Unpacking the Israeli campaign to deny the Gaza genocide

A recent media flurry over the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza amounts to nothing more than genocide denial. This campaign to discredit the Gaza health ministry is simply a strategy to allow the Gaza genocide to continue.

BY JONATHAN OFIR MAY 18, 2024 

MONDOWEISS

PEOPLE STAND BY THE BODIES OF VICTIMS OF ISRAELI AIRSTRIKES OUTSIDE THE MORGUE OF AL-SHIFA HOSPITAL IN GAZA CITY ON OCTOBER 12, 2023. (PHOTO: NAAMAN OMAR/APA IMAGES)

On Saturday, May 11, the Jerusalem Post under editor Yuval Barnea came out with a sensational headline:

“UN seemingly halves estimate of Gazan women, children killed.”

The article featured two graphics from the UN, one from May 6 and one from May 8, both clearly noting that approximately 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, but the second specified that bodies that have been able to be identified were under 25,000. Out of these, the breakdown included 52% women and children, as well as 8% elderly. Earlier on, the UN noted that about 2/3 of fatalities are women and children.

Now, the game of genocide denial has begun.

The supposedly benign Jerusalem Post article quickly moved on to “questions of data accuracy,” citing Israel apologia outlets such as AIPAC’s thinktank the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), and its January report “that showed major discrepancies in the fatality reports” which suggested “manipulation.” The article also cited Abraham Weiner from Tablet Magazine claiming “fake numbers.”

The story was then picked up by others. The Foundation for Defense of Democracies picked up the story the same day, claiming now with certainty: “UN Halves Its Estimate of Women and Children Killed in Gaza.” Even Haaretz’s political correspondent Noga Tarnopolsky tweeted the graphics the next day (and still hasn’t removed it):


“Proof of how problematic it is that Hamas is the only body issuing numbers of the dead in Gaza. @ochaopt changed its figures of estimated dead in Gaza from 34,844 to 24,686, dropping the estimated number of women & children killed from 69% to 52%.”

Naks Bilal countered her:


“The UN hasn’t changed its figures. Stop spreading disinformation. The differences are down to identification (not the bodies themselves).”

Owen Jones too:


“You are spreading disinformation in the service of atrocity denial and should retract and apologise.”

But meanwhile, the spin spreads.

Next day (Sunday), the Jewish Chronicle:


“UN appears to halve Gaza casualty count for women and children – Doubts have been raised over the veracity of the Palestinian death count since October 7”

Times of Israel, Tuesday, May 14:


“UN cuts by more than half the number of women, children ‘identified’ as killed in Gaza.”

At that point, the UN managed to get issue a response to the non-story, which is even provided on CNN:


“UN says total number of deaths in Gaza remains unchanged after controversy over revised data.”

Reuters was on it, too, confirming the 35,000 number, but noting that “Israel last week questioned why the figures for the deaths of women and children has suddenly halved.”
Public-facing doubt, accepting numbers behind the scenes

The game of casting doubt on the death toll has been an early feature of this genocide, with Joe Biden kicking it off on October 27 when he said that he had “no confidence in the number that the Palestinians are using” — without saying why.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) had to issue a statement in response: “We continue to include their data in our reporting and it is clearly sourced.”

But the damage was done, and the intentionally dehumanizing mantra of the “Hamas-run health ministry” was ubiquitous in Western media discourse.

And yet, senior Israel officials were using the Gaza Health Ministry’s death numbers internally for months after both Israel and the U.S. claimed those figures should not be trusted — as reported by Vice in January:


“According to a story in Mekomit by Yuval Avraham, who last year broke news about the Israeli military’s use of AI for targeting purposes, the numbers were accepted for inclusion in briefings to senior Israeli officials after intelligence services conducted operations and analysis to monitor the health ministry’s information collection methods and its internal communications and determined the statistics were credible. An Israeli intelligence official confirmed the Israeli government’s use of the Gaza ministry numbers to VICE News, while two officials from European intelligence services said they were widely used in official briefings internationally.”

The data collection methods and numbers were deemed credible internally:


“The secret services looked at the health ministry’s collection methods and determined the numbers were generally credible, so instead of collecting their own information they decided to use the [Hamas] numbers.”
Difficulty in reaching exact data in a genocide

Israel knows fully well that there is a difference between a body count and full identification. It took it many weeks to identify the bodies of the dead after the Hamas-led October 7 attack, and in mid-November, Israel actually reduced its rough estimate of 1,400 to around 1,200, and later to 1,139. The reduction of roughly 200 bodies from the count was due to hundreds of bodies being burned beyond recognition — where 200 were then said to have been Palestinians and not Israelis, as earlier assumed. This was undoubtedly due to Israel’s own indiscriminate bombing on October 7, also killing an unknown number of its own citizens.

