Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon dropped by talent agency for speaking at a pro-Palestine rally
Sarandon encouraged others to continue speaking out in support of Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza
Updated 22 November 2023
Arab News
LONDON: Hollywood talent agency UTA has dropped Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon after speaking at a pro-Palestine rally, a spokesperson for the agency confirmed to Deadline news site on Tuesday.
A video taken at the rally on Nov. 17 showed Sarandon telling the crowd, “There are a lot of people that are afraid, that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of how it feels to be Muslim in this country.”
Sarandon encouraged others to continue speaking out in support of Palestinians during Israel’s war in Gaza.
“People are questioning, people are standing up, people are educating themselves, people are stepping away from brainwashing that started when they were kids,” said Sarandon at the rally.
She also encouraged attendees to “be strong, be patient, be clear and stand with anybody who has the courage to speak out” and thanked “the Jewish community who’s come out to have our backs.”
Israel’s brutal assault on occupied Gaza has killed over 14,000 people, including at least 5,600 children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Sarandon signed with UTA in 2014 and starred in the films “Blue Beetle” and “Maybe I Do” this year, The Guardian reported.
She is the latest celebrity to face backlash for supporting Palestine amid the ongoing war. Mexican actress Melissa Barrera, who was set to play the lead in “Scream VII,” was fired from the film on Tuesday by the production company Spyglass for “antisemitic” social media posts.
Barrera has been vocal about her support for Palestine on Instagram and described Israel as committing genocide, and “brutally killing innocent Palestinians, mothers and children, under the pretense of destroying Hamas.”
Barrera responded to her firing by sharing an Instagram story that read: “At the end of the day, I’d rather be excluded for who I include than be included for who I exclude.”
Wanted: male voters for Harris in tough election battle with Trump
Polls show Trump has recently garnered significant support among Black men — and Hispanic men too
Ex-President Obama Obama calls on Black male voters not to be hesitant in supporting Harris instead of ‘crazy’ Trump
Updated 15 sec ago
AFP AP
WASHINGTON: Kamala Harris is making a major push for male voters, after an appeal by Barack Obama to Black men to drop sexist attitudes highlighted a key issue for the Democrat in next month’s US presidential election.
As polls show Donald Trump maintaining a lead among men, Harris and her campaign are appealing to them to shun the Republican’s macho “bullying” and back the vice president instead.
A New York Times/Siena survey of likely male voters earlier this week showed Republican former president Trump with a substantial lead over Harris, by 51 percent to 40 percent.
Harris rarely mentions her gender despite being America’s first female vice president, preferring to avoid making it a central issue in her campaign.
But now there are signs that she is being forced to address the issue anyway.
On Tuesday, Harris will appear at a town hall in Detroit with Charlamagne Tha God, a comedian and radio host whose show is popular with young, Black male voters.
She is also deploying running mate Tim Walz, a folksy Midwestern former football coach, in a bid to reach out to male voters with less than four weeks until election day on November 5.
Walz has appeared at football games and regularly talks about his love of hunting.
And their campaign this week launched “Hunters and Anglers for Harris-Walz” in a clear pitch to male voters.
The Harris campaign also said it would unleash “Big Dog Bill Clinton” to woo younger Black men in southern battleground states next week — despite his history of sex scandals.
But it was Obama’s comments to “the brothers” as he made his first appearance on the campaign trail for Harris on Thursday that made it clear that Democrats are concerned.
Republican former president Trump has long had a strong base among white men, but polls show he has recently garnered signficant support among Black men — and Hispanic men too.
A poll by the NAACP in September showed 63 percent of Black voters backed Harris over 13 percent for Trump — but while support for Harris among Black women was at 67 percent, it fell to 49 percent among Black men under 50.
While Trump has recently been stepping up his machismo-drenched pitch to young men on right-wing podcasts, Harris has also been reaching out.
Last week, she appeared on former “shock jock” turned pro-Harris radio host Howard Stern’s show where she talked about her love of Formula One.
“She should try to do better with men than she is currently doing,” Sarah Longwell, a conservative strategist and executive director of Republican Voters Against Trump, said in an interview with the Playbook Deep Dive podcast.
She pointed to figures in a recent Harvard-Harris poll showing that 18 to 29-year-old men backed Harris by 17 points while women did so 47 points for Harris, adding: “That’s a big gap.”
“It is the men. It is Hispanic men. It is Black men, which means it is part of this bigger cultural thing with men,” she said.
It’s not just Harris who is chasing voters of the opposite gender, however.
Next week, Trump will hold a town hall with women, despite his own history of sex scandals and as Democrats hammer him for his stance on abortion.
