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Supporters of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) hold signs during an event on health care September 13, 2017 on Capitol Hill.(Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Citizens of Dunn County, Wisconsin, have a plan to place national, publicly-funded health care for everyone on their November 8th county ballot. In June and July at meetings of the County Board of Supervisors, many spoke of a broken health care system and their proposal to fix it. After the third meeting, the Board voted unanimously to put the following question on the ballot:
“Shall Congress and the President of the United States enact into law the creation of a publicly financed, non-profit, national health insurance program that would fully cover medical care costs for all Americans?”
Located in central west Wisconsin and blessed with lakes and farmland, Dunn County is far from bustling cities. About 16,000 of its 45,000 residents live in Menomonie, the county seat, named by the Smithsonian as “One of the Best Small Towns in the USA.”
“Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
By focusing on the health care crisis in America’s heartland, the people of Dunn County hope to propel the issue onto the nation’s agenda. They believe that rural concern for neighbors just may outweigh the rancorous partisan divide, and with the idea spreading, influence a Congress that has, so far, refused to consider Medicare for All.
On July 27, 2022, between the pledge of allegiance and the story of how the county fair proceeded despite the windstorm that took out the electric milking machines, they stepped to the microphone at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting to insist that those who represent them allow their voices to be heard in a ballot referendum.
Margie Hagerman of Menomonie spoke first. “The health care of the majority of Americans has been declining in recent years with lower life expectancy than other developed countries. Other... countries have found ways to cover everyone through a national, non-profit, health insurance system. Why can’t the United States?”
“If you put a referendum out you’re giving a voice to the people--you need to do that because we exist only by the consent of the people,” said Michel Brandt.
John Hoff said, “currently the drug pharmaceutical system is totally stacked against the individual--yes, they’re working on something in congress but that’s only for 20 drugs.”
Tom Walsh told of his son, a small business owner, who, since the Affordable Care Act, has paid $750 a month for insurance with a $5,000 deductible. “He can get one physical exam a year--that will be free...but the rest of it he pays out of his pocket. We need Medicare for All basically to save small business owners, save people that are susceptible to bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay for their insurance and if they do have it the deductible is so high it really doesn’t help that much...so we really need a national health insurance program.”
Steve Hogseth called attention to the top 23 countries ranked for their democracy and asserted that, of them, the United States was the only one without universal health care of some form.
Lenore Mercer spoke of working in a clinic when the former governor suspended Badger Care. “I’ll always remember a clean-cut, hard-working, full-time employed father breaking down and saying I’m not worried about myself, but for my kids, how will they get to see a doctor? I thought this is so wrong.”
“Our for-profit driven system balloons profits for insurance companies and drug manufacturers and now millions of Americans can’t afford health care,” Mercer concluded.
Retired physician Lorene Vedder ended her comments by asking those in the audience who supported putting this measure on the November 8th ballot to please stand. All rose.
Monica Berrier, Dunn County Supervisor for District 13, weighed in at the Legislative Committee Meeting. “I want to make the argument that it really is in the county’s interest to be advocating for a better health care system... I’ll do this through the perspective of our budget and whether the current system is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
She said that the county spends about $500,000 each month on health insurance and that in the 2022 budget, $10 million out of a $90 million budget has been set aside for health insurance. The $90 million is not just for personnel but includes all county operations.
“So we’re spending a lot but when we compare that to what the employees are actually getting it’s a pretty bad deal. They’re part of a system where delays and even outright denials of care are routine. I believe that as elected officials and stewards of taxpayer dollars we have a responsibility to demand better of the federal government that serves us.”
