RedWizard

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/62068

Abigail Spanberger follows the model of the CIA throughout the developing world.

From MR Online via This RSS Feed.

During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, The State and Revolution

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/61881

Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration had proposed adding roughly 580 officers to the New York Police Department (NYPD) — an increase that would have required tens of millions in additional spending. But earlier this week, he abandoned the plans after a controversy erupted within the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), whose leadership put out a statement alongside other organizations criticizing Mamdani for the move.

On the surface, this appears to reflect a win for working-class communities, protesters, and movements for racial justice and Palestine, who have been on the forefront of the fight against police repression and for years have called to “defund” the police. But the outcome also makes clear the limits of this kind of “victory.”

The final budget still maintains a NYPD headcount of roughly 35,000 officers, costing over $6 billion, within a city budget of approximately $125.8 billion. In other words, the decision did not meaningfully alter the scale, let alone the function, of policing in New York City. It preserved the status quo: one of the largest police forces in the country, if not the world, with all its existing capacities for surveillance, repression, and enforcement of social inequality intact. The Left, including DSA, needs to go much further, building a struggle against policing that is independent of the very state and institutions that depend on policing to function.

Mamdani’s Campaign Promises Run Into Political Reality

This latest flashpoint is only the newest entry in a pattern stretching back to the campaign trail: Mamdani built his political rise in part on calling to defund the NYPD and branding it racist, anti-queer, and a danger to public safety, only to spend his first year in office walking each of those positions back.

By fall 2025 he was touring precincts offering to apologize to the NYPD for his previous remarks, and upon taking office he chose to keep Jessica Tisch on as police commissioner. Just weeks into his term, the NYPD’s Special Response Group (SRG) carried out its first mass arrest under his watch, sweeping up anti-ICE protesters. That same winter, he quietly restarted the homeless encampment sweeps he’d promised to end, and by spring, he’d softened his commitment to dismantle the department’s racist “gang database” and declined to follow through on disbanding the SRG unit at the center of repeated protest crackdowns, defending Tisch’s approach instead.

These policies are not simply the choices of one individual — they expose the political limits and contradictions of attempting to transform society while remaining inside the Democratic Party and administering institutions built to defend capitalist rule.

Any left project that seeks to govern through the Democratic Party inevitably confronts the institutions of the capitalist state. Those institutions — the police, the courts, city hall, the financial interests that shape municipal policy — are not politically neutral. They exist to preserve the existing social order. Rather than mobilizing workers and the oppressed independently against those institutions, elected officials operating within them are continually pressured to reconcile conflicting interests: the expectations of their social base on one side and the demands of business interests, the political establishment, and the state apparatus on the other.

Given Mamdani’s trajectory, and the very real potential for a reactionary offensive from the NYPD in response to even this modest retreat, there is little reason to think this will be the last time the question of Mamdani’s relationship to the police resurfaces, and every reason to treat it with urgency now rather than waiting for the next reversal to force the issue.

If Mamdani Won’t Confront the Police, Who Will?

DSA, for its part, has talked about the need for a grassroots movement that puts candidates in check, but what would it mean for the DSA to actually organize the kind of response that could meaningfully confront the NYPD?

Imagine if the response to Mamdani’s proposal had gone beyond issuing statements. Imagine if NYC-DSA — the organization’s largest and most influential branch — and allied organizations had called citywide assemblies, organized workplace and campus meetings, coordinated demonstrations, and united the thousands of labor militants, students, tenants, and neighborhood organizations around demands to reduce police spending, abolish the SRG, eliminate the gang database, and redirect resources toward housing, healthcare, schools, transit, and community services.

Such a campaign would not simply seek to persuade one elected official to change course. It would begin building the independent power necessary to challenge the institutions that reproduce policing in the first place.

