U.S. House bill would ban boycotts against allied countries. “From the US War of Independence, when colonists boycotted British tea, to the struggle against slavery, when abolitionists boycotted goods produced with slave labor, to the Civil Rights movement, when activists boycotted segregated institutions, to the anti-Apartheid campaign, when Americans boycotted South Africa, boycotts have been a core part of the American democratic experience. And boycotts for political and social change have been recognized as political speech warranting the fullest protections of the First Amendment. Yet, Congress is once again trying to curtail this core First mendment right. Representatives Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), have introduced H.R. 3016 – IGO Anti-Boycott Act, which amends US law to criminalize participating in intergovernmental organization-led boycotts of any country ‘friendly’ to the United States. ….This bill is clearly an attempt to revive the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, which sought to accomplish the same ends.” https://rightsanddissent.salsalabs.org/igoboycottbill/index.html The white, apartheid regime in South Africa was a ‘friendly country’. “Mandela served 27 years in jail for resisting white minority rule before being released in 1990. ….The events leading up [to his arrest], on a dark night near Durban in 1962, have always been murky. In the era of Cold War politics, Mandela, then leader of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC), was considered a terrorist and a threat to the West. ….Rumours have circulated for years that the CIA trailed Mandela but the agency resisted previous attempts to shine a light on its alleged involvement in his arrest. Rickard’s admission [that the CIA tipped off South African police] will bring renewed pressure to declassify documents from the time.” https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36296551
U.S. Supreme Court rules in favor of homeowner who lost her condominum over $2,300 in overdue property tax. “The Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ruled that the government violated the Constitution when it took possession of Geraldine Tyler’s condo over an overdue property tax bill, auctioned the home, and pocketed the proceeds in excess of what she actually owed. ….She accrued a $2,300 tax bill, which turned into an approximately $15,000 bill after the government added on $13,000 in penalties, interest, and fees. Local officials then sold the home for $40,000—and kept the remaining $25,000. Tyler spent years arguing that such a taking was unconstitutional. But despite the case appearing fairly black and white from the outset, she had no such luck in the lower courts. When her case went before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, its ruling was also unanimous—in favor of the government.” https://reason.com/2023/05/25/the-county-sold-her-home-and-kept-the-profit-over-unpaid-taxes-scotus-wasnt-having-it/ This is one advantage of having political appointees on the Supreme Court. They are more likely to be sympathetic to ‘common sense’ arguments than career judges who follow the letter of the law, no matter how unfair the outcome.
Kansas town’s zoning rules say woman can raise bees in her yard, as long as she doesn’t sell the honey. “Yesterday, Ellen Finnerty filed a lawsuit in the District Court of Franklin County, Kansas, against Ottawa, Kansas, arguing that the city’s prohibition on home-based businesses that involve “animal care” and activities outside the actual dwelling unit violates the Kansas Constitution’s protections of ‘life, liberty, and property’. ….Ottawa’s city planner told her that the zoning code’s prohibition on home businesses featuring ‘animal care of any type’. Because bees are animals (and fish, in some states), and gardens are outside, that would mean Finnerty’s garden and honey business was effectively prohibited. Finnerty’s petition notes that she would have been within her rights to raise a garden or keep bees for her private enjoyment on her property. They just couldn’t be connected to commercial use.” https://reason.com/2023/05/24/home-business-lawsuit-argues-people-have-a-natural-right-to-keep-bees-on-their-property/
U.S. Supreme Court limits definition of ‘wetlands’ in Clean Water Act lawsuit. “The ruling from the court’s conservative majority vastly narrowing the federal government’s authority over marshes and bogs is a win for industries such as home building and oil and gas, which must seek Clean Water Act permits to damage federally protected wetlands. Those industries have fought for decades to limit the law’s reach. ….The 5-4 ruling in Sackett v. EPA creates a far narrower test than what has been used for more than half a century to determine which bogs and marshes fall under the scope of the 1972 law. Under the majority’s definition, only those wetlands with a continuous surface water connection to larger streams, lakes and rivers would get federal protections.” https://news.yahoo.com/supreme-court-dramatically-shrinks-clean-143242389.html Fox News is reporting that the decision was unanimous, 9-0 in favor of the plaintiffs. “Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., slammed the Supreme Court’s ruling Thursday that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate bodies of water, calling it a ‘MAGA’ court even though the decision was 9-0. ….The ruling came down 9-0 in favor of plaintiffs Michael and Chantell Sackett, two Idaho residents whom the EPA prohibited from building a home near a wetland years ago. …However, the court split 5-4 in its analysis of how the federal government should define a water source under the Clean [Water] Act.” https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-rips-maga-supreme-court-9-0-vote-epa-waters-rule