Berrier laid it out. “I want to close by thinking about what we could do with this money instead. We all know that the budget process comes down to higgling over fifty dollars here a hundred dollars there. A couple months ago we had a good discussion about the wheel tax and many of us including myself are worried about the potential impact that this might have on people who can’t afford it. For comparison, the wheel tax brings in just $700,000 every year and that’s peanuts compared to the 10 million dollars we are budgeted to spend on health insurance this year...instead of wringing our hands over the wheel tax we could be just fixing the roads instead. I think that we as elected officials really have a responsibility to advocate for a more efficient health care system”
Dr. Vedder had spoken earlier to the Dunn County Executive Committee. “My chief concern is a decreasing life expectancy that we have in this country. If you compare Canada to the United States, they live 4.5 years longer than we do. Back in 1970 we lived the same life expectancy so why are we seeing this difference?
“People are afraid here in our country to access health care because of the excess cost of medical care--30 million people in this country don’t have health care insurance, 44 % don’t have the funds to obtain medical care even if they have insurance.
“We access health care a lot less than any developed country in the world. By avoiding health care we have our people...coming to emergency rooms when it’s too late to treat them, their disease is too advanced. We bankrupt people over medical bills--nowhere else in the developed world are people bankrupted by their health.”
Someone announced that the issue would be placed on the agenda for the Legislative Committee.
The health care advocates came prepared to speak at the Legislative Committee Meeting on July 20. At a couple of minutes per person, they filled the first 35 minutes of the meeting. Dr. Steve Brown told of his wife using health care services in Portugal, receiving x-ray, lab services and IV antibiotics. She was diagnosed with Legionnaires disease and received good care. He said that even though they did not have travel insurance, the bill was reasonable--about $160.
Steve Carlson of Trego spoke of a precedent in Wisconsin for a health care ballot question fourteen years ago when county voters agreed that everyone in the state should have health care coverage equal to state officials. He said that people in Washburn, Douglas, and Portage counties are working on placing referenda, like the current one proposed in Dunn County, on the ballot for the Spring election.
Louisa Gerasimo told of medical bills that depleted retirement savings. “Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
Commission Hager commented that this issue had roused the most public interest and comment since the ATV county road expansion. The supervisors voted unanimously to place the issue on the ballot. Chair Kelly McCullough said, “Looks like we will be having the referendum all right...that also answers the question of pressuring your legislators--does it work--it looks like it all right.”
Rural health care is in deep crisis. Over 800 rural hospitals are under threat of closing. Rural physicians struggle to survive on the meager payments of Medicaid. Mergers and acquisitions accelerate the pain as hospitals are bought up by those whose only concern is profit. Delayed care causes untold suffering and death. Is it possible that the people of these rural communities, under the stress of a broken health care system, can spark a movement to fix health care for the nation?
Some people in Dunn County think so and are working to make it happen.
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Citizens of Dunn County, Wisconsin, have a plan to place national, publicly-funded health care for everyone on their November 8th county ballot. In June and July at meetings of the County Board of Supervisors, many spoke of a broken health care system and their proposal to fix it. After the third meeting, the Board voted unanimously to put the following question on the ballot:
“Shall Congress and the President of the United States enact into law the creation of a publicly financed, non-profit, national health insurance program that would fully cover medical care costs for all Americans?”
Located in central west Wisconsin and blessed with lakes and farmland, Dunn County is far from bustling cities. About 16,000 of its 45,000 residents live in Menomonie, the county seat, named by the Smithsonian as “One of the Best Small Towns in the USA.”
“Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
By focusing on the health care crisis in America’s heartland, the people of Dunn County hope to propel the issue onto the nation’s agenda. They believe that rural concern for neighbors just may outweigh the rancorous partisan divide, and with the idea spreading, influence a Congress that has, so far, refused to consider Medicare for All.
On July 27, 2022, between the pledge of allegiance and the story of how the county fair proceeded despite the windstorm that took out the electric milking machines, they stepped to the microphone at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting to insist that those who represent them allow their voices to be heard in a ballot referendum.
Margie Hagerman of Menomonie spoke first. “The health care of the majority of Americans has been declining in recent years with lower life expectancy than other developed countries. Other... countries have found ways to cover everyone through a national, non-profit, health insurance system. Why can’t the United States?”
