The House Passes Bill Allowing Trump Admin to Declare #Nonprofits Terrorist Supporters
This time, only 15 Democrats voted for the “nonprofit-killer” bill -- WTFH??
#Terrorism #HR9495 #ProtectDissent #politics https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/11/hr9495-nonprofit-killer-bill-passes-house-trump-palestine-protest/
Democrats Must Do Everything They Can to Block the Dangerous #NonProfit Bill -- #HR9495
The House passed a bill aimed at giving the government sweeping powers to crush non-profits and attack supporters of #Palestine. Democrats need to stand firmly in its way.
Opinion by Darryl Li
November 23, 2024
"While President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t return to office until January 20, Congress is already advancing the most sweeping and dangerous terrorism legislation in a generation, which would give him the power to shut down legitimate civil society groups doing important charitable, community organizing, human rights, and humanitarian work.
"Earlier this week, the House passed HR 9495, an amendment to the tax code that would empower the Treasury Department to unilaterally brand non-profit groups as 'terrorist supporting organizations' and suspend their charitable tax exemption, without giving the groups any due process or access to the evidence against them. The resulting stigma of such a designation would almost certainly be enough to scare off banks, likely depriving these groups of the ability to function altogether.
"The drive to kill non-profits is dangerous no matter who is president, and, in the past few weeks, most House Democrats appear to have woken up to the risks of the legislation. 52 Democrats voted to support the bill as recently as last week, but by the time a subsequent vote came around on Thursday, only 15 voted in favor. But that was still enough to give Republicans the votes they needed to pass the bill. Going forward, the demand from everyone watching this process should be clear: even one Democratic vote is one too many, and Senate Democrats should promise that they will not support the legislation.
"It’s not hard to see the reason behind this sudden attack on non-profits. The bill’s sponsors have made no secret of their desire to smear certain non-profits as instigators of campus protests against Israel as working at the behest of Hamas – a claim for which there is no evidence. Israel’s supporters in Congress and elsewhere have been equally clear about their agenda to crush Palestine human rights advocacy in the United States. Just last month, the Heritage Foundation unveiled 'Project Esther,' a policy blueprint to attack supporters of Palestinian rights in the higher education and profit sectors – essentially an anti-Palestinian Project 2025.
"But the dangers extend far beyond any one issue. Two Republican House committee chairs earlier this year sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen demanding information on 20 groups, from Students for Justice in Palestine (which isn’t even a registered non-profit) to liberal behemoths like the Open Society Foundations and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation."
#StopHR9495 #SilencingDissent #ProjectEsther #Project2025 #Fascism #Authoritarianism #FreePalestine #CeasefireNow #HeritageFoundation #Trump #StudentsForJusticeInPalestine #CivilSociety #HumanRights
#HR9495 could cripple #NonProfits like the #GazaSoupKitchen! #StopHR9495, #StopArmingIsrael, #FreeGaza!
Hot meals 4 Starved #Palestinian Kids in #NorthGaza
Update on November 22, 2024 by #HaniAlmadhoun, Organizer
"Hello and warm greetings to all of you,
"I'm honored to share an update on the ongoing operations of the Gaza Soup Kitchen throughout the Gaza Strip. Here’s what's been happening:
North Gaza—Mashrou Bait Lahia and Kamal Adwan Hospital
"Due to severe safety concerns, the family in Mashrou Bait Lahia can no longer cook for Kamal Adwan Hospital. With many staff members fleeing, Chef Mahmoud, his family, and my parents are among the last five families still in the area. In response, Chef Mahmoud made a bold decision—he moved everything from our Gaza Soup Kitchen warehouse into the hospital. This included over four tons of food and supplies: canned goods, flour, rice, pasta, lentils, cooking oil, tomato paste, diapers, wipes, baby formula, blankets, children's clothes, and more. This crucial delivery will allow the hospital to feed its patients for the next few weeks.
"The hospital staff was deeply moved by the support; it was their first in-kind donation in 40 days. The head of the hospital, Dr. Husam, embraced Mahmoud, who has a special connection to this place—his baby daughter was born there just four days ago. A miracle amidst the chaos, though there's no official place to register her birth or even give her a name. To continue supporting, our crew will likely start cooking directly from inside the hospital. Meanwhile, my parents remain steadfast, even as we mourn the loss of 60 neighbors from a recent airstrike, including our own relatives.
