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Dear Progressive Reader,

The official death toll in Gaza has surpassed ([link removed].) 20,000, with an additional unknown number of people still buried beneath the rubble ([link removed]) of destroyed buildings. The United States finally allowed ([link removed]) a resolution to pass in the U.N. Security Council that calls for ([link removed]) “immediate, safe, and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to the Palestinian civilian population,” but stops short ([link removed]) of calling for an immediate ceasefire. On two previous occasions, the United
States had voted to oppose ([link removed]) ceasefire resolutions using its unilateral veto power on the Security Council. Following the veto of the second resolution, it was passed ([link removed]) overwhelmingly ([link removed]) in the U.N. General Assembly, a body that does not have ([link removed].) enforcement capability. Security Council resolutions (like the one passed yesterday) on the other hand carry the weight of law under Article 25 ([link removed]) of the U.N. Charter.

Award-winning Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha wrote ([link removed]) on Instagram earlier this week, “How can that soldier who presses the Fire Button sleep after seeing the children in pieces? (Maybe he does not see anything except for the Fire Button).” Abu Toha, whose work has appeared ([link removed]) in The Progressive, is currently in Cairo, Egypt, with his immediate family, but members of his extended family remain in Gaza under threat from frequent bombardment. On Friday, Abu Toha was featured in an extended interview ([link removed]) with host Amna Nawaz on the PBS television program News Hour. And last Thursday morning, I updated listeners on WORT-FM community radio about Abu Toha’s situation and then went on to speak with ([link removed]) host Tony Castaneda about the number of
journalists being killed in this conflict—many of them, according to independent investigations, clearly targeted because they were media workers. The Committee to Protect Journalists noted ([link removed]) last week that sixty-four (and that number was just updated this morning to sixty-nine) journalists have been killed since October 7, three-and-one-half times the total number killed in Gaza in the thirty years prior to that date for which CPJ has been keeping records.

In a related story, the BBC reported ([link removed]) Thursday that Hanan Elatr, the widow of slain Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi had final received political asylum in the United States after a lengthy process. Khashoggi, who had lived in the United States and wrote regularly ([link removed]) for The Washington Post, was brutally murdered ([link removed]) inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Türkiye, in October 2018. Since that time, Elatr has feared for her safety.

In election news, Wisconsin’s state supreme court ruled ([link removed]) on Friday afternoon that the state’s gerrymandered electoral maps were unconstitutional—opening the door for a complete redraw of the maps prior to the 2024 election season. Wisconsin State Assembly Speaker Robin Vos has threatened ([link removed]) that the case will be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Vos, a Republican, also told ([link removed]) Wisconsin Public Television’s Here and Now on Friday that, in spite of any maps, he believes: “We're gonna win again in 2024 because we have better candidates.”

And in another case that will no doubt be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Colorado state supreme court ruled ([link removed]) on Tuesday, in a case brought by ([link removed]) Republican plaintiffs, that “indictee-in-chief” Donald Trump’s name could not appear on that state’s primary ballot because he is ineligible under the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Similar cases are under consideration ([link removed]) in as many as sixteen other states. Bill Lueders, however, writing in our December/January issue took a contrary position, stating ([link removed]) : “Even if it were legally possible to keep Trump off the ballot, I believe doing so would be
an affront to democracy. If the people of this country want to elect a President as manifestly corrupt and unfit as Donald Trump, that is their right. Letting voters make bad decisions is the essence of democracy.”

On our website this week Jeff Abbott reports on ([link removed]) U.S. immigration policy that is causing a growing backlog in the Mexican state of Chiapas, and Miriam Davidson describes ([link removed]) the desperate need for refugee assistance in a small town in Arizona. Plus, Eleanor J. Bader reviews ([link removed]) a new film about a little known reproductive freedom advocate Bill Baird; Maurice Cunningham looks at ([link removed]) the “Rise and Fall” of the group Moms for Liberty; Ryan Dudley takes aim ([link removed]) at the suffering being caused by Texas abortion restrictions; and Jeff
Spitzer-Resnick profiles ([link removed]) the wide variety of opinion and tactics among various progressive Jewish groups opposing the war in Gaza.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.


Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - Don’t miss a minute of the “hidden history” of 2024 – You can still order The Progressive’s new Hidden History of the United States calendar for the coming year. Just go to indiepublishers.shop ([link removed]) , and while you are there, checkout some of our other great offerings as well. There is still time to get your items delivered for the holidays.

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