“If you put a referendum out you’re giving a voice to the people--you need to do that because we exist only by the consent of the people,” said Michel Brandt.
John Hoff said, “currently the drug pharmaceutical system is totally stacked against the individual--yes, they’re working on something in congress but that’s only for 20 drugs.”
Tom Walsh told of his son, a small business owner, who, since the Affordable Care Act, has paid $750 a month for insurance with a $5,000 deductible. “He can get one physical exam a year--that will be free...but the rest of it he pays out of his pocket. We need Medicare for All basically to save small business owners, save people that are susceptible to bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay for their insurance and if they do have it the deductible is so high it really doesn’t help that much...so we really need a national health insurance program.”
Steve Hogseth called attention to the top 23 countries ranked for their democracy and asserted that, of them, the United States was the only one without universal health care of some form.
Lenore Mercer spoke of working in a clinic when the former governor suspended Badger Care. “I’ll always remember a clean-cut, hard-working, full-time employed father breaking down and saying I’m not worried about myself, but for my kids, how will they get to see a doctor? I thought this is so wrong.”
“Our for-profit driven system balloons profits for insurance companies and drug manufacturers and now millions of Americans can’t afford health care,” Mercer concluded.
Retired physician Lorene Vedder ended her comments by asking those in the audience who supported putting this measure on the November 8th ballot to please stand. All rose.
Monica Berrier, Dunn County Supervisor for District 13, weighed in at the Legislative Committee Meeting. “I want to make the argument that it really is in the county’s interest to be advocating for a better health care system... I’ll do this through the perspective of our budget and whether the current system is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
She said that the county spends about $500,000 each month on health insurance and that in the 2022 budget, $10 million out of a $90 million budget has been set aside for health insurance. The $90 million is not just for personnel but includes all county operations.
“So we’re spending a lot but when we compare that to what the employees are actually getting it’s a pretty bad deal. They’re part of a system where delays and even outright denials of care are routine. I believe that as elected officials and stewards of taxpayer dollars we have a responsibility to demand better of the federal government that serves us.”
Berrier laid it out. “I want to close by thinking about what we could do with this money instead. We all know that the budget process comes down to higgling over fifty dollars here a hundred dollars there. A couple months ago we had a good discussion about the wheel tax and many of us including myself are worried about the potential impact that this might have on people who can’t afford it. For comparison, the wheel tax brings in just $700,000 every year and that’s peanuts compared to the 10 million dollars we are budgeted to spend on health insurance this year...instead of wringing our hands over the wheel tax we could be just fixing the roads instead. I think that we as elected officials really have a responsibility to advocate for a more efficient health care system”
Dr. Vedder had spoken earlier to the Dunn County Executive Committee. “My chief concern is a decreasing life expectancy that we have in this country. If you compare Canada to the United States, they live 4.5 years longer than we do. Back in 1970 we lived the same life expectancy so why are we seeing this difference?
“People are afraid here in our country to access health care because of the excess cost of medical care--30 million people in this country don’t have health care insurance, 44 % don’t have the funds to obtain medical care even if they have insurance.
“We access health care a lot less than any developed country in the world. By avoiding health care we have our people...coming to emergency rooms when it’s too late to treat them, their disease is too advanced. We bankrupt people over medical bills--nowhere else in the developed world are people bankrupted by their health.”
Someone announced that the issue would be placed on the agenda for the Legislative Committee.
The health care advocates came prepared to speak at the Legislative Committee Meeting on July 20. At a couple of minutes per person, they filled the first 35 minutes of the meeting. Dr. Steve Brown told of his wife using health care services in Portugal, receiving x-ray, lab services and IV antibiotics. She was diagnosed with Legionnaires disease and received good care. He said that even though they did not have travel insurance, the bill was reasonable--about $160.
