CARNEY CHICKENS OUT

Caving to Trump, Canada Drops Tax on US Tech Firms

One journalist accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of chickening out.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (left) and U.S. President Donald Trump depart following a group photo in front of the Canadian Rockies at the Kananaskis Country Golf Course during the G7 Leaders' Summit on June 16, 2025 in Kananaskis, Alberta.
(Photo: Suzanne Plunkett-Pool/Getty Images)

Eloise Goldsmith
Jun 30, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

Acquiescing to pressure from the Trump administration, the Canadian government announced on Sunday that the country will rescind the digital services tax, a levy that would have seen large American tech firms pay billions of dollars to Canada over the next few years.

The Sunday announcement from the Canadian government cited "anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement" as the reason for the rescission.

"Today's announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month's G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis," said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in the statement.

The digital services tax impacts companies that make over $20 million in revenue from Canadian users and customers through digital services like online advertising and shopping. Companies like Uber and Google would have paid a 3% levy on the money they made from Canadian sources, according to CBC News.

The reversal comes after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday blasted the digital services tax, calling it a "direct and blatant attack on our country" on Truth Social.

Trump said he was suspending trade talks between the two countries because of the tax. "Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately. We will let Canada know the Tariff that they will be paying to do business with the United States of America within the next seven day period," Trump wrote. The United States is Canada's largest trading partner.

Payments from tech firms subject to the digital services tax were due starting on Monday, though the tax has been in effect since last year.

"The June 30, 2025 collection will be halted," and Canada's Minister of Finance "will soon bring forward legislation to rescind the Digital Services Tax Act," according to the Sunday statement.

"If Mark Carney folds in response to this pressure from Trump on the digital services tax, he proves he can be pushed around," said Canadian journalist Paris Marx on Bluesky, speaking prior to the announcement of the rescission. "The tax must be enforced," he added.

"Carney chickens out too," wrote the author Doug Henwood on Twitter on Monday.

In an opinion piece originally published in Canadian Dimension before the announcement on Sunday, Jared Walker, executive director of the progressive advocacy group Canadians for Tax Fairness, wrote that all the money generated for the tax could mean "more federal money for housing, transit, and healthcare transfers—all from some of the largest and most under-taxed companies in the world."

Walker also wrote that the digital service tax could serve as a counterweight to the so-called "revenge tax" provision in Trump's sprawling domestic tax and spending bill.

Section 899, called "Enforcement of Remedies Against Unfair Foreign Taxes," would "increase withholding taxes for non-resident individuals and companies from countries that the U.S. believes have imposed discriminatory or unfair taxes," according to CBC. The digital services tax is one of the taxes the Trump administration believes is discriminatory.

"If 'elbows up' is going to be more than just a slogan, Canada can't cave to pressure when Donald Trump throws his weight around," wrote Walker, invoking the Canadian rallying cry in the face of American antagonism when it comes to trade.

"But this slogan also means the Carney government has to make sure it is working on behalf of everyday Canadians—not just the ultra-rich and big corporations that are only 'Canadian' when it's convenient," Walker wrote.

Canadian Prime Minister Carney says trade talks with US resume after Canada rescinded tech tax

Copyright Sean Kilpatrick/AP

By Euronews with AP

Published on 30/06/2025 -

Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling.

Trade talks between the US and Canada resumed after Ottawa rescinded its plan to tax US technology firms, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Sunday 

The news follows an announcement by US President Donald Trump on Friday, where he said he was suspending trade talks with his country’s northern neighbour over its plan to continue with its tax on technology firms. 

Trump described this tax as a “direct and blatant attack on our country” which was set to go into effect on Monday. 

Both the American and Canadian leaders reportedly spoke on the phone on Sunday, and Carney’s office said they agreed to resume negotiations. The Canadian government said “in anticipation” of a trade deal “Canada would rescind” the deal. 

“Today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis,” Carney said in a statement.  

Trump recently travelled to Canada for a G7 summit in Alberta, where Carney said both countries had set a 30-day-deadline for trade talks. 

Canada’s Digital Services Tax was due to his companies like Amazon, Google and Meta with a 3% levy on revenue from Canadian users. It would have applied retroactively, leaving US companies with a $2 billion (€1,71 billion) US bill due at the end of the month. 

Trump’s announcement on Friday was the latest in the trade war he’s launched since taking office for a second term in January. Progress with Canada has been a roller coaster, with Trump repeatedly suggesting it should be absorbed as a US state. 

Canada cancels tax on US tech firms in hopes of Trump trade deal


Canada on Sunday announced that it cancelled a tax targeting US tech companies such as Amazon, ahead of resuming trade negotiations with the US. Talks between the countries stalled after Canada introduced the Digital Services Tax in response to steep tariffs set to be imposed by the US.


Issued on: 30/06/2025 - 
By: FRANCE 24

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump at a G7 summit in Canada in June 2025. © Brendan Smialowski, AFP

Canada will rescind taxes impacting US tech firms that had prompted President Donald Trump to retaliate by calling off trade talks, Ottawa said Sunday, adding that negotiations with Washington would resume.

The digital services tax, enacted last year, would have seen US service providers such as Alphabet and Amazon on the hook for a multi-billion-dollar payment in Canada by Monday, analysts have said.

Washington has previously requested dispute settlement talks over the tax -- but on Friday Trump, who has weaponized US financial power in the form of tariffs, said he was ending trade talks with Ottawa in retaliation for the levy.

He also warned that Canada would learn its new tariff rate within the week.

But on Sunday, Ottawa binned the tax, which had been forecast to bring in Can$5.9 billion (US$4.2 billion) over five years.

Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne "announced today that Canada would rescind the Digital Services Tax (DST) in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States," a government statement said.

It added that Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney "have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025."

There was no immediate comment from the White House or Trump.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC on Friday that Washington had hoped Carney's government would halt the tax "as a sign of goodwill."

Canada has been spared some of the sweeping duties Trump has imposed on other countries, but it faces a separate tariff regime.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has also imposed steep levies on imports of steel, aluminum and autos.

Canada is the largest supplier of foreign steel and aluminum to the United States.

Last week, Carney said Ottawa will adjust its 25 percent counter tariffs on US steel and aluminum -- in response to a doubling of US levies on the metals to 50 percent -- if a bilateral trade deal was not reached in 30 days.

"We will continue to conduct these complex negotiations in the best interest of Canadians," Carney said Friday.

He had previously said a good outcome in the talks would be to "stabilize the trading relationship with the United States" and "ready access to US markets for Canadian companies" while "not having our hands tied in terms of our dealings with the rest of the world."

Carney and Trump met on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada earlier this month. Leaders at the summit pushed Trump to back away from his punishing trade war.

Dozens of countries face a July 9 deadline for steeper US duties to kick in -- rising from a current 10 percent.

It remains to be seen if they will successfully reach agreements before the deadline.

Bessent has said Washington could wrap up its agenda for trade deals by September, indicating more agreements could be concluded, although talks were likely to extend past July.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Palestinian American Student Who Refused to Stand for Pledge of Allegiance Sues School for Violating Her Rights


Danielle Khalaf was "simply exercising her constitutional right not to partake in the Pledge of Allegiance as a sign of protest" against Israel's U.S.-backed war on Gaza, said one of her attorneys.

