According to UNICEF, more than a thousand children in South Sudan were
sexually assaulted in the first three years of the conflict there.
Tuesday, June 19, 2018
UNHCR: More People Displaced in 2017 Than Ever Before
Ahead of World Refugee Day, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) unveils its annual report on
refugee trends. They say that 68.5 million people were displaced in
2017.
Source: euronews.
New York Today: Primary Races to Watch
We are a week away from the primaries.
Democrats
and Republicans in New York are holding nominating contests next
Tuesday for federal seats, including the House and the Senate. (State
primaries, which include the governor’s race, will take place in
September.)
To get us up to speed on the most important and interesting races in the state, we spoke to Shane Goldmacher, the chief political correspondent on The Times’s Metro desk.
Here’s what he’s watching:
A heated race in New York City’s Trump Country.
“The most interesting Republican primary, certainly in New York,
possibly in the country, is in Staten Island,” Mr. Goldmacher said. Michael Grimm
once represented the 11th Congressional District, which includes Staten
Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, but resigned the seat in 2014
after pleading guilty to tax fraud. (He served seven months in prison.)
Now, he’d like his old job back. He’s challenging Representative Dan Donovan, and the two are competing to see who’s more aligned with President Trump — the president endorsed Mr. Donovan, but the swaggering Mr. Grimm is the more Trump-like figure.
Democratic upstarts in the city.
A group of incumbent Democrats in New York are facing primary
challengers, many of whom are first-time candidates under the age of 35.
Representative Joseph Crowley, who some see as possibly replacing Nancy Pelosi as the head of the House Democrats, is being challenged for the first time since 2004, by the progressive candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Representatives Carolyn Maloney (Manhattan’s East Side and parts of
Queens), Eliot Engel (the Bronx), Yvette Clarke (central Brooklyn) and
Gregory W. Meeks (southern Queens) are also facing insurgents within
their party.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The New York Times (via Empire Report New York)
Monday, June 18, 2018
Cuomo: New York Will Not Deploy National Guard to the Border
The following statement was issued today by Governor Andrew Cuomo.
"The administration's unconscionable treatment of families at our border is a moral outrage and an affront to the values that built this state and this nation.
"In the face of this ongoing human tragedy, let me be very clear: New York will not be party to this inhumane treatment of immigrant families. We will not deploy National Guard to the border, and we will not be complicit in a political agenda that governs by fear and division.
"Day after day, I am increasingly disturbed by the reports of disgraceful tactics used by ICE both in our own state and along our nation's border. I have called on the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to investigate illegal and discriminatory ICE tactics in New York and to tell us what his office is doing about the assault on immigrant families along our border.
"In New York, we stand for the values embodied by the Lady in our Harbor. We know that our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will never stop fighting to protect and strengthen the rights of immigrants."
"In the face of this ongoing human tragedy, let me be very clear: New York will not be party to this inhumane treatment of immigrant families. We will not deploy National Guard to the border, and we will not be complicit in a political agenda that governs by fear and division.
"Day after day, I am increasingly disturbed by the reports of disgraceful tactics used by ICE both in our own state and along our nation's border. I have called on the Acting Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security to investigate illegal and discriminatory ICE tactics in New York and to tell us what his office is doing about the assault on immigrant families along our border.
"In New York, we stand for the values embodied by the Lady in our Harbor. We know that our diversity is our greatest strength, and we will never stop fighting to protect and strengthen the rights of immigrants."
Cuomo Statement on Representative Katko's
Support for Extreme Anti-Immigration Legislation
Support for Extreme Anti-Immigration Legislation
"While Katko pays lip service against the moral atrocity on our border, he is leading the charge to pass an extreme immigration bill that does nothing to stop it. His anti-immigrant immigration bill is an attack on our communities and our American values, and it doesn't touch the policy this administration is using to force parents and children apart. If Katko really cared for the children being separated from their parents by this administration, then he would show some backbone and stop his overlords in the White House from tearing families apart."
Source: The Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
'Separation of Families': An American Tradition
Click on the image to increase its size.
This print, published in 1787, shows individuals on the plantations
being forcibly separated from family or friends. Repeated separation
from the time of capture in Africa to being sold off to fetch a good
price, or to be disposed of in old age, added to the despair and
isolation felt by enslaved Africans. It also maximized profits and
helped plantation owners control and oppress their workers.
