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1 in 5 Wisconsin Democrats Said Gaza War Will Impact Their Primary Vote
More than 1 in 5 Wisconsin Democrats said that Israel’s war in Gaza is impacting their vote in the state’s primary on Tuesday, while 71% said they strongly support an immediate and permanent ceasefire, according to a new poll released on Monday.
11% of respondents said President Joe Biden’s handling of the war will impact their vote in November if he does not change course and another nearly 14 percent said it could. Nearly 5%, meanwhile, said their vote has been impacted regardless of a change in policy.
Not a surprise that the Fascist Party in attempting to limit democracy in Missouri.
Lawmakers, in a panic over the prospect that voters might overturn their abortion ban, are moving at what for them amounts to lightning speed on a constitutional amendment to make it harder to pass initiative petitions in Missouri.
Big surprise.
Nations Are Undercounting Emissions, Putting UN Goals at Risk - Yale E360
Because of lax rules, national inventories reported to the United Nations grossly underestimate many countries’ greenhouse gas emissions…
In the United States, an analysis published this month of the air over the country’s oil and natural gas fields found that they emit three times more methane — a gas responsible for a third of current warming — than the government has reported.
Lots of planning for November and post election: How Viktor Orbán Conquered the Heritage Foundation | The New Republic
Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán made waves by flying to the United States to meet with Donald Trump—but not with sitting president Joe Biden. It was, at a minimum, a severe breach of diplomatic protocol, and one that threatens to unravel Budapest’s strained relations with Washington even further. Even Biden himself commented on the meeting, saying that Orbán—an authoritarian who has effectively unwound Hungarian democracy—was “looking for dictatorship.”
Not only will the cost of food contiune to rise, but an increasingly destabilized climate will decrease crop production as the population of the planet grows. We will have food shortages. The poorest of the planet will suffer first. And the wealthiest 10% are okay with that.
Extreme Heat Is Driving Up Food Prices — and It’s Only Going to Get Worse | Truthout
Food prices have climbed 25 percent over the past four years, and Americans have been shocked…
We’ve been warned, we sholudn’t be shocked.
The GOP is Fascism now.
Walberg, a fundamentalist former Christian pastor, once ran the homophobic, far right Moody Bible Institute in Chicago while supposedly representing a Michigan district, Walberg is against everything— a woman’s right to choose, the Affordable Care Act, gay marriage, and any attempt to counter the climate crisis. He went to Uganda to voice support for that country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act, which prescribes executions for gay people.
‘Obscene’: Biden Quietly OKs More 2,000-Pound Bombs, Warplanes for Israel
The Washington Post reported Friday that Biden authorized shipments including more than “1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, as well as 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines worth approximately $2.5 billion.”
“Arming a war criminal makes you a war criminal,” one critic admonished the U.S. president.
Despite growing worldwide calls for an arms embargo, the Biden administration in recent days has approved the transfer of billions of dollars worth of new weapons shipments to Israel…
Gaza starvation could amount to war crime, UN human rights chief tells BBC
After months of warnings, a recent UN-backed report offered hard statistical evidence that the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is turning into a man-made famine.
It has increased the pressure on Israel to fulfil its legal responsibilities to protect Palestinian civilians, and to allow adequate supplies of humanitarian aid to reach the people who need it.
According to Volker Türk, the UN’s most senior human rights official, there is a “plausible” case that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza.
In the US we’re just beginning to pay the price for what we’ve done. The wealthiest class in the top 10% on the planet (most in the US are in this group), are now feeling just a hint of the pain that is to come. The insurance crisis will bleed out into other economic crises. And we in western nations have not yet begun to experience the food shortages that will come soon enough as the climate emergency creates instability in the agricultural systems of the world.
The home insurance market is crumbling. These owners are paying the price | CNN Business
But as climate change increases the frequency and severity of extreme weather, insurers — especially those in areas most impacted by floods and fires — are raising their premiums, or pulling out altogether, impacting the affordability and availability of home and fire insurance.
Herrera shopped around for a new plan, but he struggled to find a policy. Louisiana Citizens, the insurer of last resort for property owners in the state, was out of the question. It would have cost more than $7,000 annually…
“It’s a very difficult situation,” he said. He never imagined that when he bought his home, private insurance options would be this limited and the last resort insurer would be so expensive…
He never imagined because he, like most in the US, wasn’t paying fucking attention. Climate scientists and activists have been warning for at least two decades that this day would come.
Herrera’s insurance story is common in Louisiana and other places across the country at increasingly higher risk for extreme weather.
There were a record 28 weather and climate disasters with losses totaling over $1 billion last year in America, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. By comparison, between 1980 and 2023, the typical annual average for these events was 8.5.
Just getting started.
‘Ecocide in Gaza’: does scale of environmental destruction amount to a war crime? | The Guardian
Satellite analysis revealed to the Guardian shows farms devastated and nearly half of the territory’s trees razed. Alongside mounting air and water pollution, experts says Israel’s onslaught on Gaza’s ecosystems has made the area unlivable
For those of us in the US acknowledging the truth of our own history is not something often taught in schools nor encouraged in our culture generally. The truth is not the wholesome tv show Little House on the Prairie that I grew up watching. It’s a violent truth and we should reckon with it.