JEHOVA WITNESSES ALSO REFUSE TO STAND FOR PRAYERS OR PLEDGE

Fourteen-year-old Danielle Khalaf speaks to reporters on February 27, 2025.
(Photo: WXYZ)


Jake Johnson
Jun 27, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

The father of a 14-year-old Michigan student filed a lawsuit in federal court this week against the Plymouth-Canton Community Schools District and one of its teachers for allegedly violating the First Amendment rights of his daughter, who quietly refused to stand for and recite the Pledge of Allegiance in class earlier this year.

Danielle Khalaf, a U.S. citizen of Palestinian descent, opted on three separate occasions in January to remain seated and silent as her classmates recited the Pledge of Allegiance, saying she was protesting the Israeli government's U.S.-backed assault on Gaza.

The lawsuit, backed by the ACLU of Michigan and the Arab American Civil Rights League, alleges that when Khalaf approached her teacher after class to explain why she was not standing and reciting the pledge, the teacher responded, "Since you live in this country and enjoy its freedom, if you don't like it, you should go back to your country."

Khalaf told reporters earlier this year that she "ran out of the room crying," and the lawsuit states that she "suffered extensive emotional and social injuries" stemming from the teacher's conduct. The third time Khalaf declined to stand for and recite the pledge, the teacher "admonished" her in front of the class and told her "she was being disrespectful and that she should be ashamed of herself," according to the complaint.

Nabih Ayad, an attorney for the Arab American Civil Rights League, said in a statement that "it is disturbing that a teacher who is trusted to teach our children would succumb to such insensitivities to one of her students knowing that the student is of Arab Palestinian descent, and knowing of the many deaths overseas in Gaza of family members of Palestinians living in metro Detroit, that she would add insult to injury and call the student out for simply exercising her constitutional right not to partake in the Pledge of Allegiance as a sign of protest."

"That teacher most definitely should have known it is every student's right in this country to not stand for the Pledge of Allegiance regardless of your personal views," said Ayad.

The Kids Are Alright and They’re Taking Over



Mamdani’s win comes as youth voter registration is climbing across the board. And it’s not because anyone suddenly handed us hope; it’s because we’ve been forced to create it for ourselves.


Supporters of New York State Assemblymember Zorhran Mamdani (D-36) attend his first rally at a nightclub on May 4, 2025 in the Williamsburg neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City as he campaigns to become the next mayor of New York City.
(Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)



Soleil-Chandni Mousseau
Jun 28, 2025

Common Dreams


As someone who’ll soon join those ranks of “first-time voters,” witnessing 33‑year‑old Democrat Socialist Zohran Mamdani defeat a seasoned political heavyweight like Andrew Cuomo feels revolutionary. Watching what’s happening right now—watching young people turn their disillusionment into infrastructure, their rage into organizing—makes it clear: The next generation is coming in hot.

The numbers say it all. According to the Financial Times, 52% of voters under 45 backed Mamdani. Cuomo only got 18%. A remarkable age gap, it’s a generation breaking up the political status quo. And what’s even more staggering? So many of Mamdani’s voters were casting a ballot for the very first time.

We’ve been told for years that young people don’t vote. That we’re apathetic, distracted, too caught up in our phones to care about policy. But this election shattered that myth. The campaigns were built on grassroots energy. To mobilize voters, especially newbies, Mamdani’s team organized over 46,000 volunteers and knocked on more than 1 million doors. And, the people showed up like their lives depended on it—because in so many ways, they do. Youth voter registration is climbing across the board. And it’s not because anyone suddenly handed us hope; it’s because we’ve been forced to create it for ourselves.

So to my fellow future voters, my peers who are just now stepping into the political arena: This is our moment!

Our generation was raised on crisis. Climate collapse. School shootings. Incredibly normalized economic anxiety. We don’t remember a world before mass surveillance,before “once-in-a-century” storms became routine. So, we’re pushing for better with everything we’ve got.

Mamdani’s campaign won because it was real. He spoke in a language of inclusion that we understand. His unapologetic support of human rights and liberation for all, including the Palestinians, resonated with us. His promises—affordable housing, public transit, community-owned groceries—speak directly to the world we’re inheriting. The one we’re expected to fix.

All of this is happening against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s presidency, which continues to cast a long, toxic shadow. But even his chaos doesn’t scare us as much as apathy does. Because what scares me, more than another four years of extremism, is the possibility that people will sit this one out. That they’ll believe the lie that nothing ever changes. That the game is rigged. But Mamdani’s win proves otherwise. When we organize, we win. When we show up, we matter. And we are showing up as strategists and leaders.

So to my fellow future voters, my peers who are just now stepping into the political arena: This is our moment! We are deliberate. We are strategic. You don’t have to be a politician to change the game. You just have to show up, again and again, until they can’t ignore you anymore.

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.

Soleil-Chandni Mousseau is an undergraduate student at Wesleyan University. She has also been an intern scholar at the Oakland Institute since 2020.
Full Bio > 

Muslim Lawmakers Decry 'Vile' Bipartisan Islamophobic Attacks on Zohran Mamdani

The lawmakers asserted that "smears from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle" cannot be allowed to continue.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) holds a microphone and speaks while Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) looks out at the crowd gathered for an April 30, 2024 Passover Seder at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. hosted by Jewish organizations advocating a cease-fire in Gaza and Palestinian liberation.
(Photo: Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

Brett Wilkins
Jun 29, 2025
COMMON DREAMS



All four Muslim members of the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday condemned their colleagues' Islamophobic attacks on Democratic New York City mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, which have come not only from Republicans but also from at least two congressional Democrats representing the candidate's home state.

"The vile, anti-Muslim, and racist smears from our colleagues on both sides of the aisle attacking Zohran Mamdani cannot be met with silence," Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), André Carson (D-Ind.), and Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) said in a joint statement.

"At a time of increased violence against elected officials, we cannot allow the attacks on Zohran Mamdani to continue."

Mamdani—a democratic socialist who would be the first Muslim mayor of the nation's largest city if he wins November's general election—has come under fire by Republicans including Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee, who on Thursday formally appealed to U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi to initiate proceedings to denaturalize and deport "little Muhammad."

Earlier this week, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) posted a photo of Mamdani wearing a traditional tunic with the caption, "After 9/11 we said, 'Never Forget.' I think sadly we have forgotten."

As of Friday afternoon, no Democratic member of Congress from New York had explicitly condemned their GOP colleagues' Islamophobic remarks. To the contrary, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) falsely claimed Thursday that Mamdani had made references to "global jihad" and spuriously asserted that "globalize the intifada"—a call for Palestinian liberation and battling injustice—is a call to "kill all the Jews."

Freshman Rep. Lauren Gillen (D-N.Y.) also falsely accused Mamdani of "a deeply disturbing pattern of unacceptable antisemitic comments."

The four Muslim lawmakers said in their statement that "these hateful, Islamophobic, and racist tropes have become so entrenched and normalized in our politics."

"We know these attacks all too well," they added.

Omar and Tlaib have been on the receiving end of Islamophobic attacks by House colleagues and outside death threats for years, stemming in part from Omar's status as refugee and Tlaib's as the only Palestinian American in Congress.