Steve Carlson of Trego spoke of a precedent in Wisconsin for a health care ballot question fourteen years ago when county voters agreed that everyone in the state should have health care coverage equal to state officials. He said that people in Washburn, Douglas, and Portage counties are working on placing referenda, like the current one proposed in Dunn County, on the ballot for the Spring election.
Louisa Gerasimo told of medical bills that depleted retirement savings. “Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
Commission Hager commented that this issue had roused the most public interest and comment since the ATV county road expansion. The supervisors voted unanimously to place the issue on the ballot. Chair Kelly McCullough said, “Looks like we will be having the referendum all right...that also answers the question of pressuring your legislators--does it work--it looks like it all right.”
Rural health care is in deep crisis. Over 800 rural hospitals are under threat of closing. Rural physicians struggle to survive on the meager payments of Medicaid. Mergers and acquisitions accelerate the pain as hospitals are bought up by those whose only concern is profit. Delayed care causes untold suffering and death. Is it possible that the people of these rural communities, under the stress of a broken health care system, can spark a movement to fix health care for the nation?
Some people in Dunn County think so and are working to make it happen.
Citizens of Dunn County, Wisconsin, have a plan to place national, publicly-funded health care for everyone on their November 8th county ballot. In June and July at meetings of the County Board of Supervisors, many spoke of a broken health care system and their proposal to fix it. After the third meeting, the Board voted unanimously to put the following question on the ballot:
“Shall Congress and the President of the United States enact into law the creation of a publicly financed, non-profit, national health insurance program that would fully cover medical care costs for all Americans?”
Located in central west Wisconsin and blessed with lakes and farmland, Dunn County is far from bustling cities. About 16,000 of its 45,000 residents live in Menomonie, the county seat, named by the Smithsonian as “One of the Best Small Towns in the USA.”
“Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
By focusing on the health care crisis in America’s heartland, the people of Dunn County hope to propel the issue onto the nation’s agenda. They believe that rural concern for neighbors just may outweigh the rancorous partisan divide, and with the idea spreading, influence a Congress that has, so far, refused to consider Medicare for All.
On July 27, 2022, between the pledge of allegiance and the story of how the county fair proceeded despite the windstorm that took out the electric milking machines, they stepped to the microphone at the Board of Supervisors’ meeting to insist that those who represent them allow their voices to be heard in a ballot referendum.
Margie Hagerman of Menomonie spoke first. “The health care of the majority of Americans has been declining in recent years with lower life expectancy than other developed countries. Other... countries have found ways to cover everyone through a national, non-profit, health insurance system. Why can’t the United States?”
“If you put a referendum out you’re giving a voice to the people--you need to do that because we exist only by the consent of the people,” said Michel Brandt.
John Hoff said, “currently the drug pharmaceutical system is totally stacked against the individual--yes, they’re working on something in congress but that’s only for 20 drugs.”
Tom Walsh told of his son, a small business owner, who, since the Affordable Care Act, has paid $750 a month for insurance with a $5,000 deductible. “He can get one physical exam a year--that will be free...but the rest of it he pays out of his pocket. We need Medicare for All basically to save small business owners, save people that are susceptible to bankruptcy because they can’t afford to pay for their insurance and if they do have it the deductible is so high it really doesn’t help that much...so we really need a national health insurance program.”
Steve Hogseth called attention to the top 23 countries ranked for their democracy and asserted that, of them, the United States was the only one without universal health care of some form.
Lenore Mercer spoke of working in a clinic when the former governor suspended Badger Care. “I’ll always remember a clean-cut, hard-working, full-time employed father breaking down and saying I’m not worried about myself, but for my kids, how will they get to see a doctor? I thought this is so wrong.”
“Our for-profit driven system balloons profits for insurance companies and drug manufacturers and now millions of Americans can’t afford health care,” Mercer concluded.
Retired physician Lorene Vedder ended her comments by asking those in the audience who supported putting this measure on the November 8th ballot to please stand. All rose.
