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In coming days Democracy Now! will continue to bring you post-election results and in-depth analysis on on the impact of the coming Trump administration. Because Democracy Now! does not accept corporate advertising or sponsorship revenue, we rely on viewers like you to feature voices and analysis you won’t get anywhere else. Can you donate $15 to Democracy Now! today to support our post-election coverage? Right now, a generous donor will DOUBLE your gift, which means your $15 donation is worth $30. Please help us air in-depth, substantive coverage of the outcome of the election and what it means for our collective future. Thank you so much! Every dollar makes a difference.
-Amy Goodman
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The U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled Monday that states do not have the authority to remove Donald Trump from the ballot under the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, which was written to prevent Civil War Confederates from returning to government. The court’s ruling came after the state of Colorado attempted to take Trump off the primary ballot over his actions inciting the January 6 insurrection. In the majority opinion, justices wrote, “States have no power under the Constitution to enforce Section 3 with respect to federal offices, especially the Presidency.” The court’s three liberal justices issued a concurring opinion warning that the majority ruling “attempts to insulate all alleged insurrectionists from future challenges to their holding federal office.”
Colorado’s Secretary of State Jena Griswold responded to the court’s ruling on MSNBC.
Secretary of State Jena Griswold: “My larger reaction is disappointment. I do believe that states should be able under our Constitution to bar oath-breaking insurrectionists.”
Millions of voters are heading to the polls today as 15 states are holding primaries and caucuses in what’s known as Super Tuesday. In California, there is a four-way race to fill the seat of the late Senator Dianne Feinstein. Three Democratic congressmembers — Adam Schiff, Katie Porter and Barbara Lee — are on the ballot along with Republican Steve Garvey, a former Major League Baseball player. The top two candidates, regardless of party, will face off in November.
In Minnesota, some Democratic activists are urging voters to select “uncommitted” on the ballot to protest Joe Biden’s support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Jaylani Hussein is co-chair of the Abandon Biden campaign.
Jaylani Hussein: “For Tuesday, it’s not Minnesota Muslims. It’s not the Muslims in the United States. It’s really the overwhelming majority of Democrats who believe that the president is on a very dark course. So many children have been killed in Gaza, over 30,000 dead. Every single day, the Israeli Defense Force is killing innocent people. And our president has stayed silent, has not done anything. In fact, we have done the opposite. We have stopped the world from calling and stopping this war and calling for an immediate ceasefire.”
The World Health Organization is warning malnutrition in northern Gaza is “particularly extreme” as talks continue over a possible six-week temporary ceasefire. On Monday, Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour warned children in Gaza are increasingly dying of starvation. He raised the case of Yazan al-Kafarneh, an emaciated 10-year-old Palestinian child who died of severe malnourishment and insufficient healthcare.
Riyad Mansour: “Look at our children. Look at Yazan. Look what agony they are enduring. Dozen more children who died of malnutritions have been identified, and many more have died and are dying in darkness and destitution. This has to stop. For God’s sakes, this has to stop.”
A team of United Nations experts say they have found “reasonable grounds” to believe that sexual violence, including rape, occurred on October 7 during the Hamas attack on Israel. The U.N. special envoy for sexual violence Pramila Patten spoke at the United Nations on Monday.
Pramila Patten: “We also found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that conflict-related sexual violence, including rape and gang rape, occurred during the 7th of October attacks in at least three locations, namely the Nova music festival site and its surroundings, Road 232, and Kibbutz Re’im. And in most of these incidents, victims were first subjected to rape and then killed. And at least two incidents relate to the rape of women’s corpses.”
The U.N. expert Pramila Patten went on to say that reports of rapes occurring at a fourth location, Kibbutz Be’eri, were unfounded. She said her team had also found “clear and convincing information” that some hostages held in Gaza had also suffered sexual violence. The U.N. experts did not conduct their own investigation but instead wrote the report based in large part from conversations with Israeli institutions including Zaka, an Israeli search-and-rescue organization that has been accused of spreading false stories about atrocities on October 7. The U.N. team said it did not meet with any survivors of the sexual violence from October 7. Patten also said her team received reports about imprisoned Palestinians facing sexual violence while in Israeli detention.
Pramila Patten: “We nevertheless received, whilst there, from several interlocutors, information about cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinians, men and women in detention, also under the administrative detention, including sexual violence in the forms of invasive body searches, threats of rape, and prolonged forced nudity.”
Two weeks ago, a group of U.N. experts expressed alarm over the abuse of Palestinian women and girls held by Israel. In a statement, the experts said, “We are particularly distressed by reports that Palestinian women and girls in detention have also been subjected to multiple forms of sexual assault, such as being stripped naked and searched by male Israeli army officers. At least two female Palestinian detainees were reportedly raped while others were reportedly threatened with rape and sexual violence.” The U.N. experts said that Israeli troops took photos of female Palestinian detainees in degrading circumstances and posted them online.
Ukraine is claiming it has sunk a Russian warship in the Black Sea. Ukrainian naval drones reportedly attacked the $65 million ship off the coast of Crimea.
More than 20,000 soldiers from NATO nations have begun a massive war exercise in the northern regions of Finland, Norway and Sweden. Four thousand troops are taking part from Finland, which joined NATO last year and shares an 800-mile border with Russia.
The head of the military junta in Chad has confirmed he will run in the upcoming election for president. Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno made the announcement Saturday, just days after his chief rival was killed. Yaya Dillo died when security forces opened fire on the headquarters of his political party, the Socialist Party Without Borders.
South Korea’s government has announced it’s moving to suspend the licenses of thousands of doctors who’ve been on strike for at least two weeks. About 7,000 doctors have defied orders by South Korean officials to return to work by the end of February. Doctors have been protesting the government’s plan to increase medical school admissions by around 65%. They’re demanding higher wages and a more manageable workload.
Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard, has pleaded guilty to posting secret intelligence reports about the war in Ukraine and other issues online. He could serve 16 years in prison. He was indicted last year under the Espionage Act and has been jailed since April 2023 after he posted a series of highly classified Pentagon intelligence documents to a group of gamers on the messaging app Discord.
In Connecticut, five anti-nuclear activists connected to the Catholic Worker movement were arrested Monday for blocking the gates at a General Dynamics plant in New London, where the Columbia-class nuclear submarines are being designed and constructed. During the action, a group of 20 protesters held life-sized images of Robert Oppenheimer, the “father of the atomic bomb,” with a banner reading, “Don’t be a 'Destroyer of Worlds' — Stop the Columbia Sub.”
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