Counting bodies, whether they are burned beyond recognition or not, is a much more straightforward task than actually identifying them, and with Israel’s methods of heavy bombing of civilians, the latter can become an enormously complex task. Gaza has been undergoing genocide since October 7, while Israel has since counted and identified its dead under relatively peaceful circumstances. Israelis may say that they have been at war since then, but the war on Gaza has had little bearing on the functioning of Israeli forensics teams. Gazans have to count their dead under fire, with Gaza’s health system all but decimated, not to mention with thousands still under the rubble.
Genocide denial

The main goal of this insidious “number questioning” is not to assess actual numbers. It is about denying a genocide.

If enough attention is given to the spin questioning the numbers’ credibility, it takes attention away from the fact that tens of thousands of people are being killed, that hundreds of thousands are facing an outright engineered famine, and that 10,000 people are missing under the rubble and probably dead.

It’s all a distraction meant to take our attention away from an event that is throwing us back a century into the past. Even the Holocaust’s count of Jewish deaths is widely varying, and that doesn’t deny it. Raul Hilberg’s seminal book, The Destruction of European Jews, summarizes Jewish deaths at about 5.15 million (between 4.9 and 5.4) — that is nearly a discrepancy of 1 million deaths when compared against the commonly-cited 6 million figure. But it doesn’t change the fact that it was a massive genocide. Only Holocaust deniers make a big fuss about such details.

But it is different when people spin the numbers strategically when the genocide is still happening in real-time. It is different when the perpetrators are doing the denying because they are seeking a license to continue with their conduct. Genocide denial as it is happening becomes one of genocide’s instruments.

Strengthening our movement in times of crisis: a historic task of the Palestinian liberation movement

The Palestinian struggle is at a critical juncture. We must come together to breathe conviction and clarity into our movement. Join us May 24–27 for The People’s Conference for Palestine!

BY PALESTINIAN YOUTH MOVEMENT MAY 19, 2024 1

UPWARDS OF 400,000 PRO-PALESTINE PROTESTORS TAKE THE STREETS IN A NATIONAL MARCH IN WASHINGTON DC TO SHOW SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS AND CALL FOR A CEASEFIRE AND END THE GENOCIDE IN GAZA, JANUARY 13, 2024. (PHOTO: EMAN MOHAMMED)


Two hundred days into the Zionist war of aggression on Gaza, the Palestinian struggle is in the midst of a critical conjuncture. For months, organizations in North America have been strengthening and leading a mass movement to advance the cause of Palestinian national liberation from within the imperial core. The popular and revolutionary character of the movement has been borne out by the millions marching in the streets, direct actions across all major cities, new and newly-energized sector-based organizing and campaigns, victories across ideological and media struggle, and most recently, student encampments demanding divestment in the universities and colleges. Through these developments, thousands of people have been brought into the struggle, moved to act by the depravity of the U.S.-led and -funded genocide and the moral clarity of Palestine’s resistance.

Amidst this mass movement, we have witnessed the martyrdom of over 50,000 Palestinians, the destruction of the Gaza Strip, and a concerted effort by Zionism and Western imperialism to break Palestinian resistance and to sever our people from their lands. To live through an ongoing genocide has meant battling feelings of despair and confusion; while daunting, the task of committing ourselves to political clarity amidst these difficult conditions remains essential.

On October 18, 1975, the largest public gathering of Palestinians in Israel since the nakba of 1947–49 took place in al-Nasra (Nazareth), aimed at confronting Zionist plans to confiscate Arab lands across the Galilee. This conference was associated with leadership of the uprisings now commemorated by Palestinians as “Land Day,” having produced many resolutions, laid the groundwork for a general strike, and established committees to implement its political goals. It is one node of many in a long history of Palestinians using conferences to concretize strategic objectives and consolidate on ideological questions, dating to the pre-nakba period: from the First Arab Women’s Congress in October 26, 1929, to the Youth Congresses in Jaffa on 4 December 1932, and in Haifa on 10 May 1935—all of which asserted opposition to British and Zionist colonization, and supported the Great Peasant Revolution of 1936–39. In moments of crisis and of revolution, Palestinians have turned to conferences in order to bring our people and movements together and to breathe conviction and political clarity into organizations and civil society.

