tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-18826404024791679332024-03-15T14:29:25.357-07:00Rensberry Publishing NewsDedicated to detail. Committed to honesty. P.O. Box 653, Edwardsville, IL 62025Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger471125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-66736832047044413852024-03-15T14:28:00.000-07:002024-03-15T14:28:25.964-07:00Economic Policy<div class="wysiwyg -xw:4 -mx:a" data-cap-block-name="wysiwyg - 1">
<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Center for American Progress</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Creates 'Playbook for </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Advancement of Women in Economy'</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"> <br /></span></span></h1><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>Washington, D.C. — (<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-cap-launches-playbook-for-the-advancement-of-women-in-the-economy-urging-policymakers-to-see-women-as-drivers-of-the-economy/" target="_blank">CAP</a>) -- 3/14/2024 - Women are
driving many of the United States’ economic successes. Not only were
they the primary drivers of the strong labor market in 2023, but their
spending powered the economy, and they are expected to control
two-thirds of consumer spending by 2028. Yet women continue to face
economic insecurity throughout their lives, which is partly driven by
the failure of policymakers to center them in economic plans. Between
the persistent gender wage gap and continuous attacks on reproductive
freedoms, women’s economic security has been anything but secure. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>The Center for American Progress’ new “</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;">Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy”</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;">
offers a blueprint for actions that both federal and state policymakers
can take to strengthen women’s economic security. It
makes the case for how an economy that delivers for women is an economy
that delivers for all. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>CAP’s “</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;">Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy” </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;">features
13 chapters covering everything from protecting and increasing abortion
access and guaranteeing paid family and medical leave, to ending
workplace discrimination and harassment and realizing equal pay, to
expanding women’s access to male-dominated industries and dismantling
employment barriers for disabled women and immigrant women in the health
care sector, and more. The playbook contains a suite of policy options
readily available for policymakers to guarantee family planning and
care, deliver good jobs, and build a labor force to meet the demands of
the country’s future. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>Historically, women turn out to vote
at higher rates than men and list economic concerns as a top voting
issue, and they’ve made their voices heard time and again in
referendums. Ahead of the 2024 election, this is likely to continue.
Policymakers should listen and respond to the needs of women—or else
they risk not just their political success but also the U.S. economy.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>“This playbook offers ready-to-use
solutions to fast-track the advancement of women’s economic security and
help the United States unlock women’s—and the economy’s—full economic
potential, ”said<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/khattar-rose/">Rose Khattar</a></b><span style="font-weight: 400;">,
director of economic analysis for Inclusive Economy at CAP. “For
decades, women have suffered from systemic economic inequities – from
wages that are too low and costs that are too high—and this has plagued
women at every stage of their lives, costing not just women and their
families, but the economy at large.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-weight: 400;"><span> </span>“Current and aspiring federal and
state policymakers have an opportunity to create a new reality for women
that expands their economic opportunities and secure the gains they’ve
already made to ensure their economic well-being and, by doing so,
invests in the U.S. economy,” said </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/estep-sara/"><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Sara Estep</strong></span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">,
associate director of the Women’s Initiative at CAP. “The playbook
includes a suite of recommendations for policy action that will help
strengthen women’s economic security and help put women and families
economic security first—because an economy that helps women thrive is an
economy that helps everyone thrive. </span></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><span> </span>Read the playbook: <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/playbook-for-the-advancement-of-women-in-the-economy/" target="_blank">“</a></b><span style="font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/playbook-for-the-advancement-of-women-in-the-economy/" target="_blank">Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy”</a> by Rose Khattar and Sara Estep</span></span></span></p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-40849777010127049522024-02-23T14:52:00.000-08:002024-02-23T14:52:39.032-08:00Civil Rights<div style="text-align: center;"><h1><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">ACLU Warns Against Bills Attacking</span></h1><h1><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;">Kansans’ Right to Vote</span></h1></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>TOPEKA, KAN. – (ACLU) - 2/20/2024 - As state lawmakers consider multiple election-related bills, the ACLU of Kansas is warning against each bill’s negative impact on Kansas voters, but also against the collective anti-democratic theme of the package of bills that all seek to make it harder for Kansans to register, cast a ballot, and have their vote count. <br /><br /><span> </span>“Democracy is not a partisan matter – it’s the very foundation that ensures each Kansas voter can have a voice in the laws and policies affecting their lives,” said Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas. “The election process is the single most meaningful way for Kansans to hold their elected officials accountable – so it’s particularly disturbing to see some of those same elected officials leverage their power to undermine that fundamental process of accountability. Democracy is strongest when more people participate, and these bills are designed to make fewer people participate."</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span><span> </span>The <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://u7061146.ct.sendgrid.net/ls/click?upn=4tNED-2FM8iDZJQyQ53jATUbmPzSZJvdr82WrdXygU6pO-2F4rxPGnCVu-2FKq8mbYrlx1BP-2BvhXUNnVVdFmBXylFr93A-2Fx5eS4eujqrog8pf8R5uccV1lFUTy7mGTabWEmyAxVsmKM0mbmpJFo7ROyoF03S8Zf36L-2F0x48cwMCb68vPnJi52rMApbU41i6MS1H64LXPHb_fktbBws6gHSKQ6m8X06Xv0QZozjJvs0UBku2OtD-2Br544Saz7-2ByFeupXb3al-2FbdOkKGc7t-2FJV05rBLUy9CHaQAIqiAo0PL-2BTbfFtcLzTDJL4ponPznQbioYW37mcPoIIPUQqrjK979w3VAYJzAYosRHm5DFqF87MBU9VAv9nBvCPtomBHGRXHgEchePdObda-2BmzL8c-2BQgF3hMTIpHCreSdhIPTXl3cm6Lh0VqLp-2BP4-2FgKXwUVQdOHeZPXc9dr21mbDCwaVH99dESmmQtx8ywO4aCk-2B-2BDLigVG1l0amCYaHaKbrwJpG9WIpYEd0jp7DKTX7K-2Fs5-2FC8-2BE1-2Fc3eta6pLGQ-3D-3D__;!!Phyt6w!YTaNfTiUmz2b-qCf4CGu0GBepaY94w8MIrqROq9uQtT931VfRV-1yJ43izrD7YVByHJ50m2LAWU$">currently seven pending bills in the Kansas legislature</a> seek to limit early in-person voting, place additional restrictions on mail-in ballots, and more.</span><span style="font-size: medium;"> <br /><br /><span> </span>“These bills are reminiscent of the attacks on Kansans’ voting rights during the era of then-Secretary of State Kris Kobach,” Kubic said. “We somberly remind our legislators that those attacks have been rejected time after time – rejected by Kansans, rejected by courts, and rejected by common sense. When Mr. Kobach pushed through attacks on our democracy, it resulted in lengthy, costly, and significant losses for Mr. Kobach. Those unconstitutional laws were struck down on behalf of Kansas voters, and any new unconstitutional attacks on our democracy will be, too.” <br /><br /><span> </span>ACLU of Kansas Policy Director Rashane Hamby said: “It may be tempting for lawmakers to get lost in the details, but they shouldn’t lose sight of what the big picture is for the Kansans they serve and that Kansas still remains in the bottom of the country for voter turnout. Every last one of these bills is about creating barriers and making it even harder for Kansans to vote, especially elderly voters, those who are in rural communities, or voters with disabilities. We know that Kansans as a whole trust our election process and the officials who administer it, but many lawmakers continue to politicize our fundamental right to vote and lean on misinformation to justify it.” </span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-38215433499641073962024-01-20T18:29:00.000-08:002024-01-20T18:29:41.597-08:00Women's Rights<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Effort to Enshrine Abortion Rights </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>in Missouri Constitution Receives </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Praise from Americans United</span><span><br /></span></span></h1><div class="wysiwyg">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span><b>MISSOURI - (<a href="https://www.au.org/the-latest/press/enshrine-abortion-missouri-constitution/" target="_blank">AU</a>) - 1/18/2024</b> - Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and
CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement in response to a Jan. 18 announcement that abortion advocates will proceed with efforts to ensure Missouri
voters have the opportunity to enshrine abortion rights in the Missouri
Constitution through a ballot initiative later this year:</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>“In recent times, this country has experienced many dark days with
regard to the right to an abortion. But today we are inspired by the
light shining bright in the state of Missouri and the announcement of a
ballot initiative to enshrine abortion rights in the Missouri
Constitution.</span></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Abortion bans violate church-state separation</span></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>“Abortion bans impose one narrow religious view on all of us. They
violate religious and reproductive freedom and put lives at risk. The
right to an abortion should not depend on where you live; we must never
give up on protecting abortion rights in the ‘red’ states. That’s why
Americans United sued on behalf of 14 Missouri faith leaders to overturn
the state’s abortion ban. We’re also honored to co-lead the Missouri
Abortion Access Project (MAAP), educating and encouraging Missourians to
fight for abortion rights, which are essential to protecting religious
freedom.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>“Americans United is proud to work with the tireless advocates on the
ground in Missouri, including many faith leaders, to restore abortion
access across the state. Now is the time for a national recommitment to
the separation of church and state.”</span></span></p>
<h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">Lawsuit background</span></span></h3>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>In Jan. 2023, Americans United, the National Women’s Law Center
(NWLC), the law firm Arnold & Porter, and St. Louis-based civil
rights lawyer Denise Lieberman filed <i>Rev. Traci Blackmon v. State of Missouri</i> on behalf of 14 Missouri faith leaders whose various faiths call them to support abortion access.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>The lawsuit demonstrates that Missouri’s abortion ban and other
restrictions violate the state constitution by enshrining lawmakers’
personal religious beliefs about abortion in laws passed in 2017 and
2019. The case is proceeding in St. Louis Circuit Court.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span> </span>More information about the lawsuit is available <a href="https://www.au.org/how-we-protect-religious-freedom/legal-cases/cases/rev-blackmon-v-missouri/">here</a>.</span></span></p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-53305107323751736612024-01-06T21:09:00.000-08:002024-01-06T21:09:54.274-08:00Press Freedom<h1 class="is-size-2-tablet is-size-3-mobile has-font-family-compressed mb-4" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Court Urged to Unseal </span></h1><h1 class="is-size-2-tablet is-size-3-mobile has-font-family-compressed mb-4" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Documents Related </span></h1><h1 class="is-size-2-tablet is-size-3-mobile has-font-family-compressed mb-4" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">to FBI Raid on Journalist</span></h1><h1 class="is-size-2-tablet is-size-3-mobile has-font-family-compressed mb-4" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><span> </span></span></h1><div class="is-size-2-tablet is-size-3-mobile has-font-family-compressed mb-4" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal;"><span> </span>TAMPA, Fla. (ACLU) - Jan. 6, 2024 - The American Civil Liberties, the ACLU of Florida, and their partners filed a <a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/timothy-burke-v-united-states-amicus-brief">friend-of-the-court</a>
brief on Jan. 2 in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals arguing that a search
warrant authorizing a raid on Florida journalist Tim Burke’s home should
be unsealed to preserve press freedoms and increase transparency. The
ACLU previously joined more than 50 organizations to send a <a href="https://media.freedom.press/media/documents/Letter_to_DOJ_re_Raid_on_Tim_Burkes_Home_Newsroom.pdf">letter</a> to the Department of Justice demanding transparency about how the government believes Burke’s newsgathering broke the law.</span></div><div class="wp-text mb-8 is-rich-text"> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“The
First Amendment protects the vital role journalism plays in keeping
powerful institutions accountable to the public. But it appears that the
government is interpreting computer crime laws in a dangerously
overbroad manner — despite Supreme Court case law warning against this
kind of overreach. This is both impermissible and unwise,” said<b> </b>Jennifer Stisa Granick, surveillance and cybersecurity counsel with the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. </span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/raid-on-journalist-tim-burkes-home-related-to-tucker-carlson-videos-report?ref=author">FBI raided</a>
Burke’s home after he obtained outtakes of Tucker Carlson’s interview
with Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) where Ye made antisemitic and
other offensive remarks. The investigation, according to court filings,
involves alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, or
CFAA, and a federal wiretapping law. The CFAA is the federal
anti-hacking law that prohibits unauthorized access to a computer. But <a href="https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/qa-tim-burkes-lawyer-on-the-seizure-of-his-devices-and-what-it-means-for-journalism.php">Burke says</a>
he got the outtakes from websites where Fox News uploaded unencrypted
live streams to URLs anyone could access, using publicly accessible
login credentials.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The brief argues that the meager information
available about the government’s investigation of Burke chills
newsgathering by generating fear that journalists will be prosecuted for
First Amendment-protected activity. Importantly, the brief also calls
on the government to return seized materials that are not related to the
case, and to allow access to materials that enable Burke to fulfill his
newsgathering function. It does not appear that the government has
taken Burke’s newsgathering activities into account in conducting this
investigation. That failure demonstrates “callous disregard” for Burke’s
First Amendment rights.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“A key function of the press is to report news that might embarrass powerful people and companies,” said<b> </b>Seth Stern, director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation.
“If Burke is being investigated for locating and publicizing publicly
available interview outtakes merely because Fox News would’ve preferred
the footage remain secret, that poses serious First Amendment problems.
Countless other journalists who use the internet to find news need to
know whether the government believes they’re breaking the law by doing
their jobs.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The brief also takes issue with prosecutors’
suggestions that Burke is not actually a journalist, in part because he
did not work for an established news outlet at the time he obtained the
outtakes. Burke has a long history in journalism. Unsealing the search
warrant and any additional documents related to the raid will confirm
whether the court was informed that Burke was a journalist — and whether
the government considered him to be one. Federal policy requires that
the government provide journalists notice before any search of their
newsgathering materials or work product occurs, and no such notice was
given to Burke.</span></p> <p><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The organizations submitting the brief raise
concerns — and demand answers — regarding whether the government’s
apparent belief that Burke was not a journalist led it to eschew
procedures for searches of journalists’ newsgathering materials required
under the Privacy Protection Act of 1980 and the DOJ’s own policies.
