Ungaggable: Costumed Clowns and Lickspittle Surrogates 'R Us
This week saw a seedy, craven parade of MAGA stooges trooping into court to pay fealty to their two-bit mob-boss on trial for cooking the books to hide hush money payments to a porn star so he could get elected to a job he was stupefyingly unfit for, and still is. Then "God's most pathetic Republicans" - from Mike Handmaid’s Tale to the Beetlejuice Lady - brazenly violated his gag order for him to declare the rule of law "a sham." Nope, nothing to see here.
The GOP, of course, is already a toxic mix of idiocy, rancor and racism we always think can't go any lower until they inevitably do. This week, Florida's Ron DeFascist signed a bill deleting the term "climate change" from state laws in the witless name of owning "radical green zealots"; the action forbids any consideration of potential climate effects of greenhouse gas emissions from energy policy in the rapidly sinking state, weakens regulation of fossil fuel pipelines, and thank God "keeps windmills off our beaches." And in law-and-order Texas, his feral colleague Greg Abbott just pardoned racist groomer Daniel Perry after serving just one year of a 25-year sentence for murdering BLM protester and Air Force veteran Garrett Foster in 2020. Abbott, who notably refused to recommend a posthumous pardon for George Floyd for a 2004 drug arrest - years before he was choked to death by police - touted Texas' "‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,'" confirming, one critic said, "There are two classes of people in this state, where some lives matter and some lives do not."
But Republicans sank still lower this week with the servile pilgrimage of multiple MAGA sycophants to the crime-and-bird-shit-stained altar of their ugly shell of a tinpot dictator, now charged with 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up cheating on his wife when she was home with their infant son and then persistently lying about it. As further illustration of how deeply into ethical loathsomeness the GOP has sunk, these are the same goons who, after he admitted to his pussy-grabbing exploits on the "Access Hollywood" tape, at least had the good grace to scurry to distance themselves while making fake horrified noises. Now, at the mercy of an unshackled, sputtering bully vowing revenge on any turncoats - and their own unfathomable slavish devotion to him - such moral niceties seem quaint. And so they flocked there, cartoon villains in their goofy, unctuous, matching red ties and navy suits - they got the memo! - to kneel before their preposterous monarch. After weeks alone in court - not even grim Melania - he was jubilant. "I do have a lot of surrogates," he beamed when asked, "and they are speaking very beautifully."
Thus summoning the queasy spectacle of the "family-values" party rushing to defend a serial sexual predator banging a porn star, the appearance of the feckless likes of J.D. Vance, Byron Donalds, Doug Burgum, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tommy 'Dumb As A Rock' Tuberville - the Republicans aren't sending their best, or are they? - was widely mocked as a "demeaning," "ridiculous," "embarrassing," “both thuggish and pathetic," "utterly humiliating" act of obeisance by MAGA plus-ones eager to drop their day jobs to win tawdry Brownie points. Serving as ignorant "Mouths of Sauron," they stayed in court for 45 minutes, came out to a press conference and violated Trump's gag order for him: The trial is a sham, a scam, a witch hunt, a Biden show trial (albeit put in motion by juries of regular Americans) and the judge and his family are crooks. Burgum: "The American people have already acquitted (Trump)." Donalds: "There's nothing wrong here, there's nothing that's been done poorly by (Trump), the only thing being done wrong is by this judge." Tuberville, saying the quiet part out loud (see dumb): "We're here to overcome this gag order."
Still, it got weirder. According to Trump's gag order, everything his lackeys did was likely illegal. It forbids him, not just to say what they said, but to direct "others to make public statements" about attorneys, court staff, their family members, the proceedings. Which presumably includes, as several journalists reported, Trump sitting in court editing speeches for his lap-dogs to repeat to the press. The most "gob-smacking" part: The arrival of "shiny-eyed Christian nationalist" and second-in-line to the presidency Mike Johnson with an "all-out assault (on) the federal and state legal systems foundational to the U.S. government." Johnson called the court "corrupt," attacked Judge Merchan's daughter - "Among the atrocities is (her) making millions of dollars fundraising for Democrats" (who's Ginni Thomas?) - said "these are politically motivated trials" and declared Trump "innocent." Jamie Raskin: "I don’t find anything unusual about a fundamentalist theocrat who thinks the Bible is the supreme law of the land attending the legal proceedings of an adjudicated sexual assailant and world-class fraudster for (covering up) payments to conceal (an) adulterous affair. Do you?"