Instead, the leadership of the NYC-DSA has made moves in the opposite direction, starting with their decision to make it harder to criticize Mamdani on the heels of his election, the decision to discipline the Anti-War Working Group on the heels of the war with Iran (unsurprisingly, over the question of imperialism, which is another strategic red line for the Democratic Party), and their defense of the homeless encampment sweeps. And curiously, they only criticized Mamdani over the NYPD’s expansion right before the primary elections that relied on constituencies shaped by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and the movement against the genocide in Palestine — people for whom policing is not an abstract budget issue but a lived political reality of raids, repression, and criminalization.

For these constituencies, these debates should not remain confined to closed-door leadership discussions. They should become opportunities to build democratic assemblies and organizing committees where members, workers, students, tenants, and community organizations can collectively debate strategy and determine how to fight.

Yet, as long as the political horizon remains administering the existing capitalist state through the Democratic Party, every confrontation with the police will reproduce the same dilemma: pressure from below will collide with the institutional pressures to preserve the existing order.

The retreat on police expansion should therefore be understood not as the resolution of the debate, but as its beginning. The next confrontation over policing is inevitable. The question is whether the Left will be better prepared — not simply with stronger statements, but with stronger organizations capable of fighting for a real break with the politics of policing and the capitalist state that depends on it.

The post Mamdani Halts NYPD Expansion, But NYC’s Repressive Machine Remains Intact appeared first on Left Voice.

From Left Voice via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/67238198

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/61692

Residents of Guam and the Northern Marianas boarded up windows and stocked up Friday as a monster weather system forecast to become a "super typhoon" approached the U.S. Pacific territories.

From Earth News - Earth Science News, Earth Science, Climate Change via This RSS Feed.

I dont know if I'm just drinking the conspiracy coolaid but after every major DSA win every vaguely left-wing socialist space is flooded with "they arent socialists just reformists" comments. People arguing that because Mamdani isnt actively calling for the overthrow of capitalism that he's just a social democrat who just wants to reform capitalism. As if a politician cant run on a platform, while their personal political views might be different. Or that any of the positions the DSA is winning would be capable of overturning capitalism.

It almost feels like astroturfing intended to create infighting but I am fully willing to admit I might just be going insane. Am I crazy or have other people noticed this as well?

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/61072

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old democratic socialist and first-time candidate, defeated 15-term incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette on Tuesday in Colorado's 1st Congressional District primary, the latest signal that progressive momentum and backlash against the Democratic establishment are spreading nationwide.

"We won tonight, but this is also something so much bigger than this moment," Kiros, who was fired from the law firm Sidley Austin in 2023 for speaking out in support of Palestinian rights demonstrators, told backers late Tuesday after The Associated Press called the race in her favor. "We believe that fundamental change can, and will, happen if we fight for it—if we organize, if we show no fear in standing up for what’s right. That is the message that Denver has sent to both parties, to Donald Trump, and to the entire country."

Kiros' upset win came a week after a series of progressive victories in New York congressional primaries, which sparked backlash from the party's corporate wing. Days after the New York contests, more than a dozen centrist Democrats signed an open letter declaring that "we are capitalist, not socialist," a clear rebuke of insurgent progressives.

Justice Democrats, a national progressive group that backed Kiros, said it is having its "most successful cycle to date, winning six Democratic primaries and proceeding to the top two in two California primaries." The organization recruited Darializa Avila Chevalier, who upset five-term incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York's 13th Congressional District last week.

"Melat and our candidates continue winning this cycle because Democratic voters are finally getting leaders acting on their demands to bring the fight to the corporations raising our prices, the war lobbies profiting off endless war and genocide, and the immigration gestapo terrorizing our communities," Alexandra Rojas, Justice Democrats' executive director, said in a statement Tuesday.

Kiros—whose platform includes Medicare for All, universal childcare, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement—prevailed despite a last-minute torrent of super PAC spending in support of DeGette. Drop Site reported that "super PACs funded by AIPAC and major big tech donors have poured roughly $2 million behind Rep. Diana DeGette on the eve of her contentious primary."

"Across the country, voters are rejecting corporate politics and electing candidates willing to take on billionaire influence, confront the climate crisis, fight for working people, and speak with moral clarity on the defining issues of the moment," said the youth-led Sunrise Movement following Kiros' win.

