Tidbits – July 11 – Reader Comments: Project 2025–What Is It, What It Will Do to Us; What Biden Should Do; What’s the Meaning of Solidarity?; Remembering Jane McAlevey – Tribute July 27; Counting the Dead in Gaza – Death Toll Could Exceed 186,000;

Reader Comments: Project 2025 - What Is It, What It Will Do to Us and the Country; What Biden Should Do; What’s the Meaning of Solidarity?; Remembering Jane McAlevey - Tribute July 27; Counting the Dead in Gaza - Death Toll Could Exceed 186,000;

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Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements, Shorts, AND cartoons - July 11, 2024,Portside

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Project 2025

Partial list of proposed changes by Project 2025, with chapter and page references:

• Privatize Social Security (c22, p715)
• Privatize veterans' healthcare (c20, p635)
• Privatize infrastructure projects (c19, p555)
• Privatize the Federal Aviation Administration (c19, p565)
• Reduce federal disaster relief programs (c16, p610)
• Reduce funding for federal research programs (c12, p415)
• Decrease regulations in healthcare (c14, p450)
• Reduce funding for public health programs (c14, p455)
• Repeal the Affordable Care Act (c14, p460)
• Promote free-market healthcare (c14, p465)
• Dismantle the Department of Education (c11, p365)
• Reduce federal student aid (c11, p385)
• Increase private sector role in public education (c11, p390)
• Limit federal involvement in technology standards (c28, p850)
• Reduce federal government intervention in various sectors (c1, p25)
• Cut federal support for renewable energy projects (c12, p405)
• Reduce regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency (c13, p425)
• Withdraw from international climate agreements (c13, p430)
• Reduce environmental regulations on businesses (c13, p440)
• Promote energy production on federal lands (c16, p600)
• Limit the jurisdiction of federal courts (c1, p40)
• Decrease the size of the federal workforce (c3, p95)
• Restructure the Department of Homeland Security (c5, p165)
• Reform the Department of Justice (c17, p565)
• Repeal Dodd-Frank financial regulations (c27, p800)
• Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (c27, p815)
• Repeal net neutrality regulations (c28, p845)
• Eliminate the Department of Commerce (c21, p660)
• Limit federal involvement in local policing (c17, p575)
• Reduce business regulations (c18, p520)
• Reduce federal oversight of labor standards (c18, p530)
• Implement a flat tax system (c22, p700)
• Lower corporate tax rates (c22, p725)
• Restrict the powers of the Federal Reserve (c24, p770)

Bye, democracy. Bye, America.
Enter Authoritarianism, fascism.

Thanks to Jim Kaczmarek for this concise list.

If you like this article, please sign up for Snapshot, Portside's daily summary.

(One summary e-mail a day, you can change anytime, and Portside is always free.)

Kipp Dawson
Posted on Facebook

 

Mein Kampf 2025  --  Cartoon by John Darkow

 

John Darkow
July 7, 2024
Columbia Missourian

 

Becoming Real  --  Cartoon by Mike Luckovich

 

Mike Luckovich
July 5, 2024
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

 

Torching Democracy  --  Cartoon by Bruce MacKinnon

 

Bruce MacKinnon
November 6, 2020
Halifax Chronicle-Herald

 

Re: What Joe Biden Could Do: Resign and Make Kamala Harris President
 

The New Republic piece, "What Joe Biden Could Do: Resign and Make Kamala Harris President" makes its point. Resignation, along with handing over the keys to the White House prior to the election could work favorably, but will likely only happen if Biden blows more upcoming appearances.

Biden has been one of the best presidents the US has known. Just because he needs naps and fewer exhausting trips does not mean his ability to administrate or command was simply switched off and summarily compromised. He brought the nation back to the world stage, strengthened NATO at a critical time, and restored his country to health and prosperity. Most of what wasn't accomplished was because of Republican opposition, still taking direction from a loser liar--as was the case with the failed border bill to which both parties had previously agreed.

