Progressives were left fuming and flummoxed over reporting Friday that Rahm Emanuel is considering running for chair of the Democratic National Committee, with many leftists wondering whether the party has learned anything from its loss of the White House, Senate, and, arguably, the country's working-class voters.

Axiosfirst reported that Emanuel—President Joe Biden's ambassador to Japan and a former congressman, Chicago mayor, and chief of staff to former President Barack Obama—is mulling whether to seek the top DNC post. Current DNC chair Jamie Harrison, who was elected to the post in 2021, is unlikely to seek a new term, which would begin in March.

Emanuel has some powerful backers among the war-and-Wall Street wing that has dominated the Democratic party for decades.

"If they said, 'Well, what should we do? Who should lead the party?' I would take Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, and I would bring him back from Japan, and I would appoint him chairman of the Democratic National Committee," prominent political consultant David Axelrod, who ran both of Obama's successful presidential campaigns, said Wednesday on his podcast.

Axelrod followed up the next day with a post on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, in which he wrote of Emanuel, "Dude knows how to fight and win."

Reaction came fast and furious, with Jonathan Cohn, policy director at the group Progressive Massachusetts, asking on the social network Bluesky, "How is this not a sick joke?"

Center for International Policy executive vice president Matt Duss, a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) writing on X that "if you assembled a team of top scientists and told them to come up with a plan to ensure that the Democratic Party continues to lose working-class voters, I doubt they could do better than 'Make Rahm Emanuel head of the DNC.'"

Comedian, author, and podcaster Kate Willett said on X: "If I had to pick one individual who set the stage for what seems like it may be decades of Trumpism, it's Rahm Emanuel. Imagine if Obama had saved peoples' homes in 2008 and put the bankers in jail? Truly fixed healthcare? Rahm worked diligently to make sure that didn't happen."

Miles Kampf-Lassin, the senior editor at the progressive website In These Times, wrote, "I've said it before and can't believe I have to say it again: No amount of rebranding can change the fact that Rahm Emanuel's political career has been an abject failure—neoliberal centrism is exactly the wrong direction for the Democratic Party."

Hafiz Rashid argued Friday in a New Republicarticle that, if he wins the post, Emanuel could be "the worst possible DNC chair."

"The fact that Emanuel has been disconnected from local and state politics for years... seems unlikely to help," Rashid asserted. "Democrats are currently expected to tap someone with expertise at the grassroots level and an understanding of how Democrats are winning elections now—two things Emanuel sorely lacks."

Apparently questioning the strategic wisdom of Vice President Kamala Harris' failed Democratic presidential run, Warren Gunnels, a staff director for Sanders, said on X, "Ruling Elite: Let's get Dick Cheney's endorsement and anoint Rahm Emanuel as DNC Chair."

As the clock winds down on Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, upper chamber lawmakers on Thursday confirmed President Joe Biden's nomination of David Huitema, head of the State Department's ethics program, to lead the Office of Government Ethics for a five-year term.

Senators voted 50-46 in favor of Huitema's confirmation to head the OGE through the duration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump's tenure, averting at least temporarily a scenario in which the winner of the 2024 election—who has refused to sign required transition-related ethics agreements and whose first term saw thousands of conflicts of interest—would be empowered to fill or stonewall the post.

The OGE has been without a director for more than a year, ever since the term of Trump appointee Emory Rounds expired. In September, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) blocked Senate Democrats' attempt to confirm Huitema via unanimous consent until after the presidential election, alleging "political weaponization of the U.S. government against Donald Trump by the Biden-Harris administration."

As the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen said ahead of Huitema's confirmation:

One of the most important roles of the Office of Government Ethics is to oversee and advise the presidential transition process. The selection and nomination of most new administration officials takes place during the transition, in which OGE's vetting of pending nominees for conflicts of interest is most critical. The office needs to be fully staffed and operational during the course of the transition period.

However, Walter Shaub, who led the OGE during the Obama administration and resigned in 2017 after months of conflict with the Trump White House, warned in a Thursday interview with Government Executive that "it might be a hollow victory for government ethics if Trump fires Huitema after the inauguration."

"Even if Trump doesn't fire Huitema, OGE won't be able to prevent Trump's top appointees from retaining conflicting financial interests if the Senate grants Trump's request that lawmakers conspire in skirting or short-shrifting the constitutional confirmation process," Shaub added.

Still, ethics advocates cheered Huitema's confirmation, with the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington hailing what it called the "good news" and "an important step to safeguard ethics compliance ahead of a second Trump administration that threatens to be even more corrupt than the first."

Progressive advocates voiced alarm Monday over U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's initial leadership picks—including a border czar who oversaw the separation of migrant families during the Republican's first term—amid fresh allegations that the 2024 victor's transition team is breaking the law by failing to sign a required ethics agreement.

As of Monday, Trump has tapped—or in one case, is expected to imminently name—the following senior administration officials:

Elise Stefanik for United Nations ambassador

On Monday, Trump said he is nominating Stefanik, a Republican congresswoman from New York and longtime ally, to represent the United States at the world body. Stefanik is a dogged defender of Israel, even as the country is on trial for alleged genocide at the International Court of Justice for its ongoing obliteration of Gaza.

Stefanik also supports defunding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, which provides lifesaving aid to Palestinians, over dubious Israeli allegations that its members are members of Hamas and took part in the October 7 attack.

According to AIPAC Tracker, Stefanik has taken more than $900,000 in campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and aligns with the lobby group's advocacy for unconditional U.S. military aid to Israel.

"Other countries send diplomats to serve as U.N. ambassadors. The U.S. always sends AIPAC-approved Israel shills. And, this time, one who is also an abrasive, bigoted, far-right clown," said Craig Mokhiber, a former U.N. human rights attorney who resigned last year over what he saw as the world body "failing" to respond to a "textbook case of genocide" in Gaza.

Mokhiber added that Stefanik is "a fitting pick to represent the rapid decline of the U.S. on the world stage."

Lebanese American University professor Jad Melki said sardonically of Stefanik's selection, "Thank you Trump for removing any illusions about your administration's supportive policy towards the Israeli genocide in Palestine and Lebanon."

While not a Cabinet-level pick, Trump is expected to appoint Brian Hook—described by Drop Site News' Murtaza Hussain as "a major Iran hawk who helped lead the 'maximum pressure' campaign of sanctions, sabotage, and assassinations that characterized Trump's approach to Tehran"—to lead his State Department transition team.

Lee Zeldin for Environmental Protection Agency administrator

Described by one Trump critic as a "fantastic pick to destroy" the EPA, Zeldin, a former Republican congressman from New York, has an abysmal 14% lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and is expected to oversee the dismantling of Biden administration climate policies. He is an avid booster of the fossil fuel industry, which has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaign coffers, and supports expanding fracking and offshore oil drilling.

"At the EPA, Zeldin could undermine any progress made on protecting our environment and slowing climate change, doing more harm than any administrator before him," warned David Arkush, who directs the climate program at the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen.

"His record is clear: During his time in Congress, Zeldin cast vote after vote against measures that protect our environment and would slow the climate crisis," Arkush added.

Previewing their plans, Trump said in a statement that Zeldin "will ensure fair and swift deregulatory decisions," and the ex-congressman declared that "we will restore U.S. energy dominance, revitalize our auto industry to bring back American jobs, and make the U.S. the global leader of AI." Both claimed they would do that while also protecting air and water, which critics contested.

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) asserted that Zeldin's "only job will be to reward corporate polluters by gutting the EPA and making our air and water dirtier. In Congress and the courts, we've got a fight ahead."

Tom Homan for "border czar"

Late Sunday, Trump announced that Homan, who served as the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during his first term, will be his point person on border policy, a position that will not require confirmation by what will soon be a Republican-controlled Senate.

Homan—who previously enforced Trump's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy that included the separation of thousands of children from their parents and other relatives—will oversee what the president-elect has promised to be the most sweeping mass deportation operation in U.S. history.

During a Monday interview on Fox News, Homan issued a warning to Democratic governors and sanctuary cities that refuse to cooperate with the future administration's mass deportation program.

"If you're not going to help us, get the hell out of the way," he said. "If we can't get assistance from New York City, we may have to double the number of agents we send to New York City, because we're going to do the job."

Earlier this year, the Department of Homeland Security said that around 1,400 migrant children still have not been reunited with their families. This, after Homan told the Conservative Political Action Conference in October 2023 that family separation "worked."

"I'm sick and tired hearing about the family separation," he said. "Bottom line is, we enforced the law."

Trump has not ruled out a return to the highly controversial policy in his second term.

Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said Homan's appointment "should make it clear to everyone that the Trump administration will make good on their promises of mass deportation."

"We know *exactly* who Tom Homan is. He is the architect of the 'zero-tolerance' policy that separated thousands of migrant children from their parents with no plan for reunification," Ramirez continued. "He demonstrates cold disregard for the U.S. citizenship of the at least 4 million children with an undocumented parent, suggesting to keep families together, they should be deported together."

"The Trump administration's goal is to inflict maximum damage on diverse American families, our children, and our communities," the congresswoman added. "But let it be known, I will fight like hell to keep our families together, and our communities are ready to be an obstacle at every turn as he tries to implement his cruel, vile, gruesome plan."

Susie Wiles for White House chief of staff

Wiles is a longtime GOP strategist who has managed Trump's campaign operations since 2021, even as she worked for the tobacco company Swisher International lobbying to influence Congress on Food and Drug Administration regulations. She is also co-chair of the lobbying firm Mercury Public Affairs, which represents Big Pharma and junk food companies in apparent conflict with Trump's stated goal to "make America healthy again."

