The Full Belmonte, 9/25/2022
Italian Voters Appear Ready to Turn a Page for Europe
With the hard-right candidate Giorgia Meloni ahead before Sunday’s election, Italy could get its first leader whose party traces its roots to the wreckage of Fascism.
Sept. 24, 2022
“ROME — Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s hard-right leader, resents having to talk about Fascism. She has publicly, and in multiple languages, said that the Italian right has ‘handed Fascism over to history for decades now.’ She argued that ‘the problem with Fascism in Italy always begins with the electoral campaign,’ when the Italian left, she said, wheels out ‘the black wave’ to smear its opponents.
But none of that matters now, she insisted in an interview this month, because Italians do not care. ‘Italians don’t believe anymore in this garbage,’ she said with a shrug.
Ms. Meloni may be proved right on Sunday, when she is expected to be the top vote-getter in Italian elections, a breakthrough far-right parties in Europe have anticipated for decades.
More than 70 years after Nazis and Fascists nearly destroyed Europe, formerly taboo parties with Nazi or Fascist heritages that were long marginalized have elbowed their way into the mainstream. Some are even winning. A page of European history seems to be turning.
Last week, a hard-right group founded by neo-Nazis and skinheads became the largest party in Sweden’s likely governing coalition. The far-right leader Marine Le Pen — for a second consecutive time — reached the final round of French presidential elections this year.
But it is Italy, the birthplace of Fascism, that looks likely to be led not only by its first female prime minister in Ms. Meloni but the first Italian leader whose party can trace its roots back to the wreckage of Italian Fascism.
‘People have become used to them,’ said John Foot, a historian of Fascism and the author of a new book, “Blood and Power: The Rise and Fall of Italian Fascism.” ‘The taboo is long gone.’
The indifference of Italian voters to the past, however, may have less to do with Ms. Meloni’s own personal appeal or policies than with Italy’s perennial hunger for change. But there is another force at work: Italy’s long postwar process — even policy — of deliberate amnesia to unify the nation that began essentially as soon as World War II ended.” Read more at New York Times
‘Out of control’ STD situation prompts call for changes
By MIKE STOBBE
This 1966 microscope photo made available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a tissue sample with the presence of numerous, corkscrew-shaped, darkly-stained, Treponema pallidum spirochetes, the bacterium responsible for causing syphilis. U.S. health officials on Monday, Sept. 19, 2022, are calling for a new push to prevent sexually transmitted diseases — spurred in part by a 26% increase in syphilis cases last year. (Skip Van Orden/CDC via AP)
“NEW YORK (AP) — Sharply rising cases of some sexually transmitted diseases — including a 26% rise in new syphilis infections reported last year — are prompting U.S. health officials to call for new prevention and treatment efforts.
‘It is imperative that we ... work to rebuild, innovate, and expand (STD) prevention in the U.S.,’ said Dr. Leandro Mena of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a speech Monday at a medical conference on sexually transmitted diseases.
Infections rates for some STDs, including gonorrhea and syphilis, have been rising for years. Last year the rate of syphilis cases reached its highest since 1991 and the total number of cases hit its highest since 1948. HIV cases are also on the rise, up 16% last year.
And an international outbreak of monkeypox, which is being spread mainly between men who have sex with other men, has further highlighted the nation’s worsening problem with diseases spread mostly through sex.
David Harvey, executive director of the National Coalition of STD Directors, called the situation ‘out of control.’
Officials are working on new approaches to the problem, such as home-test kits for some STDs that will make it easier for people to learn they are infected and to take steps to prevent spreading it to others, Mena said.
Another expert said a core part of any effort must work to increase the use of condoms.
‘It’s pretty simple. More sexually transmitted infections occur when people are having more unprotected sex,’ said Dr. Mike Saag, an infectious disease expert at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Syphilis is a bacterial disease that surfaces as genital sores but can ultimately lead to severe symptoms and death if left untreated.
New syphilis infections plummeted in the U.S. starting in the 1940s when antibiotics became widely available. They fell to their lowest ever by 1998, when fewer than 7,000 new cases were reported nationwide. The CDC was so encouraged by the progress it launched a plan to eliminate syphilis in the U.S.
But by 2002 cases began rising again, largely among gay and bisexual men, and they kept going. In late 2013, CDC ended its elimination campaign in the face of limited funding and escalating cases, which that year surpassed 17,000.
By 2020 cases had reached nearly 41,700 and they spiked even further last year, to more than 52,000.
The rate of cases has been rising, too, hitting about 16 per 100,000 people last year. That’s the highest in three decades.
Rates are highest in men who have sex with men, and among Black and Hispanic Americans and Native Americans. While the rate for women is lower than it is for men, officials noted that it’s has been rising more dramatically — up about 50% last year.
That ties to another problem — the rise in congenital syphilis, in which infected moms pass the disease on to their babies, potentially leading to death of the child or health problems like deafness and blindness. Annual congenital syphilis cases numbered only about 300 a decade ago; they surged to nearly 2,700 last year. Of last year’s tally, 211 were stillbirths or infant deaths, Mena said.
