Tuesday, October 29, 2024

UK

‘Serious risk’ to life this winter from rise in rough sleeping, campaigners warn

Craig Williams
Tue 29 October 2024

Everyone Home Collective has written to the Scottish Government calling for action to address an “accelerating and avoidable rough sleeping crisis" (Image: Newsquest)


Lives are being placed at “serious risk” because a lack of accommodation is forcing increasing numbers of homeless people to sleep rough, campaigners have warned.

Everyone Home Collective (EHC), a group of about 40 charitable and academic organisations focused on housing and homelessness, has written to the Scottish Government calling for action to address an “accelerating and avoidable rough sleeping crisis.”

They pointed to Scottish Government figures showing 2,931 people had slept rough before making a homelessness application between April 2023 and March 2024, up from 2,425 the year before and higher than the pre-pandemic figure, the group said.


The EHC blamed the rise on the housing emergency and use of “unsuitable temporary accommodation” in Scotland, and said the situation was being worsened by the cost-of-living crisis, austerity policies and “inadequate social security”.

The EHC said: “Every person who is forced to sleep rough is one too many.

“Being left with no choice but to sleep in doorways and tunnels and parks severely damages people’s health and wellbeing, risks their safety and their lives, strips them of dignity and affects our wider communities too.

“In Scotland in 2024, no one should be left with no choice but to sleep on the street, and we emphasise that forcing people to do so at any time of year and particularly during winter puts their life at risk.”

The EHC has called on the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) to investigate a potential breach of government obligations to protect the fundamental right to life, under the 1998 Human Rights Act.

It said the lack of emergency accommodation “is putting people’s fundamental right to life at risk”, and pointed out that the Government had a duty to protect life where they know – or should know – that it is at risk.

The campaign group also pointed to a doubling in the number of households becoming homeless from supported accommodation, which rose from 932 in 2022-23 to 1,978 in 2023-4.

It said this increase was largely due to asylum seekers who had been granted leave to remain in the UK being forced to sleep rough because of a lack of UK Government “transition support”.

In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the group said this situation was “contributing to very significant pressure on housing and homelessness services”, and asked for more support for Scottish local authorities to ensure a “smooth transition from asylum accommodation to settled housing”.

Sabir Zazai, chief executive of the Scottish Refugee Council – which is a member of EHC – said: “Homelessness is an assault on dignity, social inclusion and the right to life.

“No one in Scotland, including people who have fled violence and persecution to seek safety here, should ever have to sleep on the streets.

“The Home Office must support local councils to ensure everyone transitioning out of asylum accommodation has a safe place to stay, while all governments have a duty to respond urgently to help the thousands of lives put at risk as a result of this accelerating crisis.”

Housing secretary Paul McLennan said: “The Scottish Government is clear that everyone should live in a safe, warm, affordable, high quality and energy efficient home that meets their needs.

“Local authorities have a legal duty to provide accommodation to anyone at risk of homelessness and nobody should have to sleep rough in Scotland.

“We are making available record funding of more than £14 billion to councils in 2024-25 to deliver a range of services, including homelessness services – a real-terms increase of 4.3% compared to the previous year.

“Over and above the funding for homelessness provided through the local government settlement, we have a £100 million multi-year ending homelessness together fund for specific action to prevent homelessness, end rough sleeping and reduce temporary accommodation use.”

Professor Angela O’Hagan, SHRC chairwoman, said: “The commission is concerned that persistent and systemic poverty in Scotland are linked to human rights denials for too many people, including the struggle to achieve basic rights such as adequate housing, healthcare and food.

“The Everyone Home Collective is raising an important challenge about the adequacy of plans to provide for the right to adequate shelter this winter for everyone who needs it.”

She added: “As Scotland’s human rights watchdog we will continue to press all those who bear responsibility for human rights in Scotland to take a human rights-based approach to developing urgent policies and practices, to ensure that everyone in Scotland can live a life of human dignity, including a safe place to live.”

The EHC was issuing its call to action at the start of an annual national two-day homelessness conference in Perth.

Sadiq Khan warns London rough sleeping 'will get worse before it gets better' at emergency summit

Noah Vickers
Tue 29 October 2024 a

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan with Big Issue vendor Sid during a campaign visit earlier this year to St John's Church in Waterloo (Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)


Sadiq Khan has warned that rough sleeping in London will “get worse before it gets better”, as he pursues his goal of ending street homelessness in the capital by 2030.

The mayor was on Tuesday preparing to convene an emergency rough sleeping summit at City Hall, and announced that he would be investing £4.8m to help previous rough sleepers stay off the streets for good.

The funding will reach people staying in 3,500 supported housing units across the capital, and will go towards giving them advice and support with applying for benefits and using public services.

Mr Khan promised in his re-election manifesto earlier this year to “set London on a course to end rough sleeping by 2030”, by “working closely with a new Labour government to tackle the root causes of homelessness”.

But despite the mayor’s party having been in power in Westminster for almost four months now, City Hall said that Mr Khan believes “the scale of the [rough sleeping] challenge and the legacy of years of underinvestment from the previous Government in housing and support” means the situation has the potential to deteriorate further, at least initially.

The mayor will be joined at Tuesday’s summit by the Bethnal Green and Stepney MP Rushanara Ali, recently appointed as minister for homelessness and rough sleeping.

“We know we can bring down rough sleeping – it’s exactly what was done during the pandemic, and also two decades ago,” said Mr Khan.

“However, with rough sleeping in London and across the country on the rise, the reality is that the situation will get worse before it gets better.

“Today I am bringing together ministers, boroughs and leaders from the NHS, local government, homelessness charities and former rough sleepers, so we can work hand-in-hand to tackle this growing emergency. Providing funding to get vulnerable people off the streets and helping them to start rebuilding their lives is at the centre of our plan.

“There’s so much more we need to do at all levels of Government and wider society – as we work together to build a better, fairer, more prosperous London for everyone.”

Tuesday’s summit will launch a “call for evidence” that will inform the mayor’s “plan of action” to reach his 2030 ‘zero rough sleeping’ target. The plan, due to be launched next year, will establish “a shared mission for ending rough sleeping, including the scale of funding required and the best mechanisms for achieving this ambition”, City Hall said.

A record 11,993 people were recorded sleeping rough in London between April 2023 and March 2024. The figure represents a rise of almost 50 per cent compared with the situation Mr Khan inherited when he became mayor in 2016 - as there were 8,096 people recorded sleeping rough in Boris Johnson’s last year in City Hall, between April 2015 and March 2016.

Mr Khan has blamed the increase on the Conservatives’ policies while they were in power nationally. According to Government ‘snapshot’ data - which provides an estimate of the number of people sleeping rough across England on a single night in autumn each year - there was a 120 per cent increase in the number of rough sleepers between 2010 and 2023.

City Hall points out that, at £36.3 million, the mayor’s rough sleeping budget in 2023/24 is now more than four times the £8.45 million a year it was when Mr Khan took office in 2016.

According to the mayor’s team, around 17,600 people have been helped off the capital’s streets over the last eight years through the mayor’s services alone, with 75 per cent staying off the streets for good.

Filmmaker Lorna Tucker-McGarvey, who slept on the streets of London for 18 months as a teenager, said: “I strongly believe that we can end rough sleeping with the right support, so I’m really pleased that the Mayor of London has convened today’s emergency rough sleeping summit.

