#international migrants day

[murderousink23]

12/18/2023 is National Muffin Day 🇧🇷, Answer The Telephone Like Buddy The Elf Day 🇺🇲, Arabic Language Day 🇺🇳, International Migrants Day 🇺🇳

[humanrightsconnected]

As we honor the International Migrants Day, find out from African Communities Together (ACT), Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), Centro de los Derechos del Migrante, Inc., Heartland Alliance, The International Detention Coalition (IDC), and Justice for Migrant Women how you can defend and expand the rights of migrants! 

[migrantsday]

Ways in which government can promote safe migration.

Act to promote safe migration 

Open family reunification to migrants at all skill levels 

Establish government programmes for labour migration 

Give residency or work permits to irregular migrants in their country 

Introduce visas for migrants with specific skills 

Grant humanitarian visas for people in especially difficult situations 

Five ways states can promote safe migration

[dijetemjeseca]

Svjetski dan migranata

[pixoplanet]

It's December 18th. 🗽 In the year 2000, the United Nations proclaimed this day as International Migrants Day to mark the anniversary of the 1990 adoption of its International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and to shine a spotlight on the plights, rights, and contributions of the millions of migrants all over the world. 281 million of us, or 3.6% of the global population are currently international migrants. 

The term "migrant" is often confused with the term "refugee." There is a difference. Those of us who leave our home countries voluntarily are migrants, while those of us who are forced to leave because it's too dangerous to stay are refugees. 

Migration is a global problem driven by many factors. These start with aspirations for safety, dignity, and peace. Some move to be with family or for economic reasons; others for education. Many people migrate because their homes have become dangerous or difficult to live in. They might be fleeing from unrest, famine, drought, or economic collapse. The decision to leave home is always heart-wrenching and often the beginning of a dangerous, sometimes fatal journey. And if they do reach their destination, migrants, unlike refugees, are at the mercy of the new country’s immigration laws and can be turned away or deported back to their homeland. 

"On this International Migrants Day, UNESCO calls on the international community to promote the fundamental human rights of migrants to safety, dignity and peace." – Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). ☮️ Peace… Jamiese of Pixoplanet

[versuasiva]

8 de marzo

tercer año fuera de mi país,

tercer año que los fantasmas creen que ganaron,

porque a mi antigua yo,

la silenciaron,

la amordazaron y empujaron al miedo absoluto,

le quitaron la esperanza y sus sueños,

le quitaron las ganas de vivir,

le quitaron su valiosa intimidad,

le robaron la luz de las metas que tenía,

la juzgaron y cuando creía que era suficiente, siguieron, terminándola de apuñalar emocionalmente hasta no poder respirar y hasta no querer respirar,

se la comieron viva y con zapatos creyendo que no sabría levantarse,

pensaron que estaría sola en esta historia,

la historia que alguna vez dije que se quedarían solo en eso: una historia, pero.. hoy luego de algunos años, la desempolvo, la remarco

y hoy, abro el libro,

lo escribo, porque luego de estos años,

ya no existe el miedo,

ni a las denuncias,

ni a la vergüenza popular,

ni a nada,

PORQUE ME QUITARON TODO,

sobre todo..

las ganas de vivir,

me persiguieron políticamente y me siguen persiguiendo de manera silenciosa, a través de los años, cada vez que digo una palabra clave sobre mi activismo o historia,

aparecen como fantasmas el pasado, con nuevos nombres, pero misma figura, rostro,

y ya no tengo miedo, porque sé que no estoy sola,

porque estoy al otro lado del mundo donde la violencia sigue, pero al menos me siento protegida estando lejos,

sólo mis verdaderas amigas conocen la verdadera historia y por eso no me dejan de abrazar fuerte, cada vez que pueden,

tuve que dejar mi valioso activismo, mis posts, mi familia, mi vida, mi ganas de vivir en el futuro en mi país,

porque tuve que irme a poder sentir un poco de paz, vivir un poco, olvidando lo malo,

sabiendo que tu país te trató tan mal,

y el sistema no te decepcionó porque para ti y para tu hermana, nunca funcionó,

el sistema nunca funcionó para nosotras, con diecisiete años y mi hermana con diez, ni cuando tenía veinte, ni mucho menos a mis veintiuno, pero a esos hombres, de alguna manera se les premia,

esa carta en pandemia, sacándo de la cárcel al infierno vivo, fue la señal para que mi padre y mi madre empacaran mis cosas y me dijeran: “tienes que irte del país, a fuerza, luego te mandamos a tu hermana”

luego de saber que mi destino era huir de mi país o morir en las manos de mis victimarios, la respuesta no fue clara, fue obligatoria,

y aquí estoy..