This mental or emotional torment compounded the suffering of the
enslaved, who had to endure harsh physical conditions in which they
lived and worked. The whips in the picture were always carried as a
means of oppression and control, and were regularly used on those slaves
who stepped out of line.
Source: Understanding Slavery Initiative
Trailblazers in Black History: Joshua Johnson
This video was published on YouTube on April 26, 2018.
Source: Encore Edition
Hollywood & Race: 'Crossfire' (1947)
Years of police work have taught Detective Finlay that where there's
crime, there's motive. But he finds no usual motive when investigating
the beating death of a man. The man was killed because he was a Jew.
"Hate," Finlay says, "is like a gun." Robert Young portrays Finlay,
Robert Mitchum is a laconic army sergeant assisting in the investigation
of G.I. suspects and Robert Ryan plays a vicious bigot in a landmark
film noir nominated for five Academy Awards* including Best Picture.
Source: YouTube Films
Fetishizing 'Identity Politics' Could Cost Democrats in 2020
By Briahna Gray
The 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign terraformed the landscape of political possibility: “Socialist” is no longer a slur,
“Medicare for All” is a litmus test for 2020 hopefuls, and Americans
are no longer so inured to the influence of money in politics. To
millions on the left, the then-relatively unknown Vermont senator’s
unexpected surge in the 2016 Democratic primary (and consistently strong
approval ratings) demonstrate that electoral victory in 2020 requires
adopting much of his platform and approach to politics. This means,
among other things, making economic inequality central to any
prospective presidential agenda.
Yet the very concept of “economic anxiety” has become a punchline at best, and a third rail at worst, among a loud swath of the Democratic coalition. Because economic concerns have, at times, been used as a pretext to avoid recognizing the role racism and xenophobia played in Donald Trump’s popularity, many Democrats now bristle at the notion that the Democratic Party should reach out to working-class whites at all. Understandably fearful that “wooing” white voters might require an appeal to bigotry, it’s now commonly argued that the Democratic Party should concentrate its efforts on nonvoters of color instead.
The divide between “team economic justice” and “team demographic destiny” now informs how different factions of the left, broadly defined, decipher the results of Democratic primaries and special election battles. And unfortunately, this has led to dangerously inaccurate and biased prescriptions for 2020.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
Yet the very concept of “economic anxiety” has become a punchline at best, and a third rail at worst, among a loud swath of the Democratic coalition. Because economic concerns have, at times, been used as a pretext to avoid recognizing the role racism and xenophobia played in Donald Trump’s popularity, many Democrats now bristle at the notion that the Democratic Party should reach out to working-class whites at all. Understandably fearful that “wooing” white voters might require an appeal to bigotry, it’s now commonly argued that the Democratic Party should concentrate its efforts on nonvoters of color instead.
The divide between “team economic justice” and “team demographic destiny” now informs how different factions of the left, broadly defined, decipher the results of Democratic primaries and special election battles. And unfortunately, this has led to dangerously inaccurate and biased prescriptions for 2020.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
Why Are Millions Paying Online Tax Preparation Fees When They Don’t Need To?
Few taxpayers use the Free File system — intended to help moderate- and low-income filers — and that benefits companies like Intuit and H&R Block. Now Congress is moving to make the program permanent.
By Tik Root
This story was co-published with Quartz.
As internet use took off at the turn of the millennium, the
Office of Management and Budget asked the Internal Revenue Service to
create no-cost electronic tax-filing options for low- and
moderate-income taxpayers. The tech-challenged agency turned to the
online tax-preparation industry for help and soon struck a deal with
companies such as Intuit (the maker of TurboTax) and H&R Block,
which had organized as a 12-member consortium called the Free File Alliance.
The Free File Alliance agreed to offer tax-prep service to millions of Americans at no charge. In exchange, the IRS pledged to “not compete with the Consortium in providing free, online tax return preparation and filing services to taxpayers.”
The arrangement went into effect in 2003 and the IRS and the alliance
have kept the framework in place ever since. Today the Free File system
appears on track to become permanent. In April, the House voted
unanimously to enshrine the provision in law, and the Senate is now
considering whether to follow suit.
It’s hard to argue with the goal of the program. Free File theoretically allows 70 percent of American taxpayers
to prepare and file their taxes at no cost. More than 50 million
no-cost returns have been filed using the program over the past 16
years, according to the IRS,
saving users about $1.5 billion in fees. Intuit lauds the program as
“an example of a public/private partnership that works.” And Tim Hugo,
executive director of the Free File Alliance, called Free File “a great
product,” adding, “Free File has changed the market.”