Like Mamdani, both lawmakers have also been targeted from both sides of the aisle for their support for Palestinian liberation, as well as their opposition to Israel's invasion, occupation, colonization and apartheid in Palestine, and the assault and siege of Gaza that are the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice genocide case.

Advocacy groups have reported a sharp increase in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate incidents since the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led assault on Israel, a climate reminiscent of the pervasive Islamophobia following the September 11, 2001 attacks. There has also been a surge in antisemitism as Israeli forces obliterate Gaza, although critics have decried the widespread conflation of opposition to Zionism with hatred of Jewish people by groups including the Anti-Defamation League.

"At a time of increased violence against elected officials, we cannot allow the attacks on Zohran Mamdani to continue," the four lawmakers stressed. "They directly contribute to the ongoing dehumanization and violence against Muslim Americans. We unequivocally reject the normalization of anti-Muslim hate and fearmongering and call on elected leaders across our country to speak out."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) also issued a statement Friday condemning the "outpouring of disgraceful, dangerous, racist ideology from sitting members of Congress and [Trump] administration officials following Zohran Mamdani's win in the New York mayoral primary."

Jayapal continued:
The constant displays of Islamophobia are an affront to the millions of Muslim Americans and Muslims around the world. One of the most jarring called for the denaturalization and deportation of Mr. Mamdani, an American citizen who just won a massive Democratic primary with more votes than that member, Mr. Ogles, could ever hope to win. This is an insult to voters in New York City who take democracy seriously.

Denaturalization of U.S. citizens is part of the Trump playbook to attack all legal immigration. It is completely outrageous and flies in the face of the laws of this country.

"The hateful language directed at Mr. Mamdani will get someone killed, and we all should be outraged," Jayapal added. "It must end. Every person who cares about democracy, freedom of religion, and the right for all Americans to be treated equally should speak out immediately against these insane and dangerous attacks."

Zohran Mamdani is running to be New York mayor. How his Muslim faith stirred the race.

NEW YORK (RNS) — Mamdani's focus on kitchen table issues has drawn interest across the Muslim spectrum, but his progressive positions on Gaza may alienate voters from other religious communities.

New York Mayor candidate state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani speaks during the New York City Mayoral Candidates Forum at the National Action Network National Convention, Thursday, April 3, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Fiona André and Richa Karmarkar
June 21, 2025

NEW YORK (RNS) — On June 5, at the historic Cathedral of St. John the Divine, New York’s mayoral candidates were invited by an interfaith panel of religious leaders to discuss their visions for the city and its religious communities.

Only four candidates of the June 24 Democratic Primary had responded to the invitation — Jim Walden, Michael Blake, Scott Stringer and Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a 33-year-old state legislator and Muslim Indian immigrant whose core campaign issue was making New York a more affordable place to live. (Jim Walden is running as an independent.)

Asked about his plans to tackle religious divisions in the city, Mamdani discussed his own experience facing Islamophobia after 9/11. “It’s a fear that I remember all too well as a young Muslim man growing up in New York City. My aunt, who was a doctor and who wears a hijab, felt like she could not exist in public life anymore,” he said.

Mamdani, who would be New York’s first Muslim mayor, concluded by citing a verse from the New Testament. “We know that there is no room for this, and yet, too often, all we offer are our version of thoughts and prayers. It is time to actually act upon these beliefs, because we know from James 2:14 that ‘faith without works is dead.’”

RELATED: NY mayoral candidates address sanctuary, Trump and religious hatred at interfaith forum

While discreet about his Shia Muslim identity, Mandani has also appealed to New York’s religious communities by opening up about his faith, appearing in churches, synagogues, temples and mosques. It has earned the Democratic Socialist endorsements and sent a charge into the most religiously diverse city in the world.

Ad released by the Cuomo campaign. Courtesy image

But his identity has exacerbated the response to his pro-Palestinian stances that come with his Democratic Socialist Party’s platform. In a city riven by discord over Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks, he has had to answer questions both about his support for Israel’s right to exist and accusations of antisemitism.

Mamdani has been unapologetic about his Muslim identity since he first ran to become a New York State Assembly member for Queens’ 36th district. Now in his third term, Mamdani has established strong ties with his district’s Muslim community, which spans Astoria and Long Island City.

The son of famed Indian-American filmmaker Mira Nair, Mamdani was born in Uganda and started school in South Africa before moving to the United States at 7 and becoming a U.S. citizen in 2018. His father, Mahmood Mamdani, is an Indian-Ugandan colonial studies professor at Columbia University.

A Shia Muslim, Mamdani follows the Twelver branch’s teachings, one of Shia Islam’s largest movements, whose adherents believe in the spiritual leadership of 12 prominent imams and await the return of Imam al-Mahdi. But Mamdani has appeared at Jummah prayer, Muslims’ congregational Friday prayers, at mosques of every stripe across the five boroughs.

Even non-Muslim candidates have reason to reach out to New York’s Muslim community, which has shown growing political power in recent City Council and State Assembly elections. But the community clearly sees Mamdani as one of their own.

His campaign platform, which includes strong support for rent control, has put him at the top of the polls citywide and naturally endears him to working-class Muslims. “He’s a candidate who is not only Muslim, but we also saw that he is centering everyday issues that everyday New Yorkers experience, like the increased cost of living,” said Mohamed Gula, a national organizing director at Emgage Action, which works to mobilize Muslim voters and has endorsed Mamdani’s campaign.

Combined with his outspokenness on the war in Gaza, Mamdani’s focus on kitchen table issues has drawn interest across the Muslim spectrum, Gula said. “In the immigrant Muslim community, you’ll find that foreign policy is very important as a driving factor for their vote. You can say the Black Muslim community will find that a lot of the domestic issues, like affordability of rent, affordability of food, a good quality of life, are a deciding factor for their vote,” he said.

But Waleed Shaheed, a senior Democratic strategist, said his campaign appeals to more than one immigrant community. “This has definitely not been a campaign about his Muslim identity at all,” said Shaheed, who points out that “issues of cost of living, affordability, rent, and public transportation” appeal to wide swaths of the city.

In campaign videos, he has addressed voters in Urdu, spoken by many South Asian Muslims, and in Spanish. The social media-savvy candidate also used his platform to raise awareness of issues faced by Muslim business owners.

In a January clip, the candidate denounced the long process to obtain permits for street vendors and its consequences on the price of Halal food truck plates. “New York is suffering from a crisis and it’s called Halalflation,” says the candidate in the video, standing across from a Halal food truck. “If I was the mayor, I’d be working with City Council from day one to make Halal eight bucks again.”

Gula said the challenge for Mamdani’s campaign is translating his popularity with Muslims into votes. Some 400,000 New York Muslims are registered to vote, but according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, only 12% of Muslim voters showed up to the polls in the 2021 mayoral election.

“It’s really just a game of turnout at this point. … Because every conversation we’re having with Muslim voters, there hasn’t been a time where someone has said no,” said Gula.

Then there is the highly mobilized opposition. Shaheed said that Mamdani’s denunciation of the Israeli military campaign on Gaza has galvanized anti-war voters “who care about having our values at home align with our values abroad.” But, Mamdani’s repeated calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have irked some, and his reading of the conflict also put him under acute scrutiny.

