Maria Neckam

Singer / Songwriter / Composer

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@kenklippenstein 😣

[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.”

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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.

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@AndiBabler 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

The Netanyahu government’s extermination of Gaza intensifies. Malnutrition is rampant, children are starving to death, people are shot while waiting for meager food rations — and US weapons allow it to happen.

Trump and Congress must act NOW. Stop the slaughter. Feed the people.

[António Guterres @antonioguterres]

Gaza is more than a humanitarian crisis – it is a moral crisis that challenges the global conscience.

We will continue to speak out.

But words don’t feed hungry children.

The @UN stands ready to make the most of a ceasefire to dramatically scale up humanitarian operations.

[The New York Times @nytimes]

Breaking News: Israeli military officials say they have no proof Hamas routinely steals UN aid, undercutting a claim Israel has used to limit food for Gaza. https://t.co/5ujWZYvfBD

[Josef Ackerl @ackerl_josef]

Ich bin 79 und war beruflich in exponierten Positionen. Beim Bundesheer war ich auch. Ich wäre nie auf die Idee gekommen, privat eine Waffe zu brauchen. Wir haben die Polizei, das reicht für den privaten Schutz. Waffenverbot für alle, die sie nicht beruflich brauchen.

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@cenkuygur “They do control the email list.” 👏🏼

[Nina Turner @ninaturner]

Musk's wealth in 2012: $2 Billion
Musk's wealth in 2024: $447 Billion

Bezos's wealth in 2012: $18 Billion Bezos's wealth in 2024: $249 Billion

Zuckerberg's wealth in 2012: $44 Billion Zuckerberg's wealth in 2024: $224 Billion

Minimum wage in 2012: $7.25
Minimum wage in 2024: $7.25

[Sen. Bernie Sanders @SenSanders]

On Tuesday, Missouri, a conservative state, voted to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and to guarantee paid sick leave to workers.

These are popular ideas that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents support.

The only people who don’t support them are the billionaire class.

[Bernie Sanders @BernieSanders]

The working class of this country is angry.

They have a reason to be angry.

The very wealthy are doing phenomenally well, while 60% of us are living paycheck to paycheck.

It’s time to get big money out of politics and create an economy that works for the people.

[Nina Turner @ninaturner]

If someone with felonies can be President, those with felonies should be able to vote, to secure housing, employment, and student loans.

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@florianklenk 😹

[Ezra Klein @ezraklein]

A few thoughts from the conversations I’ve been having and hearing over the last week:

The hard question isn’t the 2 points that would’ve decided the election. It’s how to build a Democratic Party that isn’t always 2 points away from losing to Donald Trump — or worse.

The Democratic Party is supposed to represent the working class. If it isn’t doing that, it is failing. That’s true even even if it can still win elections.

Democrats don’t need to build a new informational ecosystem. Dems need to show up in the informational ecosystems that already exist. They need to be natural and enthusiastic participants in these cultures. Harris should’ve gone on Rogan, but the damage here was done over years and wouldn’t have been reversed in one October appearance.

Building a media ecosystem isn’t something you do through nonprofit grants or rich donors (remember Air America?). Joe Rogan and Theo Von aren’t a Koch-funded psy-op. What makes these spaces matter is that they aren’t built on politics. (Democrats already win voters who pay close attention to politics.)

That there’s more affinity between Democrats and the Cheneys than Democrats and the Rogans and Theo Vons of the world says a lot.

Economic populism is not just about making your economic policy more and more redistributive. People care about fairness. They admire success. People have economic identities in addition to material needs.

Trump — and in a different way, Musk — understand the identity side of this. What they share isn’t that they are rich and successful, it’s that they made themselves into the public’s idea of what it means to be rich and successful.

Policy matters, but it has to be real to the candidate. Policy is a way candidates tell voters who they are. But people can tell what politicians really care about and what they’re mouthing because it polls well.

Governing matters. If housing is more affordable, and homelessness far less of a crisis, in Texas and Florida than California and New York, that’s a *huge* problem.

If people are leaving California and New York for Texas and Florida, that’s a *huge* problem.

Democrats need to take seriously how much scarcity harms them. Housing scarcity became a core Trump-Vance argument against immigrants. Too little clean energy becomes the argument for rapidly building out more fossil fuels. A successful liberalism needs to believe in *and deliver* abundance of the things people need most.

That Democrats aren’t trusted on the cost of living harmed them much more than any ad. If Dems want to “Sister Soulja” some part of their coalition, start with the parts that have made it so much more expensive to build and live where Democrats govern.

More than a “Sister Soulja” moment, Democrats need to rebuild a culture of saying no inside their own coalition.

Democrats don’t just have to move right or left. They need to better reflect the texture of worlds they’ve lost touch with and those worlds are complex and contradictory.

The most important question in politics isn’t whether a politician is well liked. It’s whether voters think a politician — or a political coalition — likes them.

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

THIS IS F-CKING SCARY:

Trump's lawyer Mike Davis just threatened to have NY AG Letitia James imprisoned for continuing her fight to hold Trump accountable for the 34 felony counts he’s was convicted of.

"I dare you to try to continue your lawfare against President Trump... listen here, sweetheart, we're not messing around this time and we will put your fatass in prison for conspiracy against rights."

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@thebennyshow How can you tolerate such disrespectful language on your show?!

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@NewsHour This was not about her being a woman! Bernie is right, read his statement.

[Tommy Vietor @TVietor08]

“Its analysis found around 44% of verified victims were children and 26% women. The ages most represented among the dead were five to nine-year-olds”

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@TVietor08 The message needs to be simple and clear, and repeated over and over. And people also need to feel respected. Tim Waltz was perfect, but as much as I like them, Harris and also Obama can come across as arrogant and patronizing.

[Maria Neckam @marianeckam]

@TVietor08 Yeah, but a lot of these Trump voters wouldn’t even be able to follow your podcast. The biggest issue is proper education for all (that encourages critical thinking) and that Dem. politicians (except Bernie & maybe AOC) don’t know how to talk to working class ppl.