Rashid Khalidi: Israel & UAE Deal to Normalize Relations Is New Chapter in 100-Year War on Palestine

AUGUST 14, 2020

GUESTS
Rashid Khalidi
Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University.

LINKS
"The Hundred Years' War on Palestine"


In a deal brokered by the United States, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to fully normalize relations after years of secretly working together on countering Iran and other issues. Under the deal, Israel has also agreed to temporarily halt plans to annex occupied Palestinian territories in the West Bank, which had already been on hold due to international condemnation. We speak with Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, who says the agreement is being falsely characterized as a peace deal. “I don’t see that it has anything to do with peace,” he says. “On the contrary, it makes the chance of a just, equitable and sustainable peace much, much, much harder.”

Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.


AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman.

Israel and the United Arab Emirates have reached an agreement to fully normalize relations after years of secretly working together on countering Iran and other issues. Under the deal, Israel has agreed to temporarily suspend plans to annex the West Bank — a move that appeared to have already been on hold due to international condemnation. The UAE is the first Gulf Arab country to normalize relations with Israel and just the third country in the Arab world to do so, after Egypt and Jordan.

President Trump announced the UAE-Israel deal on Thursday in an Oval Office event, flanked by U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, his former bankruptcy lawyer; Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin; and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner.


PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: By uniting two of America’s closest and most capable partners in the region, something which said could not be done, this deal is a significant step towards building a more peaceful, secure and prosperous Middle East. Now that the ice has been broken, I expect more Arab and Muslim countries will follow the United Arab Emirates’ lead.

AMY GOODMAN: The Palestinian Authority rejected and denounced the trilateral deal and recalled its ambassador to the UAE. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu admitted Israel may still annex the West Bank.


PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: [translated] There is no change in my plan to apply our sovereignty in Judea and Samaria, in full coordination with the United States. I am committed. It has not changed. I remind you that I am the one who put the issue of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria on the table. This issue continues to remain on the table.

AMY GOODMAN: Critics of the Israeli occupation decried the deal. Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, the first female Palestinian congresswoman, tweeted, quote, “We won’t be fooled by another Trump/Netanyahu deal. We won’t celebrate Netanyahu for not stealing land he already controls in exchange for a sweetheart business deal. The heart of the issue has never been planned, formal annexation, but ongoing, devastating apartheid,” she said.

Meanwhile, CodePink’s Medea Benjamin warned the deal is aimed at bolstering the, quote, “Israel-US-Gulf alliance against Iran.”

We’re joined now by Rashid Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, author of several books, including his latest, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine.

Professor Khalidi, thanks for joining us. Can you respond to this surprise announcement yesterday?

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, in a sense, it’s another campaign in the hundred years’ war on Palestine. This is a great victory for Arab reaction. It’s a great victory for the annexationist government in Israel. It’s also a boost for President Trump. The Trump regime, which is one of the most authoritarian in American history, has now gotten a diplomatic victory.

So, I don’t see that it has anything to do with peace, of course. The United Arab Emirates was never at war with Israel. On the contrary, it makes the chance of a just, equitable and sustainable peace much, much, much harder.

AMY GOODMAN: So, were you surprised by this announcement? And can you explain how it came about? And then respond to the Palestinian leadership’s denunciation and rejection of the deal.

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, it came about partly because of the blowback against the Trump-Netanyahu plan to overtly annex territories, which, as Rashida Tlaib said, are already under Israeli control, and, as Netanyahu said, he still plans to annex. But the blowback was so severe that both Trump and Netanyahu were forced to recalibrate.

And this is something that has always been ongoing, the plan to bring the most reactionary, most absolute monarchies in the world into an open public alliance with Israel, as part of the Netanyahu-Trump obsession with Iran, which is something that these regimes are also obsessed with, given that they have — they do not depend on consent of the governed, they do not have any kind of domestic legitimacy, they’re anti-democratic. They are the forces that fight against democracy throughout the Arab world. The United Arab Emirates is not a force for peace. It’s at war with the people of Yemen. It’s at war in Libya. It has never been involved in a war with Israel.

So, this is making overt a relationship that was already covert. This is making even more salient an alliance against Iran, which is the wet dream of both Netanyahu and Trump, to dangle Iran in front of people’s eyes to distract them from the kinds of reactionary dictatorships or absolute monarchies. Those monarchies are so reactionary that they make Henry VIII and Louis XIV look like Tom Paine and Robespierre. They are the most — they are the most absolute monarchies in the world today. The fact that the United States is supporting them is an absolute disgrace.

AMY GOODMAN: Well, on Thursday, President Trump was questioned about whether Israel may still annex the West Bank. This is what he said.


REPORTER: The prime minister was pretty clear today at his own press conference that he considers this to be a temporary suspension and that the deal would still be open to him at some point in the future. I’m asking what you think he should do. Should he actually [inaudible]?


PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: No, right now all I can say: It’s off the table. So I can’t talk about some time into the future; that’s a big statement. But right now it’s off the table. Is that a correct statement, Mr. Ambassador?


DAVID FRIEDMAN: Yes. The word “suspend” was chosen carefully by all the parties. “Suspend,” by definition — look it up — means “temporary halt.” It’s off the table now, but it’s not off the table permanently.

AMY GOODMAN: So, that’s the U.S. ambassador to Israel on the sidelines of the press conference, David Friedman, the former bankruptcy lawyer for —

RASHID KHALIDI: Right.

AMY GOODMAN: — President Trump. Rashid Khalidi, President Trump had said, “I wanted it to be called the Donald J. Trump Accord.” The national security adviser, Robert O’Brien said President Trump should be the front-runner for the Nobel Peace Prize.

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, as I’ve said, the United Arab Emirates has never been engaged in war with Israel. On the contrary, the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses, its missile defenses, are manufactured in Israel and are probably controlled from Israel. So, this is an ally of Israel in practice. It always has been. Now this has been made public.