Settler colonialism - Wikipedia
Settler colonialism occurs when colonizers invade and occupy territory to permanently replace the existing society with the society of the colonizers.
Settler colonialism is a form of exogenous domination typically organized or supported by an imperial authority, which maintains a connection or control to the territory through the settler’s colonialism.
Learn about the Indigenous people on whose land you occupy via Native Land Digital.
Learn about Territory Acknowledgement:
Territory acknowledgement is a way that people insert an awareness of Indigenous presence and land rights in everyday life. This is often done at the beginning of ceremonies, lectures, or any public event. It can be a subtle way to recognize the history of colonialism and a need for change in settler colonial societies.
I live on the traditional territory of:
ICJ orders Israel to take action to address famine in Gaza:
Judges at the International Court of Justice have unanimously ordered Israel to take all the necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to Gaza’s hunger-ravaged population.
Mustafa Barghouti, the secretary-general of the Palestinian National Initiative party, tells Al Jazeera that the move is an “important step” that should be followed by another resolution enforcing a “complete cessation of all military activities by Israel”.
The US and Israel continue partnership in war crimes.
Despite a U.N.-backed report sounding the alarm on imminent famine in northern Gaza, Israeli authorities announced Sunday they will no longer approve the passage of any UNRWA food convoys into northern Gaza. “Our ability to adequately continue saving lives is really being obstructed,” says UNRWA… The decision came as President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill that strips funding to UNRWA for the next year.
I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy - YouTube
A State Department official working on human rights issues in the Middle East resigned Wednesday in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Annelle Sheline, who worked as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, was not planning on publicly resigning, but her colleagues asked her to “please speak out” against the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel. “At the end of the day, many people inside [the State Department] know that this is a horrific policy, and can’t believe that the United States government is engaged in such actions that contravene American values so directly, but the leadership is not listening,” says Sheline. “I’m trying to speak on behalf of those many, many people who feel so betrayed by our government’s stance.” Sheline describes being moved by the words of Aaron Bushnell, the active-duty U.S. airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in protest of the war on Gaza, who implored everyone to take a stand against genocide. “I have a young daughter, and I thought about, in the future, if she were to ask me, ‘What were you doing when this was happening? You were at the State Department.’ I want to be able to tell her that I didn’t stay silent.”
Israel: Above the law? | Featured Documentary - YouTube
A look into how and why international laws and principles are being applied and ignored in the Israel-Gaza conflict…
This documentary will explore whether Israel is breaking international law and, if so, why are Western powers, in particular the United States, silent.
This is the kind of response I get when I email or call "my" representatives in congress:
Meanwhile...
Videos of malnourished children show Gaza’s forced starvation crisis | Al Jazeera Newsfeed - YouTube
Starvation is getting worse in north Gaza where 31% of children under the age of 2 are suffering from acute malnutrition, a percentage which has doubled since January.
I’m glad I avoid posting hot takes. Yesterday, Serif, the maker of the very popular Affinity suite of apps, shared the news that it had been acquired by Canva. The thing is, the Affinity apps are very popular alternative to Adobe’s subscription apps. They’re popular because they are excellent but, notably, they are not subscription based apps but rather are available as a one-time purchase.
But Canva, a MUCH larger company, only offers subscriptions. So, predictably, a lot of people quickly jumped to the conclusion that the current version of Affinity apps would be the last available for purchase and that in the future it would be subscription only. Today Serif posted The Affinity and Canva Pledge. The first item of four:
FAIR PRICING Perpetual licenses will always be offered and we will always price Affinity fairly and affordably.
Of course, there’s no way to know if this was the plan or if they may have changed course due to a day of social media complaints. Regardless, I’m relieved that they’ve made it clear!
The tide of public opinion in the US has finally turned against Israel and it only took the deaths of 32,000 civilians, countless war crimes, a declaration by the ICJ of plausible genocide and a deliberate campaign by Israel to starve over a million humans.
Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Action in Gaza
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After narrowly backing Israel’s military action in Gaza in November, Americans now oppose the campaign by a solid margin. Fifty-five percent currently disapprove of Israel’s actions, while 36% approve.
Listening to the current episode of the Politically Depressed Podcast: Who pays for your silence? and while the whole episode is excellent, this unspoken truth gave me pause:
Palestinians are paying the price of European anti-semitism.
It’s generally a good podcast by a young Lebanese activist living outside his country. Often meandering and sad, his effort to share and process his thoughts and observations of the state of the world.
Extreme heat could trigger the worst global financial crisis ever seen | New Scientist
Without dramatic action to curb greenhouse emissions, even high-latitude countries with cooler climates will suffer devastating, if indirect, financial losses as extreme heat disrupts global supply chains. The result could be the worst financial crisis the world has ever seen.
It is already well known that severe heatwaves have numerous health and economic impacts, including higher mortality rates, preventing people from working outside, destroying crops and disrupting industrial processes.