Two Oath Keepers leaders sentenced to 18 and 12 years in prison. “The founder of the far-right militant Oath Keepers Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Thursday for seditious conspiracy, the longest sentence imposed to date over the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot that sought to keep Donald Trump in the White House. ….’You, sir, present an ongoing threat and peril to this country, to the republic and the very fabric of our democracy,’ [U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta told him]. ….’Mr. Rhodes led a conspiracy to use force and violence to intimidate and coerce members of our government into stopping the lawful transfer of power following a presidential election,’ federal prosecutor Kathryn Rakoczy said. ‘As the court has just found – that is terrorism.’ ….Mehta also on Thursday sentenced co-defendant Kelly Meggs, a former Florida Chapter leader also convicted of seditious conspiracy, to 12 years in prison.” https://www.reuters.com/legal/oath-keepers-founder-faces-sentencing-sedition-us-capitol-attack-2023-05-25/ It looked more like a riot to me than terrorism, but it’s true that the goal was to overturn the outcome of the election. This seems like an excessive sentence, but it’s actually fairly common for people to be sentenced to a decade or more in prison in the U.S., which to me seems like ‘cruel and unusual punishment’. U.S. prison sentences are definitely outside the norm for liberal democracies. “Long sentences are imposed more frequently and are longer on average in the U.S. compared with most other countries, according to the analysis produced for CCJ’s Task Force on Long Sentences by Prof. Lila Kazemian of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The average long sentence in the U.S. is more closely aligned with criminal justice practices in Mexico, El Salvador, and other Latin American countries than with those of peer nations in Europe. ….Comparisons of average sentence length for homicide show that the U.S. has the longest sentences among nations at 40.6 years, compared to 34.2 years for Mexico (ranked second) and 6.1 for France. The higher average sentence length in the U.S. may partly reflect the fact that American policies allow for sentences exceeding 100 years. The U.S. holds a substantial portion (40%) of the world’s population of people serving life sentences, as well as the vast majority (83%) of those sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.” https://counciloncj.org/new-analysis-shows-u-s-imposes-long-prison-sentences-more-frequently-than-other-nations/
Minnesota’s governor vetoes bill protecting ride share drivers. “Gov. Tim Walz on Thursday vetoed a bill adding a new set of protections for drivers that work for ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft after Uber threatened to pull its services from Greater Minnesota and surge prices in the Twin Cities. ….It was the first bill Walz has vetoed since becoming governor in 2019. The proposal would have set minimum payment levels for drivers and required that more of the amount collected in fees for a late pickup or cancellation be directed toward drivers. It would also have required clearer rules about why a driver could be deactivated, provide notice in writing if a driver was up for deactivation and give that driver a chance to appeal before removing them from the app.” https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/05/25/walz-vetoes-bill-adding-protections-for-uber-lyft-drivers I thought it sounded too good to be true. Democrats cave in once again to big business.
Two Democrats voted with Republicans to block student debt relief. “On Wednesday evening, the House passed a GOP led bill— first introduced in March by Rep. Bob Good — to block Biden’s plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student debt for federal borrowers, along with ending the latest extension of the student-loan payment pause. The measure passed by a vote of 218-203 — but it wasn’t just Republicans who voted in favor of the legislation. Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington joined Republicans in voting in favor of overturning Biden’s student-debt relief policies. Their offices did not respond to Insider’s request for comment on why they voted to pass the bill, but Gluesenkamp Perez wrote on Twitter on Thursday that ‘expansions of student debt forgiveness need to be matched dollar-for-dollar with investments in career & technical education. I can’t support the first without the other. The severe shortage of trades workers needs to be seen & treated as a national priority. It’s about respect. ….College costs too much & the credentials produced get unwarranted social status, justifying more cost increases by our country’s elite. They need to snap out of it & the system needs a total overhaul.'” https://www.businessinsider.com/which-democrats-voted-to-block-student-debt-cancellation-biden-relief-2023-5