Stephen Miller for deputy chief of staff for policy

Numerous U.S. media outlets reported Monday that Trump is expected to tap Miller, a first-term senior adviser and speechwriter, as his deputy chief of staff for policy. Miller—an architect of Trump's family separation policy who advocates racist and xenophobic immigration policies—was described in 2019 by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) as a "verified white supremacist."

Although Miller's appointment was not yet official, Vice President-elect JD Vance on Monday congratulated what he called Trump's "fantastic pick."

Miller notoriously authored much of Trump's January 6, 2001 speech that is widely blamed for inciting that day's Capitol insurrection.

Last year, Miller vowed that Trump's first-term program to strip some naturalized Americans of their U.S. citizenship would be "turbocharged" should he win reelection.

Responding to reports of Miller's White House return, Jesse Mermell, the president and founder of the progressive deWit Impact Group, wrote on social media that "nothing about this is a surprise, but seeing it in print is still nightmare fuel."

Both Homan and Miller are among the at least 140 officials from Trump's first administration involved in Project 2025, a blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that includes terminating the legal status of around 500,000 immigrants currently protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, people commonly called "Dreamers."

CNN reported Monday that billionaire backer Elon Musk has been seen visiting Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida "nearly every single day" since Election Day and is "weighing in on staffing decisions, making clear his preference for certain roles."

Trump said during his campaign that he would place Musk in charge of government efficiency, raising progressive fears of aggressive cuts to crucial social programs and regulators.

As Trump fills out his Cabinet, critics noted in recent days that his transition team still hasn't signed legally required ethics agreements with the Biden administration, possibly over a mandatory pledge to avoid the conflicts of interest that plagued his first term.

"Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law," U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said Monday on social media. "Incoming presidents are required to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like."

Responding to the prospect of a return to the "countless abuses of power" in Trump's first administration, Lisa Gilbert, the executive vice president of Public Citizen, said Monday that "we need to prepare to push back."

Current and former far-right leaders around the world cheered U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's remarkable victory in Tuesday's election, in which the twice-impeached, 34-count convicted felon, self- and court-affirmed sexual assaulter, and insurrection-fomenting 78-year-old Republican won not only the Electoral College but also the popular vote in what some observers described as a "mandate for fascism."

In Israel—which the Biden administration buoyed with massive military and diplomatic support even as it faces a genocide case at the World Court for a war on Gaza that's killed more than 43,000 Palestinians—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Trump's victory is "history's greatest comeback" and represents a "powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America."

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel's national security minister and leader of the Jewish supremacist Otzma Yehudit party, reposted an earlier message in which he proclaimed, "God Bless Trump."

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who was the first European leader to endorse Trump in 2016, lauded the Republican's "enormous win," which he called "a much-needed victory for the world."

Argentinian President Javier Milei—who campaigned as a libertarian populist but has governed like a neoliberal shock doctrinaire—hailed Trump's "formidable electoral victory."

"Now, Make America Great Again," he added. "You know that you can count on Argentina to carry out your task."

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele—who Trump recently accused of sending gang members to the U.S. to insidiously reduce crime in his country—wished divine blessings and guidance for the president-elect.

Arab dictators—from the monarchs of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi—also congratulated Trump. Some, like Jordan's King Abdullah II, said they hoped Trump's second term would usher in an era of "regional and global peace and stability for all."

However, while Trump's first term saw the signing of the historic Abraham Accords that nominally normalized relations between Israel and some of its former Arab enemies, he also presided over what one of his former defense secretaries called a "war of annihilation" that left thousands of civilians dead and cities in ruins in Syria and Iraq.

Former right-wing leaders also cheered Trump's win. Disgraced former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro—who like Trump incited an insurrection following his last election loss, but unlike Trump was slapped with an eight-year electoral ban over it—said Tuesday's result represents "the triumph of the people's will over the arrogant designs of an elite who disdain our values, beliefs, and traditions."

"This triumph is historic," Bolsonaro—sometimes called the "Trump of the Tropics"—continued. "Its impact will resonate across the globe... empowering the rise of the right and conservative movements in countless other nations."

On the flip side, progressive leaders around the world vowed to fight fascism—even as they shuddered at the specter of what horrors may come in Trump's second term.

"We are a global movement, made up of all faiths and backgrounds, united in our opposition to racism and hatred," said leftist U.K. lawmaker Jeremy Corbyn. "We will never abandon hope in a more equal, sustainable, and peaceful world."

Public health experts reacted with alarm Wednesday to reports that former President Donald Trump promised anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. control over federal agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture should the Republican nominee defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next week's election.

Speaking at last week's bigotry-laden campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Trump said that if he wins, he'll let Kennedy—who in August suspended his Independent presidential campaign and endorsed the GOP nominee—"go wild on health."

"I'm gonna let him go wild on the foods," Trump vowed. "I'm gonna let him go wild on the medicines."

In a video posted Tuesday on social media, Kennedy said that the GOP nominee promised him control of the Health and Human Services Department, Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), National Institutes of Health, "and a few others."

Kennedy said control of these agencies "is key to making America healthy, because we've got to get off of seed oils, and we've got to get off of pesticide-intensive agriculture."

Despite his stated interest in tackling major public health issues including government corruption and Big Pharma greed, experts warned that, as Columbia University molecular biologist Lucky Tran said earlier this week: "RFK Jr is an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist. A Trump win will be an absolute catastrophe for public health."

Kennedy is arguably the world's leading proponent of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, including that vaccines cause autism. He has mixed spurious disparagement of the safety and efficacy of vaccines, including for Covid-19, with attacks on the well-documented deadly greed of the pharmaceutical industry.

There is some ideological overlap between Trump and Kennedy—who, like the ex-president is a former Democrat—including the shared belief in defunding federal public health agencies, purging their ranks, and investigating and possibly prosecuting some of their employees.

"If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags," Kennedy recently wrote on social media.

U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez warned Monday that the hate-filled campaign rally held by former Republican President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York City was meant to further prime supporters for another January 6-style attempt to seize power by force if Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris wins next month's election.

Sunday's event—which drew comparisons to a 1939 Nazi rally that packed the iconic Midtown Manhattan arena—featured speakers including billionaire Elon Musk, conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, who called the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a "floating island of garbage."

Although the Trump campaign has attempted to distance the GOP presidential candidate from Hinchcliffe's bigoted remarks, Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said during a Monday interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Sunday's event was "not just a presidential rally," it was "a hate rally."

"I think it's important for people to understand that these are mini January 6 rallies. These are mini 'Stop the Steal' rallies," Ocasio-Cortez said, referring to the 2021 Capitol insurrection and movement born from the conspiracy theory that Democrats stole the 2020 presidential contest from Trump.

"These are rallies to prime an electorate into rejecting the results of an election if it doesn't go the way that they want, because Donald Trump and that entire cadre of people up on that stage... do not respect the law of the United States of America, and they either want to win this election or they are using rhetoric of taking it by force," she continued.

"That is what they mean, and that's what they're doing when they're inciting violence and hatred against Latinos, against Black Americans, against Americans who don't have children."

Ocasio-Cortez singled out the Republican vice presidential nominee, U.S. Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), for "talking about watering down peoples' right to vote depending on if they can viably carry a child or not."

"We have to understand how unhinged this campaign has gotten and the only reason that the rhetoric has gotten this far is precisely because they are trying to prime the kind of froth that led to the January 6 attack on the Capitol," she said.

"And so it's very important that we connect those dots, and right now the [Trump] campaign is scrambling and they're trying to blame this rhetoric on a so-called comedian?" Ocasio-Cortez added. "This is not a comedian. This is the Trump campaign. They invited this rhetoric on their stage for a reason."

Iceland's economy grew more than all but one other rich European nation and its workers reported higher well-being, lower stress, and better work-life balance after the country reduced its standard work week from 40 to 36 hours, research published Friday affirmed.

The study—released by a pair of think tanks, London-based Autonomy Institute and Alda (Association for Sustainability and Democracy) of Reykjavík, Iceland—"offers new insight into the program of working-time reduction that has taken place in Iceland, following successful public sector trials in the country."

"After successful pilot schemes in the Icelandic national government and Reykjavík City Council between 2015 and 2019 which found improvements to employee well-being as well as productivity, historic labor agreements between Icelandic trade unions and employers 'embedded' the right to shorter hours for hundreds of thousands of workers," study authors Guðmundur Haraldsson, Jack Kellam, and Rowan Trickett noted.

The new report analyzed the results of studies conducted by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Iceland, the Icelandic Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor, and Occupational Safety and Health Administration "to understand job patterns,
work environment, and the reasons why individuals left paid employment" in 2021 and 2022.

Key findings include:

• 62% of people working reduced hours reported being more satisfied with their schedule;
• 97% of workers thought that shorter working hours had made it easier to balance work with their private life, or at least kept the balance the same as before (with more than half, 52%, thinking it had improved); and
• 42% of those who had moved to shorter hours thought that it had decreased stress in their private life, vs. 6% who felt it had increased.

"This study shows a real success story: Shorter working hours have become widespread in Iceland... and the economy is strong across a number of indicators," Haraldsson said in a statement.

In 2023, Iceland's economy expanded by 5%, a growth rate second only to that of Malta among rich European economies, according to the International Monetary Fund's latest World Economic Outlook, published earlier this week. That is much higher than the country's average growth rate of almost 2% in the decade between 2006 and 2015.

"Overall, the Icelandic economy has remained strong post the introduction of a widespread shorter working week," Autonomy Institute research director Will Stronge said in a statement. "The evidence we've collected suggests that when workers have a better work-life balance and are better rested—the economy benefits too."

"The Iceland story offers a very different vision to countries across Europe that are grappling with low productivity but trying the same old failed methods," he added.

Democracy defenders on Wednesday welcomed a Nebraska Supreme Court ruling that orders state election officials to comply with a law allowing former felons to vote immediately after they complete their sentences instead of waiting two years.