“It is powerful to have a seat at the table alongside others with lived experience of homelessness, and I hope our stories will drive forward the goal of ending rough sleeping in London by 2030.”
AUSTRALIA

NSW police fight to stop Newcastle port ‘protestival’ in second court challenge to protests in a month

Jordyn Beazley
Tue 29 October 2024 
THE GUARDIAN AUS

Paddling activists taking part in the 2023 climate protest at Newcastle’s port. NSW police are seeking to stop a similar protest going ahead this year. Photograph: Roni Bintang/Getty Images


The New South Wales police force is challenging a planned protest through the supreme court for the second time this month – this time an event in Newcastle calling for climate action.

The November protest is organised by Rising Tide and known as the “People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port”. It would involve thousands of activists paddling into the Port of Newcastle on kayaks and rafts to stop coal exports from leaving Newcastle for 50 hours.

The event, which is also advertised as a “protestival”, includes workshops and music in the lead-up to the paddle-out. A number of acclaimed artist are planned to perform at a stage on the beach, including musicians Angie McMahon, John Butler, and First Nations rapper Dobby.

Related: Newcastle port blockade: paddling activists take part in one of the biggest climate protests in Australia’s history

This is the second year in a row that Rising Tide planned such an action. Last year, the police accepted the group’s form 1 to block the port for 30 hours.

NSW police later charged more than 100 people after protesters blocked the major coal port beyond the agreed deadline. Among those arrested was a 97-year-old man who was a Uniting church minister.

One of the protest organisers, Zack Schofield, said NSW police had sought a court order challenging their form 1 application. If accepted, the application protects participants from being charged by police for the disruption under obstruction and unlawful assembly offences.

“A form one is a notice of intention to hold a public assembly. We’re not applying to them for permission. We’re saying we’re going to do this, and the only way they get to stop that is through a supreme court challenge,” Schofield said.

“We’re really disappointed that New South Wales Police has chosen to use the resources of the supreme court to attempt to challenge this community positive, family friendly climate [event] in again, the hottest year on record.

“If [NSW premier] Chris Minns wants these protests to stop, he should prioritise ambitious climate action instead of allowing new fossil fuel projects.”

The group’s demand is for the government to immediately cancel all new fossil fuel projects, tax fossil fuel export profits at 78% to fund community and industrial transition, and end all coal exports from Newcastle by 2030.

Earlier this month, pro-Palestine organisers claimed victory in court after the NSW police challenged their application to hold their regular Sunday rally on 6 October and a vigil on 7 October.

After a hearing, police and protesters agreed the events could proceed with alterations.

A spokesperson for NSW police said that after consultation with the organisers of the climate protest, police formally advised their objection to the proposed public assembly.

“NSW police contacted the organisers of a proposed planned assembly in the Newcastle area following significant safety concerns for participants and members of the public,” the spokesperson said.

“As the matter is now before the court, the NSW police force won’t be making further comment at this stage.”

The NSW Greens’ climate and justice spokesperson Sue Higginson said the police’s latest challenge was a “retrograde step”.

“Rising Tide have been steadfast in their responsibilities around organising this iconic climate protest event. They have approached the police in good faith seeking to work with them to ensure the event is safe and orderly and not only have they been let down they are now at the other end of a legal case,” Higginson said.

Related: NSW premier says police should be able to ban pro-Palestine protests because they are too expensive

“When the state fights the people in this way it says that something is very wrong with the administration of our democracy.”

Numerous civil liberties organisations put out a joint statement decrying the action taken by police, including Amnesty International, the Nature Conservation Council of NSW, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and the Australian Democracy Network.

“This attempt by NSW Police is another example of the continuing crackdown on people exercising their right to freedom of assembly in NSW. Banning protests undermines Australia’s commitment to human rights and sets a troubling precedent,” said Nikita White, a campaigner for Amnesty International Australia.

“Peaceful protests, including non-violent direct actions, are how people create change and make the world a better place.”
Rachel Reeves expected to raise UK national minimum wage by 6% in 2025

Tom Ambrose and Jessica Elgot
Mon 28 October 2024 
THE GUARDIAN

The announcement expected from the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is even higher than what had been predicted last month.Photograph: Leon Neal/Reuters


The national minimum wage is to increase by up to 6% next year, with more than 1 million low-paid workers in line for a pay rise, the Guardian understands.

Rachel Reeves is expected to announce an increase above inflation and even higher than what had been predicted last month. Ministers, who will herald the rise as good news for working people, said that 18- to 20-year-olds ought to eventually be paid the same as older workers, according to a recommendation first reported in the Times.

About 1.6 million people are in line to receive the “national living wage” of £11.44 an hour, the minimum wage for those 21 and over – rising to more than £12.12 after ministers promised to “raise the floor” on wages.

However, businesses are warning that the expected rise will be announced alongside an increase in the national insurance contributions they must pay on wages.

The national living wage must not drop below two-thirds of median earnings, ministers have told the Low Pay Commission. The target was set by the Tories and achieved this year after almost 10 years of above-inflation increases.

The commission said last month that it expected to recommend an increase of 5.8% but a source confirmed that the final figure could be up to 6%.

Nye Cominetti, the principal economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Millions of low earners are set for good news in the budget when the chancellor announces the latest rise in the minimum wage.

“A bigger surprise is the expected increase in employer national insurance contributions. As a result of the two together, some businesses will legitimately say that their wage costs have gone up quite a bit as a result of this budget,” he added.

Tina McKenzie of the Federation of Small Businesses said: “It is businesses that pay people’s wages, plus all the tax government charges on top, which must be factored in when deciding on the living wage rate.”

However, Paul Nowak, general secretary of the TUC, said: “At a time when the cost of living is still very high the lowest paid would really benefit from a decent increase in the minimum wage. We know that low-paid workers spend more of their cash in their local economies. So any increase in their spending power will benefit local firms too.”

He added: “Every time the minimum wage goes up there are some voices who predict this will drive up unemployment. Every time they are wrong.”

A Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation around spending decisions or tax changes outside fiscal events.”

Boost for low-paid as minimum wage set to rise by 6% in Budget

Archie Mitchell
Tue 29 October 2024 
THE INDEPENDENT

Rachel Reeves will raise the minimum wage by 6 per cent at Wednesday’s Budget, handing a pay rise to more than a million workers on low incomes.

The chancellor is due to announce the inflation-busting hike when she delivers her first financial statement, with the increase higher than predicted in September.

The boost will benefit young people the most, as the government will ensure 18 to 20-year-olds are paid the same rate as older workers - closing the current gap.


Rachel Reeves will become the first woman to deliver a Budget (PA Wire)


The minimum wage, or national living wage for over-21s, will rise from £11.44 to between £12.12 and £12.20 from next year, The Times reported.

The Low Pay Commission, which advises the government on the national living wage, said last month it expected the level to rise to £12.10, but stronger earnings growth has fuelled a bigger increase.

The government’s existing target is for the national living wage to be two thirds of the hourly median income, but ministers have suggested they want to exceed this.

Resolution Foundation principle economist Nye Cominetti said “millions of low earners are set for good news in the budget when the chancellor announces the latest rise in the minimum wage”.

He added that businesses should be used to above-inflation increases to the national living wage and that Labour’s plans were actually “less ambitious than the previous government’s record” of increases.

But he warned that, combined with expected increases to employer national insurance contributions, “some businesses will legitimately say that their wage costs have gone up quite a bit as a result of this Budget”.

The separate Real Living Wage was last week set by the Living Wage Foundation, which claims it takes into account “actual living costs”. The rate was set at £12.60 for the next year, rising to £13.85 for London-based workers.

