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Ralph welcomes former TV writer turned grass roots organizer, Jason Berlin, who explains how his group, Field Team 6, uses the latest data and analytics to identify and reach out to potential Democratic voters in order to register them to vote and how that could turn the tide in purple, flippable states.

Jason Berlin is a former TV writer and co-founder of Field Team 6, a national voter-registration project that organizes voter drives to register Democrats in the most flippable states across the country.

The fact is you can't get out the vote if those voters don't exist to begin with. It's like no one had a talk with people about where a voter comes from. So we concentrate on that first half of the equation\u2014getting people over that biggest hurdle, getting them registered, generating this river of new Democrats and Independents who can then get into the system and be targeted by the massive get-out-the-vote machinery.

Jason Berlin

The Democratic Party over the years has exhibited serious symptoms of masochism. It\u2019s like they've written off half the country, where they don't even compete.

Ralph Nader

In Case You Haven\u2019t Heard with Francesco DeSantis

News 9/4/24

1. On August 28th, the Israeli Defense Forces targeted United Nations World Food Programme vehicles with \u201crepeated gunfire,\u201d per CNN. According to the agency, \u201cDespite being clearly marked and receiving multiple clearances by Israeli authorities to approach, the vehicle was directly struck by gunfire as it was moving toward an\u2026IDF\u2026checkpoint.\u201d Photos show at least ten bullet holes in the vehicle windows. As this piece highlights, \u201congoing airstrikes and repeated evacuation orders by Israeli forces have forced many of the agency\u2019s food warehouses and community kitchens to shutter\u2026The IDF-designated \u2018humanitarian zone\u2019 in Gaza is also steadily shrinking; in the past month alone, the IDF has reduced this zone by 38%.\u201d This incident is reminiscent of the Israeli strike on World Central Kitchen workers in April, when the IDF killed three Britons, a Palestinian, a US-Canadian dual citizen, an Australian, and a Pole via multiple airstrikes. Two days after the World Food Programme incident, CNN reported that the IDF killed four in a humanitarian aid vehicle affiliated with the American Near East Refugee Aid organization.

2. On Monday, the Israeli labor federation, Histradrut, called a general strike in order to \u201cpressure Netanyahu\u2019s government into changing its approach to cease-fire negotiations,\u201d per NPR. This action was taken in response to the death of six hostages who would have been released had Israel agreed to the ceasefire proposed in early July. According to NPR, \u201cMany schools and government buildings were shut\u2026[and]\u2026Ben Gurion airport\u2026paused flights for several hours.\u201d Yet, Israel\u2019s Labor Court quickly ordered the strike to end and the union obeyed; the action lasted less than one business day. This incident illustrates the deep discontent with the Netanyahu government\u2019s handling of the hostage negotiations, but also the impotence of Israeli civil society to change course.

3. In more positive news related to labor and Israel, Democracy Now! reports Jimmy Williams Jr. president of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, says his union is \u201cdirecting its massive international pension fund to divest from the Gaza genocide.\u201d According to left-wing British outlet Skwakbox, the Painter\u2019s Union receives $330 million dollars in new contributions from union members each year.

4. The Middle East Monitor reports \u201cRay Youssef, CEO of the Bitcoin marketplace platform, Noonesapp\u2026[alleges that cryptocurrency giant Binance] \u2018has seized all funds from all Palestinians as per the request of the IDF. They refuse to return the funds. All appeals denied.\u2019\u201d Responding to this allegation, a Binance spokesperson claimed that this seizure of assets only covers a limited number of accounts linked to \u201cillicut funds,\u201d though \u201cBinance did not specify the extent or value of the \u2018illicit funds\u2019 involved.\u201d Boosters of cryptocurrency, like Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have framed it in terms of \u201ctransactional freedom,\u201d per Axios. Not so for the Palestinians, it seems.

