologist and journalist Scott Carney said that "shutting down wind farms in the name of national security only proves that Trump is a national security risk. Lying that climate change doesn't exist is not an effective policy against environmental collapse."
Jonathan Cohn, political director of the grassroots group Progressive Mass, pointed out that "if these were oil drilling projects being canceled, Republicans would scream that canceling the project was theft from the company. If renewable energy is canceled, those same Republicans cheer."
Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, warned that "any company would be crazy to invest a dime in Donald Trump's America... The jerk can confiscate property any time he wants for any reason he invents."
According to the New York Times: "Vineyard Wind 1 is currently under construction and partially operational, with about half of the project's 62 turbines sending power to the electric grid as of October. Once complete, the project could produce enough electricity to power 400,000 homes."
Congressman Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) declared that "wind farms are an essential part of a diversified energy strategy. Trump's cancellation of approved, in-progress projects wastes public dollars and widens the gap between America and its competitors."
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said: "Trump is killing jobs, raising energy costs, and harming the planet. Grinch!"
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) similarly responded: "Donald Trump is trying AGAIN to kill thousands of good-paying union jobs and raise your electricity bill. I have been fighting Trump's war against offshore wind—a war that threatens American jobs and American energy. I will keep fighting to make sure these projects, the thousands of jobs they create, and the energy they provide can continue."
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum discussed the decision on Fox Business Monday, pointing to the radar interference concerns.
Noting the appearance, writer and filmmaker Lee West said: "So 'national security' means suspending wind farms Navy approved for years—while drilling rigs multiply off Florida. The [administration's] pretexts grow taller than turbine blades."
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‘No More Military Aid for Netanyahu,’ Says Sanders as Israel Ramps Up West Bank Takeover
"It’s not just Gaza," the senator said. "Netanyahu’s extremist government is supporting the violent annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank."
Dec 22, 2025
As Israeli settlers escalate attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank as part of a furious state-backed annexation push, US Sen. Bernie Sanders said it was yet another reason to suspend military aid to the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"It’s not just Gaza," the independent Vermont senator wrote on social media Sunday. "Netanyahu’s extremist government is supporting the violent annexation of Palestinian land in the West Bank. This is illegal and immoral, and decades of American silence have enabled it."
"NO MORE MILITARY AID FOR NETANYAHU," he concluded.
Sanders was responding to a feature published in the New York Times that same day, which examined the rapid expansion of illegal settler outposts over the past two decades, and the further acceleration after October 7, 2023, when Israel’s more than two-year genocidal assault began in Gaza following a Hamas-led attack.
The report provides data from the Israeli activist group Peace Now, which found that in 2024 and 2025, Israelis built more than 130 new outposts in the West Bank.
Despite the fact that they are illegal under both Israeli and international law, the settlers constructing these outposts operate with the support of the Israeli military and government.
As the Times reports:
The unrelenting violent campaign by these settlers, that critics say is largely tolerated by the Israeli military, consists of brutal harassment, beatings, even killings, as well as high-impact roadblocks and village closures. These are coupled with a drastic increase in land seizures by the state and the demolition of villages to force Palestinians to abandon their land.
Many of the settlers are young extremists whose views go beyond even the far-right ideology of the government. They are not generally operating on direct orders from Israel’s military leadership. But they know the military frequently looks the other way and facilitates their actions.
In many cases, it is the military that forces Palestinians to evacuate or orders the destruction of their homes once settlers drive them to flee.
Just in 2025, the report says, settlers and the military have razed more than 1,500 Palestinian structures, double the annual average from before 2023. Since the war began, more than 4,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from their homes.
Meanwhile, the Israeli government has also declared a record number of areas in the West Bank to be "state land," meaning that they are off limits to Palestinians and that Israelis can use them to build more settlements.
Far-right forces in the Israeli government have been overt about the intention of these settlements: to carve up the West Bank so thoroughly that a contiguous Palestinian state becomes effectively impossible. Netanyahu has often reiterated his position that under his watch, a Palestinian state will never be created.
In August, as the Israeli government approved a massive 3,400-home settlement project in the heart of the occupied West Bank, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—himself a settler and one of the leading representatives of the far-right settler movement in Netanyahu’s cabinet—boasted that the project “buries the idea of a Palestinian state,” adding that “Every town, every neighborhood, every housing unit... is another nail in the coffin of this dangerous idea.”