Kiros will be the heavy favorite to win the general election in November, when she will face Republican Christy Peterson.

Progressives also celebrated Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser's Democratic gubernatorial primary win over US Sen. Michael Bennet, whose campaign received nearly $3 million in support from billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

“This movement is what democracy looks like,” Weiser told supporters late Tuesday. “You all sent a very clear message: The future of Colorado will not be decided by out-of-state billionaires, by corporations or special interests. Colorado’s future belongs to all of us."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/61019

Xi extends condolences over deadly earthquakes in Venezuela
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday sent a message of condolences to Venezuelan acting President Delcy Rodriguez over the strong earthquakes that rocked the country.

Upon learning that the powerful earthquakes have caused heavy casualties and significant property losses, Xi, on behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, mourned those killed in the earthquakes and expressed sincere sympathy to the bereaved families and those injured.

China, Xi said, stands ready to provide assistance to Venezuela in disaster relief and reconstruction.

He also expressed confidence that under the leadership of the Venezuelan government, the Venezuelan people will overcome the disaster and rebuild their homes at an early date.
China to offer additional aid to quake-hit Venezuela
China has decided to offer additional aid to Venezuela for post-quake relief and reconstruction, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said here on Monday.

The additional emergency material assistance is worth 100 million yuan (about 14.67 million U.S. dollars), following the cash assistance that has already been provided, spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the remarks at a daily press briefing.

Chinese firms in Venezuela mobilize relief efforts after powerful quakes
Several Chinese-funded enterprises in Venezuela have mobilized relief efforts after two powerful earthquakes struck the country, Xinhua learned Friday from the Chinese Embassy in Venezuela.

The companies responded quickly to the disaster and, under the guidance of the Chinese Embassy, coordinated with local Chinese communities and business associations to take part in relief work, according to the embassy.

Their efforts included providing heavy machinery and medical supplies and deploying rescue teams, the embassy said, adding that the companies are contributing to the disaster response through concrete action.

The Chinese government and the Red Cross Society of China will provide emergency humanitarian aid to Venezuela respectively, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a regular press briefing on Friday.

Guo emphasized that China stands ready to provide further support to Venezuela as the situation unfolds.

Overseas Chinese in Venezuela donate 500 tons of quake relief supplies
Overseas Chinese in quake-hit Venezuela have donated about 500 tons of relief supplies, according to the Chinese Embassy in Venezuela.

The supplies were donated by the Federation of Chinese Associations in Venezuela and other Chinese community groups as of 4 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) Saturday.

The supplies, including bottled water, biscuits, diapers, milk, rice, sugar and fish, have benefited nearly 10,000 families affected by the disaster.

Two consecutive quakes, measuring magnitude 7.2 and 7.5, hit Venezuela on Wednesday.

The death toll from the earthquakes has risen to 1,430, Venezuelan National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez said Saturday.

Amid rubble and aftershocks, Venezuelan rescuer puts Chinese-trained skills to work
“I am deeply saddened by the disaster in Venezuela, but I take some comfort in knowing that I can use the skills my Chinese mentors taught me to help my compatriots,” said Pitney Delgado on Friday, his eyes red after more than 50 hours of continuous work.

Two powerful earthquakes above magnitude 7 struck Venezuela on Wednesday evening. Venezuelan officials said Friday that the death toll had risen to 1,430.

Delgado, who works at a Chinese restaurant in Caracas, recalled that when the first quake hit, the kitchen stoves were still burning as the ground suddenly began to shake violently.

“My first reaction was to get everyone to open space. I left without taking anything. I just shouted: ‘Go, go quickly!’” he said.

He urged colleagues to evacuate and only returned to retrieve essential belongings after ensuring everyone had reached safety during a brief pause in the shaking. “My instinct was not to save my own things, but to get them out first,” he said.

Delgado said years of working with Chinese colleagues had left him with a lasting impression of their “warm hearts,” strengthening his willingness to help others in times of crisis.