Limited policing reforms three years after historic anti-brutality protests. “Three years after George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis at the age of 46, Black Americans are still more than twice as likely to be killed by police as white Americans. Much has changed since Floyd’s killing, but that startling statistic from the database Mapping Police Violence underscores how much hasn’t changed all the same. Floyd’s death led to mass protests across the country and the world, and it awakened much of the country to how much change is necessary to take real strides toward racial equality and justice. ….Perhaps the biggest shift since Floyd’s death has come in efforts to hold police more accountable when people are killed in their custody or as a result of their actions. Police have repeatedly been able to avoid jail time for the killings or beatings of Black Americans, from Rodney King to the more recent examples of Trayvon Martin, Stephon Clark, Freddie Gray, Philando Castille and Alton Sterling. Those involved in Floyd’s case, however, were charged and convicted. ….Officers have also been charged in other killings. ….In 2021, a House then controlled by Democrats approved the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. But the legislation went nowhere in the Senate and appears to be on hold with a GOP majority House.” https://thehill.com/homenews/race-politics/4020985-heres-whats-changed-since-george-floyds-murder-three-years-ago/ Note that although black Americans are statistically more likely to be killed by police, in total more white people are killed by police, so this is not a purely racial issue. It’s everyone’s problem. https://www.statista.com/statistics/585152/people-shot-to-death-by-us-police-by-race/
U.S. lands on human rights blacklist over forced prison labor. “… the United States is one of only 17 countries that still impose compulsory work, according to a report released this week by Walk Free, an Australian human rights organization, in collaboration with the United Nations’ International Labor Organization and International Organization for Migration. The category encompasses state-sanctioned forced labor in militaries, fields, factories and prisons. In many U.S. prisons, inmates are compelled to work for far below minimum wage and without other legal protections. ….The report, a global census of modern-day enslavement based on data from 2021, finds evidence of state-imposed forced labor in Belarus, Brazil, China, Egypt, Libya, Mali, Mongolia, Myanmar, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Turkmenistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. ….Worldwide, government authorities forced some 3.9 million people to work in 2021 — among an estimated 50 million people enslaved in involuntary labor or marriage, according to the report. ….The index found the highest rate of slavery in Afghanistan, Eritrea, Kuwait, Mauritania, North Korea, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. ….The United States has the world’s highest incarceration rate. A 2022 report by the American Civil Liberties Union found that about two-thirds of prisoners in public and private institutions, or about 800,000 people, were forced to work. Many faced punishment for refusal.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/25/slavery-united-states-forced-prison-labor/
Henry Kissinger turns 100. “Long despised by the left, Kissinger has come into the good graces of the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Hillary Clinton, after serving as secretary of state, called Kissinger ‘a friend’ and said she ‘relied on his counsel’…. But for many, Kissinger was seen as an unindicted war criminal for his role in, among other events, expanding the Vietnam War to Cambodia and Laos, supporting military coups in Chile and Argentina, green-lighting Indonesia’s bloody invasion of East Timor in 1975 and turning a blind eye to Pakistan’s mass atrocities during Bangladesh’s 1971 war of independence. ‘To me, there’s no doubt that his policies have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and have destroyed democracy in many countries,’ said Reed Kalman Brody, a veteran human rights lawyer whose cases have included working with victims of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. ‘I’m bewildered that he has gotten away with it,’ he said.” https://news.yahoo.com/100-kissinger-basks-us-praise-011905596.html I’m not surprised. U.S. leaders and their co-conspirators are never held accountable, no matter how terrible the crime.
The Intercept uncovers previously unreported U.S. attacks on Cambodian civilians during Vietnam War. “Survivors from 13 Cambodian villages along the Vietnamese border told The Intercept about attacks that killed hundreds of their relatives and neighbors during Kissinger’s tenure in President Richard Nixon’s White House. The interviews with more than 75 Cambodian witnesses and survivors, published here for the first time, reveal in new detail the long-term trauma borne by survivors of the American war. These attacks were far more intimate and perhaps even more horrific than the violence already attributed to Kissinger’s policies, because the villages were not just bombed, but also strafed by helicopter gunships and burned and looted by U.S. and allied troops.” https://theintercept.com/2023/05/23/henry-kissinger-cambodia-bombing-survivors/
