#An Op-Ed

[xtruss]

She Wrote An Op-Ed Criticizing ‘War Criminal, Demented and Genocidal Joe Biden’ On Gaza, Forever Palestine. The Justice Department Accused Her Of Breaking The Law.

A Federal Watchdog Ruled That a Department of Justice Employee’s Article Did Not Violate The Hatch Act.

— Shawn Musgrave | August 14 2024,

Two World’s Most Wanted Genocidal War Criminals: Fascist Zionist 🐖 Satan-Yahu and Demented Joe Biden in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on July 25, 2024. Photo: Susan Walsh/AP

In March, After a Justice Department Employee Wrote An Op-ed criticizing the Biden Administration Over the Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza, her supervisors accused her of violating federal law. Last week, the Office of Special Counsel squarely rejected that allegation, but the investigation sent a chilling message to other federal employees organizing around Israel and Gaza.

Emma West Rasmus, a longtime Justice Department employee, wrote an op-ed in early March for The Hill about a recent visit to Palestine with her church. “I decided in November, and am surer than ever in March: Unless the Democratic Party and its leaders call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a lasting end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, I will not vote for Biden or any Democrat,” she wrote.

The article, which published on a Friday, initially included a note stating West Rasmus “works at the Department of Justice and is a member of the Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church.”

The following Monday, West Rasmus was accused by senior Justice Department attorneys and ethics officials of violating the Hatch Act, according to records reviewed by The Intercept. The Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from using their “official authority” to engage in certain political activity, especially advocating for or against a particular candidate or political party.

“When you start your federal government service,” West Rasmus told The Intercept, “on your very first day you learn about the Hatch Act.”

In November, the Office of Special Counsel, which investigates Hatch Act violations, put out guidance explaining that federal employees could express their views on Israel and Gaza without running afoul of the law. OSC also clarified that the Hatch Act only limits partisan political speech “while on duty or in the federal workplace.”

In recent months, agency employees have organized letters, rallies, and protest art urging the Biden administration to change course on Gaza. Organizers have been careful to follow the law, but they were still “worried about the threat of being accused of Hatch Act violations,” said a State Department employee who spoke with The Intercept on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. “Even though we know senior [political appointees] have rarely been held accountable, we know it has been wielded or threatened against junior staff.”

West Rasmus said she is the only federal employee she is aware of who has been formally accused under the Hatch Act over Gaza dissent actions.

The Justice Department suggested West Rasmus violated the Hatch Act by listing her federal employment in the article. Two DOJ attorneys recommended that she ask The Hill to remove these references, which West Rasmus did. The current version of the article does not indicate she is a federal employee at all.

The Justice Department also suggested that West Rasmus violated the Hatch Act by sharing the article on LinkedIn, and the DOJ attorneys recommended that she remove her own social media posts and even ask others to stop sharing it.

They suggested that by taking these “mitigating steps,” OSC might go easy on her.

Five months later, however, OSC determined there was no Hatch Act violation in the first place.

“Although you engaged in political activity while referencing that you work for the federal government in the op-ed, and specifically the Department of Justice in the byline, these references do not constitute a use of official authority rising to the level of a Hatch Act violation,” reads an August 8 determination letter from OSC.

West Rasmus, who still works for the Justice Department, says this decision lifted a huge weight off her shoulders, but that the investigation itself “absolutely had a chilling effect” on her and other federal employees trying to galvanize internal dissent on Gaza policy.

“I always felt like putting the op-ed out there in the way that I did was worth the risk,” she said. “That speaks to how urgently I and other federal employees feel about the need to take actions that we wouldn’t otherwise take.”

The Justice Department did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.

[lets-steal-an-archive]

By Bernie Sanders | July 13, 2024

I will do all that I can to see that President Biden is re-elected. Why? Despite my disagreements with him on particular issues, he has been the most effective president in the modern history of our country and is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump — a demagogue and pathological liar. It’s time to learn a lesson from the progressive and centrist forces in France who, despite profound political differences, came together this week to soundly defeat right-wing extremism.

I strongly disagree with Mr. Biden on the question of U.S. support for Israel’s horrific war against the Palestinian people. The United States should not provide Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government with another nickel as it continues to create one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern history.