But, unlike the national minimum wage and living wage set by the government, the Real Living Wage is voluntary, with only around half a million people working for over 15,000 employers currently receiving the wage.

Those paying the rate include: IKEA; Aviva; KPMG; Oxfam; LUSH; Nationwide; Burberry; and Liverpool, Everton and Chelsea football clubs.

The national living wage was increased by Jeremy Hunt last November, alongside a promise to “end low pay” in Britain. He handed the rise to £11.44 an hour to nearly three million workers.


Inside Britain's 'most haunted' town where 'every home has a ghost'

Laura Hampson
Mon 28 October 2024 

Locals claim that Dunster, Somerset is Britain's most haunted town. (SWNS)

An ancient village has claimed to be Britain’s most haunted town - and locals even say that each home has its own ghost.

Locals of Dunster in Somerset say that spirits of monks, witches, soldiers and even animals roam their abodes, in the sleepy town filled with houses, a castle, pubs and hills.

Sues Toogood, 55, a pharmacy dispenser, bought a cottage in Dunster and says that shortly after she moved in, she began to hear voices in her home.


"[The cottage] was a wreck, the heating didn’t work at all and a tiny fireplace was the only source of heat," she explains. "I soon realised that all the smoke from the fire was coming out of a crack in the chimney in the upstairs bedroom. I had nowhere else to go so I slept in the spare room.

"In the early hours of the morning, I woke up in the middle of the night to voices. I was a bit scared at first but I walked through and realised it was the radio. It was a battery radio that I had put out for the builders. I thought it was strange but I switched it off and went back to bed, but then it happened again the next night.


Sues Toogood says she's grateful for her ghosts. (SWNS)

"I realised that if I had stayed asleep I might not have woken up because of the smoke and carbon monoxide coming in from the other room. I felt like the ghost was saving me from dying, it was a kind presence. I truly believe the ghost was saving me."

Janie Deeming, 59 and Nigel Deeming, 57, run the 15th-century Stags Head Inn, the oldest pub in Dunster, which has its own resident ghost.

"Nearly every building in Dunster is believed to have a ghost or two," Janie says. "The house that we live in is very active, and we’ve only just managed to settle it down.

"I nearly didn’t move in here because they gave me merry hell, but now they’ve started to work with me rather than against me."

Janie and Nigel Deeming has experienced their fair share of ghostly encounters. (SWNS)

Janie adds that before she and Nigel moved into their current home five months ago, they were staying at another home in the area where the ‘spirits were awake’.

"On the first night, a door on the dresser clicked open, and we didn’t think much of it but then it opened two or three more times," she says. "I then put my hand on it to keep it closed, and it pushed back, and I knew that wasn’t normal.

"The next night a book flew off the bookshelf and fell open on a ghost story, and we all joked about it, but later that night when I was washing up, I could feel a presence behind me. We fell in love with Dunster and I love my house. I’ve managed to bring the spirits on my side, but it took some work."

Fellow local Benedict Yeandle, 56, says when he first moved into his shop, strange things would happen which customers would always notice.


Benedict Yeandle says he experienced a ghost in his shop when he first opened. (SWNS)

"A smell of smoke could always be smelt even though there was no explanation for it, and one day a can of coke flew from one side of the room to the other, completely intact, just with a small dent in it," he says.

"I think whatever is living with me here is female, because it has only happened when I’ve employed female staff to work for me. 'I’m a bachelor and I think it got a little bit jealous. But now there hasn’t been any women coming here, she’s settled down."

Carol Bowden, a regular visitor to the village, says that her usually calm dog would bark at the trees and at the mantle of the fireplace in the hotel they were staying in.

"The following night it happened again, and the receptionist said the [ghost of an] old lady stands there by the mantle at that time," Bowden says.

"The manager then asked where the dog had been barking and I said about the mound and he said that was where the roundhead and cavaliers were buried."

A local author has even written a book on Dunster’s hauntings after moving to the village from her native Finland 12 years ago.

Locals claim that every home in Dunster has a ghost. (Getty Images)

Nina Dodd, 66, wrote ‘Witches, Giants and a Ghost Cat' - a 'travel guide to the mystery tales of Dunster’ after becoming fascinated by the British ‘obsession’ with ghosts.

"I started researching this book years ago after hearing stories about how haunted Dunster is," Dodd says.

"I find the British fascination with ghosts very interesting. In Finland, we do not have anywhere near as many ghost stories or 'haunted' places. I think a big part of it is that England has so many older homes and buildings. In Finland, we built our homes out of timber and wood for a long time - we still do. But in England, they are all old stone - so they last a lot longer."

Dodd adds that everyone she speaks to in the village has some kind of ghost story to tell.

"We get people coming into our shop all the time telling us stories about your traditional grey ladies, or children ghosts. Quite often I hear about Roundheads, soldiers from the English Civil Wars, too," she adds.

"One very common one we hear is about ghost monks, because there was once a Benedictine chapel in Dunster which was destroyed when Henry VIII was King. People always say that they see or hear them. There is also apparently a ghost horse who haunts the hilltops around the village."

Despite Dunster local’s claims, the village of Pluckley in Kent had long held the title of Britain’s most haunted place after it featured in the 1989 Guinness World Records.

Some of Pluckley’s supposed 14 ghosts include a phantom coach and horses, the spectre of the highwayman hidden in a tree, a colonel in Park Wood, and the ‘Red Lady’ who reportedly haunts the churchyard of St Nicholas’s Church.

This story was first published in October 2023.
Infamous Crime Boss Becomes Pivotal Figure in India-Canada Spat

Sudhi Ranjan Sen and Dan Strumpf
Mon 28 October 2024


(Bloomberg) -- As diplomatic relations fray between India and Canada over the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader, the spotlight is now turning to one of the South Asian nation’s most notorious gangsters.

Canadian police earlier this month accused Lawrence Bishnoi of colluding with Indian government agents to kill and harass members of the Canadian Sikh diaspora. That comes in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations last year that New Delhi was involved in the killing of a Canadian citizen — claims that India has strongly denied. Trudeau’s government has upped the stakes in recent weeks, expelling India’s top diplomat in Canada after he refused to be questioned about the case.

Bishnoi’s alleged involvement highlights what Canada says is the long arm of India’s criminal underworld and its capacity to carry out violence far from home. Bishnoi, in his early 30s, heads “one of the most feared terror syndicates” in South Asia, according to India’s federal anti-terrorism body. His gang, described in Indian court filings, numbers around 700 and includes suspected militants and drug runners in Canada, the US and the United Arab Emirates.

Trudeau’s government says Bishnoi coordinated with Indian officials to target dissidents overseas, specifically Sikh activists living in Canada who support the creation of an ethno-religious homeland in India called Khalistan. Canada had been investigating India’s government involvement in the gunning down last year of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian separatist activist who is considered a terrorist by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. New Delhi has repeatedly dismissed allegations that officials were involved in the attack.

In the past, Bishnoi has been linked with Sikh militant groups, an irony considering he’s now accused of targeting Canadians campaigning for Khalistan. He and his gang have had strong connections with Sikh separatist elements, some of who operate from Pakistan, court documents show. India’s federal anti-terror body also alleged that Bishnoi and his associates were involved in the 2016 jailbreak of a suspected Khalistani separatist and that they attacked a police facility in 2022 in the northern Punjab state with sophisticated weapons, including rocket-propelled grenades.

Bishnoi has spent about a decade behind bars in India, convicted for several crimes stretching back to as early as 2010, when he was charged for trespassing with the intent of assault with weapons, according to court documents.