hablando de lo que nunca, nunca, me gusta hablar, la verdadera razón de mis antiguos miedos..

pasaron años y nada, nadie me derrumbó, sigo en pie y nadie tiene autoridad de callarme ahora,

porque, luego de tanto y tan poco,

volví.

Este escrito y fuerza invertida, es dedicada a mi hermana, Pierina. Que literalmente fue “la voz que me salvó la vida” un grito de ella, hizo que no terminaran de acabar con mi vida. Su voz fue mi salvación cuando fuimos pequeñas, más adelante, su testimonio y palabras años después, fue mi punto final para salir de un infierno que vivía en carne propia. Porque mi hermanita es lo más precioso que tengo en la vida, ella me salvó la vida y yo le daré la mejor vida a ella, lejos de tanta violencia que vivimos.

Te amo Pierina Juárez, te espero pronto, aquí, para ser felices como siempre lo soñamos.

[remittancesday]

Focus on the economic impact of Remittances on households, communities, and nations.

“Digital remittances: Towards financial inclusion and cost reduction.” International Day of Remittances 2024. Remittances remain essential for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. By helping to put food on the table and pay for school, housing and medical expenses, they provide a crucial lifeline for those who receive them. The International Day of Family Remittances draws our attention to the economic impact of this money on households, communities, and nations, and recognises the sacrifice, separation and generosity often involved.

[mediaheights]

International Migrants Day is seen as an opportunity to recognize the contributions made by millions of migrants to the economies of their host and home countries promote respect for their basic human rights. #InternationalMigrantsDay Build your brand with digital media & take the benefits of social media branding contact Media Heights. By Mediaheightspr.com #Digitalbranding #MEDIAHEIGHTS #advertisingagency #web #MEDIAHEIGHTSPRCOM #best #public #relation #agency #in #chandigarh #mohali #punjab #north #india #digitalmarketingcompany #searchengineoptimization #content #instagrammarketing #buildingrelationships #globally #customer #internetbanding — at media heights #smo #branding #facebook #twitter #marketingonline #brand #searchengineoptimization #internetmarketing #follow #digitalagency #marketingagency #motivation #digitalmarketingtips #onlinebusiness #websitedesign #marketingonline #brand #searchengineoptimization #content #instagrammarketing #advertisingagency #web #technology #onlinebranding #branding360degree #SEO #SEObrandingagency #websiteranking #websitetrafic #Digitalmarketing #mediaheights #OnlineAdvertising #instagrammarketing #advertisingagency #web #marketingonline #brand

[gayvampyr]

CNN:

Hundreds of families gathered in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina on June 15, plotting their escape from what had become a hellscape of blown-out buildings scrawled with racist graffiti and streets strewn with corpses. The state governor had just been executed and mutilated by Arab militia groups, leaving civilians with no choice but to flee.

What followed was a gruesome massacre, eyewitnesses said, believed to be one of the most violent incidents in the genocide-scarred Sudanese region’s history. The powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allied militias hunted down non-Arab people in various parts of the city and surrounding desert region, leaving hundreds dead as they ran for their lives…

…residents set off en masse from southern El Geneina, many trying to reach the nearby Sudanese military headquarters where they thought they might find safety. But they said they were quickly thwarted by RSF attacks. Some were summarily executed in the streets, survivors said. Others died in a mass drowning incident, shot at as they attempted to cross a river. Many of those who managed to make it out were ambushed near the border with Chad, forced to sit in the sand before being told to run to safety as they were sprayed with bullets.