Let's see media get real. Yes, Biden screwed up badly for 90 minutes. Weigh that against a 3.5 year record of successes. Taking daily polls only to post Trump's leading edge is ultimately highly manipulative. Media will inevitably regret its chiefly-uncritical Trump coverage, once again, especially if the "Orange Jesus" gets re-elected. To stir up the undecided--and too many of the less-informed--makes these voters question whether Biden's occasional lapses are critically worse than the nation losing both their Constitution and democracy under the wanna-be dictator. It would serve the nation better right now to have media remind voters what is truly at risk, and to brutally spell out Trump's many faults and intentions. Let's have more reveals on Project 2025. And please, remind them about what it means to reside in dictatorships like Russia, North Korea and China.

Let's see polls on how many voters want to lose women's' reproductive rights, voters' rights, religious freedom, Medicare, Social Security, union memberships, and freedom of speech.

Should Biden's performances continue to cause concern , there is another scenario which stands a every chance of succeeding. A switch-ticket: Harris runs for President, and Biden for VP.

Being of highest integrity, with a younger and brilliant legal mind, Harris easily fulfills the role of American avatar. Biden assumes fewer engagements, but still retains a significant and dignified role, ready to guide Harris with his amazing experience.

The role-reversed pair invoke a more powerful winning team. Their campaign gets a huge boost for the novelty factor, and media can focus on the forward-thinking strategy instead of inadvertently continuing to help Trump and Putin.

Natalia Kuzmyn

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James Zogby, longtime DNC member, is calling for something different and not seen in decades: a Democratic national convention that actually decides democratically who the candidate should be! I was 10 years old in 1960 and still remember watching the convention, where it was not known at the beginning who would win.

Alan Hart
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Could not agree more!

David Boim
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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Do u think if another woman ran with her for VP that would make it even more possible for a win!!

Elizabeth Murillo
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: Critiquing Biden’s Worldview, Democratic Party Tactics and America’s Destiny
 

Gee, it is great to attack Biden if you have a solution. Or is the author mainly posturing so we know he is right on! Biden sucks on a number of issues. The reality of national circumstances? Is that either Biden or Trump will be our next president. Attacking Biden amounts to endorsing Trump and project 2025. Is this really what the author wants to do? Strategy demands a Biden win, then we go from there. There is a time for take a suicidal stand and a time for strategic voting. Run Joe Run. Vote for the best we got against the truly terrible.

Charles Patrick Lynch
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Fitness for Office  --  Cartoon by Nick Anderson

 

Nick Anderson
July 8, 2024
Pen Strokes

 

Re: What’s the Meaning of Solidarity?
 

Unfortunately we need a much broader coalition to defeat fascism here;  also to turn the ship of state so that we achieve a ceasefire asap that a majority of Democrats want. JVP is not helping that effort as much as it could if it put less emphasis on anti-Zionism and more on immediate goals of ceasefire exchange all hostages adopt the genocidal starvation.

Given the propaganda machinery that keeps people confused regarding  anti-Zionism as antisemitic,  it would make sense to cooperate with other groups eg the coalition against Netanyahu's visit, and not focus on its identity as anti-Zionist Jews. It takes time to educate people about the history of Zionism and this has to be done not with slogans and proclamations but with careful work.

Jessica Benjamin 

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Good thoughts, but you left out male supremacy as another oppression that needs to be dealt with, in solidarity.

Elinore Krell

 

Re: How To Stop Fascism
 

Does Portside seriously believe that counseling conservatives to be truly conservative and counseling big business to support democracy are effective tactics to stop fascism? I doubt it. In that case, why circulate "How to Stop Fascism" by Timothy Snyder? The lesson of Nazi Germany that Snyder failed to learn is that in times of crisis, conservatives and big business inevitably support fascism.

