Category: Democracy (Page 2 of 10)
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
Brandeis University’s 73rd Commencement, Sunday, May 19, 2024 »
Note: Clicking the above image will load and play the video from YouTube.
Transcript
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 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