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 @ISIDEWITHNewsTravelSaudi Arabia and IranDaily DiscussionSaudi ArabiaClimate Change•••6mos ago

11 Americans Among Those Dead in Hajj Pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia

At least 11 Americans were among those who died while making the Islamic pilgrimage of hajj to Saudi Arabia this month in searing temperatures, the U.S. State Department said on Tuesday, adding that it was possible that more deaths could be confirmed in the coming days.

In Maryland, the daughter of one couple was still searching for answers about the exact circumstances of her parents’ deaths, and about the actions of the tour operator whom the couple had paid tens of thousands of dollars to help them make the trip.

The daughter, Saida Wurie, said she and her brothers had not yet been told where their parents, Isatu and Alieu Wurie, had been buried. She says she plans to travel to Saudi Arabia as soon as she learns where they are.

“Losing a loved one is hard,” she said on Tuesday. “But then not being able to bury them is just an indescribable feeling.”

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 @ISIDEWITHasked…6mos6MO

Reflecting on the dangers of fulfilling religious obligations like the Hajj, would you consider the spiritual benefits worth the physical risks?

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Mother Who Lost Son in "Kids for Cash" Slams Biden

A mother whose teen son died by suicide after a juvenile detention in the “Kids for Cash” scandal broke down in tears on air as she condemned President Joe Biden’s decision to commute the sentence of former judge Michael Conahan.Conahan was convicted in 2011 for his role in a scheme that traded juvenile detention sentences for millions in kickbacks. His actions, alongside fellow Democrat judge Mark Ciavarella, left a devastating legacy, including lives upended and families shattered.Conahan was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to racketeering conspiracy. In 2020, he was placed under home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic with six years remaining on his sentence. On Thursday, he was among the nearly 1,500 individuals whose sentences were commuted in what the White House described as a historic act of clemency. Biden’s move came after he pardoned his own son, Hunter Biden.Sandy Fonzo’s son, Ed, died by suicide at 23 after being sentenced by Ciavarella when he was 17 to eight months detention for a minor drug paraphernalia charge.Appearing on Democracy Now to speak with host Amy Goodman, Fonzo was emotional shared the outrage that Biden’s move had caused her."This is very emotional. Very heavy. Just hearing and having to relive all of this. This has just reopened wounds that have never healed and this is very very difficult, very heavy. I shouldn’t be having to relive this, especially at Christmas time. I mean this is unacceptable. I need to talk about it. I need to defend my son because he is not here to defend himself and I am his mother."

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…18hrs18H

Democrats Want Kamala Harris Back In 2028

Senior Democrats aren’t ruling out Kamala Harris as a presidential candidate for 2028. But not all of them are fully endorsing the idea, either.For party leaders, it’s a delicate balancing act. Some want to show respect for the outgoing vice president — but also share a sense of skepticism about her future prospects. For others, they have genuine enthusiasm for her candidacy and believe she lost because President Joe Biden simply exited the race too late.“I would be on board 100 percent with whatever she decides to do. I think she is a phenomenal person. I think she was a phenomenal candidate,” said Yvette Lewis, a member of the Democratic National Committee’s executive panel. “We were able to turn things around so quickly, and that’s a testament to her.”At a confab of DNC members last week, no party officials outright dismissed the idea of another Harris campaign, and some said they were willing to back her if she ran again.Shasti Conrad, chair of the Washington Democratic Party who was also at the event, said, “I certainly was so proud to support her and would love to do it again.”But, she added, the 2028 presidential primary will be “an open process,” meaning that Harris would face competition if she ran again.Outside the DNC gathering, some Democrats in battleground and red states are overtly panning the possibility.“LOL. I don’t think anyone is asking for a Harris third presidential campaign,” said Pennsylvania-based Democratic strategist Tommy McDonald. “Democrats need to build a party that can play everywhere, and Harris couldn’t win on a narrow map.”