Nebraska's unicameral Legislature voted 38-6 in favor of LB 20 on April 11. Although Republican Gov. Jim Pillen declined to sign the bill, the measure took effect the following week, as the Nebraska Constitution allows lawmakers to enact laws without gubernatorial consent five days after a bill's passage if the Legislature is still in session.

After allowing the Legislature to pass the law, Pillen explained that Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers and Secretary of State Bob Evnen—both Republicans—"have identified significant potential constitutional infirmities regarding the bill" and encouraged them to "promptly take such measures as are appropriate" to redress these purported flaws.

In July, Evnen ordered county election offices to stop registering former felons who have not received official pardons, claiming LB 20 is "unconstitutional."

The Nebraska Supreme Court justices did not rule on the law's constitutionality, as the state constitution requires five members of the tribunal to declare legislation unconstitutional.

"Because the requisite number of judges have not found that the statutory amendments are unconstitutional, we issue a peremptory writ of mandamus directing the secretary and the election commissioners to implement the statutory amendments immediately," the court's split decision states.

The ruling referred to Patty and Selma Bouvier—the chain-smoking twin sisters of Marge Simpson from TV's long-running animated series "The Simpsons"—in a swipe at Hilgers and Evnen for overstepping their authority by opining on the constitutionality of LB 20.

"Only the Nebraska Supreme Court declares statutes unconstitutional," the decision states. "The [five-justice] supermajority requirement is also well known. Patty and Selma at the Department of Motor Vehicles may not be constitutional scholars, but they know that they are expected to follow the law."

Plaintiff Gregory Spung of Ohama said that Wednesday's ruling left him feeling "ecstatic."

"For so long, I was uncertain if my voice would truly count under this law," he said. "Today's decision reaffirms the fundamental principle that every vote matters. It's a victory not just for me, but for thousands of Nebraskans who can now exercise their right to vote with confidence."

ACLU of Nebraska legal and policy counsel Jane Seu said: "This is justice. Given the sheer scale of disenfranchisement that this decision corrects, there is no question that it will be remembered as one of our state's most consequential voting rights decisions."

"For Nebraskans who have been caught up in this mess for the last few months, the key takeaway is this: If you are done with all terms of your sentence, you are eligible to vote, and there is now a court decision backing that up," Seu added. "Now is the time to know your rights, get registered, and make a plan to vote."

The ACLU—which along with the ACLU of Nebraska, Civic Nebraska, and the law firm Faegre Drinker sued on behalf of Nebraskans seeking ballot access under the new law—said that the voting rights of approximately 7,000 people hung in the balance.

As The Associated Pressnoted following Wednesday's ruling:

Many of them reside in Nebraska's Omaha-centered 2nd Congressional District, where both the race for president and the makeup of Congress could be in play. Nebraska overall is heavily Republican but is one of only two states—the other is Maine—that apportions its Electoral College votes by congressional district. The Omaha-area district has twice awarded its one vote to Democratic presidential candidates—to Barack Obama in 2008 and again to Joe Biden in 2020. In a 2024 presidential race shown by polling to be a dead heat, a single electoral vote could determine who wins.

"This decision is a victory for Nebraskans, democracy, and the rule of law," ACLU Voting Rights Project staff attorney Jonathan Topaz said of Wednesday's ruling.

"Secretary of State Evnen and Attorney General Hilgers attempted to overturn two decades of rights restoration law by executive fiat and re-disenfranchise thousands of Nebraska citizens heading into a presidential election," he continued. "We are grateful the Nebraska Supreme Court invalidated this lawless attempt to reinstate permanent felony disenfranchisement and are thrilled for the thousands of eligible Nebraska voters who will be able to cast ballots in November and beyond."

"We also urge the state to extend its voter registration deadline," Topaz added. "Thousands of Nebraskans have lost months to register due to the secretary's unlawful directive, and they should be allowed sufficient time to register to vote ahead of the November election."

Nebraska's online voter registration deadline is Friday. In-person registration ends October 25. Early voting in the state began on October 7.

As voter registration surges ahead of the November 5 contest between Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump, GOP federal and state lawmakers are trying to make it harder to vote.

In July, for example, U.S. House Republicans passed Rep. Chip Roy's (R-Texas) Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which would require proof of American citizenship to vote in federal elections. Republicans claim the bill is meant to fix the virtually nonexistent "problem" of noncitizen voter fraud.

State-level examples include legislation signed last year by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis limiting voter registration drives, with fines of up to $250,000 for violators.

Last week, the Sentencing Project, a decarceration advocacy group, published a report estimating that 4 million U.S. adults are ineligible to vote in November's election due to felony disenfranchisement, including a disproportionate number of people of color.

Earlier this year, a federal court struck down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction. Similar legal battles are playing out in other states. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently upheld a law signed in 2023 by Gov. Tim Walz—the 2024 Democratic vice presidential candidate—restoring former felons' voting rights upon completion of their sentences.

Last December, Democratic U.S. lawmakers led by Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont introduced legislation to end former felon disenfranchisement in federal elections and guarantee incarcerated people the right to vote.

Currently, only Maine, Vermont, and the District of Columbia allow all incarcerated people to vote while behind bars.

U.S. vice presidential candidate JD Vance and other Republicans including congressional lawmakers and Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of the X social media platform, were excoriated Monday for spreading unsubstantiated rumors that Haitian immigrants are killing and eating pets and park wildlife in an Ohio town.

Vance, who is also the junior U.S. senator from Ohio, wrote Monday on X—formerly known as Twitter—that "months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio."

"Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country," he added. "Where is our border czar?"

Haitians were also accused of killing and eating ducks and geese in the city's Snyder Park. However, a photo purportedly showing a Haitian immigrant walking down a Springfield street carrying a dead bird was actually of an American and was taken in Columbus, Ohio—nearly 50 miles away.

The cat rumor originated nearly 100 miles away in Canton, Ohio, where a mentally ill woman—also an American—was arrested last month for allegedly killing and eating a cat.

During a July Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing, Vance read a letter from Springfield City Manager Bryan Heck, a Republican, highlighting some of the challenges faced by municipal officials struggling to accommodate thousands of Haitian immigrants.

Nowhere in the letter are pet-eating Haitians mentioned. Both Heck and Springfield police officials have refuted the rumor.

"We wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured, or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," Heck toldThe Hill. "Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents' homes."

By the time mainstream media outlets began debunking the rumor, it had already gone viral. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) posted a meme showing two scared kittens with the caption, "Please vote for Trump so Haitian immigrants don't eat us."

Musk, meanwhile, reposted an AI-generated meme published by House Judiciary Committee Republicans showing Trump hugging animals with the caption, "Protect our ducks and kittens in Ohio!"

Many observers reacted with disgust to the rumor-spreading Republicans.

"In MAGA world, the alleged pet-eating is already a matter of fact, and Republican elected officials, including Vance, are hurrying to join the clout rush, the scramble to get attention and likes and followers by treating it as a serious issue," wroteWashington Post columnist Philip Bump.

"This is a central reason that Vance and others on the right are susceptible to being described as 'weird,'" Bump added. "There's an online world in which things get taken to the nth-degree because its economy rewards that sort of hyperbole. But then these obsessions and claims are taken out of that bubble and presented to everyone else and they don't hold up. What else can you do but marvel at how strange it all is?"

Erik Crew, staff attorney at the Haitian Bridge Alliance, an advocacy group, toldThe Hill that "this is the same old anti-Black playbook that we've seen for hundreds of years in Ohio being rolled out to divide and create hate, especially around election times."

Crew continued:

White supremacist and antidemocratic movements have always used the claim that so-called Black savages are coming to destroy, especially when political power is up for grabs. This is no different. This time they are saying it is Haitians, and this time it is being used to try to score political points around immigration as well.

The fact is Haitian immigrants have been coming to Springfield seeking to come and contribute to U.S. democracy and the economy, and Springfield and Ohio will benefit from that like U.S. communities have benefited in the past from Black immigrants' contributions.

"The fact is the rumors about Haitians in Springfield and pets have already been debunked, but we won't stop hearing them because certain people will want to keep spreading them as the election nears," he added.

Dave Zirin, sports editor at The Nation, was more blunt in his reaction.

"You are a racist piece of s***," he wrote to Vance on X. "You lie like Trump without an inkling of his twisted charisma."

Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday attempted to distance himself from a conservative coalition's agenda for a far-right takeover of the federal government, prompting derision from observers who underscored close ties between the presumptive 2024 Republican nominee and the blueprint's authors.

Trump took to his Truth social media platform to claim the knows "nothing about Project 2025," a sweeping initiative spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation to boost the power of the presidency and purge career federal civil servants, who would be replaced with Trump loyalists.

"I have no idea who is behind it," Trump added, a claim that numerous observers quickly countered.

In an email entitled, "Donald Trump & Project 2025: One and the Same," Democratic President Joe Biden's reelection campaign said that "Trump is now desperately trying to run from his deep ties to Project 2025—the Heritage Foundation's 900-page deeply unpopular manifesto drafted by former Trump officials that offers Americans a preview of MAGA extremists' radical wish list for a second Trump term."

"Project 2025 is the extreme policy and personnel playbook for Trump's second term that should scare the hell out of the American people," Biden campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement. "Project 2025 staff and leadership routinely tout their connections to Trump's team, and are the same people leading the [Republican National Committee policy platform, Trump's debate prep, campaign, and inner circle."

"Trump's Supreme Court and Project 2025 have designed the playbook for Trump to achieve his dream of being a dictator on day one, with unchecked, imperial power," Moussa added. "Allowing a self-absorbed convicted felon that kind of power would be devastating for our democracy and middle-class families. This November, voters must stop Trump from turning the Oval Office into his throne room."