I strongly disagree with the president’s belief that the Affordable Care Act, as useful as it has been, will ever address America’s health care crisis. Our health care system is broken, dysfunctional and wildly expensive and needs to be replaced with a “Medicare for all” single-payer system. Health care is a human right.

And those are not my only disagreements with Mr. Biden.

But for over two weeks now, the corporate media has obsessively focused on the June presidential debate and the cognitive capabilities of a man who has, perhaps, the most difficult and stressful job in the world. The media has frantically searched for every living human being who no longer supports the president or any neurologist who wants to appear on TV. Unfortunately, too many Democrats have joined that circular firing squad.

Yes. I know: Mr. Biden is old, is prone to gaffes, walks stiffly and had a disastrous debate with Mr. Trump. But this I also know: A presidential election is not an entertainment contest. It does not begin or end with a 90-minute debate.

Enough! Mr. Biden may not be the ideal candidate, but he will be the candidate and should be the candidate. And with an effective campaign taht speaks to the needs of working families, he will not only defeat Mr. Trump but beat him badly. It’s time for Democrats to stop the bickering and nit-picking.

I understand that some Democrats get nervous about having to explain the president’s gaffes and misspeaking names. But unlike the Republicans, they do not have to explain away a candidate who now has 34 felony convictions and faces charges that could lead to dozens of additional convictions, who has been hit with a $5 million judgment after he was found liable in a sexual abuse case, who has been involved in more than 4,000 lawsuits, who has repeatedly gone bankrupt and who has told thousands of documented lies and falsehoods.

Supporters of Mr. Biden can speak proudly about a good and decent Democratic president with a record of real accomplishment. The Biden administration, as a result of the American Rescue Plan, helped rebuild the economy during the pandemic far faster than economists thought possible. At a time when people were terrified about the future, the president and those of us who supported him in Congress put Americans back to work, provided cash benefits to desperate parents and protected small businesses, hospitals, schools and child care centers.

After decades of talk about our crumbling roads, bridges and water systems, we put more money into rebuilding America’s infrastructure than ever before — which is projected to create millions of well-paying jobs. And we did not stop there. We made the largest-ever investment in climate action to save the planet. We canceled student debt for nearly five million financially strapped Americans. We cut prices for insulin and asthma inhalers, capped out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs and got free vaccines to the American people. We battled to defend women’s rights in the face of moves by Trump-appointed jurists to roll back reproductive freedom and deny women the right to control their own bodies.

So, yes, Mr. Biden has a record to run on. A strong record. But he and his supporters should never suggest that what’s been accomplished is sufficient. To win the election, the president must do more than just defend his excellent record. He needs to propose and fight for a bold agenda that speaks to the needs of the vast majority of our people — the working families of this country, the people who have been left behind for far too long.

At a time when the billionaires have never had it so good and when the United States is experiencing virtually unprecedented income and wealth inequality, over 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck, real weekly wages for the average worker have not risen in over 50 years, 25 percent of seniors live each year on $15,000 or less, we have a higher rate of childhood poverty than almost any other major country, and housing is becoming more and more unaffordable — among other crises.

This is the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We can do better. We must do better. Joe Biden knows that. Donald Trump does not. Joe Biden wants to tax the rich so that we can fund the needs of working families, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor. Donald Trump wants to cut taxes for the billionaire class. Joe Biden wants to expand Social Security benefits. Donald Trump and his friends want to weaken Social Security. Joe Biden wants to make it easier for workers to form unions and collectively bargain for better wages and benefits. Donald Trump wants to let multinational corporations get away with exploiting workers and ripping off consumers. Joe Biden respects democracy. Donald Trump attacks it.

This election offers a stark choice on issue after issue. If Mr. Biden and his supporters focus on these issues — and refuse to be divided and distracted — the president will rally working families to his side in the industrial Midwest swing states and elsewhere and win the November election. And let me say this as emphatically as I can: For the sake of our kids and future generations, he must win.

Bernie Sanders is the senior senator from Vermont.

[qqueenofhades]

Haaaave you seen what happened with the NABJ Dumpy interview? WHO thought this would be a good idea? The Harris campaign must be setting off fireworks right how. I am just stunned his team A. let him do this in the first place and B. LET HIM STAY UP THERRE FOR SO LONG AND KEEP SAYING STUPID SHIT. Holy fuck.