Because the GOP is shameless and irony is dead, the next day Johnson - the Congressional architect of the effort to overturn the 2020 election who's already said it's his "duty" to do it again if needed, a position deemed on "the far-right fringes of American legal thought" - turned up at a House "Back the Blue” event to proclaim, "We've got to make crimes criminal again" and promote a California sheriff, Oath Keeper and Jan. 6 fan-boy who decries "the sick and twisted progressive social experiment." Because Trump, the House also voted to delay their “urgent” hearing to hold A.G. Merrick Garland in contempt for the imaginary crime of refusing to hand over information they already have - specifically, the audio of Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, though they have the transcript. Ranking Dem Jerry Nadler blasted the "political theater" of Gym Jordan et al who've spent $20 million to investigate conspiracy theories that have "delivered Exactly Nothing" while delaying House business to attend the trial of a madman who just praised "the late, great Hannibal Lecter" and "defend (him) against frankly indefensible acts."
Despite Laura Ingraham's pan of the courtroom - "The air is musty, the floors are old, the benches are hard oak" - a "new band of jesters" arrived Thursday to attend/hold court briefly and attack everyone. This time it was far-right cranks Lauren Boebert, who missed court for her miscreant son facing 22 charges including a felony and multiple misdemeanor property thefts but found time to come trash Judge Merchan's daughter - "millions and millions of dollars" - and Matt Gaetz, who once sought a pardon from Trump while under now-renewed investigation for sex-trafficking a teen girl and said the D.A. made up "the Mr. Potato Head of crimes” against Trump. If irony hadn't died, we'd say Gaetz looked just like Mr. Potato Head - sorry, Potato - when he echoed the Proud Boys ina selfie with other toadies that read, "Standing back and standing by, Mr. President," earning a sublime "Bootlicker" troll: "Not all heroes wear capes." The final cringe: Boebert, her cohort gone, shrieking into the mike, "What is the crime?!" as people yell "Beetlejuice!" at her. "They may have gagged (Trump)," she wrote later. "They didn't gag me. They cant gag me. i have no gag reflex. I am ungaggable."
Later, once the bootlickers returned to D.C., the House held their let's-do-something-to-Merrick-Garland hearing. It did not go well. It went so unwell it may have proved, per one sage, "This country has been stuck in Junior High since 2015." It may have also proved, for the first time, Klan Mom MTG correct when she recently whined, "(Americans) are looking at Republicans in Washington and laughing at us. They think we are a complete joke." Alas, in more (dead) irony, she confirmed it when she and Jasmine Crockett, who's way above her pay grade, got into it after Marge lobbed a "fake eyelashes" barb at her so low Jamie Raskin retorted, "That’s beneath even you, Ms. Greene." So it went. Jeers, yelps, havoc. AOC deemed MTG's puerile rants "absolutely unacceptable" with, "Oh, girl. Baby girl." Crockett asked to clarify the rules if, say, she dissed someone's "bleach blonde, bad-built, butch body." Comer, befuddled: "Uhh, what now?" Raskin face-palmed. After a brief recess, Boebert took the floor: "I just want to apologize to the American people. When things get (so) heated, unfortunately it’s an embarrassment on our body as a whole." Wait. Boebert as the adult in the room? When pigs fly. Nothing to see here.
200+ Groups to Congress: Stop 'Zombie' Funding for Fossil Fuels on Public Lands
More than 200 environmental and climate advocacy groups sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday demanding that lawmakers stop funding the extraction of fossil fuels on public lands and waters.
The letter argues that Congress' annual approval of taxpayer funds to subsidize oil and gas drilling and coal mining "undermine" the international agreement reached at the United Nations COP28 climate conference last year on the need for "transitioning away from fossil fuels."
"Congress has coddled the fossil fuel industry for decades, scarring millions of acres of public lands in the process," Ashley Nunes, public lands policy specialist at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. "It's past time our leaders take this simple step and stop funding activities that are completely at odds with protecting our climate."
"Every year that Congress keeps supporting status quo drilling on public lands and offshore waters is a missed opportunity that locks us into a hotter and more dangerous future."
The Center for Biological Diversity was one of 234 groups behind the letter, which was addressed to Senate Appropriations Chair Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Appropriations Vice Chair Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.), House Appropriations Chair Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.) and House Appropriations Ranking Member Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.). Specifically, the letter asks that the lawmakers "zero out funding for all fossil fuel extraction on public lands and offshore waters" in the Department of the Interior's budget for the coming fiscal year.
