Raw Story

Pro-Palestinian activists who refused to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in November because of the policies of President Joe Biden's administration are going into 2025 facing the prospect things will likely take a turn for the worse for their cause with Donald Trump in power.

According to a report from Politico's Irie Senter, the political director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Beth Miller, admitted, "“The Palestinian rights movement is very clear-eyed in understanding that it is very likely that this Trump administration will mean that things get much worse for Palestinians,” and then added, "This administration will likely be coming very quickly to try to take down the Palestinian rights movement."

As Senter explained, "The movement has tended to focus its efforts on who controls the White House and Democrats, whom its leaders view as more persuadable to soften support for Israel. But 15 months into the war in the Middle East, as the GOP trifecta prepares to control the White House and Congress, leaders in the movement find themselves with far less leverage — and much more to lose."

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Noting that the president-elect is a staunch defender of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and one of his key donors is Israeli billionaire Miriam Adelson, the report adds he likely will side with Israel in every dispute.

According to Arab American Institute and DNC veteran James Zogby, the leadership of the "Uncommitted" movement that refused to endorse Harris put themselves in the place they find themselves now.

“Some self-criticism is due in the pro-Palestinian movement because they boxed themselves into a corner following the convention by not enabling themselves to support Harris,” Zogby explained.

According to Uncommitted National Movement co-founder Layla Elabed, sister of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), "Harris didn’t lose just because of Uncommitted or because she was unwilling to shift on Biden’s Gaza policy. But she could have really possibly won if she had turned the page away from Biden’s policy and brought in those voters, especially young voters, who were withholding their vote, or decided to do a protest vote in the general election because of that policy.”

The report adds the pro-Palestinian movement will now move on to "more local political tactics, including economic pressure campaigns like boycotts, supporting protests and community organizing."

You can read the Politico report here.

Despite a Donald Trump endorsement on Monday for Republican Party members of the House to re-elect Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) as House Speaker, several GOP lawmakers are currently unpersuaded setting up yet another embarrassing scenario for the House majority party.

Trump's very long Truth Social post on Monday touched upon a multitude of topics before getting to he end where he wrote, “Speaker Mike Johnson is a good, hard working, religious man. He will do the right thing, and we will continue to WIN. Mike has my Complete & Total Endorsement. MAGA!!!” then adding, "LETS NOT BLOW THIS GREAT OPPORTUNITY WHICH WE HAVE BEEN GIVEN."

That "great opportunity" may have to be put on hold as several House Republicans have made it clear they either won't vote for the embattled Johnson, or will demand concessions from him before considering backing him.

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According to a report from Rolling Stone, that could cast a cloud over the second coming of president-elect Donald Trump.

Following Trump's Monday post, Rep. Tom Massie (R-KY) responded on X by writing, "I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan."

That led Rolling Stone's Naomi LaChance to write, "it’s likely that Johnson can only afford to lose one vote from Republicans," before adding, "The situation suggests there could be more embarrassing disarray among House Republicans just as Trump gets ready to take back power. Johnson, of course, only became speaker last year because a handful of Republicans decided to oust Kevin McCarthy — and Democrats joined them."

According to one House Republican who spoke with Axios, "Not sure if they deny the first vote or he will be forced to negotiate prior. I think there are 4-8 ready to hold out at least until the vote."

Rolling Stone's LaChance added, "Some lawmakers are unhappy with the way things are shaping up," with moderate Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) complaining, "To oppose Johnson now weakens the GOP and strengthens Hakeem Jeffries. It also puts at risk the Electoral College Certification scheduled for 6 Jan. These guys serve as a ‘fifth column’ for the Dems.”

You can read more here.

Hours after a man drove an F-150 truck through barriers in New Orleans' Bourbon Street district killing at least ten revelers and injuring at three dozen, Donald Trump weighed in on Truth Social.

The president-elect started off his social media post by attacking Democrats and the media while appearing to claim the driver, who was shot and killed by police, came from outside the country while providing no evidence.

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On Truth Social, Trump first wrote, "When I said that the criminals coming in are far worse than the criminals we have in our country, that statement was constantly refuted by Democrats and the Fake News Media, but it turned out to be true. The crime rate in our country is at a level that nobody has ever seen before."

He then got around to the victims and their families, writing: "Our hearts are with all of the innocent victims and their loved ones, including the brave officers of the New Orleans Police Department. The Trump Administration will fully support the City of New Orleans as they investigate and recover from this act of pure evil!"

You can see his post here.

Prosecutors are accusing an Austin, Texas, 17-year-old of animal cruelty after allegedly poisoning another student's pet goat, the Daily Mail reports.