Whatever the president and his ambassador to Israel say, I would take Netanyahu at his word. There is no change in his plans. He said it. You ran a clip from him, speaking in Hebrew. They will continue the ongoing colonization of the West Bank. They will continue to control it absolutely. Israel will continue to be the only sovereign between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. And it will continue its discriminatory policies whereby Israelis have one set of laws and Palestinians, under occupation, basically have the law of the jungle, i.e. military occupation, military courts, in which everybody is always guilty and in which about 20% of the Palestinian population has been sent to prison. So, we’re talking about a jackboot regime which is going to be sustained and continued by this deal. That’s not peace. That’s continuation of colonization and occupation, whatever the president says.

AMY GOODMAN: Brian Hook, the State Department’s outgoing special envoy for Iran, also spoke at the White House Thursday.


BRIAN HOOK: Peace between the Arabs and the Israelis is Iran’s worst nightmare. And no one has done more to intensify the conflict between Arabs and Israelis than Iran. And what we see today is a new Middle East. The trend lines are very different today. And we see the future is very much in the Gulf and with Israel. In the past, it was with the Iranian regime.

AMY GOODMAN: Meanwhile, CodePink’s Medea Benjamin warned the deal is aimed at bolstering the “Israel-US-Gulf alliance against Iran,” Professor Khalidi.

RASHID KHALIDI: Right, right. I’m glad you ran that clip by Brian Hook, because one of the greatest falsehoods that these people peddle is this idea that there is a conflict between the Arabs and Iran. There is a conflict between nonrepresentative, anti-democratic regimes and Iran.

Arab public opinion considers Israel a great danger. There are polls every couple of years, run by the Arab Center, which show that across a dozen Arab countries, the Arabs, the people, most of them unrepresented by these dictatorships and absolute monarchies, consider Iran a minor threat. It’s a problem, but it’s not the number one problem.

For these regimes, which have no domestic legitimacy, which do not depend on consent of the governed, of course Iran is a problem. Moreover, they need the United States and Israel, because they can’t defend themselves, given the fact that — against their people, let alone against external threats, because they have no domestic legitimacy.

So, I think this is not something between the Arabs and Iran. This is something between unrepresentative and undemocratic Arab regimes, notably the absolute monarchies of the Gulf, and Iran.

AMY GOODMAN: Of course, President Trump is feeling somewhat embattled. Former vice president, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden responded to his Middle East deal saying in a statement, quote, “The UAE’s offer to publicly recognize the State of Israel is a welcome, brave, and badly-needed act of statesmanship. … Annexation would be a body blow to the cause of peace, which is why I oppose it now and would oppose it as president.” Can you respond to the Democratic position?

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, I think that the leadership of the Democratic Party, from Biden to Senator Harris to the people who run it, the Schumers and the Pelosis and the Clintons and the Obamas, all of them are behind the times. The Democratic Party, its base, the people who are going to vote for the Democrats and will hopefully defeat Trump in November and take back the Senate and increase the progressive trends in the House, don’t feel that way. They strongly believe that Israel should be sanctioned for its violations of Palestinian human rights. They don’t have the position that the Democratic Party leadership has.

So, a lot of work is going to be necessary to force the leadership to do what the people want — that is to say, its own — the people who will vote them into office, should they win in November. They don’t represent the people that they claim to represent, on this issue at least. And it’s going to require a lot of pressure on these people, who are basically mired in the past positions of the Democratic Party, which were always blind to Israel’s faults and blind to the Palestinians.

This is not new, and it’s unfortunately been further entrenched by Biden and Harris becoming the nominees for the party. There were several other candidates — obviously, Senator Sanders and Senator Warren, but others — who had more nuanced positions, much more in tune with the base of the Democratic Party on this issue, on the issue of Palestine. So, a lot of work is going to be necessary to force a leadership, that is, as I’ve said, completely blind to Israel’s faults and doesn’t see the Palestinians, to do the right thing.

AMY GOODMAN: In the Gaza Strip, just as this was being announced, Israeli tanks and warplanes attacked Palestinian neighborhoods overnight for the fourth time this week. Israel said the raids were retaliation for incendiary balloons launched by Hamas, one Israeli missile striking a United Nations elementary school in the crowded al-Shati refugee camp but failed to explode, prompting an evacuation. This is a 12-year-old student, Lianne Al-Musawabi.


LIANNE AL-MUSAWABI: [translated] I was shocked. I went home and told my mother what happened, and I was crying, “Why are they hitting the school?”

AMY GOODMAN: Professor Khalidi, do you see a connection between the announcement and what’s happening in Gaza now and the significance of that?

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, Israel has been engaged in what one Israeli once called “mowing the grass,” you know, periodically bombarding Gaza, periodically using overwhelming force against the Palestinians, partly in order to keep the Palestinians divided, which is an Israeli objective, and to keep Hamas off balance.

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a secret negotiation for the better part of a year, actually more, with the objective of getting a real ceasefire in place, in return for which Israel would lift some of its incredible restrictions on movement and on the transfer of goods into and out of the Gaza Strip. And this is part of that tit-for-tat between the overwhelming force used by Israel and the relatively minor irritation of balloons that burn some crops. So, Israel will bombard with bombs and missiles, and what comes from Gaza is basically minor in comparison.

The importance of it, really, I don’t think, relates to — I don’t think relates to this larger deal involving the Emirates. It is part of a policy of divide and rule that Israel has adopted over a very long period of time, and that Palestinian division helps. So, the Palestinian leaderships in Gaza and the West Bank, that refuse to put the interests of the Palestinian people ahead of their own narrow self-interest, are playing Israel’s game — both of them, regrettably — and deserve to be sanctioned by the Palestinian people for their blindness.

AMY GOODMAN: And you also have both President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu under fierce attack for how they have dealt with the pandemic. Thousands of Israelis have been in the streets protesting Netanyahu. It has one of the worst outbreaks in the world. Do you see a relationship with what’s going on now, with this announcement? And also, how would it play out? Do you see this happening before the U.S. election? And how do you feel people in the U.S. would respond to this?

RASHID KHALIDI: Do I see annexation happening? Is that your question, Amy?

AMY GOODMAN: No. Do you see this deal being signed off on?

