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Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman
There has never been a more urgent time for courageous, daily, independent news. Media is essential to the functioning of a democratic society. Today is Giving Tuesday, a day dedicated to supporting non-profits. Please make it Giving NewsDay by giving to this non-profit news organization. Thanks to a group of generous donors, all donations made today will be TRIPLED, which means your $15 gift is worth $45. With your contribution, we can continue to go to where the silence is, to bring you the voices of the silenced majority – those calling for peace in a time of war, demanding action on the climate catastrophe and advocating for racial and economic justice. Every dollar makes a difference. Thank you so much!
Democracy Now!
Amy Goodman
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Britain remains in a widening crisis days after voters chose to leave the European Union. British Prime Minister David Cameron has announced his resignation. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is facing a coup within his own party as more than a dozen members of his shadow cabinet have resigned or been fired. Scotland has announced it will take any steps needed to stay inside the European Union, including possibly holding a second independence referendum. Global stock markets have plummeted. More than $2 trillion was wiped off global equity markets on Friday in the biggest daily loss ever. Earlier today the British pound hit a 31-year low. With his own political fate uncertain, British Finance Minister George Osborne sought to reassure the British people.
George Osborne: “It will not be plain sailing in the days ahead. But let me be clear, you should not underestimate our resolve. We were prepared for the unexpected, and we are equipped for whatever happens. And we are determined that, unlike eight years ago, Britain’s financial system will help our country deal with any shocks and dampen them, not contribute to those shocks or make them worse.”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Brussels and London to discuss the political and economic upheaval caused by the Brexit vote. Meanwhile, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, the first Muslim woman to serve in the British Cabinet, says the vote to leave the EU has sparked an uptick in racist abuse. We’ll have more on Brexit after headlines.
In Spain, the conservative People’s Party of acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has won the largest number of seats in Parliament, but fallen short of an outright majority. The Socialist party came in second, with the left-wing Unidos Podemos alliance coming in third. Podemos leader Pablo Iglesias said the results were disappointing.
Pablo Iglesias: “I want to say that the results tonight are not satisfactory for us. We had different expectations. We are also worried about the loss of support from the progressive bloc. It’s true that we consolidated ourselves as the political option which would have a determining role in the present and future of our country. It’s true that what we have done in the past two years is historic and unprecedented in the history of our country. But it’s also true that we expected different electoral results tonight.”
In California, at least seven people have been stabbed and 10 hospitalized after a confrontation between white nationalists and anti-racist counterprotesters at the state capital in Sacramento. White nationalist leader Matthew Heimbach said only one of the people injured was from his group, the Traditionalist Worker Party, which organized the rally to “make a statement about the precarious situation our race is in” after what it called “brutal assaults” at Donald Trump events. Hundreds of anti-racist demonstrators outnumbered the white nationalists.
The leading conservative columnist and commentator George Will has left the Republican Party over the presumed nomination of Donald Trump. Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Will said he had changed his voter registration in Maryland to “unaffiliated” 23 days ago.
George Will: “Shortly after Trump became the presumptive nominee, he had a summit meeting with Paul Ryan, where they stressed their common principles and their vast shared ground, which is much more important than their differences. I thought that was puzzling, doubly so because Paul Ryan still didn’t endorse him. After Trump went after the Mexican judge from northern Indiana, then Paul Ryan endorsed him. And I decided that, in fact, this is not my party anymore.”
Will did not say whom he would support in the 2016 election.
In the latest sign of discord between Trump and the Republican Party, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to say whether Trump is qualified to be president. McConnell was questioned Sunday by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos.
George Stephanopoulos: “Sixty-four percent of Americans say they don’t think that Donald Trump is qualified to be president. Do you believe he’s qualified? And how do you convince all those voters who think he isn’t?”
Sen. Mitch McConnell: “Well, look, I think there’s no question that he’s made a number of mistakes over the last few weeks. I think they’re beginning to right the ship. It’s a long time until November. And the burden obviously will be on him to convince people that he can handle this job.”
