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Celerity
Celerity's Journal
Celerity's Journal
May 18, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/us/justice-breyer-retirement.html
WASHINGTON — Many liberals say Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a terrible miscalculation in deciding, in her 80s and after bouts with cancer, not to retire under President Barack Obama. She died in September, allowing President Donald J. Trump to name her successor and shift the Supreme Court to the right. Some of those same liberals are now urging Justice Stephen G. Breyer to step down and let President Biden nominate his replacement. The justice is 82 and has been on the court for nearly 27 years. In almost any other line of work, he would be well past retirement age. “Breyer’s best chance at protecting his legacy and impact on the law is to resign now, clearing the way for a younger justice who shares his judicial outlook,” Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in The Washington Post this month.
But scholars who have studied justices’ decisions to leave the court said they had their doubts about the wisdom or effectiveness of such prodding. “Justices don’t like to be pressured politically, and they generally don’t like law professors telling them what to do,” said Christine Kexel Chabot, who teaches at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law and is the author of a 2019 study called “Do Justices Time Their Retirements Politically?” “A justice, like any other federal judge, would rather confess to grand larceny than to confess a political motivation,” she said.
Justice Breyer has been particularly adamant that politics plays no role in judges’ work, and he recently suggested that it should also not figure into their decisions about when to retire. “My experience of more than 30 years as a judge has shown me that, once men and women take the judicial oath, they take the oath to heart,” he said last month in a lecture at Harvard Law School. “They are loyal to the rule of law, not to the political party that helped to secure their appointment.”
In the speech, a version of which will be published in September as a book called “The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics,” Justice Breyer said that the odor of partisanship damages the judiciary. “If the public sees judges as politicians in robes,” he said, “its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the court’s power.” Artemus Ward, the author of “Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement From the United States Supreme Court,” said Justice Breyer might stay on to shield the court from charges of partisanship. “Breyer is a justice who is with the chief justice in trying to protect the institution,” said Professor Ward, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University. “Justices care about the court, and the court is arguably very vulnerable right now.” “This is a guy who I believe is not going to retire,” he said of Justice Breyer.
snip
Why Justice Breyer May Resist Calls for His Retirement
In a recent speech on “the peril of politics,” Justice Stephen G. Breyer said judges must renounce loyalty to “the political party that helped to secure their appointment.”https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/us/justice-breyer-retirement.html
WASHINGTON — Many liberals say Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg made a terrible miscalculation in deciding, in her 80s and after bouts with cancer, not to retire under President Barack Obama. She died in September, allowing President Donald J. Trump to name her successor and shift the Supreme Court to the right. Some of those same liberals are now urging Justice Stephen G. Breyer to step down and let President Biden nominate his replacement. The justice is 82 and has been on the court for nearly 27 years. In almost any other line of work, he would be well past retirement age. “Breyer’s best chance at protecting his legacy and impact on the law is to resign now, clearing the way for a younger justice who shares his judicial outlook,” Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in The Washington Post this month.
But scholars who have studied justices’ decisions to leave the court said they had their doubts about the wisdom or effectiveness of such prodding. “Justices don’t like to be pressured politically, and they generally don’t like law professors telling them what to do,” said Christine Kexel Chabot, who teaches at the Loyola University Chicago School of Law and is the author of a 2019 study called “Do Justices Time Their Retirements Politically?” “A justice, like any other federal judge, would rather confess to grand larceny than to confess a political motivation,” she said.
Justice Breyer has been particularly adamant that politics plays no role in judges’ work, and he recently suggested that it should also not figure into their decisions about when to retire. “My experience of more than 30 years as a judge has shown me that, once men and women take the judicial oath, they take the oath to heart,” he said last month in a lecture at Harvard Law School. “They are loyal to the rule of law, not to the political party that helped to secure their appointment.”
In the speech, a version of which will be published in September as a book called “The Authority of the Court and the Peril of Politics,” Justice Breyer said that the odor of partisanship damages the judiciary. “If the public sees judges as politicians in robes,” he said, “its confidence in the courts, and in the rule of law itself, can only diminish, diminishing the court’s power.” Artemus Ward, the author of “Deciding to Leave: The Politics of Retirement From the United States Supreme Court,” said Justice Breyer might stay on to shield the court from charges of partisanship. “Breyer is a justice who is with the chief justice in trying to protect the institution,” said Professor Ward, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University. “Justices care about the court, and the court is arguably very vulnerable right now.” “This is a guy who I believe is not going to retire,” he said of Justice Breyer.
snip
May 18, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/us/tlaib-biden-palestine-israel.html
President Biden talking with Representatives Rashida Tlaib, left, and Debbie Dingell, right, on Tuesday ahead of a visit to the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government she said was committing crimes against Palestinians, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange. During a conversation on a tarmac in Detroit, where Mr. Biden had arrived to visit a Ford factory near her congressional district, Ms. Tlaib echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe her remarks.