Jesus rollerskating Christ. I took a peek at the Tweetymachine and this was just a sample of what popped up:

So let's recap, he was an hour late because he didn't want to be fact-checked in real time, he was booed onstage, he was supposed to talk for an hour and was yanked after 34 minutes (in the middle of a question about Project 2025, not-coincidentally), he rambled and insulted black people in front of the National Association of Black Journalists, insulted Kamala yet again, questioned whether she was "actually" black (they want to do Obama birtherism so bad they just can't help themselves), denigrated a black female reporter who actually asked him tough questions, and.... got this for it, I guess. Wow.

Good luck, Donnie Dumptruck!

[avenoirn]

miss all sunday 🥀🤍

[squirrelstothenuts]

[jewelleria]

“But there are nuances to sadistic barbarity against Jews, we are told, and sometimes gang-raping Jewish women is actually a movement for human rights. It hardly seems fair to call people anti-Semitic if they want only half of the world’s Jews to die. The phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” currently chanted at universities across America, perhaps widens the net a tiny bit—but really, who can say? Even the phrase “Gas the Jews,” chanted at a rally organized by NYU students and faculty, is so very ambiguous. How dare those whiny Jews presume to know what’s in other people’s hearts? It remains unclear why anti-Semitism should matter only when it is lethal, or if so, how many unambiguously anti-Semitic murders would be necessary for anti-Semitism to be happening outside whiny Jews’ heads. A realistic estimate might be 6 million. Even then, Jews have had to spend the past 80 years collecting documentation to prove it.”

— Dara Horn, Why the Most Educated People in America Fall For Anti-Semitic Lies

[beif0ngs]

ONE PIECE ENDING 19 || Raise by Chilli Beans

[ruporas]

opla inspired!

[cupkud]

VIVID VICE ★ jujutsu kaisen The disaster stains the exacerbated sin, tame the grudge. Run across and just follow the voice.

op/ed: 2–?

[deathberi]

♫ FATALE by GEMN | 【推しの子】 OP2

[asukachii]

Jujutsu Kaisen 2 ED 1 | AKARI

[elyonholic]

Mashle 2nd Season OP

[loosescrewslefty]

Local Floriography Bitch Emerges from Hibernation Because Cute Spy Found Family Romcom Has Cheeky Flower Shot!

Alright, let's get the Basic Bitch of Floriography addressed first, which means looking at Bond and his Yellow Rose

Roses are the flower that even people who know next to nothing about Floriography usually know on sight, but it's still cute that they gave the flower representing Friendship to Man's Best Friend.

Moving Counterclockwise through the picture, our next subject is Yor, sporting a fetching Orchid on her hairband.

Orchids symbolize Beautiful Woman, Refinement, Grace, and Uniqueness, and while it's 100% accurate for Yor, a part of me started to strongly suspect here that Loid is responsible for everyone's blooms, and used to opportunity to give discreet messages to his family without them knowing what he's telling them. (sneaky sneaky~)

Speaking of Loid, the man himself is up next, standing slyly with a Blue Aster.

Asters are also known as Starflowers, a sneaky nod to Loid's codename Twilight. And like roses, asters have different meanings depending on the colors you choose. Blue asters just so happen to symbolize Trustworthiness and Faithfulness. The perfect flower to represent a hardworking family man devoted to his wife and daughter! And certainly not the sort of thing one would associate with an undercover spy!

And finally, there is the last Forger Family Flower, and a brutal suckered punch to my soul;

Anya, and her Cosmos.

Just like with Loid's Aster, Cosmos are also flowers associated with the stars, and have even been called "Mexican Asters." Which doesn't feel like an accident when Anya here is mimicking Loid's pose and holding the flower to her lips. And Cosmos have a very, VERY special meaning.

"Hold My Hand and Walk With Me"

[hayaku14]

all i got from this is that kaito's pick-up lines would totally work on shinichi lmaoooo

[squirrelstothenuts]

[manzanamarim]

Redrew these oldies but goldies at the speed of light to celebrate (?) the emotional damage jjk season 2 has and is about to cause me :)

Also added shoko bc I like her <3