Aubrey Vanlandingham, who often entered her own pet goat, Lacey, "in animal shows across the state for cash prizes and certificates," according to Daily Mail, is accused of using toxic pesticide to poison "Willie" the goat in the school's barn.

The Guardian reports that Willie "died about 21 hours later after convulsing and showing signs of respiratory distress," after the Vista Ridge High School student allegedly force-fed the goat pesticide, according to documents.

Vanlandingham told police, the news outlet notes, "that she deliberately poisoned the goat because she believed the animal’s owner was 'a cheater', according to the affidavit.

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This was not the first time she tried to kill the goat.

"We were there when he passed away," the mother of Willie's owner told the Daily Mail. "My daughter was actually holding him. So that was very traumatic."

She added, "We don’t believe there is any remorse there. We want justice served, we don’t want a slap on the wrist. We want to make sure that she is punished."

The Daily Mail reports Vanlandingham could serve up to two years in prison and a $10,000 fine if found guilty.

Daily Mail's full report is available at this link. The Guardian's report is here.

In the aftermath of the 2024 election, some Joe Biden staffers have accused Vice President Kamala Harris behind closed doors of blowing the election, relitigating whether it was even necessary for Biden to drop out in the first place and speculating whether he could have defeated Donald Trump had he just stuck with it and fought past the disastrous debate in June.

This is a complete "fantasy," Will Saletan wrote for The Bulwark — and the polling data makes it clear Biden was not just heading for a far worse blowout, he was a key factor in why Harris lost in the first place.

"It’s not clear whether Biden actually believes this. His aides and associates have given varying accounts. But some people in his circle seem to be nursing the idea that he should have remained in the race and would have succeeded where Harris failed," wrote Saletan. "They’re wrong. Let’s put this delusion to bed."

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The VoteCast data on the 2024 electorate paints a clear picture of what happened, Saletan explained — and it shows that Biden put Democrats in a huge deficit that Harris managed to climb out of, but only partly.

"The top row of the table shows that 70 percent of voters knew all along which way they were going to vote. Of these, 59 percent voted for Trump and 40 percent for Harris. Since Harris didn’t replace Biden till July, it’s logical to infer that those 40 percent were going to vote for Biden. She basically inherited them," wrote Saletan. "Losing 70 percent of the electorate by a spread of 59 percent to 40 percent is very bad. It means that Biden put Harris in a serious hole. When you do the math, it means that she began her leg of the relay with locked-in support from only 28 percent of the electorate, compared to Trump’s 41 percent."

With that in mind, Saletan concluded, it's a wonder Harris kept the race as close as she did.

"There’s plenty to regret about Biden’s campaign," he wrote. "Maybe he should have skipped the 2024 race and let a new generation of Democrats fight it out. Maybe he should have focused less on passing good legislation and more on taking credit. Maybe — and it pains me to say this, as a Bulwark institutionalist — he shouldn’t have counted on a majority of Americans to stand up for the rule of law. But handing the reins to Harris in July, rather than sticking it out, wasn’t one of his mistakes. His mistake was that he didn’t do so sooner."

No, an intern is not to blame for Ford Motor Company’s official X account going rogue on Monday after a series of posts that said: “ALL EYES ON GAZA,” “Israel is a terrorist state,” and “Free Palestine.”

The automaker – the latest high-profile social media account to have been hacked over the years– has since deleted the posts that were fired off Monday evening, and launched an investigation into the matter.

“Our X account was briefly compromised and three posts were made that were not authorized or posted by Ford,” the company wrote on X. “They do not represent the views of Ford Motor Company. Ford and X are investigating this breach.”

But by then, the posts had already made their rounds across social media, and users armed with screenshots were quick to hop on the bandwagon with comments.

“Here for woke ford motor company,” tech journalist Paris Marx wrote on Bluesky.

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“Someone give the ford social media intern a raise,” podcaster Cortland Coffey wrote on Bluesky.

“Ford Motor company popped off,” tech journalist Taylor Lorenz told her Bluesky followers.

“Holy s--- this is real (checked myself),” Lauren McKenzie wrote in a social media post. “What’s it called when you’re anti anti-genocide,” she wrote in a follow-up post above Ford’s own social media statement – which drew their own attacks.

“This is a statement and not an apology,” rabbi Samuel Stern wrote in a reply post. “I wonder if the unauthorized posts targeted anyone else if you would have apologized?"

“Incredibly weak statement,” Brianna Wu, executive director of Rebellion PAC, told her followers on X. “Denounce antisemitism. Apologize to the Jewish community. Promise consequences for the people responsible.”