He has refused to condemn such post-Oct. 7 slogans as “Globalize the Intifada” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” two chants that are denounced by many as calls for Israel’s destruction.

FILE – New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo prepares to board a helicopter after announcing his resignation Aug. 10, 2021, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

In a podcast interview for the non-MAGA Republican outlet The Bulwark, Mamdani stressed that while the phrase was interpreted differently by many, he saw it as “a desperate desire for equality and equal rights in standing up for Palestinian human rights.”

Representative Dan Goldman, a Jewish Democrat from New York, responded sharply in a statement: “If Mr. Mamdani is unwilling to heed the request of major Jewish organizations to condemn this unquestionably antisemitic phrase, then he is unfit to lead a city with 1.3 million Jews.”

At a June 4 televised debate, Mamdani was asked whether he would travel to Israel if elected mayor, a pilgrimage often made to appeal to New York’s Jewish voters. Mamdani argued that one “need not travel to Israel to stand up for Jewish New Yorkers, and that is what I will be doing as the mayor.”

The campaign of former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo denounced the comments as antisemitic. While some polls show Mamdani in first place ahead of Cuomo, a Marist poll released Wednesday (June 18) showed 38% of voters plan to rank Cuomo first in the ranked choice primary, followed by 27% for Mamdani.

Going further, one pro-Cuomo flyer depicted Mamdani with a darker and longer beard next to a message saying he rejected Israel and Jewish rights. Mamdani denounced the image as “blatant Islamophobia,” adding it to a list of other incidents that it claims attacked his religious background. (The Cuomo campaign said the flyer hadn’t been approved for distribution.)


NYC mayorial candidate Zohran Kwame Mamdani is alleging opponent Andrew Cuomo and his campaign used photoshop to alter Mamdani’s facial hair in an ad — a show of “blatant Islamophobia,” according to Mamdani’s campaign page on Facebook. (Photo via Mamdani’s Facebook)

“I think there is definitely a double standard when it comes to that. Our institutions, our political culture, don’t treat Islamophobia the same way it might treat other forms of bigotry,” said Shaheed.

On Thursday, the New York Police Department’s hate crime unit opened an investigation into bomb threats on the candidate’s car.

Some progressive Jewish groups have come out for Mamdani. Sophie Ellman-Golan, director of strategic communications at Jews for Racial & Economic Justice, said she has “never felt as hopeful about an election as she does this one.” Her organization has endorsed both Mamdani and Brad Lander, New York’s comptroller, who have also cross-endorsed each other.

“We need someone who has a bold vision, who genuinely believes in the public good, and will fiercely implement the tools of government to actually improve people’s lives,” said Ellman-Golan, adding that isolating faith-based wedge issues “obscures the fact” that Jewish New Yorkers have the same priorities as any other city residents.

“Jewish New Yorkers are also struggling to afford to stay here,” she said. “Jewish New Yorkers also take public transit. Jewish New Yorkers are also trying to figure out how to find childcare, and are also worried about increased crackdown from the federal government. Just like all other New Yorkers, Jews have an important role to play in this election.”

Bishop Matthew F. Heyd, right at pulpit, leads an interfaith forum with New York City mayoral candidates Scott Stringer, from left, Michael Blake, Jim Walden and Zohran Mamdani, Thursday, June 5, 2025, at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan. (RNS photo/Fiona André)

Meanwhile, Hindus, another faith group that is increasingly politically organized in New York, have shown up in support of Cuomo, sometimes solely based on the fact that he is not Mamdani. “Mamdani is actually a radical Islamist,” said Dinesh Mojumder, a Bangladeshi real estate businessman and founder of the Times Square Durga Puja. “That’s the main point. If they come, then this city will be under Sharia law, term by term.”

The American Hindu Coalition’s New York chapter has planned a canvassing event on June 22 at the Hindu Temple Society of North America, where Cuomo is set to make an appearance.

According to Mojumder and others in the Coalition, Mamdani has not helped his cause with Hindus by referring to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in an interview, as a “war criminal” and saying he’d bar the prime minister from hosting a rally in Madison Square Garden. Modi has long been excoriated by Muslims for his actions as governor of the Western Indian state of Gurjarat in 2004, when riots fomented by religious extremists killed scores of Muslims.

It’s Mamdani’s inability to recognize that there are two sides to every conflict, said Pankaj Mehta, the founder of Interfaith Human Rights Coalition, that has garnered the opposition of Hindus and Jews to his campaign.

“If the leaders don’t hold a certain standard of civility, how can we expect around the world that people who’ve been educated, indoctrinated, with hate to understand,” he said. “As an interfaith group, we want to see a candidate come and say that they are for all faiths, not selectively.”

The Vilification of Zohran Mamdani–and Why He's Right About Israel's Genocide

Bloviating about Mamdani's alleged antisemitism for criticism of Israel has garnered more attention than a shocking report that Israeli soldiers are ordered to shoot at civilians waiting for aid in Gaza.

New York State Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-36) speaks during a news conference outside the White House to announce a hunger strike to demand that President Joe Biden "call for a permanent cease-fire and no military aid to Israel", on Monday, November 27, 2023.
(Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Chuck Idelson
Jun 30, 2025

Common Dreams

It says a lot about how corrupted U.S. politics have become that so many elected leaders, Republicans and Democrats, are more enraged about the Democratic candidate for mayor of New York City's opposition to the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza than they are about Israeli policy itself. And U.S. complicity with it.


That contradiction became especially apparent in recent days when the bloviating about Zohan Mamdani's alleged antisemitism for criticism of Israel has garnered more attention than a shocking report in an Israeli publication, Haaretz, that Israeli soldiers are "ordered to shoot deliberately at unarmed Gazans waiting for humanitarian aid."


The backdrop is an environment in which leaders of both parties for nearly two years have exploited campus protests against Israeli war crimes by weaponizing antisemitism to blunt widespread criticism of U.S. arms sales and other support for Israel's war.

At the same time, many Jews, especially younger ones, strongly supported Mamdani, for both his progressive program to address an affordability crisis in New York City as well as breaking ranks with Israeli apologists.

Hoping to scoring national electoral talking points against all Democrats, GOP politicians predictably rushed to label Mamdani as a "raging antisemite Communist" in the words of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.). Far-right Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) even called for him to be "subject to denaturalization proceedings" and deported.

Some Democrats also jumped on the fear mongering Islamophobia bandwagon, with several notable leaders failing to endorse the nominee of their own party. New York Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand falsely claimed Mamdani was condoning "global jihad."

What has Mamdani actually said that prompts such panic? He responded to the outbreak of the Gaza war by rightly noting "a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid" and called for equal rights for all religious and ethnic groups in Israel. Mamdani's most vociferous critics fail to note he has repeatedly and emphatically also condemned antisemitism and branded Hamas' October 7 attacks as "horrific war crimes."

At the same time, many Jews, especially younger ones, strongly supported Mamdani, for both his progressive program to address an affordability crisis in New York City as well as breaking ranks with Israeli apologists like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. As Christi Olson noted on Twitter "Mamdani swept the most Jewish neighborhoods on Earth outside of Israel."