In honor of this tradition, from May 24–26, 2024, 14 convening organizations and over 300 endorsing organizations – including Palestinian organizations that have been leading the mass movement for Palestine in North America – will convene in Detroit, Michigan, for The People’s Conference for Palestine. A city that is no stranger to the depredations of American capitalism, Detroit has been a site of revolutionary struggle for decades, playing host to the League of Revolutionary Black Workers (and their participation in the historic National Black Economic Development Conference, first held in the city in April 1969), and to one of the largest settings of Arab diasporic life.


The People’s Conference for Palestine appears at a juncture when the liberation struggle in Gaza has generated pockets of revolutionary energy all across the world. That call has been answered: in the labor movement, on the campuses, and in the streets, people are being politicized around Palestine and its attendant imperial contradictions at a rate heretofore unseen in the 21st century. The popular action of the last seven months has also posed important questions around consolidation, unity, scale, and structural form, particularly related to how the struggle builds on the existing mass mobilizations towards deeper organization. An organized movement is an effective movement, better able to politicize and maintain the gains in mass consciousness, to sustain the long-term relationships required for base building and advocacy, to protect against and resist state repression, and to coordinate across the different settings of struggle with scale and historical specificity.

The question of organization is particularly important in light of the sustained attacks on the institutions of Palestinian social and political life, accelerated by a post-Oslo neoliberal period that has led to a collapse in the strength and militancy of the struggle in the West. These conditions are being readily challenged by a movement being rebuilt and led by politically-committed Palestinians, who have convened this conference alongside journalists and aid workers in Gaza, activists from Palestine, anti-war movement elders, and student leaders in order to support each site of struggle in developing its own assessment of conditions and objectives.

The conference’s sessions, assemblies, and teach-ins will focus on building strong political organizations; confronting Zionism and imperialism in the heart of empire; advancing the ideological struggle through art, culture, media, and education; and supporting the student movement to continue to exert pressure inside and outside their campuses. Through its direct fundraising role of contributing all registration fees to Gaza, the conference has already raised over $100,000.00 USD, asserting that the Palestinian diaspora has a historic role to play in the national liberation struggle not only in the realm of political organization, but also with regards to supporting the steadfastness of our people – a concept known in Arabic as ta3ziz al sumud.

These forms of struggle are critical not only for opposing the horrors of the ongoing genocide, but for the historic challenge of ending U.S. support for the Zionist project, lifting the siege on Gaza, and liberating Palestinian land and people until our return is achieved. We hope you will join us!

Palestinian Youth Movement
The Palestinian Youth Movement is a transnational, independent grassroots movement of young Palestinians and Arabs dedicated to the liberation of our homeland and people. We currently comprise of 15 chapters across North America and Europe.

Plan to boost Uber and Lyft driver pay in Minnesota advances in state Legislature

20 May 2024

Plan to boost Uber and Lyft driver pay in Minnesota advances in state LegislaturePlan to boost Uber and Lyft driver pay in Minnesota advances in state Legislature

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A plan to boost pay for Uber and Lyft drivers in Minnesota that lawmakers believe would prevent the companies from leaving the market advanced in the state Legislature on Sunday, hours before the deadline for lawmakers to pass bills before they adjourn.

The plan that gained approval in the House was crafted by Democrats to replace a minimum pay measure the Minneapolis City Council passed that prompted Uber and Lyft to threaten to leave the state's biggest city.

The agreement announced Saturday after a day of negotiations would set a minimum pay rate at $1.28 per mile and 31 cents per minute. Uber has said it will keep operating in the state under those rates. The bill would take effect next January if passed.

“While the coming price increases may hurt riders and drivers alike, we will be able to continue to operate across the State under the compromise brokered by the Governor," Uber spokesperson Josh Gold said in an email to the Star Tribune.

Lyft representatives didn't immediately respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press about the deal.

The measure the companies objected to would have required them to pay drivers at least $1.40 per mile and 51 cents per minute — or $5 per ride, whichever is greater — excluding tips, for the time spent transporting passengers in Minneapolis.

Marianna Brown, vice president of the Minnesota Uber/Lyft Drivers Association, told the Star Tribune that even though the pay rates are lower than drivers hoped for, they were happy to see the deal come together.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a post on the social platform X that the deal “gives rideshare drivers a 20% raise and keeps these important services operating in Minnesota. I’m grateful to our partners in the House and Senate DFL for coming together to get this done."