But 50 million returns over 16 years represents only about 3 percent
of eligible tax returns. By ProPublica’s estimate, that suggests U.S.
taxpayers eligible for Free File are spending about $1 billion a year in
unnecessary filing fees.
Click here for the full article.
Source: ProPublica
Ambassadors Competition to Showcase New York's LGBTQ Community Ahead of World Pride 2019
Governor Andrew Cuomo today kicked off New York Pride 2018 by announcing the inaugural New York State LGBTQ Fellowship to serve in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer to ensure inclusivity and fair representation in state government.
The inaugural fellowship will be named in recognition of the legacies of Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Edie Windsor in recognition of their groundbreaking work in the fight for equal rights. In addition, the Governor announced the 2019 World Pride Ambassadors Competition to highlight the diversity of New York's LGBTQ community prior to the event next year.
"New York is proud to be a national leader in protecting and advancing the rights of the LGBTQ community, and Pride week is an important time to reflect on the fact that our work isn't done," Governor Cuomo said. "With these actions, we are helping to ensure that diversity is embraced and promoted across the state, and that New York will continue to serve as a beacon for all."
"As the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement, New York is continuing our tradition of embracing diversity with these exciting initiatives," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "Pride Week is a time to honor the past, celebrate the present, and move forward with determination to protect the rights of our LGBTQ community. New York is proud to launch these new programs named in honor of three trailblazing women who made progress a reality, and helped fulfill the promise of America."
LGBTQ Fellowship
At the direction of the Governor, the NYS LGBTQ Fellowship is established to support the ongoing efforts in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer. The LGBTQ Fellow will be awarded every two years to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to social justice, a track record of working on LGBTQ equality, civil rights and diversity issues, and a strong interest in a career in public service. The Fellow will serve in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and will work on continuing to build the state government's leadership as a model employer for New Yorkers of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
The fellowship is named after LGBTQ leaders who have—with their courage, tenacity and perseverance—raised awareness of LGBTQ issues and make a lasting difference in the LGBTQ community. The inaugural fellowship, which lasts for two years, will be named in recognition of three New York leaders: Edie Windsor for her advocacy and groundbreaking work in successfully challenging the federal defense of marriage act and Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera for their movement leading advocacy on behalf of the transgender community in New York.
Click here for the full announcement.
"New York is proud to be a national leader in protecting and advancing the rights of the LGBTQ community, and Pride week is an important time to reflect on the fact that our work isn't done," Governor Cuomo said. "With these actions, we are helping to ensure that diversity is embraced and promoted across the state, and that New York will continue to serve as a beacon for all."
"As the birthplace of the LGBTQ rights movement, New York is continuing our tradition of embracing diversity with these exciting initiatives," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "Pride Week is a time to honor the past, celebrate the present, and move forward with determination to protect the rights of our LGBTQ community. New York is proud to launch these new programs named in honor of three trailblazing women who made progress a reality, and helped fulfill the promise of America."
LGBTQ Fellowship
At the direction of the Governor, the NYS LGBTQ Fellowship is established to support the ongoing efforts in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer. The LGBTQ Fellow will be awarded every two years to an individual who has demonstrated a commitment to social justice, a track record of working on LGBTQ equality, civil rights and diversity issues, and a strong interest in a career in public service. The Fellow will serve in the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and will work on continuing to build the state government's leadership as a model employer for New Yorkers of all gender identities and sexual orientations.
The fellowship is named after LGBTQ leaders who have—with their courage, tenacity and perseverance—raised awareness of LGBTQ issues and make a lasting difference in the LGBTQ community. The inaugural fellowship, which lasts for two years, will be named in recognition of three New York leaders: Edie Windsor for her advocacy and groundbreaking work in successfully challenging the federal defense of marriage act and Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera for their movement leading advocacy on behalf of the transgender community in New York.
Click here for the full announcement.
Source: The Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo
The Week Ahead in Washington
Roll Call's Lindsey McPherson and The Atlantic's Rosie Gray preview the week ahead on Capitol Hill and at the White House.
Click here for video.
