In a letter, the Biden supporters—who according toThe New York Times include some six-figure donors—condemned the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel while also arguing that Israeli military actions are not achieving the goals of eliminating the Palestinian group or freeing hostages.
Respective committees from each chamber must now review some of the differences in House Bill 814 and Senate Bill 744 such as when the legislation goes into effect, specific diversionary programs for children ages 10 to 12, and who would serve on a Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging and Best Practices.
If lawmakers pass the legislation with what advocates call “regressive provisions,” then Gov. Wes Moore (D) should veto the bills when they come to his desk, the advocates said Thursday.
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Kenya has suspended a police deployment to Haiti to be part of a US- and UN-backed mission, shortly after the de facto prime minister and president of the Caribbean country, Ariel Henry, announced his decision to resign on March 11.
Abraham Korir Sing’Oei, the principal secretary of Kenya’s foreign ministry, stated on March 12 that the deployment would be “contingent on the ground situation, and the critical ground situation is that there has to be an authority that can be the basis for a police deployment, that enjoys constitutional authority in Haiti”.
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The following period saw a surge in violence by armed groups in Haiti, causing mass displacement especially in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Even as people in the country were taking to the streets to protest the government’s failure to respond to issues of poverty and insecurity, social and political movements in the country had repeatedly warned that the situation must not be used as a pretext for foreign intervention in the country.
Especially given the role that countries like the US had historically played in undermining Haiti’s sovereignty, through the 2004 coup and direct occupation, and the fact that much of the weapons being used by groups in the country had flown in from the US.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Montana Accord— a product of consultations among hundreds of civil society organizations, popular movements, political parties, and individuals to devise a solution out of the present crisis from within the country— was largely sidelined.
“We have to organize the elections, organize the bases to solve the problem of insecurity in the country and reorganize the judicial system. But the United States and other imperialist powers have blocked the [Montana] agreement because it also provides for the end of interference by foreign powers in Haiti,” Jean Waltés Bien-Aime, a journalist with Radio Resistencia and the Haitian Popular Press Agency, told Brasil de Fato.
In October 2022, Henry requested the international community for a “specialized armed force” to be deployed to the country, sparking protests in the country. In October 2023, the UN Security Council voted to authorize a “Multinational Security Support” (MSS) to Haiti, with abstentions from Russia and China. Kenya offered to lead the mission, pledging to deploy 1,000 police officers.
The MSS would not be a UN mission, which had itself had an over decade long military presence in Haiti through its “stabilization mission” MINUSTAH, which raised concerns of accountability.
The US announced USD 200 million in funding for the mission, announcing an additional USD 100 million on March 11, while the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad formally notified the UN of their intention to provide personnel for the deployment.
Meanwhile, at the end of January, the High Court in Kenya declared the deployment of personnel to Haiti unconstitutional, ruling that the country’s National Security Council did not have the authority to deploy police officers outside the country. The order was the extension of interim measures first issued by the court in October, which Kenya’s parliament defied to authorize the mission.
Progressive forces within the country, particularly the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) had vehemently rejected the deployment, reiterating that “Haiti requires no foreign intervention; this crisis is orchestrated by the core group of the US, Canada, and France, aiming to maintain hegemony and settle scores with Haiti for its historic slave revolution against French rule”.
Nevertheless, President William Ruto had declared his intention to proceed with the deployment. At the end of February, Ariel Henry flew to Nairobi to sign “reciprocal agreement” with Ruto to “enable the fast-tracking of the deployment”. In Henry’s absence, armed groups within Haiti launched a major offensive, leaving him unable to return to the country.
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On March 11, an emergency meeting was convened by the regional bloc CARICOM in Jamaica, also involving representatives from Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico, the UN, and the US. The meeting produced a “transitional governance arrangement” which would involve the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council and subsequently the appointment of an interim Prime Minister.
“The government that I am leading will resign immediately after the installation of [a transition] council”, Henry stated in a video address. The Council will be composed of seven voting members, drawn from seven designated groups including the signatories of the Montana Agreement, and two-non voting observers from the civil society and the InterFaith community.
Importantly, the Council will exclude anyone who opposes the UN Security Council Resolution 2699, which authorized the deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti.
Even though Kenya’s deployment seems to be on hold at the moment, the US-sponsored intervention in Haiti remains on the table, in complete defiance of the sovereign demands of the Haitian people.
Meanwhile, the Transitional Presidential Council will also be in charge of appointing an “inclusive Council of Ministers” and set the criteria for selecting an “impartial Provisional Electoral Council (CEP)” to hold the long-delayed elections.
Not only does the un-elected Council go against the demands of the Haitian masses and popular organizations, prominent leaders of armed groups including Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer, have warned that Haiti will be plunged into further chaos if the international community “chooses a small group of politicians to negotiate with them on paper to decide who can be president and what kind of government”.
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The New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal on Tuesday filed a lawsuit on behalf of members of two pro-Palestine student groups at Columbia University which avocates say were illegally suspended for engaging in peaceful protests and other events protected under the First Amendment.