RASHID KHALIDI: Oh, the Emirates deal. Oh, yes, absolutely. This is a feather in — Trump sees this as a feather in his cap, as does Netanyahu. Both of them are facing enormous public opposition because of their terrible handling of the pandemic, because of their appalling handling of the economic issues, not to speak of issues of racial discrimination and police brutality in the United States, not to speak of the Palestine question and the oppression of millions and millions of Palestinians by Israel, in the case of Israel. So they both have enormous pressure on them from the street. We have demonstrations in the street; they have demonstrations in the street in Israel.

Both rulers have the kinds of autocratic tendencies — I think they wish they could be Mohammed bin Zayed or Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, where they could simply rule by fiat. And the president is moving towards that, trying to move towards that in this country, and Netanyahu has been moving towards that himself. So, they are under enormous pressure from below. And this is a — this is meant by both of them, in terms of domestic public opinion, as a distraction.

AMY GOODMAN: This is from The New York Times, Rashid. Dennis Ross, the former Middle East negotiator for Republican and Democratic administrations, said another lure for the Emiratis was the possibility of obtaining advanced weaponry they’ve long sought, which the United States sells only to countries at peace with Israel to preserve its qualitative military edge in the region. Your thoughts?

RASHID KHALIDI: Well, the United Arab Emirates, as I mentioned, already has a anti-missile defense system, which is manufactured by Raytheon, largely from and in Israel. Obviously, it’s an American company, so they maintain the illusion that they’re buying American equipment. I am sure they would like more of this, but they can already get whatever Israel produces. Now what they hope to get, I assume, is equipment that the United States produces.

So, it is a cozy — it’s a business relationship, as Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman Tlaib, rightly said. At base, bin Zayed is paying for protection from the local bullies on the block, the United States and Israel, from his own people, from the Arab peoples, and from external enemies. And he needs the weaponry, with which he can defend himself against these external enemies. So, yes, I think that is actually part of the deal. Ross, unusually, is right on this.

AMY GOODMAN: And finally, what do you think a just deal would look like in the Middle East and between the Israelis and the Palestinians?

RASHID KHALIDI: A just deal means equal rights for everybody. A just deal means that national rights have to be accepted for both people. The nation-state law — Israel is a Jewish nation-state — in 2018, said there’s only one people entitled to self-determination in the land of Israel. And that cannot stand. There are two peoples there. Any solution that doesn’t accept that and give them equal rights — what is paraded as a, quote-unquote, “two-state solution” is a one-state solution. One state has sovereignty and control; the other state does not. One state controls movement of everybody in and out; the other so-called state, the Palestinian state, under a so-called two-state solution, would have no control over immigration, import/export, groundwater, airspace — it would not be sovereign. Moreover, Palestinians would be restricted to a tiny fraction of the Occupied Territories, let alone of the entirety of Palestine. This is not just. And the current situation is not sustainable. So, there has to be equality of rights between both people, on every level — religious rights, personal rights, political rights and national rights.

AMY GOODMAN: Rashid Khalidi, we want to thank you so much for being with us, Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University, author of a number of books, his latest, The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine.

SEE
https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/dont-be-hoodwinked-by-trumps-uae-israel.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/mbz-uae-strongman-behind-historic-deal.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/uae-excusing-and-accepting-israels.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/backgrounder-uae-efforts-to-normalise.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/israel-uae-deal-how-middle-east-reacted.html

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2020/08/opinion-israel-uae-deal-means-goodbye.html

Police Threaten Portland Protesters with 'Impact Weapons' For Failure to Disperse

Portland Protests: Violent Clashes With Federal Agents Spark Renewed Marches Across 

BY BRENDAN COLE ON 8/15/20 

Portland police blocked and advanced on demonstrators they said were throwing missiles during unrest in the north of the city that has been riven by protests for more than two months.

On Friday night, protesters had blocked off traffic on North Ainsworth Street, prompting police to instruct them to leave immediately or face arrest, Portland Police said in a statement.

After they found out that around 400 people would be heading to the Portland Police Association building, which had been the scene of previous violent demonstrations, officers positioned themselves to block the marchers.

To the group gathered at N Lombard St and N Mississippi Ave, this is still an unlawful assembly. Disperse from the area now. If you do not disperse you are subject to citation or arrest and subject to the use of tear gas, crowd control munitions, and impact weapons. Disperse now.— Portland Police (@PortlandPolice) August 15, 2020

Officers said that protesters threw paint balls and projectiles and unlawful assembly was declared.

Portland police tweeted: "Failure to adhere to this order may subject you to arrest, citation, and/or the use of crowd control agents, including, but not limited to tear gas and/or impact weapons. Disperse immediately."

Officers started dispersing the crowd at around 10.20 p.m., an hour after the march had started and a pitched battle ensued with police saying that protesters threw fireworks, golf balls, pieces of concrete and glass bottles.

This brutality is unacceptable. This is the community the police are sworn to protect and serve. They must uphold Portlanders constitution rights. https://t.co/u52zPfJ47Z— Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (@JoAnnPDX) August 15, 2020

Jonathan Taylor, of Vancouver, told The Oregonian that as he drove his motorcycle on a ride through town, an officer threw a smoke canister and pointed a gun at him, after he hit his horn and asked if he could go through a blocked street.

By the time the protesters had dispersed, at around 3.45 a.m, four people had been arrested.

READ MORE
Oregon State Police Pull Out of Portland, Say DA Won't Prosecute Protesters
Portland: 76 Nights of Protests Leads to 550 Arrests and Millions in Damage
Portland College Police Will No Longer Carry Guns Following Summer Protests


The police actions sparked criticism from Portland commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty who tweeted: "This brutality is unacceptable. This is the community the police are sworn to protect and serve. They must uphold Portlanders' Constitutional rights."

Oregon's biggest city has been the scene of nightly demonstrations following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis by a police officer in May.

The Associated Press reported that earlier this week, protesters had lit a fire and set off fireworks outside the downtown federal courthouse, the location of a number of violent altercations over the last few weeks between demonstrators and federal agents.