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…18hrs18H

Defense Bill Blocks Transgender Care To Minors

The Senate on Wednesday gave final approval to a defense policy bill directing $895 billion toward the Pentagon and other military activities, moving over the objections of some Democrats who opposed a provision added late in the negotiations that would deny coverage for transgender health procedures for minors.The 85-to-14 vote, coming a week after a divided House passed the same measure, cleared the bill for President Biden’s signature.Most Republicans and many Democrats supported the measure, which provides a 14.5 percent pay raise to junior enlisted service members and a 4.5 percent pay raise for all other service members. It also expands access to meal assistance, housing and child care programs that benefit those in uniform.But several Democrats withheld their backing in protest of a provision preventing TRICARE, the military’s health care plan for service members, from covering “medical interventions for the treatment of gender dysphoria that could result in sterilization” for children under 18.The language, which would affect the gender-transitioning children of service members, was recently added to the measure at the insistence of Speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, who refused to bring a defense bill to the House floor without it, according to aides familiar with the negotiations.Twenty-one Democrats, led by Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, proposed an amendment to strip the provision from the bill, but the matter was never brought to a vote. Several of them took to the floor on Tuesday to lodge their objections.“It’s flat-out wrong to put this provision in this bill and take away a service member’s freedom to make that decision for their families,” Ms. Baldwin said, estimating that the provision could negatively affect as many as 6,000 to 7,000 military families.

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MAGA Purge: Trump Jr. and Carlson Slam Globalists!

Carlson and Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s oldest son, outlined what they said were the dangers of bringing neoconservatives into the administration—men and women, they claimed, who seek to control him, not serve him. They also argued that Pompeo had proven himself to be disloyal, the people said, pointing to Pompeo’s decision to distance himself from false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and comments he made that the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the Capitol by Trump supporters was “unacceptable.”Within days of the election, Pompeo was out of the running. The president-elect posted on Truth Social that Pompeo and Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wouldn’t be landing jobs in his administration.Officials such as Haley, who challenged Trump during the Republican primary, and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien were passed over for jobs as Trump and his team looked to stock his cabinet with “fresh blood,” as one transition official put it, who have roots in the MAGA movement. The perception among some within Trump’s inner circle is that appointees such as Pompeo would follow a more conventional GOP approach to national security policy by supporting U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts, such as Ukraine, or icing out traditional adversaries, such as Russia. Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host whom Trump chose to lead the Pentagon, has criticized U.S. involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, and has touted a controversial view that women should be barred from combat. But Hegseth’s path to confirmation has been fraught with challenges because of a number of personal controversies.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…23hrs23H

German Economy Nears Collapse As Election Nears

Presenting the CDU/CSU’s manifesto on Tuesday. Merz said he would make savings of €100bn by reducing spending on migration and welfare. He also promised tax cuts and lower electricity prices to kick-start the economy, stuck in its first two-year contraction since the early 2000s. Meanwhile, the SPD and Greens pledged to reform Germany’s “debt brake”, its constitutional cap on new borrowing, saying the country needed to invest billions of euros in its ramshackle infrastructure and the green transition.Meanwhile, the SPD and Greens pledged to reform Germany’s “debt brake”, its constitutional cap on new borrowing, saying the country needed to invest billions of euros in its ramshackle infrastructure and the green transition. Some observers worry Scholz’s televised intervention could end up setting the tone for the rest of the contest. Even the Greens, his allies in government, expressed disapproval. “One is sometimes surprised by his choice of words,” said Franziska Brantner, the Greens co-leader. Germany is not used to rambunctious, no-holds-barred elections. Under Scholz’s predecessor Angela Merkel, who governed Germany from 2005-2021, campaigns were soporific affairs, lacking the cut and thrust and spectacle often seen in US contests. But Merz is an altogether different politician. Critics routinely describe him as irascible and touchy, given to intemperate outbursts that delight his fans but can put off more moderate voters. But even his detractors admit his powerful oratory can get under Scholz’s skin. Scholz, too, has changed his tone. As chancellor of a fragile, three-party coalition made up of SPD, Greens and the liberal Free Democrats, he cultivated a decidedly restrained, taciturn style. But that changed in November when he sacked his liberal finance minister, Christian Lindner, triggering the break-up of the coalition after just three years. He has since become a lot more combative. In the vote of confidence debate he accused the liberals of “sabotaging the work of the government” and Lindner of lacking the “necessary moral maturity” required to govern.

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