As CNN detailed Friday:

Paul Dans, the head of Project 2025, was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management during the Trump administration, and the group's roadmap for the next administration includes contributions from others who have worked for the former president, including his former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, former acting Deputy Homeland Security Secretary Ken Cuccinelli, and former deputy chief of staff Rick Dearborn. John McEntee, Trump's former director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office and one of his closest aides while in office, is also a senior adviser for the project.

Mother Jones Washington, D.C. bureau chief David Corn said: "This is B.S. Christian nationalist Russell Vought, who is one of the Trump allies in charge of the GOP platform effort, is a coordinator of Project 2025. Trump is gaslighting once again."

Others noted that Trump's own Make America Great Again, Inc. super PAC is running ads highlighting Project 2025.

Critics have called Project 2025 a "blueprint for autocracy"—an assessment bolstered by last week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling bestowing the president with what experts described as king-like powers, which Trump's advisers have reportedly vowed to exploit if he wins November's election.

The Associated Press reported last month that a right-wing group allied with the presumptive GOP nominee was drafting a list of federal employees who are disloyal or insufficiently dutiful to Trump, an undertaking compared with the McCarthyite anti-communist crusade during the second Red Scare in the 1950s.

Kevin Roberts, who heads the Heritage Foundation, raised eyebrows earlier this week after he said that the coming right-wing "revolution" will "remain bloodless if the left allows it to be," which some observers took as a thinly veiled threat of violence.

In his Friday Truth post, Trump said that he disagrees with some of Project 2025's agenda and that "some of the things they're saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal."

"Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them," he reiterated.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan responded to Trump's claim in a social media post saying, "What's revealing about Donald Trump loudly disavowing Project 2025 and falsely denying any knowledge of it is that clearly he knows how damaging it can be to his election bid."

"So why on earth did neither Biden nor the CNN moderators bring it up at the debate last week?" he asked.

News that renowned American linguist, dissident, and author Noam Chomsky is hospitalized in Brazil following a massive stroke he suffered last year was met with an avalanche of accolades and well wishes from members of the international left on Wednesday.

Valeria Chomsky toldThe Associated Press that her 95-year-old husband—a laureate professor at the University of Arizona and professor emeritus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)—is currently in a São Paulo hospital. She took him there on an ambulance jet with two nurses after he was able to travel from the United States following his June 2023 stroke.

Chomsky toldFolha de São Paulo that although her husband has difficulty speaking and the right side of his body is numb from the stroke, he follows the news and "when he sees images of the war in Gaza, he raises his left arm in a gesture of lament and anger." She said his condition has improved significantly, and he is seeing a neurologist, speech therapist, and pulmonologist daily.

However, people close to Chomsky say he is unlikely to return to public life.

"Noam is the most influential U.S. intellectual ever. Period," Rutgers School of Communications Professor Andrew Kennis—whose book Digital Age Resistance contains a foreword co-authored by Chomsky—told Common Dreams.

"He has been the largest influence on my life in any way, personal or professional" Kennis added. "As for movements, no other thinker helped positively shape and mold anti-imperialsm analysis and criticism of the U.S. bullying the world on behalf of Wall Street and Silicon Valley better and more effectively than him."

"His work has defined the terms of countless debates and he's been a tireless advocate for—and guide on the path to—a better future."

U.S. journalist and political analyst Anand Giridharadas hailed Chomsky—whom he interviewed in 2020—as a "lion of the left."

"It would be difficult to overestimate the impact Chomsky's work has had," Giridharadas wrote for The.Ink Wednsday. "Beyond the total transformation of his academic field (he's widely acknowledged as the father of modern linguistics and the main force behind the cognitive turn in the sciences), his political impact has been immeasurable."

"As a writer, activist, analyst, and critic of power, and likely the most visible left public intellectual of the late 20th and early 21st centuries, his work has defined the terms of countless debates and he's been a tireless advocate for—and guide on the path to—a better future," he added.

Of the more than 100 books published by Chomsky—who was once voted the world's top public intellectual in an international poll—four are specifically about Israel and Palestine. He has been conspicuously absent from the debate over Israel's current assault on Gaza, which is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.

Current Affairs founder and editor Nathan Robinson—who is the co-author of Chomsky's forthcoming book, The Myth of American Idealism: How U.S. Foreign Policy Endangers the World—said earlier this week on social media that "Chomsky has been unbelievably kind over the years I've known him."

"He treats everyone as an equal. Doesn't care who you are," he continued. "He would give as much of his time to a high school student as some celebrity or New York Times reporter. And devoted himself to attacking cruelty and injustice."

"When I started a tiny lefty magazine with only a few subscribers, he bought a subscription, blurbed us, and would email if his copy didn't show up," Robinson recalled. "He provided countless generous blurbs to authors publishing with tiny presses, giving them a boost that could really help them."

"So many thousands of people have stories about how he has changed their lives," he added. "He certainly changed mine."

A growing number of U.S. congressional Democrats pushed back Friday against pressure to endorse House Speaker Mike Johnson's invitation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress—even as his government stands accused of genocide in a World Court case and he faces the prospect of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for alleged crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Opposition to Johnson's (R-La.) invitation—which the speaker formally announced Thursday—has been mounting following news that ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for warrants to arrest Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three Hamas leaders for alleged crimes committed on and after October 7 and Friday's International Court of Justice order for Israel to immediately halt its assault on Rafah.

While there is some question over whether Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will endorse a Netanyahu congressional address—with Johnson tellingThe Independent on Wednesday that Schumer said he'd sign the invitation letter—mainstream Democrats are joining the chorus of calls from progressive lawmakers and campaigners opposing the prospective speech. Several of the lawmakers spoke to Axios on Friday.

"I think it's a strange time to invite Netanyahu; it's a really divisive kind of move," Rep. Scott Peters (D-Calif.) said, pointing to Khan's effort to arrest the Israeli leader.

Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said, "I don't think it's a good time... let's not complicate an already complicated situation."

House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes (D-Conn.) asserted that Netanyahu "should be focused on freeing hostages, not on charming legislators."

Regarding whether Schumer would sign the invitation, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) simply said, "No."

Pelosi, Himes, and Peters were among the 173 House Democrats who last month voted to approve $26 billion in new U.S. military aid to Israel, in addition to the nearly $4 billion it already gets from Washington each year. Kildee voted against the aid package.

Congressional progressives have voiced opposition to a Netanyhau speech for days, with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—who caucuses with Democrats—indicating Wednesday that he would boycott any address by the prime minister and calling the invitation "a terrible idea."

Sanders told CNN's Kaitlan Collins: "Look, you have a prime minister who has created the worst humanitarian disaster in modern history. Israel, of course, had the right to defend itself against the Hamas terrorist attack, but what Netanyahu has done is go to war against—all-out war—against the entire Palestinian people, women and children."

"Five percent of the population is now dead or wounded. Sixty percent of them are women and children. Some 200,000 housing units have been completely destroyed," he continued. "Every university in Gaza has been bombed. There is now imminent starvation taking place."

"So why you would invite somebody who has done such horrific things to the Palestinian people?" Sanders added. "I think it's a very bad idea."

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said earlier this week that "if Netanyahu comes to address Congress, I would be more than glad to show the ICC the way to the House floor to issue that warrant."

Netanyahu—who faces multiple criminal corruption charges in Israel unrelated to Palestine—has addressed Congress three times. If he does so again he will have spoken before Congress more than any other foreign leader.

Controversy over a potential Netanyahu speech goes beyond Gaza and corruption charges. The prime minister raised eyebrows in 2008 after he said that Israel "benefited" from the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States—which he earlier called a country that "can easily be moved."

A campaign finance watchdog on Wednesday filed a Federal Election Commission complaint accusing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, affiliated political groups, and an accounting firm of violating U.S. law in a scheme "seemingly designed to obscure the true recipients of a noteworthy portion of Trump's legal bills."

The Washington, D.C.-based Campaign Legal Center (CLC) said that "evidence appears to show an illegal arrangement between several Trump-affiliated committees and a compliance firm named Red Curve Solutions that is designed to obscure the identities of those providing legal services and how much they are being paid."

"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money."

CLC alleges that the Trump campaign, Trump's political action committee (PAC) Save America, and three affiliated organizations "violated federal reporting requirements based on a scheme in which the committees reportedly paid over $7.2 million—described as 'reimbursement for legal' costs or expenses"—to Red Curve.

The watchdog also said that Red Curve appears to be "making or facilitating illegal contributions that violate either federal contribution limits or the prohibition on corporate contributions."

According to CLC:

Red Curve is a domestic limited liability company that offers compliance and FEC reporting services but does not appear to offer any legal services. It is managed by Bradley Crate, who also serves as the treasurer for each of the five Trump-affiliated committees concerned in this complaint, as well as over 200 other federal committees.According to filings with the FEC, Red Curve appears to have been fronting legal costs for Trump since at least December 2022, with Trump-affiliated committees repaying the company later. This arrangement appears to violate FEC rules that require campaigns to disclose not only the entity being reimbursed (here, Red Curve) but also the underlying vendor. By not disclosing the vendors that actually provided legal services, the Trump-affiliated committees effectively blocked the public from knowing which attorneys and firms are being paid—and how much they are being paid—through this arrangement.

"Voters have a right to know how the presidential campaigns and other committees supporting presidential candidates spend their money," CLC senior director of campaign finance Erin Chlopak said in a statement. "When campaigns and committees obscure that information from the public, not only do they make it difficult to determine if the law has been violated, but they deny voters the ability to make an informed choice when casting a ballot."

"The steps taken by the Trump campaign, its affiliated committees, and Red Curve Solutions concealed information about how campaign funds were used to pay former President Trump's legal expenditures, including the amounts and ultimate recipients of these expenditures—and the FEC must investigate immediately," Chlopak added.