5. Jeremy Corbyn, former leader of the U.K. Labour Party, has united with four other independent, pro-Gaza MPs to form the Independent Alliance, per the BBC. This new parliamentary bloc will \u201cuse their\u2026platform to campaign for scrapping the two-child benefit limit and against arms sales to Israel.\u201d With five MPs in this alliance, it already outnumbers the Green Party and is equal to Reform UK, the far-right party formed by Brexit champion Nigel Farage. In their first move since forming the Independent Alliance, the MPs issued a statement in response to Foreign Minister David Lammy\u2019s announcement that the U.K. will suspend a small number of arms export licenses to Israel. This statement reads \u201cFor months, we have called for an immediate and full suspension of arms sales to Israel. The government has finally admitted there is a clear risk of weapons being used to commit violations of international law\u2026This announcement must be the first step in ending all arms\u2026used by the Israeli military to commit genocide in Gaza.\u201d

6. According to the ACLU of Indiana, \u201c[Indiana University] has approved a new policy that prohibits all expressive activity if it takes place between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., even if the activity is not at all disruptive, such as standing silently, holding a sign, wearing a t-shirt with a communicative message, or discussing current events with friends.\u201d This policy, which \u201ccarries harsh punishments, including suspension or expulsion for students, and suspension or termination of staff,\u201d was adopted in response to campus pro-Palestine demonstrations last year. The ACLU of Indiana has already filed a lawsuit to overturn this chilling policy. And at New York University, Palestine Legal reports \u201cIn a dangerous escalation of repression, [NYU] announced new student conduct policies last week that appear to prohibit criticism of Zionism. If implemented, these policies risk creating a hostile environment for Palestinian and anti-Zionist Jewish students and severely curtail\u2026free expression.\u201d This statement notes that NYU does not afford protected status to any other political ideology and that this decision \u201copens the door for other ethno-nationalist ideologies to claim protection from criticism. With Zionism enshrined as a protected class, there\u2019s no reason why Hindu nationalism, Christian nationalism, white nationalism or similar ideologies wouldn\u2019t be afforded the same.\u201d Palestine Legal has vowed that it will \u201ccontinue to monitor and combat institutional attempts to punish and censor students organizing for Palestinian rights.\u201d

7. In a major escalation of tensions, the United States seized Venezuelan President Nicol\xe1s Maduro\u2019s plane in the Dominican Republic and transferred it to Florida, per the BBC. According to this report, \u201cUS officials said the plane was seized for suspected violations of US export control and sanctions laws,\u201d while Venezuelan officials have denounced this move as an act of \u201cpiracy,\u201d and \u201creserves the right to take any legal action to repair this damage to the nation.\u201d Foreign Minister Yv\xe1n Gil said the US had justified itself \u201cwith the coercive measures that they unilaterally and illegally impose around the world.\u201d This is just the latest case of western governments seizing Venezuelan state assets; in 2018, the Bank of England seized nearly $2 billion worth of Venezuelan gold and has refused to return those assets despite urging from the United Nations special rapporteur on sanctions, per Declassified UK.

8. The Miami Herald is out with a stunning new report on the dubious \u201cHavana Syndrome\u201d which finds that patients were \u201ccoerced\u201d to join an NIH study on the supposed illness. According to this piece, \u201cAn internal review board at the National Institutes of Health\u2026decided to shut down a long-term study of Havana Syndrome patients that found no signs of brain injuries, after several participants complained of mishandled medical data, bias and pressures to join the research. [Jennifer George] A spokeswoman for NIH said the internal review found that \u2018informed consent\u2019 policies to join the study \u2018were not met due to coercion.\u201d Though George insists the coercion was not on the part of the NIH, she declined to identify who coerced the patients.

9. Daniel Nichanian of Bolts Magazine reports \u201c[Arizona Democratic Senate nominee Ruben] Gallego, fresh off of a police union endorsement, just penned a letter to the US [Department of Justice] asking them to stand down in its investigations against the Phoenix police and its effort to bring the department under a consent decree.\u201d The proposed consent decree in question stems from a DOJ investigation that found \u201c[Phoenix PD] uses excessive force, including unjustified deadly force\u2026 unlawfully detain, cite, and arrest people experiencing homelessness and unlawfully dispose of their belongings\u2026discriminates against Black, Hispanic, and Native American people when enforcing the law\u2026violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech and expression\u2026[and] discriminate against people with behavioral health disabilities when dispatching calls for assistance and responding to people in crisis.\u201d

10. Finally, in more positive Senate-related news, a new Split Ticket poll shows populist Independent candidate Dan Osborn running neck-and-neck with incumbent Republican Senator Deb Fischer in Nebraska. While Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris 54 to 37, the same poll shows Senator Fischer leading by only 1 point \u2013 39% to Osborn\u2019s 38%, with 23% undecided. Osborn, a union leader who organized the 2021 Kellogg strike, has been favorably profiled by the American Prospect. There is no Democrat running for this seat.

This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven\u2019t Heard.