Monica Berrier, Dunn County Supervisor for District 13, weighed in at the Legislative Committee Meeting. “I want to make the argument that it really is in the county’s interest to be advocating for a better health care system... I’ll do this through the perspective of our budget and whether the current system is a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.”
She said that the county spends about $500,000 each month on health insurance and that in the 2022 budget, $10 million out of a $90 million budget has been set aside for health insurance. The $90 million is not just for personnel but includes all county operations.
“So we’re spending a lot but when we compare that to what the employees are actually getting it’s a pretty bad deal. They’re part of a system where delays and even outright denials of care are routine. I believe that as elected officials and stewards of taxpayer dollars we have a responsibility to demand better of the federal government that serves us.”
Berrier laid it out. “I want to close by thinking about what we could do with this money instead. We all know that the budget process comes down to higgling over fifty dollars here a hundred dollars there. A couple months ago we had a good discussion about the wheel tax and many of us including myself are worried about the potential impact that this might have on people who can’t afford it. For comparison, the wheel tax brings in just $700,000 every year and that’s peanuts compared to the 10 million dollars we are budgeted to spend on health insurance this year...instead of wringing our hands over the wheel tax we could be just fixing the roads instead. I think that we as elected officials really have a responsibility to advocate for a more efficient health care system”
Dr. Vedder had spoken earlier to the Dunn County Executive Committee. “My chief concern is a decreasing life expectancy that we have in this country. If you compare Canada to the United States, they live 4.5 years longer than we do. Back in 1970 we lived the same life expectancy so why are we seeing this difference?
“People are afraid here in our country to access health care because of the excess cost of medical care--30 million people in this country don’t have health care insurance, 44 % don’t have the funds to obtain medical care even if they have insurance.
“We access health care a lot less than any developed country in the world. By avoiding health care we have our people...coming to emergency rooms when it’s too late to treat them, their disease is too advanced. We bankrupt people over medical bills--nowhere else in the developed world are people bankrupted by their health.”
Someone announced that the issue would be placed on the agenda for the Legislative Committee.
The health care advocates came prepared to speak at the Legislative Committee Meeting on July 20. At a couple of minutes per person, they filled the first 35 minutes of the meeting. Dr. Steve Brown told of his wife using health care services in Portugal, receiving x-ray, lab services and IV antibiotics. She was diagnosed with Legionnaires disease and received good care. He said that even though they did not have travel insurance, the bill was reasonable--about $160.
Steve Carlson of Trego spoke of a precedent in Wisconsin for a health care ballot question fourteen years ago when county voters agreed that everyone in the state should have health care coverage equal to state officials. He said that people in Washburn, Douglas, and Portage counties are working on placing referenda, like the current one proposed in Dunn County, on the ballot for the Spring election.
Louisa Gerasimo told of medical bills that depleted retirement savings. “Nobody in my family is going to retire sitting pretty and most of the reason for that can be laid at having to pay off medical expenses, even though we were insured, for months and months and months, and that is money we did not spend on all the things that you can spend money on right here in beautiful Dunn County.”
Commission Hager commented that this issue had roused the most public interest and comment since the ATV county road expansion. The supervisors voted unanimously to place the issue on the ballot. Chair Kelly McCullough said, “Looks like we will be having the referendum all right...that also answers the question of pressuring your legislators--does it work--it looks like it all right.”
Rural health care is in deep crisis. Over 800 rural hospitals are under threat of closing. Rural physicians struggle to survive on the meager payments of Medicaid. Mergers and acquisitions accelerate the pain as hospitals are bought up by those whose only concern is profit. Delayed care causes untold suffering and death. Is it possible that the people of these rural communities, under the stress of a broken health care system, can spark a movement to fix health care for the nation?
Some people in Dunn County think so and are working to make it happen.