He’s built a social-media presence by airing grievances with famous Punjabi singers, Bollywood actors and Indian politicians. Over the years, videos of him on YouTube and Instagram made by supporters have garnered hundreds of thousands of likes.

Canada Allegations

Terminder Singh, a lawyer who’s represented Bishnoi in Punjab, declined to comment on Canada’s accusations. “There has been no proper investigation into these allegations,” he said. “It’s difficult to explain how a man in prison is organizing hits or extorting money.”

Canada hasn’t yet released evidence connecting Indian officials to Bishnoi. Trudeau has said his government only went public with the accusations after a lengthy behind-the-scenes effort to address the matter diplomatically was rejected by Indian officials.

In its rebuttals, India has underlined the dearth of information in the public domain. Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesman for the Ministry of External Affairs, said New Delhi also has a track record of distancing itself from Bishnoi, including asking Canada to extradite members of his gang residing in the country.

“We informed Canada about them several years ago and recently as well,” Jaiswal told reporters earlier this month. “There has been no response from Canada.”

Even though Bishnoi is currently jailed in the state of Gujarat, some Indian officials still believe he’s capable of carrying out criminal activity. India’s federal anti-terror body — the National Investigative Agency — told a trial court last year that Bishnoi is so adroit at operating from inside his cell that he hasn’t felt the need to apply for bail.

Criminal Syndicate

Born in Dutranwali — a small town in Punjab near the India-Pakistan border — Bishnoi grew up in a relatively prosperous family, according to Indian police officials, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to discuss ongoing investigations. Court documents peg Bishnoi’s first brush with the law to his time as a college student, when he shot a political rival.

Bishnoi started building his criminal syndicate in 2013, according to Indian court filings. By his early 20s, he was already named in nearly a dozen criminal cases. In 2022, Bishnoi claimed responsibility for the death of famed Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, a development that catapulted him to the front pages of Indian newspapers. The Bishnoi gang also took credit on social media for the shooting last month of the politician Baba Siddique.

One Indian police officer, who asked not to be named to discuss classified information, said Bishnoi loves his carefully cultivated image as a “patriotic gangster” and dark hero who takes to crime to right wrongs. Bishnoi is a gun-for-hire — killing, extorting and threatening for profit, the officer said.

Connections between India’s political establishment and local criminal groups — including Bishnoi’s — aren’t unheard of. Last December, the Delhi police arrested a former Indian intelligence agent for allegedly extorting money from a businessman on behalf of Bishnoi. The agent, Vikas Yadav, is also wanted in the US for trying to assassinate an American citizen active in promoting a breakaway state for Sikhs, who mostly populate Punjab in northern India.

Yadav’s lawyer, R K Handoo, said the case was “false and charges baseless.”

Under previous governments, high-level committees have warned about a nexus between the underworld and politicians, including coordinating attacks in South Asia. What’s new, however, is potentially striking in countries like the US, Canada and Australia — wealthy Western democracies that consider India a strategic partner.

As Canada and India continue to trade barbs, Modi has refrained from publicly commenting. But during election rallies, the Indian prime minister has credited his administration with pursuing and eliminating alleged criminals in other countries. It’s a topic former Indian premiers usually avoided addressing.

“Under this strong government, our forces have been killing terrorists on their own turf,” Modi said at a recent political rally in the region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sikh separatist claims Indian 'spy network' operates in US, Canada

Reuters  Video
Updated Mon 28 October 2024


STORY: :: A U.S.-Canadian Sikh separatist who was the target of an alleged India-led murder plot speaks out

:: New York

:: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, Sikh separatist

:: "The Narendra Modi regime has basically set up a whole spy network in America, starting from these consulates in New York to California."

:: Gurpatwant Singh Pannun says Canada and the U.S. must get tougher on the Indian government




“They need to put their foot down that regimes like Modi, they should not be, they should not be allowed to come to America or Canada, challenge their sovereignty and get away with it. They need to put their foot down and close permanently these Indian consulates who spy on Americans and Canadians.”

The U.S. Justice Department has unsealed indictments against two Indian nationals in connection with an alleged plot to kill Pannun in New York.

The two accused included an ex-government official, who the indictment said worked as an intelligence officer at the time and had orchestrated the assassination plan.

Pannun told Reuters that the Modi government should not be allowed to conduct hostile activity in foreign countries and said India's consulates in the U.S. and Canada were running a "spy network", although he did not provide any proof.

Pannun did not elaborate on the alleged spy network. Similar assertions have been made by Sikh activists in America and Canada.

India's foreign ministry did not respond to detailed questions from Reuters regarding Pannun's allegations. India, where Pannun was born, has labelled him a terrorist since 2020.

Authorities in the U.S. and Canada declined comment on Pannun's allegations.

BILLIONAIRE$ FOR HARRI$

Michael Bloomberg recently gave $50 million to support Kamala Harris — but only after a pressure campaign: report

Alice Tecotzky
Mon, October 28, 2024


Michael Bloomberg donated $50 million to a nonprofit supporting Harris' campaign, per the NYT.


Other billionaires and Democratic donors pressured Bloomberg to make a donation for months.


It remains unclear why Bloomberg, known for public donations, wanted the gift to remain private.

Michael Bloomberg, the former New York City mayor and presidential candidate, recently donated around $50 million to a nonprofit organization supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign, according to the New York Times. The check, however, reportedly only came after months of pressure from other billionaires and Democratic donors.

Though Bloomberg typically makes public campaign donations, he intended for this contribution to remain secret, the Times reported. He funneled the money to Future Forward USA Action, the arm of Harris' primary super PAC that deals in dark money. Worth an approximate $105 billion according to Forbes, the 82-year-old has a pattern of making donations late in the election cycle.

Harris has demonstrated remarkable fundraising capabilities, from grassroots donors and the mega-wealthy alike. Some of her most prominent supporters include business titans from either coast, including prominent Wall Street executives and Silicon Valley leaders. Bloomberg refrained from shelling out big bucks even as figures like LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and Microsoft founder Bill Gates urged him to do so.



The former mayor recently sat down with Harris' economic team to discuss her agenda, the Times reported, as part of an attempt to make him feel respected. Harris herself hopped on a call with the billionaire, and he donated the money soon after, according to the Times. It remains unclear why he wanted the contribution to remain private.

Despite only becoming a registered Democrat in 2018, Bloomberg is the second largest known individual donor to Democrats this cycle, behind George Soros. Apart from his secretive $50 million gift, he has doled out $47 million in federally disclosed contributions. Yet the sum pales in comparison to his 2020 donations, when he spent $173 million, not including the $1.1 billion he directed toward his own campaign.

Trump has amassed his own army of billionaire donors, including Elon Musk and Timothy Mellon.

A representative for Bloomberg didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider
Ayman Mohyeldin: Arab Americans’ support for Trump should be a wake-up call for Harris

Ayman Mohyeldin and Rajaa Elidrissi and Allison Detzel
MSNBC
Mon, October 28, 2024 


This is an adapted excerpt from the Oct. 26 episode of "Ayman."

With Election Day just days away, Donald Trump is making surprising gains with an unexpected group of voters: Arab and Muslim Americans. According to a new poll from the Arab News Research and Studies Unit, the former president is now edging out Vice President Kamala Harris among Arab American voters, 43% to 41%.

While that number is within the poll’s margin of error, it comes as Trump scored an endorsement from Bill Bazzi, the mayor of Dearborn Heights, Michigan. Bazzi represents a city with a large Arab population and joined Trump at a rally in the battleground state this weekend.