California Disneyland character, parade performers vote to join labor union

May 19, 2024
By Associated Press


ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA —

Disneyland performers who help bring Mickey Mouse, Cinderella and other beloved characters to life at the Southern California resort chose to unionize following a three-day vote culminating Saturday.

The Actors' Equity Association labor union said in a statement Saturday that cast members for the parades and characters departments at Disney's theme parks near Los Angeles voted by a wide margin for the union to become the bargaining agent for the group of roughly 1,700 workers.

An association website tracking the balloting among cast members indicated passage by 78.7% (953 votes) in favor and 21.3% (258 votes) opposed.

"They say that Disneyland is 'the place where dreams come true,' and for the Disney Cast Members who have worked to organize a union, their dream came true today," Actors' Equity Association President Kate Shindle said in a statement Saturday night.

Shindle called the workers the "front lines" of the Disneyland guest experience. The association and cast members will discuss improvements to health and safety, wages, benefits, working conditions and job security before meeting with Walt Disney Company representatives about negotiating the staff priorities into a contract, she said.

The union already represents theatrical performers at Disney's Florida parks.

Barring any election challenges, the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board will certify the results within a week, the association said.

The NLRB did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking confirmation or additional information about the vote.

The election took place on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday in Anaheim, California, after workers earlier this year filed cards to form the unit called "Magic United."

Parade and character workers who promoted unionizing said they love helping to create a magical experience at Disneyland but grew concerned when they were asked to resume hugging visitors after returning to work during the coronavirus pandemic. They said they also suffer injuries from complex costumes and erratic schedules.

Most of the more than 35,000 workers at the Disneyland Resort, including cleaning crews, pyrotechnic specialists and security staff, are already in labor unions. The resort includes Disneyland, the Walt Disney Co.'s oldest theme park, Disney California Adventure and the shopping and entertainment district Downtown Disney in Anaheim.

In recent years, Disney has faced allegations of not paying its Southern California workers, who face exorbitant housing costs and often commute long distances or cram into small homes, a livable wage. Parade performers and character actors earn a base pay of $24.15 an hour, up from $20 before January, with premiums for different roles.

Union membership has been on a decadeslong decline in the United States, but organizations have seen growing public support in recent years during high-profile contract negotiations involving Hollywood studios and Las Vegas hotels. The NLRB, which protects workers' right to organize, reported more than 2,500 filings for union representation during the 2023 fiscal year, which was the highest number in eight years.

The effort to organize character and parade performers in California came more than 40 years after those who play Mickey, Goofy and Donald Duck in Florida were organized by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a union traditionally known to represent transportation workers.

At that time, the Florida performers complained about filthy costumes and abuse from guests, including children who would kick the shins of Disney villains such as Captain Hook.

TIT FOR TAT

China launches anti-dumping probe into EU, US, Japan, Taiwan plastics

May 19, 2024 4:52 PM
By Reuters

A cargo truck drives amid stacked shipping containers at the Yangshan port in Shanghai, China

BEIJING —

China's commerce ministry on Sunday launched an anti-dumping probe into POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, imported from the European Union, United States, Japan and Taiwan.

The plastics can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc and have various applications including in auto parts, electronics, and medical equipment, the ministry said in a statement.

The investigation should be completed in a year but could be extended for six months, it said.

The European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, said it would carefully study the contents of the investigation before deciding on any next steps.

"We expect China to ensure that this investigation is fully in line with all relevant WTO (World Trade Organization) rules and obligations," a spokesperson said.

China's plastics probe comes amid a broader trade row with the United States and Europe.

The United States on Tuesday unveiled steep tariff increases on Chinese electric vehicles, or EVs, computer chips, medical products and other imports.

On Friday, the European Union launched a trade investigation into Chinese tinplate steel, the latest in a string of EU trade and subsidy probes into Chinese exports.

Most notably, the European Commission launched a probe last September to decide whether to impose punitive tariffs on cheaper Chinese EVs that it suspects of benefiting from state subsidies.

Beijing argues the recent focus by the United States and Europe on the risks to other economies from China's excess capacity is misguided.

Chinese officials say the criticism understates innovation by Chinese companies in key industries and overstates the importance of state support in driving their growth.

‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange

Assange’s supporters say what Wikileaks revealed about power and access to information is as relevant today as ever.


