Month: May 2024 (Page 1 of 2)
A Manhattan jury on May 30, 2024 found former President Donald Trump guilty of 34 felonies.
After only two-days of deliberation, a unanimous, 12-person jury in the New York case concluded that Trump was guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in an alleged scheme to cover up a hush money payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels before the 2016 presidential election.
While Trump is no longer legally allowed to possess firearms, and may no longer be allowed to vote, he remains the presumptive Republican nominee is still allowed to run for president of the United States.
» Mother Jones » Convicted felon rambles through greatest hits of grievances, falsehoods, and legal nonsense
» The Journal » ‘I’d like them to say, “gee, we have to have a little sorrow for this man”, because they just don’t say that about me.’
» BBC » Can Trump run for president as a convicted felon?
» The Guardian » After guilty verdict on 34 felony counts, Trump criticized the process in speech repeating falsehoods and conspiracy theories
» Globe and Mail » Trump launched into attacks on the judge in his criminal trial and continued to undermine New York’s criminal justice system Friday as he tried to repackage his conviction on 34 felony charges as fuel, not an impediment, to his latest White House bid.
» El País » Landmark ruling against Trump triggers unprecedented political earthquake
» Mother Jones » Trump loses a big battle in his lifelong war against accountability
More » Axios / NBC News / CNN / NPR / Politico
Trump is to be sentenced on July 11.
Mexico is on course to elect its first woman president this weekend, with two front-runners competing to break the highest political glass ceiling in a country with a history of gender violence and inequality.
Ruling-party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum and opposition hopeful Xochitl Galvez, both 61, have dominated the presidential race in the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country, home to 129 million people.
The only man running, Jorge Alvarez Maynez, is trailing far behind with just days left before the vote this coming Sunday. »
Natalie Kitroeff, writing in the NY Times »
Claudia Sheinbaum’s list of accolades is long: She has a Ph.D. and a shared Nobel Peace Prize and was the first woman elected to lead Mexico City, her nation’s capital and one of the largest cities in the Western Hemisphere.
Now she has another chance to make history. Ms. Sheinbaum, 61, is the clear front-runner in the Mexican election on Sunday, putting her in position to become the country’s first female president.
But she has an image problem, and she knows it.
Many Mexicans are wondering: Can she be her own leader? Or is she a pawn of the current president? »
Also » Axios / France 24 / Al Jazeera
“The fighting in Gaza will continue for at least another seven months,” the prime minister’s national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, told Israel’s Kan public radio.
He also said Israel’s military had taken control of 75% of the buffer zone along the Gaza-Egypt border, as it pressed ahead with an assault on the southern city of Rafah.
Residents of Rafah meanwhile reported that there had been more Israeli air strikes and that tanks had mounted raids in central and western areas before retreating. »
Already, some 36,000 Palestinians, mostly children, women and non-combatants, have been killed in Gaza by the Israeli army since October 7, 2024. To date, the government of Israel has shown no intention of ceasing the genocidal actions against the innocent Palestinians, choosing instead to ignore the International Court of Justice order to stop its military operation in the Gaza city of Rafah.
Kuan-Wei Chen, McGill University and Hoda Asgarian, Bond University, writing in The Conversation »
In April, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of a group of seniors who alleged that the Swiss government’s failure to meet climate change mitigation targets is having an adverse impact on their health, well-being and quality of life.
This landmark decision by the highest human rights court in Europe confirms not only that climate change is intimately linked to human rights, but effectively holds all European governments accountable to adopt more rigorous measures to combat climate change. »
The Israeli shelling and airstrikes continues despite an order from the top U.N. court on Friday for Israel to halt its offensive in southern Gaza.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive. The majority are children, women, and other non-combatants. Israel launched its air and ground war after Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities on Oct. 7, 2023 killing around 1,200 people and seizing some 250 hostages, according to Israel.