The size of the protests has decreased since Oregon Governor Gov. Kate Brown agreed with Vice President Mike Pence to remove federal officers, who have been replaced by Oregon State Police. However after state police said they would be pulling back, federal officers may return to the city, The Oregonian reported.

Protesters retreat after Portland police blocked the road on August 14, 2020. The streets were blocked before the protest could reach the Portland Police Association building.NATHAN HOWARD/GETTY IMAGES

Rally against police brutality ends near Grant Park after failed attempt to walk on Dan Ryan Expressway
By MADELINE BUCKLEY
CHICAGO TRIBUNE | AUG 15, 2020

Anti-police-brutality protesters gather in the intersection of East 35th Street and South Indiana Avenue as the group marches north on Aug. 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

A massive presence of Chicago police officers and Illinois State Police troopers blocked a group of about 200 protesters from marching on the Dan Ryan Expressway on Saturday afternoon, thwarting a planned protest meant to disrupt traffic there to draw attention to police brutality.

The group, which gathered at Robert Taylor Park at 39 W. 47th St. around noon, instead marched north through Bronzeville, and then onto Michigan Avenue in the South Loop, carrying signs with names of people who died due to violent encounters with police. The march wrapped up around 5 p.m. near Grant Park.

“We’re here on this stage to fight for justice for stolen lives,” organizer Rabbi Michael Ben Yosef told the crowd before the march.

People protesting police brutality march north on South Indiana Avenue from 47th Street on Aug. 15, 2020, in Chicago. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Yosef, president of humanitarian group Tikkun Chai Inter-National, hoped for a crowd of up to 25,000 to march onto the expressway, reminiscent of a similar one in 2018 organized by the Rev. Michael Pfleger to put a spotlight on crime, joblessness and poverty plaguing city neighborhoods.

In that earlier march, demonstrators started by using half of the northbound lanes, while traffic proceeded in the remaining lanes. Eventually, though, the marchers took over all northbound lanes.

But Yosef acknowledged Saturday afternoon that the turnout fell short of expectations, saying the crowd should have been bigger.

He demanded an end to what he said was qualified immunity for law enforcement officers, an abolishment of police unions and the redirection of police funding to mental health services he said was shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The group is marching East away from the Dan Ryan with a lot of police on each side. pic.twitter.com/ZczolD7VX1— Madeline Buckley (@Mabuckley88) August 15, 2020

A woman carrying a poster board with a photo of her husband spoke to the crowd, relaying that her husband died of COVID-19 in the Cook County Jail in April.

“He walked in a healthy man,” she said, criticizing mass incarceration.

The event, though, drew some criticism, as a group of counterprotesters used microphones to proclaim that the event brought floods of officers into the South Side neighborhood and disrupted life in the neighborhood.

“Take this back to the North Side,” a counterprotester said.

Chicago and state police officers block East 43rd Street at the Dan Ryan Expressway as anti-police-brutality protesters march north. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)


A man hands out water bottles as Illinois State Police officers in riot gear wait in the intersection of East 35th Street and South Indiana Avenue. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

As the march began to step off, a wall of Chicago police officers and Illinois State Police troopers in riot gear blocked 47th Street so the crowd could not walk west to the Dan Ryan Expressway.
The marchers turned around and instead marched east on 47th, away from the highway, and then turned north on Indiana Avenue.

Lines of law enforcement officers blocked off cross streets on foot and bicycle, moving with the crowd, so the marchers could not try again to move toward the expressway. A trail of police vehicles followed the crowd from behind.

“I have been protesting since May almost every weekend,” said Amira Abuarqoub, a 20-year-old from the northwest suburbs, noting that she was not surprised to see such a large police presence.

Even though the crowd did not make it onto the Dan Ryan, Abuarqoub said it felt meaningful to take to the streets to send their message.

She carried a sign with the name of Joseph Jennings, an 18-year-old shot and killed in Kansas in 2014.

mabuckley@chicagotribune.com
Madeline Buckley
is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. She has previously reported on criminal justice issues in Indiana and Texas and is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.

The Texas Rangers' lore spurred cultural fawning and sports namesakes that have long masked a history of violence and racism

This year's prevalent and ongoing protests against police brutality have sparked calls for the Rangers' name to be stricken from the modern-day Texas Department of Public Safety investigative agency, North Texas’ Major League Baseball team and college mascots.

BY MEENA VENKATARAMANAN AUG. 15, 2020

Arlinda Valencia, 68, holds a photograph taken in 1918 of her great-grandfather Longino Flores, left, great-grandmother Juana Bonilla Flores and aunt Rosa Flores Mesa. Credit: Joel Angel Juarez for The Texas Tribun

Growing up in Monahans in the 1960s, Arlinda Valencia said she was used to hearing about the valor of the Texas Rangers in school and on television.

“I grew up watching The Lone Ranger,” she said, referring to the 1950s Western drama series. “The Lone Ranger was a hero, and that's what we grew up with, thinking that the Texas Rangers were heroes.”

But when Valencia learned from a relative that the Texas Rangers took part in killing her great-grandfather, Longino Flores, and 14 other unarmed Tejano men and boys in the 1918 Porvenir massacre, she slowly began to reevaluate her long-held perception of the law enforcement agency.

Now Valencia, 68, is spreading word of the massacre in hopes of shedding light on a piece of Texas history that historically has not been given widespread attention: the Texas Rangers’ racist and xenophobic past. She developed a website that details the massacre and has organized screenings of "Porvenir, Texas," a 2019 documentary about the killings.

This year’s prevalent and ongoing anti-police brutality protests have added resonance to Valencia’s cause as calls have surfaced for the Texas Rangers name to be stricken from the modern-day Texas Department of Public Safety investigative agency, North Texas’ Major League Baseball team and college mascots. Meanwhile, historians and public officials are at odds over how to reconcile the law enforcement unit’s racist historical acts with its long-running exalted place in Texas history and culture.

The Porvenir massacre is one of many past acts of violence committed by the Texas Rangers against people of color in the state, including indigenous Texans, Black Texans and Tejanos, or Mexican Americans from the South Texas region, from the 19th century through the 20th century.