Obama blasts ‘crazy’ Trump
On Thursday, Obama lashed out at “crazy” Donald Trump and urged voters to back Harris as he brought his star power to the 2024 election campaign trail for the first time.
As he hit the stump in the must-win state of Pennsylvania, Obama also chided Black male voters for what he called hesitancy in supporting Democrat Harris because they “just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.”
Obama trained his fire on Trump during a pumped-up rally in Pittsburgh, comparing the Republican’s long speeches to late Cuban communist leader Fidel Castro’s and calling the billionaire out of touch with ordinary people.
America’s first Black president admitted that “this election’s going to be tight” as many voters were still struggling with high prices.
But he told the crowd that “what I cannot understand is why anybody would think that Donald Trump will shake things up,” adding: “You think Donald Trump ever changed a diaper?’
The popular Democrat called Trump’s schemes to sell bibles as “crazy” and used the same word to describe the 78-year-old former president’s embrace of conspiracy theories.
As the crowd booed Trump, his successor in the White House, Obama added: “Don’t boo — vote.”
“Kamala is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been,” he added.
Vice president Harris’s campaign said Obama’s appearance, the first in a series in battleground states before the November 5 election, was designed to get people out to vote in crucial Pennsylvania.
Obama took aim at male voters who might be attracted by the Republican’s appeals toward machismo.
“I’m sorry gentlemen, I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying and the putting people down, is a sign of strength,” he said.
“And I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is.”
Earlier, in a surprise stop before the rally at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh, Obama made an unusually direct appeal to Black men, whose support polls show Harris has struggled to mobilize.
Saying he had some “truths” that he wanted the Black community to hear, Obama said that “you’re coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I’ve got a problem with that.”
“Because part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president.”
Trump drives his anti-immigration message in Colorado suburb, seeks death penalty for migrants who kill Americans
Calls for death penalty for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer
Ignores rejection by Aurora officials of Venezuelan gang takeover
Updated 42 min 11 sec ago
AP
AURORA, Colorado: Donald Trump detoured from the battleground states Friday to visit a Colorado suburb that’s been in the news over illegal immigration as he drives a message, often using false or misleading claims and dehumanizing language, that migrants are causing chaos in smaller American cities and towns.
Trump’s rally in Aurora marked the first time ahead of the November election that either presidential campaign has visited Colorado, which reliably votes Democratic statewide.
The Republican nominee has long promised to stage the largest deportation operation in US history and has made immigration core to his political persona since launching his first campaign in 2015. In recent months, Trump has pinpointed specific smaller communities that have seen large arrivals of migrants, with tensions flaring locally over resources and some longtime residents expressing distrust about sudden demographic changes.
Aurora entered the spotlight in August when a video circulated showing armed men walking through an apartment building housing Venezuelan migrants. Trump has claimed extensively that Venezuelan gangs are taking over buildings, even though authorities say that was a single block of the suburb near Denver, and the area is again safe.
Ignoring those denials from local authorities, Trump painted a picture of apartment complexes overrun by “barbaric thugs” and streets unsafe to travel, blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival.
“They’re ruining your state,” Trump said of the Democrats in the White House.
“No person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can ever be allowed to become the president of the United States,” Trump added.
Dehumanizing language
Trump often used dehumanizing language, referring to his political rivals as “scum” and to migrants as ” animals ” who have “invaded and conquered” Aurora. The town is “infected by Venezuela,” he said.
“We have to clean out our country,” Trump said. And he reprised the first controversy of his career in politics, when he launched his 2016 campaign by saying migrants are rapists and bring drugs and crime.
“I took a lot of heat for saying it, but I was right,” Trump said Friday, repeating the false claim that other countries are emptying their prisons and mental institutions and dumping their worst criminals in the United States.
To thunderous applause, he called for the death penalty “for any migrant that kills an American citizen or a law enforcement officer.”
Trump announced that as president he’d launch “Operation Aurora” to focus on deporting members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, or TDA. The violent gang traces its origins more than a decade to an infamously lawless prison with hardened criminals.
Trump also repeated his pledge to invoke the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law that allows the president to deport any noncitizen who is from a country that the US is at war with.
In July, the Biden administration issued a sanction against the gang and offered $12 million in rewards for the arrest of three leaders.
Trump exagerrates
Aurora resident Jodie Powell, 54, was among the attendees at Trump’s Friday event. She said it’s “not the case” that Venezuelan gangs have taken over the city, as Trump claims. Still, Powell said she’s seen an increase in crime she associates with newcomers, citing a police chase that ended at a store where she was shopping.