That commitment was reinforced by a practical skill: more than a decade ago, while working at a Chinese company, he learned to operate heavy machinery under Chinese mentors.

“They are my compatriots. How could I stand by and do nothing?” he said, tears streaming down his face.

He first met Jiang Wangbing, now president of the China-Venezuela Chamber of Commerce, in 2015, when he began learning crane operation.

“It was a huge machine weighing dozens of tons,” Delgado said. “At first I was nervous. One mistake could damage property or hurt someone.”

With patient and standardized instruction, he said he mastered basic crane operations within a week. “The training was very focused. They wanted you to learn everything,” he said.

After the earthquakes, the China-Venezuela Chamber of Commerce quickly mobilized cranes and heavy machinery for rescue operations at collapsed buildings. Delgado joined without hesitation.

He said he could not stop working after seeing on social media people digging through rubble with their bare hands. “Without machines, how could we clear the debris?” he said. “It would be impossible.”

Equipment remained scarce and had to be rotated among multiple sites. By the time of the interview, more than 50 hours had passed since the earthquakes, and Delgado had not rested, having already worked at three collapsed sites.

With his help, seven people were rescued. Two were confirmed alive after treatment, while five did not survive.

“It is a pity we could not save the other five,” he said, covering his face as he cried.

Asked about working under dangerous conditions, he said: “There were aftershocks and unstable structures. Of course, I was afraid. But when I thought people might still be trapped, I could not stop.”

“As long as I am needed here, as long as there are still people to rescue, I will keep working,” he said.

After a brief interview, Delgado returned to the collapsed site. The engine roared again as the crane arm slowly lifted.

Jiang said the chamber had deployed two cranes and one demolition machine for round-the-clock rescue operations. Under the coordination of the Chinese Embassy in Venezuela, it was also gathering supplies from Chinese-funded enterprises, with lighting equipment and excavators to be added.

Following the earthquakes, several Chinese-funded companies in Venezuela launched relief efforts and coordinated with the embassy and local associations to provide machinery, medical supplies, and rescue teams.

Viet Nam deploys military disaster relief team to earthquake-hit Venezuela
The Ministry of National Defence of Viet Nam has decided to deploy an 82-member military humanitarian and disaster relief team to Venezuela to support search and rescue operations and post-earthquake recovery efforts following the devastating earthquakes that struck the South American country on June 24.

The deployment comes after two deadly earthquakes caused severe casualties and widespread damage in Venezuela. To support relief efforts, the Viet Nam People’s Army has established a humanitarian assistance mission comprising command personnel, a military engineering search-and-rescue unit, medical personnel, and a canine search-and-rescue unit.

During the mission, the Vietnamese force will use search dogs to locate victims trapped under collapsed structures, conduct urban search-and-rescue operations, provide emergency medical assistance to survivors, and carry out other humanitarian tasks to help Venezuelan authorities and local communities recover from the disaster.

Logistical preparations have also been completed. According to the General Department of Logistics-Technical Services under the ministry, relief supplies, including food, drinking water, medicines and equipment, were assembled, inspected and packed on the morning of June 28.

The military-run joint stock Company 22 mobilised its workforce to operate around the clock, producing 50 tonnes of compressed ration bars, three tonnes of canned meat and 3,000 litres of clean water for the relief mission. The supplies have been transported by Brigade 971 to Noi Bai International Airport for loading and shipment to Venezuela as scheduled.

The relief shipment carries not only essential supplies but also the solidarity and goodwill of the Vietnamese people toward those affected by the disaster. Viet Nam had sent search and rescue teams to Turkey in 2023 and Myanmar in 2025.

Ministry assigns mission to military relief team heading to earthquake-hit Venezuela
The Ministry of National Defence held a meeting in Ha Noi on June 28 to assign tasks for the force tasked with supporting relief operations in Venezuela following the devastating earthquakes that struck the South American country on June 24.

Accordingly, an 82-member military contingent was assigned to carry out humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Venezuela, marking Viet Nam’s third overseas military deployment for international disaster response.