Those policies were <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/26/media/doj-journalists-records-biden/index.html">revised</a> last year to better protect journalists’ rights in light of Trump-era abuses.</span></p><div class="mb-8-touch mb-16-desktop is-rich-text"><p class="has-text-weight-bold"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;">Related Documents</span></p> <ul class="related-documents-list"><li><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.aclu.org/documents/timothy-burke-v-united-states-amicus-brief">TIMOTHY BURKE v. UNITED STATES -- Amicus Brief</a></span></li></ul></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-82941284156594762802023-12-21T18:46:00.000-08:002023-12-31T13:08:44.273-08:00Law & Policy<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">People For the American Way</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Releases
Year-End Statement on</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Senate Judicial Nominations
</span></span></h1><p>
</p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">WASHINGTON D.C. –</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;">
12/21/2023 </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-weight: normal;">–</span></b><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> As the Senate leaves for the holiday break with a total of 166
confirmed judges, including this week’s confirmations of former
Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation Sara E. Hill and former
federal prosecutor John D. Russell for the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma, People For the American
way President Svante Myrick released the following statement:</span></span></p>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">“<span style="font-weight: normal;">People For the
American Way commends President Joe Biden and the Senate, under the
leadership of Majority Leader Schumer and Senate Judiciary Chair
Durbin, for the tremendous progress made in filling the federal bench
with highly qualified and fair-minded judges, who reflect the rich
diversity of this country. Biden’s appointed judges bring
brilliance and credentialed experiences to the federal bench, and
with strong records of commitment to protecting the civil and human
rights of all of the people in America, they will ensure equality and
justice for all.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">“<span style="font-weight: normal;">It is urgent that
the Senate, when it returns in January, prioritize the confirmation
of the more than 30 outstanding judicial nominees that will still be
awaiting action, including Nicole Berner who will be the first openly
LGBTQ+ person ever on the Fourth Circuit and Adeel Mangi who will be
the nation’s first Muslim American federal appellate court judge.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: small;">“<span style="font-weight: normal;">We expect the Senate
to prioritize judicial nominations, to process nominees put forward
by the White House, and to clear the calendar of nominees awaiting
confirmations to fill court vacancies and repair our courts. Time
is of the essence.”</span></span></blockquote><p>
</p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>About People For the American Way </b></span></p>
<p style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">People For the American Way, a
national progressive advocacy organization, inspires and mobilizes
community and cultural leaders to advance Truth, Justice and the
American Way. Learn more:
<a href="http://www.pfaw.org">http://www.pfaw.org</a></span></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-31520497622601358292023-12-10T13:13:00.000-08:002023-12-10T20:08:07.047-08:00World Affairs<h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Israel and the Occupied </span></b></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Palestinian Territories</span></b></span></h1><h4 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Background For a Better Understanding of the Situation</span><span style="font-size: x-large;">
</span></b></span></h4><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>12/10/2023</i> <br /></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: medium;">ACADEMIC ARTICLE: Zionist hegemony, the
settler colonial conquest of Palestine and the problem with conflict: A critical genealogy of the notion of binary conflict. </span></b><span style="font-size: medium;">(By Anne de Jong, May 3/2017;
Taylor & Francis Online)</span></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>ABSTRACT: Describing the situation in
Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a ‘binary
conflict’ is taken as a value-free and academically neutral
depiction. This article challenges the objective nature of the notion
of binary conflict. Contributing to scholarship that prioritizes
subjugated knowledge, this article poses that the depiction of the
situation entirely in terms of conflict – and the rigid alterity
that such a perspective tacitly transmits – should be recognized as
a paradigm with an inherently Zionist bias. A genealogy of the notion
of conflict shows how early Zionist leaders consciously advocated a
framework of binary conflict in order to counter accusations of
settler colonialism and garner the support of non-Zionist Jews and
other potential allies. This exposition draws out how the notion of
binary conflict is instrumental in obscuring settler colonial
dispossession and Palestinian lived experience; in forging the
hegemonic unification of Zionist Jews; and in negating critique from
third-party others. An understanding of how this perception of
Israel–Palestine came about offers fresh insight into the
strategies adopted by the early Zionist movement. Furthermore,
acknowledging the power-nexus behind the binary conflict perspective
has the potential to deepen our understanding of the discursive and
oppressive mechanisms of contemporary settler colonialism. </i></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>Link: <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/2201473X.2017.1321171" target="_blank">Zionist hegemony</a> <br /></i></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>---------- </i></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>BOOK REVIEW: Inventing the new
antisemitism. </b>Book review written by Em
Hilton; Book -- "Whatever Happened to Antisemitism?: Redefinition and
the Myth of the 'Collective Jew," by author Antony Lerman; Pluto
Press, June 2022, pp 336)</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">INTRO: Israel and its
acolytes have long pushed the agenda that anti-Zionism is a form of
anti-Jewish racism. A new book shows how this endeavor came at the
expense of Palestinians and diaspora Jews alike. </span></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>EXERPT: We
are living through a particularly troubling moment in the global
struggle against antisemitism. Amid resurgent right-wing
authoritarianism, antisemitic conspiracy theories are being deployed
as the basis of electoral campaigns all over the world; violent
attacks on Jews in Europe show no signs of decreasing, going
hand-in-hand with attacks on other minoritized communities; and in
the United States, the masks continue to fall from white nationalist
politicians, while public figures with enormous platforms profess
their support for Nazism . . . . Yet, all the while, public
understanding of what constitutes antisemitism is more muddied than
ever. Accusations of antisemitism are regularly rolled out to silence
critics of Israel — very often by Israel itself — and to attack
any form of Palestine advocacy as being solely motivated by
anti-Jewish racism. In the U.K., this politicization of antisemitism,
manifesting in large part as a battle of definitions, has reduced the
once intellectually rigorous pursuit of understanding how
antisemitism manifests to a political football and tedious identity
politics.
</i></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Link: <a href="https://www.972mag.com/inventing-new-antisemitism-antony-lerman/" target="_blank">Inventing the New Antisemitism</a><br /></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"> <i>---------- </i></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: Statement Regarding US Veto of a UN Ceasefire Resolution </b>Israel/OPT: US veto of ceasefire
resolution displays callous disregard for civilian suffering in face
of staggering death toll</span>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Reacting to the United States (US) veto
of a UN Security Council draft resolution calling for an immediate
ceasefire in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and
Israel, Amnesty International’s
Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“By vetoing this resolution, the US
has displayed a callous disregard for civilian suffering in the face
of a staggering death toll, extensive destruction and an
unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe happening in the occupied Gaza
Strip.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“The US has brazenly wielded and
weaponized its veto to strongarm the UN Security Council,
further undermining its credibility and ability to live up to
its mandate to maintain international peace and security.</p> </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left;">“There can be no justification for
continuing to block meaningful action by the UN Security Council to
stop massive civilian bloodshed. The use of the veto is morally
indefensible and a dereliction of the US duty to prevent atrocity
crimes and uphold international law.
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“On top of blocking the adoption of a
ceasefire that would end mass humanitarian suffering in Gaza,
aid the return of hostages, and calm tension multiplying in the
region, the US continues to transfer US-made munitions to
the government of Israel that contribute to the decimation of
entire families. </p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“As the only state to veto, it’s
clear the US stands isolated from much of world, and a large portion
of its own population. It is displaying a complete absence of global
leadership and failing to understand the historical significance of
the moment.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">“The US purports to champion a
rules-based international order, however its brazen double standards
and disregard for international law has repercussions that extend
well beyond the horrific catastrophe in Gaza, weakening the already
enfeebled international system for protecting civilians in conflict."</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Link: <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/israel-opt-us-veto-of-ceasefire-resolution-displays-callous-disregard-for-civilian-suffering-in-face-of-staggering-death-toll/" target="_blank">Amnesty statement</a> <br /></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><i>---------</i></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">ARTICLE BY BRANKO MARCETIC: A Tidal Wave of State and Private
Repression Is Targeting Pro-Palestinian Voices</span></b></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Critics of Israel's merciless war on
Gaza are facing threats of government persecution and blacklists or
firings. In this neo-McCarthist environment, anything pro-Palestine
is being made to carry the whiff of bigotry or even incitement to
violence.
</span></p>
<p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i>EXERPT: last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) teamed up with the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to send a letter
to nearly two hundred colleges and universities, warning them that the
pro-Palestinian organization Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) had
“escalated significantly” its anti-Israel “rhetoric and activity,” and
demanding that they open investigations into chapters on their campuses.
The ADL wanted the chapters scrutinized over their funding, possible
violations of school codes of conduct and state and federal laws, and,
most seriously, whether they might be materially supporting terrorists, a
charge that can bring a maximum sentence of between ten and fifteen years of prison, or even a life sentence in certain circumstances.
</i></p><p><i>The demand from one of the country’s most influential pro-Israel
organizations to have pro-Palestinian student groups prosecuted under a
federal anti-terrorism statute is alarming. But it’s only a dramatic
escalation in a rising wave of political repression aimed at
pro-Palestinian voices and those critical of Israeli policy ever since
the brutal Hamas attacks on October 7. </i></p><p><i> “The backlash we’re seeing against people in the US speaking out for
Palestinian liberation has become a new McCarthyism,” says Dylan Saba,
staff attorney at Palestine Legal.</i></p><p><i> </i>Link: <a href="https://jacobin.com/2023/11/anti-palestine-mccarthyism-censorship" target="_blank">Anti-Palestine Censorship</a> <i></i></p><p style="text-align: center;"><i>--------</i></p><p>
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>ARTICLE BY CAITLIN JOHNSTONE: The Official
Story of Oct 7</b> <b> <br /></b></span></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">If you question any part of it, you’re
an evil an-Semite who loves terrorism and wishes Hitler had won. You
should be censored, fired, kicked off campus and disappeared from
polite society.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">Link: <a href="https://consortiumnews.com/2023/12/08/caitlin-johnstone-the-official-story-of-oct-7/" target="_blank">Commentary</a> <br /></p><p align="LEFT" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></b></p>
<span style="font-family: verdana;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></b></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-43495382628733669122023-05-30T12:59:00.010-07:002023-05-30T13:02:01.933-07:00Market Research<h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Quantum Technology </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-size: x-large;"><span>Market Research Report 2023</span></span></h1><div style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: left; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></div><p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>DUBLIN --
(BUSINESS WIRE) -- (May 30, 2023)</b> -- The "Quantum Technology
Market by Computing, Communications, Imaging, Security, Sensing,
Modeling and Simulation 2023 - 2028" <a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5317365/quantum-technology-market-by-computing?utm_source=BW&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=9fwwqp&utm_campaign=1850248+-+Quantum+Technology+Market+Research+Report+2023%3a+Computing%2c+Communications%2c+Imaging%2c+Security%2c+Sensing%2c+Modeling+and+Simulation+Forecasts+to+2028&utm_exec=chdo54prd" target="_blank">report</a> has been added to
ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This report
provides a comprehensive analysis of the quantum technology market.
It assesses companies/organizations focused on quantum technology
including R&D efforts and potential gaming-changing quantum
tech-enabled solutions.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The report
evaluates the impact of quantum technology upon other major
technologies and solution areas including, Edge Computing,
Blockchain, IoT, and Big Data Analytics. The report provides an
analysis of quantum technology investment, R&D, and prototyping
by region and within each major country globally.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The report also
provides global and regional forecasts as well as the outlook for
quantum technology's impact on embedded hardware, software,
applications, and services from 2023 to 2028. The report provides
conclusions and recommendations for a wide range of industries and
commercial beneficiaries including semiconductor companies,
communications providers, high-speed computing companies, artificial
intelligence vendors, and more.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Much more than
only computing, the quantum technology market provides a foundation
for improving all digital communications, applications, content, and
commerce. In the realm of communications, quantum technology will
influence everything from encryption to the way that signals are
passed from point A to point B. While currently in the R&D phase,
networked quantum information and communications technology(ICT) is
anticipated to become a commercial reality that will represent
nothing less than a revolution for virtually every aspect of ICT.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">However, there
will be a need to integrate the ICT supply chain with quantum
technologies in a manner that does not attempt to replace every
aspect of classical computing but instead leverages a hybrid
computational framework. Traditional high-performance computing will
continue to be used for many existing problems for the foreseeable
future, while quantum technologies will be used for encrypting
communications, signalling, and will be the underlying basis in the
future for all commerce transactions. This does not mean that quantum
encryption will replace blockchain, but rather provide improved
encryption for blockchain technology.
</span></p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quantum Technology
Market Beyond Computing
</span></h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The quantum
technology market will be a substantial enabler of dramatically
improved sensing and instrumentation. For example, gravity sensors
may be made significantly more precise through quantum sensing.
Quantum electromagnetic sensing provides the ability to detect minute
differences in the electromagnetic field.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This will provide
a wide-ranging number of applications, such as within the healthcare
arena wherein quantum electromagnetic sensing will provide the
ability to provide significantly improved mapping of vital organs.