"Despite the urgency of the climate crisis, year after year, and regardless of the which political party retains control of Congress, Congress continues to direct the Department of the Interior to authorize fossil fuel extraction on our public lands and oceans," the letter states. "This zombie funding continues despite its harmful and lasting impacts to tribal nations, frontline communities, and other groups, as well as its harm to public health, public lands, the climate, and wildlife populations."
The FY 2024 budget, for example, directed more than $160 million toward fossil fuel management on public lands and waters. The amount earmarked for oil and gas management on public lands alone jumped by almost 90% from 2016 to 2023, from $59.7 million to $112.9 million.
Despite calling the climate crisis an "existential threat," U.S. President Joe Biden has approved almost 10,000 permits for oil and gas drilling on public lands in three years, a similar rate to his predecessors and more in his first two years than former President Donald Trump. Under Biden's watch, the U.S. became the leading producer of oil both in the world and in human history. The groups who signed the letter attributed this in part to Congress' "status quo funding" of fossil fuel programs on public lands.
The letter comes as humanity just sweltered through its hottest year on record, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels made a record jump, and a vast majority of top climate scientists recently surveyed said they predicted 2.5°C of warming by 2100, largely because of a lack of "political will" to phase out fossil fuels and embrace the renewable energy transition.
Indeed, the latest Production Gap analysis concludes that governments' plans through 2030 would produce more than twice the amount of fossil fuels that would be compatible with limiting global heating to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels.
"Climate scientists around the world are pleading for change, but Congress continues to let fossil fuel polluters run wild on our public lands," Nunes said. "Every year that Congress keeps supporting status quo drilling on public lands and offshore waters is a missed opportunity that locks us into a hotter and more dangerous future."
In particular, the green groups made the following recommendations for FY2025:
- Ending Bureau of Land Management (BLM) funding for new oil and gas approvals;
- Ending BLM funding for new coal leases and permits;
- Ending Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) funding for all new oil and gas exploration, production, and drilling leases;
- Ending the provision of the Inflation Reduction Act that requires Interior to put up at least 2 million acres of land and 60 million of water annually for oil and gas leasing before it can install any new wind and solar;
- Putting $80 million toward BLM renewable energy programs; and
- Putting $80 million toward BOEM renewable energy programs.
"Congress must end business as usual funding of fossil fuel extraction on public lands and waters," the letter concludes. "If Congress fails to change course, it will simply be impossible to limit warming to below 1.5°C and ensure a livable planet for future generations."
'Families' Needs Over Corporate Greed': US Childcare Providers, Parents Hold Day of Action
Flanked by her fellow childcare providers from Minnesota's Iron Range region at a press conference in St. Paul, Shawntel Gruba on Monday explained that the childcare center she runs had shut its doors for the day to "demonstrate how vitally important childcare is to our community."
"We are the workforce behind the workforce," said Gruba, CEO of Iron Range Tykes in Mountain Iron. "Without us, no one goes to work."
Gruba is one of more than 1,300 childcare providers across the U.S. who are participating in the National Day Without Childcare on Monday, organized by grassroots group Community Change Action and supported by other organizations including the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Women's Law Center (NWLC), and the Main Street Alliance.
At the press conference before the local coalition boarded a bus to St. Paul for a rally, Gruba explained that 5 out of 7 childcare centers across the Iron Range are participating in the Day Without Childcare, which organizers said was taking place "with the support of the families" served by caregivers.
On the third annual Day Without Childcare, providers are calling for emergency federal childcare funding, nearly eight months after Republicans in Congress allowed billions of dollars in pandemic-era funding to expire.
"Childcare is expensive to provide, just like K-12 [education] is expensive to provide," said Gruba. "Our main source of income to meet those expenses is what families pay. The national and state recommendation for affordable childcare is that no family should pay more than 7% of their annual income for childcare. Families are paying two, three, to even four times more than that."
According to an analysis published by the NWLC earlier this month, in states where legislatures have not passed increased childcare allocations since last September, nearly a quarter of families are now unable to find or pay for care as providers have had to limit enrollment, shut down, or raise prices.
"If our leaders don't step up and legislate a solution to this crisis, we all will pay the price of an underfunded system," said Community Change Action.
Organizers are demanding an equitable childcare system built on racial and gender justice, thriving wages for childcare providers—whose median hourly wage in the U.S. is $14.60—and affordable and accessible childcare for all families.