Addressing the event, General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff of the Viet Nam People’s Army (VPA) and Deputy Minister of National Defence, stressed that the mission carries profound international significance, reflecting the Party and State’s foreign policy, and contributing to enhancing the country’s reputation in global disaster response and reaffirming the traditional friendship and comprehensive partnership between Viet Nam and Venezuela.

He noted that many members of the contingent had previously participated in earthquake relief missions in Türkiye in 2023 and Myanmar in 2025, where they demonstrated the professionalism and responsibility of the Viet Nam People’s Army, and left positive impressions on the international community.

Cuong praised relevant agencies and units for completing comprehensive preparations in personnel, equipment, logistics and organisation, while urging the team to maintain discipline, unity and determination in fulfilling the mission.

He stressed that the operation will be demanding and potentially dangerous, requiring close coordination with personnel from the Vietnamese People’s Public Security force, international rescue teams and Venezuelan authorities and people. He instructed the team to comply with local laws, ensure the safety of personnel and equipment, actively assist local communities within their capabilities, and uphold the image and traditions of the VPA throughout the mission.

Major General Pham Hai Chau, Deputy Director of the Department of Search and Rescue under the General Staff of the VPA, said preparations had been completed in coordination with relevant agencies.

The contingent comprises 82 personnel, including 26 officers and 56 professional servicemen, organised into four components, namely an 11-member command group led by Major General Pham Van Ty, Deputy Director of the Department of Search and Rescue; a 31-member engineering search-and-rescue team equipped with victim detection devices and concrete cutting equipment; a 30-member medical team carrying medical equipment, medicines and supplies; and a rescue team using trained search dogs consisting of 10 members and eight search dogs.

The mission will transport about 88 tonnes of equipment and relief supplies, including 50 compressed ration bars, 1,600 tents and 15 generators.

The cargo have been transported to Noi Bai International Airport under the direction of the ministry’s General Department of Logistics-Technical Services. Personnel, equipment and search dogs will travel by commercial aircraft from Noi Bai to Maiquetia International Airport near Caracas before continuing by road to the operational area with logistical support from the Office of the Vietnamese Defence Attaché in Venezuela.

The mission is expected to last around 20 days. During the deployment, the team will regularly report progress to the General Staff and the Ministry of National Defence for timely direction and coordination.

Viet Nam’s Ministry of Public Security deploys rescue team to VenezuelaThe Ministry of Public Security held a departure ceremony in Ha Noi on June 28 for a 41-member search and rescue team heading to Venezuela.
The deployment comes after the June 24 earthquake in Venezuela, which authorities reported caused severe human and property losses. By June 28, the disaster had claimed more than 1,400 lives, left over 50,000 missing, and caused extensive damage to homes and infrastructure.

Following instructions from Viet Nam’s Party and State leadership, the ministry decided to send a specialised team to support searching for missing victims, rescue and emergency response operations, and post-disaster recovery efforts.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Minister Senior Lieutenant General Le Van Tuyen said the deployment reflects not only humanitarian support but also international solidarity and the traditional friendship between Viet Nam and Venezuela.

The mission was organised jointly by the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defence. Team members include specialists experienced in collapsed-structure search operations, emergency medical response, communications, logistics, and rescue command.

The delegation is also equipped with specialised rescue vehicles, search devices, medical supplies, and logistical support so operations can begin immediately upon arrival.

At the ceremony, Estela del Valle Quijada Suarez, Chargé d’Affaires of the Venezuelan Embassy in Viet Nam, expressed appreciation to Viet Nam’s Party, State, Government and Ministry of Public Security for the timely assistance, describing the mission as a symbol of friendship, solidarity, and mutual support between the two countries’ people during a difficult period.

Vietnam Airlines operates special flight carrying rescue teams, relief supplies to Venezuela
Viet Nam Airlines on June 29 operated a special flight transporting search-and-rescue and humanitarian assistance teams, equipment and relief supplies to Venezuela to support recovery efforts following the recent devastating earthquakes in the South American nation.