Her comments came as Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign in the past week. Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more sceptical as the party base expresses concern about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Ms. Tlaib have become increasingly vocal about criticizing Mr. Biden for his stance. There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the White House. Mr. Biden has expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, but he has not demanded one, and he has continued to assert that Israel has a right to defend itself.
Ms. Tlaib, who could be seen making her case to Mr. Biden as she greeted him at the steps of Air Force One, told the president that the status quo was only enabling more killing, and that his current policy of unconditional support for the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not working, the aide said. Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, whose district is home to the Ford F-150 factory that Mr. Biden was visiting and who also greeted him on his arrival, later said the exchange on the tarmac was part of “an important dialogue.” “It was a very compassionate, honest discussion,” she said in a brief interview. “But the president doesn’t deal with these kinds of issues in public, and he doesn’t negotiate in public.”
Mr. Biden shook Ms. Tlaib’s hand after the conversation, and later praised the congresswoman during his public remarks at the factory in Dearborn. “I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many other people,” said Mr. Biden, before referring to Ms. Tlaib’s grandmother, Muftia Tlaib, who lives in the West Bank. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are.”
snip
Tlaib confronts Biden on Israel, saying U.S. support is enabling Netanyahu to commit crimes against
Palestinians.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/us/tlaib-biden-palestine-israel.html
President Biden talking with Representatives Rashida Tlaib, left, and Debbie Dingell, right, on Tuesday ahead of a visit to the Ford Rouge Electric Vehicle Center.Credit...Doug Mills/The New York Times
Representative Rashida Tlaib, Democrat of Michigan, confronted President Biden on Tuesday over his support for Israel amid its bombing campaign against Hamas in Gaza, urging him to stop enabling a government she said was committing crimes against Palestinians, according to a Democratic aide familiar with the exchange. During a conversation on a tarmac in Detroit, where Mr. Biden had arrived to visit a Ford factory near her congressional district, Ms. Tlaib echoed a scathing speech she delivered last week on the House floor, telling the president that he must do more to protect Palestinian lives and human rights, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe her remarks.
Her comments came as Israel has scaled up its bombing campaign in the past week. Among Democrats in Congress, attitudes toward Israel have grown more sceptical as the party base expresses concern about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, and several high-profile progressive lawmakers including Ms. Tlaib have become increasingly vocal about criticizing Mr. Biden for his stance. There was no immediate comment on the exchange from the White House. Mr. Biden has expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza, but he has not demanded one, and he has continued to assert that Israel has a right to defend itself.
Ms. Tlaib, who could be seen making her case to Mr. Biden as she greeted him at the steps of Air Force One, told the president that the status quo was only enabling more killing, and that his current policy of unconditional support for the Israeli government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not working, the aide said. Representative Debbie Dingell, Democrat of Michigan, whose district is home to the Ford F-150 factory that Mr. Biden was visiting and who also greeted him on his arrival, later said the exchange on the tarmac was part of “an important dialogue.” “It was a very compassionate, honest discussion,” she said in a brief interview. “But the president doesn’t deal with these kinds of issues in public, and he doesn’t negotiate in public.”
Mr. Biden shook Ms. Tlaib’s hand after the conversation, and later praised the congresswoman during his public remarks at the factory in Dearborn. “I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many other people,” said Mr. Biden, before referring to Ms. Tlaib’s grandmother, Muftia Tlaib, who lives in the West Bank. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’ll do everything to see that they are.”
snip
May 18, 2021
Europe Calls for Immediate Cease-Fire in Israel-Palestinian Fighting
Source: The New York Times
BRUSSELS — European Union foreign ministers overwhelmingly called for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinians in an emergency meeting on Tuesday, according to the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles.
All of the member states except Hungary backed a statement that condemned rocket attacks by Hamas and supported Israel’s right to self-defense but also cautioned that it had “to be done in a proportional manner and respecting international humanitarian law,’’ Mr. Borrell said at a news conference.