Community Change Action called on the federal government, including Republican lawmakers, to finally prioritize "families' needs over corporate greed."
"Thanks to our decades of organizing, we made progress with the Democratic-led Congress and Biden administration to put our childcare system on a more secure footing," said Community Change Action co-president Dorian Warren. "Meanwhile, some members of the GOP are refusing to pass emergency funding for childcare, pushing our system to the brink of collapse once again. But time is running out on the game of politics they're playing with our lives. We will demand that they do their jobs and prioritize families. Our childcare system is in crisis—but our childcare movement is stronger than ever."
Warren said he and his wife, who rely on an early childhood education center, "organized the providers, parents, and children" at the facility "to walk out and participate in a mini march around the building" to mark the Day Without Childcare.
"As parents, we need to stand with early educators because our system is on the brink of collapse," said Warren. "Providers and families' livelihoods are hanging in the balance. We need a fully funded, 21st-century childcare system that allows everyone to thrive."
More than 80 events were planned around the country, including rallies, marches, and press conferences to highlight childcare providers' demand for more public funding to solve the childcare crisis, which, according to a report last year by ReadyNation, sucks $122 billion out of the nation's economy as parents are forced out of jobs.
Childcare providers and supporters marched through New York City to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul's office, rallying against the omission of workforce funds in the state budget, while grassroots group SPACEs in Action organized lobby visits to Washington, D.C.'s City Council building. Teachers, children, and advocates rallied and lobbied for the restoration of $70 million to the D.C. Early Childhood Education Pay Equity Fund, which had helped bring childcare providers' salaries in line with that of public school teachers.
On Sunday night, the group also projected the message, "Childcare Is Everyone's Business" onto the building.
Community Change Action said the number of participants at dozens of public actions this year would set a record for the National Day Without Childcare.
"It is crucial that policymakers understand the vital role early learning centers play in our communities. We are not simply businesses: We are essential educational institutions deserving of adequate funding and support," said Terri Simms, who closed her childcare center in Dayton, Ohio for the day. "I urge you to stand with us in advocating for meaningful changes to our childcare system that reflects the true value of our services. Our survival depends on it, as does the future of the countless families who rely on us for quality early childhood education."
'Shameful': 16 Dems Help GOP Pass Israel Security Assistance Support Act
Despite U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to veto the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, 16 Democrats in the House of Representatives on Thursday voted alongside 208 Republicans to pass the bill, which will now head to the Senate.
House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense Chair Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) introduced H.R. 8369, which his office claimed "curbs President Biden's misguided efforts to withhold critical security resources appropriated in U.S. law by compelling the delivery of defense weapons to Israel as they fight to protect themselves against radical terrorists."
The House vote was 224-187, with only three GOP members opposing the legislation—Reps. Warren Davidson (Ohio), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), and Thomas Massie (Ky.)—and six Republicans and 13 Democrats not voting.
The Democrats who supported the bill are Reps. Matt Cartwright (Pa.), Angie Craig (Minn.), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Don Davis (N.C.), Lois Frankel (Fla.), Jared Golden (Maine), Josh Gottheimer (N.J.), Greg Landsman (Ohio), Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Frank Pallone (N.J.), Mary Sattler Peltola (Alaska), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), David Scott (Ga.), Darren Soto (Fla.), Thomas Suozzi (N.Y.), and Ritchie Torres (N.Y.).
"These are the fringe extremists of the Democratic Party."
"These 16 House Democrats just voted with Republicans to ignore U.S. human rights law and fast-track weapons to Israel," the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project said on social media, listing the lawmakers. "Shameful."
Noting that the bill would cut off funds from the National Security Council as well as the Defense and State departments until withheld weapons were sent to Israel, Justice Democrats declared, "These are the fringe extremists of the Democratic Party."
While generally supporting Israel's seven-month assault of the Gaza Strip—as critics worldwide decry it as genocide—Biden has recently halted the delivery of some weapons and threatened to withhold more from the Middle East ally, which has now killed over 35,272 Palestinians in the Hamas-governed enclave and wounded another 79,205, according to local officials.
The White House said in a statement earlier this week that the Biden administration "strongly opposes H.R. 8369," which "would undermine the president's ability to execute an effective foreign policy" and "could raise serious concerns about infringement on the president's authorities under Article II of the Constitution."