As a law enforcement agency, the Rangers were unofficially founded in 1823 for the purpose of a “punitive expedition against a band of Indians,” according to the Texas State Historical Association. They continued to drive indigenous people from their homelands during the Cherokee War in 1839, as well as the Council House Fight and Battle of Plum Creek against the Comanches in 1840.

In the mid-1800s, the Rangers captured runaway enslaved Black people seeking freedom in Mexico through the Callahan Expedition, according to the Texas State Historical Association.

In 1918, the Rangers slaughtered Tejanos during the Porvenir massacre, said John Morán González, a literature professor and the director of the Center for Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. According to the Texas Observer, the massacre occurred when a group of Rangers, U.S. Army soldiers and ranchers arrived at the Porvenir village near El Paso in pursuit of revenge for a series of cattle raids by Tejanos along the border. A 2018 El Paso Times article reported there was no evidence implicating the Porvenir villagers in the cattle raids, but the Rangers nevertheless separated 15 men and boys from their families and executed them.

Decades later, in the mid-1950s, Rangers helped the Texas governor, Allan Shivers, resist a federal court order for Mansfield High School to desegregate, according to the Texas Historical Association.

The Department of Public Safety investigative agency did not directly comment on calls to change its name, but wrote in a statement that it is “aware of recent stories about the history of the Texas Rangers and defers judgment on the veracity of those depictions to Texas historians.”

“The modern-day Texas Rangers are comprised of principled men and women of great skill and integrity who are fully committed to the rule of law,” it said in a statement.

Dr. John Morán González, director of the Center for Mexican American Studies and literature professor at the University of Texas at Austin. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

Doug Swanson’s 2020 book "Cult of Glory: The Bold and Brutal History of the Texas Rangers" prompted the removal of a statue of a Texas Ranger from Dallas’ Love Field Airport in June by city officials.

Meanwhile, progressive activists have petitioned for the Texas Rangers baseball team to change its name.

“While we may have originally taken our name from the law enforcement agency, since 1971 the Texas Rangers Baseball Club has forged its own, independent identity,” said John Blake, a team spokesperson. “The Texas Rangers Baseball Club stands for equality. We condemn racism, bigotry and discrimination in all forms.”


And ahead of the DPS investigative unit Texas Rangers’ bicentennial celebration in 2023, historians and activists are advocating for a more comprehensive portrayal of the law enforcement entity in the public eye.

Historians like González believe the Texas Rangers name should be retired entirely from the modern agency, the baseball team and local mascots, like that of San Antonio College, which decided to change its mascot’s name last month, according to KENS. Along with Benjamin Johnson, a Loyola University Chicago history professor, González co-founded Refusing to Forget, an organization that hopes to educate people about state-sanctioned violence against Tejanos in the early 20th century.

“I just think it's impossible to talk about this particular organization and use the word ‘ranger’ without invoking this 200 year-old actual history of violent policing, especially against communities of color,” Johnson said.

But Jerry Patterson, a former Texas land commissioner and state senator, said he believes scrapping the Texas Ranger name from various organizations is “total bullshit.”


Patterson, 73, said he has seen nationwide public perception of the Rangers move “like a pendulum swing,” from glorifying the Rangers to demonizing them — both of which he believes are misguided approaches. Instead of taking down statues and changing names, Patterson said, Texas historians and activists should portray the multidimensional history of the Rangers, which he said was his goal when he worked on the "Porvenir, Texas" documentary.

“We have to tell the story, the complete story, warts and all, good, bad and ugly, and that's not what's being done,” he said.

Former Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson holds up a Winchester Model 1895 carbine, a model favored by the Texas Rangers. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

The role of media

González, 54, remembers watching Walker, Texas Ranger in the early ’90s — a television series starring Chuck Norris and one of many examples of mass media that he believes has exalted the Texas Rangers and gifted them with an almost mythical position in Texas culture.

As a child growing up in Houston, Johnson, 48, recalls reading books about the Rangers that would lionize them, “telling these stories of heroism and bravery and apprehending various criminals and fighting various people” while ignoring the carnage.


“To put it more simply, that glorification of the Rangers, it's built on a lot of blood,” said González, who is half-Tejano and was raised in Brownsville.

Byron Johnson, the director of the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum, a state-designated historical center, said there are thousands of books, hundreds of films and a handful of television programs about the Rangers, making them a “legendary” force in Texas history and culture.

But the museum has been the subject of controversy among historians and officials who are concerned it only presents the positive aspects of the Texas Rangers.

“They lionize some of the murderers that our scholarship has looked at and that have come to light in recent years,” Benjamin Johnson, the history professor, said. “They simply ignore critical takes so you can't find any critical books, of which there have actually been a lot for decades and decades, [in the museum].”


Swanson, the journalist and author, agreed. He said it’s important to acknowledge the Rangers’ positive contributions to Texas — such as fighting the Ku Klux Klan and saving Texans from lynch mobs. But, Swanson said, the museum ignores the perspectives of Native Americans, Hispanic Texans and Black Americans and omits the Porvenir killings from its website.

Byron Johnson, the museum’s director, said its current and rotating exhibits have covered the Porvenir massacre and women, Hispanic people and Native Americans in the Texas Rangers.

“However, exhibit space and resources have limited what needs to be covered in the exhibits,” he wrote in an email.

He added that in March, the museum approved a contract to review its programs and consider expanding its exhibits that will “involve a diverse group of citizens, historians, authors and Texas Rangers.”


Valencia, the great-granddaughter of Longino Flores, said the museum needs to hold itself accountable for portraying an accurate history of the Rangers.

“I think they should keep the museum, but they need to put the people that are responsible for all these deaths, they need to fess up and there needs to be in that whole thing a section of the dark past,” she said.
Reforming Texas history curricula

Benjamin Johnson said that Refusing to Forget wants Texas education officials to incorporate more events that happened between 1910 and 1920 along the Texas-Mexico borderlands into Texas history classes that are required for fourth and seventh graders. The Porvenir massacre is currently not explicitly mentioned in the curricula.

“We would like these episodes to be represented,” he said.


He and González want Texas history curriculum to include more perspectives on the Rangers.