Against a backdrop of Israel's genocidal obliteration of Gaza City and a worsening man-made famine throughout the embattled Palestinian exclave, the United States on Thursday cast its sixth United Nations Security Council veto of a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
At its 10,000th meeting, the UN Security Council voted 14-1 with no abstentions in favor of a resolution proposed by the 10 nonpermanent UNSC members demanding "an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire" in Gaza, the "release of all hostages" held by Hamas, and for Israel to "immediately and unconditionally lift all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid" into the besieged strip.
Morgan Ortagus, President Donald Trump's deputy special envoy to the Middle East, vetoed the proposal, saying that the move "will come as no surprise," as the US has killed five previous UNSC Gaza ceasefire resolutions under both the Biden and Trump administrations, most recently in June.
Ortagus said the resolution failed to condemn Hamas or affirm Israel's right to self-defense and “wrongly legitimizes the false narratives benefiting Hamas, which have sadly found currency in this council."
The US has unconditionally provided Israel with billions of dollars worth of armed aid and diplomatic cover since October 2023 as the key Mideast ally wages a war increasingly viewed as genocidal, including by a commission of independent UN experts this week.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said the torpedoed resolution represented the "bare minimum" that must be accomplished, adding that “it is deeply regrettable and painful that it has been blocked.”
“Babies dying of starvation, snipers shooting people in the head, civilians killed en masse, families displaced again and again... humanitarians and journalists targeted... while Israeli officials are openly mocking all of this," Mansour added.
Following the UNSC's latest failure to pass a ceasefire resolution, Algerian Ambassador to the UN Amar Bendjama asked Gazans to "forgive" the body for not only its inability to approve such measures, but also for failing to stop the Gaza famine, in which at least hundreds of Palestinians have died and hundreds of thousands more are starving. Every UNSC members but the US concurred last month that the Gaza famine is a man-made catastrophe.
“Israel kills every day and nothing happens," Bendjama said. "Israel starves a people and nothing happens. Israel bombs hospitals, schools, shelters, and nothing happens. Israel attacks a mediator and steps on diplomacy, and nothing happens. And with every act, every act unpunished, humanity itself is diminished.”
Benjama also asked Gazans to "forgive us" for failing to protect children in the strip, more than 20,000 of whom have been killed by Israeli bombs, bullets, and blockade over the past 713 days. He also noted that upward of 12,000 women, 4,000 elderly, 1,400 doctors and nurses, 500 aid workers, and 250 journalists “have been killed by Israel."
Condemning Thursday's veto, Hamas accused the US of “blatant complicity in the crime of genocide," which Israel is accused of committing in an ongoing International Court of Justice (ICJ) case filed in December 2023 by South Africa and backed by around two dozen nations.
Hamas—which led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel and is believed to be holding 20 hostages left alive out of 251 people kidnapped that day—implored the countries that sponsored the ceasefire resolution to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who along with former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, to accept an agreement to halt hostilities.
Overall, at least 65,141 Palestinians have been killed and over 165,900 others wounded by Israeli forces since October 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry—whose figures have not only been confirmed by former IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, but deemed a significant undercount by independent researchers. Thousands more Gazans are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the ruins of the flattened strip.
UK Ambassador to the UN Barbara Woodward stessed after Thursday's failed UNSC resolution that "we need a ceasefire more than ever."
“Israel’s reckless expansion of its military operation takes us further away from a deal which could bring the hostages home and end the suffering in Gaza," Woodward said.
Thursday's developments came as Israeli forces continued to lay waste to Gaza City as they push deeper into the city as part of Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse around 1 million Palestinians from the strip's capital. Israeli leaders have said they are carrying out the operation in accordance with Trump's proposal to empty Gaza of Palestinians and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
In what some observers said was a bid to prevent the world from witnessing fresh Israeli war crimes in Gaza City, internet and phone lines were cut off in the strip Thursday, although officials said service has since been mostly restored.