Mamdani's apt depiction of Israel's policy in Gaza as a "genocide"—that has infuriated those unwilling to accept that term—which has been increasingly apparent in recent days. While official death counts of Palestinians in Gaza are at an alarming 56,500 and counting, it has been reported that since the start of the war the population of Gaza has plummeted from 2.2 million to 1.8 million, reinforcing the likelihood that the official death count is a massive undercount.
Israeli Troops "Ordered to Shoot"

Following the collapse of a temporary cease-fire in February, Israel imposed a blockade of food that led to a famine—with the cost of civilian lives, including children. Israel was finally forced by international pressure to begin to allow dribs of aid into Gaza.

But that has been followed by repeated incidents of Israeli troops killing starving people walking long distances to get food at a small handful of aid sites. These are the stations operated by private security contractors (the untested, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, GHF) working for a U.S. contractor with the oversight of Israeli soldiers that Israel and the U.S. accepted after banning far more experienced United Nations aid relief workers.

At least 410 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military, the U.N. human rights office has reported.

If American readers doubted that Israel was deliberately shooting starving, desperate people, Haaretz lifted the veil.

The death toll is more easily understood with the Haaretz bombshell expose June 27. It opens with a chilling revelation. "Israeli soldiers in Gaza told Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month."

That's quite a contrast with most of the U.S. media silence. When The New York Times finally provided front page coverage June 26, they carefully avoided blaming Israel. The headline read: "The Lethal Risk of Seeking Food in Gaza," as if the hundreds were dying of heat stroke or food poisoning, merely noting the "life-risking endeavor for Palestinians." It took eight paragraphs to get to Israeli troops "opened fire on the approaches to the new aid hubs" which they described merely as "warning shots."

Only farther down did the Times add that "France on Tuesday condemned what it said was Israeli gunfire at civilians gathered around an aid distribution point in Gaza, saying it had left dozens of dead and wounded."

If American readers doubted that Israel was deliberately shooting starving, desperate people, Haaretz lifted the veil.

"Conversations with officers and soldiers reveal that commanders ordered troops to shoot at crowds to drive them away or disperse them, even though it was clear they posed no threat," Haaretz reported.

That was just the opening:

"It's a killing field," one soldier said. "Where I was stationed, between 1 and 5 people were killed every day. They're treated like a hostile force—no crowd-control measures, no tear gas—just live fire with everything imaginable: heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, mortars."

"We open fire early in the morning if someone tries to get in line from a few hundred meters away, and sometimes we just charge at them from close range. But there's no danger to the forces." According to him, "I'm not aware of a single instance of return fire. There's no enemy, no weapons." He also said the activity in his area of service is referred to as Operation Salted Fish—the name of the Israeli version of the children's game "Red light, green light."

Haaretz is a left of center publication that is repeatedly threatened by the Netanyahu government. But it has not been daunted and continues to report what most Americans never read in major U.S. media. And the recent Netanyahu and Trump attacks on Iran have only further hidden the daily death toll.

"IDF officers told Haaretz that the army does not allow the public in Israel or abroad to see footage of what takes place around the food distribution sites. According to them, the army is satisfied that the GHF's operations have prevented a total collapse of international legitimacy for continuing the war. They believe the IDF has managed to turn Gaza into a "backyard," especially since the war with Iran began."

"Gaza doesn't interest anyone anymore," a reservist told Haaretz. "It's become a place with its own set of rules. The loss of human life means nothing."

It means something to Zohran Mamdani, and to far too few other U.S. politicians who have the courage to say it out loud. And it should mean something to the rest of us too, especially as this genocide would not be possible without the weapons, diplomatic cover, and collusion of our own government.

Who’s Afraid of Zohran Mamdani? Billionaires

Oligarchs are furious that the nation’s capital of capitalism is in danger of serving people instead of megaprofits.

Zohran Mamdani speaks enthusiastically into the microphone at a rally at Brooklyn Steel in Brooklyn, New York on May 4, 2025.
(Photo: Madison Swart/Hans Lucas/AFP via Getty Images)

Norman Solomon
Jun 30, 2025

Common Dreams

The Supreme Court’s first chief justice, John Jay, would have empathized with the billionaires who’ve been freaking out ever since Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York last Tuesday. “Those who own the country ought to govern it,” Jay insisted. But now, oligarchs accustomed to such governance are furious that the nation’s capital of capitalism is in danger of serving people instead of megaprofits.

Meanwhile, among progressives, euphoria is especially fitting because the Mamdani campaign’s win was truly a people-powered victory, thanks to active efforts of 40,000 volunteers. In a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans 6-to-1, the Democratic nomination would ordinarily be a virtual guarantee of winning the general election. But the forces of oligarchy now mobilizing could disprove a claim that “Mamdani’s widespread appeal represents the total collapse of a Democratic Party establishment.”

Such a collapse is very far from certain.

Beneath all the froth and bombast, extremely wealthy individuals are busy gauging how to prevail against the threat of democracy and social justice.

On the surface, former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s decision to stay on the fall ballot as an “independent,” while incumbent Mayor Eric Adams does likewise, seems to foreshadow splitting the anti-Mamdani vote. But Cuomo still has a substantial electoral following. And the corrupt Adams—who cut a deal with President Donald Trump to viciously betray immigrants and got his criminal indictment thrown out by Trump’s Justice Department—has no better ethics than the disgraced former governor Cuomo. Bankrolled by wealthy donors, the pair might make some kind of pact, with one of them telling his followers to unify behind the other before voting begins this fall.

In any case, a key context of the upcoming election battle is that hell hath no fury like corporate power scorned.

A social-media screed by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman (net worth: upward of $9 billion) was damn near apoplectic that activists and voters had so terribly transgressed. Ackman described himself as “a supporter of President Trump” while expressing a fervent desire “to save the Democratic Party from itself.” Mamdani’s policies, Ackman wrote late Wednesday night, “would be disastrous for NYC. Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country.”

But Ackman held out hope that those owning the city of New York could continue to govern it: “Importantly, there are hundreds of million of dollars of capital available to back a competitor to Mamdani that can be put together overnight... so that a great alternative candidate won’t spend any time raising funds. So, if the right candidate would raise his or her hand tomorrow, the funds will pour in. I am sure that Mike Bloomberg will share his how-to-win-the-mayoralty IP [intellectual property] and deliver his entire election apparatus and system to the aspiring candidate so that the candidate can focus all of his or her energy on the campaign.”

Another aggrieved hedge-fund multibillionaire, Daniel Loeb, opted to be concise: “It’s officially hot commie summer.” Many other moguls have also sounded alarms. But beneath all the froth and bombast, extremely wealthy individuals are busy gauging how to prevail against the threat of democracy and social justice.

In the Empire State, there are many ways for the empire to strike back. The constellation of forces now regrouping with a vengeance includes titans of Wall Street, enormous real estate interests, pro-Israel groups, corporate media, the anti-progressive rich, and assorted smear artists.

In recent weeks, the completely false charge of antisemitism has escalated against Mamdani. He has taken a principled and consistent stand on behalf of human rights for all—in the process, denouncing Israel’s war on Palestinian civilians in Gaza—while at the same time opposing rapacious corporate power. So, it’s no surprise that New York’s most powerful Democrat, Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, has been dodging the question of whether he’ll endorse Mamdani in the general election.