Trump—who is the presumptive 2024 GOP presidential nominee—faces 91 federal and state felony charges related to his role in the January 6 insurrection and his organization's business practices. He is currently on trial in New York for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to cover up sex scandals during the 2016 election cycle. The twice-impeached former president has been open about his use of campaign donations to pay his legal costs.

The new CLC filing comes a day after the watchdog filed separate FEC complaints urging investigations into a pair of Trump-affiliated "scam PACs," which "pretend to fundraise for major candidates or issues while secretly diverting almost all of their donors' money back into fundraising or the fraudsters' own pockets."

Civil liberties defenders on Thursday decried the U.S. Senate's advancement of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, which critics say lawmakers are trying to ram through without protection against warrantless surveillance and with a provision that would effectively make every American a spy whether they like it or not.

Senators voted 67-32 in favor of a cloture motion to begin voting on RISAA, a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires on Friday. FISA—a highly controversial law that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times—allows warrantless surveillance of non-U.S. citizens but also often sweeps up Americans' communication data in the process.

In a 273-147 vote last week, House lawmakers passed RISAA, including an amendment critics say dramatically expands the government's unchecked surveillance authority by compelling a wide range of individuals and organizations—including businesses and the media—to cooperate in government spying operations.

This so-called "Make Everyone a Spy" clause would allow the attorney general or director of national intelligence to force electronic communication service providers to "immediately provide... all information, facilities, or assistance" the government deems necessary.

"This bill would basically allow the government to institute a spy draft," Seth Stern, director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, warned Thursday. "It will lead to significant distrust between journalists and sources, not to mention everyone else."

"It's not about who RISAA allows the government to spy on, it's about who RISAA allows the government to force to spy," he added. "Regardless of whether the end target of the surveillance is a foreigner, it's indisputable that the people the government can enlist to conduct the surveillance are Americans. And what's more, these civilians ordered to spy would be gagged and sworn to secrecy under the law."

In addition to the "Make Everyone a Spy" provision, civil libertarians have sounded the alarm over the House lawmakers' rejection of an amendment that would have added a warrant requirement to the legislation.

Critics accuse Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and colleagues including Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) of trying to rush a vote on RISAA while disingenuously claiming Section 702's powers will expire with the law on Friday. That's a misleading claim, as a national security court earlier this month approved the government's request to continue a disputed surveillance program even if Section 702 lapses.

"There is simply no defense of Majority Leader Schumer and Sen. Warner's duplicity," Sean Vitka, policy director at the progressive advocacy group Demand Progress, said in a statement. "House Intelligence Committee leaders poisoned this bill with one of the most repugnant surveillance expansions in history, and apparently the administration was too busy attacking commonsense privacy protections to notice. They know it, we know it, and now the American people know it."

"There can be no mistake: Sens. Schumer and Warner just helped hand the next president an unspeakably dangerous weapon that will be used against their own constituents," Vitka added. "And there is only one vote left to stop it."

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)—who said earlier this week that the bill would dragoon the American people into becoming "an agent for Big Brother"—on Thursday argued that "this issue demands a debate about meaningful reforms, not a rushed vote to rubber-stamp more warrantless government surveillance powers."

In an attempt to tackle the warrantless surveillance issue, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) on Thursday proposed a RISAA amendment that would require the government to obtain a warrant from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before accessing Americans' private communications.

However, the amendment contains exceptions to the warrant requirement in the event of unspecified emergencies and cyberattacks.

"If the government wants to spy on the private communications of Americans, they should be required to get approval from a judge—just as our Founders intended," Durbin said in a statement. "Congress has a responsibility to the American people to get this right."

— (@)

The Biden administration and U.S. intelligence agencies vehemently oppose the Durbin-Cramer amendment. The White House called the measure "a reckless policy choice contrary to the key lessons of 9/11 and not grounded in any constitutional requirement or statute."

"The amendment outright bars the government from gaining access to lawfully collected information using terms associated with U.S. persons," the administration added. "Exceptions to that prohibition are narrow and unworkable. They are insufficient to protect our national security."

On Wednesday, the House also passed the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act, which would prohibit the government from buying Americans' information from data brokers if it would otherwise need a warrant to obtain the data, which includes location and internet records. The Senate will now take up FANFSA.

As House Republicans prepare for Donald Trump's possible White House return by plotting to expand the billionaire and corporate tax cuts that were the cornerstone of the former president's first administration, congressional Democrats and advocates for working Americans warned Thursday that a second Trump term would bring more of the same inequality-exacerbating policies.

The GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing Thursday on "expanding the success" of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)—widely derided by opponents as the "GOP Tax Scam." Republican committee members couched a policy that the Center for Popular Democracy said "delivered big benefits to the rich and corporations but nearly none for working families" as "relief to help hardworking American families."

Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the committee's ranking member, pushed back during Thursday's hearing, noting that "in the last three decades, Republicans have skyrocketed the deficit with trillions in tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations, always with the same result: the top 1% benefits while nothing trickles down for workers."

Neal continued:

In 2017, Ways and Means Democrats saw the GOP corporate tax giveaway for what it was: a scam. We knew that their Tax Scam would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and well-connected. We knew that it wouldn't pay for itself. We knew that big corporations, not their workers, would feel the most benefit. Six years since the GOP Tax Scam was signed into law, we've been proven right on every count. It didn't pay for itself, it didn't increase revenue, and it didn't increase wages. A recent study whose authors included [Joint Committee on Taxation] economists—let that sink in—found that ALL of the corporate gains from TCJA went to shareholders and high-paid executives, with absolutely nothing flowing to workers. Fifty-six percent of the tax cuts enriched shareholders, and the remaining 44% lined the pockets of execs. Zero percent went to workers. ZERO!

"There are 20 years of data showing trickle-down economics doesn't work, yet today will still be a whole lot of revisionist history and wishful thinking on the singular largest failure of fiscal policy in recent memory," Neal added. "If workers and the middle class are actually your priorities, putting them ahead of big corporations and billionaires is the only way."

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.)—who also sits on the committee—agreed, asserting on social media that "the Trump tax cuts were a huge 'success' if you were a billionaire or an executive at a large corporation. They made out like bandits, with a huge amount of the benefits from the GOP tax law going to the wealthiest. Now Republicans want to give the superrich even more tax cuts."

Trump is open about this. At an exclusive fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida last week, he shouted out his "rich as hell" supporters, telling them, "We're gonna give you tax cuts, we're gonna pay off our debt."

That's the same debt that soared by around $8 trillion during Trump's term—largely as a result of his tax cuts. Meanwhile, U.S. billionaires have collectively gotten $2.2 trillion richer since the GOP tax cuts took effect.

With many provisions of the TCJA set to expire at the end of 2025, progressives are underscoring what's at stake in this November's elections.

"Today the American people got a preview of what's in store for them next year if the Trump Tax Scam expires under conservative leadership," Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens said following the House hearing. "The conservative playbook for the 2025 tax fight is coming into focus, and we can be sure it includes more giveaways for the wealthy and corporations."

Dark money groups are spending at record levels in their efforts to influence the outcome of the 2024 U.S. elections, an analysis published Wednesday by OpenSecrets revealed.

According to the watchdog, the "unprecedented surge" in spending by dark money groups—which, thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling don't have to disclose their donors—topped $162 million in 2023, "surpassing the level of dark contributions seen at the same point in any prior election cycle."

"So far this election cycle, contributions from dark money groups and shell companies are outpacing all prior elections and may even surpass the roughly $660 million in contributions from unknown sources that flooded 2020 elections—a cycle that attracted over $1 billion in total dark money," the group said.

According to OpenSecrets' analysis, super PACs and other dark money groups supporting Democrats have spent $85 million during this election cycle, while contributions backing Republicans have totaled $74 million so far. If the trend holds, this will be the fourth consecutive election cycle in which Democrats enjoyed a dark money advantage.

Americans for Prosperity Action, a right-wing hybrid PAC led by billionaire Charles Koch, has reported around $25 million in contributions so far this election cycle—far more than any other dark money group. Senate Majority PAC, which supports Democrats, has spent over $16.7 million, while the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund is in third place with more than $15.8 million in donations.

In an effort to tackle dark money's corrupting influence, U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) last month introduced legislation aimed at closing a loophole that lets wealthy individuals make tax-free asset donations to dark money groups.

Dark money is back in the headlines amid scrutiny over the right-wing billionaires behind the upcoming No Labels third-party "unity" ticket and $100 million blitz unleashed by the American Israel Political Action Committee against Democrats who criticize Israel's genocidal war on Gaza.

Three of the leading U.S. manufacturers of medical-grade nitrogen gas said this week that they will not allow their products to be used in executions, a move that came after Louisiana approved the controversial capital punishment method recently used to kill an Alabama prisoner who appeared to be in agony before he died.

Airgas—owned by the French company Air Liquide—along with Air Products, and Matheson Gas toldThe Guardian that they are banning the use of their nitrogen gas products in the previously untested execution method used to cause death by hypoxia, or deprivation of oxygen to vital tissues.

Veterinarians consider nitrogen gas unethical for euthanizing animals and United Nations human rights experts have asserted that the execution technique may violate international anti-torture law.

"Airgas has not, and will not, supply nitrogen or other inert gases to induce hypoxia for the purpose of human execution," the company said.

Matheson Gas told The Guardian that use of its products in executions is "not consistent with our company values," while Air Products told the U.K.-based newspaper that it has established "prohibited end uses for our products, which includes the use of any of our industrial gas products for the intentional killing of any person (including nitrogen hypoxia)."

Four states—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Oklahoma—have approved nitrogen gas for use in executions. Last week, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed legislation passed by the GOP-controlled state Legislature expanding execution methods to include the electric chair and nitrogen hypoxia. This, despite the agonizing execution in January of 58-year-old Kenneth Smith, who was killed by the state of Alabama by nitrogen hypoxia on January 25 after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his last-ditch appeal.