He said that the number of civilian casualties in Gaza, “including a high number of women and children,’’ was “unacceptable.’’ And he said that the European Union, as part of the quartet with the United States, Russia and the United Nations that seeks peace in the Middle East, would push to restart a serious diplomatic process.
“The priority is the immediate cessation of all violence and the implementation of a cease-fire,” Mr. Borrell said. Foreign policy in the European Union works by unanimity, so Mr. Borrell’s comments, despite Hungary’s opposition, were an effort, he said, “to reflect the overall agreement.”
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/world/europe/europe-israel-palestinians-gaza-ceasefire.html
May 18, 2021
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/climate/climate-change-emissions-IEA.html
A coal-fired power plant near Bergheim, Germany. The magnitude of changes needed is “still not fully understood by many governments and investors,” the head of the International Energy Agency said.Credit...Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
Nations around the world would need to immediately stop approving new coal-fired power plants and new oil and gas fields and quickly phase out gasoline-powered vehicles if they want to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change, the world’s leading energy agency said Tuesday. In a sweeping new report, the International Energy Agency issued a detailed road map of what it would take for the world’s nations to slash carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. That would very likely keep the average global temperature from increasing 1.5 Celsius above preindustrial levels — the threshold beyond which scientists say the Earth faces irreversible damage. While academics and environmentalists have made similar recommendations before, this is the first time the International Energy Agency has outlined ways to accomplish such drastic cuts in emissions.
That’s significant, given the fact that the influential agency is not an environmental group but an international organization that advises world capitals on energy policy. Formed after the oil crises of the 1970s, the agency’s reports and forecasts are frequently cited by energy companies and investors as a basis for long-term planning. “It’s a huge shift in messaging if they’re saying there’s no need to invest in new fossil fuel supply,” said Kelly Trout, senior research analyst at Oil Change International, an environmental advocacy group. Several major economies, including the United States and the European Union, have recently pledged to zero out their emissions responsible for global warming by midcentury. But many world leaders have not yet come to grips with the extraordinary transformation of the global energy system that is required to do so, the agency warned. “The sheer magnitude of changes needed to get to net zero emissions by 2050 is still not fully understood by many governments and investors,” Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director, said in an interview.
Net zero emissions doesn’t mean countries would stop emitting carbon dioxide altogether. Instead, they would need to sharply reduce most of the carbon dioxide generated by power plants, factories and vehicles. Any emissions that could not be fully erased would be offset, such as by forests or artificial technologies that can pull carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere. To reach that goal of net zero worldwide by 2050, every nation would need to move much faster and more aggressively away from fossil fuels than they are currently doing, the report found. For instance, the annual pace of installations for solar panels and wind turbines worldwide would have to quadruple by 2030, the agency said. For the solar industry, that would mean building the equivalent of what is currently the world’s largest solar farm every day for the next decade.
For now, the world remains off course. Last month, the agency warned that global carbon dioxide emissions were expected to rise at their second-fastest pace ever in 2021 as countries recovered from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic and global coal burning neared a high, led by a surge of industrial activity in Asia. “We’re seeing more governments around the world make net-zero pledges, which is very good news,” Mr. Birol said. “But there’s still a huge gap between the rhetoric and the reality.” President Biden has made climate action a top priority of his administration and is pushing for an aggressive pivot away from fossil fuels at home and abroad. But his own pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gases at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade faces significant political obstacles. And at a virtual summit of 40 world leaders that Mr. Biden hosted last month, Japan, Canada and Britain joined the European Union in committing to steeper cuts but China, India and Russia did not.
snip
A floating solar farm off Singapore in January.Credit...Roslan Rahman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Nations Must Drop Fossil Fuels, Fast, World Energy Body Warns
A landmark report from the International Energy Agency says countries need to move faster and more aggressively to cut planet-warming pollution.https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/climate/climate-change-emissions-IEA.html
A coal-fired power plant near Bergheim, Germany. The magnitude of changes needed is “still not fully understood by many governments and investors,” the head of the International Energy Agency said.Credit...Lukas Schulze/Getty Images
Nations around the world would need to immediately stop approving new coal-fired power plants and new oil and gas fields and quickly phase out gasoline-powered vehicles if they want to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change, the world’s leading energy agency said Tuesday. In a sweeping new report, the International Energy Agency issued a detailed road map of what it would take for the world’s nations to slash carbon dioxide emissions to net zero by 2050. That would very likely keep the average global temperature from increasing 1.5 Celsius above preindustrial levels — the threshold beyond which scientists say the Earth faces irreversible damage. While academics and environmentalists have made similar recommendations before, this is the first time the International Energy Agency has outlined ways to accomplish such drastic cuts in emissions.