Gaza officials said Thursday that at least 50 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces since dawn, including 40 in Gaza City, which Al Jazeera reporter Tareq Abu Azzoum said is being pummeled into "a lifeless wasteland."
Azzoum reported that tens of thousands of Palestinians "are moving to the south on foot or in carts, looking for any place that is relatively safe—but with no guarantee of safety—or at least for shelter."
Israel has repeatedly bombed areas it advised Palestinians were "safe zones," including a September 2 airstrike that massacred 11 people—nine of them children—queued up to collect water in al-Mawasi.
"Most families who have arrived in the south have not found space," Azzoum added. "That’s why we’ve seen people setting up makeshift tents close to the water while others are left stranded in the street, living under the open sky."
President Donald Trump doubled down on his threats to silence his critics Thursday, telling reporters aboard Air Force One that outlets that give him "bad press" may have their broadcast licenses taken away.
The threat came just one day after his Federal Communications Commission (FCC) director, Brendan Carr, successfully pressured ABC into pulling Jimmy Kimmel's show from the air by threatening the broadcast licenses of its affiliates over a comment the comedian made about the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"I read someplace that the networks were 97% against me," Trump told the press gaggle. "I get 97% negative, and yet I won it easily. I won all seven swing states, popular vote, I won everything. And they're 97% against, they give me wholly bad publicity... I mean, they're getting a license, I would think maybe their license should be taken away."
"When you have a network and you have evening shows and all they do is hit Trump, that’s all they do," the president continued. "If you go back, I guess they haven’t had a conservative on in years or something, somebody said, but when you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
He said that the decision would be left up to Carr, who has threatened to take away licenses from networks that air what he called "distorted" content.
It is unclear where Trump's statistic that networks have been "97% against" him originates, nor the claim that mainstream news networks "haven't had a conservative on in years."
But even if it were true, FCC Commissioner Anna Gomez says "the FCC doesn't have the authority, the ability, or the constitutional right to revoke a license because of content."
In comments made to Axios Thursday, Gomez—the lone Democrat on the five-member panel—said that the Trump administration was "weaponizing its licensing authority in order to bring broadcasters to heel," as part of a "campaign of censorship and control."
National news networks like ABC, CBS, and NBC do not have broadcasting licenses approved by the FCC, nor do cable networks like CNN, MSNBC, or Fox News. The licenses threatened by Carr are for local affiliates, which—despite having the branding of the big networks—are owned by less well-known companies like Nexstar Media Group and the Sinclair Broadcasting Group, both of which pushed in favor of ABC's decision to ax Kimmel.
Gomez said that with Trump's intimidation of broadcasters, the "threat is the point."
"It is a very hard standard to meet to revoke a license, which is why it's so rarely done, but broadcast license to the broadcasters are extremely valuable," she said. "And so they don't want to be dragged before the FCC either in order to answer to an enforcement complaint of some kind or under the threat of possible revocation."
Democratic lawmakers are vowing to investigate the Trump administration's pressure campaign that may have led to ABC deciding to indefinitely suspend late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) announced on Thursday that he filed a motion to subpoena Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr one day after he publicly warned ABC of negative consequences if the network kept Kimmel on the air.
"Enough of Congress sleepwalking while [President Donald] Trump and [Vice President JD] Vance shred the First Amendment and Constitution," Khanna declared. "It is time for Congress to stand up for Article I."
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, also said on Thursday that he was opening an investigation into the potential financial aspects of Carr's pressure campaign on ABC, including the involvement of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which is the network's largest affiliate and is currently involved in merger talks that will need FCC approval.
"The Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into ABC, Sinclair, and the FCC," he said. "We will not be intimidated and we will defend the First Amendment."
Progressive politicians weren't the only ones launching an investigation into the Kimmel controversy, as legal organization Democracy Forward announced that it's filed a a Freedom of Information Act request for records after January 20, 2025 related to any FCC efforts “to use the agency’s licensing and enforcement powers to police and limit speech and influence what the public can watch and hear.”