By Lyndal Rowlands
Published On 19 May 2024

AL JAZEERA

Melbourne, Australia – At home in Australia, Julian Assange’s family and friends are preparing for his possible extradition to the United States, ahead of what could be his final hearing in the United Kingdom on Monday.

Assange’s half-brother Gabriel Shipton, who spoke to Al Jazeera from Melbourne before flying to London, said he had already booked a flight to the US.

KEEP READING
Biden ‘considering’ Australian request to drop case against Assange

The forever war on Julian Assange

Julian Assange: Extradition or Freedom?

A filmmaker who worked on blockbusters like Mad Max before producing a documentary on his brother, Shipton has travelled the world advocating for Assange’s release, from Mexico City to London and Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, he was a guest of cross-bench supporters of Assange at US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address.

The invitation reflected interest in his brother’s case both in Washington, DC and back home in Australia. Biden told journalists last month he was “considering” a request from Australia to drop the US prosecution.

Assange rose to prominence with the launch of Wikileaks in 2006, creating an online whistleblower platform for people to submit classified material such as documents and videos anonymously. Footage of a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed a dozen people, including two journalists, raised the platform’s profile, while the 2010 release of thousands of classified US documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as a trove of diplomatic cables, cemented its reputation.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the recent attention from Washington, DC had been notable, even as his brother’s options to fight extradition in the UK appeared close to running out.

“To get attention there on a case of a single person is very significant, particularly after Julian’s been fighting this extradition for five years,” Shipton told Al Jazeera, adding that he hoped the Australian prime minister was following up with Biden.

“We’re always trying to encourage the Australian government to do more.”
A test for US democracy

Assange’s possible extradition to the US could see freedom of expression thrown into the spotlight during an election year that has already seen mass arrests at student antiwar protests.

Shipton told Al Jazeera the pro-Palestinian protests had helped bring “freedom of speech, freedom to assembly, particularly in the United States, front of mind again”, issues he notes have parallels with his brother’s story.

While Wikileaks published material about many countries, it was the administration of former US President Donald Trump that charged Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act.

US lawyers argue Assange is guilty of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, a former army intelligence analyst, who spent seven years in prison for leaking material to WikiLeaks before former US President Barack Obama commuted her sentence.

“It’s an invaluable resource that remains utterly essential to understand how power works, not just US power, but global power,” Antony Loewenstein, an independent Australian journalist and author, said of the Wikileaks archive.

“I always quote and detail [Wikileaks’s] work on a range of issues from the drug war, to Israel/Palestine, to the US war on terror, to Afghanistan,” Loewenstein said, noting that Wikileaks also published materials on Bashar al-Assad’s Syria and Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

“It’s just an incredible historical resource,” he said.

Loewenstein’s most recent book, the Palestine Laboratory, explores Israel’s role in spreading mass surveillance around the world, another issue Loewenstein notes, that Assange often spoke about.

“One thing that Julian has often said, and he’s correct, is that the internet is on the one hand an incredibly powerful information tool… but it’s also the biggest mass surveillance tool ever designed in history,” said Loewenstein.

Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Canberra-based think tank The Australia Institute, told Al Jazeera that while she hoped Assange would not be extradited, if he was, his case might come to trial around November’s US election when Biden is hoping to beat off a challenge from presumptive Republican candidate Trump.

Prosecuting a First Amendment case against an Australian while presenting the election as “an existential test for American democracy” would be “politically irreconcilable” for Biden, Shortis said.

As the Biden administration struggles to attract young voters disenchanted over its support for Israel’s war on Gaza, Shortis noted that younger generations were aware of the underlying issues Assange’s case could bring up.

“I think young people, in particular, are deeply aware of those contradictions and the way that American power functions and the way it selectively bestows rights on people,” she said.

For Loewenstein, pursuing Assange would set “an incredibly dangerous precedent at a time where in so many countries freedom of the press is under attack”.

“This is not by any means a defence of Biden, I’ve been critical of him for 20 years, but a second Trump term would be a real acceleration of that authoritarian turn, including against the press and journalists and freedom of information,” Loewenstein added.

Demonstrators gather outside Australia House to protest against the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, in London [Alberto Pezzali/AP]

At home in Australia Assange’s supporters include the national journalist association the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA) and a cross-bench alliance of parliamentarians, including independent Andrew Wilkie.

“Surely this man has suffered enough,” Wilkie implored the Australian parliament earlier this year.