“It takes a small amount of people to make a big difference in the community,” said Powell, who ranks immigration as her top concern alongside the economy. “It’s scary, it’s a scary thing.”
At the venue where Trump appeared, posters displayed mug shots of people in prison-orange with descriptions including “Illegal immigrant gang members from Venezuela.”
“Look at all these photos around me,” Stephen Miller, a former top aide who is expected to take a senior role in the White House if Trump wins, told the crowd. “Are these the kids you grew up with? Are these the neighbors you were raised with? Are these the neighbors that you want in your city?” The crowd roared ”no” in reply.
Some Colorado officials, including the Republican mayor of Aurora, accused Trump and other Republicans of overstating problems in the city.
“Again, the reality is that the concerns about Venezuelan gang activity in our city — and our state — have been grossly exaggerated and have unfairly hurt the city’s identity and sense of safety,” said Mike Coffman, a former US congressman.
Spreading falsehoods
Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, also have spread falsehoods about a community in Springfield, Ohio, where they said Haitian immigrants were accused of stealing and eating pets.
While Ohio and Colorado are not competitive in the presidential race, the Republican message on immigration is intended for states that are. Vance campaigned recently in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a city of 70,000 that has resettled refugees from Africa and Asia, and touted Trump’s plan to ramp up deportations. He argues smaller communities have been “overrun” by immigrants taxing local resources.
Trump has vowed to deport not only “criminals,” a promise he shares with Harris, but also Haitians living legally in Springfield and even people he has denigrated as “pro-Hamas radicals” protesting on college campuses. Trump has said he would revoke the temporary protected status that allows Haitians to stay in the US because of widespread poverty and violence in their home nation.
Harris has tacked to the right on immigration, presenting herself as a candidate who can be tough on policing the border, which is perceived as one of her biggest vulnerabilities.
She wrapped up a three-day western swing with a campaign event Friday in Scottsdale, Arizona, where she said she would create a bipartisan council of advisers to provide feedback on her policy initiatives if she makes it to the White House.
“I love good ideas wherever they come from,” said Harris, who is making a push to get Republicans with doubts about Trump to support her.
Trump let Iran off the hook: Harris
She also accused Trump of letting Iran “off the hook” while he was in office and argued she would be a greater champion for Israel’s security.
“Make no mistake, as president, I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend American forces and interests from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists,” Harris said in a call with Jewish supporters ahead of Yom Kippur. “And I will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. Diplomacy is my preferred path to that end. But all options are on the table.”
Harris charged that Trump “did nothing” after Iran “attacked US bases and American troops.”
The criticism by Harris was a knock on Trump for downplaying a January 2020 missile attack by Iran on a US base in Iraq that left several American troops with concussion-like symptoms, including some who had to be evacuated for treatment. Trump earlier this month referred to the injuries as a “headache.”
The Iranian missile attack came days after Trump ordered a strike that that killed Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, and raised tensions between the US and Iran.
Harris participated virtually in a White House briefing with President Biden on the recovery effort from hurricanes Milton and Helene. She sought to reassure those who endured losses from the hurricane that they would get help from the government.
Fourteen years in prison for US soldier who sought to aid Daesh
According to court documents, Bridges, who joined the army in 2019, went from consuming online terrorist propaganda to trying to provide information to aid Daesh, which once held swathes of Iraq and Syria
Updated 12 October 2024
AFP
WASHINGTON: A US soldier who pleaded guilty to trying to provide information to the Daesh group to help it attack American troops in the Middle East was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday.
Cole Bridges, 24, pleaded guilty in June of last year to attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and attempting to murder US military service members.
Bridges, a private first class from Ohio, was sentenced to 14 years in prison on Friday and 10 years of supervised release, the Justice Department said in a statement.
According to court documents, Bridges, who joined the army in 2019, went from consuming online terrorist propaganda to trying to provide information to aid Daesh, which once held swathes of Iraq and Syria.
In October 2020, Bridges began communicating with an FBI employee who was posing as an Daesh supporter, the Justice Department said.
“During these communications, Bridges expressed his frustration with the US military and his desire to aid Daesh,” the department said.
Bridges provided “training and guidance” to purported Daesh fighters, including advice about potential targets in New York City, it said, and information on “how to attack US forces in the Middle East.”
In January 2021, Bridges, who was based at Fort Stewart in Georgia, sent a video to the covert FBI employee of himself in body armor standing in front of a flag used by Daesh fighters.