On Sunday, Israel’s cabinet approved another 19 Jewish-only settlements across the West Bank, raising the total number to more than 200 in the territory, up from around 140 three years ago. Smotrich said with the new construction, Israel was “putting the brakes on the rise of a Palestinian terror state.”Until recently, the official policy of the US government has been one of opposition to settlements, even as their construction continued largely unimpeded.
During his second term, President Donald Trump has talked out of both sides of his mouth. While promising Arab leaders that Israel would not annex the West Bank as he sought to broker a ceasefire, his administration has often expressed tacit, and occasionally overt, support for settlement expansion.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres denounced the rapid expansion of settlements, saying it “continues to fuel tensions, impede access by Palestinians to their land, and threaten the viability of a fully independent, democratic, contiguous, and sovereign Palestinian state.”
In July, as reports of famine out of Gaza grew increasingly dire due to Israel's blockade of humanitarian aid, Sanders sponsored a Senate resolution to block $675 million in US weapons sales to Israel.
Though the vote was far from passing, 27 members of the Democratic caucus—a majority, for the first time—voted in favor. Sanders said it suggested that "the tide is turning" with respect to attitudes towards Israel's actions within the party.
In an AtlasIntel poll published on Friday, 62% of respondents said they opposed US financial support for Israel, compared with 20% who supported it. 50% of respondents said they "totally oppose" weapons to Israel, while just 9% said they "totally support" it.
Despite this, the most recent military spending bill, passed last week, provides another $650 million in military aid for Israel, up $45 million from the previous package, despite the implementation of a ceasefire in Gaza.
The bill also included an unprecedented measure requiring the executive branch to assess how the US can supply additional weapons to Israel to fill in "gaps" from embargoes imposed by other nations over the country's human rights abuses in Gaza and the West Bank.
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'Threat to Media and Democracy': Trump Ally Larry Ellison Puts Up $40 Billion to Help Son Buy CNN Owner
"Yesterday we saw the Ellison-owned CBS kill an important news story for being too critical of Trump," wrote one journalist. "Now Ellison is making another move to try to win control of CNN."
Dec 22, 2025
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, an ally of US President Donald Trump and one of the richest men in the world, pledged on Monday to provide $40.4 billion to help finance his son's hostile bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN, HBO Max, and other major media assets.
The billionaire's personal financing guarantee was announced in a press release issued by Paramount Skydance, a company headed by David Ellison, Larry Ellison's son.
"Paramount has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment to acquiring WBD," David Ellison said in a statement. "Our $30 per share, fully financed all-cash offer was on December 4th, and continues to be, the superior option to maximize value for WBD shareholders."
Paramount launched its $108 billion effort to take over Warner Bros. earlier this month, days after Netflix and Warner Bros. leadership announced a proposed merger deal. Antitrust advocates have warned that either merger would be destructive for journalism, television writers, media industry competition, and consumers.
Paramount added Larry Ellison's personal funding pledge to its offer after Warner Bros. board members raised concerns about the initial proposal, pointing specifically to the absence of a concrete guarantee of the billionaire executive's backing. Larry Ellison's net worth is estimated to be around $243 billion.
"The ability to deal directly with Larry if there was an issue to close would be critical," Warner Bros. board chair Samuel Di Piazza Jr. told CNBC last week. "Otherwise closing might not happen."
News of Larry Ellison's direct intervention in Paramount's bid for Warner Bros. came amid mounting concerns over media consolidation into the hands of a few right-wing billionaires and the Trump administration's growing political influence at the nation's news networks.
Last week, TikTok’s Chinese owner signed a deal giving Larry Ellison's company and other investors an 80% stake in a newly formed US TikTok entity.
On Sunday, chaos and outrage erupted at CBS News after editor-in-chief Bari Weiss spiked a "60 Minutes" segment on El Salvador's CECOT prison shortly before it was set to air. Sharyn Alfonsi, the veteran "60 Minutes" correspondent who led the segment, accused Weiss of making a "political" decision to prevent the airing of a report that would have reflected badly on the Trump administration. Paramount Skydance is the owner of CBS News.
"It's hard to ignore that this happened just as Paramount's hostile bid for Warner Bros. was slipping away," The American Prospect's David Dayen wrote late Sunday. "Time to please the king again."
Journalist and media critic Jennifer Schulze warned Monday that "Larry Ellison is a threat to journalism and democracy."
"Yesterday we saw the Ellison-owned CBS kill an important news story for being too critical of Trump," Schulze wrote. "Now Ellison is making another move to try to win control of CNN."
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