“Who could possibly forget the grainy image, provided to WikiLeaks by a brave whistleblower, that subsequently was released under the title ‘collateral murder‘?”, Wilkie said.

“It was footage of a US attack helicopter gunning down and killing innocent civilians and Reuters journalists in a street in Iraq,” he added.

Many of Assange’s supporters fear his possible extradition to the US could come with serious personal consequences.

He was first arrested in London in 2010 on a Swedish warrant accusing him of sexual assault. Allowed bail pending the extradition case, Assange took refuge in Ecuador’s London Embassy in 2012 after a court ruled he could be sent to Sweden for trial.
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He spent the next seven years in the tiny embassy – during which Swedish police withdrew the rape charges – before UK police arrested him on charges of breaching his bail conditions.

Assange was jailed and the US filed its case for extradition.

“I worry that if Julian is extradited to the US, that he would never see the light of day again, barring a deal between Australia and the US, and he would die in prison,” Loewenstein told Al Jazeera.

As the hours to the UK court’s decision tick down, Shortis noted that Assange’s fate could still change.

“Biden could end it in a moment. It’s a political decision for the President to make, and he could do it in an instant if he chose to,” she said.
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SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

MAYDAY: Assange extradition decision tomorrow – get there if you can, watch live if not

SKWAWKBOX (SW)

19/05/2024

Wikileaks founder faces court tomorrow to find out if UK will give in to disgraced US extradition case – supporters have asked for you to join them at the High Court if possible and will be streaming live from London

Julian Assange faces the High Court tomorrow in London to find out whether judges will agree a disgraced US request to extradite the Wikileaks founder to the US to face 175 years in maximum-security jail. The US case fell apart when its main witness admitted he had been lying the whole time, but the UK state has continued to hold and punish Assange pending extradition for revealing US war crimes, despite known US plots to kill him – plots that the court has already refused to admit as new evidence.

His campaign has asked anyone who can get there to gather tomorrow at the High Court by 8.30am and will also be running a live-stream of developments from 6.30am, which will run below as soon as it goes live:

Video will go live from 6.30am on Monday 20 May

Freedom for Assange is a moral imperative, but it is also essential for all our freedom, as governments try to increase suppression of information vital to democracy and justice and to make Assange an example to intimidate other journalists into silence.

 Biden signs memorandum for new environmental protections in Antarctic

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, NASA and other research organizations have discovered two seafloor troughs that could allow warm ocean water to reach the base of Totten Glacier, East Antarctica's largest and most rapidly thinning glacier. President Joe Biden on Friday signed a national security memorandum that provides new policies regarding the Antarctic region, particularly in climate change research. Photo by NASA/UPI


May 17 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Friday signed a memorandum updating United States policy on the Antarctic region in an effort to protect it from the effects of climate change.

The national security memorandum replaces the 1994 policy on Arctic and Antarctic regions and establishes key objectives by which the United States will lead and participate in activities through the Antarctic Treaty System.

The new policy has four primary objectives:Protect the "relatively unspoiled" Antarctic environment and related ecosystems
Preserve and pursue opportunities for scientific research and understand Antarctica's relationship to climate change
Maintain the Antarctic as a region of peaceful international cooperation
Ensure the protection of living resources and ecosystems in the region

"We remain vigilant against actions by countries that could threaten U.S. national interests by bringing international discord to the Antarctic region," the White House said in a statement.

"The United States, represented by the Department of State at ATS bodies, will work with international partners through the ATS to promote peace and science in the region, and promote international cooperation while safeguarding U.S. national interests."

The U.S. National Science Foundation manages three year-round Antarctic research facilities.

The foundation collaborates with other federal science agencies on research in aeronomy and astrophysics, ecology, atmospheric sciences, biology and medicine, geology and geophysics, glaciology, ocean and climate systems, and living marine resources.

Research conducted by the United States and other countries continues to demonstrate the damages of global climate change on the Antarctic region, including through ocean warming and acidification, ozone depletion, rising sea levels, and air and water pollution.

American research also has revealed the risks and uncertainties of climate "tipping points" such as the collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet.

The United States said it will continue to encourage countries to set "ambitious" 2035 nationally determined contributions under the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and establish a system of protected marine areas in the Antarctic.

The updated policy builds on the Biden-Harris administration's commitment to modernize outdated climate and environmental policies, according to the White House.