Quantum sensing will also have applications across a wide range of
other industries such as transportation wherein there is the
potential for substantially improved safety, especially for
self-driving vehicles.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quantum sensing
and imaging go hand-in-hand as the former supports the latter and
vice versa. Quantum sensing may be used to produce images that reveal
information heretofore unobtainable. Conversely, quantum image
processing may be used to dramatically improve microscopy, pattern
recognition, and segmentation in images. Quantum processes enable
detection of image details that would otherwise go unnoticed within
the current constraints of background effects/illumination, low light
levels, and wavelength limitations.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Commercial
applications for the quantum imaging market are potentially
wide-ranging including exploration, monitoring, and safety. For
example, gas image processing may detect minute changes that could
lead to early detection of tank failure or the presence of toxic
chemicals. In concert with quantum sensing, quantum imaging may also
help with various public safety-related applications such as search
and rescue. Some problems are too difficult to calculate but can be
simulated and modelled.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quantum
simulations and modelling is an area that involves the use of quantum
technology to enable simulators that can model complex systems that
are beyond the capabilities of classical. Even the fastest
supercomputers today cannot adequately model many problems such as
those found in atomic physics, condensed-matter physics, and
high-energy physics.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To accomplish this
goal, quantum simulators create a more controllable quantum
environment to simulate what is actually occurring in nature within a
real-world, uncontrollable, inaccessible quantum environment. Quantum
simulation and modelling can lead to a variety of practical
commercial benefits such as the design of improved computing systems,
development of new materials, and predictive analytics for large
interdependent systems such as a smart city ecosystem.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Sovereign
governments are extremely interested in the quantum technology market
and the interest goes way beyond the pride of being the first to be
able to claim quantum supremacy for developing a quantum computer
that can beat the best classical computer. Governments are interested
in quantum technology because of the many military/defense and
overall security implications. For example, quantum computing can
render all existing encryption useless and exposed to hacking and
infiltration.
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">This means that
all financial transactions and state secrets are potentially at risk
with quantum computing. Conversely, quantum computing-enabled
encryption will be completely unbreakable. In another example,
quantum sensing and imaging may be used to detect the presence of
aircraft (even stealth fighters).
</span></p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Advanced Light
Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) systems equipped with quantum imaging
processes may identify the presence of aircraft based on minute
changes in the environment. Conversely, quantum-equipped planes may
similarly foil quantum LIDAR detection systems, protecting themselves
by projecting images that simulate a normal ambient environment.
</span></p>
<h3 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quantum Technology
Developments
</span></h3>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Some of the latest
developments in the quantum technology market include:
</b></span></p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">IBM: CONDOR, THE world's first
universal quantum computer with more than 1,000 qubits, is set to
debut in 2023. The company is also planning to launch Heron, the
first of a new flock of modular quantum processors that the company
says may help it produce quantum computers with more than 4,000
qubits by 2025. Important to note is that other quantum computers
with more qubits exist, but Condor will be the world's largest
general-purpose quantum processor.
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Microsoft: DARPA has selected
Microsoft as a partner to explore scaled quantum computing in
support of DARPA's broader quantum strategies. "Experts
disagree on whether a utility-scale quantum computer based on
conventional designs is still decades away or could be achieved much
sooner," said Joe Altepeter, US2QC program manager in
DARPA'sDefense Sciences Office.
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">QCI: A subsidiary has been formed
with the intention to take QCI's technology products to the
Department of Defense and other government agencies. The
organization's solutions will offer quantum platforms designed for
supply chain management, advanced manufacturing, workforce
development and research and development applications.
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Xanadu: During Q4 2022, the
company announced that it closed a $100 million USD Series C round
that brought its valuation to $1 billion USD. The company's
valuation approximately tripled over the course of the last review
period, due largely to its cloud-deployed-photonic quantum computer
as well as its leadership in the development of an open-source
software library for quantum computing, along with its established
partnerships with global enterprises.
</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Select Report
Findings:
</b></span></p>
<ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Overall global quantum technology
market will reach $53.2 billion by 2028
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Quantum computing will lead the
market at $17.6 billion by 2028 and 41.2% CAGR
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">North America will be the biggest
regional market for quantum technologies overall
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">China will lead the APAC quantum
technology market at $6.31 billion by 2028 with 39.1%CAGR
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Germany will lead the European
quantum technology market at $3.9 billion by 2028 with 30.6%CAGR
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The global quantum dots market
will reach $14.9 billion by 2028, growing a 33.7%CAGR and led by
displays
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The quantum sensing market will
reach $1.1 billion globally by 2028, nearly twice the size of the
quantum imaging market
</span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The quantum magnetometer market
will reach $998 million globally by 2028, led by superconducting
quantum interference devices
</span></p>
</li></ul>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-indent: 0.22in;"><span style="font-size: medium;">For more
information about this report visit
<a href="https://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/5317365/quantum-technology-market-by-computing?utm_source=BW&utm_medium=PressRelease&utm_code=9fwwqp&utm_campaign=1850248+-+Quantum+Technology+Market+Research+Report+2023%3a+Computing%2c+Communications%2c+Imaging%2c+Security%2c+Sensing%2c+Modeling+and+Simulation+Forecasts+to+2028&utm_exec=chdo54prd" target="_blank">https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/715jh6 </a></span></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-55007370271593194022023-02-15T19:19:00.000-08:002023-02-15T19:19:38.769-08:00Extremism in America<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Hatewatch Releases Analysis </span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">of the Alex Jones Texts </span></span><br /></span></span></h1><div class="group-content"><div class="group-content-container field-group-div" id="group-content-container"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even "><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>WASHINGTON — (SPLC) - 2/15/2023</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> — </span></span>A <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/alex-jones-text-messages" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">new series of investigative reporting</a>
released this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s (SPLC) Hatewatch
offers a glimpse into the life of extremist entrepreneur Alex Jones and
the destructive business he operates of selling bigotry and
disinformation to people in America. </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>“Alex
Jones portrays himself as someone who has all the answers. His text
messages show him to be someone completely different. He's lost. He's
completely paranoid. He goes to great lengths to try and control others
as the walls close in on him,” said SPLC Senior Investigative Reporter
Michael Edison Hayden, who co-authored the report. “We have produced a
lot of investigative reporting over the years, but I don't recall coming
across any source material that better shows how dark it is inside the
radical right movement than Alex Jones' texts. I expect we will be
referring back to these texts for many years to come.” </span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>Read the introduction and Part 1 of the series <a href="https://www.splcenter.org/alex-jones-text-messages" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">here</a>. Parts 2-5 will be released over the next two weeks and include the following exclusive reporting: </span></span></p>
<ul role="list"><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="1" role="listitem">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part 2: How close Alex Jones is to the neofascist Proud Boys and how he helped make them a national menace. </span></span></p>
</li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="1" role="listitem">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part
3: How much the Infowars host relied on Joe Rogan to amplify his
platform and how he tried to get Rogan to elevate accused sex trafficker
Andrew Tate. </span></span></p>
</li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="3" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="1" role="listitem">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part
4: How an Infowars employee warned Alex Jones against collaborating
with Nick Fuentes, citing his antisemitism and suggesting he works with
the FBI. </span></span></p>
</li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="4" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="1" role="listitem">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Part
5: How Alex Jones slaps 900 percent markups on his products and uses an
array of techniques to keep money flowing into the Infowars store. </span></span></p>
</li></ul>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> </span>SPLC’s
Hatewatch obtained a first look at more than 22,000 text messages,
which include more than 200 threads exchanged by Alex Jones and his
contacts between August 19, 2019, and May 15, 2020. </span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-73633023184550767812023-02-12T18:38:00.001-08:002023-02-12T19:39:11.176-08:00Economic Policy<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> Leaders Discuss Implementation <br /></span></span></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">of Biden's Economic </span></span></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">and Climate Legislation</span></span></b><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span> <span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><b>Washington, D.C. —</b> (<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-governors-mayors-discuss-plans-to-implement-bidens-economic-and-climate-legislation/" target="_blank">CAP</a>)<b> -- 2/12/2023</b> - Governors and mayors from across the
country joined the Center for American Progress and the Center for
Innovative Policy for a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/events/state-and-local-leaders-summit/">summit</a>
on Feb. 8 to discuss the economic progress they are making after passage of the
Biden administration’s historic economic and climate change legislation.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>The officials outlined how these measures are helping their
communities transform to support new jobs and clean energy in the months
and years to come.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D)</b> said President Joe Biden’s vision has translated directly into job growth in his state and around the country.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“We’re talking about a job growth in two years that we have not seen a
president accomplish in four,” Moore said. “That’s facts, that’s
numbers—that when we’re talking about brand-new record investments in
infrastructure, that’s not just hyperbole. I can tell you as the chief
executive of the state of Maryland, that’s real because we’ve been
there, we’re putting that capital to work in the state of Maryland.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Moore added: “The president is moving full force into not just a
reminder to this country of what’s been accomplished over these past few
years, but moving full force and helping people understand that we’ve
still got work to do. And we’ve got to move in partnership in order to
make this happen.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D)</b> discussed how he had
just signed into law a measure calling for 100 percent clean energy in
the state by 2040. That legislation had both labor and utility companies
in the state on board.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“If we’re going to move to this clean energy economy, Minnesota wants
to be there, to be the place where we manufacture, the place where we
do the innovation, the place where we implement that,” Walz said. “We
can’t be aggressive enough on this because, again, the competition is
already global to a point where we’re losing our competitive advantage,
especially in those spaces. Minnesota wants to lead in that.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D)</b> discussed his state’s
investments in clean energy jobs and how that will bolster the economy
while mitigating climate change. He said the state would transition to
80 percent renewable energy by the end of 2029 and wants to achieve 100
percent clean energy by 2040.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“We want to be in the forefront of not only making sure that electric
vehicles can access our market but also that we have the charging and
infrastructure in place to make them a success and that we are able to
promote affordability though tax credits and other mechanisms,” Polis
said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Polis said he views the transition to clean energy as a change to end
the state’s reliance on costly natural gas so that consumers see energy
savings. And he stressed the importance of a “just transition” that
would help workers from coal power plants, mining, and other legacy
fuels get retraining for new jobs.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“The jobs are different, and the skills are different,” he said. “We
need to make sure that we bring people along and that we can square
people’s livelihoods in the clean energy future.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D)</b> credited the Biden
administration with helping to create 536,000 new jobs in her state over
the past 1 1/2 years. That includes about 50,000 new manufacturing jobs
in upstate New York due to passage of the CHIPS and Science Act.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“The jobs are starting to come back from the money that we’ve been
using from the federal dollars to create those jobs,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Hochul added: “We’ve been absolutely joined at the hips with our
federal partners, President Biden, our leadership, to bring the
infrastructure spending, the climate money, the child care money, and
money to build resiliency because of climate change,” she said. “All of
it is being spent in New York state very happily by this governor.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D)</b> said he sees the
Biden administration’s economic legislation and the funding it provides
as an opportunity for generational change.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“I am so excited about the investments that we’re going to be able to
make,” he said. “We’re going to be laying the groundwork with these
generational funds to make sure that we’re building a North Carolina,
particularly based on advanced manufacturing, that’s going to provide
great-paying jobs.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Cooper praised the Biden administration’s legislation for, among
other things, capping drug prices, investing in child care so parents
can get back into the workforce, and providing money to connect
high-speed internet across North Carolina.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>He also praised climate change legislation that will help create jobs
in the private sector to build electric vehicles, charging stations,
and other infrastructure.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“We’re so excited about the Inflation Reduction Act because it helps
us to fund our EV infrastructure and to coax people into getting
electric vehicles,” he said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>Richmond, Va., Mayor Levar Stoney (D)</b> said his top
priorities are dealing with his city’s housing crisis, improving public
safety, and helping better the lives of children and families. He
praised the American Rescue Plan Act for helping steer federal funds
directly to cities, so local leaders can target money to areas where
it’s needed most.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“It gives us the flexibility to innovate and be creative because at
the end of the day, it’s cities and mayors who are the front lines,” he
said. “I’m grateful that we were able to get that function into the
American Rescue Plan Act, and moving forward, it’s my hope that they
take a page out of President Biden’s book and empower local governments
to make these decisions.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Stoney said about half of the $155 million the city received from the
American Rescue Plan Act is being used to build new community centers
in Black neighborhoods and other communities of color that were
historically redlined. Other funds were used to create more than 250 new
seats for early childhood education and preschool for the city’s
children as well as exploring how to re-connect the historically Black
neighborhood of Jackson Ward, that was literally split in half by I-95,
to help revitalize the area.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“This is the largest investment in local government since the Great
Society, and I think we’re going to see great results and
accomplishments for years and years to come,” Stoney said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><b><span> </span>Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D)</b> said her
city’s biggest economic challenge post-COVID-19 is revitalizing local
businesses, closing wealth gaps, and attracting more residents to the
city. The economic legislation that President Biden’s administration has
steered through Congress is providing a major lift for her and other
city leaders to address those issues.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“I think the president deserves a lot of credit,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>She said she also urged the administration to think about how to make it easier for cities to spend federal funds.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>“It’s great to have a lot of money,” she said. “What’s not great is
not being able to spend it. As we think about policies that help us get
policies out the door, we should also think about innovative procurement
policy as well.”</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><span> </span>Bowser also praised federal funding for projects that will improve
neighborhood walkability, safety, and affordable transportation access.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>“These dollars will help us advance planned work on making intersections more safe,” she said.</span></span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span>
</span></span></span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span><span><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/events/state-and-local-leaders-summit/">Click here</a> to watch the event.</span></span></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-63054461003566567042023-01-01T12:19:00.003-08:002023-01-03T10:26:35.560-08:00Church and State<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Denial of Care Rule Called</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">'Dangerous Policy' <br /></span></span></h1><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Group Applauds Biden Admin. for Plan to Rescind Parts of Rule</span><br /></span></h4><div class="wysiwyg">
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>Washington D.C. </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: medium;">- (<a href="https://www.au.org/the-latest/press/biden-rescinding-denial-of-care-rule/" target="_blank">AU</a>) </span>- 12/29/2022 - Americans United for Separation of Church and State President and
CEO Rachel Laser issued the following statement on Dec. 29 in response to
the Biden administration’s <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2022/12/29/hhs-issues-new-strengthened-conscience-and-religious-nondiscrimination-proposed-rule.html">proposal </a>to
rescind parts of the Trump administration’s Denial of Care Rule, which
invited health care workers to deny medical treatment and services to
patients because of personal religious or moral beliefs:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“We applaud the Biden administration for taking positive steps toward
protecting both religious freedom and patients’ health by rescinding
the Trump-era Denial of Care Rule. No one should be denied medical
treatment because of someone else’s religious beliefs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“The Denial of Care Rule was a dangerous policy that weaponized
religious freedom and put the health and lives of women, LGBTQ people,
religious minorities and so many others in jeopardy. Today’s proposed
rule recognizes the potential harm to patients and upholds the
fundamental principle of church-state separation.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The Denial of Care Rule which was issued in May 2019 by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services under former President Donald
Trump. It invited any health care worker to deny medical care to
patients because of the health care worker’s personal religious or moral
beliefs. Health care facilities risked losing essential federal funding
unless they granted employees carte blanche to deny services. That risk
could have forced many health care facilities to eliminate services
such as reproductive and LGBTQ care. Federal courts had blocked the rule
from going into effect.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Americans United and allies filed two federal lawsuits challenging
the Denial of Care Rule, arguing that HHS during the Trump
administration exceeded its authority and arbitrarily and capriciously
failed to consider the rule’s potential harm to patients and the health
care system, in violation of the federal Administrative Procedure Act.