Anti-Putin Russian partisan group who attacked Belgorod includes neo-Nazis. “On Monday, Anti-Putin militias Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) and Freedom of Russia Legion said they had liberated the city of Belgorod in Russia. Pro Ukrainian social media accounts on Twitter and Telegram spent the day celebrating the stunning development in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but people familiar with RDK and its members were wary. Like other groups that have been fighting off Russian invaders since 2014, both groups include Neo-Nazi members. ….Pictures of RDK celebrating in Belgorod flooded social media. In one, a Russian man named Aleksandr Skachkov stands next to a captured BTR-82A with the flag of the RDK unfurled next to him. On his chest is a patch depicting a white hooded Ku Klux Klansman wielding a gun. According to reporting from Bellingcat, Ukraine arrested Skachkov in 2020 during a raid on a group of people who were translating and selling the Christchurch Shooter’s manifesto. ….According to [Bellingcat’s Michael] Colborne, RDK is a hardcore fascist group that does not hide its political views. ‘….I don’t say ‘neo-Nazi’ as a casual slur—these are people who have literally organized Hitler worship nights, written poems about Hitler, and lead bands whose names and songs are about Hitler.” https://www.vice.com/en/article/3akdpy/anti-putin-militias-celebrating-attacks-on-russia-are-filled-with-neo-nazis
Greenville, South Carolina event promoters advertised Juneteenth using white models. “The organizers of a South Carolina town’s Juneteenth celebrations have apologized after advertising the event with a banner featuring [two] white people. ….Some [on social media] thought the image of a white couple, used to advertise the black festival, was fake. ….Rueben Hays, who is black, co-founded the organizational group, Juneteenth GVL, with two other black men. The board is entirely black, as is the staff, according to their website. ….Hays on Thursday apologized for the banner, and pointed out it was one of many, [included] in a bid to be inclusive.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12126801/South-Carolina-town-uses-WHITE-models-advertise-Juneteenth-celebration.html
Indiana OB/GYN fined $3,000 for going public about abortion for raped 10 year-old from Ohio. “… [the child was] unable to obtain the procedure in her own state after the repealing of Roe v. Wade. Dr Caitlin Bernard was not fined for the procedure itself but for publicly talking about the case in media – with the state’s Republican deputy attorney general accusing her of being ‘brazen in pursuit of (her) own agenda’. The case became a flashpoint following the June 24, 2022, decision by the Supreme Court to revoke the 50-year-old law. ….Bernard has consistently defended her actions, and she told the board on Thursday that she followed Indiana’s reporting requirements and hospital policy by notifying hospital social workers about the child abuse – and that the girl’s rape was already being investigated by Ohio authorities. Her lawyers also said she did not release any identifying information about the girl that would break privacy laws. ….Some news outlets and Republican politicians falsely suggested Bernard fabricated the story, until a 27-year-old man was charged with the rape in Columbus, Ohio.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12126935/Indiana-doctor-breaks-hearing-punished-speaking-10-year-olds-abortion.html I hope she sues. It was definitely in the public’s interest to know about the real-world impacts of the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Ohio Republicans were were going to force a raped 10 year-old to give birth!
Man sues for $7 million to pay medical bills after being horribly burned by Florida deputies. “Osceola County Sheriff’s deputy David Crawford was on Thursday formally charged by prosecutors with culpable negligence more than a year after tasering Jean Barretto Baerga as he pumped gas. Barretto Baerga, 26, had been pursued by deputies after fleeing law enforcement who had responded to a report of a group of motorcyclists riding recklessly. ….Body camera footage of the 2022 incident showed [Deputy David] Crawford tackling Barretto Baerga at the gas pump without first announcing himself. A second deputy, Christopher Koffinas, used his stun gun on the victim, at which point Crawford shouted at the back-up officers to turn off the gas pump. Several seconds later, as Barretto Baerga lay in a pool of gasoline, Crawford pointed his taser and said: ‘You’re gonna get Tased again, dude,’ and then fired. The blaze was instantly ignited and flames engulfed the biker [and Deputy Crawford, who was also seriously burned].” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12126591/Florida-deputy-cooked-motorcyclist-alive-faces-charges-year-incident.html
Man wrongly convicted of shooting at car full of teenagers released after 33 years in prison. “Daniel Saldana, 55, was proclaimed innocent by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday, authorities announced. He was convicted in 1990 of shooting at a car containing six teenagers who were leaving a high school football game in Baldwin Park, east of Los Angeles. Two students were wounded in the 1989 incident but survived. The attackers mistook the teens for gang members, authorities said. ….Saldana was 22 at the time of the shooting and worked full-time as a construction worker. ….It was not immediately clear whether Saldana would be entitled to any compensation from Los Angeles or California for his lengthy prison stay. ….In 2021, neighboring Riverside County settled a lawsuit and paid $11 million to Horace Roberts, who spent two decades in prison after being wrongly convicted of killing his girlfriend in 1998.” https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12127309/Man-wrongly-convicted-trying-murder-six-high-school-students-walks-free-33-YEARS.html