The increases in syphilis and other STDs may have several causes, experts say. Testing and prevention efforts have been hobbled by years of inadequate funding, and spread may have gotten worse — especially during the pandemic — as a result of delayed diagnosis and treatment. Drug and alcohol use may have contributed to risky sexual behavior. Condom use has been declining.
And there may have been a surge in sexual activity as people emerged from COVID-19 lockdowns. “People are feeling liberated,” Saag said.
The arrival of monkeypox added a large additional burden. CDC recently sent a letter to state and local health departments saying that their HIV and STD resources could be used to fight the monkeypox outbreak. But some experts say the government needs to provide more funding for STD work, not divert it.
Harvey’s group and some other public health organizations are pushing a proposal for more federal funding, including at least $500 million for STD clinics.” Read more at AP News
QAnon follower who chased officer on January 6 convicted of felonies
Douglas Jensen could face more than 50 years in prison after federal jury found him guilty
Sun 25 Sep 2022 01.00 EDT
“A QAnon conspiracy theorist who led a pack of Donald Trump supporters that chased a solitary police officer around the US Capitol on the day of the January 6 attack has been found guilty of several felonies.
Douglas Jensen – the bearded 43-year-old Iowa man who appeared in several media photos of the attack while wearing a black T-shirt with a large “Q” – could in theory face more than 50 years in prison after a federal jury in Washington DC convicted him on Friday, US justice department prosecutors said in a statement.
However, it is rare for convicts in US district court to receive the harshest available punishment, even if they chose to stand trial rather than plead guilty in advance. And the harshest sentence handed out so far to anyone found guilty of having a role in the deadly Capitol attack has been seven years and three months.” Read more at The Guardian
Nasa delays Artemis 1 moon rocket launch again as tropical storm Ian looms
Third delay in the past month for test flight as technical issues and weather hamper US effort to return to the moon after five decades
“Nasa is skipping Tuesday’s launch attempt of its new moon rocket over concerns about a tropical storm headed to Florida that could become a major hurricane.
It’s the third delay in the past month for the lunar-orbiting test flight featuring mannequins but no astronauts, a follow-up to Nasa’s Apollo moon-landing program of a half-century ago.
Hydrogen fuel leaks and other technical issues caused the previous scrubs.
Currently churning in the Caribbean, tropical storm Ian is expected to become a hurricane by Monday and slam into Florida’s Gulf coast by Thursday.” Read more at The Guardian
Kushner’s Company Reaches $3.25 Million Settlement in Maryland Lawsuit
The apartment company charged illegal fees and failed to adequately address leaks, mold and rodent infestations in its properties, the Maryland attorney general said.
By Linda Qiu
Sept. 23, 2022
“WASHINGTON — An apartment management company partly owned by Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald J. Trump, has agreed to pay a $3.25 million penalty and make restitution to thousands of tenants who were overcharged fees and subject to leaks, rodents and mold infestations, the Maryland attorney general said on Friday.
Westminster Management, the property management arm of Kushner Companies, and 25 affiliated businesses that owned nearly 9,000 units across the Baltimore area have agreed to settle a 2019 lawsuit over their rental practices. The companies violated consumer protection laws by charging tenants illegal fees and failed to adequately maintain the properties, the lawsuit said.
‘This is a case in which landlords deceived and cheated their tenants, and then subjected them to miserable living conditions,’ the Maryland attorney general, Brian Frosh, a Democrat, said in a news conference announcing the settlement. ‘The tenants were not wealthy people. Many struggled to pay the rent, keep food on the table, take care of their kids, keep everybody healthy. And Westminster used its vastly superior economic power to take advantage of them.’
Under the settlement, former and current tenants at 17 properties can file claims to recover a host of fees that Mr. Frosh said the company had improperly charged them. They could also file claims with an outside arbiter, known as a special master, who can return rental payments to tenants if they faced serious maintenance issues.” Read more at New York Times
With Kalashnikov rifles, Russia drives the staged vote in Ukraine
“KYIV, Ukraine — Officials in Russian-occupied territories in eastern and southern Ukraine were forcing people to vote ‘under a gun barrel,’ residents said on Saturday as staged referendums — intended to validate Moscow’s annexation of the territory it occupies — entered their second day.
Voting is taking place in portions of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions and will last five days, ending Tuesday. The outcome is not in doubt.
The purported referendums are illegal under Ukrainian and international law and would not remotely meet basic democratic standards for free and fair elections. Western leaders, including President Biden, have denounced the process as a ‘sham’ to prepare the ground for Russia’s theft of Ukrainian land.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke directly to the Russians, warning that ‘no tricks will help the occupier.’
Moscow officials and their separatist proxies have said that they expect the vote to be in favor of absorbing the areas, a process that will be completed ‘promptly’ once the results are official, according to the Kremlin.
The speed at which the referendums were announced and carried out and the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Russian reserves, all within one week, reflect the Kremlin’s tacit acknowledgment of its deteriorating position in Ukraine. After invading Ukraine on Feb. 24 and failing to take the capital, Kyiv, Russian forces have been pushed back in the country’s northeast and are coming under pressure along the front lines of the war.
