April 29, 2024
Dear friends,
I sometimes wake up tired, even after what felt like a good night of sleep. This was one of those days. A walk in the park and the presence of migrating warblers did not provide the relief I hoped for.
When this happens, I am inclined to think that it is the long view coming to back to bite me. Please forgive me for being a downer on a beautiful Monday, while the kids are still off from school.
Israel is committing genocide and Biden is breaking the law by continuing to fund Israel. That’s the substance of a leaked report from USAID.
USAID Administrator Samantha Power responded to a question about famine in Gaza earlier this month by telling Congress that one in three children in Gaza are malnourished.
Not only has Israel blocked aid from entering Gaza as children there die of malnutrition and dehydration and millions teeter on the brink of starvation, Israeli troops have attacked Palestinian and international humanitarian workers attempting to deliver aid and desperate Gazans trying to receive it.
Observers say these attacks—which include the infamous " Flour Massacre" and the drone strikes that killed seven World Central Kitchen staffers—were deliberate, which Israel denies.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict; the Israeli government estimates that roughly two-thirds of those killed are civilians. The number of people killed is likely an undercount, due to the thousands
missing and presumed buried beneath the rubble of hundreds of thousands of bombed-out buildings.
Mass graves have been uncovered near Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis.
Akram Al-Satarri, a reporter based in Gaza, spoke with Civil Defense officials and described the scene:
It looks like the mass graves, the three different mass graves, are containing around 700 bodies. Up to this particular moment, around 400 bodies were unearthed and discovered. Around 300 bodies or even more are still in the ground.
Tell the president that this is our tragedy and that funding Israel’s war is morally and legally untenable.
Most arrests have occurred without much resistance. But some clashes between the police and protesters have grown more intense, and there were some reports of injuries. At Emory University, for instance, the police used a “chemical irritant” to disperse the demonstrators and ultimately arrested 28 people.
This does not bode well. Even in the absence of arrests, the crack-down against protesters has been ham-fisted. Today, Columbia is threatening all student protesters with suspension.
Tabassum, who also minors in resistance to genocide — studies about conflicts including the war in Ukraine, genocide in Darfur, and the Holocaust — was selected from more than 200 students who qualified for the award, and was slated to deliver the customary valedictory speech at the May 10 commencement. Then, Tabassum was notified that she wouldn’t deliver the address at commencement after all because of safety concerns.
Tabassum had not yet written her speech when the decision was made to cancel it, but had planned to offer a message of hope.
Tell USC to let their valedictorian speak!
Even when I turn away from the situation in Gaza, I am struck by the overwhelming devaluation of some lives.
EMTALA, The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, is a federal law that was intended to prevent hospitals from denying emergency care to low-income patients, including those in active labor. It applies to hospitals that receive Medicare funding.
Last week, the case argued at the Supreme Court, Idaho and Moyle v. US, took up the question of whether abortion care must be legal in cases where pregnant people face “tragic emergency complications.”
Incorrectly, Idaho Solicitor General Joshua Turner claimed during oral arguments that “nothing in EMTALA requires doctors to … offer medical treatments that violate state law” by insisting they provide abortions needed to preserve pregnant person’s health.
Federal laws have precedence over state laws.
The Solicitor General, Elizabeth Preloger, explained the dangers of the Idaho law before the Supreme Court:
“In Idaho, doctors have to shut their eyes to everything except death—whereas, under EMTALA, you’re supposed to be thinking about things like: Is she about to lose her fertility? Is her uterus going to become incredibly scarred because of the bleeding? Is she about to undergo the possibility of kidney failure?”
There is not yet a transcript from today’s episode of Strict Scrutiny. The analysis provided by the three constitutional law professors who host the podcast was very dark. This may explain my feelings of hopelessness.
Melissa Murray suggested that the Democrats make ads highlighting clips from the oral argument to ensure that the Supreme Court is on the ballot.
Call on the Vice President to talk about the continued role of the Supreme Court to rob people of health and bodily autonomy.
I’m hoping that taking action will free up some head space for other things.
with love,
L