All this is in stark contrast to the overwhelming support President Joe Biden enjoyed from the same community back in 2020. It’s also pretty surprising when you consider Trump’s record with Muslim and Arab Americans.

During this first term, Trump banned immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. He even made comments about Islam hating America. He repeatedly attacked Arab and Muslim lawmakers, like Reps. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib. And, throughout his first campaign, Trump frequently repeated the false claim that he saw thousands of New Jersey Muslims celebrating the 9/11 attacks.

If Trump is successful this election and finds himself back in the White House in January, we have a pretty clear picture of how he’d handle the war in the Middle East, which he might inherit. During his first administration, he defied global calls and moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Trump also recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. More recently, he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is doing a good job and claimed Biden was holding him back. Trump also promised to deport pro-Palestinian protesters all while using “Palestinian” as a slur.

So, you may be asking yourself: How did we get to a point where some Arab American and Muslim American voters are backing this man?

As Shadi Hamid, a columnist for The Washington Post, explains:

In my conversations with Arabs and Muslims across the country, the mood has become dark and despairing. They see how the Democratic Party has ignored the preferences of its own members, 77% of whom believe the United States should not send weapons to Israel. Leading Democrats acknowledge the devastation inflicted on Gaza but in the same breath appear unwilling to do anything about it.

Although Harris has been more effective at expressing empathy for Palestinian civilians, she has also signaled she will not break with Biden administration policy on Israel and Gaza. During a CNN town hall last week, Harris was asked what she would say to voters who are thinking about supporting another candidate or sitting out of the upcoming election due to her stance on the war.

“Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have,” Harris told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “I don’t know that anyone who has seen the images who would not have strong feelings about what has happened, much less those who have relatives who have died and been killed.”

“But I also do know that for many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries,” Harris continued. “They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.”

Other activists say it’s not even about policy, pointing to mistakes from the party that were largely symbolic — and avoidable. Like Democrats choosing not to give a speaking slot to even one Palestinian American at the Democratic National Convention (the Republican National Convention didn't have a Palestinian American speaker either), or the Harris campaign kicking a prominent Muslim American Democrat out of an event in Michigan just last week.

And now, Trump is filling that vacuum by making his own symbolic gestures to court Arab and Muslim voters, especially in Michigan, a critical swing state where he and Harris are currently deadlocked. He’s talking about how much he loves Arabs on Saudi state TV. He’s posing with Muslim mayors and visiting small towns.

It’s clear to many Arab American and Muslim voters that the former president's newfound “love” for the community isn’t genuine, but members of those communities are already concerned they may be blamed for a Trump win, regardless of the way they actually end up voting.

In the closing days of this election, Democrats may want to consider this message from the Post’s Josh Rogin, “If Harris does lose Michigan and the election, it won’t be because Muslim voters were disloyal to the Democratic Party. It will be because she and the Democratic Party were not loyal to them.”

Arab American voters make their choice — Harris, Trump or neither — in the election's final days

JOEY CAPPELLETTI
Mon, October 28, 2024 at 10:23 PM


DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) — Bowls of labneh and platters of za’atar bread covered the tables in a Lebanese restaurant near Detroit, yet no one seemed to have much of an appetite.

On one side were Kamala Harris ’ top emissaries to the Arab American community. On the other were local leaders who were explaining — once again — why many in the community couldn’t vote for the vice president because of the war in Gaza.

“I love this country, but I’ll tell you, we have never been so disappointed in this country as we are now,” said Nabih H. Ayad, chairman of the Arab American Civil Rights League. “We wanted to give the Democratic Party the opportunity to do something, and they haven’t.”

“The one line we can’t cross," Ayad said, “is genocide.”

Nasrina Bargzie and Brenda Abdelal, who were hired by Harris' campaign to spearhead Arab and Muslim outreach, listened intently but said little in response.

If Harris loses Michigan and the presidential election next week, it’s conversations like this one that could explain why. The Detroit area has the country’s largest concentration of Arab Americans, and Democrats fear that Harris will pay a steep political price for U.S. support for Israel, which rejects allegations that its military operations in Gaza constitute a genocide.

Community members who normally back Democrats said they face an impossible decision. Either they punish Harris for what they view as complicity in the deaths of at least 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, or they endure Donald Trump 's return to the White House, which they fear would revive discrimination toward their community.

A reminder of the situation's complexity came in Ann Arbor on Monday night, when Harris held a campaign rally. Assad Turfe, one of the few Arab American elected officials in Michigan to endorse the vice president, said his community needs someone “who sees us, who understands us and who will give voice to our pain," adding that "without a doubt that Kamala Harris is that leader.”

But as Harris began her remarks, pro-Palestinian protesters interrupted by chanting, “Israel bombs, Kamala pays, how many kids have you killed today?” Harris responded, “hey guys, I hear you” and “we all want this war to end as soon as possible.”

It's unclear how many skeptics Harris will be able to win over, especially since she has not proposed any concrete changes on U.S. policy toward Israel or the war in Gaza. Four years ago, Joe Biden won by a 3-to-1 margin in Dearborn, where nearly half of the 110,000 residents are of Arab descent. Now Democrats are concerned some of these voters will go to Trump or third-party candidates like Jill Stein.

"They're split. There are those who will vote for Harris, recognizing that they could get a seat at the table," said U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who convened the recent meeting at the Lebanese restaurant in his efforts to help the Harris campaign. "But there's a chunk that will vote for Stein or stay at home. Then there's a minority who will vote for Trump.”

Trump has secured a number of endorsements from Muslims in the area, including from two Democratic mayors who represent Muslim-majority cities outside Detroit. He brought several Muslims on stage at a rally in metro Detroit on Saturday.

He argues he will put “a stop to the endless wars” and notes the Abraham Accords that Israel signed with several Arab nations during his presidency. He has also mocked Harris' embrace of former Rep. Liz Cheney, a conservative Republican whose father, former Vice President Dick Cheney, was a key force behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Harris is campaigning with Liz Cheney to try to pull away moderate Republicans turned off by Trump in Michigan and elsewhere.

But many top Arab American leaders — even those who have not endorsed Harris — are still deeply negative toward Trump and say his endorsements don't reflect a majority of the community. They also remember his call for a “total and complete shutdown” on Muslims entering the country and his travel restrictions on visitors from Muslim-majority countries. And some point out that Trump has suggested that he would give Israel even more leeway to attack its rivals in the region.

Harris wins over someone who backed the ‘uncommitted’ movement

Turfe, a Lebanese American and the deputy executive of Wayne County, is among the few Arab American leaders in Michigan to have endorsed Harris. He says it’s to ensure the community doesn’t return to a Trump presidency that “opened up old wounds for the generation that lived through those post 9/11 years.”

Turfe said he was jolted awake by immigration agents in 2005 when they came to detain his wife, who had come to the country when she was 2 years old and was unaware that she didn’t have legal citizenship.

“They came for her and they ripped my family apart,” he said.

Then in 2006, Turfe’s two grandmothers were killed in Lebanon as Israel fought with Hezbollah in a war backed by President George W. Bush.

Turfe said his community was primarily Republican until those years. But members moved toward the Democrats during Barack Obama’s presidency and then helped Biden beat Trump in 2020.

Those political bonds are now ruptured.

Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping more than 200 hostages. Israel launched its offensive shortly afterward with military and diplomatic support from Biden's administration.

As civilian casualties mounted in Gaza, anti-war Democrats in Michigan and elsewhere launched a protest vote movement in the Democratic primary. They garnered over 100,000 “uncommitted” votes, with the majority coming from the state’s Muslim-majority cities like Dearborn.