For decades, Schumer’s campaign coffers have bulged while he has been hugely compensated by Wall Street. He has also remained a staunch supporter of Israel, despite its systematic ethnic cleaning and genocide against Palestinian people. A few months ago, Schumer declared: “My job is to keep the left pro-Israel.”

What happened in the state’s second-largest city in 2021 is important to understand. Democratic socialist India Walton was the candidate of a grassroots campaign that stunned the party establishment in the Democratic primary when she defeated Buffalo’s corporate mayor, four-term incumbent Byron Brown. As the Democratic nominee, she seemed set to win the general election in the blue city. But a coalition of furious Democratic power brokers and deep-pocketed Republicans, including racists and vehement haters of the left, aided by much of the city’s mass media, teamed up to smear her and ending up getting Brown elected as a write-in candidate.

Last weekend, I asked India (now a colleague at RootsAction, where she is senior strategist) how she saw the Mamdani campaign. “Watching the New York City mayoral primary from Buffalo last Tuesday gave me a familiar feeling,” she said. “As I watched the results come in, I felt a flutter in my gut and a sense of pensiveness. A feeling of overwhelming joy and a fear that it would be snatched away despite my attempts to cling to it. I imagine that as Zohran watched, he also felt a sense of familiarity. In 2021, Zohran Mamdani supported my run for Buffalo mayor; I was a first-time unknown candidate challenging a 16-year incumbent, and conventional wisdom said it was an impossible race to win. Now, in 2025, Zohran has once again toppled the establishment. I’m starting to think that populist policies that focus on working people are a winning strategy.”

That strategy is now striking fear into the hard hearts of insatiably greedy billionaires.

Zohran defends his socialism as Trump terms him ‘communist’

Agencies 

Published June 30, 2025

DAWN

NEW YORK: Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani and Attorney General Letitia James take part in the 2025 Pride March.—AFP

WASHINGTON: New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani defended his democratic socialism and argued that his focus on economic issues should serve as a model for the party, even though some top Democrats have been reluctant to embrace him.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump branded him a “pure communist” in remarks that aired on Sunday, an epithet the progressive candidate dismissed as political theatrics.

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Mamdani said his agenda of raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers and on corporations to pay for ambitious policies such as free buses, a $30 minimum hourly wage and a rent freeze was not only realistic but tailored to meet the needs of the city’s working residents.

“It’s the wealthiest city in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, and yet one in four New Yorkers are living in poverty, and the rest are seemingly trapped in a state of anxiety,” he told NBC’s Kristen Welker.


Mamdani’s stunning victory over former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s primary election has some party figures worried that his democratic socialism could feed Republican attacks on Democrats as too far left ahead of next year’s midterm elections. Business leaders have also expressed concern about his policies.

Democrats have struggled to find a coherent message after their resounding loss in the November elections that saw President Donald Trump return to the White House and his Republicans win control of both chambers of Congress. A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this month showed that a majority of American Democrats believed their party needs new leadership and to be more focused on economic issues.

Earlier on Sunday, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who represents part of the city, told ABC’s “This Week” that he wasn’t ready to endorse Mamdani yet, saying that he needed to hear more about Mamdani’s vision.

Other prominent New York Democrats, including New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have also thus far declined to endorse Mamdani.

Trump, himself a native New Yorker, told Fox News that if Mamdani wins the mayoral race, “he’d better do the right thing” or the White House would withhold federal funds from the city.

“He’s a communist. I think it’s very bad for New York,” Trump said. Asked about Trump’s claim that he is a communist, Mamdani told NBC it was not true and accused the president of attempting to distract from the fact that “I’m fighting for the very working people that he ran a campaign to empower that he has since then betrayed.”

He also voiced no concern that Jeffries and other Democrats have not yet endorsed his candidacy.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2025

New York City speaks

Rafia Zakaria

Published June 28, 2025

DAWN

The writer is an attorney teaching constitutional law and political philosophy


FOR an entire generation, the most enduring image of New York City (NYC) has been the sight of the Twin Towers being hit by planes on Sept 11, 2001.

The spectre of that disaster has haunted the city in all kinds of palpable and impalpable ways. One of the latter has undoubtedly been the undercurrent of Islamophobia that has cast a pall over the skyscrapers and streets of New York. Muslims have been suspected, profiled on the streets, attacked on subways, vilified and pilloried. So have the causes related to Muslims. A prime example has been how students protesting against the genocide in Gaza have been hunted down and prosecuted.

On Tuesday, however, the city appeared to finally turn the page. Following a ranked-choice election, a 33-year-old Muslim immigrant, the son of a professor and a filmmaker, became the Democratic Party’s nominee for mayor of NYC. The win is historic in many ways, Zohran Mamdani is set to be the youngest mayor, the first Muslim American mayor, the first immigrant mayor, and the first mayor who has won on a Democratic-socialist platform.

Unlike the rest of the Democratic Party, which has stayed quiet on Gaza, Mamdani has openly and repeatedly condemned the genocide. More importantly, Mamdani has an openly socialist agenda that pledges to help the city’s middle class — crushed by the affordability crisis — by promoting city-owned grocery stores, free childcare and freezing rents for those struggling to live in the city

The chances that he will go from mayoral candidate to mayor in the election in November are high. New York is a Democratic city and the candidate who wins the Democratic primary usually goes on to win the city-wide race in the mayoral election. In the run-up to the election, most polls predicted that Mamdani’s opponent, former governor Andrew Cuomo, would win the primary.

This did not happen, and around midnight on the day of the election Cuomo conceded to Mamdani, whose vote counts were ahead by eight points. Mamdani’s other opponent, current NYC mayor, Eric Adams, has faced challenges of his own. Even though he has vowed to run as an independent, his indictment on corruption charges and the fact that he was pardoned by President Donald Trump would have consequences even if he were to run against Mamdani as an independent.

This does not, of course, mean that the road ahead is easy or entirely clear. Mamdani’s support among the younger voters, South Asian and East Asian immigrants, as well as in middle-class neighbourhoods of the city allowed him to raise the maximum $8 million that candidates are permitted in an election. However, his opponents can spend large amounts to attack him.

This was evident in the run-up to the voting, when former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg funded the main attack advertisements against Mamdani. These ads focused on painting Mamdani as an extremist, mostly owing to his open and unapologetic support for Muslim and Palestinian causes. For his part, Mamdani’s ads were positive and colourful and sought to mobilise the diverse population of America’s largest city to finally vote for definitive change.

Another reason why Mamdani’s win has been shocking is that NYC is also home to the largest population of American Jews in the country and one of the largest outside the state of Israel. Mamdani’s openly anti-Zionist stance has irked many in this community. His win has shocked the many rich, pro-Zionist political donors and groups in the city. It is very likely that they will use their money to try and bring down Mamdani’s candidacy to thwart the history-making moment that otherwise would have seen a Muslim immigrant as mayor of America’s largest city in terms of population.

One of the main reasons why Mamdani’s win has been shocking is that NYC is home to the largest population of American Jews in the country.