Russia’s Putin cements ties with Iranian president in Central Asia meeting
Putin invites Pezeshkian to Russia for official visit
US concerned over closer Iran-Russia ties
Updated 12 October 2024
Reuters
MOSCOW: Russia’s Vladimir Putin held talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday in Turkmenistan, where the two leaders hailed their countries growing economic ties and similar views on world affairs, an entente viewed with concern by the United States.
At odds with Washington and the European Union over Russia’s war in Ukraine, something he casts as part of a wider existential struggle against an arrogant and self-interested West — Putin is keen to deepen ties with what he calls the Global East and Global South.
Putin, whose country is hosting a summit of the BRICS nations in Kazan on Oct. 22-24, invited Pezeshkian to come to Russia on an official visit, a proposal the Iranian leader accepted according to Russia’s state RIA news agency.
“Economically and culturally, our communications are being strengthened day by day and becoming more robust,” Pezeshkian was cited as telling Putin by Iran’s official IRNA news agency.
“The growing trend of cooperation between Iran and Russia, considering the will of the top leaders of both countries, must be accelerated to strengthen these ties,” he said.
In a later report from Dubai, Russia’s TASS news agency quoted the Iranian president, in a video issued by his office, as saying the two sides had agreed to boost cooperation in a number of areas.
“Our talks with the Russian president lasted about an hour. And we talked again about agreements that we have concluded,” the report quoted him as saying.
“We have constructive interaction. We agreed to speed up the completion of projects in the gas sectors, in road and rail construction, desalination and other projects linked to energy, petrochemicals and electricity.”
Pezeshkian last month committed his country to deeper ties with Russia to counter Western sanctions. The two countries say they are close to signing a strategic partnership agreement, something Pezeshkian said on Friday he hoped could be finalized at the BRICS summit in Russia later this month.
The United States regards Moscow’s growing relationship with Tehran with concern. It has accused Iran of supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in the conflict in Ukraine, something Tehran has denied.
Russia says cooperation with Iran is expanding in all areas.
“We actively work together in the international arena, and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close,” TASS cited Putin as telling Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the conference in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat.
Pezeshkian, according to IRNA, noted that Iran and Russia had significant complementary capacities and could assist each other. “Our positions in the world are much closer to each other than to others,” he was quoted as telling the Russian leader.
Pezeshkian said earlier that Israel should “stop killing innocent people,” and its actions in the Middle East were backed by the US and EU. Russia has also criticized Israel, which says it is protecting its own security, for bombing civilian areas.
Putin was cited by TASS as telling Pezeshkian that economic ties between Moscow and Tehran were on the up.
In comments released by the Kremlin earlier on Friday, Putin told the conference in the Central Asian country that a new world order was being formed and that new centers of economic growth and financial and political influence were emerging.
Russia supported “the broadest possible international discussion” on the emerging multipolar world and was open to discussing it within various fora, including the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Eurasian Economic Union, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS, said Putin.
US expands sanctions on Iran in response to its ballistic attack on Israel
Increasingly, however, escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regional war
Updated 12 October 2024
AP
WASHINGTON: The US on Friday announced new sanctions on Iran’s energy sector in response to its Oct. 1 attack on Israel when it fired roughly 180 missiles into the country.
Iran said the barrage was retaliation for a series of devastating blows Israel has landed in recent weeks against the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been firing rockets into Israel since the war in Gaza began.
Included in Friday’s sanctions are blocks on Iran’s so-called “ghost fleet” of ships and associated firms that span the United Arab Emirates, Liberia, Hong Kong and other jurisdictions that allegedly obfuscate and transport Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia.
Additionally, the US State Department designated a network of companies based in Suriname, India, Malaysia and Hong Kong for allegedly arranging for the sale and transport of petroleum and petroleum products from Iran.
Current US law authorizes sanctions targeting Iran’s energy sector as well as foreign firms that buy sell and transport Iranian oil. But energy sanctions are often a delicate issue as restricting supplies could push up prices for global commodities that the US and its allies need.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security advise, said the new sanctions “will help further deny Iran financial resources used to support its missile programs and provide support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States, its allies, and partners.”
The penalties aim to block them from using the US financial system and bar American citizens from dealing with them.
Israel and Iran have fought a shadow war for years, but rarely have they come into direct conflict. Increasingly, however, escalating attacks between Israel and Iran and its Arab allies threaten to push the Middle East closer to a regional war.
Iran launched another direct attack on Israel in April, but few of its projectiles reached their targets. Many were shot down by a US-led coalition while others apparently failed at launch or crashed in flight.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Friday that the United States “will not hesitate to take further action to hold Iran accountable.”