Beach Camp—A New Location in North Gaza
"After relocating west of Gaza City, Chef Faten has set up a new operating kitchen in the Beach Camp area. Today marked the inaugural day, and it was heartwarming to see Chef Om Ahmad and others from our original location come together to help. They managed to cook for 200 families. It’s bittersweet—children lined up the moment they smelled the food. Thanks to the facilities at this new site, Chef Faten can act quickly and provide meals to those in need. Your support gives us the courage to open new locations and scale up existing ones. We are also expanding operations in the Al Shaikh Radwan neighborhood, which has now been running for two months, constantly increasing capacity.
"Al Zawaydah—Increasing Demand
In Al Zawaydah, the team is facing growing demand; about 50 more people show up daily. They currently serve 80% of those who come, and the situation is dire, with many families relying on our meals. Due to theft of aid by forces linked to the Israeli army (as reported by reputable sources like the Financial Times yesterday), we're making every effort to meet the increased needs. We've instructed the crew to hire more hands, acquire additional cooking pots, and aim to serve up to 90% of those seeking food by next week.
Khan Younes—Providing Essential Support
"In Khan Younes, our crew is distributing drinking water each morning, alongside delivering baby clothes for newborns—a small but impactful gesture. A sister charity has hired our team to cook for them in the coming days, providing some financial support. Additionally, Ms. Fatma's class in Khan Younes continues to run strong, offering some semblance of normalcy to the children. It's one of the coolest things we can do for the kids.
"Our drinking water distributions remain a priority, covering four areas throughout the Gaza Strip.
"For those asking how to help, donations are always welcome through this Gofundme community or our website. Every contribution goes directly to sustaining and expanding our work in Gaza for our Palestinian brothers and sisters.
"Thank you for standing with us. Your support keeps hope alive.
"Warm regards,
Hani
Gaza Soup Kitchen Team
"P. S. Down with the regimes that support this genocide, lie about it, and create these criminal conditions."
#NorthGaza #IsraeliWarCrimes #Starvation #GazaAid #GazaFundraisers #FreePalestine #CeasefireNow #FoodIsLife #WaterIsLife #GoFundMe #IsraelHumanRightsViolations
#StopArmingIsrael #WorldWarBibi #BeitLahiya #BaitLahiya #BibiIsAWarCriminal #Genocide #GoFundMe #KhanYounes #Palestine #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #NorthernGaza #Gaza #AlZawaydah #KamalAdwan #KamalAdwanHospital
HR 9495, the bill that would allow the US Secretary of the Treasury to unilaterally declare non-profits as sponsors of terror without any proof and revoke their non-profit status has passed the House, albeit with less support than the first time it was up for a vote. I urge Americans to contact their Senators to get them to vote down this legislation.
well, at least CA's senator-elect Schiff flipped to a no on #HR9495 (which just passed the House)
this would let Trump's treasury secretary strip nonprofits of tax-exempt status by accusing them of supporting terrorism with no evidence. 15 Dems, down from 52 last week, joined GOP in voting yes
here's a script to call your senator to stop it in the Senate:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YICt3Ak4nwzeEFK66SgUDDFlKTCJm7Ylj3nQ3pMnYeI/edit?tab=t.0
The House just passed HR 9495, that would allow the Treasury department to unilaterally kill non-profit groups.
15 @thedemocrats voted for it:
#allred
#caraveo
#case
#cuellar
#davis (NC)
#golden (ME)
#gonzalez , V.
#Lee (NV)
#moskowitz
#Panetta
#perez
#schneider
#suozzi
#torres (CA)
#wasserman Schultz
Aka #backstabbers #hr9495
via @indivisibleteam 🚨 #HR9495 UPDATE!🚨 Time to bug your #USSenators! (I'll be giving Useless #SusanCollins a piece of my mind, as well as #Maine Independent senator #AngusKing.