Turfe was part of the “uncommitted” movement while Biden was running for reelection, but he said he changed his mind when Harris became the nominee. He endorsed her in August and met her before a rally near Detroit in October.

He said he told Harris about his grandmothers’ deaths nearly two decades ago, and “I felt her empathy.”

“She felt my pain,” Turfe said.

Turfe’s endorsement has sparked a backlash. On social media, photoshopped images accuse him of endorsing atrocities in Gaza. He's also received text messages labeling him a traitor. Longstanding relationships in his hometown of Dearborn have become strained.

Dearborn resident Suehaila Amen is accustomed to having her community in the national spotlight, having starred in the 2012 TLC reality series “All-American Muslim.” A lifelong Democrat, Amen said she won't be voting for Harris.

“They want to send their people to come and scope and see how we’re feeling because now they’re scared that they’re going to be losing a swing state,” said Amen, who lived in Lebanon from 2017 to 2021. “But, you know, if she loses, it’s by her own doing, by her own hand, and she’ll deserve it.”

Amen said she doesn’t want Trump to win but “I have to, at the end of the day, sleep at night."

Harris makes her closing argument to Arab Americans

Harris made a rare reference to Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah during a recent speech in Oakland County, outside of Detroit.

“This year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon,” she said. The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, she said, “can and must be a turning point.”

Harris also said she is “very proud to have the support” of Turfe and other Muslim leaders.

But Harris has not called for any reduction in the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel, and her campaign did not allow a pro-Palestinian speaker to take the stage at August's Democratic National Convention, a key demand of the “uncommitted” movement.

Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, has stayed in close contact with Arab American leaders in metro Detroit for months and received the “Profile in Courage” award from the Arab American Civil Rights League this summer. Khanna is Hindu but said his family’s background has given him shared experiences with Arab Americans.

During the Oct. 26 meeting with Arab American leaders, Khanna sat next to Harris' Arab and Muslim outreach directors while acknowledging that “not enough” has been done by Harris to help end the Israel-Hamas war.

“If Trump is elected, people like me won’t be in any of the rooms,” Khanna said. “Harris gives people like us a seat at the table to advocate for you."

It's the kind of message that resonates with Mike Musheinesh, a Palestinian American who runs his own auto parts store and attended the meeting. He said the community should vote for Harris “even if we have to hold our nose.”

“If we want a seat at the table, we need to help her over the finish line,” he said.

___ Associated Press writer Chris Megerian in Washington contributed to this report
Michelle Obama makes fiery abortion pitch as Trump courts Muslim vote

Bernd Debusmann Jr - BBC News
Sun, October 27, 2024 

In her first appearance on the campaign trail alongside Vice-President Kamala Harris, former First Lady Michelle Obama urged Americans to cast their votes to protect the country from the "dangers" of Donald Trump.

In a fiery speech in Michigan - a key battleground state - Obama said the election was "too close" for her liking.

At another event in Michigan, Donald Trump vowed to breathe fresh life into the state's automotive industry and met with Arab-Americans he said could "turn the election".

Polls show the two locked in a tight race in Michigan, with Harris holding an extremely narrow lead 10 days before the 5 November election.

[Getty Images]

The state, with 15 electoral college votes, could lend a deciding edge to either candidate.

President Joe Biden won Michigan by a narrow margin of 2.78% in 2020 - about 150,000 votes - helping to propel him to the presidency.

In 2016, the state went to Trump by an even narrower margin of 0.23% against Hillary Clinton.

Speaking to a crowd of thousands at an events centre in Kalamazoo, Obama made repeated jabs at Trump, pointing to what she termed his "erratic behaviour" and "obvious mental decline".

The bulk of her speech, however, focused on a "genuine fear" of how a Trump administration could impact abortion rights, telling an enthusiastic crowd of voters that she believes a failure to elect Kamala Harris could have deadly consequences.

Many abortion rights advocates have raised concerns that abortion bans have threatened women's lives by denying them life-saving medical treatment.

She was denied an abortion in Texas - then she almost died

"I'm deeply concerned that so many people are buying into the lies of people who don't have our best interests at heart," Obama said, adding that "ugliness will touch all of our lives".

Harris largely echoed Obama's comments, and told young Generation Z voters she understands why they might be "impatient" for change.

"I want to tell you that I see you and I see your power," she said.

At his own rally in Novi, Michigan, Trump largely stuck to frequent campaign promises about immigration, energy and the economy.

He was also joined on stage by a number of Arab-American and Muslim community leaders, including Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi.

"We are supporting Donald Trump because he promised to end war in the Middle East and Ukraine," Mr Bazzi said. "The bloodshed has to stop all over the world, and I think this man can make it happen."

Trump said he believes that the Arab-American voters can "turn the election" one way or another.

The state is home to the 'Uncommitted' movement, which does not support Trump, but has refused to endorse Harris for what they see as a failure to take a more firm stance against Israel during the war in Gaza, such as committing to a weapons ban.

At the Democratic rally in Kalamazoo, however, some voters said they were much more preoccupied with abortion rights and perceptions that Trump is "undemocratic", than they were about conflicts abroad.

Kelly Landon, a resident of Canton, Michigan, said that her primary motivation in this election was allowing female relatives to be safe and be in charge of their bodies and their own futures."

Ms Landon said, in her view, other issues are secondary to the health and safety of women, as well as "their right to live the way they want to live".

National polling averages tracked by the BBC show Harris with a slight lead nationally, although with Trump narrowly ahead in five of the seven battleground states that could decide the election.

[BBC]

Michelle Obama: 'We are more than baby-making vessels'

DPA
Sun, October 27, 2024

Former first lady Michelle Obama speaks in support of Vice President Kamala Harris at a rally in Kalamazoo. Andrew Roth/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways


Former US first lady Michelle Obama warned that women's rights could be at risk if Donald Trump wins a second term in the White House.

Speaking at a campaign event in Michigan alongside Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, Obama said that women should not bear the consequences of frustrations from men who would vote for Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, out of disappointment with the political system or who might choose not to vote at all.

Obama urged voters to think about what's at stake, saying, "If we don't get this election right, your wife, your daughter, your mother, we as women will become collateral damage to your rage."



Obama spoke about how new restrictions are forcing some women to travel across state lines just to access basic medical care. "We are more than baby-making vessels," she said, stressing that women deserve control over their own bodies.

After the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority shaped by then-president Trump, overturned the nationwide right to abortion, restrictive requirements and even outright bans have emerged in parts of the US.

Democrats are campaigning to restore federal abortion rights, while Republicans want to leave the issue to individual states.

As one of the most admired figures in the US, Obama's involvement in the campaign could help sway undecided voters as the race enters its final stretch ahead of the November 5 election.

Millions of US citizens have already cast their ballots in early voting. Harris and Trump are in a dead heat, according to polls.




Michelle Obama Directs Powerful Remarks on Reproductive Rights Toward Men

Ashleigh Carter
Sun, October 27, 2024 

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Michelle Obama is pleading with the American men to consider the women in their lives when they vote in this election, delivering a strong message that a vote for Donald Trump will lead to less reproductive freedom than ever before.

The former first lady gave an impassioned campaign speech in support of Kamala Harris during a rally at the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan on Saturday. Obama did not hold anything back as she told the crowd that she was a “little angry” that there are those who are hesitant to vote for Harris and instead seem to “ignore” Trump's “gross incompetence.”