Rev. Jeff Hood, a spiritual adviser to U.S. death row inmates, witnessed Smith's killing, which he described as "horrific and cruel." Hood and other witnesses said Smith convulsed violently for several minutes while he was strapped to a gurney and forced to breathe nitrogen gas through a mask. Even prison guards were taken by surprise as the gurney shook and Smith struggled for his life.

Alabama officials had claimed that nitrogen hypoxia is "perhaps the most humane method of execution ever devised."

States have sought alternative means of killing condemned prisoners—including nitrogen gas and firing squads—ever since the European Union banned the sale and export of lethal injection drugs in 2011.

Maya Foa, co-executive director of the anti-death penalty group Reprieve, told The Guardian that "drug manufacturers don't want their medicines diverted and misused in torturous executions and the makers of nitrogen gas share the same objection: They do not want their products to be used to kill."

"States which claim that the lethal injection or gas inhalation are 'humane' methods of execution are merely seeking to mask what it means for a state to forcibly put someone to death," Foa added. "The makers of these products see through the lie and naturally want nothing to do with it."

Racial justice defenders on Monday renewed calls for banning artificial intelligence in political advertisements after backers of former U.S. President Donald Trump published fake AI-generated images of the presumptive Republican nominee with Black "supporters."

BBChighlighted numerous deepfakes, including one created by right-wing Florida radio host Mark Kaye showing a smiling Trump embracing happy Black women. On closer inspection, missing or misformed fingers and unintelligible lettering on attire expose the images as fake.

"I'm not claiming it's accurate," Kaye told the BBC. "I'm not a photojournalist. "I'm not out there taking pictures of what's really happening. I'm a storyteller."

"If anybody's voting one way or another because of one photo they see on a Facebook page, that's a problem with that person, not with the post itself," Kaye added.

Another deepfake shows Trump on a porch surrounded by young Black men. The image earned a "community note" on X, the Elon Musk-owned social media platform formerly known as Twitter, identifying it as AI-generated. The owner of the account that published the image—which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times according to X—included the deceptive caption, "What do you think about Trump stopping his motorcade to take pictures with young men that waved him down?"

When asked about his image by the BBC, @MAGAShaggy1958 said his posts "have attracted thousands of wonderful kind-hearted Christian followers."

Responding to the new reporting, the racial justice group Color of Change led calls to ban AI in political ads.

"The spread of misinformation and targeted intimidation of Black voters will continue without the proper safeguards," the group said on social media, while calling for:

• Banning AI from political ads;
• Requiring disclosure of AI use for all other content;
• Banning deepfakes; and
• Restoring prohibitions on misinformation and lies about the validity of the 2020 election.

"As the 2024 election approaches, Big Tech companies like Google and Meta are poised to once again play a pivotal role in the spread of misinformation meant to disenfranchise Black voters and justify violence in the name of right-wing candidates," Color of Change said in a petition urging Big Tech to "stop amplifying election lies."

"During the 2016 and 2020 presidential election cycles, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and others consistently ignored the warning signs that they were helping to undermine our democracy," the group continued. "This dangerous trend doesn't seem to be changing."

"Despite their claims that they've learned their lesson and are shoring up protections against misinformation ahead of the 2024 election cycle,large tech companies are cutting key staff that moderate content and removing election protections from their policies that are supposed to safeguard platform users from misinformation," the petition warns.

Last September, Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) introduced bipartisan legislation to prohibit the use of AI-generated content that falsely depicts candidates in political ads.

In February, the Federal Communications Commission responded to AI-generated robocalls featuring President Joe Biden's fake voice telling New Hampshire voters to not vote in their state's primary election by prohibiting the use of voice cloning technology to create automated calls.

The Federal Election Commission, however, has been accused by advocacy groups including Public Citizen of foot-dragging in response to public demands to regulate deepfakes. Earlier this year, FEC Chair Sean Cooksey said the agency would "resolve the AI rulemaking by early summer"—after many state primaries are over.

At least 13 states have passed laws governing the use of AI in political ads, while tech companies have responded in various ways to the rise of deepfakes. Last September, Google announced that it would require the prominent disclosure of political ads using AI. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has banned political campaigns from using its generative AI tools. OpenAI, which makes the popular ChatGPT chatbot, said earlier this year that it won't let users create content for political campaigns and will embed watermarks on art made with its DALL-E image generator.

Cliff Albright, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter campaign, told the BBC that "there have been documented attempts to target disinformation to Black communities again, especially younger Black voters."

Albright said the deepfakes serve a "very strategic narrative" being pushed by a wide range of right-wing voices from the Trump campaign to social media accounts in a bid to woo African Americans.

Trump's support among Black voters increased from just 8% in 2016 to a still-meager 12% in 2020. Conversely, a recent New York Times/Siena College survey of voters in six key swing states found that Biden's support among African American voters has plummeted from 92% during the last election cycle to 71% today, while 22% of Black respondents said they would vote for Trump this year.

Trump's attempts to win Black votes have ranged from awkward to cringeworthy, including hawking $400 golden sneakers and suggesting his mugshot and 91 criminal indictments appeal to African Americans.

The ACLU of Florida on Friday led condemnation of a bill passed by the Republican-controlled lower chamber of the state Legislature that "seeks to deny the legal existence of transgender individuals by requiring individuals to identify as their sex assigned at birth instead of their gender on their driver's licenses and ID cards."

Dubbed the Trans Erasure Bill by opponents, H.B. 1639 passed by a vote of 75-33. The ACLU notes that the legislation "also requires health plans to cover the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy and creates additional obstacles for health plans to cover gender-affirming care."

"H.B. 1639 is harmful, vague, and does nothing to improve the lives of Floridians," ACLU of Florida policy strategist NR Hines said in a statement. "It is eerily silent on the consequences for transgender individuals who identify their gender on their driver's license or other government-issued identification instead of their sex assigned at birth."

"It weaponizes state agencies and private insurance companies to threaten the safety and inclusion of transgender people," they asserted. "It is a cruel bill aimed at erasing transgender Floridians out of public life entirely. We have deep concerns about the life-altering impacts on the trans community."

Hines continued:

Last month, we learned of the death of a transgender student after they experienced violence on school grounds in Oklahoma. Nex Benedict should still be alive today. While this violence didn't occur in Florida, the fear and hate towards trans people that some elected officials are spreading directly leads to these unsafe situations. Rest assured that the passage of this discriminatory bill would have a detrimental and real-life impact on the trans community. Thankfully, there is currently no Senate companion bill, and Senate leadership has stated the bill will not be heard.

"We hope this remains true," Hines added. "Trans people belong and deserve the freedom to be who they are."

LGBTQ+ rights—and especially trans rights—are under attack across the country. The ACLU is currently tracking 471 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in a majority of states, including 11 pieces of proposed legislation in Florida.

Last year, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a failed GOP presidential candidate, signed a bundle of bills that activists condemned as the most extreme slate of anti-trans laws in modern history. Among these were S.B. 254, which bans gender-affirming care for minors, while prohibiting nurse practitioners from providing such healthcare to adults.

Last June, federal Judge Robert Hinkle temporarily blocked the enforcement of certain provisions of S.B. 254, saying they constituted "purposeful discrimination" against transgender people.

DeSantis also signed H.B. 1069, which expands the so-called "Don't Say Gay or Trans" law to prohibit educators from discussing sexual orientation or gender identity in grades K-12.

H.B. 1521 empowers cisgender people to order transgender people to leave publicly available restrooms—in places including airports, sports arenas, convention centers, beaches, parks, and public and even private healthcare and educational institutions—or face criminal trespass charges that could result in up to a year behind bars for those who refuse to comply.

The Human Rights Campaign—the largest LGBTQ+ political advocacy group in the United States—issued a first-ever national emergency declaration for LGBTQ+ people last June, citing the torrent of discriminatory and dangerous legislation emerging from Republican-controlled legislatures across the country.

A report published Wednesday by the U.S. Senate committee chaired by Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders exposed "the depth of the retirement crisis in America" while exploring "solutions that will allow all of our people to retire with dignity and security—not just the very wealthy."

The report—entitled A Secure Retirement for All—was released ahead of a Wednesday morning Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) hearing on the retirement crisis. The publication revealed that nearly half of Americans age 55 and older have no retirement savings. It also found that half of Americans age 65 and older are living on less than $30,000 per year, while 1 in people are fighting to survive on less than $15,000 annually.

Other key findings include:

• Nearly 5.3 million Americans age 65 and older live in poverty, and roughly 1 in 10 seniors;
• Nearly half of all Americans are at risk of a financially insecure retirement, up from 1 in 3 workers in 1983;
• The average monthly Social Security benefit in 2023 was only about $1,782, or $21,384 annually; and
• The top 20% of earners receive 63% of the $202 billion in annual income tax breaks for retirement accounts, while the bottom 60% receive just 13.4% of these breaks.

"Given the enormous growth of the economy over the past several decades, one might expect that the outlook for retirees is improving," the report states. "Yet, today nearly half of all Americans are at risk of a financially insecure retirement."

"For many, retiring on Social Security alone means that some months you can afford to either keep the lights on or get your prescription refilled," the publication adds. "The cost of healthcare in retirement is an enormous cost driver, for which many find themselves unprepared."

The report offers two main solutions to the retirement crisis: expanding and strengthening Social Security—"the most successful government program in our nation's history"—and enacting "Retirement Security for All" legislation that ensures every worker can save for retirement via their paychecks and guarantees lifetime monthly payments.