Source: C-SPAN
Supreme Court Deals Setback to Political Reformers Trying to Stop Gerrymandering
Advocates were hoping that the high court would put an end to bizarrely shaped legislative districts, but the justices punted.
by Pete Williams
WASHINGTON
— The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected two claims that states
violate the Constitution when they become blatantly partisan in drawing
the boundary lines for voting districts, dashing the hopes of political
reformers who were hoping for a landmark ruling that could change the
future of American politics.
In two unanimous decisions, the
justices ruled that Wisconsin challengers failed to show that they were
directly harmed by a new map for state legislative districts, and the
court rejected a challenge to the boundaries for a congressional
district in Maryland, finding that opponents had waited too long to sue.
The
Supreme Court has long held that oddly shaped districts are
unconstitutional when they put racial minorities at a disadvantage
through gerrymandering. But lower courts have recently held that
partisan gerrymandering can be unconstitutional, too.
Click here for the full article.
Source: NBC News
Rep. Beto O'Rourke Rallies Outside Immigrant Facility
This video was published on YouTube on June 17.
Source: CBS News
Beijing Is Holding U.S. Citizens ‘Hostage’ in China
Exit bans are a new tool in China’s global coercion campaign.
By Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian
In its ongoing campaign to extend its reach beyond its borders, the
Chinese government has found a new form of leverage: American citizens
in China.
Last year, Beijing prevented several U.S. citizens from
leaving China, including a pregnant woman, according to email
correspondence obtained by The Daily Beast. The total number of
so-called exit bans placed on U.S. citizens in China is unknown, but at least two dozen cases have occurred within the past two years, according to one analyst’s estimate.
Chinese
authorities typically target U.S. citizens of Chinese heritage for exit
bans, usually in connection with an investigation. Sometimes, Beijing
uses American citizens to try to coerce family members residing in the
United States to return to China or to cooperate with Chinese
authorities in investigations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has championed a sweeping anti-corruption campaign with an international element, known as “Operation Fox Hunt,”
aimed at pursuing Chinese citizens who have fled abroad after allegedly
committing economic crimes. The United States does not have an
extradition treaty with China and in the past has rarely cooperated
with Chinese demands to repatriate Chinese citizens whom Beijing
considers to be fugitives. Beijing has previously deployed undercover
agents to the United States to coerce targets into returning to China,
violating U.S. visa laws and prompting U.S. government indignation.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Daily Beast
Trouble in the Eurozone: New Italian Government Puts Pressure on Establishment
Source: FRANCE 24 English
Afghanistan: Taliban Refuse to Extend Ceasefire, 18 Killed in Jalalabad Suicide Attack
Source: FRANCE 24 English
A Revival of Black Business, and Pride, in Brooklyn
By Richard Morgan
A black man has been president of the
United States. So why, then, do so many find it hard to believe that a
black woman owns a yarn shop in brownstone Brooklyn?
That
is a question that Felicia Eve, the owner of the yarn shop, String
Thing Studio in Park Slope, has confronted regularly. “It’s along the
same lines of, ‘Oh, you live in Park Slope?’” Ms. Eve said. “Or, ‘Oh, you own a brownstone in Park Slope?’ Or, ‘Oh, you have three kids in private school?’”
On hand to hear Ms. Eve’s story were Cynthia Gordy Giwa and Glenn Alan, who run the website Black-Owned Brooklyn. They brought The New York Times along on a recent Saturday morning as they visited a handful of shops in Brooklyn.
Ms.
Giwa, 36, of Bedford-Stuyvesant, had a career as a White House
correspondent and political reporter for black-focused publications
including Essence and The Root; she is now the marketing director for
ProPublica. Mr. Alan, 30, of Crown Heights, is a regional operations
manager for a popular fast-fashion chain.
Click here for the full article.
Saturday, June 16, 2018
New York: The Death of a Once Great City
By Kevin Baker
New York has been my home for more than
forty years, from the year after the city’s supposed nadir in 1975,
when it nearly went bankrupt. I have seen all the periods of boom and
bust since, almost all of them related to the “paper economy” of finance
and real estate speculation that took over the city long before it did
the rest of the nation. But I have never seen what is going on now: the
systematic, wholesale transformation of New York into a reserve of the
obscenely wealthy and the barely here—a place increasingly devoid of the
idiosyncrasy, the complexity, the opportunity, and the roiling
excitement that make a city great.
As New York enters the third decade of the twenty-first century, it
is in imminent danger of becoming something it has never been before:
unremarkable. It is approaching a state where it is no longer a
significant cultural entity but the world’s largest gated community,
with a few cupcake shops here and there. For the first time in its
history, New York is, well, boring.