It's true that after fascism has become a mass movement, anti-fascists should form coalitions with whoever can be mobilized to prevent fascists from taking power, and should make use of whatever means of struggle can achieve that aim. But the proper way to stop fascism is to prevent it becoming a mass threat in the first place.
    
Above all, that means organizing people who might be susceptible to fascist propaganda by leading them in the opposite direction, in solidarity with those whom fascists hate. That's what we did in the 1960s and 1970s, when we prevented the KKK-Nazi-George Wallace threat from consolidating power by effectively combating their influence at the grass roots.
 
Ken Lawrence

 

Re: The Supreme Court’s War on Regulation Is Going To Tank the Economy
 

The drift of these decisions is to "defund the police"--the administrative agencies that police not only the financial system, but the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat. We have been hearing BS from the right; now we have the chance to have the real thing in our hamburgers we can have popcorn instead of popcorn.. The original regulatory agency was created in 1906 to clean up our food supply, in response to Upton Sinclair's "The Jungle", describing the disgusting filth in slaughterhouses. In 1906 life expectancy in America was about 47; now it is closer to 77, depending on race, gender, and wealth. 

We can return to 47, if the Republicans (Trump, MAGA, Project 2025) get their way. As regulatory agencies are cut back, and then further back, between Supreme Court rulings, and Republican refusal to fund them, we become continually less safe. If the FAA cannot do its job, who would want to get on a plane—especially after one or two inevitable crashes? Destroying the regulatory agencies destroys a civilization that we can call "civilized".?    

Michael E. Green
Professor Emeritus
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
City College of the City University of New York

 

Re: Remembering Jane McAlevey (1964–2024)

(posting on Portside Labor)
 

Jane McAlevey, a famous labor organizer, died on July 7, 2024. I tried to post a commemorative article about her from Portside; https://portside.org/2024-07-08/remembering-jane-mcalevey-1964-2024 but Facebook called it a violation of their community standards! Facebook is really becoming repressive.

Claire Cohen
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

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This is one Portside shared. Let’s see if it might work.
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/51885/remembering-jane-mcalevey-1964-2024

Kipp Dawson
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Re: The Whole Time? The Boys Has Been Making Fun of Trumpers the Whole Time?!

(posting on Portside Culture)
 

This show is to me the most realistic representation of what would happen if superheroes were real (and is completely out of control I can't wait for the next episode)

Ben Cupp
Posted on Portside's Facebook page

 

Supreme Debacle  --  Cartoon by Jen Sorensen

 

The Supreme Court ruling overturning the Chevron doctrine was largely overlooked in the wake of the debate, but possibly even more apocalyptic. In short, the Republican majority gutted the precedent that gave deference to scientists and other experts at setting regulations for pollution, safety, worker rights — i.e., basic functions of government. Everything now has to go through the courts, which are jam-packed with Trump appointees and other Federalist Society-backed corporate extremists. This Slate article provides a good overview. To quote Justice Kagan, who I attempted to draw in the first panel: “the majority today gives itself exclusive power over every open issue—no matter how expertise-driven or policy-laden—involving the meaning of regulatory law. As if it did not have enough on its plate, the majority turns itself into the country’s administrative czar.”

We all breathe air and eat food, and I assume many of the justices have children that they don’t want poisoned. No one escapes the impact of these rulings. But it’s their reality now and we’re just living in it. 

Receive my weekly newsletter and keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.