Last year, Sanders—along with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Reps. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Val Hoyle (D-Ore.)—introduced the Social Security Expansion Act, which would increase monthly benefits by at least $200 and extend the program's solvency for decades by lifting the cap on the maximum amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax.

The Social Security Administration's chief actuary said that had the bill been signed into law last year, the program would be able to pay full benefits to every eligible American for 75 years, without any tax increase for 93% of U.S. workers earning less than $250,000 per year.

"In the richest country in the history of the world, a secure and dignified retirement should be available to every American, not just the extremely wealthy," Sanders said on Wednesday. "Right now, more than half of older Americans have no retirement savings. More than 50% of our nation’s seniors are trying to survive on an income of less than $30,000 a year. That is absurd. Congress must address the retirement crisis facing working-class Americans across our country."

The historic wave of Jewish-led protests against U.S. complicity in Israel's genocidal war on Gaza continued Monday as members of the group Jewish Voice for Peace were arrested for occupying NBC headquarters in New York City in a bid to disrupt the taping of President Joe Biden's appearance on a popular late-night TV show.

JVP activists wearing shirts reading "Not In Our Name" unfurled banners and chanted slogans inside 30 Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan, where Biden was taping an interview with the eponymous host of the "Late Night Show With Seth Meyers."

"Biden, Biden, you can't hide, you are funding genocide," the protesters chanted. Banners implored the president to "Stop Arming Genocide" and push for a "Lasting Cease-Fire" in Gaza, where more than 100,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded and around 90% of the population has been forcibly displaced since the October 7 attacks on Israel.

"President Biden's deadly foreign policy has expedited weapons sales to Israel," said Jewish Voice for Peace New York, which also criticized the administration for ignoring the International Court of Justice's provisional ruling last month that Israel is "plausibly" perpetrating genocide, suspending funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, and vetoing three U.N. cease-fire resolutions.

"The president needs to start answering to the American people—not the far-right Israeli government indiscriminately bombing the people of Gaza, destroying 70% of infrastructure, including hospitals, universities, and the electricity and water grids," the group added.

Jay Saper of JVP said Monday that "our Jewish tradition teaches us that life is precious."

"As Jewish New Yorkers, we are absolutely outraged that President Biden is actively supporting a genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza," he added.

In addition to taping Tuesday's "Late Night" episode, Biden and Meyers visited the on-site Van Leeuwen ice cream parlor, where the president ordered mint chip in a sugar cone. While there, a reporter asked when there would be a cease-fire in Gaza.

"My national security adviser tells me that we're close, we're close; it's not done yet," Biden replied. "My hope is by next Monday we'll have a cease-fire."

Early in the war, Biden proclaimed his "rock-solid and unwavering" commitment to Israel while refusing to call for a cease-fire. As Israeli bombs and bullets killed and maimed tens of thousands of Palestinians—mostly women and children—the president asked for over $14 billion in additional U.S. military aid to Israel, which already receives nearly $4 billion from Washington annually. Biden also repeatedly circumvented Congress to expedite emergency military assistance to the key Middle East ally.

Even after calling Israel's bombardment of Gaza "indiscriminate" and "over the top," Biden has continued to provide the country with military and diplomatic support.

Demonstrations led by JVP and other Jewish-led groups, chiefly IfNotNow, have filled the streets of cities from coast to coast, shut down major transit hubs, occupied landmarks, disrupted Biden's campaign events, and much more in the name of demanding an immediate cease-fire and an end to U.S. complicity in the Gaza genocide.

"The president needs to start answering to the American people. Not the genocidal Israeli government," JVP activist Eve Feldberg said on Monday. "And the people have made it clear: We want a cease-fire now and weapons embargo on Israel."

The Poor People's Campaign on Monday launched a 42-week nationwide mobilization of poor and low-income Americans to "wake the sleeping giant" of a voting bloc with the potential to determine the outcome of the 2024 elections.

"It is time for a resurrection and not an insurrection," Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William Barber II said during a press conference in Washington, D.C. "We must engage poor and low-wealth people to change the political landscape."

"For far too long extremists have blamed poor people and low-wage people for their plight, while moderates too often have ignored poor people, appealing instead to the so-called middle class," he continued. "Meanwhile, poor and low-income people have become nearly half of this country and we are here today to make one thing clear: Poor and low-wage brothers and sisters have the power to determine and decide the 2024 elections and elections beyond."

"Economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected."

Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis stressed that "economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected."

"In this rich nation that has the wherewithal to end poverty tomorrow where there's the political will, we must not overlook the voices and votes of poor and low-income people," she added. "We are mobilizing and organizing, registering and educating people for a movement that votes... for healthcare and debt cancellation. Votes for living wages and strong anti-poverty programs. Votes for fair taxes and demilitarization of our communities and our world. Votes for immigrant rights and more."

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said at the press conference: "In 2024, the election is going to be about mobilization... Democrats have an enthusiasm gap today and the progressive alliance and Democrats have fissures within their constituencies that make getting out the vote even more important."

"The biggest bloc of potential voters by far is low-income, low-wage voters," Lake noted. "Where the margin of victory is projected to be less than 3% in 2024, 30-45% of the voters are low-wage voters or low-income families... The turnout among low-wage voters and low-income voters today is... 20-22% below the average turnout. This is a huge bloc of voters, and it is a bloc of voters that votes 58-60%—at minimum—progressive, no matter how conservative the state."

"You're talking about a huge number—a game-changing number—of voters," she added.

The campaign's main scheduled events are a Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Moral March to State House Assemblies on March 2 and a rally and march in Washington, D.C. on June 15.

"I have been struggling to pay my bills since I've been working at 16 years old. I work full time, 64 hours a week, seven days a week," said Beth Schafer of Raise Up for $15 during a video promoting the new campaign. "I am exhausted."

Crow Roberts, an organizer with the Indiana Poor People's Campaign, said in the video that "our government finds it necessary to ban abortion to say that they are saving our children, but more children die as a result of poverty in this country."

Guadalupe de la Cruz of the Florida Poor People's Campaign asserted that "we should not be cornered and forced to choose between one necessity or another."

Speaking at the press conference, Alabama activist Linda Burns said that "for three years I worked the assembly line at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama. The work was grueling. We were expected to work like robots, moving like 1,000 pieces per hour."

"I got badly injured. My left arm," she continued. "I had two surgeries. I had to get a third surgery, but I didn't have no more insurance. Amazon, they cut my insurance off a year after. They let me go last October."

"Amazon let me go because I was helping organize the union," said Burns. "We didn't get the union in Alabama but I'm gonna do everything in my power to stand in solidarity. Organizing the union showed me just how many people were in the same situation I was. Not just in Alabama, but all over the world."

"Forty-seven percent of the voters are poor or low-wage. Getting that vote in is very important," she added. "We cannot settle for less, we've got to stand up for our rights. We are forward together—not one step back."

Senior White House adviser John Podesta has been tapped to replace outgoing U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

According to the Post, Podesta—who is currently in charge of implementing the climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act—will have the title of "senior adviser to the president for international climate policy" and will work out of the White House instead of the State Department, where Kerry was based.

"We need to keep meeting the gravity of this moment, and there is no one better than John Podesta to make sure we do," White House chief of staff Jeff Zients said in a statement. "John has—and will continue to be—at the helm of driving the implementation of the most significant climate law in history."

NBC Newsreported that Kerry—a former secretary of state and the 2004 Democratic nominee for president—will shift to supporting President Joe Biden's reelection campaign.

In a statement, Center for Biological Diversity’s Energy Justice program director Jean Su underscored the imperative of building on the limited yet important climate progress achieved by the Biden administration.

"The recent pause on gas exports has positioned Podesta to lead the fossil fuel phaseout and the clean energy expansion we desperately need," Su said. "In his final act as climate envoy, John Kerry agreed to a global transition away from fossil fuels and urged a far more ambitious scale and timeline."

"Podesta needs to take the baton from Kerry and lead the U.S. on a furious sprint to end oil and gas expansion while we still have time to prevent the worst climate catastrophes," she added.

The executive body of Progressive International warned Monday of the accelerating erosion of Indian democracy as right-wing Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially consecrated a highly controversial Hindu temple on the former site of a 16th-century Muslim mosque destroyed a generation ago by a Hindu nationalist mob.

Modi heralded the "advent of a new era" as he spoke outside Ram Mandir, a temple to the Hindu deity figure Ram—who epitomizes the triumph of good over evil—in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh. The small city of approximately 55,000 inhabitants is known for its religious diversity and long history of peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims.

The prime minister, who exalted Ram as India's "national consciousness," claimed the temple's construction reflected that harmonious history, and that "this construction is not giving birth to any fire, but to energy."

"Today, the Modi government has made a decisive move to overthrow India's secular constitution in the name of a new Hindu supremacist nation."

However, it was extremist members of Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who, in December 1992, led a mob of Hindu nationalists in the destruction of the Babri Masjid Mosque, which they claim stood on the site of an ancient Hindu temple to Ram. The act sparked fierce communal riots in which more than 2,000 people were killed, most of them Muslims.

Celebrations of the new temple—much of which is still under construction—took part throughout India, with displays of Hindu nationalism prominent at many events. Emily Jones, a Christian Indian from Kerala state traveling in Goa, told Common Dreams that participants chanted slogans including "every inch of India is Hindu" at a car rally in Chapora.

In a statement, the Progressive International cabinet—whose members include National Federation of Indian Women president Aruna Roy—warned that "today, India lurches toward full-fledged fascism."

"Today, the Modi government has made a decisive move to overthrow India's secular constitution in the name of a new Hindu supremacist nation," the statement continued. "As prime minister, Modi has pushed this Hindu nationalism as India's dominant political force: banning the hijab in schools, introducing 'anti-conversion' laws, abusing municipal forces to demolish Muslim households and shops in cities, and pushing for a 'uniform civil code' in law."