"The bill is a misguided reaction to a deliberate distortion of the administration's approach to Israel. The president has been clear: We will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself. Our commitment to Israel is ironclad," the White House asserted. "The administration will continue to use all funds appropriated for Israel consistent with legal requirements, including in the recent supplemental, rendering this bill unnecessary and unwise."
"Furthermore, this bill, if enacted, could lead to spiraling unintended consequences, prohibiting the United States from adjusting our security assistance posture with respect to Israel in any way, including to address unanticipated emergent needs, even if Israel and the United States agree that military needs have changed and supplies should change accordingly," the White House warned.
The president has faced mounting pressure—including from some Democrats in Congress—to limit or fully cut off U.S. weapons to Israel, as rights groups have documented Israeli forces' use of American arms to commit alleged war crimes.
Despite such evidence, the Biden administration concluded in a report to Congress last week that Israeli government assurances about U.S. weapons use are "credible and reliable so as to allow the provision of defense articles" to continue.
Politicopointed out Thursday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) signaled the chamber may not even take up the measure, saying that "the president has already said he'd veto it, so it's not going anywhere," while House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) pledged that "we will sustain the president's veto, as we have done consistently throughout the 118th Congress."
'Alliance With White Nationalists': Texas Gov Rebuked for Pardoning Shooter of BLM Protester
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a pardon on Thursday for Daniel Perry, who was convicted of fatally shooting Black Lives Matter protester Garrett Foster in 2020.
Abbott's pardon came less than an hour after the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended it, Austin-based investigative journalist Tony Plohetski noted on social media. In addition to releasing him from prison, the pardon grants Perry "restoration of full civil rights of citizenship," including the right to own a gun.
"Before Daniel Perry murdered a veteran in 2020, he told a friend he 'might go to Dallas to shoot looters.' A year before, he wrote, 'to bad we can't get paid for hunting Muslims,'" Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) wrote in response to the news. "Gov. Abbott's alliance with white nationalists is putting dangerous people on our streets."
"He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his—and different from those in power—can be killed in this state with impunity."
Perry shot Foster on July, 25, 2020 in Austin. At the time an active duty Army sergeant and Uber driver, Perry accelerated his car toward a group of people protesting the police killing of George Floyd. Some of the protesters approached his car, including 28-year-old Air Force veteran Foster, who was legally open carrying an AK-47. Perry then shot Foster four times with a .357 Magnum pistol.
Perry's lawyers said that Perry acted in self-defense and that Foster had started to point his gun at him, according toThe New York Times. However, Perry told police that Foster had not actually aimed at him but that he "didn't want to give him a chance" to do so.
Perry also had a history of making violent and racist remarks on social media. In one 2020 message, shared at the trial, he said he "might have to kill a few people on my way to work."
A jury voted in 2023 to convict Perry of murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; he was later sentenced to 25 years in prison. However, a day after his conviction and before he was even sentenced, Abbott said he was "working as swiftly" as possible to pardon him. In Texas, all pardons must come through the board, but its members were all appointed by Abbott.
"Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive district attorney," Abbott said in a statement announcing the pardon. "I thank the board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation."
Foster's family members reacted with shock and dismay to the news.
His mother, Sheila, told The New York Times that she would leave Texas because of Abbott's pardon.
"I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode. This doesn't happen," she said. "It seems like this is some kind of a political circus and it's costing me my life."
She added that Foster "deserved so much better" and was "out there protecting people from people like Perry."
Foster's partner Whitney Mitchell said: "I am heartbroken by this lawlessness. Gov. Abbott has shown that, to him, only certain lives matter. He has made us all less safe."
"With this pardon, the governor has desecrated the life of a murdered Texan and U.S. Air Force veteran, and impugned that jury's just verdict," she further toldHouston Public Media. "He has declared that Texans who hold political views that are different from his—and different from those in power—can be killed in this state with impunity."
Public and elected officials also criticized Abbott's pardon.
Travis County District Attorney José Garza, who prosecuted the case, said the pardon board and Abbott had made a "mockery of our legal system."
"Their actions are contrary to the law and demonstrate that there are two classes of people in this state where some lives matter and some lives do not," Garza continued. "They have sent a message to Garrett Foster's family, to his partner, and to our community that his life does not matter."
Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) suggested the pardon was politically motivated.
"Let's call this for what it is: From the start, Abbott wanted to pardon this racist murderer to score political points with MAGA Republicans," Doggett wrote on social media.