By Ari Paul
A bipartisan effort to effectively ban the social media network, TikTok in the United States has taken a great leap forward. The House of Representatives voted 352–65 that the network’s parent company, ByteDance must divest itself from Chinese ownership.
Lawmakers contend that “TikTok’s Chinese ownership poses a national security risk because Beijing could use the app to gain access to Americans’ data or run a disinformation campaign” (New York Times, 3/13/24). While proponents of the legislation say this is only a restriction on Chinese government control, critics of the bill say this constitutes an effective ban.
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In a prerecorded message released on social networks just after midnight, Ariel Henry, who has held de facto power in Haiti since shortly after the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moïse, agreed to resign. Sort of.
Henry has been holed up in Puerto Rico for a week, unable to return to Haiti as coordinated attacks from armed groups shut down the airport. Once the US pulled its support last week, he was left in limbo and had not issued any public statements until early this morning. It is unclear to what extent he was under pressure from the US to remain out of the country and to stay quiet.
WASHINGTON — In remarks pivotal to his reelection this fall, President Joe Biden in his State of the Union address Thursday night portrayed himself as the defender of democracy, touted the bipartisan deals he’s brokered during his first term in office and appealed to Congress to support Ukraine in its battle against the Russian invasion.
“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” Biden said. “A future based on the core values that have defined America: honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor. Now some other people my age see a differently: an American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”
Without ever uttering his name, Biden rebuked likely Republican opponent Donald Trump by calling him “a former president” and said that Trump’s recent comments at a rally in South Carolina about allowing Russia’s military to attack NATO allies were outrageous, dangerous and unacceptable.
“History is literally watching,” Biden said. “If the United States walks away, it will put Ukraine at risk. Europe is at risk. The free world will be at risk, emboldening others to do what they wish, to do us harm.”
Biden said that “what makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time.”
The president promised to seek the restoration of reproductive rights — speaking to a chamber full of Democratic women dressed in white, intended to show their support for such rights — and with a heavy emphasis on an economic agenda he vowed to reduce health care costs, impose higher taxes on the wealthy and bring back an expanded child tax credit.
Back and forth over immigration
Trump has made immigration a main theme of his campaign, and the Republican-led House earlier Thursday passed legislation named for a murdered college student from Georgia, Laken Riley, whose death has been tied by conservatives to White House immigration policies.
As Biden walked down the House aisle before the speech, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who was wearing a t-shirt bearing Riley’s name, attempted to hand Biden a button with Riley’s name on it. And when Biden mentioned immigration during his remarks, Greene continued to interrupt the president.
Biden’s address to the joint session of Congress was part campaign speech, part legislative agenda and part victory lap on the laws enacted during his first term. But it was also significant because it was the largest audience he is likely to have to himself all year, both in person and watching on television.
The speech marked an especially important moment for Biden’s reelection bid after dozens of Republicans questioned his mental faculties following Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on classified documents, which said the president “would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Biden will have dozens of opportunities to take the message in his State of the Union speech directly to voters in the months ahead, beginning with a visit to the Philadelphia area on Friday and a trip to Atlanta on Saturday.
On foreign policy, Biden used the address to call for the protection of civilians in Gaza and for Hamas to release the hostages that militants have held since attacking Israel in October.
He pressed Congress to approve aid for Ukraine and Israel as well as the bipartisan border security and immigration bill that senators negotiated earlier this year — and that Republicans then dropped under pressure from Trump.
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“President Roosevelt’s purpose was to wake up Congress and alert the American people that this was no ordinary time. Freedom and democracy were under assault in the world,” Biden said.
“Tonight I come to the same chamber to address the nation. Now it is we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the Union,” Biden added. “And yes, my purpose tonight is to wake up this Congress, and alert the American people that this is no ordinary moment either.”
Biden assured lawmakers who think that Russian President Vladimir Putin will stop if he successfully overtakes Ukraine that he will not end his military campaign there.
Biden criticized Trump and Republican lawmakers in statehouses throughout the country for restricting or banning access to abortion in the last two years after the Supreme Court’s conservative justices overturned the constitutional right to end a pregnancy that had stood for nearly 50 years.
“My predecessor came into office determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned,” Biden said. “He’s the reason it was overturned and he brags about it. Look at the chaos that has resulted.”
Biden then called on voters to flip the U.S. House back to Democratic control while keeping the Senate blue during November’s elections.
“Clearly those bragging about overturning Roe v. Wade have no clue about the power of women in America,” Biden said. “But they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and they will find out again in 2024.”
“If Americans send me a Congress that supports the right to choose, I promise you: I will restore Roe v. Wade as the law of the land again,” Biden added.
Biden’s address touched on many of the policy issues that Americans view as important areas for lawmakers to address, according to a recent Pew Research Center survey.
Reducing health care costs, improving education and making Social Security financially sound all tied at 60% in the poll.
Dealing with immigration received 57% while reducing the availability of illegal drugs got 55% in the survey.
Biden also called on Congress to pass a so-called Unity Agenda that includes issues he believes Republicans and Democrats can agree on.
Those bills, he said, should increase penalties for people who traffic fentanyl, provide protections for children online, bolster artificial intelligence while protecting people from “its peril” and find new ways of treating cancer.