“More than 1,000 people were killed on June 15. I was collecting bodies on that day. I collected a huge number,” one local humanitarian worker, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told CNN. He said the dead were buried in five different mass graves in and around the city.

Conflict erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese army in April. Since then, more than one million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to estimates from the International Organization for Migration.

Now, a telecommunications blackout and the flight of international aid groups have all but cut off Darfur from the outside world. But news of the June 15 massacre began trickling out of the region from refugees who escaped to Chad. The evidence uncovered by CNN suggests that, behind a curtain of secrecy, the RSF and its allies are waging an indiscriminate campaign of widespread killings and sexual violence unlike anything the region has seen in decades.

The RSF’s official spokesperson told CNN that it “categorically” denied the allegations.

“To say you were Masalit was a death sentence,” said Jamal Khamiss, a human rights lawyer, referring to his non-Arab tribe, one of the biggest in Darfur. Khamiss was among those who said that they fled from El Geneina to Chad, surviving a series of RSF and allied militia positions by concealing his ethnicity.

The United Nations raised the alarm in June over ethnic targeting and killing of people from the Masalit community in El Geneina, after reports of summary executions and “persistent hate speech,” including calls to kill or expel them.

The vast majority of those who managed to make it out of El Geneina alive sought refuge in the Chadian border town of Adre, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) away from the city.

On June 15, the town received the highest number of migrants in a single day, along with the highest number of casualties — 261 — since the Sudan conflict broke out, according to Doctors Without Borders, widely known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which runs the only hospital in Adre. The number of wounded people that arrived at the hospital was even higher the next day: 387.

“The last time we recorded the death toll in Geneina it was 884,” one local humanitarian worker from El Geneina, who works for a Western non-profit organization, told CNN. “That was June 9. After June 9, it was a different story. The dead became uncountable.”

Action Against Hunger is accepting donations to provide health, sanitation and nutrition services to Sudanese refugees in Chad.

[sayruq]

3 thoughts on this:

Economy - Israel's economy took a hit in October that was comparable to the economic tremors caused by the COVID-19 outbreak. It is effectively in a major recession today. The longer they drag out this war, the worse their economic condition will be. Foreign capital will continue leaving the country as it seems incapable of stabilising. While the continued use of reserves means 300,000 Israelis will be unable to work, not to mention the millions of dollars Israel has to spend to mobilise its reserve every day. The longer the war goes on, the more people will end up leaving the country. 470,000 have left in October and November with no intention of returning while over 300,000 settlers are internally displaced. Both of those numbers are bound to go up as the war continues. This means that Israel is missing hundreds of thousands of Israeli workers. A few weeks ago, Israel struck a deal with the Indian government to get 100,000 workers after tens of thousands of worker migrants fled the country. That plan fell through thanks to Indian trade unions. Now Israel is turning to African States in a desperate attempt to replace the Gazan workers it's currently genociding. We will see if that plan works as Africans are by and large pro Palestine. Plus the Yemeni naval blockade is growing more and more intense every week as a direct response to the genocide in Gaza. In short, Israel's economy can't withstand a long war. America cannot help prop up the economy as it will soon be facing its major economy issues in the coming years including a housing crisis and likely a recession.

Military defeats - Israel cannot defeat Hamas. It cannot win a war inside Gaza. It failed to do so in 2014, it's failing right now. It has lost hundreds of military vehicles including the (formerly) vaunted Merkava-4. The estimated number of injured soldiers stands at 10,000+ while the Resistance is still intact and capable of carrying out dozens of military operations against IDF and the surrounding cities and settlements every day. The IDF has never looked more weak than it is right now. Hezbollah has been employing a military strategy dubbed the escalation ladder, in which one end of the ladder is no war and the other end is total war. It has continuously escalated against Israel, attacking deeper and deeper into its territory, and it will continue until there's open war between Israel and Lebanon. The point of the escalation is to give Israel time to leave Gaza but as that's not something the Israeli government is planning on doing, we're looking at a region war in 2024 (so far we have a regional conflict and whilebits serious, it's not yet war). Just like it can't win in Gaza, Israel can't defeat Hezbollah and occupy Southern Lebanon like its leaders have been threatening to. It certainly can't take on the Ansar Allah group in Yemen.