"This isn’t the result we wanted but the fight isn’t over — we will continue to organize against this #nonprofit killer bill in the #Senate.
"Pressure still works. In a week, you made 13,000 calls and convinced dozens of Democrats to flip their vote and join our side in voting no on H.R. 9495. Thank you for everything you did. More Democrats are waking up, but we will need to keep pushing for our elected officials to fight back against the incoming Trump administration."
#USSenate #StopHR9495 #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #FreeSpeech
#Authoritarianism #ProjectEsther #Project2025 #Fascism
HR 9495 would allow the secretary of the treasury to designate nonprofits as "terrorist supporting organizations" without evidence or reasoning. learn more:
https://independentsector.org/blog/we-oppose-h-r-9495/
#hr9495 #opposehr9495
#protectdueprocess #protectdemocracy
I just called my Representative and Senators to express my support of S.4973 No Kings act because no President or Vice President should be above the law, and my opposition to H.R.9495 which could be used to circumvent due process and destroy non-profits.
You can call yours too:
https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member
#USpol #USpolitics #s4973 #hr9495 #house #senate #HouseOfRepresentatives #congress #law #democracy #autocracy #NoKingsAct
Congress is voting on a bill targeting pro-#Palestinian groups. #Israel’s example proves it’s a terrible idea
#HR9495 would open the door for more #antidemocratic developments — as laws in Israel have done for 15 years
by Daniel Sokatch November 20, 2024
"The House of Representatives is trying to pass a bill, under the guise of pushing back on terrorism, that would hand President-elect Donald #Trump a cudgel with which to attack American civil society organizations.
"H.R. 9495 — titled 'The Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act' — already failed one House vote last week. Is bipartisan cosponsors won’t accept defeat so easily, and are bringing it to another vote on Wednesday. The bill would hand the secretary of the Treasury — who, in just two short months, will be a #TrumpAppointee — the authority to unilaterally revoke the tax-exempt status of any #nonprofit deemed to be a 'terrorist supporting organization.' In other words, shut them down.
"As the CEO of the New Israel Fund, the premier funder of #progressive, pro-#HumanRights and democracy organizations in Israel, I know just how dangerous this measure is. For more than 15 years, progressive Israeli civil society has worked — with the aid of nonprofits like ours — to advance equality, justice and safety for Jews and Palestinians alike, while fending off the kinds of accusations this bill tees up. And after facing endless delegitimization campaigns aimed at painting them as traitorous — not to mention the reams of anti-democratic legislation that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu and his hardline allies have pushed in an effort to quash their efforts — we know how important it is for Congress to vote down this bill.
"Both Trump and Netanyahu know how to use the media, legislation and the threat of brute force to crack down on dissent, but Netanyhau has often been a few steps ahead of Trump and his allies. Israel’s 2016 '#NGOTransparencyLaw' could easily have been the inspiration for H.R. 9495. The law, now on the books in Israel, takes aim at organizations that get their funding from governments like those of Germany and the Netherlands, from which most human rights NGOs draw resources. While NGOs that receive private funds — the lifeblood of many #RightWing organizations — are completely ignored."
Read more:
https://forward.com/opinion/676504/hr-9495-israel-pro-palestinian-organizations/
#StopHR9495 #CeasefireNow #BibiIsAWarCriminal #FreeGaza #Fascism #Totalitarianism #Authoritarianism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #CorporateColonialism #ChristoZionism
A New Crusade? Trump Taps #ChristianNationalists #PeteHegseth & #MikeHuckabee to Top Posts
November 15, 2024
via #DemocracyNow
"Concerns are mounting over Trump’s pick to lead the #Pentagon, #FoxNews host and military veteran Pete Hegseth. #Hegseth is a vocal opponent of the military’s #multiculturalism and decision to allow women to serve in combat, promises to purge the military of generals disloyal to Trump and sports tattoos connected with #NeoNazi and #WhiteNationalist movements. 'Here’s a man who wrote a book declaring his intention to wage, not metaphorical, but actual war within the United States,' says Jeff Sharlet, an expert on the rise of #FarRightExtremism in the United States. Sharlet explains how Hegseth and Mike #Huckabee, Trump’s choice for U.S. ambassador to Israel, have #ChristianNationalist and Christian #Zionist views that ultimately work to whip up animosity toward domestic enemies of the far right."