Trump has barred yet another journalist from his events. During Trump’s two-day visit to his golf resorts in Scotland over the weekend, Guardian reporter Ewen MacAskill asked Trump about how British politicians weren’t meeting with Trump because he is “regarded as toxic.” Trump called him a “nasty guy.” The following day, Ewen MacAskill and a Guardian photographer were denied entrance to Trump’s golf course. A security press list reportedly had “No Guardian or Buzzfeed” penciled on top. Among other outlets whose journalists have been booted from Trump events or explicitly banned are Politico, Univision, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast and The Des Moines Register.
The committee drafting the Democratic Party’s platform has rejected a number of measures proposed by members appointed by Bernie Sanders. Meeting in St. Louis, Missouri, on Friday, members rejected measures to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, declare a national moratorium on fracking, and call for a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage and an end to Israeli occupation and illegal settlements. Sanders said he was “disappointed and dismayed” by the defeat of proposals on trade, but “pleased” over language about breaking up big banks. Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Friday, Sanders said he has turned his focus to the party platform.
Nicolle Wallace: “Are you going to vote for Hillary Clinton in November?”
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Yes. Yeah, I think the issue right here is, I’m going to do everything I can to defeat Donald Trump. … What my job right now is, is to fight for the strongest possible platform in the Democratic convention. And as we speak, in St. Louis, that’s going on right now. And that means a platform that represents working people, that stands up to big money interests. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign hailed the draft Democratic platform as “the most ambitious and progressive our party has ever seen.” For the first time, the platform includes an explicit call to repeal the Hyde Amendment, the decades-old ban on federal funding for abortion which disproportionately impacts the poor and women of color. In related news, the Supreme Court rules today on the most significant abortion rights case in a generation, concerning anti-choice restrictions in Texas.
Pope Francis says the Roman Catholic Church should seek forgiveness from gay people for the way they have treated them. The pontiff also said the church should seek forgiveness for the way it has treated women and for “blessing so many weapons.”
Pope Francis’ remarks came as millions of people took to the streets for LGBTQ pride celebrations across the United States and around the world. Marchers paid homage to the 49 people killed in a massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, two weeks ago.
In San Francisco, several honorees, including Black Lives Matter, pulled out of the nation’s largest pride event over the increased police presence in the wake of the Orlando massacre. “For us, celebrating Pride this year meant choosing between the threat of homophobic vigilante violence and the threat of police violence,” the group said in a statement. “Ultimately we chose to keep our people safe by not participating in any event that would leave our communities vulnerable to either.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi says Iraq’s military has taken full control of the city of Fallujah after it was captured by ISIS in 2014. Iraqi forces backed by U.S. airstrikes launched the offensive to retake the city last month.
The New York Times and Al Jazeera report millions of dollars in weapons being shipped to Jordan by the CIA and Saudi Arabia for the intended use of Syrian rebels have been systematically stolen by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold on the black market. The stolen weapons were used in a shooting in November that killed two Americans and three other people at a training facility in Amman.
In Somalia, a Cabinet minister is among 15 people killed in an attack on a hotel in the capital Mogadishu. At least 34 people were injured in the attack. Authorities said officers killed four attackers with the militant group al-Shabab.
In West Virginia, at least 25 people have been killed in one of the deadliest floods in the state’s history. Tens of thousands have been left without power, and homes and roads have been destroyed. President Obama has declared a major disaster. Teacher Kristin Richmond described the damage.
Kristin Richmond: “We’ve had some people that have come through that slept in their car last night. They had their animals and their children with them, and they slept in their cars. And there have been some people that just haven’t been able to even return to their homes at all to see what’s there.”
And actor Jesse Williams, known for his role on the TV show “Grey’s Anatomy,” earned a standing ovation Sunday night for his address at the BET Awards. As he accepted the Humanitarian Award, Williams paid homage to police shooting victims, including Rekia Boyd and Tamir Rice, who would have turned 14 on Saturday. Here’s how he concluded his speech.
Jesse Williams: “We’ve been floating this country on credit for centuries, yo, and we’re done watching and waiting while this invention called whiteness uses and abuses us, burying black people out of sight and out of mind, while extracting our culture, our dollars, our entertainment like oil—black gold—ghettoizing and demeaning our creations, then stealing them, gentrifying our genius and then trying us on like costumes before discarding our bodies like rinds of strange fruit. The thing is, though—the thing is that just because we’re magic doesn’t mean we’re not real.”
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