We also argued that the rule was unconstitutional because it favored
specific religious beliefs in violation of the First Amendment; violated
patients’ rights to privacy, liberty and equal dignity as guaranteed by
the Fifth Amendment; and chilled patients’ speech and expression in
violation of the First Amendment, all to the detriment of patients’
health and well-being.</span></p>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;">In the <i>County of Santa Clara v. HHS</i>, Americans United
joined the Center for Reproductive Rights, Lambda Legal, the law firm
Mayer Brown LLP and Santa Clara County, Calif., which runs an extensive
public health and hospital system that serves as a safety-net provider
for the county’s 1.9 million Bay Area residents. Other plaintiffs in the
case include providers across the country that focus on reproductive
and LGBTQ care, plus five doctors and three medical associations. In
Nov. 2019, the district court granted summary judgment in our favor on
our Administrative Procedure Act claims, vacating the rule in its
entirety.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">In <i>Mayor and City Council of Baltimore v. Azar</i>, Americans
United joined the Baltimore City Solicitor and the law firm Susman
Godfrey LLP to represent the Baltimore City Health Department, which has
strived to ensure that vulnerable and historically marginalized people
can seek medical care without fear of stigmatization or discrimination.
After other federal district courts blocked the Denial of Care Rule, the
district court held this case in abeyance pending the government’s
appeals.</span></li></ul>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>More information about those lawsuits is available <a href="https://www.au.org/how-we-protect-religious-freedom/legal-cases/cases/challenges-to-trump-administration-denial-of-care-rule/">here</a>.</span></p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-29229105133332187472022-11-26T14:41:00.001-08:002022-12-20T08:03:40.678-08:00Social Challenges<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">New Resources Help Communities </span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Counter Mainstreaming of Hate</span></span><br /></span></h1><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span> </span>MONTGOMERY, Ala. and WASHINGTON - (<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/new-resource-splc-and-peril-aims-help-communities-counter-mainstreaming-hate-america" target="_blank">SPLC</a>) </b></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><b> </b>-</span> November 26, 2022 </b>-
At a moment in America when extremism is threatening grassroots
democracy, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and the Polarization
and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL) at American University
today released a <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-community-guide&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200691821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SjpJ20acXBiBZlvZApGXhqgsQRmwggBFtHQBvKNqiwU%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">new resource</a> to help communities confront and build resilience against the mainstreaming of hate.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The guide – <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-community-guide&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200691821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=SjpJ20acXBiBZlvZApGXhqgsQRmwggBFtHQBvKNqiwU%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Building Networks & Addressing Harm: A Community Guide to Online Youth Radicalization</a>
– recognizes the crucial role trusted adults play as the first line of
defense against radicalization. It intends to equip them with tools to
effectively support and protect young people targeted by hateful actions
and rhetoric.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“The best way to prevent radicalization is to address its root causes,” said <b>Susan Corke, director of the Intelligence Project at SPLC</b>.
“Doing this requires a whole-of-community approach, moving beyond
parents and caregivers to provide all trusted adults with tools to
intervene in their homes, schools and neighborhoods.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>“Each trusted adult in a young person’s network of care has a unique vantage point into their lives,” said <b>Dr. Pasha Dashtgard, director of research at PERIL</b>.
“That network of trusted adults – whether they’re coaches, religious
leaders, tutors or others – has an opportunity to help young people
build resilience against the manipulation of extremist groups.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>This new resource provides guidance to help young people resist the
supremacist narratives and manipulative rhetoric they encounter online
and offline, including:</span></p>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Insight into the drivers of young people’s susceptibility to
extremist radicalization, such as feelings of isolation, dislocation and
coping with traumatic experiences.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Information about some of the common ways young people become
radicalized, including echo chambers, content “rabbit holes,” and
unmoderated and under moderated online environments.</span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;">Tools to recognize the warning signs of youth radicalization, such
as sharing concepts associated with scientific racism or a belief in
male supremacy.</span></li></ul>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>The guide builds on existing resources developed by the SPLC and PERIL, including <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-guide-online-youth-radicalization&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200691821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=y6U%2FGAVTwBd8bwzJfuEA1VJ%2FAjxPde3BGUwMs4Bnq18%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Parents & Caregivers Guide to Online Youth Radicalization</a> and supplements for <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-educators&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200691821%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=Ye9o3efHkyhv%2BLDe7fTb05zfpgWxnHOTpF7o8nLsGt4%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">educators</a>, <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-counselors&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200847981%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ChQ3bLCBDteX9ZNRTYB%2F7pNTsCiMDc1TMCGnU3Ib5n8%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">counselors</a>, and <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-coaches-mentors&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200847981%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=EepgcjdIo8az5dB%2FJX20bhJIFWNsr5NgkXIEBdNZEIw%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">coaches</a>. A 2021 <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil-assessments-impact%23impact&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200847981%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=igCjW8vaf89CPzDsNPuVC1ixs%2FuYJ1QEMper27osHvA%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">assessment </a>of
the Parents & Caregivers Guide shows that after just seven minutes
of reading the guide, parents improved their knowledge and understanding
of youth radicalization, with over 80% feeling “definitely” or
“probably” prepared to talk with young people about online extremism and
to intervene appropriately.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>A full suite of online resources is available <a href="https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.splcenter.org%2Fperil&data=05%7C01%7Cricky.riley%40splcenter.org%7C929f0743f3bb4fe7b3c308dac7e3803b%7Cffb63644221946e09eddcad35ce33520%7C0%7C0%7C638042077200847981%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&sdata=%2Fu8%2FvZdpP1Bu4dv3zw7sseKXxqijCalxfdLQUAz3tdM%3D&reserved=0" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a> in English, Spanish, German and Portuguese.</span></p>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-65080430792796643972022-11-13T17:53:00.003-08:002022-11-13T17:58:11.441-08:00Elections in America<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span> GOP’s Full-Throated Nativism </span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span>Fails to Resonate Beyond </span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span>the MAGA Base</span></span></span></h1><div class="single-content">
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<p><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> <span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;">Washington, DC – (<a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/gops-full-throated-nativism-failed-to-resonate-beyond-the-maga-base-likely-part-of-larger-backlash-against-extremism/" target="_blank">America's Voice</a>) - Nov. 13, 2022 - An array of voices are highlighting one
takeaway from the 2022 midterms – once again, most voters rejected
Republicans’ relentless anti-immigrant attacks and larger extremism. As
in past recent cycles, the GOP fear-mongering and nativism failed to
resonate beyond the MAGA base as Americans voted against leading
peddlers of ugly nativism and expressed renewed support for common sense
solutions at odds with Republicans’ ugliness. Among the voices and
examples:</span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Greg Sargent of <i>Washington Post</i>: GOP assumptions on border and immigration again “proved wrong”: </b>As part of his larger analysis titled, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/09/gop-loss-midterms-kevin-mccarthy-trump-kari-lake/">5 big GOP narratives just went down in flames</a>,” Greg Sargent of the <i>Washington Post</i> notes, “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/09/gop-loss-midterms-kevin-mccarthy-trump-kari-lake/">Invasion language did little for Republicans,</a>”
writing that “Republicans have long enjoyed a presumption of a major
advantage on this issue, but aside from Trump’s 2016 victory, it keeps
failing to deliver … GOP confidence that President Biden’s ‘disastrous
open border’ would spark major electoral repudiation, giving Republicans
space to hyper-radicalize their base around the issue, has proved
wrong.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Paul Waldman of <i>Washington Post</i>: “</b><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/09/arizona-democrats-explain-midterms-immigration/"><b>Arizona Democrats chalk up their big night to GOP focus on immigration</b></a><b>.” </b>Waldman <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/11/09/arizona-democrats-explain-midterms-immigration/">writes</a>:
“Though Republicans wouldn’t use those terms, immigration was clearly
the beginning and end of their strategy in Arizona this year. If you
went to any GOP campaign event in Arizona lately, you would have heard a
litany of horrors about the border as candidates Kari Lake and Blake
Masters painted a nightmarish picture of murder and mayhem pouring into
American communities, courtesy of a quasi-conspiracy involving the
Chinese Communist Party, Mexican drug cartels and President Biden
himself seeking to flood the country with fentanyl and criminal aliens …
In Arizona as elsewhere, through victory and defeat, Republicans’ faith
in the electoral power of the immigration issue has been unwavering.
And all indications are that whatever else happens between now and 2024,
that isn’t going to change.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>“Hatemongering isn’t a sustainable political strategy.”</b> <i>Los Angeles Times </i>columnist
Jean Guerrero, who wrote a biography of leading nativist Stephen
Miller, responded to Miller’s attempted spin that Republicans didn’t
make anti-immigration attacks <i>enough </i>of their focus by <a href="https://twitter.com/jeanguerre/status/1590395585148129281">noting</a>: “Except this is literally all the GOP ran on. Hatemongering isn’t a sustainable political strategy.”</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>“While votes are still being counted, it’s clear Stephen
Miller’s racist political ads were a flop” from Gabe Ortiz at Daily Kos:</b> Ortiz <a href="https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/9/2134849/-Stephen-Miller-s-barrage-of-racist-anti-trans-political-ads-prove-to-be-a-40-million-flop">writes</a>,
“Miller had been assuring his racist base that a “red wave” was in
store for Republicans, doing his part by launching massively offensive
ads in more than a dozen states that sobbed about supposed “anti-white
bigotry” and pushed violent anti-immigrant imagery … But this week,
voters largely rejected this bigoted agenda … ‘Stephen Miller predicted
that Republicans’ nativism would help usher in a ‘red tsunami,’ but his
tens of millions of dollars’ worth of overt racism and nativism fell
flat in 2022—just as his similar election predictions about the power of
GOP nativism failed in past cycles,’ said Vanessa Cárdenas, executive
director of immigrant rights advocacy group America’s Voice. ‘The
strategy of trying to mobilize the MAGA base around extreme Trumpian
grievances and anti-immigrant fear-mongering fell flat.’”</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Indeed, as America’s Voice tracked, the Stephen Miller-affiliated “Citizens for Sanity” <a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/by-the-numbers-10-key-immigration-stats-from-midterms-and-beyond/">spent over $51 million in TV ads across 16 states </a>in
the midterms’ homestretch with some of the year’s most vile nativist,
racist and transphobic ads (as seen during World Series) – just part of
the GOP’s relentless focus on nativism and <a href="https://americasvoice.org/press_releases/by-the-numbers-10-key-immigration-stats-from-midterms-and-beyond/">3,200 different paid communications on anti-immigrant themes</a> highlighted by the America’s Voice’s ad tracking project.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">
</span><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span> F</span>ollowing is a statement from Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director for America’s Voice:</b></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Nativism has become the beating heart of the Republican Party and the throughline from Trump’s descent down the escalator in 2015 to MAGA extremists taking control of the GOP to the current perilous moment facing our democracy. And once again, the political potency of GOP full-throated nativism failed to resonate beyond the Republican base and may have been part of a larger backlash among many voters against MAGA candidates. <br /><br /> <span> </span>"One clear takeaway from this election is that the GOP’s massive investment in nativist attacks failed to deliver, which is an especially striking fact given an election environment that overwhelmingly favored Republicans and that the issue was a top message priority GOP-wide. The vast majority of Americans reject the GOP’s radicalism and scare tactics on immigration and recognize that immigrants are a source of strength for the nation. Now, we need policies that meet the vast majority of the country where it actually is – in favor of common sense solutions that address the uncertain futures of Dreamers, TPS holders, and farm workers and in support of bipartisan reforms that will modernize and actually address immigration reform in a real way.”</span></span></div>
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-69761552816364845492022-11-05T13:53:00.000-07:002022-11-05T13:53:20.930-07:00U.S. Elections<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Social Media and the </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Midterm 2022 Elections</span></span></h1><h2 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: large;">Anticipating Online Threats to Democratic Legitimacy</span><br /></span></span></h2><div class="wysiwyg -xw:4 -mx:a"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Washington, D.C. — (<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-social-media-and-the-2022-midterm-elections-anticipating-online-threats-to-democratic-legitimacy/">CAP</a>) - Nov. 5, 2022 - As social media companies continue to allow
attacks on American democracy to proliferate on their platforms, a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/social-media-and-the-2022-midterm-elections-anticipating-online-threats-to-democratic-legitimacy/">new issue brief</a> from
the Center for American Progress reveals the top threats to democratic
legitimacy facing social media platforms and explains how these
companies must confront them.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Online platforms are not the sole cause of this democratic crisis,” said <strong><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/conner-adam/">Adam Conner</a></strong>,
CAP’s vice president of Technology Policy and co-author of the brief.