Flight VN66, using Airbus A350 aircraft, departed from Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi at 00:45 am on June 29. After a technical stop at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in France, the flight continued its journey and is scheduled to arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas, Venezuela, at 12:10 pm local time on the same day.

The flight is carrying 124 personnel from the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Public Security, along with 10 search-and-rescue dogs and approximately 25 tonnes of humanitarian supplies, specialised equipment and rescue gear to support relief operations in the earthquake-affected areas.

To ensure the timely deployment of the mission, Viet Nam Airlines mobilised extensive resources, including ground service personnel and a dedicated flight crew of 23 members. The national flag carrier also completed logistical preparations and flight clearance procedures within a short timeframe to meet the urgent requirements of the mission.

A representative of Viet Nam Airlines said each special flight demonstrates the carrier’s organisational capacity, sense of responsibility and commitment to serving the nation and the people, as well as its readiness to undertake international missions under both normal and extraordinary circumstances.

Venezuela’s Earthquake Death Toll Reaches 1,450, Public Utilities Gradually Recover and Mass Transit Operations Resume

The airline noted that the allocation of aircraft and operational resources for the special mission may affect schedules on some regular routes in the coming days, potentially resulting in flight time adjustments or aircraft substitutions. It pledged to provide timely updates and assistance for passengers, ensure all customer rights and benefits are protected in accordance with regulations, and minimise any inconvenience caused by operational changes.

The carrier has previously undertaken a number of important humanitarian and evacuation missions. Most recently, it transported relief supplies to Myanmar and repatriated Vietnamese rescue personnel after they completed earthquake-response operations there in 2025. Earlier missions included evacuation flights for Vietnamese citizens from Ukraine in 2022, the transportation of Vietnamese workers from Libya in 2011 and 2014, and support for Vietnamese nationals in Japan following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in 2011.

(Socialist China)

From Orinoco Tribune via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/60985

Nearly two dozen Democrats joined almost every Republican on Tuesday to vote down a war powers resolution that would have halted US military participation in Israel's assault on Lebanon, which is threatening to derail President Donald Trump's peace negotiations with Iran.

"More than 1.3 million people have already been forced to leave their homes or be killed, with the Israeli military telling them they will not be allowed to return," said the resolution's sponsor, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), on the House floor Tuesday. "Eighty-one Lebanese neighborhoods have been violently depopulated and demolished—erased from the map entirely."

Along with Republican Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Lauren Boebert (Colo.), the resolution received support from 187 Democrats on Tuesday, more than double the number who supported a similar resolution introduced by Tlaib earlier this month.

Despite top House Democrats, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) and Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks (NY), giving rhetorical backing to the resolution this time around, The Intercept reported that they did not formally whip the vote.

Twenty-two Democratic hawks joined the GOP to vote against ending cooperation with Israel's war, which has killed more than 4,000 people since March.

Among them were a clique of Democrats who have signed on to the centrist "Promise to America" aimed at countering the momentum of progressive and democratic socialist candidates within the party—including Reps. Donald Davis (NC), Laura Gillen (NY), Vicente Gonzalez (Texas), Josh Gottheimer (NJ), Adam Gray (Calif.), Susie Lee (Nev.), and Tom Suozzi (NY).

Others include favorites of the America Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), including Reps. George Latimer (NY), Henry Cuellar (Texas), Jared Golden (Maine), and Brad Schneider (Ill.), who have each received over a million dollars from it and other pro-Israel lobbying groups over their careers, according to FEC reports reviewed by Track AIPAC.

Other Democratic opponents include Reps. Steny Hoyer (Md.), Greg Landsman (Ohio), Jared Moskowitz (Fla.), Donald Norcross (NJ), Jimmy Panetta (Calif.), Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.), Brad Sherman (Calif.), Darren Soto (Fla.), Norma Torres (Calif.), Juan Vargas (Calif.), and Marc Veasey (Texas), many of whom have also received extensive support from the lobby.