Watch / listen / read transcript:
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/11/15/jeff_sharlet_pete_hegseth_pentagon_extremism
#ViewerSupportedNews #ChristoFascism #ChristianCoalition #ChristianNationalism #ChristianZionists #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #HR9495 #ProjectEsther #Project2025
BREAKING: ACTIVISM IS WORKING. DO NOT LET UP!!
Reps that voted for #HR9495 are getting so many calls that they're publicly withdrawing their support of the nonprofit-killer bill.
Don't let Dems pre-comply with fascism. Keep calling until the vote on Thursday 11/21: https://fftf.link/no9495
Trump wants to use the "Stop Terror-Financing..." bill to crush his enemies.
The HR9495 bill was voted down last week, when 144 Democrats & one Republican voted against it.
But it may be coming up again. Dozens of Democrats still support the bill, which gives the Republican-controlled House room to pass it next week.
The bill aims to designate any nonprofit as a “terrorist supporting organization” & revoke its tax-exempt status.
https://theintercept.com/2024/11/15/nonprofits-trump-bill-gop-republicans/
HR 9495 is back for round two, electric boogaloo. Last time it needed 2/3 of the House to pass it. This time it only needs a majority. I once again encourage you to reach out to your representatives to urge them to not vote for this bill that would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to declare any non-profit a terrorist organization and strip them of their non-profit status for any reason whatsoever or no reason at all. This is for US citizens, btw.
What's in store if #HR9495 goes through? Let's revisit this "blast from the past" from 2020...
#FederalAgents Used #ToxicChemical #SmokeGrenades in #PortlandOregon
Portland protesters report severe and lasting #SideEffects from the #ChemicalWeapons used during #Trump’s “#OperationDiligentValor.”
by Sharon Lerner
October 10 2020
"By the time she was standing in front of the federal courthouse on #LownsdaleSquare on the night of July 25, Olivia Katbi Smith had already been exposed to tear gas several times. On those previous occasions during the #BlackLivesMatter #protests in Portland, Oregon, this summer, being gassed had been very unpleasant: leaving her coughing and making her eyes and nose run and sting.
"But this time, standing about 30 feet from the fence that was surrounding the downtown courthouse, Smith felt suddenly and violently worse than she ever had before. 'I didn’t know if I was going to puke or pass out,' she recalled recently. 'I was stumbling, trying to get away.' Smith, who is 28, was wearing goggles plus an N95 mask and thought that whatever was making her ill might have been trapped inside her mask. 'So I made a really bad instinctual decision to take it off,' she said. 'And instead of bringing relief, it instantly felt so much worse, like I was trapped in the air. It was overwhelming. I could not breathe.'
"Smith, like thousands of others in Portland, took to the streets in June to protest the suffocation and killing of #GeorgeFloyd by a police officer. By the beginning of July, the crowds had begun to thin somewhat. But after #Trump decided to send federal law enforcement to the city that month, the number of protesters surged and violence escalated. And according to interviews with more than a dozen people who attended the protests and research by the Portland-based #ChemicalWeapons Research Consortium, there was a marked shift in the use of chemical munitions on the crowds in the second half of July, as the federal agents released greater amounts and different types of smoke and gas onto crowds that seemed to set off severe and sometimes lasting health effects.
"The Portland Police Bureau began using tear gas on Black Lives Matters protesters almost as soon as they first assembled in late May. Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged that the city has used '#CSTearGas.' The commonly used formulation contains 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, a compound that was designed to induce immediate pain but can also have long-term effects, including chronic bronchitis. In early September, Wheeler ordered the police to stop using it. #TearGas is banned in war but can be used to disperse crowds of civilians.