“But companies’ continued refusal to make the fundamental changes
required to stop their tools from becoming platforms for hate and
election subversion make them complicit in these assaults on our
democracy.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Over the past few years, there has been an extraordinary
informational assault on the legitimacy of U.S. elections fueled by the
spread of baseless claims of fraud. Despite continuous calls for product
changes, social media platforms continue to abdicate their
responsibility to prevent these attacks.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The new issue brief identifies the three most significant threats to
democratic legitimacy that social media platforms must address: 1)
election subversion theater, 2) online harassment and intimidation of
election workers, and 3) post-election informational chaos.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Many candidates and elected officials now promote baseless claims of
fraud in order to create the impression that there were instances of
fraud or election insecurities, even when there were not,” said <strong><a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/ashleigh-maciolek/">Ashleigh Maciolek</a></strong>,
research associate for Structural Reform and Governance at CAP and
co-author of the brief. “Online platforms need to be aware of this
election subversion theater and take steps to prevent their platforms
from being used to delegitimize elections.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Anticipating that these informational threats will continue to
undermine U.S. democracy, fuel violence, and sow chaos, CAP and its
partners issued a clear set of demands to major social media companies
ahead of the midterm elections to protect the freedom to vote and
fairness of elections. Unfortunately, many of these demands have been
ignored. The three informational threats identified by CAP remain major
threats to the legitimacy of our elections, including:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Election subversion theater:</strong> Social media companies
continue to allow election denialism and baseless claims of fraud to
spread on their platforms, providing a platform for perceptive assaults
on the legitimacy of the U.S. election process.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Online harassment and intimidation of election workers:</strong>
Online disinformation and violent rhetoric have made the election
process seem untrustworthy, implicating election workers who are simply
carrying out their vital jobs to protect U.S. elections.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong>Post-election informational chaos:</strong> Between the time
that the public casts their ballots and elected officials are sworn
into office, social media companies must double down on countering
baseless claims of fraud, declarations of a “stolen” or “rigged”
election, and other election conspiracy theories.</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Recognizing these online threats, CAP again recommends that social
media companies take serious, proactive steps to prevent informational
assaults on U.S. democracy to proliferate online. Among other
recommendations, these steps include:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Employing viral circuit breakers to ensure that the spread of false
election information or delegitimization is not immediately damaging</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Proactively monitoring for—and expeditiously removing—attempts to create conspiracy theories about election workers</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Prohibiting advertisements that promote the “big lie,” delegitimize
the election, or otherwise declare elections stolen or rigged</span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>It is critically important for social media companies to address
these ongoing threats now, as CAP expects the 2022 midterms to see the
same flood of informational assaults as in 2020. These will only get
worse as the 2024 election gets closer.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong><span> </span>Read the issue brief:</strong> “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/social-media-and-the-2022-midterm-elections-anticipating-online-threats-to-democratic-legitimacy/">Social Media and the 2022 Midterm Elections: Anticipating Online Threats to Democratic Legitimacy</a>” by Erin Simpson, Adam Conner, and Ashleigh Maciolek</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><strong><span> </span>For more information or to speak with an expert, </strong>please contact Sam Hananel at <a href="mailto:shananel@americanprogress.org">shananel@americanprogress.org</a>.</span></span></p>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-17928863890279329952022-09-06T19:18:00.001-07:002022-09-06T19:18:59.488-07:00Law and Democracy<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Common Cause Scorecard </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Charts Lawmaker
Support </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">for Pro-Democracy Bills</span></span></h1>
<p>
</p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Washington D.C. - (<a href="https://www.commoncause.org/press-release/common-cause-scorecard-charts-lawmaker-support-for-pro-democracy-bills-in-117th-congress-in-wake-of-january-6th/" target="_blank">Common Cause</a>) - 9/6/2022 - As the January 6
Select Committee is reportedly set to hold more hearings this month,
and less than two years since January 6, Common Cause is releasing
its <a href="https://democracyscorecard.org/">2022 Democracy
Scorecard</a>, which tracks the positions of every Member of Congress
on issues vital to the health of our democracy during the 117
Congress. Throughout this Congress, members of the House and Senate
were notified that various votes on key democracy issues –
including many related to January 6<sup>th</sup> and its aftermath –
would be counted in the Scorecard, which will be distributed to our
1.5 million members, as well as to state and national media.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Americans expect and deserve legislation to strengthen and
protect our democracy so that our nation can live up to its ideals –
especially in the wake of January 6. At Common Cause we keep close
track of what members of Congress have done on these issues. Our
Democracy Scorecard lets constituents know where their
representatives stand,” said Common Cause president Karen Hobert
Flynn. “At the very start of the 117th Congress, Members were
besieged in the U.S. Capitol by a violent, armed, insurrectionist mob
intent on overturning the 2020 presidential election. Members of
Congress were then faced with a series of choices in the months
following to take steps that would strengthen democracy. Too many
Members chose fealty to former-President Trump over the oath of
office they swore to protect the nation.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“As we face unprecedented attacks on our democracy, protecting
and strengthening our freedom to vote are paramount,” said
Aaron Scherb, Common Cause’s senior director of legislative
affairs. “After we witnessed the former president try to overturn
our votes in a free election, it’s imperative for Congress to
establish fair national voting standards, despite continued
filibusters by Senate Republicans. Congress would be wise to take
heed of the voting rights bills, and the wave of other popular
pro-democracy reforms, that are being passed at the state and local
level while Republicans in Congress blockade them at the federal
level. This Scorecard is a resource for all constituents to evaluate
which members of Congress are working to strengthen our freedom to
vote and which ones are trying to make it harder for Americans to
vote.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Some highlights and trends from the 2022 Democracy Scorecard
include:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Most of the included bills
would’ve become law if the legislative filibuster didn’t exist,
as many of them have majority support in Congress
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">101 members of Congress had a
perfect score on this year’s Scorecard, a more than 70% increase
over the number of members who had perfect scores (58) in 2020
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">California has the highest number
of members of Congress (19) with perfect scores
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vermont is the only state with
every member of its delegation (3) earning a perfect score
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">7 states have both U.S. Senators earning a perfect score:
Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, and
Vermont
</span></span></p>
</li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>A subset of votes and bills in this year’s Scorecard include:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Votes</u></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Impeachment and conviction of
former President Donald Trump for incitement of insurrection
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">For the People Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">DC Statehood
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Independent commission to
investigate the January 6th insurrection and a resolution creating
the January 6th Select Committee
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">John R. Lewis Voting Rights
Advancement Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Steve Bannon criminal contempt
resolution
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Protecting Our Democracy Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mark Meadows criminal contempt
resolution
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act
</span></span></p>
</li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Bills to cosponsor</u></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">DISCLOSE Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Supreme Court Ethics Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Frank Harrison, Elizabeth
Peratrovich, and Miguel Trujillo Native American Voting Rights Act
</span></span></p>
</li><li><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Democracy for All Amendment
</span></span></p>
</li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The Scorecard does not ‘rate’ candidates. Instead, it
spotlights the votes and co-sponsors of legislation that would
protect our elections, elevate the voices of all Americans in
politics and government, make voting more accessible, end racial and
partisan gerrymandering so that every American has a fair chance to
elect representatives of their choice, and promote high ethical
standards for elected and appointed officials.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Common Cause previously issued Democracy Scorecards in <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/report.pdf">2016</a>,
<a href="https://democracyscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DemocracyScorecard_2018_WEB.pdf">2018</a>,
and <a href="https://democracyscorecard.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/DemocracyScorecard_2020v9.pdf">2020</a>
based on the votes and cosponsorship of between 15-18 key democracy
reform bills.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>To view the full 2022 Democracy Scorecard, <a href="https://democracyscorecard.org/">click
here</a>.</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></span>
</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-54114937659956824012022-08-29T18:13:00.000-07:002022-08-29T18:13:20.410-07:00Reproductive Rights<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Report Examines How State</span></span></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Abortion Bans Will Harm </span></span></b></span></span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Women and Families</span></span></b></span></span></p><h4 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-family: verdana;">Economic Security and State and Local Economies At Risk</span></b><br /></span></span></h4><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"><span> </span>Washington, D.C. — 8/29/2022 - The Center for American Progress released <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/state-abortion-bans-will-harm-women-and-families-economic-security-across-the-us/">a report</a> on Aug. 26 examining the economic consequences of state abortion bans.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span><span data-contrast="none">The
report provides a comprehensive overview of the existing research that
highlights the connection between abortion legalization under </span><i><span data-contrast="none">Roe v. Wade </span></i><span data-contrast="none">and
women’s advancement, along with an analysis of the challenges
women—especially women of color—will face in the 27 states that have at
least one abortion ban on the books and are already difficult places for
women and families to thrive. The social infrastructure of these states
is not equipped to deal with the fallout of the U.S. Supreme Court’s
decision in <em>Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization</em>. Many of these states already have some of the worst economic and health outcomes for women and families across the country. </span><span data-contrast="none">For example, of these states:</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><ul><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="1" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">None guarantee paid family and medical leave.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="2" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">Eighteen have gender wage gaps above the national average.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="3" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">Twenty-two have poverty rates for women above the national average.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="4" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">Seventeen have poverty rates for children above the national average.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="5" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">Nineteen have not extended Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li><li aria-setsize="-1" data-aria-level="1" data-aria-posinset="6" data-font="Symbol" data-leveltext="" data-list-defn-props="{"335552541":1,"335559683":0,"335559684":-2,"335559685":720,"335559991":360,"469769226":"Symbol","469769242":[8226],"469777803":"left","469777804":"","469777815":"hybridMultilevel"}" data-listid="2"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none">Only four legally require insurers to cover an extended supply of contraceptives.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335551550":0,"335551620":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></li></ul><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"> <span> </span>The report also highlights how abortion
bans will cost local and state economies by leading to reduced labor
force participation, increasing time off and turnover among women, and
causing some employers to relocate to other states with abortion
protections.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"><span> </span>To combat the detrimental impact of these
abortion bans, the authors argue that legislative and administrative
action will be critical. They recommend that state and federal officials
must use every legislative and administrative tool to expand abortion
access. </span><span data-contrast="none"> They also recommend that at
the same time, federal and state policymakers must fight to strengthen
workplace protections and social safety nets—while acknowledging that
these supports, as critical as they are to women’s overall economic
security, do not eliminate the need for abortion care or erase the deep
harms abortion bans impose on women.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"><span> </span>“The Supreme Court’s decision to deny
women the constitutional right to abortion will negatively affect women
and families’ economic security, particularly for those living in the 27
states that have at least one abortion ban on the books,” said <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/lauren-hoffman/">Lauren Hoffman</a>,
associate director of Women’s Economic Security at CAP. “The federal
and state governments must take legislative and administrative action to
mitigate these harms and preserve access to abortion care.”</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559685":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"><span> </span>“State leaders banning abortion are not
interested in improving economic and health policies that support women
and the children these women already have—revealing, at best, a willful
ignorance of the real-life effects of abortion bans and, at worst, a
deliberate attack on gender equality and women’s progress.” said <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/ahmed-osub/">Osub Ahmed</a>, associate director of Women’s Health and Rights at CAP.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559685":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span data-contrast="none"><span> </span>“Without robust federal and state action
to strengthen the nation’s social safety net and advance policies to
help working families, women, and other people who can become pregnant,
facing unintended parenthood in those states are likely to fall even
further through the cracks—with downstream effects on their children,
communities, and local and state economies,” said <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/people/bela-salas-betsch/">Bela Salas-Betsch</a>, research assistant for the Women’s Initiative.</span><span data-ccp-props="{"201341983":0,"335559685":0,"335559739":160,"335559740":259}"> </span></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Read the report: “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/article/state-abortion-bans-will-harm-women-and-families-economic-security-across-the-us/">State Abortion Bans Will Harm Women and Families’ Economic Security Across the US</a>” by Lauren Hoffman, Osub Ahmed, and Bela Salas-Betsch.</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-8799142170010304222022-08-26T18:39:00.004-07:002022-08-26T18:41:38.307-07:00Mass Surveillance<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Groups Urge
U.S. Supreme Court </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">to Hear Challenge to NSA's </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Mass Surveillance</span></span></h1><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span><span> </span>WASHINGTON, D.C. — (<a href="https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/wikimedia-foundation-aclu-and-knight-institute-urge-us-supreme-court-hear-challenge" target="_blank">ACLU</a>) - 8/26/2022 - The Wikimedia Foundation, the
nonprofit that operates Wikipedia, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court
on Aug. 25 to review a challenge to the National Security Agency’s
(NSA) mass surveillance of Americans’ private emails, internet
messages, and web communications with people overseas, also known as
its “Upstream” surveillance program. In its petition, Wikimedia
asks the Court to reject the government’s sweeping claims of “state
secrets” and allow the case to proceed, arguing that the wealth of
public disclosures about Upstream surveillance means the program can
and should be subject to constitutional review in the courts. The
American Civil Liberties Union, the Knight First Amendment Institute
at Columbia University, and the law firm Cooley LLP represent the
Wikimedia Foundation in the litigation.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“When people’s privacy is at risk, free knowledge is at risk,”
said James Buatti, senior legal manager at the Wikimedia
Foundation. “The NSA’s mass surveillance is a threat to
the fundamental rights to privacy and free expression for the
hundreds of millions of people worldwide who rely on Wikipedia and
other Wikimedia projects for reliable information.” </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Upstream surveillance is conducted under Section 702 of the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits the
government to intercept Americans’ international communications
without a warrant so long as it is targeting individuals located
outside the U.S. for foreign intelligence purposes. Section 702 will
expire in 2023 unless it is reauthorized by Congress.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>In the course of this surveillance, the NSA copies and combs
through vast amounts of internet traffic, including private data
showing what millions of people around the world are reading or
writing online — whether they are accessing knowledge on Wikipedia
and other Wikimedia projects, browsing the web, or communicating with
family and friends. This government surveillance has had a measurable
chilling effect on Wikipedia users, with research <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2769645">documenting</a>
a drop in traffic to Wikipedia articles on privacy-sensitive topics
following public revelations about the NSA’s mass surveillance in
2013.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“It is past time for the Supreme Court to rein in the
government’s sweeping use of secrecy to evade accountability in the
courts. Upstream surveillance is no secret, and the government’s
own public disclosures are the proof,” said Patrick Toomey,
deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project.
