Extremist militias are coordinating in more than 100 Facebook groups

Extremist militias are coordinating in more than 100 Facebook groups

Wired reports: “Join your local Militia or III% Patriot Group,” a post urged the more than 650 members of a Facebook group called the Free American Army. Accompanied by the logo for the Three Percenters militia network and an image of a man in tactical gear holding a long rifle, the post continues: “Now more than ever. Support the American militia page.” Other content and messaging in the group is similar. And despite the fact that Facebook bans paramilitary organizing…

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As college campuses erupt in protest, some see a political transformation

As college campuses erupt in protest, some see a political transformation

Arun Kundnani writes: In the summer of 2020, millions of teenagers, outraged by the police killing of George Floyd, took to the streets of American towns and cities as part of the largest protests against police brutality in U.S. history. Though years have passed, that energy has not entirely dissipated. Many of the young people who protested in 2020 are now college students campaigning for the U.S. to withdraw its support for Israel’s war in Gaza. They constitute the cutting…

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I’m a UCLA professor. Why didn’t the administration stop last night’s egregious violence?

I’m a UCLA professor. Why didn’t the administration stop last night’s egregious violence?

David N. Myers writes: UCLA, the top-rated public university in the United States, experienced one of the darkest nights in its 105-year history on Tuesday. Over the course of my 33-year career at UCLA, I have never seen anything so terrifying take place. Around 11 p.m., a group of masked counter-demonstrators made their way to the Royce Quad in the heart of campus and began to attack the encampment set up last week by demonstrators opposing the war in Gaza….

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Why it took hours for police to quell attack by Zionist mob on pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA

Why it took hours for police to quell attack by Zionist mob on pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA

The Los Angeles Times reports: When dozens of counterprotesters swarmed UCLA late Tuesday night, attacking the Palestinian solidarity encampment at the center of campus, university authorities were quickly overwhelmed. Law enforcement sources told The Times there were only a few UCLA police officers on hand. They tried to stop the violence but were no match for the crowd and had to retreat, having been attacked themselves, the sources said. A group of unarmed private security guards was there as well….

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House passes antisemitism bill over complaints from First Amendment advocates

House passes antisemitism bill over complaints from First Amendment advocates

The Washington Post reports: House Republicans are seeking to unite their unruly majority around an evergreen conservative cause, devising a strict response to the wave of pro-Palestinian protests that have roiled college campuses across the country in recent weeks. GOP leaders this week announced plans for new oversight investigations of elite universities where — in the words of House Republican Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) — “pro-terrorist anti-Semites [are] taking over.” And on Wednesday, they passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which…

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The role of U.S. citizens in Israel’s settlement & military activities

The role of U.S. citizens in Israel’s settlement & military activities

  Settler violence and Israeli military raids in the occupied West Bank have surged since October 7. Residents have been displaced, homes have been attacked and Palestinians have been killed and injured. More than a dozen countries, including the United States, France, the United Kingdom and Australia have condemned the violence, and some have announced visa restrictions on anyone found to have taken part in the attacks. But these restrictions miss a big loophole: dual nationals. It is estimated that…

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A huge gender gap is emerging among young voters

A huge gender gap is emerging among young voters

Thomas B. Edsall writes: It has become clear that one constituency — young voters, 18 to 29 years old — will play a key, if not pivotal, role in determining who will win the Biden-Trump rematch. Four years ago, according to exit polls, voters in this age group kept Trump from winning re-election. They cast ballots decisively supporting Biden, 60 to 36, helping to give him a 4.46-point victory among all voters, 51.31 percent to 46.85 percent. This year, Biden…

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A U.S. push to use ethanol as aviation fuel raises major climate concerns

A U.S. push to use ethanol as aviation fuel raises major climate concerns

MIT Technology Review reports: Eliminating carbon pollution from aviation is one of the most challenging parts of the climate puzzle, simply because large commercial airlines are too heavy and need too much power during takeoff for today’s batteries to do the job. But one way that companies and governments are striving to make some progress is through the use of various types of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs), which are derived from non-petroleum sources and promise to be less polluting than…

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A hidden war

A hidden war

  A war following the Hamas attacks of October 7 continues to take its toll on civilians. Israel’s stated aim in this conflict was to remove Hamas and bring hostages home. But in this documentary for “In Real Life,” on-the-ground reporting and open-source intelligence show how the conflict has expanded, growing into a campaign of clearing and claiming land — from Gaza to the West Bank. Hamas fighters first breached the border with Israel at the Erez border crossing. 1,200…

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Israeli finance minister calls for ‘utter destruction’ of Gaza’s Rafah, end to truce talks

Israeli finance minister calls for ‘utter destruction’ of Gaza’s Rafah, end to truce talks

Middle East Eye reports: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has called for the “utter destruction” of Rafah and other cities in Gaza while slamming Israel’s ongoing hostage negotiations with Hamas. “No half jobs. Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat, total and utter destruction,” Smotrich said, referring to the two cities in Gaza and the Nuseirat refugee camp. Smotrich’s remarks underscore the pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces among members of his governing coalition to press ahead with an attack on Rafah, the…

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Israeli Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov on campus protests, weaponized antisemitism, silencing dissent

Israeli Holocaust scholar Omer Bartov on campus protests, weaponized antisemitism, silencing dissent

  As Biden administration and U.S. college and university administrators increasingly accuse peaceful pro-Palestinian protesters on school campuses of antisemitism, we speak with Brown University professor of Holocaust and genocide studies Omer Bartov, who visited the student Gaza solidarity encampment at UPenn alongside fellow Israeli historian Raz Segal. “There was absolutely no sign of any violence, of any antisemitism at all,” says Bartov, who warns antisemitism is being used to silence speech about Israel. “There’s politics, and there’s prejudice. And…

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Gen Z sees the Gaza protests as their 1968 moment: ‘We built this on their legacy’

Gen Z sees the Gaza protests as their 1968 moment: ‘We built this on their legacy’

Richard Hall writes: Historical comparisons between the mass protests of 1968 and today’s student demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza are both imperfect and hard to avoid. It’s been just 10 days since Columbia University students pitched the first tent on the campus lawns, and already the protests have galvanised a generation of college students much in the same way the Vietnam war did 56 years ago – spreading from coast to coast. It is not just the scale of the…

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How a few secret donors are fueling the new right-wing infrastructure

How a few secret donors are fueling the new right-wing infrastructure

Mother Jones reports: In early 2021, Stephen Miller—former White House senior adviser to Donald Trump and architect of the 45th president’s hopeful second-term mass deportation agenda—announced his next venture: America First Legal (AFL). Paraded as “the long-awaited answer to the ACLU,” AFL fights for Trumpist values in the legal system. And the group is prolific: In its three years of existence, AFL has taken on more than 100 legal actions—between lawsuits filed, complaints lodged with the US Equal Employment Opportunity…

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Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into rivers and lakes

Tyson Foods dumps millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into rivers and lakes

The Guardian reports: Tyson Foods dumped millions of pounds of toxic pollutants directly into American rivers and lakes over the last five years, threatening critical ecosystems, endangering wildlife and human health, a new investigation reveals. Nitrogen, phosphorus, chloride, oil and cyanide were among the 371m lb of pollutants released into waterways by just 41 Tyson slaughterhouses and mega processing plants between 2018 and 2022. According to research by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), the contaminants were dispersed in 87bn…

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