As voting began on Tuesday afternoon, Lebanese-American journalist Rania Khalek said that "how people vote on this is a big indicator of who is bought and paid for by the war machine and Israel lobby."

In a comment to Axios, the staunch pro-Israel centrist Golden justified his vote against the measure by claiming that "to the best of my knowledge, we're not engaged in a conflict with Lebanon."

Latimer made a similar statement on social media, claiming that the resolution was only good for "messaging" since the US did not have any active troops in Lebanon.

But Tlaib argued on the House floor that "the United States is not a bystander to these war crimes. It's an active participant."

"The United States is currently engaged in illegal and unauthorized hostilities supporting the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in violation of the War Powers Act," she said. "The Trump administration is providing intelligence, coordinating strikes, demonstrating overt command over the Israeli military decisions, including greenlighting specific Israeli attacks and operations."

Other supporters of the resolution emphasized that ending Israel's occupation of Lebanon is a precondition for ending Trump's war with Iran.

"Ending Israeli military action in Lebanon is a key part of ensuring that the negotiation process with Iran continues and peace prevails in the Middle East," said Rep. Betty McCullom (D-Minn.).

The memorandum of understanding signed by the US and Iran earlier this month states that, for peace to be achieved, it must be implemented on "all fronts," including in Lebanon.

Iranian negotiators have repeatedly emphasized that they will not allow Trump to pull back from the war he's desperate to end unless Israel fully withdraws troops from Lebanon, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has emphatically refused to do.

Janet Abou-Elias, a researcher at the Democratizing Foreign Policy Project at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told Common Dreams earlier this month that without US military participation, Israel could likely continue its occupation “only for a limited period of time."

Just Foreign Policy, an anti-war group that has agitated for the passage of Tlaib's war powers resolution, lambasted the 22 Democrats who voted against it.

"These 22 fringe House Democratic hawks revealed today that they don't actually want the Iran War to end," the group wrote in a post to social media. "By failing to end US participation in the Israeli war in Lebanon, they are undermining a peace deal."

Noting that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has caused oil prices to spike and inflation to ripple across the economy, the group said these Democrats were "keeping prices high for Americans."

Just Foreign Policy's executive director Erik Sperling told The Intercept that although the resolution did not pass, the vote signaled that things were moving in the right direction.

“Democrats have been pretty unified about speaking out against the killing of innocents and all of the harm by the Iran War, but there has been less vocal outrage about the mass killing and occupation in Lebanon,” Sperling said. “This is just an important signal that Democrats are aware of the way the Lebanon war is a humanitarian crisis and is the key roadblock to ending this war and delivering the peace that Americans are demanding.”

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/60695

Jeffco Schools // Wikimedia Commons // Jeffrey Beall

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Upwards of 74,000 Colorado students are the latest political pawns being held hostage by the Trump administration’s escalating war on trans kids.

Despite following the very same laws as every other public school in Colorado, Jefferson County Public Schools, known as Jeffco, has been the target of anti-trans ire for some time now. It is the second largest district in Colorado. It is also one of at least 18 schools that federal officials have been investigating for so-called violations of Title IX, threatening to block school funding unless they promise to discriminate against trans athletes.

Now, district leadership has called on Governor Jared Polis, Attorney General Phil Weiser, and Colorado Education Commissioner Susana Córdova to support their fight to protect students.

“Our immediate ask is for your voice in the form of public support for our district and its students,” a letter from the district to state officials, which was obtained by Erin in the Morning, reads. (It can be read in full at the bottom of this article.)

Colorado schools are already facing a ballooning financial crisis.“We now face spending tens of thousands of our scarce dollars to protect our federal funding in what is, undoubtedly, a proxy fight in defense of Colorado law,” the letter continues. “We cannot do this alone.”

Neither the Polis nor Córdova replied to questions about whether they would provide further support to Jeffco; the Attorney General declined to comment.

Jeffco’s rallying cry comes after multiple threats from the federal Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR). Last week, the school board voted to authorize funding for a potential legal battle as “a proactive step to ensure our legal team can protect the district if necessary,” District lawyers told Colorado Public Radio.