“Every day, the NSA is siphoning Americans’ communications off
the internet backbone and into its surveillance systems, violating
privacy and chilling free expression. The courts can and should
decide whether this warrantless digital dragnet complies with the
Constitution.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>In September 2021, a divided panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Fourth Circuit held that even though the Wikimedia Foundation
provided public evidence that its communications with Wikipedia users
around the world are subject to Upstream surveillance, the
government’s assertion of the “state secrets privilege”
required dismissal of the entire case. The privilege allows the
government to withhold information in legal proceedings if disclosure
of that information would threaten national security. The government
claimed it might have sensitive information that would — at least
in theory — establish a defense to the lawsuit. Over the dissent of
Judge Diana Gribbon Motz, a majority of the court held that this
possibility was enough to end the litigation.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <span> </span>Wikimedia’s
petition argues that the Fourth Circuit was wrong to dismiss the
lawsuit on the basis of the state secrets privilege and that the
court should have, instead, excluded any secret evidence, but allowed
the case to proceed.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“For years, the NSA has vacuumed up Americans’ international
communications under Upstream surveillance, and to date, not a single
challenge to that surveillance has been allowed to go forward,”
said Alex Abdo, litigation director of the Knight First
Amendment Institute at Columbia University. “The Supreme
Court should make clear that NSA surveillance is not beyond the reach
of our public courts.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The Wikimedia Foundation, which filed the case alongside eight
other plaintiffs, sued the NSA in 2015 to protect the rights of
Wikipedia readers, editors, and internet users globally. The Supreme
Court may consider the petition as early as October 2022.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Wikimedia v. NSA is a part of the ACLU's Joan and Irwin Jacobs
Supreme Court Docket. Lawyers representing the Wikimedia Foundation
in the litigation include Patrick Toomey, Ashley Gorski, and Sarah
Taitz for the American Civil Liberties Union, Alex Abdo and Jameel
Jaffer for the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia
University, and Ben Kleine, Aarti Reddy, and Maximilian Sladek de la
Cal from the law firm Cooley LLP.</span></span></p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-30389214966658040692022-08-20T17:21:00.001-07:002022-08-20T17:38:35.254-07:00Living Wages<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Michigan Workers Win </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Minimum-Wage Increase, </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Paid Sick Leave</span></span></h1><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">By <a class="title-blue" href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/producers.php?id=249"><b>Brett Peveto</b></a><b>, Producer</b></span></span></div><p class="font-16"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> MICHIGAN (<a href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2022-08-18/livable-wages-working-families/michigan-workers-win-minimum-wage-increase-paid-sick-leave/a80308-1" target="_blank">PNS</a>) - 8/20-2022 - </span>Workers in Michigan won major victories recently as a
minimum-wage increase and employer paid sick time program were
reinstated by court order.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>In 2018, petitioners succeeded in placing a minimum-wage increase along with an earned-sick-time provision on the <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Minimum_Wage_Increase_Initiative_(2018)" target="_blank">November ballot</a>.
In turn, the Michigan Legislature passed the measures in September to
avoid a vote on the referendums, then in a lame-duck session in December
the Legislature amended the bills, delaying the wage increase and
denying the full hourly rate to tipped workers. The sick-time provision
also was changed.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Last month, a Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled amending the original bills was a <a href="https://www.jacksonlewis.com/sites/default/files/docs/Michigan-MotheringJustice_v_Nessel-COC-OPINION.pdf" target="_blank">violation of the state constitution</a>, and the $12 minimum wage will now be instituted in February.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Alicia Renee Farris, chief operations officer of Restaurant
Opportunities Centers United, helped organize the ballot initiative and
is calling it a victory for Michigan workers.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"This is really a victory for 685,000 Michiganders that do not make $12
an hour," Farris asserted. "We see that as very important particularly
for low-wage restaurant workers."<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>The minimum wage for tipped employees is set to gradually increase to $12 per hour by 2024. <br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>After Judge Douglas Shapiro declared the adopt-and-amend legislative
maneuver unconstitutional, the State of Michigan asked for a stay
pending appeal. Shapiro denied the request but did delay implementation
until Feb. 19.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Mark Brewer, the attorney representing the plaintiffs, said the delay is due to the scale of the coming changes.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"This is a massive change. The paid sick time affects every employer in
the state," Brewer pointed out. "Minimum wage obviously affects many
employers and hundreds of thousands of employees, so the court said,
'Look, you can have a few months to make a transition here to fully
implement these laws.' "<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Litigation over the matter has not ended with the Court of Claims
ruling, since the state of Michigan will next take its case to the
Michigan Court of Appeals. Brewer noted the appeals court has agreed to
speed things up.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"We did get some good news in just the last 24 hours," Brewer
emphasized. "The court of appeals has agreed to expedite our appeal, and
so we're hopeful to have oral argument in the court of appeals this
fall, which would mean a decision early next year."<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Upon implementation, the minimum wage will be indexed to inflation with
adjustments made annually so long as the state unemployment rate remains
below 8.5%.
<br /></span></span>
</p><div class="intro_article"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Disclosure: Restaurant
Opportunities Center United contributes to our fund for reporting on
Civil Rights, Human Rights/Racial Justice, Livable Wages/Working
Families, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in
the public interest, <a href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/dn1.php" target="_blank">click here.</a></span></span>
</div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
</span></span><div class="intro_article"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">References: </span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
<a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Michigan_Minimum_Wage_Increase_Initiative_(2018)" target="_blank">Ballot initiative Ballotpedia 2018</a><br />
<a href="https://www.jacksonlewis.com/sites/default/files/docs/Michigan-MotheringJustice_v_Nessel-COC-OPINION.pdf" target="_blank">Ruling State of Mich. Court of Claims 07/19/2022</a></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span>Credit: Story published courtesy of</span></span></span> <a href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/" target="_blank">Public News Service</a></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>.</span> <br /></span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-77673958472284943992022-08-13T19:00:00.001-07:002022-08-13T19:14:52.271-07:00Task Force Report<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Election Threats Task Force Briefs </span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Election Officials and Workers</span></span></h1><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><div class="field field--name-field-pr-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> WASHINGTON, D.C.- </span>(<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/readout-election-threats-task-force-briefing-election-officials-and-workers" target="_blank">DOJ</a>) - 8/13/2022 - Assistant
Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. convened a virtual discussion
today with a bipartisan group of approximately 750 election officials
and workers to provide an update on the work of the Justice Department’s
Election Threats Task Force.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Assistant Attorney General Polite thanked the election community for
continuing to prioritize this national public safety issue, for engaging
directly with the task force over the past year, and stressed the
importance that those lines of communication stay open ahead of election
season. He also reminded the election community of the individual
points of contact they have in every FBI field office in the country.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Following Assistant Attorney General Polite’s remarks, the task force
shared intelligence, data, and analysis stemming from their first year
of work. This included:</span></span></p>
<ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The task force has reviewed over 1,000 contacts reported as hostile or harassing by the election community.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Approximately 11% of those contacts met the threshold for a federal
criminal investigation. The remaining reported contacts did not provide
a predication for a federal criminal investigation. While many of the
contacts were often hostile, harassing, and abusive towards election
officials, they did not include a threat of unlawful violence.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In investigations where the source of a reported contact was
identified, in 50% of the matters the source contacted the victim on
multiple occasions. These investigations accordingly encompassed
multiple contacts. The number of individual investigations is less than
5% of the total number of reported contacts.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The task force has charged four federal cases and joined another
case that was charged prior to the establishment of the task force.
There have also been multiple state prosecutions to date. The task force
anticipates additional prosecutions in the near future.</span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Election officials in states with close elections and postelection
contests were more likely to receive threats. 58% of the total of
potentially criminal threats were in states that underwent 2020
post-election lawsuits, recounts, and audits, such as Arizona, Georgia,
Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Nevada, and Wisconsin.</span></span></li></ul><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The task force also briefed the election community on available
funds for enhanced security for election offices, and the availability
of additional resources from both academic and non-governmental
organizations.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Joining Assistant Attorney General Polite in the briefing was
Principal Deputy Chief John Keller of the Justice Department’s Public
Integrity Section, FBI Assistant Director Luis Quesada, and FBI Public
Corruption and Civil Rights Section Chief Joseph Rothrock.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Original press release date: Aug. 1, 2022 <br /></span></span></p>
</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-4886975009959015782022-08-07T13:08:00.001-07:002022-08-07T13:09:18.401-07:00Education Politics<h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Students Reminded of Rights </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Under New Classroom </span></span></h1><h1 style="margin-bottom: 0in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Censorship Law in Georgia</span></span></h1>
<div class="group-content"><div class="group-content-container field-group-div" id="group-content-container"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even"><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>ATLANTA, Ga. - (<a href="https://www.splcenter.org/presscenter/southern-poverty-law-center-aclu-georgia-remind-educators-students-their-first-amendment" target="_blank">SPLC</a>) - 8/7/2022 - The ACLU of Georgia (<a data-mce-href="https://acluga.org/" href="https://acluga.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ACLU-GA</a>) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) are <a data-mce-href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/ga_curriculum_censorship_fact_sheet_aug_2022.pdf" href="https://www.splcenter.org/sites/default/files/ga_curriculum_censorship_fact_sheet_aug_2022.pdf">offering support</a> to
educators, students and parents in Georgia as the school year begins
under a new classroom censorship law (H.B. 1084) signed by Gov. Brian
Kemp in April. The law critically limits discussions on race in Georgia
public schools.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Both organizations encourage everyone involved in Georgia public
schools to share experiences related to H.B. 1084. Educators who believe
the law is being used to discipline or retaliate against them or
students in a way that interferes with their First Amendment rights, are
asked to contact the SPLC at <a data-extlink="" data-mce-href="mailto:TeachTruth@splcenter.org" href="mailto:TeachTruth@splcenter.org"><b>TeachTruth@splcenter.org</b><span class="mailto"></span></a>.
Students are also encouraged to contact the SPLC if they suspect the
classroom censorship law is blocking classroom discussions, materials,
or lessons from occurring. The SPLC, ACLU-GA, and ACLU Speech,
Technology and Privacy Project are working together, and may be able to
help.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Understanding constitutional protections including the right to free
speech in public or private, the right to clear, understandable laws,
and the right to employment protections, will help educators and Georgia
public school parents and students navigate the school year under a
censorship law recently passed by the Georgia legislature,” said Brock
Boone, senior staff attorney for the SPLC. “If an educator or student
believes that truthful and accurate teaching in their class is being
withheld or censored under HB 1084, we want to hear from them.”</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The ACLU of Georgia and the SPLC are committed to proactively
supporting public education that is truthful, diverse and inclusive.
These organizations are also committed to supporting educators, students
and parents who are negatively affected by the law.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Teachers, educators, and school staff play a vital role in educating
the future generations of this country,” said Nneka Ewulonu, ACLU of
Georgia staff attorney. “While these new classroom censorship laws are
vague, public school teachers still have constitutional rights and a
professional duty to teach the truth.”</span></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-71465169849636348422022-08-06T09:43:00.001-07:002022-08-06T16:01:01.859-07:00Civil Rights<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Arizona Prison Officials Withhold</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Selected Issues of <i>The Nation</i> from</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span>Incarcerated Subscribers </span></span></h1><div class="center-wrapper clearfix full-page-width"><div class="inner"><div class="panel-panel panel-main-1 content-column"><div class="panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-field-subtitle" style="text-align: left;"><h1> </h1></div><h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> </span></h1> <div class="panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-body"> <div class="field-body text-area"> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>PHOENIX - (ACLU) - 8/6/2022 - The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Arizona sent
a letter in late July to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and
Reentry (ADCRR) challenging its decision to withhold selected issues of <i>The Nation </i>magazine
from incarcerated subscribers at least five times in the past 18 months
on the basis that the issues promoted racial superiority or contained
sexual content, in violation of the First Amendment.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“The ban on these issues of <i>The Nation</i>
is yet another example of prisons routinely restricting materials that
incarcerated people can access, by way of unconstitutional, arbitrary
rules,” said <b>Corene Kendrick, </b><b>deputy director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project</b>.