That’s significant, given the fact that the influential agency is not an environmental group but an international organization that advises world capitals on energy policy. Formed after the oil crises of the 1970s, the agency’s reports and forecasts are frequently cited by energy companies and investors as a basis for long-term planning. “It’s a huge shift in messaging if they’re saying there’s no need to invest in new fossil fuel supply,” said Kelly Trout, senior research analyst at Oil Change International, an environmental advocacy group. Several major economies, including the United States and the European Union, have recently pledged to zero out their emissions responsible for global warming by midcentury. But many world leaders have not yet come to grips with the extraordinary transformation of the global energy system that is required to do so, the agency warned. “The sheer magnitude of changes needed to get to net zero emissions by 2050 is still not fully understood by many governments and investors,” Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director, said in an interview.
Net zero emissions doesn’t mean countries would stop emitting carbon dioxide altogether. Instead, they would need to sharply reduce most of the carbon dioxide generated by power plants, factories and vehicles. Any emissions that could not be fully erased would be offset, such as by forests or artificial technologies that can pull carbon dioxide directly out of the atmosphere. To reach that goal of net zero worldwide by 2050, every nation would need to move much faster and more aggressively away from fossil fuels than they are currently doing, the report found. For instance, the annual pace of installations for solar panels and wind turbines worldwide would have to quadruple by 2030, the agency said. For the solar industry, that would mean building the equivalent of what is currently the world’s largest solar farm every day for the next decade.
For now, the world remains off course. Last month, the agency warned that global carbon dioxide emissions were expected to rise at their second-fastest pace ever in 2021 as countries recovered from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic and global coal burning neared a high, led by a surge of industrial activity in Asia. “We’re seeing more governments around the world make net-zero pledges, which is very good news,” Mr. Birol said. “But there’s still a huge gap between the rhetoric and the reality.” President Biden has made climate action a top priority of his administration and is pushing for an aggressive pivot away from fossil fuels at home and abroad. But his own pledge to cut U.S. greenhouse gases at least 50 percent below 2005 levels by the end of this decade faces significant political obstacles. And at a virtual summit of 40 world leaders that Mr. Biden hosted last month, Japan, Canada and Britain joined the European Union in committing to steeper cuts but China, India and Russia did not.
snip
A floating solar farm off Singapore in January.Credit...Roslan Rahman/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
May 18, 2021
Label:
Capitol Records - V-8603
Format:
Vinyl , 12 ", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country:
US
Exit:
1982
Kind:
Electronic , Funk / Soul
Style:
P. Funk , Electro
George Clinton - Atomic Dog (Special Atomic Mix)
Label:
Capitol Records - V-8603
Format:
Vinyl , 12 ", 33 ⅓ RPM
Country:
US
Exit:
1982
Kind:
Electronic , Funk / Soul
Style:
P. Funk , Electro
May 18, 2021
WASHINGTON—Expressing concerns about an overly ambitious agenda, several politically moderate members of Congress issued a joint statement Monday calling for smaller numbers.
“The proposals that our colleagues are putting forward, at times, contain figures with as many as seven or eight digits in them, which is simply beyond the pale,” said Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), warning that these large numbers with multiple commas risked alienating key voter blocs.
“My constituents didn’t send me to D.C. to inundate them with radically high numbers like a million or a billion. No, I came here to fight for figures like 12, or 7, or better yet, 1/8. These are the type of meat-and-potatoes numbers that American voters can get behind. I have no wish to be unreasonable—my fellow moderates and I recognize the importance of values greater than zero, but there’s simply no cause for them to be this big.”
At press time, Manchin had moved on to castigating Democrats for writing bills featuring words other than “bipartisan.”
Congressional Moderates Call For Smaller Numbers
https://politics.theonion.com/congressional-moderates-call-for-smaller-numbers-1846811499WASHINGTON—Expressing concerns about an overly ambitious agenda, several politically moderate members of Congress issued a joint statement Monday calling for smaller numbers.