The standoff came to a head on Friday, when the OCR sent its third letter of its kind in under two years.

“Today’s action makes clear that continued noncompliance will be met with accountability and consequences,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey. But seemingly arbitrary deadlines set by other letters to the district have come and gone, and Jeffco is still standing, federal funding and all.

In its recent letter to state officials, the board emphasized that transgender rights were added to the books nearly two decades ago, and that it’s been supported by case law since.

“In June of 2013, the Civil Rights Division–with the advice and counsel of the Attorney General’s Office–held that a school district violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA) by forcing a transgender girl to use the boys’ restroom,” the letter reads, referring to Mathis v. Fountain-Fort Carson.

“In the wake of the Mathis decision, Jeffco Public Schools memorialized its compliance in a formal written Policy Regulation,” the letter continues. “It is this regulation that OCR attacks as a violation of Title IX based on 2025 orders from the White House. It is cold comfort to Jeffco that a federal appellate court in Minnesota noted that Executive Order 14201 does not reflect settled law; the threat to Jeffco remains.”

Last month, it adds, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled in Boe v. Children’s Hospital that “Colorado institutions may not disregard CADA even in the face of enforcement threats based on federal policy pronouncements not grounded in statute or rule. Now, OCR demands that we change course, while the Boe decision prohibits us from doing so.”

Tim Heaphy, an attorney representing the district, told The Denver Gazette that if the OCR does follow through on its threats, Jeffco is prepared to put up a fight and file an injunction.

The OCR, on its part, has been allegedly dodging remediation efforts, according to a statement from Jeffco’s Executive Director of Communication, Devra Ashby. The agency reportedly cancelled a planned meeting with the district, and then issued a public Letter of Impending Enforcement Action.

“This issue is not unique to Jeffco. It is an attack on Colorado’s Anti-Discrimination Act (CADA),” Ashby said. “We have repeatedly asked the OCR how Colorado schools are supposed to follow both Colorado law and OCR’s interpretation of Title IX, which is not legally binding. Instead of continuing that conversation, OCR ended negotiations.”

All public schools in the state are bound by CADA, but Jeffco seems to have been singled out as a result of manufactured right-wing media fervor. The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a Southern Poverty Law Center-designated hate group, represented parents who sued the district in 2025, saying cisgender kids’ rights were violated because transgender kids were awarded those same rights. The ADF functionally argues that parents are entitled to know the intimate medical details about any given transgender child if that child might come into contact with their own child.

In spite of the financial crisis facing Colorado schools, Jeffco board member Erin Kenworthy said she was proud to authorize funds for a potential legal fight. “It’s impossible for me to put a price tag on protecting the dignity and humanity of our students,” Kenworthy told Erin in the Morning, noting she was speaking in an individual capacity—not as a spokesperson for the board’s official stance.

“I cannot imagine that the legal costs incurred would come close to what we stand to lose if we don’t defend ourselves,” she said.

As of this writing, the OCR’s primary talking point remains transgender athletes, specifically on girls’ teams. But because it appears there are no trans girls on women’s teams anyways, Trump officials manufactured one—or rather, 61 of them, claiming to have found this number of “male students” on Jeffco’s girl’s athletics rosters.

In reality, it appears none of the people on that list were trans student athletes; most were not even students. The individuals singled out were men on the coaching and training staff, or simply those appointed as team mascots.

“Since that moment, we have repeatedly and respectfully asked the OCR to address this factual error,” Jeffco said at the time. “They have declined to do so.”

All of this is in lockstep with conservative efforts to bastardize Title IX, the bedrock of gender-based civil rights protections in public schools, to fit an anti-trans agenda. The White House argues that Title IX not only permits trans exclusion, but mandates it.

Jeffco reiterated its commitment to upholding equal rights. “We will not violate Colorado law, and we will not abandon our obligations to any student in this district,” Jeffco declared. “Every student deserves to belong here.”

See the full letter here:

26 06 26 Jeffco Letter To Statewide Officials

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