Texas state Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-27), chairman of the Texas Black Legislative State Caucus, said in a statement that "the blatant hypocrisy in this decision is beyond comprehension" and it was an "all-time low, even for the governor."
"This pardon not only undermines the justice system but also sends a chilling message that politically motivated violence is acceptable," Reynolds continued. "This decision is a slap in the face to the Foster family, the Black Lives Matter movement, and to all who believe in justice and equality."
Reynolds added: "Gov. Abbott's actions are not only disappointing—they are deeply disturbing. They reveal a willingness to ignore the rule of law and cater to a dangerous ideology that puts lives at risk. This pardon sets a dangerous precedent that undermines public trust in our legal system and emboldens those who seek to harm others under the guise of political dissent."
Notably, the pardon board recommended a posthumous pardon for Floyd, whose killing by the Minneapolis police sparked the protests where Perry killed Foster. Floyd had a drug charge on the books from his time in Houston that, according to Austin lawyer Rick Cofer, stemmed from drug planting by corrupt cops. Abbott responded to that recommendation by pressuring the board to rescind it, which they eventually did.
Critics Denounce Israel's Defense Against Genocide Charges as 'Dishonest Talking Points'
The arguments presented by Israeli representatives at the International Court of Justice on Friday were not unexpected, as the government faced a new set of hearings on the Israel Defense Forces' assault on Gaza, but observers said the legal team's defense of the country's actions in the Palestinian enclave were "hard to stomach" in light of mounting reports about the lack of humanitarian aid and the rising death toll.
Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman, principal deputy legal adviser of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Gilad Noam, the deputy attorney general for international law, presented Israel's arguments against South Africa's claim that the ICJ must stop the IDF's invasion of Rafah, from which 630,000 Palestinians have been forced to flee since Israel seized a border crossing there and began moving troops into residential neighborhoods.
More than 1 million people have been forcibly displaced to Rafah since October as Israel has decimated cities across Gaza in what it claims is an effort to target Hamas fighters—but which has killed at least 35,303 people, two-thirds of whom have been women and children. The World Food Program and the U.S. Agency for International Development have both said in recent weeks, following months of warnings from humanitarian groups, that famine has taken hold in parts of Gaza due to Israel's near-total blockade on humanitarian aid.
Tourgeman claimed that South Africa—which launched the genocide case against Israel in December—has turned "a blind eye to Israel's remarkable effort" to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza residents and said Israel has taken "proactive steps" to ensure medical care is still being provided. However, the World Health Organization (WHO) disputed the claims at a press briefing shortly after the hearing.
"The last medical supplies that we got in Gaza was before May 6," WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said at a U.N. press briefing, referring to the date Israel seized the Rafah crossing. "We don't have fuel. We have hospitals under evacuation order. We have a situation where we cannot move physically."
Al Jazeera journalist Tareq Abu Azzoum reported Friday that U.N. officials had confirmed no aid has come through either the Rafah or Karem Abu Salem crossings in recent days.
"That reflects how much Israel is working to erase truth and change the facts on the ground as it continues its relentless bombardment of Rafah and the Jabalia refugee camp," Abu Azzoum said.
Marc Owen Jones, associate professor of Middle East studies and digital humanities at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in Qatar, accused Israel of using the ICJ hearing to promote "dishonest talking points" to the international community.
"This is why a lot of what it says comes across as completely dishonest—because it is completely dishonest," Jones told Al Jazeera. "There is a difference between the reality on the ground and what Israel is trying to present to the international community... The aid situation is desperate."
Kate Stegeman, a policy and advocacy consultant in South Africa, said it was "particularly hard to stomach" Israel's denial that civilians and medical staffers were killed by the IDF at Al-Shifa Hospital, one of the facilities where multiple mass graves have been found containing hundreds of bodies, including those of women and children.
This part is particularly hard to stomach: in response to concerning allegations of numerous war crimes perpetrated amid Israel’s March military operation at Al Shifa hospital, Kaplan Tourgeman categorically denies any patients or medical staff were killed by the IDF #Gaza #ICJ pic.twitter.com/MUW3Cschzb
— Kate Stegeman (@KatesCurious) May 17, 2024
Tourgeman also focused part of her defense on statements made by Israeli officials about their objectives in Gaza. She claimed that when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Gaza must not pose a threat to Israel and when Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the military operates "neighborhood by neighborhood" and will reach every location in Gaza, they were speaking expressly about Hamas.