Colorful science behind Northern lights explains why green, red, purple emerge

By Brian Lada, Accuweather.com

The Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) seem to glow over American flags in a cemetary in Wadsworth, Ohio, in May. Green is the most common color for aurora and appears when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules up to 150 miles above the Earth's surface. 

File Photo by Aaron Josefczyk/UPI | License Photo

Seeing the Aurora Borealis dance in the night sky is a bucket list item for many, and just like snowflakes, no two displays are exactly the same, including the blend of colors.

The Northern lights glow to life when charged particles from the sun bombard Earth's atmosphere. The interaction of these particles with oxygen and nitrogen at different altitudes causes various colors to appear in the sky.

Green is the most common color for aurora and appears when charged particles collide with oxygen molecules up to 150 miles above the Earth's surface.

Red is also created by oxygen but in the highest part of the atmosphere at more than 150 miles above the Earth's surface.

Purple and blue are related to nitrogen, with purple lights appearing higher than 60 miles above the ground while blue hues glow below this threshold.

During intense outbursts of the Northern lights, onlookers may see three or four colors at the same time.

ICYMI

TikTok, creators challenge U.S. divest or ban law on First Amendment grounds

APPLE IPHONE IS HACKED BY NSA

By Joe Fisher
MAY 17, 2024 / 6:00 AM

Tiktok CEO Shou Zi Chew speaks with the press after meeting with Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on March 14. File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | 

May 14 (UPI) -- TikTok's lawsuit against the U.S. government will task the federal court system with considering national security interests and First Amendment rights.

Legal experts tell UPI the argument by the social media company is the best it could make, but it is likely a losing argument.

TikTok parent company ByteDance filed a lawsuit earlier this month, challenging what it calls an "unprecedented step" taken by Congress to either force the sale of the app or ban it in the United States.

The lawsuit alleged that the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act is unconstitutional. It skirts the free speech rights of 170 million U.S. users without Congress showing a legislative finding that TikTok poses an actual threat to national security.

"Members of Congress and a congressional committee report merely indicate concern about the hypothetical possibility that TikTok could be misused in the future, without citing specific evidence," the lawsuit reads. "Even though the platform has operated prominently in the United States since it was first launched in 2017."

ByteDance, a Chinese-based company, claims that the United States is establishing a dangerous precedent by singling out TikTok, changing course from its history of supporting a "free and open internet."

"If Congress can do this, it can circumvent the First Amendment by invoking national security and ordering the publisher of any individual newspaper or website to sell to avoid being shut down," the lawsuit says.

Alan Rozenshtein, associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota, told UPI that the argument by ByteDance is strong but he is not convinced it will win the day.

"It's the best argument they could make," he said. "There are 170 million people in the United States that use TikTok. All of that activity is presumptively protected speech. More likely than not, ultimately the Supreme Court will allow this to stand. I'm not saying it's a slam dunk."

Rozenshtein said that of the many First Amendment cases in history, one that may be the most relevant to this one is the United States vs. Humanitarian Law Project case in 2010. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to uphold a law that prohibited organizations from providing material support or aid to foreign terrorists.

Rozenshtein added that TikTok has many cases it may draw from as well. However, he does not believe precedent weighs so heavily in this case.

Andrew Verstein, professor of law at UCLA, agreed that the court system will side with the interests of the government in the end.

"My gut says these arguments are all losers and that this divestiture can occur as Congress wants," Verstein told UPI.

Verstein explains that the First Amendment conflict can be avoided if ByteDance sells TikTok. He expects that second option will be key in unraveling the free speech argument.

"Here, with Congress having spoken, the question would only be would the Constitution prevent Congress from what it has purported to do?" Verstein said. "I'm pretty confident the Constitution doesn't prevent that."

ByteDance argues that it is not being given real options.

"They claim that the Act is not a ban because it offers ByteDance a choice: divest TikTok's U.S. business or be shut down. But in reality, there is no choice. The 'qualified divestiture' demanded by the Act to allow TikTok to continue operating in the United States is simply not possible: not commercially, not technologically, not legally."

ByteDance adds that it is not possible to complete a sale in the 270-day timeline required by the act. It also argues that it has taken "extraordinary" measures to respond to Congress' concerns, including investing $2 billion to build a network to store U.S. user data in the United States.

These measures came as part of an agreement between TikTok and the U.S. government.

"Congress tossed this tailored agreement aside in favor of the politically expedient and punitive approach of targeting for disfavor one publisher and speaker, one speech forum and one speech forum's ultimate owner," the lawsuit says.