“The proposals that our colleagues are putting forward, at times, contain figures with as many as seven or eight digits in them, which is simply beyond the pale,” said Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), warning that these large numbers with multiple commas risked alienating key voter blocs.
“My constituents didn’t send me to D.C. to inundate them with radically high numbers like a million or a billion. No, I came here to fight for figures like 12, or 7, or better yet, 1/8. These are the type of meat-and-potatoes numbers that American voters can get behind. I have no wish to be unreasonable—my fellow moderates and I recognize the importance of values greater than zero, but there’s simply no cause for them to be this big.”
At press time, Manchin had moved on to castigating Democrats for writing bills featuring words other than “bipartisan.”
May 17, 2021
Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) is the lone Democratic holdout on the For the People Act, a sprawling overhaul of federal elections and campaign finance law, and he has shown little sign of coming around to supporting it.
Asked about the path to enact new voting-rights laws, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has repeatedly offered a pat reply: “Failure is not an option.” Faced with a barrage of new state laws aiming to restrict voting outside Election Day — pushed by Republican legislatures egged on by former president Donald Trump’s false claims of rampant fraud — most Democrats agree with Schumer that the need for a federal backstop is essential. But failure is very much an option — it is, in fact, the most likely one. A Senate committee on Tuesday reached a partisan deadlock over Democrats’ sprawling overhaul of federal election, ethics and campaign finance law — the For the People Act, also known as H.R. 1 or S. 1 — and there is no clear path to breaking it. A Thursday lunch meeting of Democratic senators to discuss a way forward did not produce any breakthroughs, and lawmakers, aides and activists said they have little more than blind hope that one will materialize. Leaving the meeting, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), a lead author of the For the People Act, said that progress “starts with the conversation among the senators, getting focused on it, getting familiar with the details, getting all the questions answered .?.?. That’s a conversation we really started in full focus today.”
Yet the most important Democrat to the fate of voting legislation didn’t even attend the meeting and thus wasn’t part of the discussion. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was in his home state, attending an event with first lady Jill Biden and actress Jennifer Garner — not huddled in a Capitol Hill conference room seeking a way forward. Manchin is the only Senate Democrat not to have co-sponsored the bill, and he has expressed serious misgivings about the For the People Act — and, more generally, moving forward on any type of voting legislation without Republican buy-in. “I think it’s too darn broad, and we got no bipartisan support,” he told reporters Wednesday. “The country is more divided today than it’s ever been.” The For the People Act, which passed the House in March, would provide minimum standards for early voting, vote-by-mail and automatic voter registration — overriding many of the provisions in the new Republican state laws, and expanding voter access in some Democratic states, as well. But it also would impose a plethora of new federal mandates that include nonpartisan congressional redistricting, public campaign financing, “dark money” disclosures and more.
Republicans have assailed the bill as an unwarranted federal intrusion in state election administration and a massive power grab by Democrats. They voted Tuesday en bloc in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to reject it, creating a tie in the evenly split panel. Manchin said he instead supports an alternative — a refurbishment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 now known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon, that would reestablish mandatory Justice Department oversight over voting laws in jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory practices, which previously included eight southern states plus Alaska. Manchin, in fact, suggested he would extend the preemptive federal reviews, known as “preclearance,” to voting laws in all states and territories — a massive expansion of the landmark law that broke the back of Jim Crow. In a joint letter to congressional leaders Monday, Manchin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called for bipartisan action to restore preclearance. “Protecting Americans’ access to democracy has not been a partisan issue for the past 56 years, and we must not allow it to become one now,” they wrote.
snip
Democrats confront reality on voting rights: Congress probably isn't coming to the rescue
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/voting-rights-for-the-people/2021/05/16/bb65909a-b458-11eb-ab43-bebddc5a0f65_story.htmlSen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) is the lone Democratic holdout on the For the People Act, a sprawling overhaul of federal elections and campaign finance law, and he has shown little sign of coming around to supporting it.