Ukraine reportedly sending untrained men into combat. “Pvt. Oleksiy Malkovskiy, an unemployed father of three, fired a rocket-propelled grenade for the first time in his life on the front lines of the battle for Bakhmut in February. Russian troops were assaulting one of the apartment blocks that his group of 16 draftees, many of whom had been enlisted days earlier and given no training, had been assigned to defend. Malkovskiy missed. ….Over the 36 hours he spent in brutal house-to-house combat in the eastern Ukrainian city, 11 of the 16 men from Malkovskiy’s group of draftees were either killed or captured, according to surviving soldiers and relatives of the missing.” https://archive.is/zPFVT
19 cities to pay out over $80 million to settle excessive force claims of anti-brutality protesters. “Cities across the US have agreed to pay out a total of more than $80m in settlements to protesters injured by police during 2020 racial justice protests – a figure experts believe is unprecedented and will rise further as many lawsuits are still playing out. ….Anthony Evans was shot in the jaw in Austin by police using so-called less-than-lethal ammunition during a Black Lives Matter protest in the Texas capital in 2020. ‘We were never, like, cussing or yelling in their face or anything. It was all just peaceful,’ Evans said. ….Other cities, including New York, Philadelphia, Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Oakland, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Portland, Oregon, are among at least 19 to have agreed settlements so far and many more are being sued coast to coast, including San Jose and Washington DC.” https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/25/us-cities-settlement-protesters-blm-racial-justice
President Biden announces plan to reduce anti-Semitism and anti-Jewish violence. “The plan is broken into four pillars: increasing awareness and understanding of antisemitism and appreciation of Jewish American heritage; improving safety and security; countering discrimination; and building solidarity. ….The White House also called on Congress to pass legislation holding social media platforms accountable for the spread of hate-inspired violence while urging those companies to take independent actions to counter antisemitism. The measure was applauded by Jewish organizations commending the White House for the policy.” https://www.courthousenews.com/white-house-unveils-national-plan-to-combat-antisemitism/
Planned Parenthood sues to block South Carolina’s six week abortion ban. “The law bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, or about six weeks into a pregnancy, with exceptions for fatal fetal anomalies, rape, incest and to protect the mother’s life. The law went into effect immediately, but the health care providers filed an emergency motion asking the court to block it from being enforced while the suit is pending. The [abortion] providers argue the immediate implementation of the ban will harm pregnant women with scheduled appointments who are already past the six-week mark.” https://www.courthousenews.com/six-week-abortion-ban-reignites-legal-battle-in-south-carolina/
Georgia’s new nuclear power station finally up and running. “Two nuclear reactors in Georgia were supposed to herald a nuclear power revival in the United States. But the project is seven years late and $17 billion over budget as Georgia Power Co. announced the first new reactor at its Plant Vogtle could reach full electrical output by Saturday. They’re the first U.S. reactors built from scratch in decades — and maybe the most expensive power plant ever. ….Japan’s Toshiba Corp., which then owned Westinghouse, paid $3.7 billion to the Vogtle owners to walk away from a guarantee to build the reactors at a fixed price after overruns forced electric industry pioneer Westinghouse into bankruptcy in 2017. Add that to Vogtle’s price and the total nears $35 billion. ….American utilities have heeded Vogtle’s missteps, shelving plans for 24 other reactors proposed between 2007 and 2009. Two half-built reactors in South Carolina were abandoned.” https://www.courthousenews.com/georgia-nuclear-rebirth-arrives-7-years-late-17b-over-cost/
Labor unions and progressive taxation created economic boom in the 1950s and 60s. “By 1960, most American families resided in housing they owned ‘for the first time since at least 1870’ — for the first time, in effect, since before the Industrial Revolution. This home ownership surge, the two economists posit, rested in large part on an equally unprecedented surge in worker earnings. Median annual incomes in the mid-20th century ‘nearly doubled’ as Americans realized wage gains ‘both large on average and widely spread across workers’. This ‘widespread and sustained increase in the level of income,’ Collins and Niemesh detail, ‘allowed more people to afford and select into owner-occupied housing than in previous generations.’ What brought about that ‘widespread and sustained’ income increase? ….The years of the mid-20th century saw a vast expansion of America’s trade union movement. The struggles of new unions — in major basic industries ranging from auto to steel — essentially forced the rich to begin sharing the wealth workers were creating…. Between 1940 and 1960, the federal tax rate on income in the nation’s top tax bracket consistently hovered around 90 percent.” https://consortiumnews.com/2023/05/25/two-decades-that-boosted-the-us-middle-class/
Progressive News Service 