“ADCRR’s actions violate not only the First Amendment rights of
incarcerated people, but also the First Amendment rights of the
publisher and writers in the magazine<i>. The Nation</i>, or any other
publication, may not be banned simply because it describes acts of
current or historic racism — reporting on racism is not promoting
racism.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The ACLU examined the withheld issues of <i>The Nation</i>
and found no content promoting acts of violence, racism, degradation,
or the superiority of one race over another. One prohibited issue had a
cover story entitled “Black Immigrants Matter.” Another issue that was
banned, because it supposedly contained sexual content, had a photo of a
fully-dressed 93-year-old drag queen in the magazine and a cartoon of
two fully-dressed people kissing each other. The ADCRR regulation
banning sexual content <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/07/08/19-17449.pdf">recently was held to be unconstitutional</a> by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in another censorship case against the department.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“True
to its Orwellian name, ADCRR’s Office of Publication Review (OPR) has
given vague explanations lacking any specific citation of allegedly
offending material to justify withholding our magazine from incarcerated
subscribers,” <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/society/aclu-arizona-prison-censorship/">explains</a> <b>D.D. Guttenplan, editor of <i>The Nation</i></b>. “But as Malcolm X <a href="http://accounts.smccd.edu/bellr/readerlearningtoread.htm">says</a> in his <i>Autobiography</i>,
reading in prison ‘changed forever the course of my life’ — as it has
for countless other incarcerated people. So when the notices kept
coming, we decided to do something about it.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“This is not the first time the ACLU has called ADCRR to account for its arbitrary censorship policies,” said <b>Emerson Sykes, senior staff attorney at the ACLU’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project</b>. “In 2019, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/blog/prisoners-rights/civil-liberties-prison/arizona-officials-say-its-unsafe-prisoners-read-about">successfully called on Arizona prison officials</a> to allow <i>Chokehold</i>, Paul Butler’s acclaimed nonfiction book on racial disparities in the criminal justice system. In 2021, the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/news/free-speech/the-weeknd-is-safe-enough-for-the-super-bowl-but-contraband-in-prison">filed an amicus brief</a>
in support of a Black Muslim man who sued ADCRR for denying him access
to religious texts, and to popular rap and R&B music such as
Kendrick Lamar and The Weeknd. In January 2022, the Ninth Circuit <a href="http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/01/24/20-15642.pdf">ruled against ADCRR in the prisoner’s favor</a>.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>In
its letter, the ACLU asks ADCRR to review each facility’s policy and
practice to ensure respect for the First Amendment rights of
incarcerated Arizonans, as well as the constitutional rights of
publishers. Specifically, the ACLU is asking ADCRR to provide uncensored
issues of <i>The Nation</i> to the intended recipients, to notify
mailroom staff that they cannot invoke the unconstitutional and vague
“sexual content” regulation, and to refrain in the future from banning
materials reporting acts of current or historic racism.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The full ACLU letter and the banned issues are at:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span><ul><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/adcrrs-unconstitutional-restrictions-nation-0">Letter</a></span></span></li><li><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.aclu.org/legal-document/adcrrs-unconstitutional-restrictions-nation">Banned Issues</a></span></span></li></ul> </div> </div> </div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-33340094394770293272022-07-31T18:57:00.001-07:002022-07-31T18:57:57.873-07:00Racial Equality<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Illinois Traffic Stop Data Shows <br /></span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span><span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Continued Racial Inequalities </span></span></span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">in Stops, Searches</span></span><br /></span></span></span></span></span></h1><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>Illinois (<a href="https://www.aclu-il.org/en/press-releases/2021-illinois-traffic-stop-data-shows-continued-racial-inequities-stops-searches" target="_blank">ACLU</a>) - 7/31/2022 - Motorists of color on
Illinois streets and highways continue to be stopped at rates higher
than that of white drivers according to data collected and reported by
police across the state. In 2021, Black drivers were approximately 1.7
times more likely to be stopped by police than white drivers. While
Latinx drivers did not see a statewide disparity, they are more likely
to be stopped in many jurisdictions. </span></span></span></span>
</p><div class="panel-panel panel-main-2 content-column"><div class="panel-pane pane-entity-field pane-node-body"><div class="field-body"><p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>Racial inequities in traffic
stops have persisted statewide and in many jurisdictions for years.
Black and Latinx drivers are often pulled over for low-level violations,
whether it is changing lanes without signaling or having a broken
taillight—offenses for which white drivers who violate the <i>same</i> laws are often not stopped. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>The data for traffic stops in
2021 is contained in a recent report released by the Illinois Department
of Transportation earlier this summer, as mandated by the <a href="https://idot.illinois.gov/Assets/uploads/files/Transportation-System/Reports/Safety/Traffic-Stop-Studies/2021/IL%202021%20Traffic%20Stop%20Study%20Part%20II%20-%20Deatiled%20Tables.pdf">Illinois Traffic and Pedestrian Stop Statistical Study Act</a>
(“the Act”). The Act requires all law enforcement officers in Illinois
to record and report data about every motorist they stop, including the
race of the motorist, the reason for the stop and the outcome of the
stop. The Act was originally sponsored by then-State Senator Barack
Obama and made permanent in recent years. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>The Act was designed to
provide law enforcement leadership across the state with a tool for
addressing potential racial bias in traffic enforcement. In highlighting
the data today, the ACLU of Illinois again calls on law enforcement
leadership to review and focus on the data to seek improvement. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>“Black drivers from across the
state have raised concerns for years that police are more likely to
stop them than white drivers – that remains true based on this data,”
said Joshua Levin, staff attorney for the ACLU of Illinois. “This is not
anecdotal or selective – this reality is based on data that police
report themselves about traffic stops in their communities. And that
data consistently shows that Black drivers are more likely to be stopped
than white drivers. ” </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>The report makes clear that no
single community is responsible for this disparity and some communities
have improved in recent years. Still, some communities have a rate of
racial disparities far worse than the statewide rate. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>A number of communities across Illinois showed disparities:</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><b><span><span> </span>Chicago</span></b><span>:
Black drivers were more than 5 times more likely to be stopped than
white drivers; Latinx drivers were nearly 2.5 times more likely to be
stopped; </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><b><span><span> </span>Aurora</span></b><span>: Black drivers were 7 times more likely to be stopped by police; Latinx drivers were nearly 4 times more likely; </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><b><span><span> </span>Bloomington</span></b><span>: Black drivers were 4.7 times more likely to be stopped by police; Latinx drivers were twice as likely; </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><b><span><span> </span>Peoria</span></b><span>: Black drivers were 6.8 times more likely to be stopped by police; Latinx drivers were 2.3 times more likely; </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><b><span><span> </span>Springfield</span></b><span>:
Black drivers were 5 times more likely to be stopped by police, even
though Latinx drivers were stopped consistent with their driving
population in the community</span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>“Black people who have lived
in Springfield for any amount of time have noticed that Blacks were more
likely to be stopped while driving compared to white drivers,” added
Ken Page, a Black driver and President of the ACLU of Illinois Chapter
in Springfield. “This data shows that we have more to do as a community
to make everyone feel like policing is fair and even-handed. We will be
calling on our elected officials and law enforcement leaders to address
this situation.” </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>The data also shows that Black
drivers were more likely to be asked for consent to search their car by
police once a stop has been made. Black drivers statewide were more
than 40 percent more likely to be asked for permission for such a search. In
Chicago, Black drivers were more than 5 times more likely to be asked to
allow police to conduct a consent search. Yet the data shows that
Chicago police were more likely to find contraband in the automobile of a
<i>white</i> motorist. </span></span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNoSpacing"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span><span><span> </span>The ACLU’s Levin added:
“Because Black and Latinx drivers are more likely to be stopped by
police, they are more likely to experience invasive questioning,
searches, humiliation, and, all too often, tragic violence at the hands
of police. This is why we renew our call on police departments across
Illinois to review and use this data to address these longstanding
disparities. The Illinois legislature intended this data to be a tool
for reform and improvement. Every police agency in Illinois should
explain how it will change its policies to solve these stubborn racial
inequalities.” </span></span></span></span></p>
</div></div></div><div class="panel-panel panel-right-2 sidebar-right"><div class="inner"><div class="panel-pane pane-block pane-bean-sidebar-stay-informed"><div class="entity entity-bean bean-stay-informed clearfix"><div class="content"><div class="field-homepage-marquee-join"><form accept-charset="UTF-8" action="/en/press-releases/2021-illinois-traffic-stop-data-shows-continued-racial-inequities-stops-searches" class="marquee-donate--form honeypot-timestamp-js honeypot-timestamp-processed" id="aclu-updates-signup-form-9" method="post"><div>
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</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-12645626086389604592022-07-27T11:09:00.002-07:002022-07-27T11:11:33.942-07:00Reproductive Rights<div><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Planned Parenthood Groups in </span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Illinois,</span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"> Wisconsin Partner </span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">to Improve Access</span></span><br /></span></span></h1><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">By Jonah Chester</span></span></b><br /><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>Producer, Public News Service</i><br /></span></span></div><p class="font-16"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span></span></span></p><p class="font-16"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span><span> </span>Illinois - (<a href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2022-07-15/reproductive-health/planned-parenthood-of-il-wi-partner-to-bolster-abortion-access/a79889-2" target="_blank">PNS</a>) - 7/27/22 - Planned Parenthood of Illinois and Wisconsin are partnering to improve abortion access for Wisconsinites.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Abortion in Wisconsin was functionally banned after the Supreme Court <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf" target="_blank">struck down Roe v. Wade</a>, the landmark 1973 case guaranteeing access to abortions.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Jennifer Welch, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois,
said the new partnership will increase services at the state's Waukegan
clinic, just across the Wisconsin-Illinois border, south of Kenosha.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"Abortion providers from Wisconsin now travel to Illinois several days a
week to expand access to care at our Waukegan health center," Welch
explained. "We opened the Waukegan health center in 2020 in anticipation
of this moment."<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>The legality of Wisconsin's <a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/940/i/04" target="_blank">1849 abortion ban</a>
is currently a matter of dispute, and the state's Democratic Attorney
General has filed a lawsuit to strike down the pre-Civil War measure.
Even if its enforceability is questionable, the threat of legal action
pushed Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin to discontinue providing abortion
care at its clinics.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Tanya Atkinson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin,
said the organization will continue to offer non-abortion-related
reproductive health care. She added support is available for anyone who
needs help getting to the Waukegan clinic.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"We have also added patient navigators who can work with patients
one-on-one and offer additional travel and financial support," Atkinson
outlined. "We really want to remove those barriers for people, as much
as we're able."<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, in 2020, Illinois
clinics performed roughly 530 abortions for Wisconsin patients, out of
the nearly 9,700 total abortions performed for <a href="https://dph.illinois.gov/data-statistics/vital-statistics/abortion-statistics.html" target="_blank">out-of-state residents</a>.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Kristen Schultz, chief strategy and operations officer for Planned
Parenthood of Illinois, said demand has exploded since Roe's fall.<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>"Patients from Wisconsin traveling to our health centers across the
state in Illinois for abortion has increased 10 times versus the
pre-June average," Schultz reported. "We expect to see this need
continue to expand."<br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br />
<span> </span>Before the Supreme Court's ruling, the number of out-of-state abortions
Illinois clinics provided had steadily grown over the years. In 1995,
the state performed about 3,600 abortions for out-of-state patients,
roughly 63% below the number provided in 2020.
<br /><br /></span></span>
</p><div class="intro_article"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">References: </span></span></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
<a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/19-1392_6j37.pdf" target="_blank">Ruling U.S. Supreme Court 06/24/2022</a><br />
<a href="https://docs.legis.wisconsin.gov/statutes/statutes/940/i/04" target="_blank">Abortion law Wis. State Legislature 1849</a><br />
<a href="https://dph.illinois.gov/data-statistics/vital-statistics/abortion-statistics.html" target="_blank">Abortion statistics Ill. Dept. of Public Health 2020</a></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Credit: Story published courtesy of <a href="https://www.publicnewsservice.org/" target="_blank">Public News Service</a>.</span><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-23047899076555099982022-07-20T13:02:00.001-07:002022-07-20T13:02:42.061-07:00Law and Justice<p><br /></p><h1 id="node-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Justice Department Charges </span></h1><h1 id="node-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Dozens for $1.2 Billion </span></h1><h1 id="node-title" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">in Health Care Fraud</span></h1><p> </p><p> <span> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">WASHINGTON, D.C., (<a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-charges-dozens-12-billion-health-care-fraud" target="_blank">DOJ</a>) - 7/20/2022 - The
Department of Justice today announced criminal charges against 36
defendants in 13 federal districts across the United States for more
than $1.2 billion in alleged fraudulent telemedicine, cardiovascular and
cancer genetic testing, and durable medical equipment (DME) schemes.</span></span></p><div class="field field--name-field-pr-body field--type-text-long field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The nationwide coordinated law enforcement action includes criminal
charges against a telemedicine company executive, owners and executives
of clinical laboratories, durable medical equipment companies, marketing
organizations, and medical professionals.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Additionally, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),
Center for Program Integrity (CPI) announced today that it took adverse
administrative actions against 52 providers involved in similar
schemes. In connection with the enforcement action, the department
seized over $8 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other fraud
proceeds.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting people who
abuse our health care system and exploit telemedicine technologies in
fraud and bribery schemes,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A.
Polite, Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This
enforcement action demonstrates that the department will do everything
in its power to protect the health care systems our communities rely on
from people looking to defraud them for their own personal gain.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The coordinated federal investigations announced today primarily
targeted alleged schemes involving the payment of illegal kickbacks and
bribes by laboratory owners and operators in exchange for the referral
of patients by medical professionals working with fraudulent
telemedicine and digital medical technology companies. Telemedicine
schemes account for more than $1 billion of the total alleged intended
losses associated with today’s enforcement action. These charges include
some of the first prosecutions in the nation related to fraudulent
cardiovascular genetic testing, a burgeoning scheme. As alleged in court
documents, medical professionals made referrals for expensive and
medically unnecessary cardiovascular and cancer genetic tests, as well
as durable medical equipment. For example, cardiovascular genetic
testing was not a method of diagnosing whether an individual presently
had a cardiac condition and was not approved by Medicare for use as a
general screening test for indicating an increased risk of developing
cardiovascular conditions in the future.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Protecting the American people is at the forefront of the FBI’s
mission,” said Assistant Director Luis Quesada of the FBI’s Criminal
Investigative Division. “Fraudsters and scammers take advantage of
telemedicine and use it as a platform to orchestrate their criminal
schemes. This collaborative law enforcement action shows our dedication
to investigating and bringing to justice those who look to exploit our
U.S. health care system at the expense of patients.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“Today’s enforcement action highlights our dedication to fighting
health care fraud and investigating individuals who target Medicare
beneficiaries and steal from taxpayers for personal gain,” said
Inspector General Christi A. Grimm of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services. “HHS-OIG is proud to work alongside our law enforcement
partners to disrupt fraud schemes that use the guise of telehealth to
expand the reach of kickback schemes designed to cheat federally funded
health care programs.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>One particular case charged involved the operator of several clinical
laboratories, who was charged in connection with a scheme to pay over
$16 million in kickbacks to marketers who, in turn, paid kickbacks to
telemedicine companies and call centers in exchange for doctors’ orders.