West Bank - every week, there are clashes between Israeli forces and the Resistance in the West Bank and it's growing more and more intense. The best way to describe the region is 'powder keg.' Israel has responded to Oct 7th by detaining thousands of Palestinians and killing hundreds. There's a growing popularity of Al Qassam Brigades and other militant groups in Gaza. There also seems to be coordination between the Gazan and West Bank resistance groups, as in they would carry out operations at the same time. The longer the war on Gaza goes on, the more likely that war will also break out in the West Bank.

Many, many more Palestinians will die. This plan, more than anything, is a call for the continued slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza.

But the longer this goes on, the closer Israel gets to collapsing.

[drdemonprince]

This is kind of late re: the culture conversation but I feel like I have a kind of weird perspective on this general idea of cultural appropriation re:embodiment. I’m Italian American, and indigenous South American but I was born in the US and when we immigrated to the US my South American ethnic group is so small and my parents were in Japan so long they culturally assimilated and I was raised in the Japanese immigrant community and literally went to Japanese day school.

This tension between who is “allowed” to participate in a culture or identity has always been deeply fraught for me in a way that has kind of bulldozed my understanding of cultural ownership. Not being “ethnically” Japanese has led to many people deciding for me what the appropriateness of my cultural participation is. And being indigenous South American complicates my relationship to standard cultural alignment with latinidad more broadly.

I have a lot of friends who are white USAmericans who are progressive but also deeply concerned about the boundaries between themselves and the cultures they studied in college and the countries they taught English in as migrant workers. I had a conversation with one of my friends who worked in China and he was talking about how he didn’t mind being legally disenfranchised because he was a white American migrant and didn’t feel it was necessary for him to have the same legal rights as Chinese citizens. And I had to point out that he was living in the same disenfranchised conditions as any other immigrant and there was no reason for him to downplay it. I don’t think it’s disingenuous or appropriative for him to have Chinese art in his house or cook Chinese food or participate in Chinese culture. Not because he lived there or had a complicated legal status in the country or somehow crossed some imaginary threshold of true and genuine cultural appreciation but just because culture is what you do its not a given fact of who you are. It’s a seamless part of his life and just because he sought it out doesn’t make it less genuine to me.

I think because of my complicated upbringing I have spent a lot of time with people between cultures, reconnecting, adopting new ones and feel very strongly that if there is no biological tie to culture people can incorporate whatever they want into their lives and it’s a VERY US American perspective to be so self critical and political about it.

And this isn’t to say cultural exploitation doesn’t exist but when it does happen it’s usually underpinned by a capital motivation to sell an idea of a culture and not a weird white guy who got really into Buddhism or a several generations totally removed Italian American incorporating Panettone into their Christmas celebrations. When people cross the line it’s cringe and inauthentic but it rarely goes beyond that.

When I was in college I had a professor who studied my indigenous ethnic group and I took a couple of his classes. Once I brought my grandmother and mom to campus to speak with him in our indigenous language, and my grandmother spoke to him for three hours straight. He was a white man from Michigan but also one of my only connections to my culture, a person to practice and share my language with, to connect with my family. And all because he thought South American indigenous groups were interesting and got a job with Amnesty International to investigate the dictatorship to get down there. He is the kind of man people wag their finger at and he was one of the most important cultural elders I had.

This is a long way to say basically I just really believe we are allowed to make our lives whatever we want and make ourselves whatever we want. The phenomenon of white Americans in search of culture exists for the reasons you listed below and outside of these political discussions about its appropriateness and its moral boundaries there are just people doing and embodying that cultural fluidity and exchange for a million different reasons that aren’t worth litigating. The small town gay kids who move to big cities and hang out in the leather scene, getting into punk or hardcore or goth scenes, even converting to a new religion function under the same mechanism of the kind of cultural immersion that gives you access to the community and membership in the culture that weebs who immigrate to Japan to teach English, or international students coming to America, or inter cultural or inter faith partnerships undergo.