Samy Magdy and Wafaa Shurafa, writing for the Associated Press »
Israeli shelling and airstrikes killed at least 37 people, most of them sheltering in tents, outside the southern Gaza city of Rafah overnight and on Tuesday — pummeling the same area where strikes triggered a deadly fire days earlier in a camp for displaced Palestinians — according to witnesses, emergency workers and hospital officials.
The tent camp inferno has drawn widespread international outrage, including from some of Israel’s closest allies, over the military’s expanding offensive into Rafah. And in a sign of Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage, Spain, Norway and Ireland formally recognized a Palestinian state on Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia condemned on Tuesday the Israeli forces’ continued “genocidal massacres against the Palestinian people without deterrence” by targeting the tents of defenseless Palestinian refugees in Rafah. The Kingdom holds the Israeli authorities fully responsible for what is happening in Rafah and all the occupied Palestinian territories, a foreign ministry statement read.
Brandeis University’s 73rd Commencement, Sunday, May 19, 2024 »
Transcript
Akhtar Soomro and Ariba Shahid, writing for Reuters »
Temperatures rose above 52 degrees Celsius (125.6 degrees Fahrenheit) in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, the highest reading of the summer and close to the country’s record high amid an ongoing heatwave, the met office said on Monday.
Also » A weather station in New Delhi, India recorded (NDTV) record temperature at 52.3℃ (126℉). India also reported an all-time high in power demand.
Last Updated on May 30, 2024
Health officials said at least 45 Palestinians were killed in the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Sunday night, including displaced people living in tents who were burnt alive.
Netanyahu called it a “tragic mistake.”
Footage and images released from the scene of the strike show large scale destruction.
More » BBC / France 24 / France 24 / Euronews / The Journal / CTV News / Axios / AP / VOA / Time / NYT / Arab News / Globe and Mail
World Leaders Outraged » Officials in France, Germany, EU call for ceasefire » (Salon)
French President Emmanuel Macron called for an immediate cease-fire (UPI)
UN Security Council Expected to hold emergency meeting today (AP)
Meanwhile » Israel continues striking Rafah (Le Monde / BBC)
Israeli tanks advance into Rafah’s centre despite global outcry (Reuters)
The EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said some European countries have been trying to intimidate International Court of Justice judges, following their decision to order Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah. Borrell said the court’s order must be obeyed but he warned that the ruling poses a serious dilemma for the EU.
Updates below »
Israel is unlikely to comply with the order.
The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to halt its offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the Gaza war.
Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” the International Court of Justice said.
More » The Guardian / The Guardian / Globe and Mail / CBC / NBC / NY Times / Washington Post / Al Jazeera
» Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says military operations in Rafah need to stop now that the ICJ has ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city. (CBC)
» The US now has an opening available to stop the bloodshed
Last Updated on May 27, 2024
A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, shows more evidence of the potential danger of drinking unpasteurized, or raw, milk containing H5N1 avian flu viruses.
Helen Branswell, writing in STAT »
“Raw milk is clearly highly suspected of transmitting [H5N1] to animals,” said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “It’s still unclear what the risk is for humans. But I wouldn’t want to take my chances on it.”
Zack Beauchamp, a senior correspondent at Vox, writes »
Interviews with political figures, experts, and activists revealed a sustained campaign where Narendra Modi’s government threatens American citizens and permanent residents who dare speak out on the declining state of the country’s democracy. This campaign has not been described publicly until now because many people in the community — even prominent ones — are too afraid to talk about it.
…
Prior to last year, the idea of India killing American citizens on American soil might have sounded absurd. But in the fall of 2023, both the Canadian government and a US Justice Department indictment alleged that Indian government agents had attempted to assassinate Sikhs living in North America. While federal agents disrupted the American plot, a Canadian citizen was killed by (alleged) Indian agents. The Modi government has denied involvement in both cases, but evidence — including reporting from the Washington Post and the Intercept —suggests they were deeply involved.
Again, evidence that democracy is under attack from the far-right.
The House floor unexpectedly came to a standstill for more than an hour on Wednesday after Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., listed off the criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.