"Now, in open defiance of India's secure constitution, Modi fuses 'prime minister' with 'chief priest' to conduct the consecration of this controversial temple," the cabinet contended.

Shoaib Daniyal, political editor of Scroll.in, wrote:

Modi's image in the manner of a medieval Hindu sovereign, involved in a ceremony that melded state and faith, is the final sign that India is now a de facto Hindu rashtra or Hindu state. This moment has been decades in the making. The destruction of the Babri Masjid in 1992 was its biggest victory. January 22 inaugurates a second republic for the Indian Union... The outlines of the Hindu rashtra are, therefore, being sketched out before our eyes, fashioned by current events. However, a decade into the Modi age, we can discern its defining contours. For one, quite obviously, it means a drastic shrinking of rights for its religious minorities, especially Muslims, who are the principal Other for the Hindu rashtra. Even something as banal as canvassing for Muslim votes is now decried as 'appeasement.' In many states, basic law and order is a privilege for Muslims.

In 2002, Modi was chief minister of the western state of Gujarat and blamed Muslims for burning a train full of Hindu pilgrims, an act that sparked retaliatory massacres in which at least hundreds and perhaps thousands of Muslims were murdered, tortured, and raped. Hundreds of Hindus were also killed.

A U.K. government investigation found that Modi was "directly responsible" for the "climate of impunity" surrounding the massacre, although he was cleared by India's Supreme Court a decade later.

Banned by the George W. Bush administration from entering the United States over his role in the pogrom, U.S. politicians subsequently courted Modi as India rose to the top tier of nations. Former President Barack Obama lifted Modi's visa ban, while his and each subsequent U.S. administration has embraced the prime minister.

So have members of Congress from both parties, although progressive lawmakers have condemned what Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) described as his administration's "systemic human rights abuses."

The new Progressive International cabinet statement asserted that "India's fundamentalist turn is terrifying."

"We call on progressive forces around the world to stand vigilant ahead of its general elections in April," the statement added. "The people of India have struggled for decades to secure a democracy that is secular, just, and equal. Modi must not be permitted to rob them of it now."

Observers noted the timing of the new temple's inauguration coincides with the start of the 2024 election cycle.

"We call on progressive forces around the world to stand vigilant ahead of its general elections in April."

"As Modi seeks a third term, his ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has signaled that the crux of its campaign will be anchored in the discourse around Modi's leadership as a Hindutva icon, and how the party has delivered on its ideological, political, and economic commitments," Haris Zargar, a doctoral researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam, wrote for Middle East Eye, referring to the political ideology of "Hindu-ness" which advocates the dominant religion's supremacy and the transformation of secular India into an ethnonationalist state.

"Through this historic ceremony, Modi fulfills a pivotal campaign promise to his Hindu nationalist support base, and solidifies the party's connection with its core constituency in northern India's Hindi heartland," he added. "It also sets in motion a campaign aiming to polarize the electorate for political dividends."

Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he will force a Senate floor vote this week on a resolution that would suspend aid to Israel if the U.S. State Department fails to report on how Israeli weapons—many of them supplied by the United States—are being used in Gaza.

Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders (I-Vt.) told host Jake Tapper that he will force a Tuesday evening vote on his resolution, which is based on Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, legislation empowering Congress to "request information on a particular country's human rights practices and to alter or terminate U.S. security assistance to that country in light of the information received."

If the resolution passes, the Biden administration would be compelled to provide a report on Israeli rights violations within 30 days or trigger a suspension of all U.S. assistance to its key Middle Eastern ally.

"What is going on in Gaza right now is a horrendous humanitarian catastrophe," said Sanders—who has infuriated many progressives by refusing to support a cease-fire. "We're looking at 23,000 people who have been killed. Almost 60,000 have been wounded. And two-thirds of the people who have been killed are women and children. You're looking at 70% of the housing units in Gaza that have been destroyed."

By Monday, the death toll in Gaza had topped 24,000, according to local officials.

The United States has provided some of Israel's most powerful weaponry, with which its forces have carried out some of the 101-day war's deadliest massacres.

"What is going on in Gaza now in three months is worse than what took place in Dresden over a two-year period," Sanders noted, referring to the U.S. and U.K. "terror bombing"—Britain's own description at the time—of the German city, largely with incendiary weapons, during World War II.

"This is a catastrophe," he continued, referring to Gaza. "And now, according to the United Nations, after you have 1.9 million people displaced from their homes... What you are looking at is imminent starvation. Children are starving to death."

"So, my view has been from the beginning, Israel has a right to respond to this horrific terrorist attack from Hamas, but you do not have a right to go to war against an entire people, women and children," the senator asserted. "And the United States Congress has got to act, because a lot of this destruction is being done with military weapons supplied by the United States of America."

Asked by Tapper if he could secure the 51 votes needed for the resolution's passage, Sanders replied: "Not on Tuesday night, I don't. I think we're making progress."

"What we're trying to do is unprecedented," he said. "This is the first time this particular resolution has ever been brought to the floor for a vote. This is the first time we have ever seen members of the Congress beginning to stand up... to Israeli aid."

"So it's going to be a long, hard process, but we have got to begin somewhere," the senator added. "This is the beginning."

"This is the first time we have ever seen members of the Congress beginning to stand up... to Israeli aid."

Although the Foreign Assistance Act—passed during the John F. Kennedy administration—ostensibly conditions U.S. assistance upon adherence to human rights standards, it has been repeatedly manipulated to allow military aid for violators including the perpetrators of the Guatemalan genocide. It also created the United States Agency for International Development, through which the U.S. trained dictatorships in torture, assassination, democracy suppression, and other crimes.

Sanders—who is Jewish but not religious and lived on an Israeli kibbutz over 60 years ago—earlier this month called on Congress to block additional U.S. military funding for Israel, a pushback against the Biden administration's request for an additional $14.3 billion for a country already receiving nearly $4 billion in annual armed aid. Biden has also twice bypassed Congress to fast-track "emergency" arms shipments to Israel.

During Sunday's interview, Sanders also weighed in on last week's bombing of Yemen by U.S. and U.K. forces in response to Houthi rebels' attacks on Red Sea shipping.

"The president has a right to respond on an emergency basis to the disruption of international shipping brought about by the Houthis," he said. "On the other hand, he's got to get to Congress immediately. It is Congress that has a right to declare war, not the president of the United States. So I hope this issue gets to Congress immediately."

As Medicare Advantage plans rely increasingly upon artificial intelligence to determine—and often deny—payment for patient care, a group of Democratic U.S. lawmakers on Friday urged Medicare's top official to strengthen oversight of AI and algorithmic tools used to make coverage determinations.

"In recent years, problems posed by prior authorization have been exacerbated by MA plans' increasing use of AI or algorithmic software to assist in their coverage determinations in certain care settings, including inpatient hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health," 32 House Democrats led by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) wrote in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Books LaSure.

"Advocates and the media report that the use of such software has led to coverage decisions that are more restrictive than allowed under traditional Medicare rules, as well as more frequent and repeated denials of care," the lawmakers wrote. "Absent prohibiting the use of AI/algorithmic tools outright, it is unclear how CMS is monitoring and evaluating MA plans' use of such tools in order ensure that plans comply with Medicare's rules and do not inappropriately create barriers to care."

The lawmakers are calling on CMS to take steps including, but not limited to:

• Requiring MA plans to report prior authorization data including reason for denial, by type of service, beneficiary characteristics (such as health conditions), and timeliness of prior authorization decisions;
• Comparing "guidance" generated by AI and algorithmic tools with actual MA coverage decisions;
• Assessing how and to what extent initial prior-authorized AI determinations for services are adjusted to account for unanticipated changes in a patients' condition;
• Requiring attestation from MA plans and contractors that their coverage guidelines are not more restrictive than traditional Medicare; and
• Determining whether MA plans are inappropriately using race/other factors in these algorithms.

MA plans are not part of Medicare. They are a private health insurance "scam" created by a GOP-controlled Congress and signed into law 20 years ago by then-President George W. Bush "as a way of routing hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars into the pockets of for-profit insurance companies," according to frequent Common Dreams opinion contributor Thom Hartmann.

A report published last month by Physicians for a National Health Program revealed that MA plans are overcharging U.S. taxpayers by up to $140 billion per year, enough to completely eliminate Medicare Part B premiums or fully fund Medicare's prescription drug program.

The lawmakers' letter is endorsed by advocacy groups including the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Public Citizen, Social Security Works, Center for Health and Democracy, and Business Leaders for Health Care Transformation.

"The use of AI by Medicare Advantage insurers to deny needed care to seniors and people with disabilities represents the most recent and dangerous step by greedy companies focused on profit instead of patients," Public Citizen executive vice president Lisa Gilbert said in a statement.

"Now is the time for CMS to crack down on companies that are using AI and other mechanisms to deny care that would be covered if the enrollee were covered by traditional Medicare," Gilbert added. "Understanding how Medicare Advantage insurers are using AI to deny needed care and holding bad actors accountable are crucial steps to protecting seniors and the Medicare program."

Last year, a U.S. Senate probe found that insurance companies and other brokers are "running amok" with "fraudsters and scam artists" making false or misleading claims to dupe senior citizens into purchasing MA plans.

Progressive lawmakers have also criticized President Joe Biden for delaying promised curbs on Medicare Advantage plans amid heavy insurance industry lobbying.

Earlier this year, Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)—one of the 32 lawmakers who signed the letter to Brooks LaSure—Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), and Jan Schakowsky reintroduced a bill to change the official name of MA to "alternative private health plan" to make clear that such coverage is offered by for-profit companies.

"The scheme is called Medicare Advantage," Pocan and Khanna explained. "But in reality, so-called 'Medicare Advantage' is neither Medicare nor an advantage."