Asked about the path to enact new voting-rights laws, Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) has repeatedly offered a pat reply: “Failure is not an option.” Faced with a barrage of new state laws aiming to restrict voting outside Election Day — pushed by Republican legislatures egged on by former president Donald Trump’s false claims of rampant fraud — most Democrats agree with Schumer that the need for a federal backstop is essential. But failure is very much an option — it is, in fact, the most likely one. A Senate committee on Tuesday reached a partisan deadlock over Democrats’ sprawling overhaul of federal election, ethics and campaign finance law — the For the People Act, also known as H.R. 1 or S. 1 — and there is no clear path to breaking it. A Thursday lunch meeting of Democratic senators to discuss a way forward did not produce any breakthroughs, and lawmakers, aides and activists said they have little more than blind hope that one will materialize. Leaving the meeting, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), a lead author of the For the People Act, said that progress “starts with the conversation among the senators, getting focused on it, getting familiar with the details, getting all the questions answered .?.?. That’s a conversation we really started in full focus today.”
Yet the most important Democrat to the fate of voting legislation didn’t even attend the meeting and thus wasn’t part of the discussion. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) was in his home state, attending an event with first lady Jill Biden and actress Jennifer Garner — not huddled in a Capitol Hill conference room seeking a way forward. Manchin is the only Senate Democrat not to have co-sponsored the bill, and he has expressed serious misgivings about the For the People Act — and, more generally, moving forward on any type of voting legislation without Republican buy-in. “I think it’s too darn broad, and we got no bipartisan support,” he told reporters Wednesday. “The country is more divided today than it’s ever been.” The For the People Act, which passed the House in March, would provide minimum standards for early voting, vote-by-mail and automatic voter registration — overriding many of the provisions in the new Republican state laws, and expanding voter access in some Democratic states, as well. But it also would impose a plethora of new federal mandates that include nonpartisan congressional redistricting, public campaign financing, “dark money” disclosures and more.
Republicans have assailed the bill as an unwarranted federal intrusion in state election administration and a massive power grab by Democrats. They voted Tuesday en bloc in the Senate Rules and Administration Committee to reject it, creating a tie in the evenly split panel. Manchin said he instead supports an alternative — a refurbishment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 now known as the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, named after the late Georgia congressman and civil rights icon, that would reestablish mandatory Justice Department oversight over voting laws in jurisdictions with a history of discriminatory practices, which previously included eight southern states plus Alaska. Manchin, in fact, suggested he would extend the preemptive federal reviews, known as “preclearance,” to voting laws in all states and territories — a massive expansion of the landmark law that broke the back of Jim Crow. In a joint letter to congressional leaders Monday, Manchin and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) called for bipartisan action to restore preclearance. “Protecting Americans’ access to democracy has not been a partisan issue for the past 56 years, and we must not allow it to become one now,” they wrote.
snip
May 17, 2021
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/17/sierra-leone-sells-rainforest-for-chinese-fishmeal-plant
A $55m (£39m) deal struck by the government of Sierra Leone with China to build an industrial fishing harbour on 100 hectares (250 acres) of beach and protected rainforest has been criticised as “a catastrophic human and ecological disaster” by conservationists, landowners and rights groups.
The gold and black sands of Black Johnson beach fringe the African nation’s Western Area Peninsula national park, home to endangered species including the duiker antelope and pangolins. The waters are rich in sardines, barracuda and grouper, caught by local fishermen who produce 70% of the fish for the domestic market.
After reports of a Chinese-backed fishmeal plant began circulating on social media, A statement that appeared to be from the Sierra Leonean fisheries ministry confirmed the deal, but denied the planned construction was a “fish mill”. The facility would be a harbour for tuna and “other bigger fishing” vessels exporting to international markets, it said. It would include a “waste-management component” to “recycle marine and other wastes into useful products”.
The government said the beach, one of many along the nation’s 250-mile (400km) coastline, was the “most suitable place” for construction, and revealed the finance ministry had set aside a compensation package of 13.76bn leone (£950,000) for affected landowners. But the statement leaves more questions than answers, say those objecting to the plan.
snip
'Catastrophic': Sierra Leone sells rainforest for Chinese harbour
Controversial deal with China would be ‘disastrous’ for fishing and protected rainforest, say opponentshttps://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/17/sierra-leone-sells-rainforest-for-chinese-fishmeal-plant
A $55m (£39m) deal struck by the government of Sierra Leone with China to build an industrial fishing harbour on 100 hectares (250 acres) of beach and protected rainforest has been criticised as “a catastrophic human and ecological disaster” by conservationists, landowners and rights groups.
The gold and black sands of Black Johnson beach fringe the African nation’s Western Area Peninsula national park, home to endangered species including the duiker antelope and pangolins. The waters are rich in sardines, barracuda and grouper, caught by local fishermen who produce 70% of the fish for the domestic market.