So far, Mamdani’s campaign has been able to absorb all of these attacks. One reason for this is that his win is rooted in the strong foundation of grassroots organisation among the Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Arab communities that make up a solid vote bank in Queens, where Mamdani is from.

These communities now have decades of experience in organising and dealing with Islamophobic attacks that paint their leaders as terrorists — in fact, anything even remotely linked with Islam — as inherently extremist. Mamdani’s win suggests that even the general population of NYC is fed up of these attacks and of being saturated with the same old Islamophobic propaganda that has been flung around to taint each and every Muslim American candidate for just about anything.

As important as this is the courage that Mamdani has so far shown in espousing a Democratic-socialist agenda. Average rents for a two-bedroom apartment in NYC are often upwards of $5,000, creating a crisis in which the city’s middle class find themselves facing crushing inflationary costs. Crime has risen in the city and the subways have become unsafe and prone to attacks by the mentally ill and homeless, who have no place to go. Women especially feel unsafe in the city’s public transport system, which was once NYC’s pride.

Mainstream Democrats have shied away from proposing solutions to these problems, just as they have turned their back on rising Islamophobia and the increasing harassment of migrants and undocumented people. Mamdani’s win suggests that Democratic voters are eager to move farther left instead of centre, which has been the party’s preference at the national level.

At the same time, while a win for Mamdani is probable, it is not a given. Many months lie between now and November, and Mamdani’s enemies are formidable. However, in having come this far and proving so many people wrong, Zohran Mamdani has shown that change is possible even in a city, that has for quite long now treated Muslims as suspects.

rafia.zakaria@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, June 28th, 2025

REST IN POWER

A Personal Tribute to Bill Moyers, Who Never Stopped Pushing


I would never claim to be an heir to Bill Moyers’ legacy, but I am among the millions of ordinary Americans for whom he was a powerful source of inspiration.

Journalist Bill Moyers moderates the "All Hands on Deck: Perspectives from Higher Education, Government, Philanthropy, and Business" panal during the TIME Summit On Higher Education on October 18, 2012 in New York City.
(Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images for TIME)

Steven Harper
Jun 30, 2025

Common Dreams

On June 26, America lost an iconic force for good. I lost a great friend.

A Life of Public Service

A partial summary of Bill Moyers’ impressive life fills entire pages of The New York Timesand The Washington Post—treatment reserved for royalty and rock stars. Bill was both.

In those pages you’ll read about his illustrious political career as President Lyndon Johnson’s special assistant, press secretary, and key architect of the “Great Society”—a collection of programs that are now in danger, including the War on Poverty that produced Medicare, Medicaid, the Food Stamp Act, and the Economic Opportunity Act; the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Voting Rights Act of 1965; the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965; and more.

You’ll marvel at his unparalleled journalism that resulted in landmark documentaries, best-selling books, dozens of Emmy Awards, two Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Awards, nine Peabody Awards, three George Polk Awards, and the first-ever Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute.
A Source of Private Inspiration

I’m going to cover different ground that you won’t find anywhere else. During the final years of Bill’s life, I had the honor of working directly with him on one of his most important missions: preserving democracy.

The Times obituary reported that Bill “retired in 2015 at the age of 80.” That’s incorrect. His online site, “Moyers on Democracy,” continued for years after that. Other outlets, including Common Dreams and Alternet, republished its articles and interviews regularly. Much of it remains available at BillMoyers.com.

In late 2016, Bill invited me to become a regular contributor to his site. It was the beginning of a collaboration that developed into a friendship I will always cherish. Amplifying my voice to his millions of readers, he put his remarkable reputation on the line for me. In one of our conversations, he explained why.

He often asked me, “Can democracy die from too many lies?” We agreed that the answer is yes, and the problem is eternal.

While meeting in the Oval Office with President Lyndon Johnson, Bill mentioned Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous line, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

President Johnson became animated.

“That’s bullsh*t,” he said to Moyers. “You have to keep pushing, and pushing, and pushing… and then hope to bend it just a little.”

“Johnson was right,” Bill told me 50 years later. “And you’re pushing.”

Later he flattered me with the ultimate compliment that now moves me to write this tribute:

“I think we are kindred spirits,” he said. “A kindred spirit about what? Our country, our professions, the truth... as close to it as we could get.”

“My only regret is that our paths didn’t cross 30 years ago,” I said.

I would never presume to know Bill as well as others who enjoyed longer and deeper personal and professional relationships with him. But his private messages about my articles for BillMoyers.com encouraged me to keep pushing:

“This is a keeper. Your work is making all of us proud!”

“This is brilliant!”

To that private encouragement, he added public support. Preferring the depth of coverage that today’s cable news seldom provides, he told me that he didn’t want to be a “pundit.” But he made an exception for me. To amplify my voice and our work, we appeared together on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”

After Bill broke that ice, I made several more solo television appearances.

“I’ll be watching,” he always said.

Bill also interviewed me several times and posted our extended conversations on his site. His probing questions had the same insight that had characterized his award-winning interviews with far more illustrious individuals—including Elie Wiesel, Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou, Pete Seeger, Desmond Tutu, George Lucas, and Joseph Campbell. His interviews with Campbell on “The Power of Myth” attracted 30 million viewers and led to another best-selling book.

Even after Bill finally retired and archived BillMoyers.com in 2021, he continued to follow and encourage my work. Here are just a few of his messages to me:

“Your mastery of the story is so impressive, but the story is so equally frightening I can’t get it out of my mind. I am circulating it.”

“Please know I miss our collaboration.”

“Very strong, as usual. You are effectively decoding the news for people who can’t follow it, including, alas, much of the press.”

“Very powerful piece. And brave.”

“Powerful! Go for it!”

“Your piece is stirring… It is so good to see how you continue to serve the truth.”

“Terrific!”
A Troubling Possibility

In our conversations, Bill told me that America was unlikely to lose its democracy in the dramatic fashion that autocrats sometimes conquered nations. U.S. elections and the three branches of government won’t merge into dictatorship, he suggested. Instead, another scenario was more insidious—a slide into a false democracy, like Viktor Orbán’s Hungary or Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s Turkey where voters still cast ballots, but the outcomes are predetermined and the strongman chief executive is above the law.

He often asked me, “Can democracy die from too many lies?”

We agreed that the answer is yes, and the problem is eternal: “Falsehood flies, and the Truth comes limping after it,” wrote Jonathan Swift in 1710. But that’s no excuse for abandoning the fight for the truth or, as Bill would say, as close to it as we can get.

I would never claim to be an heir to Bill Moyers’ legacy. Many people are far ahead of me in that special line. But I am among the millions of ordinary Americans for whom he was a powerful source of inspiration. Two of his private messages remind me that he still is:

“A strong piece, Steve. Keep it up.”

“I am so very grateful to you for continuing the fight. You see connections between the twinkling where others see only UFO’s.”

The fight—and the pushing—continues.

'We Have Lost a Giant': Broadcast Legend Bill Moyers Dies at 91

"Moyers believed that journalism should serve democracy, not just the bottom line."


