Laura Pitter

Attorney working on criminal, economic, racial & social justice matters. Ex-Human Rights Watch, public defender, civil litigator, UN staffer, & journalist.

[Elizabeth Warren @SenWarren]

Big tech companies like Amazon and Meta may be passing the costs of building and operating their data centers on to YOU.

That’s right. You could be bankrolling the electricity costs of trillion-dollar tech companies.

I'm launching an investigation.

[David Seligman @daveyseligman]

Reminder: right now—on Xmas Eve—tens of thousands of delivery drivers are peeing in bottles to meet brutal quotas for one of the most powerful corporations in the world, so the rest of us can get boxes of stuff that’s shittier than ever and only seems cheap because the same corporation crushed competitors and algorithms manipulate its prices. It doesn’t need to be this way. None of this is inevitable.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

State must stop Israel's genocide.

Urgently needed ACTIONS:

1. Full arms embargo.

2. Navies carrying aid breaking the blockade.

3. Protection presence authorised under UNGA res. United For Peace entering by sea, Rafah (in Gaza) and Jordan (West Bank/east Jerusalem).

[Brandon Stanton @humansofny]

“When I entered Gaza the Israeli military had a rule: I was only allowed to bring in three kilos of food. As I was weighing out protein bars, trying to get under the limit, I said to my husband: ‘How sinister is this?’ I’m a humanitarian aid worker. Why would there even be a limit on food? I’ve worked in many places with extreme hunger, but what’s so jarring in this context is how cruel it is, how deliberate. I was in Gaza for two months; there’s no way to describe the horror of what’s happening. And I say this as a pediatric ICU doctor who sees children die as part of my work. Among our own staff we have doctors and nurses who are trying to treat patients while hungry, exhausted. They’re living in tents. Some of them have lost fifteen, twenty members of their families. In the hospital there are kids maimed by airstrikes: missing arms, missing legs, third degree burns. Often there’s not enough pain medication. But the children are not screaming about the pain, they’re screaming: ‘I’m hungry! I’m hungry!” I hate to only focus on the kids, because nobody should be starving. But the kids, it just haunts you in a different way. When my two months were finished, I didn’t want to leave. It’s a feeling I haven’t experienced in nearly twenty years of humanitarian assignments. But I felt ashamed. Ashamed to leave my Palestinian colleagues, who were some of the most beautiful and compassionate people that I’ve ever met. I was ashamed as an American, as a human being, that we’ve been unable to stop something that is so clearly a genocide. I remember when our bus pulled out of the buffer zone. Out the window on one side I could see Rafah, which was nothing but rubble. On the other side was lush, green Israel. When we exited the gate, the first thing I saw was a group of Israeli soldiers, sitting at a table, eating lunch. I’ve never felt so nauseous seeing a table full of food.”

-------------------------------------------------------

Aqsa Durrani is a pediatric doctor and board member of Doctors Without Borders USA, with nearly twenty years of experience in humanitarian projects. During our interview Aqsa repeatedly expressed a desire to center the voices of her Palestinian colleagues. To this end I’ve spent the past week collecting stories from the Palestinian staff of Doctors Without Borders in Gaza. I will be sharing these stories over the next several days. I’m so grateful for the time that these people gave me; they were sleepless, hungry, traumatized, and often working 24-hour shifts. Because of the unreliable internet connection their images are sometimes grainy. Their words, however, will be crystal clear.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

I have never felt so shaken.

Children are dying of hunger. Falling one after another, like petals of a dying flower. Under our watch.

How do you sleep, Presidents, Foreign Ministers, political leaders, diplomats, civil servants - doing nothing to stop Israel’s starvation campaign?

PS: Talking politics while dodging genocide perfectly meets the definition of doing nothing.

[Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt @FranceskAlbs]

It is unbelievable how nonchalantly leaders like @kajakallas and @vonderleyen continue to ignore (and stand against) intl law and the decisions of the highest intl Courts re Israel: among others, I shall remind them, the ICJ ordered Israel to:
- withdraw its troops and remove settlers from the WHOLE OF THE OPT by September 17, 2025 and meahwile
- other states not to recognise, aid and assist Israel in its wrongdoings.
No one can ask Israel to ensure anything other than LEAVING and then responding to justice. It is that simple.