After reports of a Chinese-backed fishmeal plant began circulating on social media, A statement that appeared to be from the Sierra Leonean fisheries ministry confirmed the deal, but denied the planned construction was a “fish mill”. The facility would be a harbour for tuna and “other bigger fishing” vessels exporting to international markets, it said. It would include a “waste-management component” to “recycle marine and other wastes into useful products”.
The government said the beach, one of many along the nation’s 250-mile (400km) coastline, was the “most suitable place” for construction, and revealed the finance ministry had set aside a compensation package of 13.76bn leone (£950,000) for affected landowners. But the statement leaves more questions than answers, say those objecting to the plan.
snip
May 16, 2021
"BuT HuMaNs aRe tHe mOsT AdVaNcEd sPeCiEs"
https://twitter.com/RebeccaRHelm/status/1393747329522585605
May 15, 2021
https://www.jta.org/2021/05/12/israel/were-watching-a-lynching-jewish-crowd-in-israel-beats-arab-man-as-country-erupts-in-unrest
https://twitter.com/daniel_elazar/status/1392547593771798535
It is difficult to digest what is happening here in Bat Yam. Far-right activists vandalize an Arab-owned store on the boardwalk. Shattering the windows non-stop, looting things from the store. There is not a single policeman here. Certificate of poverty for the police. No words. In one word: shame
https://twitter.com/Rachel12042155/status/1392530773408944133
at Yam - Demolition of an Arab-owned store
'We're watching a lynching': Jewish crowd in Israel beats Arab man as country erupts in unrest
https://www.jta.org/2021/05/12/israel/were-watching-a-lynching-jewish-crowd-in-israel-beats-arab-man-as-country-erupts-in-unrest
(JTA) — A video of a crowd of Jewish Israelis beating someone presumed to be an Arab in a Tel Aviv suburb on Wednesday night was broadcast live on Israeli TV as the country erupted in violence between Arabs and Jews. The incident in the coastal city of Bat Yam, caught by a camera operator for Israeli Channel 11, comes amid the deadly rocket fire between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.
https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1392551091968040964
Lynch live in Bat Yam: Young Jews violently attack a motorcyclist, police officers were not at the scene | Documentation
The footage shows the Jewish Israelis surrounding the man and beating him. Later he is seen lying on the ground wearing a motorcycle helmet being kicked and hit before the camera pans away. Police did not appear to be on the scene. Channel 11 reported that the man was hospitalized.
“We’re watching a lynching in real time,” reporter Daniel Elazar says off-camera. “There are no police here.” The attack happened amid a night of unrest across Israel as Hamas fired salvos of rockets at Israel and Israel bombed Gaza. It appears to be the worst interethnic violence within Israel since the onset of the second intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising, more than 20 years ago.
Jewish protesters in Bat Yam, as well as the northern cities of Tiberias and Acre, marched through the streets, and footage circulating on social media captured crowds of men in multiple locations chanting “Death to Arabs” and vandalizing Arab-owned businesses.
https://twitter.com/kann_news/status/1392551091968040964
Lynch live in Bat Yam: Young Jews violently attack a motorcyclist, police officers were not at the scene | Documentation
The footage shows the Jewish Israelis surrounding the man and beating him. Later he is seen lying on the ground wearing a motorcycle helmet being kicked and hit before the camera pans away. Police did not appear to be on the scene. Channel 11 reported that the man was hospitalized.
“We’re watching a lynching in real time,” reporter Daniel Elazar says off-camera. “There are no police here.” The attack happened amid a night of unrest across Israel as Hamas fired salvos of rockets at Israel and Israel bombed Gaza. It appears to be the worst interethnic violence within Israel since the onset of the second intifada, a violent Palestinian uprising, more than 20 years ago.
Jewish protesters in Bat Yam, as well as the northern cities of Tiberias and Acre, marched through the streets, and footage circulating on social media captured crowds of men in multiple locations chanting “Death to Arabs” and vandalizing Arab-owned businesses.
https://twitter.com/daniel_elazar/status/1392547593771798535
It is difficult to digest what is happening here in Bat Yam. Far-right activists vandalize an Arab-owned store on the boardwalk. Shattering the windows non-stop, looting things from the store. There is not a single policeman here. Certificate of poverty for the police. No words. In one word: shame
https://twitter.com/Rachel12042155/status/1392530773408944133
at Yam - Demolition of an Arab-owned store
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