Jen Sorensen
July 4, 2024
https://jensorensen.com/

 

Counting the Dead in Gaza: Difficult But Essential  -  Death Toll From Israeli Assault Could Exceed 186,000  (Israeli health experts letter published in British medical journal, The Lancet)

 

Rasha Khatib, Martin McKee and Salim Yusuf

July 5, 2024
The Lancet

By June 19, 2024, 37 396 people had been killed in the Gaza Strip since the attack by Hamas and the Israeli invasion in October, 2023, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, as reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.1

 The Ministry's figures have been contested by the Israeli authorities, although they have been accepted as accurate by Israeli intelligence services,2

 the UN, and WHO. These data are supported by independent analyses, comparing changes in the number of deaths of UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) staff with those reported by the Ministry,3

 which found claims of data fabrication implausible.4

Collecting data is becoming increasingly difficult for the Gaza Health Ministry due to the destruction of much of the infrastructure.5

 The Ministry has had to augment its usual reporting, based on people dying in its hospitals or brought in dead, with information from reliable media sources and first responders. This change has inevitably degraded the detailed data recorded previously. Consequently, the Gaza Health Ministry now reports separately the number of unidentified bodies among the total death toll. As of May 10, 2024, 30% of the 35 091 deaths were unidentified.1

Some officials and news agencies have used this development, designed to improve data quality, to undermine the veracity of the data. However, the number of reported deaths is likely an underestimate. The non-governmental organisation Airwars undertakes detailed assessments of incidents in the Gaza Strip and often finds that not all names of identifiable victims are included in the Ministry's list.6

 Furthermore, the UN estimates that, by Feb 29, 2024, 35% of buildings in the Gaza Strip had been destroyed,5

 so the number of bodies still buried in the rubble is likely substantial, with estimates of more than 10 000.7

Armed conflicts have indirect health implications beyond the direct harm from violence. Even if the conflict ends immediately, there will continue to be many indirect deaths in the coming months and years from causes such as reproductive, communicable, and non-communicable diseases. The total death toll is expected to be large given the intensity of this conflict; destroyed health-care infrastructure; severe shortages of food, water, and shelter; the population's inability to flee to safe places; and the loss of funding to UNRWA, one of the very few humanitarian organisations still active in the Gaza Strip. 8

In recent conflicts, such indirect deaths range from three to 15 times the number of direct deaths. Applying a conservative estimate of four indirect deaths per one direct death.9

 to the 37 396 deaths reported, it is not implausible to estimate that up to 186 000 or even more deaths could be attributable to the current conflict in Gaza. Using the 2022 Gaza Strip population estimate of 2 375 259, this would translate to 7·9% of the total population in the Gaza Strip. A report from Feb 7, 2024, at the time when the direct death toll was 28 000, estimated that without a ceasefire there would be between 58 260 deaths (without an epidemic or escalation) and 85 750 deaths (if both occurred) by Aug 6, 2024.10

An immediate and urgent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip is essential, accompanied by measures to enable the distribution of medical supplies, food, clean water, and other resources for basic human needs. At the same time, there is a need to record the scale and nature of suffering in this conflict. Documenting the true scale is crucial for ensuring historical accountability and acknowledging the full cost of the war. It is also a legal requirement. The interim measures set out by the International Court of Justice in January, 2024, require Israel to “take effective measures to prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to allegations of acts within the scope of … the Genocide Convention”.11

 The Gaza Health Ministry is the only organisation counting the dead. Furthermore, these data will be crucial for post-war recovery, restoring infrastructure, and planning humanitarian aid.

MM is a member of the editorial board of the Israel Journal of Health Policy Research and of the International Advisory Committee of the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research. MM was co-chair of the Institute's 2016 6th International Jerusalem Conference on Health Policy, but writes in a personal capacity. He also collaborates with researchers in Israel, Palestine, and Lebanon. RK and SY declare no competing interests. The authors would like to acknowledge study team members Shofiqul Islam and Safa Noreen for their contribution to collecting and managing the data for this Correspondence.

Editorial note: The Lancet Group takes a neutral position with respect to territorial claims in published text and institutional affiliations.

Editorial note: The Lancet Group takes a neutral position with respect to territorial claims in published text and institutional affiliations.