“I hope that you will forgive me if I'm a little angry that we are indifferent to [Trump's] erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse — all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn't even have the courage to do, y’all,” Obama said.

She then directed her attention specifically to the men as she spoke about reproductive rights being stripped away state-by-state since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022. Michigan, which does not have any strict ban on abortion, is an important swing state that is closely divided in the polls. Harris is currently polling at 49% in the state, compared to Trump's 46%.

“To the men who love us, let me just try to paint a picture of what it will feel like if America, the wealthiest nation on Earth, keeps revoking basic care from its women,” Obama said. “Your girlfriend could be the one in legal jeopardy if she needs a pill from out of state or overseas. Or if she has to travel across state lines because a local clinic closed up.”

She continued: “Your wife, or mother, could be the ones at higher risk of dying from undiagnosed cervical cancer because they have no access to regular gynecological care. Your daughter could be the one too terrified to call the doctor if she's bleeding during an unexpected pregnancy.”



Obama also mentioned a dangerous scenario caused by strict abortion bans that already had deadly consequences for one woman named Amber Thurman, who died in Atlanta, Georgia from preventable complications after she took the abortion pill. Thurman went to the Piedmont Henry Hospital for a routine procedure to clear out her uterus, but doctors could not treat her in time due to the state's strict anti-abortion laws.

“If your wife is shivering and bleeding on the operating room table during a routine delivery gone bad, her pressure dropping as she loses more and more blood, or some unforeseen infection spreads and her doctors aren’t sure if they can act, you will be the one praying that it’s not too late,” Obama continued. “You will be the one pleading for somebody, anybody, to do something.”

Obama reiterated that not just women will be affected by nationwide reproductive restrictions, but loved ones and more specifically, the men around them. “There is the tragic but very real possibility that in the worst-case scenario, you just might be the one holding flowers at the funeral. You might be the one left to raise your children alone.”

“I am asking y'all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously, please. Do not put our lives in the hands of politicians. Mostly men, who have no clue or do not care about what we as women are going through."

The Harris campaign has largely focused on reproductive rights over the last several months, including at a Houston rally on Friday night with a public endorsement and speech from Beyoncé. While Texas is likely to turn red this election, as it has for decades, the state has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country. Harris used the near-total ban as an example of what could happen nationwide if Trump were to be elected president.

“And though we are in Texas tonight, for anyone watching from another state, if you think you are protected from Trump abortion bans because you live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, New York, California, or any state where voters or legislators have protected reproductive freedom, please know: No one is protected,” Harris said.

Watch Michelle Obama's full speech here:


Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue


‘Who Booked This F-cking Jerk?’: Trump Allies Pressed Campaign to Denounce Rally Comedian

Nikki McCann Ramirez and Asawin Suebsaeng
Mon, October 28, 2024 a


Donald Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden in New York was planned as a national moment for the former president’s closing campaign message and — much to the displeasure of some Republicans — it did exactly that.

Trump and his ilk have not been particularly quiet about their views on immigrants. This campaign cycle has seen him refer to migrants as “poisoning the blood of our country,” invent a mythical “migrant crime wave” to demonize undocumented immigrants, and promise “bloody” mass deportations. If the racism is loud at most Trump events, it was screamed into the national microphone on Sunday — and no one was louder than “comedian” Tony Hinchcliffe.

Hinchcliffe took it upon himself to upstage the former president, describing Latinos as mindless breeders and referring to Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage.” In an election where Republicans hope to win over Latino voters in critical states, an arena of 19,500 people laughing alongside Hinchcliffe’s demonstration of the overt racism that now defines the GOP’s politics was, to put it mildly, a disastrous look.

As Kamala Harris aides watched livestreams of the event with delight, Trump’s Manhattan rally — particularly the “jokes” — were met with a decidedly different reception among much of the Republican elite, who are largely expecting the 2024 presidential race to come down to the slimmest of margins and feel that every little misstep and unforced error could count for something.

“Who booked this fucking jerk?” a close Trump ally asked Rolling Stone, rhetorically, on Sunday. “Never heard of him.”

According to two other sources familiar with the matter, just as the Trump-aligned comedian’s comments began going viral, Latino Republicans and other Trump associates frantically messaged and called aides and longtime advisers to the former president while the rally was ongoing, insisting that the campaign immediately address the right-wing comic’s remarks on Latinos and the American territory of Puerto Rico. Some suggested Trump or his campaign should firmly denounce their own warmup act’s set in a statement.

“It’s fine, not like Donald Trump needs Latinos to vote for him or anything,” one of the sources, a well-connected GOP and Trump donor, noted sarcastically.

Later on Sunday, the intra-party freakout seems to have led to the Trump campaign issuing a statement, even if it wasn’t an emphatic condemnation. “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign,” Trump senior adviser Danielle Alvarez told NBC News in a perfunctory statement.

Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott, who is running for reelection against Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, condemned Hinchcliffe’s set. “This joke bombed for a reason. It’s not funny and it’s not true. Puerto Ricans are amazing people and amazing Americans! I’ve been to the island many times. It’s a beautiful place. Everyone should visit! I will always do whatever I can to help any Puerto Rican in Florida or on the island,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Rep. María Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.) wrote on X that she was “disgusted” by Hinchcliffe’s comments, claiming that his “rhetoric does not reflect GOP values.”

In a post on Threads, Meghan McCain, the daughter of former Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), wrote that she felt that “this rally could backfire. How is this winning over moderates and independents exactly? This is maga on steroids.”

Like all comedians who believe racism and vitriol are an acceptable substitute for actual humor, Hinchcliffe claimed that he had been taken out of context — and that the real problem was the humorless puritans who criticized him.

“These people have no sense of humor,” Hinchcliffe wrote in response to a discussion of his statements between Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “Wild that a vice presidential candidate would take time out of his ‘busy schedule’ to analyze a joke taken out of context to make it seem racist. I love Puerto Rico and vacation there. I made fun of everyone…watch the whole set.”

Plenty of people watched his Trump rally set, and the consensus — even among the GOP — was that Hinchcliffe bombed so badly that Republican politicians had little choice but to run away from him as fast as possible.


Revealed: Trump campaign 'axed MAGA comedian's obscene description of Kamala Harris'

Sarah K. Burris
RAW STORY
October 28, 2024 

Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe walks on stage during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden, in New York, U.S., October 27, 2024. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly

The Bulwark reported Monday afternoon that Donald Trump's campaign intervened to strike a "joke" that right-wing comedian Tony Hinchcliffe had planned to tell during Sunday's rally at Madison Square Garden.

Trump's campaign has spent most of Monday distancing itself from Hinchcliffe and his claim that Puerto Rico was an "island of garbage."

"This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign," said a senior Trump adviser in a statement to Fox News.

Read Also: The GOP's Barbarism and unrelenting extremism knows no bounds

The problem the campaign faces is that they did see at least some of Hinchcliffe's planned content ahead of time.

He had a joke calling [Vice President Kamala] Harris a ‘c--t,’” The Bulwark relayed, citing "a campaign insider involved in the discussions about the event."

The report explained that the Trump campaign asks all speakers to turn in drafts of their remarks ahead of time to load into the teleprompter. The campaign source said that a staffer spotted the C-word and asked Hinchcliffe to remove it.

Read the full report here.



'Huge mess-up': GOP descends into 'finger-pointing' amid panic over Puerto Rico racism
RAW STORY
October 28, 2024 

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump makes a campaign speech at the Johnny Mercer Theatre Civic Center in Savannah, Georgia, U.S. September 24, 2024. REUTERS/Megan Varner/File Photo

Former President Donald Trump's rally in Madison Square Garden kicked off a firestorm of controversy after a right-wing comic introducing him called Puerto Rico "a floating island of garbage," with even hardcore MAGA Republicans immediately denouncing the joke as racist and inappropriate.