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Biden also discussed the war in Gaza, saying that Hamas’ attack on Israel was the “deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Biden added that more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, “many of whom are not Hamas.”
“Israel has an added burden because Hamas hides and operates among the civilian population, like cowards – under hospitals, daycare centers and all the like,” Biden said. “But Israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in Gaza.”
Biden said the United States would lead an effort to get more humanitarian assistance through a temporary pier installed off the coast, but he called on Israel to “do its part” and allow more aid into Gaza.
“To the leadership of Israel I say this: Humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip,” Biden said. “Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.”
“As we look to the future, the only real solution to the situation is a two-state solution over time,” Biden said.
Democratic Reps. Cori Bush of Missouri, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan held up small posters that called for an immediate ceasefire.
Hours before the president’s address, pro-Palestinian activists blocked roads leading to the U.S. Capitol, according to media reports.
Many activists have pushed for Biden to call for a permanent ceasefire, as Israel’s assault on Gaza since October. Voters across numerous primary states in this week’s Democratic 2024 Super Tuesday cast “uncommitted” ballots as a protest of Biden’s continued support of Israel’s bombardment in Gaza.
Republican Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama delivered the traditional Republican response to Biden after he spoke, blasting his handling of immigration, the economy, crime and foreign policy, while questioning if the 81-year-old is up to the challenge of leading the country.
“The American people are scraping by while the President proudly proclaims Bidenomics is working,” she said, seated at a kitchen table. “Goodness, y’all. Bless his heart. We know better.”
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The “Say Her Name” is a social movement spurred by intersectional feminist Kimberlé Crenshaw that specifically raises awareness for Black women who are victims of police brutality and gender based violence.
Biden expressed his condolences to Riley’s family, saying he knew how it felt to lose a child, talking about his son, Beau, who died of cancer.
After the outburst from Greene, Biden took another swipe at Trump. He called out how the former president has used dehumanizing language to describe migrants claiming asylum at the southern border.
“I will not demonize immigrants saying they are ‘poisoning the blood of our country,’” Biden said. “I will not separate families. I will not ban people because of their faith.”
House Republicans have repeatedly clashed with the Biden administration on its policies at the southern border, as the White House deals with the largest number of migrant encounters at the U.S.-Mexico border in 20 years.
That disagreement has continued to escalate, first with the walking back of a bipartisan border security deal that would have resulted in the overhaul of U.S. immigration law. It reached a crux with the recent impeachment of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in February.
Since Republicans walked away from that immigration deal, Biden has pressed for them to reconsider it, so his administration can adequately address migration at the southern border.
“Unfortunately, politics has derailed this bill so far,” Biden said. “I’m told my predecessor called members of Congress in the Senate to demand they block the bill.”
Republicans have argued that Biden can take executive action to address the border — however, immigration law is set by Congress. So far, the Biden administration has taken 535 executive actions related to immigration compared to the 472 executive actions under the Trump administration, according to an analysis by the Migration Policy Institute.
Following the speech, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer pumped his fists up and down and shouted, “We are exhilarated.”
Sen. Joe Manchin III, Democrat of West Virginia, said that “the whole world is watching” what the U.S. does. He also dismissed worries about Biden’s age.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia said he was pleased to hear Biden’s support for a six-week ceasefire in Gaza, and wants to see humanitarian aid delivered quickly to the region.
Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said she felt optimistic after Biden’s speech, especially how he touched upon conservation and climate initiatives. She said she believes he’ll be supportive of the Senate’s work on the delayed farm bill.
“Our farmers need it, our families need it and our rural communities need it,” Stabenow, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, said.
Louisiana’s GOP Rep. Garret Graves said he felt Biden’s speech was more of “a campaign speech” rather than a “sincere sort of message to the American people.”
“This administration thought it was a good idea to double and triple down on stupid,” Graves said, talking about some tax proposals Biden mentioned. “The very policies that got us into this quandary that we’re in right now.”
This article originally appeared in the South Carolina Daily Gazette on March 8th, 2024
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By Greg Larose
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Just how many more people will be incarcerated and how much longer they will stay in prison as a result of the new laws is a moving target, meaning so is the price tag.
But what we do know is that legislators approved nearly $26 million in spending in an appropriations bill authored by Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, the top budget architect in the Louisiana House. He and other GOP members of the Legislature countered arguments from Democrats that the unforeseen cost of higher incarceration rates won’t be justified.
As organizers called on Democratic voters in at least seven states to vote "uncommitted" on their Super Tuesday primary ballots on Tuesday to help push the Biden administration to demand a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, the YouGov poll provided another measure of Americans' growing outrage over their government's material and political support for the "genocidal" campaign by Israel's far-right government.
By Kelan Lyons
In 1968, days after the Ku Klux Klan marched through Black neighborhoods in Benson following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., five young Black adolescents tried to burn down the Klan’s meeting hall in the Johnston County town. The fire did not travel past the doorway. The boys, all of whom were between the ages of 16 and 20 and did not have criminal records, were each given 12 years of imprisonment and hard labor, harsher than the sentences meted out to white defendants who were found guilty of similar crimes in the county.