Lauren Peller writing for ABC News »
Rep. McGovern: “Donald Trump might want to be a king. But he is not a king. He is not a presumptive king. He’s not even a president. He’s a presumptive nominee. And I know you’re trying to do your job and follow precedent but, frankly, at some point it’s time for this body to recognize that there is no precedent for this situation. We have a presumptive nominee for president facing 88 felony counts and we are being prevented from even acknowledging it. These are not alternative facts. There are real facts. A candidate for president of the United States is on trial for sending a hush money payment to a porn star to avoid a sex scandal during his 2016 campaign, and then fraudulently disguising those payments in violation of the law. He is also charged with conspiring to overturn the election. He is also charged with stealing classified information. And a jury has already found him liable for rape in a civil court. And yet, in this Republican-controlled House, it’s okay to talk about the trial but you have to call it a sham.”
Republican Rep. Erin Houchin: “We take down his words.”
Rep. McGovern: “It’s okay to say the jury is rigged, but not that Trump should be held accountable.”
Rep. Houchin: “Mr. Speaker, I demand that his words be taken down.”
Rep. McGovern: “It’s okay to say the court is corrupt, but not Trump corrupting the rule of law.”
The U.S. government filed a sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of Ticketmaster, seeking to “break up” the company, accusing it of unlawfully dominating the market.
Alexander Mallin, writing for ABC News »
The lawsuit, filed by the DOJ and 30 state and district attorneys general in federal court in the Southern District of New York, accuses the company of creating a monopoly over the live entertainment market that has harmed music fans, artists and promoters around the United States through higher prices and frustrating consumer experiences.
“The result is that fans pay more in fees, artists have fewer opportunities to play concerts, smaller promoters get squeezed out, and venues have fewer real choices for ticketing services,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the lawsuit. “It is time to break up Live Nation.”
More » The Guardian / Le Monde / BBC / CBC / CNBC / Axios / Business Insider / The Verge / Gizmodo / Fortune / Fast Company / Al Jazeera / Matt Stoller
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Karim A.A. Khan, said on May 20, 2024 that he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.
Khan said he has “reasonable grounds to believe” these five men bear “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to Hamas’s October 7 attack in Israel and the war in the Gaza Strip.
The full statement of ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan KC » Applications for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine
A panel of six experts in international law – Lord Justice Fulford, Judge Theodor Meron CMG, Amal Clooney, Danny Friedman KC, Baroness Helena Kennedy LT KC, and Elizabeth Wilmshurst CMG KC – authored Why we support ICC prosecutions for crimes in Israel and Gaza, published in the Financial Times. In it they state »
The attacks by Hamas in Israel on October 7 and the military response by Israeli forces in Gaza have tested the system of international law to its limits. This is why, as international lawyers, we felt compelled to assist …
In our legal report published today, we unanimously agree that the prosecutor’s work was rigorous, fair and grounded in the law and the facts. And we unanimously agree that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the suspects he identifies have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the ICC.
More » CNN / The Guardian / BBC / Le Monde / Euronews / Radio Free Europe / DW / France 24 / NYT / The East African / Al Jazeera / CBC
Last Updated on May 27, 2024
John Naughton, writing in The Guardian »
There was such a pushback over the new ad that Apple withdrew it and rescinded plans to air it on television. According to a senior executive, it had “missed the mark”. Au contraire: it had merely revealed an inconvenient truth – that at heart Apple is merely another giant corporation.
Last Updated on May 23, 2024
Billions of people around the world rely on a cup of coffee or three to get them through the day, every day. So, what does coffee do to our bodies?
https://youtu.be/62wEk02YKs0?si=TM9ccHH7_nUu4cmp
Last Updated on May 23, 2024
Jodi Kantor, writing in the NY Times »
After the 2020 presidential election, as some Trump supporters falsely claimed that President Biden had stolen the office, many of them displayed a startling symbol outside their homes, on their cars and in online posts: an upside-down American flag.
One of the homes flying an inverted flag during that time was the residence of Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in Alexandria, Va., according to photographs and interviews with neighbors.
Last Updated on May 23, 2024