This is not some new phenomenon but a cancer that’s been
metastasizing on the city for decades now. And what’s happening to New
York now—what’s already happened to most of Manhattan, its core—is
happening in every affluent American city. San Francisco is overrun by
tech conjurers who are rapidly annihilating its remarkable diversity;
they swarm in and out of the metropolis in specially chartered buses to
work in Silicon Valley, using the city itself as a gigantic
bed-and-breakfast. Boston, which used to be a city of a thousand nooks
and crannies, back-alley restaurants and shops, dive bars and ice cream
parlors hidden under its elevated, is now one long, monotonous wall of
modern skyscraper. In Washington, an army of cranes has transformed the
city in recent years, smoothing out all that was real and organic into a
town of mausoleums for the Trump crowd to revel in.
By trying to improve our cities, we have only succeeded in making
them empty simulacra of what was. To bring this about we have signed on
to political scams and mindless development schemes that are so
exclusive they are more destructive than all they were supposed to
improve. The urban crisis of affluence exemplifies our wider crisis: we
now live in an America where we believe that we no longer have any
ability to control the systems we live under.
Click here for the full article.
Source: Harper's Magazine
The Misogynistic Logic of Jeff Sessions’s Horrifying New Asylum Policy for Domestic Violence Victims
When the United Nations adopted the Declaration on the
Elimination of Violence Against Women in 1993, it gave long overdue
recognition to the fact that gendered domestic violence is not a private
issue, but a public health and human rights concern for the
international community. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision this
week to stop giving asylum protections for domestic violence victims
stands in grim conflict with this principle.
On Monday, Sessions reversed an immigration court’s ruling that granted asylum to a woman from El Salvador whose husband had repeatedly abused her physically, sexually, and emotionally. The court ruled in 2014 that domestic violence victims constitute a social group when it comes to asylum considerations. But in a 31-page ruling with profound implications for immigration policy, Sessions wrote that “generally” claims on domestic and gang violence will no longer qualify for asylum and will not even reach the initial “credible fear” standard to allow an immigrant to have her asylum claim heard by a judge. Victims of domestic and gang violence, in other words, won’t even be able to have their claims for asylum heard.
The effect of Sessions’s ruling could be sweeping and immediate. Immigration attorneys have said this decision could invalidate tens of thousands of pending asylum claims from women fleeing domestic and gang violence, which often intersect, in Central America and Mexico.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
On Monday, Sessions reversed an immigration court’s ruling that granted asylum to a woman from El Salvador whose husband had repeatedly abused her physically, sexually, and emotionally. The court ruled in 2014 that domestic violence victims constitute a social group when it comes to asylum considerations. But in a 31-page ruling with profound implications for immigration policy, Sessions wrote that “generally” claims on domestic and gang violence will no longer qualify for asylum and will not even reach the initial “credible fear” standard to allow an immigrant to have her asylum claim heard by a judge. Victims of domestic and gang violence, in other words, won’t even be able to have their claims for asylum heard.
The effect of Sessions’s ruling could be sweeping and immediate. Immigration attorneys have said this decision could invalidate tens of thousands of pending asylum claims from women fleeing domestic and gang violence, which often intersect, in Central America and Mexico.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Intercept_
Trump Administration Will Withdraw US from UN Human Rights Council, Report Says
The US Ambassador Nikki Haley said last year that the group has a 'chronic anti-Israel bias'.
President Donald Trump's administration is said to be set on withdrawing the US from the United Nations Human Rights Council. which meets for a new session next week
US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has accused the 47-member organisation based in Geneva of “chronic anti-Israel
bias” since she came into office last year and according to a number of
reports, the withdrawal is “imminent,” particularly after UN's recent
condemnation of Israel's violence against Palestinians in Gaza.
Diplomats believe it is a case of when, not if, the US
withdraws according to Reuters, although the State Department did not
say in a statement that a decision had been made.
Click here for the full article.
Source: The Independent
Is There Already Evidence of Collusion Between Paul Manafort, the Trump Campaign and Russia?
This report was published on YouTube on June 15.
Source: CBS News
Woman Seeking Asylum Separated from Disabled Grandson
This report was published on YouTube on June 15.
Source: CBS News
Drone Warfare Takes Traumatic Toll on U.S. Military Personnel
This report was published on YouTube on June 15.
Source: CBS News
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