In this news article from Reuters, “The World Court, the United Nations’ highest court, said on Friday that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there is illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

“The advisory opinion by judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel.

“‘Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,’ President Nawaf Salam said, reading the findings of a 15-judge panel.

“The court said Israel’s obligations include paying restitution for harm and ‘the evacuation of all settlers from existing settlements’.
In a swift reaction, Israel’s foreign ministry rejected the opinion as ‘fundamentally wrong’ and one-sided, and repeated its stance that a political settlement in the region can only be reached by negotiations.

“‘The Jewish nation cannot be an occupier in its own land,’ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement. Israel Gantz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council, one of the largest settler councils, said the ICJ opinion was ‘contrary to the Bible, morality, and international law’.

“The ICJ opinion also found that the U.N. Security Council, the General Assembly and all states have an obligation not to recognize the occupation as legal nor “render aid or assistance” toward maintaining Israel’s presence in the occupied territories.”

Reuters also has an article about the connections between the West Bank settlements and the Republican Party: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-settlers-court-republican-religious-right-after-hamas-attacks-2024-07-20/

“Donald Trump and his allies have spent years amplifying a conspiracy theory that Democratic officials are intentionally letting people into the country illegally to ‘replace’ the voting population.

“But lately, the former president has been claiming that the ‘invasion’ is specifically coming after Black Americans.” In his typical fearmongering, evidence-lacking style.

“He now claims that ‘the Black population is going to die’ without his violent immigration agenda in place, pitching his anti-immigration platform as a way to attract Black voters.

“’The Black people are going to be decimated by the millions of people that are coming into the country,’ he told Bloomberg in an interview published on July 16.

“’There will never be a decimation like this, and they’re already feeling it,’ he added. ‘Their wages have gone way down. Their jobs are being taken by the migrants coming in illegally into the country.’

“His language then turned apocalyptic.

“’The Black population in this country is going to die because of what’s happened, what’s going to happen to their jobs — their jobs, their housing, everything,’ he said. ‘I want to stop that. … They’re taking everything.’

“He then suggested that he believes President Joe Biden wants people who live in the country illegally to take Black Americans’ jobs from them.”

Here is the complete transcript of his interview with Bloomberg, with fact-checking notes alongside:
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2024-trump-interview-transcript/?terminal=true

With some quotes taken from this article that focuses on the one aspect:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-floats-outrageous-claim-that-black-americans-are-going-to-die-because-immigrants-are-taking-their-jobs/ar-BB1q9Qgx

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson, who endorsed sending fake electors to Washington for Trump, who has consistently said that Trump won and the election was stolen, and has been broadly divisive throughout his tenure, said this week: “Let’s turn this moment into a moment that helps us down that path of healing and unity.”

And then on the floor of the Republican National Convention yesterday, said: “Today’s Democrat agenda, their policies, are a clear and present danger to America.”

“Clear and present danger” is a familiar LEGAL term that Merriam Webster defines as “a risk or threat to safety or other public interests that is serious and imminent. especially : one that justifies limitation of a right (as freedom of speech or press) by the legislative or executive branch of government.”

I wonder which policies represent that kind of immediate danger. The ones that created over 15 million jobs for the U.S. (more than any previous president’s job creation), or got our economy recovering after COVID, or got more people insured, or narrowed income inequality, or added IRS agents to start collecting on unpaid billionaire taxes, promoting equal treatment of all people regardless of any categories, or increasing spending for local and state law enforcement?

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-opinion-biden-accomplishment-data/

“The first night of the RNC was supposed to be about the economy, with the goal of uniting voters of all ideological persuasions who are frustrated by high prices. But some of the biggest applause lines came from harsh criticisms of transgender people.

“It’s a reminder that cultural issues motivate the GOP base as much as financial ones. A trio of speakers unabashedly went after Democrats who have sought greater acceptance for transgender people. Of particular outrage to Republicans this year was Biden marking Transgender Day of Visibility. It happened to overlap with Easter in 2024, a byproduct of the Christian holiday being based off the lunar calendar.

“To many in the LGBTQ+ community, it was a coincidence. But to many Republicans, it was an insult.

“They promised normalcy and gave us Transgender Visibility Day on Easter Sunday,” said Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.”

(Transgender Visibility Day has been on March 31 since it began. Easter Sunday is always on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox. This year, those two things happened on the same day.)
https://apnews.com/article/rnc-day-one-takeaways-38a19cbcff05d5422330fcc8ae6df7c3

Some snippets from an article that discusses GOP messaging about violence and fascism.

“The GOP elite has rallied around a new messaging strategy: emotionally blackmailing Democratic politicians, journalists, Hollywood celebs, and numerous other Trump critics into shutting up about the former president’s openly authoritarian vows and his extreme policy agenda.”

“Two of the finalists on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist quickly blamed the assassination attempt on talk about his authoritarian plans. ‘The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,’ Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) wrote Saturday night. ‘That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.’ Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said the attack on Trump was ‘aided and abetted by the radical Left and corporate media incessantly calling Trump a threat to democracy, fascists, or worse.’ These messages are all part of a deliberate strategy.”

“The attempt on Trump’s life does nothing to change the reality that he is – in fact – running on an openly authoritarian platform. Trump and his closest allies are pledging to punish President Joe Biden and other top Democrats and jail his political opponents; unleash the National Guard and active-duty troops on Democratic-controlled cities whenever he wishes; end the Justice Department’s independence so he can use it to crush his foes, shut down his criminal cases, and erase any hope of accountability for his alleged crimes; retaliate against media outlets that cover him negatively; deport pro-Palestine protesters; oversee an unprecedented crackdown on immigrants, potentially erecting a vast network of camps on U.S. soil; further institutionalize his anti-democratic lies and conspiracy theories that led directly to the Jan. 6 attack; and even invade and bomb Mexico if he feels like it.”

“On the campaign trail, the former president has evoked the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler, accusing immigrants of ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’

“Saturday’s assassination attempt also does not change the fact that Trump has repeatedly and very publicly endorsed political violence over the years. Trump is calling now for ‘peace’ and ‘unity,’ but he has a lengthy track record of downplaying or excusing the harm done to the victims of pro-Trump violence.”

“Trump has campaigned as a populist strongman – that didn’t change overnight.”

Complete article here: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-allies-try-to-bully-dems-media-to-shut-up-about-his-fascist-plans/ar-BB1pYTom