“[State history education] has been part of the process of glorifying the Rangers,” González said. “Even starting at those early moments where the true history of the Rangers and their role in promoting white supremacy has to be made clear.”

But it is up to individual school boards and teachers in the state to decide what aspects of Texas Rangers to include and what history books to use.

Refusing to Forget, a project Dr. John Morán González is a part of, aims to increase awareness on the Ranger's use of violence towards Texans, Black Texans and Tejanos between 1910 and 1920. Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune

“Districts have the ability to choose from the state-adopted materials or use their funding to select something that was not State Board of Education-adopted so they're not all using the same book,” said Georgina Pérez, the secretary of the Texas State Board of Education and a board representative from El Paso.


Pérez added that it is possible that certain teachers in conservative areas may choose to teach lessons on the Texas Rangers that present them in a more heroic light than others.

“I think that in fourth grade I can almost guarantee everyone is taught like [the Rangers] are heroes or it’s just not addressed, perhaps because of the [students’] age,” she said. “Whereas in seventh grade, it's, it's a bit more likely that a teacher feels comfortable teaching both perspectives.”

Pérez said the State Board of Education approved a Mexican American studies high school elective course in 2018 that she says paints a more accurate portrait of the Texas Rangers than the fourth and seventh grade curricula. Recommended lessons for the course include one on the Porvenir killings. But Pérez said offering Mexican American studies as an elective in high schools is not enough — she wants to see it become integrated into general history curricula.

“I'm not a fan of making Mexican American studies an ‘other’ versus mainstream history,” she said.

Modern issues

The modern Texas Rangers, an investigative agency within the state’s Department of Public Safety, evolved from the historical police force but no longer carries out the same duties. Today, Rangers focus on investigations as a unit within DPS.

Swanson said there is still much progress to be made in terms of diversifying the force and reckoning with its complex history. Of the agency’s 157 members, there are currently seven Black, 31 Hispanic and four women rangers, according to a statement from the agency.

“As late as the 1960s, 1970s, there were many Rangers — high ranking Rangers — who were quite hostile to the idea of having women and Blacks [as members], especially,” Swanson said.

Swanson said the Rangers were “quite tardy” in diversifying their ranks.

“The first African American [Ranger] was in 1988 and that was only after an NAACP complaint,” he said. “The first two women were in 1993 and that was when Ann Richards was governor and so she pushed very strong for that. The first Hispanic or Latino Ranger of the modern era was in 1969.”

The modern Texas Rangers said they value diversity in the agency.

Longino Flores was among the 15 men and boys killed in the 1918 Porvenir massacre. Juana Bonilla Flores would later take her own life two years after the massacre following a battle with post-traumatic stress disorder, according to Arlinda Valencia. Credit: Joel Angel Juarez for The Texas Tribune

“The department is in continuous pursuit of qualified minorities and women to serve as Texas Rangers,” a spokesperson from the agency wrote in an email Wednesday.

Valencia now lives just outside El Paso, where she says anti-Latino violence is alive and well, especially in the aftermath of the Walmart shooting that killed 23 people and injured 23 others just over a year ago. She said she hopes the Rangers will publicly apologize for their history of racism and xenophobia against Latinos and other communities, which she said they have not yet addressed.

“If they want to keep their name, keep it, but you need to step up and say, ‘this is what we did in the past, and we apologize,’” she said. “That's what I want. I want them to apologize for what they did to all those people.”

The El Paso Times, San Antonio College, Texas State Historical Association and University of Texas at Austin have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Chile: Mapuche People's Spiritual Advisor Stops Drinking Water

Mapuche People's Spiritual Advisor Machi Celestino Cordova. | Photo: Twitter/ @portadasonada

Published 15 August 2020

Machi Celestino Cordova holds President Sebastian Piñera's administration responsible for his eventual death.

Mapuche people's spiritual advisor (machi) Celestino Cordova early Saturday stopped drinking water after Chilean authorities rejected a petition in favor of the Mapuche prisoners.

In an audio message of farewell to the Mapuche community, Cordova said he holds President Sebastian Piñera's administration responsible for his eventual death.

"I am willing to give my life for the freedom of the Mapuche and non-Mapuche political prisoners, for the rights and dignity of the Mapuche people, and the return of our ancestral territories," Cordova said.

"I will rest physically on this earth, but my life will continue. In my next incarnation I will continue to fight," the machi said.

VITACURA: Marcha en apoyo a Machi Celestino Córdova al cumplirse 100 días en huelga de hambre.
"MACHI CELESTINO A SE REWE" pic.twitter.com/7YgbsC2tca— PIENSAPRENSA 220,6 mil Seguidores (@PiensaPrensa) August 11, 2020

In an audio message of farewell to the Mapuche community, Cordova said he holds President Sebastian Piñera's administration responsible for his eventual death.

"I am willing to give my life for the freedom of the Mapuche and non-Mapuche political prisoners, for the rights and dignity of the Mapuche people, and the return of our ancestral territories," Cordova said.

"I will rest physically on this earth, but my life will continue. In my next incarnation I will continue fighting," the machi said.

US Police Regularly Trained By Israeli Military: Amnesty Report


Police detain a protester during a protest in response to the police killing of George Floyd on May 30, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. | Photo: AFP

ISRAEL ANTI BIBI DEMO JULY 2020

Hundreds of law enforcement officials traveled to Israel for training, while thousands of others received training from Israeli officials in the U.S.

As several cities across the United States become hotspots of unrest following the violent death of black man George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer, Amnesty International recalled Sunday that U.S. police trains in Israel alongside military officers, who “have racked up documented human rights violations for years.”

The rights group reported that hundreds of law enforcement officials from Baltimore, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington state as well as the DC Capitol police all travel to Israel for training, while thousands of others received training from Israeli officials in the U.S.

“Many of these trips are taxpayer-funded while others are privately funded,” the group noted, adding that “since 2002, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee’s Project Interchange and the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs have paid for police chiefs, assistant chiefs and captains to train in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.”