Anyways thanks for listening to my treatise. So to whoever’s reading this take the dance class or the traditional craft class or learn a new language or learn to cook new kinds of food make all different types of friends and make new traditions out of old ones or old traditions out of new perspectives. Culture isn’t a sacred part of who we are it’s a sacred form of the things we do and embody and connect with others through :-) <3

this is an incredible, wise, compassionate message. Thank you so much for sending it. You've said so much here about the problems of tying cultural identity to a race, ethnicity, or blood, or to regard it as static or isolated. And how much the standard racist American conceptions of racial and ethnic identity make structural discussions about disenfranchisement worldwide hard to have. Said so so much far better than I could, thank you!!

[migrantsday]

Open family reunification to migrants at all skill levels.

Ways in which government can promote safe migration.

[mariacallous]

People often say to me that I wouldn’t personally be affected by a second Donald Trump presidency. After all, I live in a blue city in a blue state, and I’m a married, heterosexual woman who isn’t looking to have any more children. I won’t need medication like mifepristone for a miscarriage (though I do have girls in my family who I assume will someday want to have children), and I don’t personally rely on the federal government for education, because my kids don’t go to public school.

So, again, how would any of this affect me? The most likely answer is that, as a public-facing person, I will continue to be subjected to threats, as many in the mainstream media already are. But attacks on the media could escalate if Trump returns to power, given that he doesn’t hesitate to demonize journalists and call them out before his millions of followers. And given what Trump says on television, he may target American citizens for unfavorable speech.

“I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within,” he told Maria Bartiromo on Fox News on Sunday. “Sick people, radical-left lunatics. And it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by the National Guard, or, if really necessary, by the military.” The “lunatics” in question could be anyone from protesters to opinion columnists—or even mainstream reporters—he doesn’t agree with. Trump has referred to CBS as a “A FAKE NEWS SCAM” whose operations are “totally illegal,” and has similarly suggested that ABC should lose its broadcast license. 

What would it mean to have a president who, in this fashion, targets what little is left of the free press? It’s hard to fathom, but there’s a world where Trump imitates his strongman friends like Vladimir Putin or Viktor Orbán or Kim Jong Un—all of whom participate in jailing or killing journalists in countries with state-regulated media. He’s already taking a page from Joe McCarthy this election cycle in targeting the “enemies within,” something my family is all too familiar with.

Few aspects of Trump’s second-terms plans are more openly authoritarian than his immigration platform. On Friday, Trump traveled to Aurora, a suburb of Denver, Colorado, where he is shopping “Operation Aurora,” a policy he said would target “every illegal migrant criminal network operating on American soil” by use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. According to the Brennan Center, the law is “a wartime authority that allows the president to detain or deport the natives and citizens of an enemy nation. The law permits the president to target these immigrants without a hearing and based only on their country of birth or citizenship.” The last time the United States used the Alien Enemies Act, it was to put Japanese and Japanese Americans into internment camps during WWII.

What would internment camps actually entail in the modern day? Well, Trump has talked about deporting up to 20 million undocumented immigrants—an operation of staggering scale that he freely admits will be “bloody.” (The Department of Homeland Security, in 2018, estimated there were 11.4 million undocumented immigrants; Pew put the number at roughly 11 million in 2022.) It’s impossible to imagine what deporting that many people would really look like; maybe blue-state governors would be strong enough to prevent deportation camps from being built in states like California and New York. Maybe the camps would only be in red states, or maybe they’d be erected on federal land, like national parks. Then there’s the question of who would run these camps. Trump, for his part, has mused about using the National Guard. Who would stop any of this, you might ask? Would a Republican Congress stop it? Who would be the grown-ups in the room.

At least during the first Trump administration, the courts prevented Trump from doing some of the things he wanted to do, like ending DACA. But this time, Trump would be starting out with a 6-3 conservative-majority Supreme Court, featuring three justices he appointed. Last year, we saw the Trump-friendly high court issue two rulings that will pretty much serve as a blank check to an emboldened Trump: The first ended the Chevron deference, which will curb the power of federal agencies and expedite the death of regulatory expertise. The other decision, which is perhaps more worrying, Trump would have a blank check to do whatever he wants if he says it’s in the service of the presidency, essentially granting him blanket immunity against any crimes he commits in office. As Ninth Circuit judge and Ronald Reagan appointee Stephen S. Trott wrote, it means that Richard Nixon could have “legally ordered his plumbers to burgle the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist.”