As alleged in court documents, orders for cardiovascular and cancer
genetic testing were used by the defendant and others to submit over
$174 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare—but the results
of the testing were not used in treatment of patients. The defendant
allegedly laundered the proceeds of the fraudulent scheme through a
complex network of bank accounts and entities, including to purchase
luxury vehicles, a yacht, and real estate. The indictment seeks
forfeiture of over $7 million in United States currency, three
properties, the yacht, and a Tesla and other vehicles. </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Some of the defendants charged in this enforcement action allegedly
controlled a telemarketing network, based both domestically and
overseas, that lured thousands of elderly and/or disabled patients into a
criminal scheme. The owners of marketing organizations allegedly had
telemarketers use deceptive techniques to induce Medicare beneficiaries
to agree to cardiovascular genetic testing, and other genetic testing
and equipment.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services continues to
aggressively investigate fraud, waste and abuse and has taken action to
protect patients, critical health care resources and to prevent losses
to the Medicare Trust Fund,” said CMS Administrator Chiquita
Brooks-LaSure. “Work like this to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in our
federal programs would not be possible without the successful
partnership of CMS, the Department of Justice, and the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The charges announced today allege that the telemedicine companies
arranged for medical professionals to order these expensive genetic
tests and durable medical equipment regardless of whether the patients
needed them, and that they were ordered without any patient interaction
or with only a brief telephonic conversation. Often, these test results
or durable medical equipment were not provided to the patients or were
worthless to their primary care doctors. </span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Today’s announcement builds on prior telemedicine enforcement actions involving over $8 billion in fraud, including 2019’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-indictments-and-law-enforcement-actions-one-largest-health-care-fraud-schemes">Operation Brace Yourself</a>, 2019’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/federal-law-enforcement-action-involving-fraudulent-genetic-testing-results-charges-against">Operation Double Helix</a>, 2020’s <a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/hcf-2020-takedown/press-release">Operation Rubber Stamp</a>, and the telemedicine component of the 2021 <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/national-health-care-fraud-enforcement-action-results-charges-involving-over-14-billion">National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action</a>.
Specifically, the Operation Brace Yourself Telemedicine and Durable
Medical Equipment Takedown alone resulted in an estimated cost avoidance
of more than $1.9 billion in the amount paid by Medicare for orthotic
braces in the 20 months following that enforcement action.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Today’s enforcement actions were led and coordinated by Acting
Principal Assistant Chief Jacob Foster, Acting Assistant Chief Rebecca
Yuan and Trial Attorney Catherine Wagner of the National Rapid Response
Strike Force in the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The Fraud
Section’s National Rapid Response Strike Force and the Health Care Fraud
Unit’s Strike Forces (SF) in Brooklyn, Detroit, the Gulf Coast,
Houston, Miami, Newark, as well as the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices for the
District of New Jersey, Eastern District of Louisiana, Eastern District
of Texas, Middle District of Florida, Middle District of Tennessee,
Northern District of Georgia, Northern District of Mississippi, and
Western District of North Carolina are prosecuting these cases.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>In addition to the FBI, HHS-OIG, and CPI/CMS, VA-OIG, DCIS, IRS,
MFCU, DEA, and other federal and state law enforcement agencies
participated in the operation.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Prior to the charges announced as part of today’s nationwide
enforcement action and since its inception in March 2007, the Health
Care Fraud Strike Force, which maintains 16 strike forces operating in
27 districts, has charged more than 5,000 defendants who collectively
billed federal health care programs and private insurers approximately
$24.7 billion.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>A complaint, information or indictment is merely an allegation, and
all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a
reasonable doubt in a court of law.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The following documents related to today’s announcement are available
on the Health Care Fraud Unit website through the following links:</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/telemedicine-enforcement-action">Telemedicine Enforcement Action (justice.gov)</a></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/telemedicine-court-documents">Telemedicine Court Documents (justice.gov)</a></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/telemedicine-press-releases">Telemedicine Press Releases (justice.gov)</a></span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span></div><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.justice.gov/criminal-fraud/telemedicine-case-summaries">Telemedicine Case Summaries (justice.gov)</a></span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Any patients who believe that they have been contacted as part of a
fraudulent telemedicine, clinical laboratory, or DME scheme should call
to report this conduct to HHS-OIG at 1-800-HHS-TIPS.</span></span></p>
</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-85539185122979898122022-07-18T18:15:00.001-07:002022-07-18T18:16:29.782-07:00Law and Politics<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Legal Experts Say Supreme Court </span></span></span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Reforms Urgently Needed</span></span><br /></span></span></h1><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Washington, D.C. — (<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-supreme-court-reforms-urgently-needed-two-members-of-presidential-commission-say/" target="_blank">CAP</a>) - 7/18/2022 - A blockbuster U.S. Supreme Court term that saw an
extremist right-wing majority roll back a string of long-held rights and
protections has only heightened the need to consider major reforms to
the high court and lower federal courts, two members who served on the
presidential commission to study court reforms said Thursday.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>The remarks from <b>Sherrilyn Ifill</b>, law professor and former president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and <b>Michael Waldman</b>, president of the Brennan Center for Justice, came during a <a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/events/fixing-our-broken-courts/">panel discussion</a> co-sponsored by the Center for American Progress and the Brennan Center. The panel was moderated by<b> Laura Coates</b>, a senior legal analyst at CNN and host of The Laura Coates Show on Sirius XM.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“The Supreme Court sits within our democracy, not outside of it and
over it,” Ifill said. She noted that respect for the court’s authority
shouldn’t prevent Americans from considering reforms such as term limits
for justices, a binding code of ethics, increased transparency for the
court’s “shadow docket,” and clearer rules for recusal from cases
presenting a conflict of interest.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“We are supposed to be able to correct issues that we see stand in
the way of our democracy being able to be as true to itself as it could
possibly be,” Ifill said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Waldman said that the Supreme Court is “a political institution that
we Americans have been fighting about since the beginning of the
country’s history.” He argued that it’s not a breach of norms to talk
about possible reforms such as expanding the number of seats or imposing
term limits.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“How we read the Constitution and role of the Supreme Court is
properly a major political issue,” Waldman said. “Certainly, the folks
who, for decades, have waged a campaign to overturn <i>Roe v. Wade</i>
or to have the individual right to gun ownership recognized in the
constitution—they understood that. And we need to understand, too, that
kitchen-table advocacy on the Constitution is going to be part of our
debate going forward.”</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Waldman also encouraged Congress to expand the number of judges in
the lower federal appeals and district courts to keep pace with the
expanding population. He noted that lower federal courts were last
expanded in 1990, yet the population has grown by 100 million people.
Expansion of lower courts would also provide a change to improve the
diversity of judges on the federal bench, he said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Waldman said the 6-3 conservative majority on the court has taken an
extreme and ideological approach to how cases should be decided.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“We saw in the last few days of the term, last month, a decade’s
worth of right-wing social change jammed into three days by the
unelected part of the government.” He was referring to cases overturning
a constitutional right to abortion, striking down a New York
concealed-carry gun law, and curbing the regulatory powers of federal
agencies.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“All the guardrails we now know need to try and contain a giant truck with the brakes cut and rumbling down the road,” he said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Ifill said she was particularly concerned about the court’s lack of
respect for long-standing precedent in cases, especially in overturning <i>Roe v. Wade</i>.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“There have to be a set of reasons and a set of benchmarks before you
overrule a decision that you have made in the past, especially a
long-standing decision that millions of people have relied on,” Ifill
said</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>She took issue with conservatives who compared the court’s abortion decision to the historic overruling of <i>Plessy v. Ferguson</i>, which approved the racist “separate but equal” doctrine until it was overruled by <i>Brown v. Board of Education</i>.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>“<i>Plessy v. Ferguson</i> was overturned after a long process of
cases in which the court itself began to wear away at the doctrine of
‘separate but equal’,” Ifill said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>By contrast, <i>Roe</i> had been consistently upheld over nearly 50
years until it was suddenly overturned. When precedent is just “thrown
to the wind,” people have a right to question the legitimacy of the
court’s rulings, Ifill said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Ifill warned that the next Supreme Court term could be even worse,
with cases targeting affirmative action, voting rights, and the power of
state courts to review elections. The latter case could “fundamentally
upend politics in this country and is the single-most powerful threat to
democracy on the court’s docket,” she said.</span></span></p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
</span></span><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Watch the panel discussion: “<a href="https://www.americanprogress.org/events/fixing-our-broken-courts/">Fixing Our Broken Courts</a>”</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1882640402479167933.post-54779347617087065472022-07-13T14:23:00.000-07:002022-07-13T14:23:01.441-07:00Insurance Industry<h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Auto Insurance Companies Made</span></span></h1><h1 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">Windfall Profits During Pandemic</span></span></h1><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><h3 style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="font-size: medium;"> Advocates call for policy change to better protect customers </span></span></h3><h3><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></h3><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /><span> </span>Illinois (<a href="https://illinoispirg.org/news/ilf/new-data-auto-insurance-companies-made-windfall-profits-consumers%E2%80%99-expense-during-0" target="_blank">PIRG</a>) - 7/13/2022 - Auto insurance companies’ profits soared during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, as many Illinoisans were driving less and “sheltering in place.” The risks associated with driving plummeted but insurers did not lower premiums or offer rebates in proportion to the reduction in risk, according to <a href="https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/Insurance/Reports/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">new data</a> released by the Illinois Department of Insurance recently. <br /><br /><span> </span>According to preliminary analysis, the new data is in line with <a href="https://consumerfed.org/press_release/auto-insurers-reaped-nearly-30-billion-pandemic-windfall-profit-in-2020-as-state-insurance-regulators-fail-to-protect-consumers/" target="_blank">previous estimates</a> that insurance companies could still owe Illinois car insurance customers $896 million in pandemic relief. For example, the top four auto-insurance companies by Illinois market share – State Farm, Geico, Progressive and Allstate – charged customers $280 million more than needed to maintain their 2019 profitability, even after accounting for the $220 million they refunded customers in 2020. <br /><br /><span> </span>After overcharging customers, Illinois’ major insurance companies <a href="https://consumerfed.org/press_release/while-drivers-face-rising-auto-insurance-rates-top-4-u-s-auto-insurance-executives-received-196-8-million-in-2020-2021-pandemic-paydays/" target="_blank">rewarded top executives</a> with generous bonuses. <br /><br /><span> </span>“Moments of crisis are revealing. Auto insurers took the opportunity provided by the pandemic to charge their customers excessive rates and make windfall profits,” said <a href="https://illinoispirg.org/staff/usp/abe-scarr" target="_blank">Abe Scarr</a>, director of Illinois PIRG Education Fund. “The General Assembly should give the Department of Insurance authority to review rate hikes and protect Illinois consumers.” <br /><br /><span> </span>While auto insurance companies were slow to reduce rates or provide rebates to customers because of the pandemic -- and those reductions and rebates proved inadequate -- they have been aggressively increasing rates in recent months, claiming that an uptick in crashes and inflationary pressure requires immediate price hikes. State Farm recently raised <a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/insurance/state-farm-raising-illinois-car-insurance-rates-second-time-year" target="_blank">rates by 3%, only two weeks after a 5% increase</a>. In January, Allstate hiked rates by 12%. <br /><br /><span> </span>Illinois regulators have no power to block or modify insurance rate hikes -- or to mandate reductions or refunds -- as regulators do in other states. California regulators, for example, <a href="http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2021/release099-2021.cfm" target="_blank">ordered insurance companies to “close the gap”</a> after initial pandemic rebates fell short. In March 2021, State Farm <a href="https://newsroom.statefarm.com/state-farm-returning-400-million-dividend-to-california-auto-customers/" target="_blank">announced</a> that it was sending its California customers an additional $400 million dollars in pandemic refunds “due to better than anticipated claims results” during the second half of 2020. <br /><br /><span> </span>Illinois state legislators say insurers need to do better. <br /><br /><span> </span>“I am appalled that these companies overcharged families sheltering at home and call on the insurers to issue additional refunds promptly,” said Illinois state Sen. Jacqueline Collins. “This is particularly important in Black communities like those I represent, where auto insurers <a href="https://consumerfed.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/151118_insuranceinpredominantlyafricanamericancommunities_CFA.pdf" target="_blank">indiscriminately charge higher rates</a>." <br /><br /><span> </span>The new data is the result of a March Illinois Department of Insurance call for information documenting insurer profits, losses, and refunds given to consumers between 2019 and 2021. The call for information came in response to a January <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xMiyNpecE59ZJJxPos3pZ0VmejUwt1Qk/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">letter</a> from nine advocacy organizations and 16 state senators asking the Department to take action. In May, the auto insurance industry <a href="https://www.chicagobusiness.com/insurance/auto-insurers-say-illinois-has-no-authority-expose-their-profits" target="_blank">challenged</a> the Department’s authority to collect and publish such information, but the vast majority of insurers, including all the major ones, complied. <br /><br /><span> </span>Illinois PIRG Education Fund will perform more detailed analysis of the new data over the summer. <br /> </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com