Harris to roll out new plan on tax relief for small businesses

By Ashley Murray

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to announce economic policy proposals aimed at helping small businesses during a campaign speech Wednesday in New Hampshire.

The Democratic presidential candidate will stump in Portsmouth for expanding the tax deduction to $50,000 on business start-up costs, up from $5,000, a campaign official said on background Tuesday. Harris will also propose a standard deduction for businesses as a way to simplify tax filing for entrepreneurs.

In St. Petersburg, Uhuru members deny federal charges in Russian-influence case

 By Mitch Perry

For the first time since a federal grand jury indicted members of the St. Petersburg-based Black nationalist group known as the Uhuru Movement last month on allegations that they worked on a Russian political-influence campaign in the U.S., three members of the organization have vehemently denied the charges.

“My crime is my absolutely belief in free speech,” said Omali Yeshitela, 81, who founded the African People’s Socialist Party in 1972 and the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement in 1991.  He didn’t comment much beyond the direct charges on advice of his attorney, but he has previously claimed that charges that he worked for or took money from the Russian government are completely false.

Biden Says Netanyahu Not Doing Enough to Free Hostages

By Brett Wilkins

"Netanyahu has been citing Biden's ironclad support of him as the *reason* he does not have to work harder to get a hostage deal," said one observer.

U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu isn't doing enough to secure an agreement on the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, a statement ridiculed by critics who asserted that the Biden administration's unconditional support for Israel empowers its far-right government to keep stonewalling a potential deal.

‘Show us who you are’: Time runs out as advocates demand votes on two California reparations bills

 By Wendy Fry, Alexei Koseff and Sameea Kamal

In summary

Down to the wire: After years of study, two historic reparations bills are stalled in the Assembly. Is it sparing Gov. Gavin Newsom a tough political call?

Years of effort went into making California the first state in the nation to get reparations laws to the governor’s desk to be signed into law. But now, in the final hours, two historic bills aimed at repairing harm for Black Californians — those that are specifically written for the African American descendants of people enslaved in the United States – are stalling in the Assembly. 

In January the Legislature’s Black Caucus introduced a slate of 14 reparations bills, but Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the caucus and a state reparations task force, also introduced his own more ambitious bills.

Death row inmate asks SC Supreme Court to halt execution after attorneys claim new evidence

By Sklar Laird

Owens’ execution is scheduled for Sept. 20, set to be the state’s first in 13 years

COLUMBIA — The inmate who is scheduled for execution in three weeks is asking the South Carolina Supreme Court to give him a reprieve, claiming attorneys uncovered new evidence that could overturn his sentence, according to a Friday court filing. 

Freddie Owens’ execution, scheduled for Sept. 20, is set to be the state’s first in 13 years. But his attorneys say they have evidence that solicitors prosecuting his 1999 trial made a secret deal with the key witness in his case, undermining Owens’ conviction, according to Friday’s motion.

Owens was convicted of shooting and killing gas station clerk Irene Graves as part of a string of burglaries in 1997. The single mother of three was shot in the head after saying she didn’t know how to unlock the safe.

The U.S. v. ‘Uhuru Three’ federal trial slated to begin next week in Tampa

By Mitch Perry

If found guilty, the three defendants could face up to 15 years in prison

Next week in a federal courtroom in Tampa, the U.S. government will open its case against three members of a St. Petersburg Black nationalist group, contending they acted as illegal agents of the Russian government without giving notice to the attorney general.

Omali Yeshitela is the longtime chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party, also known as the International People’s Democratic Uhuru Movement, which has been based in St. Petersburg since 1972 (with chapters in St. Louis and Oakland).

Along with two members of the party’s “Solidarity Front,” Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, “the Uhuru three,” as they are calling themselves, were indicted in April 2023 along with one other U.S. citizen and three Russian nationals for allegedly working on behalf of the Russian government and in conjunction with the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) to conduct a multi-year foreign “malign influence campaign” in the U.S.

'No,' Kamala Harris Says to Withholding Arms From Israel

By Jake Johnson

"Harris is saying she will reject 77% of Democrats, 61% of Americans, international law, domestic U.S. law, and basic humanity to continue the flow of weapons to Israel while it stands accused of genocide," said one analyst.

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris said in a CNN interview that aired late Thursday that, if elected in November, she would not change the Biden administration's policy of steadfast military support for Israel, rejecting widespread calls for an arms embargo to help bring about an end to the devastating assault on Gaza.

Kamala Harris accepts nomination from Democratic Party National Convention

By Natalia Marques

On Thursday night, on the last day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris formally accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for the presidency, confirming her and running mate Tim Walz as the Party’s ticket for November. 

'Deeply Complicit': US Has Sent Israel Over 50,000 Tons of Weaponry in 11 Months

By Jake Johnson 

On average, the Biden administration has sent Israel "a weapons shipment every 12 hours" since October, noted the IMEU Policy Project.

The Israeli government announced Monday that it has received over 50,000 tons of military equipment—including armored vehicles and munitions—from the United States during its assault on the Gaza Strip, where most of the population is now displaced and at growing risk of starvation.

The IMEU Policy Project, an affiliate of the Institute for Middle East Understanding, noted that according to the Israeli government's figures, the Biden administration has on average sent the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) "a weapons shipment every 12 hours, for nearly 11 months"—arms "that are used to kill Palestinian civilians."

The Israeli Defense Ministry said in a statement that the U.S. "equipment procured and transported includes armored vehicles, munitions, ammunition, personal protection gear, and medical equipment, which are crucial for sustaining the IDF's operational capabilities during the ongoing war."

Josh Ruebner, policy director at the IMEU Policy Project, wrote that the new shipment numbers underscore that "the U.S. is deeply complicit in Israel's genocide."

"Weapons to Israel violate U.S. laws and policies that are supposed to prevent atrocities," Ruebner added.

Throughout its nearly 11-month assault on Gaza, Israel's military has repeatedly used U.S.-made weaponry to target family homes, crowded markets, and camps of displaced people, prompting global calls for an arms embargo against the country.

In the face of what Amnesty International has called "damning evidence of war crimes," the Biden administration has continued to approve weapons transfers to Israel, including a recent $20 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets and tens of thousands of mortar shells.

"More extraordinary than the price tag of these arms deals is that the White House made them public," Stephen Semler, co-founder of the Security Policy Reform Institute, wrote Monday. "Prior to last week's announcements, it had disclosed just two arms sales to Israel. By March, the Biden administration had already greenlit more than 100 separate weapons deals for Israel."

According to a new Amnesty report, Israeli forces on May 26 used "two U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs" in a pair of deadly airstrikes on a makeshift camp for displaced people in Rafah. The strikes killed at least 36 people, including six children.

This article originally appeared in Common Dreams on August 27th, 2024

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Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry bans teaching of critical race theory in schools

By Piper Hutchinson 

CRT is an advanced academic concept traditionally taught in graduate-level courses

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry issued an executive order Tuesday prohibiting the teaching of critical race theory in Louisiana K-12 public schools. 

Critical race theory (CRT) is an advanced academic concept that holds that race is socially constructed, and it examines how legal structures are used to oppress people of color. Most classes that take the theory into consideration are in graduate programs at the university level. There is no evidence these courses are being taught to children and teenagers.