Trump is telling us all about his potential plans: internment camps, going after his enemies foreign and domestic, including, presumably, journalists. Will I be one of them? Will he clamp down on the free press? Will he take away the licenses from networks he deems insufficiently supportive of his presidency?

On the campaign trail, Trump has recently posed a question of his own when it comes to voting for him, asking the crowd, “What the hell do you have to lose?” Actually, a lot. While we don’t know precisely what a second Trump term will look like, it’ll surely be chaotic and bleak, and could mark the end of something we certainly don’t want to lose: democracy as we know it.

[thecreepycrawlersss]

so.

trump won.

to everyone who will be affected by project 2025, please. please stay alive.

do whatever you need to do to stay alive. please.

it’s gonna get scary, so right now it is extremely important to have a plan, preferably multiple, in place.

we’ve compiled some recourses that we think are helpful. will add to this, don’t be scared to recommend recourses to add !!

help understand and fight against project 2025

good recourses if you decide to run away / end up homeless

Other Resources & Services Food, Housing, Legal, Disabled - BeTheDifferenceSCV.org

recourses for moving to another country / seeking asylum

Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants - Amnesty International

What would happen if an American was to flee the USA to claim asylum in other countries? : r/AmerExit

7 Industrialized Countries to Safely Seek Asylum-商务印书馆英语世界

recourses for marginalized people

Transgender Resources | GLAAD

Resources For Women - BeTheDifferenceSCV.org

Resources And Support For Black, Indigenous, And Other People Of Color - BeTheDifferenceSCV.org

Resources For LGBTQIA2+ - BeTheDifferenceSCV.org

Resources for Youth and Yound Adults - BeTheDifferenceSCV.org

what to do now

and of course, make sure to do your daily clicks

[demonicintegrity]

Truly apologetic for what I did to yalls dash tonight. I genuinely did not think I would spam that much because I didn't think I'd hear something bonkers every other minute.

I think theres a couple key take aways here though:

Kamala Harris was able to circle back to what policies she wanted to enact just about every time. Where as Trump would only refute her and attack her (or Biden)

Trump would repeatedly dodge yes or no questions

When talking about Israel and Palestine, Harris brought up wanting the war to stop, wanting a ceasefire, a two state solution, and that although Israel had a right to defend itself it has gone too far and should abide by international law.

In response Trump said she hated Israel and Arabs? For some reason?

Trump kept interrupting and for some reason they kept turning on his mic when it wasn't his turn

Trump said he didn't have a plan for healthcare, he only has concepts of a plan, because he isn't president. (This was in response to the fact that he said he would do something about the ACA during his presidency)

Trump claimed Democrats wanted abortion in the seventh, eighth, ninth month as well as "execute" babies after theyre born. (He was immediately fact checked)

"She wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens in jail"

He got mad so very often. She was clearly frustrated with him near the end

He said that crime was on the rise and the reason the FBI says its going down is because the FBI is fraudulent. He also said migrants were eating our pets.

In general, I knew Trump was a bad politician and bad speaker before this but holy shit. I've never sat down and watched him speak for an extended amount of time.

"Lesser of two evils" "No perfect candidate" yadda yadda yadda, the difference between them is night and fucking day. And the difference comes down to intent and competency. There is no excuse for anyone to vote for Trump after that embarrassment of a debate he tried to do.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Anne Applebaum :: @anneapplebaum

This was the moment that mattered. Trump's political movement relies on total impunity for liars, and mostly gets it. The lies bind them together, cement their feeling of power.

* * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

October 1, 2024

Heather Cox Richardson

Oct 02, 2024

More than 45,000 U.S. dock workers went on strike today for the first time since 1977, nearly 50 years ago. The International Longshoremen's Association union, which represents 45,000 port workers, is negotiating with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) employer group over a new contract. The strike will shut down 36 ports from Maine to Texas, affecting about half the country’s shipping. Analysts from J.P. Morgan estimate that the strike could cost the U.S. economy about $5 billion a day. The strikers have said they will continue to unload military cargo.

Dockworkers want a 77% increase in pay over six years and better benefits, while USMX has said it has offered to increase wages by nearly 50%, triple employer contributions to retirement plans, and improve health care options. In the Washington Post, economics columnist Heather Long pointed out that the big issue at stake is the automation that threatens union jobs.

Although the strike threatens to slow the economy depending on how long it lasts, President Joe Biden has refused requests to force the strikers back to work, reiterating his support for collective bargaining. He noted that ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic—sometimes in excess of 800% over prepandemic levels—and that executive compensation and shareholder profits have reflected those profits. “It’s only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well,” Biden said in a statement.  

In the presidential contest, the Trump-Vance campaign is trying to preserve its false narrative. In Wisconsin today, Trump accused Vice President Harris of murder—although he appeared to get confused about the victim—and claimed that she has a phone app on which the heads of cartels can get information about where to drop undocumented immigrants. He also said that Kim Jong Un of North Korea is trying to kill him.

When asked if he should have been tougher on Iran after it launched ballistic missiles in 2020 on U.S. forces in Iraq, leaving more than 100 U.S. soldiers injured, Trump rejected the idea that soldiers with traumatic brain injuries were actually hurt. He said “they had a headache” and said he thought the attack “was a very nice thing because they didn’t want us to retaliate.”

Trump also backed out of a scheduled interview with 60 Minutes that correspondent Scott Pelley was slated to conduct on Thursday. 60 Minutes noted that for more than 50 years, the show has invited both campaigns to appear on the broadcast before the election and this year, both campaigns agreed to an interview. Trump’s spokesperson complained that 60 Minutes “insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.” Vice President Kamala Harris will participate in her interview as planned. 

The campaign’s resistance to independent fact checking of their false narrative came up in tonight’s vice presidential debate on CBS between Minnesota governor Tim Walz, Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s running mate, and Ohio senator J.D. Vance, running mate for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. CBS Evening News anchor Norah O'Donnell and Face the Nation moderator and chief foreign affairs correspondent Margaret Brennan moderated the debate.

Walz’s goal in the debate was to do no harm to Vice President Harris’s campaign, and he achieved that. Vance’s goal was harder: to give people a reason to vote for Donald Trump. It is doubtful he moved any needles there. 

The moments that did stand out in the debate put a spotlight on Vance’s tenuous relationship with the truth. When Vance lied again about the migrants in Springfield, Ohio, who are in the United States legally, Brennan added: "Just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio, does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status."

Vance responded: "The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact-check.”

There were two other big moments of the evening, both based in lies. First, Vance claimed that Trump, who tried repeatedly to repeal or weaken the Affordable Care Act, “saved” it. Then, Walz asked Vance directly if Trump lost the 2020 presidential election. Vance refused to answer, saying he is “focused on the future,” and warned that “the threat of censorship” is the real problem in the U.S. 

Walz said: “That’s a damning non-answer.” 

Former chair of the Republican Party Michael Steele said after the debate: “I don't care where you are on policy…. If you cannot in 2024 answer that question, you are unfit for office.”

It was significant that Vance tried to avoid saying either that Trump won in 2020—a litmus test for MAGA Republicans—or that he lost, a reflection of reality. While this debate probably didn’t move a lot of voters for the 2024 election, what it did do was make Vance look like a far more viable candidate than his running mate. Waffling on the Big Lie seemed designed to preserve his candidacy for future elections.

It seems likely that the message behind Vance’s smooth performance wasn’t lost on Trump. As the debate was going on, Trump posted: “The GREAT Pete Rose just died. He was one of the most magnificent baseball players ever to play the game. He paid the price! Major League Baseball should have allowed him into the Hall of Fame many years ago. Do it now, before his funeral!” 

Former Cincinnati Reds baseball player Rose died yesterday at 83. 

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON