Monday, September 9, 2024
BY MATT BERG & CROOKED MEDIA
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Members of a second federal employees’ union will officially call for a ceasefire in Gaza, in a sign of growing internal dissent over the Biden administration’s policy toward Israel, What A Day has exclusively learned.
- Opposition to U.S. handling of the crisis in Gaza has been gradually expanding for months among rank-and-file members of the administration, as the conflict’s death toll continues to surge. Now, a group representing over 1,000 federal employees is taking an official stand. Members of the National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 335, which represents Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees, voted last week to join other major labor unions in calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, according to a document obtained by What A Day. The group is only the second chapter of any federal government union to call for a ceasefire in Gaza, and is due to make an official announcement as soon as Monday evening.
- “This humanitarian crisis has become too important to ignore,” Alexis Goldstein, a rank-and-file member of the union, told What A Day. “As campus protests are resuming, so are new pushes from within the government itself to end the war on Gaza.”
- The vote could put more pressure on big federal employee unions to take a stance. In March, one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s most vocal unions became the first federal government union to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Other major unions, including the United Auto Workers and the American Postal Workers Union, have called for protecting Palestinian rights, a release of the hostages held by Hamas militants, and a ceasefire to end the war.
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The pushback comes one day before Vice President Kamala Harris' first — and possibly only — debate against Donald Trump before the November presidential election.
- The Biden administration has faced internal dissent about its Israel policy since the war began last October: Several administration officials have resigned in protest and campaign staffers signed an anonymous letter voicing their discontent with President Joe Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza. The White House hasn’t wavered in its support for Israel, approving massive amounts of military assistance to the nation — including a $20 billion weapons package last month — as Israel continues its devastating operations in the territory. Over 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to local health officials.
- In a slideshow presented to union members, the NTEU chapter argues that “ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire” and the “increasing need for humanitarian aid and release of hostages” make it necessary to call for an end to the war. The Biden administration is reassessing its strategy toward securing a hostage release and ceasefire deal in Gaza, as both Israel and Hamas take tougher negotiations positions, Axios reports.
- Some critics of Biden’s policies have held out hope that Harris would be tougher on Israel. But Harris recently said she won’t put conditions on providing Israel with weapons if elected president, a topic she’s likely to face again during her debate on Tuesday evening. Biden and Harris “are working day and night to free the hostages and alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza who are caught in the middle of this conflict and are living in hellish conditions,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett told What A Day.
Many Democrats don’t believe the Harris campaign will lose the election if she stays the course on Israel policy. But it’s a gamble the campaign is making — even as many voters are hoping for change.
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Abortion has won everywhere it's been on the ballot in the past two years — literally. But will the battle for reproductive rights help Kamala Harris and Democrats win Arizona this November? Some close poll-watchers think so.
Arizonans will vote on whether to add the right to an abortion to the state’s constitution. The battleground state currently has a law that bans abortion after 15 weeks, while the amendment would allow abortions until around 24 weeks.
The massive pro-choice mobilization effort in Arizona may boost Democrats’ odds in the Grand Canyon State. “I would assume that having it on the ballot should help Harris and other pro-choice candidates,” Samara Klar, a political science professor at Arizona State University, told What A Day. Elections in Arizona are so close — Biden won by 0.3 percent in 2020 — that anything might make a difference, Klar added.
“For the first time since I can remember, I hear Latino men talking about abortion rights … I hear your kind of country club Republican males now talking about how extreme this is, so this has crossed these barriers that didn't exist before,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), the state Democratic candidate for Senate, told Pod Save America on Sunday. |
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Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD is out now! Hosted by Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika, the series begins in the summer of 1835, when Black New Yorkers are being kidnapped and sold into slavery in the south. But their friends and families can’t call the cops - because it turns out the kidnappers are the cops. Can a group of Black resistance fighters stop it? As the debate around policing rages on, Empire City uncovers the truths about where it all began. Follow Empire City, an official Tribeca selection, on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts to hear the first two episodes. For early, ad-free access, join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Empire City is a Wondery & Crooked Media production. The show is Executive Produced by Pushblack.
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Israeli diplomats are lobbying members of Congress to push South Africa to end its genocide case against Israel over its war in Gaza, Axios reports. South Africa has until Oct. 28 to give the International Court of Justice its arguments for continuing the case.
GOP veep nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and Republican lawmakers are spewing racist rhetoric about Haitian migrants coming to the United States, at a time when Port-Au-Prince is being overrun by violent gangs. The latest baseless conspiracy theory involves migrants allegedly eating people’s pets. “Oh, I see we're doing the whole demonize Haitian migrants ahead of an election thing again,” Jake Johnston, author of a recent book about Haiti, wrote on X. Does anyone expect anything less?
Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the failed former presidential candidate, will remain on the state’s ballot. It’s likely the last word in the noted roadkill enthusiast’s battle to remove his name to bolster Trump’s campaign. Michigan voters will get to decide between an anti-vax whale beheader, a convicted felon/sexual abuser and Kamala Harris. This is a tough one.
A new poll from the New York Times/Siena College shows Kamala Harris trailing Donald Trump by 1 percentage point nationally, suggesting that Harris’ “honeymoon” of momentum could be ending. But Crooked’s own poll guru, Dan Pfeiffer, says it’s no cause to panic in a new, bonus episode of Pollercoaster. Listen to it on Friends of the Pod by subscribing at crooked.com/friends or through your Apple Pods feed.
Trump proposed mass arrests for his adversaries, including Democratic donors, if he wins the election. “WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED” in elections of 2020 or 2024 “will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences,” he wrote on his social media cesspool Truth Social over the weekend. Yes, lean into authoritarianism! I’ve heard people who live in a democracy love that.
James Earl Jones, who voiced Darth Vader in "Star Wars" and starred in "Field of Dreams" among other classics, died at 93 years old on Monday. As Babe Ruth says in "The Sandlot," “heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”
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Two things we love: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis having a bad day, and weed legalization. However… brace for this… shockingly, Trump happens to be the vehicle for both — saying that he supports loosening federal marijuana restrictions in the state just hours after DeSantis warned voters against the measure. I’d like to think some wacky tobaccy rewired Trump’s brain chemistry for good. |
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