The national security interests of the U.S. government will be the primary defense of the act. But the government may also argue that forced divestiture is not unprecedented at all.

The United States has a long history of forcing the sale of assets or limiting ownership by foreign investors in various forms of media.

"Given that we have divestiture and limitation on ownership in other media environments, television, newspapers -- the fact that it would be really easy to maintain the First Amendment rights of all of these 170 million people if the company would just sell its assets," Verstein said. "And the fact that it won't do it because its government tells it not to, that doesn't strike me as the kind of argument that is going to hold sway."

A group of eight content creators filed a separate lawsuit on Tuesday, also on free speech grounds.

Their lawsuit argues that the act to ban TikTok is "unconstitutionally over-broad" because it bans an entire mode of communication. It also says this ban is not based on any evidence that TikTok is used to transmit foreign propaganda or is a threat to data security


"The government cannot ban a medium for communication because it believes that medium is used to transmit foreign 'propaganda' or other protected content. Nor does the government have any actual, non-speculative evidence that banning TikTok in its current form enhances Americans' data security, or that its ban is narrowly tailored to accomplish that objective," the lawsuit says.

Norman Bishara, professor of business law and ethics in the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at Michigan, wrote in an email to UPI that he believes the ByteDance lawsuit will be the most comprehensive challenge to the legislation.

"Other similar litigation seems superfluous unless more issues come to light," Bishara wrote. "Still, with complex and high-stakes litigation like this there are always twists and turns with delays that could impact the timeline of a ban."

Bishara adds that while the lawsuits may fail to stop the ban or divestiture, they could still create some change to the act. They may also motivate other TikTok users to advocate for modifications to the act.

"The stakes for the outcome of these cases can reverberate beyond the fate of TikTok in the U.S. and can be seen as part of the story of what level of government intervention in trade, tech issues, and communications issues, which Americans are going to support or challenge," he said.

Biden delivers Morehouse commencement speech amid outrage over Gaza

STILL SEGREGATED BY GENDER
BIDEN BECOMES A MOREHOUSE MAN


 Members of the Morehouse Alumni wait for the commencement to begin at the 140th Morehouse College commencement exercises on Sunday, May 19, 2024. 

Photo by Megan Varner/UPI | License Photo

May 19 (UPI) -- President Joe Biden on Sunday gave is first commencement speech this year at Morehouse College while his administration has braced for anger from students over his support for Israel.

The historically Black, all-male college has not been immune to the tidal wave of outrage on college campuses across the United States over the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

Biden in giving his commencement speech did not shy away from the controversy, condemning both the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the Palestinian death toll that has accumulated in the seven-months-long-war.

"I know it breaks your heart. It breaks mine as well," he said, adding his administration is working "around the clock" to "build a lasting, durable peace."


"Leadership is about fighting through the most intractable problems. It's about challenging anger, frustration and heartbreak. To find a solution. It's about doing what you believe is right, even when it's hard and lonely."

The president largely devoted his speech to highlighting his administration's work to advance racial equity and justice, including a historic $16 billion investment in historically Black colleges and universities.

Morehouse President David Thomas also conferred Biden with an honorary Doctor of Law degree and declared him an honorary "Morehouse man."

Biden's address went largely uninterrupted, but prior to that, class of 2024 Valedictorian DeAngelo Fletcher in his speech invoked the late civil rights leader and Morehouse alum Martin Luther King Jr. in his condemnation of the Gaza war.

"Dr. King was a global philanthropist of social justice, believing that injustice anywhere was a threat to justice everywhere," Fletcher said.

"For the first time in our lives, we heard the global community sing one harmonious song that transcends language and culture. It is my stance as a Morehouse man ... to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza strip."

During Biden's speech, about six students in the crowd sat turned away from him, but there were no significant protests.

Last month's announcement that Biden would deliver the Morehouse commencement was met with outrage from some school faculty members over his administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.

The White House last week sent Public Relations Director Stephen Benjamin to speak with students in an attempt to smooth over the friction ahead of Biden's address.
"I think what's going to be most important are the words that the president articulates," Benjamin said Thursday after meeting with students. "And I know that he, he feels very deeply about what this means to these young men."

Biden has largely avoided giving speeches on college campuses since January when his remarks on abortion rights at Virginia's George Mason University were interrupted repeatedly by protesters against his support for Israel.

Biden's visit to Morehouse is the second during his presidency. He and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2022 spoke at the college about voting rights.