Critics of these programs, including human rights groups, point to Israel’s record of human rights abuses and state violence toward Palestinians, Black jews, and African refugees.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 2018 brought almost a 70 percent increase over the previous year in Israeli settler violence toward Palestinians, and a rise in Palestinian deaths and injuries in Gaza.

In the year since 2018 Great March of Return demonstrations began, more than 190 Palestinians were killed and 28,000 were injured by Israeli Forces.

In the U.S., many Black and Hispanic neighborhoods have been experiencing disproportionate violence and rising trends in fatal police shootings.

In Georgia for instance, an investigation of deadly police shootings revealed that in the years after 2010, at least 185 people were shot and killed by police, almost half of them unarmed or shot in the back.

Amnesty International, other human rights organizations and even the U.S. Department of State have also been citing Israeli police for carrying out extrajudicial executions and other unlawful killings, using ill-treatment and torture, suppression of freedom of expression and association, through government surveillance, and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters.

“Police departments (in the U.S.) should find partners that will train on de-escalation techniques, (...) and how to appropriately respond to those using non-violent protest to express their opinions. Israel is not such a partner,” the rights group concluded.

Dictionary Merriam-Webster to Edit 'Racism' Entry Upon Request

Screen capture of the Merriam-Webster dictionary entry for the term racism. | Photo: Merriam-Webster
Published 10 June 2020

Kennedy Mitchum, 22, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, emailed the dictionary last month, following the killing of black U.S. citizen George Floyd by a white police officer.

U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster will update its definition of the term racism after a young Black woman from Missouri contacted the editorial team saying the current definition does not reflect the oppression of black people as it should, media have reported.

Kennedy Mitchum, 22, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, emailed the dictionary last month, following the killing of black U.S. citizen George Floyd by a white police officer.

"I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world," Mitchum told CNN. "The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice, it's the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans."

"It's not just disliking someone because of their race," Mitchum wrote Friday in a Facebook post.

Merriam-Webster's editorial manager, Peter Sokolowski, told AFP that the definition would be changed.

The dictionary currently offers three definitions of racism, and Sokolowski said the second definition touches on Mitchum's point - but that "we will make that even more clear in our next release."

In the current version of the second definition, racism is "a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles," and "a political or social system founded on racism"

"This is the kind of continuous revision that is part of the work of keeping the dictionary up to date, based on rigorous criteria and research we employ in order to describe the language as it is actually used," Sokolowski said.

One of the dictionary's editors told Mitchum that the definitions of other words that are "related to racism or have racial connotations" would also be updated, without specifying which ones.

"We apologize for the harm and offense we have caused in failing to address this issue sooner," the editor wrote, according to a message published by Drake University and retweeted by Mitchum.

Merriam-Webster has published its dictionaries since 1847. Its site, where definitions are available for free, had nearly 50 million unique visitors in May, according to the SimilarWeb site.

No, Black people aren't to blame for police brutality

CNN is working to answer questions you have about race. Like this one: Is there a link between gun violence in Black communities and the excessive use of force by police? The question itself is questionable. Here's why.

Source: CNN

SOCIAL JUSTICE
City Takes Action on Police Violence—By Restricting Those Protesting Police Violence


Written By JONATHON SADOWSKI MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN
AUGUST 14, 2020

A group of several dozen protesters lock arms Thursday night at the Milwaukee-Wauwatosa border, the first night of demonstrations after Mayor Dennis McBride limited protests to the hours of noon to 8 p.m. The demonstrators crossed into Wauwatosa and protested outside McBride's house early Friday morning, but no one was arrested. (Screenshot via Ryan Clancy, Milwaukee County supervisor)

Wauwatosa mayor announces changes a week after one protest escalated, with its cause in dispute.

A week after tensions boiled over and someone fired a gun during a protest against police brutality in Wauwatosa, Mayor Dennis McBride announced the Milwaukee suburb will clamp down on protests by instituting what amounts to a protest curfew and enforcing all applicable ordinances to keep demonstrations in line.

McBride said in a Thursday afternoon statement that protests are now only allowed from noon to 8 p.m., that demonstrations will no longer be tolerated on private property, and that individuals will no longer be allowed to obstruct traffic in any way. Violating those ordinances could result in arrest or a $5,000 fine, McBride said.

“It’s absolutely wrong,” said Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, who has marched with protesters almost every day since demonstrations began over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. “It would be a better policy to take on police brutality, instead of taking on the people protesting against police brutality.”

The announcement was a stunning turnaround for the city, which for months, with minimal police resistance, allowed the overwhelmingly peaceful demonstrators to gather on the streets, in municipal buildings, and at Mayfair Mall, where a Black teen was killed by a police officer earlier this year. Protesters have spoken out against the continued employment of Officer Joseph Mensah, who is currently suspended after having killed three people — including the teen at Mayfair — in the past five years.

Protesters visited Mensah’s girlfriends house last week in Wauwatosa, and the demonstration ended in chaos after someone fired a gun at the home.

Mensah claimed protesters “tried to kill” him and shot at him as he retreated into his house, and the Wauwatosa Police Department echoed his claims. However, Rep. David Bowen, D-Milwaukee, who was present at the protest, said Mensah and the police are lying. Mensah antagonized and assaulted protesters, shot pepper spray at the crowd, and grabbed a demonstrator’s gun, which fired into the house, Bowen said.

Mensah was “out of control,” “ill-tempered,” and “reckless,” Bowen told UpNorthNews.

“He was focused on inciting violence, provoking protesters to fight him,” Bowen said.

McBride, in a Friday interview with UpNorthNews, defended his new hardline stance on protesters.

“There are conflicting versions of the event, but there are indisputable facts,” McBride said. “People went to the house, people taunted, people threw toilet paper, people went on the property, there was a scuffle.”

“My bottom line is this,” he continued. “The one indisputable fact is that none of that would have happened if the protesters had not gone to that house. That’s beyond dispute.”

The incident led U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, the Republican who represents a swath of Milwaukee suburbs including Wauwatosa, on Tuesday to offer sending federal forces to quell the protests. McBride declined the offer on the grounds that the presence of federal agents would only serve to destabilize the situation further.

Yet McBride issued his warning to the demonstrators two days later.