Bill Moyers speaks at an event at the Plaza Hotel on June 8, 2016 in New York City.
(Photo: Clint Spaulding/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Jessica Corbett
Jun 27, 2025
COMMON DREAMS

The life and work of journalist Bill Moyers was being celebrated across the world of independent and public media on Thursday as news of his death at the age of 91 spread across the United States and beyond.

"RIP Bill Moyers, one of the greatest of the greats," Press Watch's Dan Froomkin said on social media as remembrances and celebrations of the legendary broadcaster, democracy defender, and longtime Common Dreams contributor poured in.

Moyers died of complications from prostate cancer at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

He began his long media career as a teenager, reporting for his local newspaper in Texas. He was also an ordained Baptist minister and former President Lyndon B. Johnson's press secretary.

"He believed deeply in the power and potential of public media, and he set the standard for public broadcasting by telling stories you couldn't find anywhere else."

A joint statement from the LBJ Presidential Library, his foundation, and the Johnson family noted that "Moyers played a central role in developing and promoting Johnson's Great Society agenda, an ambitious domestic policy program to eliminate poverty, expand civil rights, and improve education and healthcare nationwide."

Moyers left the White House and returned to journalism in 1967. He served as publisher of Newsday, then launched his award-winning television career, from which he retired in 2015. His website,BillMoyers.com, went into "archive mode" in 2017.

With his television programming—much of which aired on PBS—Moyers took "his cameras and microphones to cities and towns where unions, community organizations, environmental groups, tenants rights activists, and others were waging grassroots campaigns for change," Peter Dreier wrote for Common Dreams a decade ago.

In a comment to Common Dreams after Moyer's death, The Nation's John Nichols, who co-founded the group Free Press and co-authored The Death and Life of American Journalism, highlighted the late journalist's work during the era of former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

"There were journalism and democracy campaigners before Bill Moyers, and there will be journalism and democracy campaigners who carry the movement forward now that he has passed," Nichols said. "But every honest history will record that the modern media reform movement—with its commitment to diversity, to equity, and to defending the sort of speak-truth-to-power reporting that exposes injustice, inequality, authoritarianism, and militarism—was made possible by Bill's courageous advocacy during the Bush-Cheney years. He raised the banner—as a former White House press secretary, a bestselling author, and a nationally recognized journalist and PBS host—and we rallied around it."

Free Press president and co-CEO Craig Aaron said in a statement that "Bill Moyers was a legend who lived up to his reputation. Moyers believed that journalism should serve democracy, not just the bottom line. He believed deeply in the power and potential of public media, and he set the standard for public broadcasting by telling stories you couldn't find anywhere else. He always stood up to bullies—including those who come forward in every generation to try to crush public media and end its independence. We can honor his memory by continuing that fight."

Many journalists weighed in on social media, sharing stories of his "very generous heart," and how he was "the rarest combination of curiosity, kindness, honesty, and conviction."

"Bill Moyers was a close friend, a mentor, and a role model. In a media world where there's almost no solidarity, he guided my career and was an unwavering supporter of our accountability journalism at The Lever," said the outlet's founder, David Sirota, on Thursday. "This is terrible news. We have lost a giant."

"There's this idea of 'never meet your heroes'—and in my experience, I think that aphorism holds up for the most part," Sirota added. "But it was the opposite with Bill—as great a journalism hero as he was in public, he was just as great a mentor in private. He truly was the best of us."

Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Nation's editorial director and publisher, said Thursday that "Moyers distinguished himself as a journalist by refusing to be a stenographer for the powerful. Instead of providing yet another venue for the predictable preening of establishment leaders, Moyers gave a platform to dissenting voices from both the left and the right. Instead of covering the news from the narrow perspective of the political and corporate elite, Moyers gave voice to the powerless and the issues that affect them."

"We journalists are of course obliged to cover the news," Moyers said at an event hosted by the magazine in Washington, D.C., according to vanden Heuvel. "But our deeper mission is to uncover the news that powerful people would prefer to keep hidden."



Beyond the media world, Moyers was also remembered fondly. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday that "Bill Moyers, a friend, public servant, and outstanding journalist, has passed away. As an aide to President Johnson, Bill pushed the president in a more progressive direction. As a journalist, he had the courage to explore issues that many ignored. Bill will be sorely missed."




While Moyers has now passed, his legacy lives on in his mountain of work, more than 1,000 hours of which were collected in 2023 by the American Archive of Public Broadcasting, a collaboration between the Library of Congress and Boston's GBH. The Bill Moyers Collection is available online at AmericanArchive.org.

'Make America 1850 again': critics blast Trumps megabill

Ailia Zehra,

 Alternet
June 29, 2025 


U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media in the Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington D.C., June 27, 2025. REUTERS/Ken Cedeno


In a dramatic late-night session on Saturday, Senate Republicans narrowly cleared a critical procedural vote — 51‑49 — to advance President Donald Trump’s "Big, Beautiful Bill," that includes spending reductions and increased deportation funding, aiming for passage before Trump's July 4 deadline.

Meanwhile, political commentators and renewable energy advocates are sounding the alarm over the sharply revised version of the Senate budget mega-bill, warning it threatens to derail U.S. clean‑energy momentum.

Their concern centers on a late‐night addition: a new tax on future solar and wind projects that fail to certify they used no Chinese components, along with accelerated cuts to Inflation Reduction Act incentives.

The 900‑page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” unveiled late Friday ahead of a looming July 4 passage deadline, includes two key energy provisions: A requirement that solar and wind projects be "placed in service" by December 31, 2027 to remain eligible for tax credits — touting a hard deadline rather than the original flexible 2032 benchmark. It also includes a brand‑new tax on any project started after that date unless it can fully demonstrate absence of Chinese-made components.

Lawmakers and political commentators took to social media to raise concerns over the additions.

Saikat Chakrabarti, who is running for Congress against Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) wrote on the social platform X: "Hawley caves once again," referring to Rep. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) who said he would vote yes on the bill, despite being undecided earlier.

"MAGA won by pretending they would fight for the working class, but they lied. This bill is the largest transfer of wealth ever from the working class to the ultra rich," Chakrabarti added.

He continued: "Democrats can become the party that fights tooth and nail for the working class now and completely decimate the fake populism of MAGA. That starts with a new generation of leaders. That’s why I’m running for Congress against Nancy Pelosi."

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) wrote Saturday: "Whatever happens tonight, this thing isn’t over. This bill is a rotting fish. And the more time it gets in the sun, the more people are gonna realize how bad it stinks. Cuts Medicaid, shutters hospitals, blows up deficits, leaves people hungry, creates electricity shortages."

Ashley Schapitl, Managing Director at The Levinson Group, said in a post: "Not only does the latest version of the bill crush the growing U.S. solar and wind industries, it creates a new subsidy for COAL. Make America 1850 again."

Author James Surowieckiwrote, referring to tech billionaire Elon Musk's criticism of the bill" "When Musk is right, he's right. The Senate has somehow made the budget bill worse: taxing wind and solar projects, withdrawing tax credits (which are a reasonable attempt to account for the positive externalities of renewable energy), and adding a new subsidy for coal. Coal!"

Democratic strategist Armand Doma wrote: "The Trump reconciliation bill subsidized coal and whaling ships but increases taxes on solar power and batteries. Hard to describe how insanely backwards this is."