Instead, @kajakallas and @vonderleyen's persistence denote knowledge, intent and purpose, which shall be missed by the relevant authorities when assessing their failure to prevent and stop genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and bring to an end the underlying unlawful occupation.

[Laura Pitter @Laurapitter]

This is outrageous. So agree with my former @hrw colleague ⁦@liz_evenson⁩ that this is “actually about silencing a UN expert for doing her job—speaking truth about Israeli violations…and calling on governments and companies to not be complicit.” https://t.co/SPAxRpHpHI

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

When two countries are bombing each other daily in a hot war, and a third country joins the bombing, that’s an act of war.

I’m amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren’t at war… so they can make war.

[Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie]

This is not our war.

But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution.

I’m introducing a bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow to prohibit our involvement.

I invite all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution.

[Human Rights Watch @hrw]

US President Donald Trump's import tariffs illustrate the danger of pursuing economic reforms without regard for the impact on people’s human rights.

Read more on the need for a human rights economy: https://t.co/bgX6vldowl

[Douglas Farrar @DouglasLFarrar]

In a piece today in the @nytimes a former Republican free trade proponent @jbarro equated the absolute lawlessness we are seeing from Trump with an FTC Chair enforcing the law against companies for illegal business practices harming other businesses and consumers.

Crazy!

[Zephyr Teachout 🇺🇸 @ZephyrTeachout]

Two FTC Commissioners still doing their job after illegally getting their email and offices and resources taken away is pretty inspiring.

[Jeff Stein @jstein_star]

No criminal record

No tattoos

No due process

Father of a 9 year old, loving pet owner

Family insistent that he has no gang affiliations

Sent to prison camp

By @MiamiHerald

https://t.co/Y31pf1cnja

[Michael S Roth @mroth78]

Like university leaders “these executives are ignoring the consequences of their decisions. By caving, Paul, Weiss has increased the chances that Mr. Trump will attack other firms.” https://t.co/P2HoVvJdju via @NYTOpinion

[Laura Pitter @Laurapitter]

A good unbiased summary, worth the watch, by the Wall Street Journal:

“Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts: Promises vs. Reality.”

https://t.co/OUs4CdW197

[Warren Gunnels @GunnelsWarren]

“If just two Republicans tell the Speaker we’re not going to vote to make savage cuts to Medicaid in order to provide tax breaks to billionaires that bill will be defeated in the House. I want your Congressman, Mr. Bacon, to be one of those Republicans,” @BernieSanders in Omaha.

[Laura Pitter @Laurapitter]

So important. Would love if you could share your posts over at Bluesky too. We all need to migrate over there.

[Zephyr Teachout 🇺🇸 @ZephyrTeachout]

You probably weren't petitioning the FCC to block the owner of half the satellites in the wold from becoming the owner of Twitter on concentrated communications infrastructure grounds, but I hope now you see that when we say antimonopoly is democracy we are deadly serious.

[NY AG James @NewYorkStateAG]

Since day one, the Trump administration has tried to freeze essential funding, trample on our rights, rewrite the Constitution, and wreak havoc and confusion.

My office is cutting through the chaos to uphold the rule of law, defend critical services, and protect our rights. 🧵

[Laura Pitter @Laurapitter]

And here’s an updated @Cato report with similar findings. Prior report from 2022, this one from 2023.

Don’t believe the Trump/Musk hype. He’s taking you for a ride and ripping you off.

https://t.co/3p6wvScVT1

[Laura Pitter @Laurapitter]

Purported reason for Trump tariffs a sham:

See @CatoInstitute report. “Fentanyl Is Smuggled for U.S. Citizens By U.S. Citizens, Not Asylum Seekers”

DHS says between Jan-Dec 2024, 88% of all confiscated fentanyl intercepted at US official entry points. https://t.co/jb2kddXqRu