“It’s only going to help pour gas on a situation that’s already on fire,” Bowen said.

McBride acknowledged there has already been pushback from protesters and some members of the public for his announcement, especially over his decision to impose a limit on the hours during which people can protest.

“I expected that some people would be offended by that, but what’s the alternative?” McBride said, referencing how some demonstrations have gone down sleepy residential streets in the early morning hours.

Nonetheless, protesters crossed into Wauwatosa late Thursday and early Friday morning. In a video captured by Milwaukee County Supervisor Ryan Clancy, a few Wauwatosa squad cars blocked a group of several dozen marchers at the Wauwatosa-Milwaukee border. Demonstrators lined up before walking across the street into Wauwatosa, causing the police to reverse their vehicles and retreat into the city.

McBride told UpNorthNews those protesters set up outside his house around 12:30 a.m. Friday, but no one was arrested, despite the hardline stance in his initial statement. He said citations would be issued in the coming days.

Just hours before McBride instituted the new restrictions on Thursday, the head of the Wauwatosa police union announced 70 of the union’s 72 members have no confidence in McBride’s leadership. The Wauwatosa City Council voted 13-1 last month to formally urge the city’s Fire and Police Commission to fire Mensah; McBride signed the resolution. The no-confidence vote is in opposition to the Mensah’s likely firing.

McBride denied the union’s announcement had any effect on his decision to begin the protest crackdown.

“We had been working on that statement all week,” McBride said. “It had nothing whatsoever to do with it.”

Jonathon Sadowski A Racine native, Jonathon most recently reported for the Racine Journal Times. He has a degree in multimedia journalism from Columbia College Chicago and was a digital news intern for two Chicago stations, WMAQ and WLS-TV.

Sanders and Obama: Trump’s Attack on Postal Service a Direct Assault on Election

A USPS mail worker wearing a mask is seen driving between houses on August 13, 2020, in Ventnor City, New Jersey.

ALEXI ROSENFELD / GETTY IMAGES

BYJulia Conley, Common Dreams
August 15, 2020

Both Sen. Bernie Sanders and former President Barack Obama on Friday raised alarm over President Donald Trump’s open attempt to sabotage the U.S. Postal Service by refusing to provide emergency funding in what critics call an effort to hamper the general election—in which millions of Americans are expected to vote by mail.

In an email to supporters, Sanders denounced Trump’s “outrageous” Thursday statement, in which the president dismissed Democratic leaders’ demand for $3.5 billion in election assistance for states and $25 billion for the USPS in order to cope with major delivery delays. Trump told reporters that as long as the Postal Service isn’t given emergency funding, universal mail-in voting—which the president has claimed would be a “rigged” system favoring Democrats—can’t happen.

“He told the American people that he was going to defund and destroy the United States Postal Service so that, during this pandemic, they cannot have the opportunity to vote for president and in other important races,” wrote Sanders. “In other words, he is forcing people to make a choice between getting sick and even dying, or casting a ballot.”

“Elections should be about candidates making the best case they can to their constituents and letting the voters decide,” the Vermont independent senator added. “What elections should not be about in a democratic society is winning because your opponents are prevented from voting. And that is exactly what Trump is doing right now.”
We will not let Trump sabotage our Postal Service or destroy our democracy.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) August 13, 2020

Sanders’s criticism was echoed by Obama, who called Trump’s explicit attempt to discourage participation in the election “unheard of.”

“What we’ve never seen before is a president say, ‘I’m going to try to actively kneecap the Postal Service to [discourage] voting and I will be explicit about the reason I’m doing it,'” said the former president. “My question is what are Republicans doing where you are so scared of people voting that you are now willing to undermine what is part of the basic infrastructure of American life?”

The two leaders’ statements came amid news that 46 states and Washington, D.C. recently received letters from USPS general counsel and executive vice president Thomas J. Marshall, warning that tens of millions of Americans could be effectively disenfranchised in the November election because the Postal Service can’t guarantee mail-in ballots will be delivered in time to be counted.

Oregon, Rhode Island, New Mexico, and Nevada are the only states that haven’t received warnings from the USPS; seven states were told that a limited number of voters could have their ballots cast aside due to mail delays, while 186 million voters could be affected by delays in the rest of the states.

“It’s completely outrageous that the U.S. Postal Service is in this position,” Vanita Gupta, president and chief executive of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, told The Washington Post, accusing Trump of weaponizing “the U.S. Postal Service for the president’s electoral purposes.”

Marshall’s warning was due to concerns that arose even before the president named Louis DeJoy, a top Trump donor, postmaster general earlier this year. DeJoy has been condemned by voting rights advocates and Democrats for ordering drastic cuts of overtime and spending by the USPS, delaying delivery times by as much as a week. The Postal Service is also currently decommissioning 10% of its mail-sorting machines, which can sort 21.4 million pieces of paper mail per hour and allow carriers to focus on delivering mail promptly.

Before DeJoy’s actions sparked outrage and fears of severe mail delays when millions of Americans cast their votes from home to avoid spreading Covid-19, Marshall became concerned that the Postal Service does not currently have the capacity to help facilitate the election, with 10 times the usual volume of mail-in ballots in November. The battleground states of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Michigan were all identified as states whose tight deadlines for requesting, mailing, or counting ballots would not allow the over-strained post office to deliver all ballots in time to be tallied.

Election officials in Pennsylvania asked the state Supreme Court on Thursday to extend its ballot-counting deadline by three days to give voters time to mail in their votes.

With DeJoy’s actions putting further strain on mail carriers, University of Texas law professor Steve Vladeck called Trump’s open sabotage of the Postal Service “as serious a threat to our democracy as anything any President has ever done.”

“I’m not overreacting; this is a five-alarm fire,” he added. “And Republicans who aren’t vigorously pushing back are complicit.”

Sanders called on his supporters to sign a petition demanding that Congress provide funding to the USPS to support vote-by-mail in November.

“Donald Trump is moving our country in an authoritarian direction and is attempting to dismantle the foundations of our democracy,” wrote the senator. “Democracy must be saved. Trump must be defeated.”