References

1. UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Reported impact snapshot. Gaza Strip.
https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-19-june-2024
Date: June 19, 2024
Date accessed: June 21, 2024

2. Prothero M
Israeli Intelligence has deemed Hamas-run health ministry's death toll figures generally accurate.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/y3w4w7/israeli-intelligence-health-ministry-death-toll
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 2, 2024

3. Huynh BQ Chin ET Spiegel PB
No evidence of inflated mortality reporting from the Gaza Ministry of Health.
Lancet. 2024; 403: 23-24
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext#back-bib3

4. Jamaluddine Z Checchi F Campbell OMR
Excess mortality in Gaza: Oct 7–26, 2023.
Lancet. 2023; 402: 2189-2190
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01169-3/fulltext#back-bib4

5. UNOSAT
UNOSAT Gaza Strip comprehensive building & housing unit damage assessment, March 2024.
https://unosat.org/products/3804
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 2, 2024

6. Airwars
Israel and Gaza.
https://airwars.org/conflict/israel-and-gaza-2023/
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 3, 2024

7. UN Office Geneva
10 000 people feared buried under the rubble in Gaza.
https://www.ungeneva.org/en/news-media/news/2024/05/93055/10000-people-feared-buried-under-rubble-gaza
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 3, 2024

8. Reuters
More countries pause funds for UN Palestinian agency.
https://www.reuters.com/world/britain-italy-finland-pause-funding-un-refugee-agency-gaza-2024-01-27/
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 2, 2024

9. Geneva. Declaration Secretariat. Global burden of armed violence.
https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/gds/2008/en/64390
Date: 2008
Date accessed: April 10, 2024

10. Jamaluddine Z Chen Z Abukmail H et al.
Crisis in Gaza: scenario-based health impact projections.
https://aoav.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/gaza_projections_report.pdf
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 1, 2024

11. International Court of Justice
Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip.
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf
Date: 2024
Date accessed: May 3, 2024

 

Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage  -  Online Exhibition  (San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles)

 

Deeds Not Words: Celebrating 100 Years of Women's Suffrage / “Hechos, no palabras”: Celebrando 100 años de sufragio femenino / “Những việc làm không thành lời”: Kỷ niệm 100 năm phụ nữ phải chịu đựng

Emmeline Pankhurst, the famously militant British suffragist, in 1903 coined the motto “Deeds Not Words” for the newly formed Women’s Social and Political Union. History proved that while rhetoric was the impetus for radical change, actions were needed to finalize steps toward ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. The suffragists were true revolutionaries, occasionally sacrificing their reputations and sometimes their freedom.

Several of the artists in "Deeds Not Words" chose to celebrate a suffragist whose name they remembered from history lessons, while others felt a more personal relationship with their subjects. Arturo Alonzo Sandoval, for example, was inspired by a friend who is the daughter of an African-American suffragist; Martha Wolfe studied Sara Bard Field, who road-tripped from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., collecting signatures for women’s suffrage; North Carolina artist Hollis Chatelain honors Gertrude Weil; Alice Beasley’s quilt depicts the courageous Ida B. Wells; and, Jill Kerttula’s multi-part quilt reminds us that Belva Lockwood in 1884 ran for president, even though she herself was not permitted to vote. The 28 art quilts in this exhibition, all but one created for the tour, were curated by Sandra Sider, curator of the Texas Quilt Museum, and Pamela Weeks, curator of the New England Quilt Museum. Sponsored exclusively by eQuilter.com, with additional support from Karey Bresenhan and Nancy O’Bryant Puentes.

 

Watch "Bad Faith" 

 

 

Organizing for Power (O4P) Tribute to Jane McAlevey  - Online  --  July 27

 

The O4P team will hold a tribute to Jane McAlevey's life and legacy on Saturday, July 27 at 12pm New York / 6pm Berlin, with interpretation into many languages. Register now to mourn her passing and celebrate her life, in community with people across the 🌍: https://eu01web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dr_jNu5tQPq-yyO6WIapnw#/registration

Share your memories of Jane here