The legal adviser did not mention Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's recent call for the "total annihilation" of Rafah and other cities, Gallant's statement that he had "released all the restraints" on the military, or a former intelligence chief's comment in October that "the 'noncombatant population' in the Gaza Strip is really a nonexistent term," among other statements.
While the Israeli representatives claimed the country "has been and remains committed to acting in accordance with its international legal obligations," said one critic, "the problem for Israel is that the world has seen what they've done."
Nevada Coalition Submits 200K+ Signatures for Abortion Rights Ballot Measure
"The number of signatures gathered in just over three months shows how deeply Nevadans believe in abortion rights," said one campaigner.
An amendment to enshrine abortion rights in Nevada's Constitution moved one step closer to appearing on this November's ballot Monday as reproductive rights defenders submitted nearly twice the number of required signatures to state election officials.
Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom, the coalition spearheading the ballot measure, said it submitted more than 200,000 signatures from every county in the state—where abortion is legal up to 24 weeks of pregnancy—supporting the Nevada Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment. Proposed 2024 Nevada ballot questions need 102,362 verified signatures to qualify; campaigners generally aim to collect double the required number of signatures, as many are disqualified for various reasons.
"This is a true testament to the volunteers, supporters, and coalition partners who recognize the importance of codifying abortion rights into our state constitution," Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom said on social media. "We're officially one step closer."
"The number of signatures gathered in just over three months shows how deeply Nevadans believe in abortion rights and its importance to this moment in our nation's history."
Speaking to supporters outside the Clark County Courthouse in Las Vegas on Monday, Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom president Lindsey Harmon said that "the majority of Nevadans agree that the government should stay out of their personal and private decisions... about our bodies, our lives, and our futures."
"The number of signatures gathered in just over three months shows how deeply Nevadans believe in abortion rights and its importance to this moment in our nation's history," Harmon added.
Nevada constitutional amendments must be approved by voters twice. If the proposed abortion rights amendment qualifies for the ballot and is approved by voters this November, it will appear again on the 2026 statewide ballot.
Last November, Carson City District Court Judge James Russell sided with right-wing advocacy groups who argued that the proposed amendment violates Nevada law by covering more than one subject. After Nevadans for Reproductive Freedom subsequently narrowed the proposal's focus, Russell ruled the coalition could proceed with signature gathering. In April, the Nevada Supreme Court affirmed the proposed ballot measure's original language.
Four states—Florida, Kansas, Maryland, and New York—have abortion rights measures on November's ballot, while Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada have proposed such initiatives.
Since the right-wing U.S. Supreme Court voided half a century of federal abortion rights nearly two years ago in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, seven states have let voters weigh in on the issue. People in all seven states—including conservative Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana—have voted to either protect and expand abortion rights or defeat measures seeking to restrict access to the procedure.
Meanwhile, 14 states have enacted total abortion bans, while 27 have legislated restrictions on the procedure based on duration of pregnancy,
according to the Guttmacher Institute.
'Wake-Up Call for the World': Millions Impacted by Extreme Floods in Brazil
"This is not a disaster of Brazil's making. The whole planet is experiencing increasingly rapid climate changes due largely to the greenhouse gases produced by a handful of wealthy nations," one expert said.
Experts emphasized the escalating risks of climate-related disasters and their disproportionate impacts on low-income people on Monday following flooding in Brazil that has killed at least 150 people and displaced more than 600,000.
The floods that hit over recent days and weeks have knocked out bridges and the main airport in Porto Alegre, a port city in southern Brazil. More than 460 of the 497 municipalities in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sol have been affected, with more than 2 million people impacted, according to provisional government data.
"The situation is catastrophic," said Rachel Soeiro, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) medical coordinator in Brazil, who visited the area by helicopter. "We were able to view the towns from above and noticed that in some cases we couldn't even see the roofs of houses.”
More than two feet of rain has fallen so far this month, according Brazil's national weather service, inundating large areas.
"Whole towns and large, urban city centers are in some cases almost completely underwater," the BBCreported on Saturday.
We joined an emergency services helicopter rescuing people from Brazil's floods. The rescues themselves are fraught with risks. More than half a million people are displaced.
Watch on @BBCNews at 6 today (on at 1705) or catch up on the News at One.
Whole cities are destroyed👇 pic.twitter.com/hxZYSVDDmz
— Ione Wells (@ionewells) May 19, 2024
Experts connected the extreme rainfall to climate change, which increases the likelihood of such weather events. Incidents of extreme flooding have increased "sharply" across the planet in the last two decades, according to a study in Nature Water released last year.