But behind the scenes, the turmoil is even worse, CNN's Kristen Holmes told Jake Tapper — even as on the surface of it, the Trump campaign considers the rally a rousing success.

"Yesterday afternoon on 'State of the Union,' a bunch of Republican people that I had on the panel, commentators, said they hope that Donald Trump will close in a positive, uplifting, embracing, inclusive message," said Tapper. "I don't think he's doing that?"

Holmes agreed, but added, "I can see why he wouldn't think that he needs to strike from that messaging," because every anti-immigrant, culture-war red meat line he threw at the rally "got a round of applause, not just tepid clapping, but a standing ovation ... they believe that what they are doing, and he believes himself what he is doing and saying, is working, and particularly when he is talking to his base at rally after rally, it was clear last night that they are enthused by that kind of rhetoric."

When it comes to the Puerto Rico bit, however, she said, the GOP has its hair on fire.

"They do not need to be reminded how many Puerto Rican voters there are," said Holmes. "It's why you saw them issue that statement so quickly, and I was told personally that several lawmakers aides, allies, called up Trump's campaign, whether it be different advisers, essentially to say that this was a huge mess-up, that this was a huge problem. And I've heard a lot of finger-pointing among different aides and allies saying, how could this possibly have gone unvetted, who was supposed to look at these speeches?"

"Now, I was told that the speech was gone over by this comedian in particular, that none of the jokes that were actually put out there were things that had been vetted, he had not run these by the campaign," said Holmes.

But, she added, this is at odds with new reporting that the Trump campaign did intervene to cut another obscene joke he had planned to make about Vice President Kamala Harris.

Watch the video below or at the link here.


- YouTube








Opinion
Harris Rips Trump’s MSG Hate Fest: This is Why Americans Are ‘Exhausted’ by Him

Grace Harrington
Mon, October 28, 2024 

Evelyn Hockstein

Kamala Harris on Monday slammed Donald Trump’s racist rally at Madison Square Garden as yet another reminder of why Americans are “exhausted” by him.

“What he did last night is not a discovery. It is just more of the same, and maybe more vivid than usual,” Harris told reporters in Michigan.

“Donald Trump spends full-time trying to have Americans point their finger at each other, fans the fuel of hate and division, and that’s why people are exhausted with him. … People are literally ready to turn the page. They’re tired of it,” she said.

Even before Trump took the stage in New York City on Sunday, the other speakers at the rally had already sparked outrage with a flurry of incendiary comments. Comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” and made racist comments about Black people.

Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson repeatedly misidentified Harris’ race and touted the racist “great replacement theory.” Another speaker said Harris has “pimp handlers” and called for the “slaughter” of Democrats.

Trump himself called Harris a “very low IQ individual” and described migrants as“vicious and bloodthirsty criminals.” He also called his political rivals the “enemy from within” and said journalists were the “enemy of the people.”

The rally was denounced not only by the Harris campaign, but by celebrities and Republican officials. Puerto Rican stars Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin all condemned Hinchcliffe’s comments and expressed their support for Harris. Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott also defended Puerto Rico.

Opinion | Why Trump can’t pretend his rally’s anti-Puerto Rican racism was just a joke

Julio Ricardo Varela
MSNBC
Mon, October 28, 2024 


Former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York, Oct. 27, 2024.

I am Puerto Rican, and I am tired.

When comedian Tony Hinchcliffe joked Sunday that Puerto Rico was “a floating island of garbage” at the start of a Donald Trump rally at Madison Square Garden, I was not surprised.

I knew this was just the latest example of a risible American tradition: using “comedy” to insult Puerto Ricans. It’s raw and insulting.

Much of the coverage of Hinchcliffe’s racism has been focused on next week’s presidential election. The Trump campaign quickly distanced itself, saying, “This joke does not reflect the views of President Trump or the campaign.” Hinchcliffe tried to backtrack almost immediately by saying that he vacations in Puerto Rico and loves the island.

Puerto Ricans have heard these kinds of excuses and apologies before. The fact is that Hinchcliffe was at that Trump rally, and anyone trying to spin it any other way just doesn’t get it and never will.

Vice President Kamala Harris made sure Monday to connect Hinchcliffe to the former president, saying: “This is not new about [Trump], by the way. What he did last night was not a discovery. It is just more of the same and maybe more vivid than usual.” Harris and her team hope the remark will redound to their advantage. The campaign’s plan for Puerto Rico went public the same day as Hinchcliffe’s failed comedy routine.

The disaster of Hurricane Maria and the Trump administration’s botched response has prompted Puerto Ricans to be more vocal about their role in the American political system. About 500,000 Puerto Ricans live in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. During Trump’s rally, music superstar Bad Bunny endorsed Harris — joining other Puerto Rican celebrities like Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin — and shared her newly announced proposals for the island on his social media accounts.

The Harris campaign is doing what campaigns do. But viewing Hinchcliffe’s words merely through a political lens misses the bigger picture. Puerto Rico, a spoil of an American war victory from 1898, still has a complicated colonial relationship with the U.S. In the 19th century, images mocking backward Puerto Ricans as savages were the norm in the U.S. Things have barely changed since: To other Americans, Puerto Ricans have always been seen as dirty, backward, ignorant and second-class citizens.

It’s as if Puerto Ricans have never been extricated from the “West Side Story” stereotypes of the late 1950s when the Broadway smash became the defining image of Puerto Ricans for most Americans. Puerto Rican characters singing “Puerto Rico, you dirty island…” has always been wrong. Even as the musical went through some more modern revisions to clean it up a bit, the damage was already done. The prejudicial portrayal has never left the American cultural lexicon. For as long as I can remember, “jokes” about us Puerto Ricans have always failed. Americans never seem to learn.



In 1998, during the final season of “Seinfeld,” NBC had to apologize for an episode in which the character Cosmo Kramer burned a Puerto Rican flag because the city’s Puerto Rican Day Parade was causing too much traffic. (NBC and MSNBC are both owned by NBC Universal.) The backlash from Puerto Ricans was swift. In fact, that episode was removed from the syndicated show’s TV schedule, though sadly it is today available to stream on Netflix.

In 2012, Puerto Rican activists expressed fury at the ABC sitcom “Work It,” when Puerto Rican actor Amuary Nolasco’s character said, “I’m Puerto Rican. I would be great at selling drugs.” Eventually, the show was canceled.

Puerto Ricans are still working to call out those who continue to disparage us. And we’re exhausted. Nothing has really changed when it comes to respecting Puerto Ricans for who they are and what they have done to contribute to American democracy, even when that very same democracy has perpetuated a relationship that might offer us American citizenship but still keeps us a colony.

This is not about how many Puerto Ricans have died in wars for American causes or how some of the country’s biggest celebrities are Puerto Rican.

There is something deeper here that we, as Americans, do not want to confront.

More than 125 years after the American empire conquered their island, Puerto Ricans are still a punch line. The Trump campaign would love for this to all go away, while the Harris campaign will use it to get out more Boricua voters. But this is much bigger than Republican or Democratic support and who will win Puerto Rican voters in 2024. Both parties have perpetually supported a colonial system that has done little to improve Puerto Rico’s fortunes. For too long, other Americans have thought of Puerto Ricans as a joke. Now, we’re demanding respect.