After federal agents from the #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity descended on Portland in July in a mission dubbed #OperationDiligentValor,' the use of chemical irritants to control, drive away, and confuse protesters and obscure the actions of law enforcement grew and intensified. Among the products that federal agents appear to have used during the #military-style #crackdown is a #hexachloroethane '#SmokeGrenade' manufactured by a company called #DefenseTechnology and sold as '#MaximumHCSmoke.' Volunteers for the Chemical Weapons Research Consortium collected 20 canisters from the protest area that are the size and shape of the smoke grenades, at least five of which still had Defense Technology labels on them. The group also analyzed the chemical residue on one of the recovered spent canisters and found it contained chemicals known to be released by the smoke grenades."
Read more:
https://theintercept.com/2020/10/10/portland-tear-gas-chemical-grenades-protests/
The Plan to Silence Dissent
Building off a bipartisan push to punish pro-#Palestine protesters, #Trump has a broad crackdown ready to implement—including deportations.
by Sophie Hurwitz
November 15, 2024
"Donald Trump has made it clear that there are groups he’d like to punish.
"Much attention has been paid to the president-elect’s planned crusades for his next term against #immigrants and #transgender people. But less discussed has been another group on the list: #protesters. Building off the bipartisan crackdown on #AntiWar student dissent last year, Trump has made clear he hopes to discipline, and potentially prosecute, #CivilDisobedience with increased force.
"In May, he promised a group of donors that 'any student that protests, I [will] throw them out of the country.' Trump hoped this would serve as a warning. 'You know, there are a lot of foreign students,” he continued. “As soon as they hear that, they’re going to behave.”
"This is more than just bluster. Reuters reported that sources said Trump hopes to follow through on the promise on day one of his administration, by signing an executive order prioritizing deporting 'international students who support Palestinian militant group Hamas and have violated the terms of their student visas.'
"In Trump’s first term, 'his instincts were to bring as much federal power as he could to bear on essentially peaceful protests,' Jamie Kalven, founder of Chicago’s Invisible Institute and a journalist who has studied First Amendment law for decades, told me. This time, there will be fewer guardrails. 'It was complicated enough before Trump was elected. Now you’re going to have various #demagogues in Congress and the Trump administration actually bearing down in various ways on universities and on university students, seeing it as the bastion of the #EnemyWithin.'
"Given how it’s been under #Biden, it unfortunately normalizes what Trump is then allowed to do.
"Many of the plans for targeting protesters are taken from tactics employed by Democrats in recent years. For years, #PalestinianRights activists in the US—and Palestinians in the US, whether activists or not—have often been smeared as terrorists and threatened with deportation and imprisonment. In 2023, a wave of protest was met with a #crackdown. The Department of Education pressured schools to stop pro-Palestine student organizing, as Mother Jones reported in September. Dozens of universities across the nation instituted strict new disciplinary codes prohibiting many forms of public assembly. Over 3,600 protesters were arrested."
#SilencingDissent #FreePalestine #StudentProtestors #FreeSpeech #Clampdown #HR9495 #StopHR9495 #CharacteristicsOfFascism #Fascism #Authoritanism #ProjectEsther #Project2025
HR 9495 contains a section that allows a nonprofit to be labeled a “terrorist” organization, then stripped of its tax-exempt status with little oversight and no clear path to appeal. In the hands of the incoming administration this will be weaponized against any perceived “cultural enemies.” This form takes less than a minute to fill out and will send your objection to your congressional representative.
#HR9495 #Nonprofit #Repression
#HR9495 is a slippery slope. Who will be considered #terrorists? #ClimateActivists, those who speak up against #IsraeliWarCrimes, #WaterDefenders, #NativeAmericans, #DragQueens, #GBLTQ folks, #Librarians, #gynecologists, etc., etc. We need to #StopHR9495 in its tracks!
#ClampDown #Fascism #CharacteristicsOfFascism #DonTheFascistCon
#CriminalizingDissent #KristiNoem
#Blackwater #ErikPrince #Autocracy
#SilencingDissent #ClimateActivists
#AntiWarActivists #WaterProtectors
#PeaceActivists #ClimateJustice #Protests #StandWithStandingRock
#GazaGenocide #LebanonGenocide #WeDontNeedThatFascistGrooveThing
12 Nonprofits That Republicans Could Destroy With H.R. 9495
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/11/10/12-nonprofits-that-republicans-could-destroy-with-h-r-9495/
#HR9495