"In many ways, this is not a disaster of Brazil’s making. The whole planet is experiencing increasingly rapid climate changes due largely to the greenhouse gases produced by a handful of wealthy nations," Cristiane Fontes (Krika), executive director of World Resources Institute (WRI) Brasil, wrote in a commentary earlier this month in which she called the situation a "wake-up call for the world."
In recent weeks, flooding has also hit China, the United Arab Emirates, and Australia, and WRI's staff in Kenya are dealing with dam breaches from heavy rains, Fontes noted.
A Brazilian expert indicated that the flooding, catastrophic as it has been, should not come as a surprise.
"People on the streets here in Brazil, they've attributed this change to global climate change driven by the increase of fossil fuels," Paulo Artaxo, a physics professor at the University of Sao Paulo, and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He explained that was in line with IPCC projections showing that southern Brazil would face more extreme rainfall due to tropical and polar currents.
In Brazil, as elsewhere, climate impacts are not evenly distributed. MSF relief efforts are focused on the most vulnerable, including Indigenous communities, one of which had been isolated by rising waters and without help for 10 days before being reached by the humanitarian group.
"Assisting those who are most vulnerable is one of our main concerns in such situations," Soeiro said. "These people were already facing difficult situations before the flooding. But their needs have risen further and access to them has become more difficult."
Some wealthy people in Porto Alegre have choices such as escaping to a second home, but in "rundown towns" on the city's periphery, low-income people have no such options, according to CNN.
Brazilian left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has pledged to provide relief money to families that lost their homes. Brazil is one of most unequal countries in the world, according to World Bank data.
Ahead of Hearing, South Koreans Hope Climate Case Inspires Others
"If we have a favorable precedent in South Korea, I think that will really be a trigger in spreading this trend," said one attorney in the landmark youth-led lawsuit.
Climate justice advocates on Monday expressed hope that a landmark youth-led South Korean lawsuit—which alleges the country's government is failing to protect citizens from the effects of the human-caused planetary emergency—will have a ripple effect that inspires activists throughout Asia and beyond to take similar action.
South Korea's Constitutional Court is set to hold a second and final hearing Tuesday in the case, which was filed in 2019 by 19 members of Youth4ClimateAction who accuse the South Korean government of violating their rights to life, the "pursuit of happiness," a "healthy and pleasant environment," and to "resist against human extinction."
"All countries need to take action in order to tackle this global crisis, and there are no exceptions."
The case was merged with three similar suits filed since 2020, including one brought by parents on behalf of dozens of children under the age of 5. One infant, nicknamed "Woodpecker," was not yet born at the time the complaint was lodged. The lawsuit comes amid a growing wave of similar cases around the world.
"If we have a favorable precedent in South Korea, I think that will really be a trigger in spreading this trend," Sejong Youn, an attorney in the South Korean case, toldNature Monday. "It will send a message: All countries need to take action in order to tackle this global crisis, and there are no exceptions."
Referring to the Paris climate agreement, Amnesty International Korea climate campaigner Jiyoun Yoo said Monday that "strategic litigation is a powerful tool which is being increasingly used to enforce states' binding duty to protect people's rights from the adverse impacts of the climate crisis and ensure there is no backsliding on the international commitments they made in 2015 to prevent average global temperatures from rising above 1.5°C this century."
"The climate crisis is already upon us but the effects will be felt even more intensely by future generations," Yoo added. "Cases like this are vital to safeguarding citizens' rights. Taking legal action against a state is often a long and arduous process which requires patience and perseverance and the courage of these pioneering plaintiffs is to be admired and applauded."
According to the United Nations Environment Program's (UNEP) most recent Emissions Gap Report, humanity must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28% before 2030 to limit warming to 2°C above preindustrial levels and 42% to halt warming at 1.5°C. UNEP said that based on current policies and practices, the world is on track for 2.9°C of warming by the end of the century.
South Korea is the fifth-largest greenhouse gas emitter among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development nations.
Mingzhe Zhu—who studies the links between politics, science, and nature at the University of Glasgow in Scotland—told Nature that even if the South Korean case fails, it will inspire other potential litigants around the world.
"Even if you lose this time, you can lose beautifully in the sense that you provoked social awareness," Zhu said. "The very fact that this case went to the Constitutional Court—that is already a certain sense of success. I believe in people's creativity. Even if you fail this time, you can learn from this experience and just try another pass."