Hundreds more people were arrested Saturday during demonstrations in Russia against the mobilization.
Zelensky appealed to the protesters directly by switching to Russian for part of his nightly address on Saturday. ‘Russian commanders do not care about the lives of Russians — they just need to replenish the empty spaces left by the dead, wounded, those who fled or the Russian soldiers that were captured,’ he said.” Read more at Washington Post
In Ukraine’s South, Fierce Fighting and Deadly Costs
The offensive in the south was the most highly anticipated military action of the summer. Ukraine is making gains, but the fighting is grinding, grueling and steep in casualties.
AT THE KHERSON FRONT, Ukraine — The commander banged on the door furiously.
‘I need help!’ he shouted.
When Tetiana Kozyr opened up, the commander rushed in, carrying a young soldier on his shoulders. She said the young man was sunburned, thin and gravely wounded.
The Ukrainians were trying to recapture her village, the smallest dot on the most detailed military maps. Russian forces had just blown up three Ukrainian tanks. Flames leaped off the roofs of neighboring houses.
The commander laid the young man gently down on Ms. Kozyr’s kitchen floor and then ripped open a bandage pack and thrust it against his chest and neck, which were badly bleeding. Ms. Kozyr hovered over them, feeling helpless and terrified in her own kitchen, watching the commander try to save the young man’s life.
‘He looked so scared,’ said Ms. Kozyr, who lived on a small farm and recounted this scene, which was corroborated by others from her village. ‘I had to turn away.’
Outside her house, several other Ukrainian soldiers lay face down in the grass.
Ukraine’s southern offensive was the most highly anticipated military action of the summer. Forecast by Ukrainian officials for weeks, its goal was to push the Russians back from a strategic region along the coast, bolster the confidence of a battered citizenry and prove to allies that Ukraine could make good use of Western-supplied weapons.
That push forward has continued, even as Ukraine has made a more dramatic surge this month in the northeast, routing Russian forces. Ukraine is regaining territory in the south, though slowly, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia is concerned enough about suffering an embarrassing setback that he has refused to let his commanders retreat from the city of Kherson, according to American officials.
But overall, the south remains a different story from the northeast. Interviews with dozens of commanders, ordinary soldiers, medics, village leaders and civilians who recently escaped the conflict zone portray a more difficult and costly campaign: The fighting is grinding, grueling and steep in casualties, perhaps the most heartbreaking battle in Ukraine right now.” Read more at New York Times
‘They Have Nothing to Lose’: Why Young Iranians Are Rising Up Once Again
Amid growing repression, a sickly economy and bleak prospects, the death of one young woman was all it took.
The 22-year-old woman emerged from the Tehran subway, her dark hair covered with a black head scarf and the lines of her body obscured by loose clothing, when the capital city’s Guidance Patrol spotted her. They were members of Iran’s notorious morality police, enforcers of the conservative Islamic dress and behavior rules that have governed daily life for Iranians since the 1979 revolution, and newly energized under a hard-line president who took office last year.
By their standards, Mahsa Amini was improperly dressed, which could mean something as simple as a wisp of hair protruding from her head scarf. They put her in a van and drove her away to a detention center, where she was to undergo re-education. Three days later, on Sept. 16, she was dead.
Now, over eight days of rage, exhilaration and street battles, the most significant outpouring of anger with the ruling system in more than a decade, her name is everywhere. Iranian protesters in dozens of cities have chanted ‘women, life and freedom’ and ‘death to the dictator,’ rejecting the Iranian Republic’s theocratic rule by targeting one of its most fundamental and divisive symbols — the ailing supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In several of the videos of the uprising that have torn across social media, women rip off their head scarves and burn them in street bonfires, including in deeply religious cities such as Qum and Mashhad. In one, a young woman atop a utility cabinet cuts off her hair in front of a crowd of roaring demonstrators. In another, young women dare to dance bareheaded in front of the riot police.
‘Death to the dictator,’ protesters at Tehran University chanted on Saturday. ‘Death to the head scarf! Until when must we tolerate such humiliation?’
Previous protests — over fraudulent elections in 2009, economic mismanagement in 2017 and fuel price hikes in 2019 — have been ruthlessly suppressed by Iran’s security forces, and this time may be no different. Yet, for the first time since the founding of the Iranian Republic, the current uprising has united rich Iranians descending from high-rise apartments in northern Tehran with struggling bazaar vendors in its working-class south, and Kurds, Turks and other ethnic minorities with members of the Fars majority.
The sheer diversity of the protesters reflects the breadth of Iranians’ grievances, analysts say, from a sickly economy and in-your-face corruption, to political repression and social restrictions — frustrations Iran’s government has repeatedly tried, and failed, to quash.
‘The anger isn’t over just Mahsa’s death, but that she should have never been arrested in the first place,’ said Shadi Sadr, a prominent human rights lawyer who has campaigned for Iranian women’s rights for two decades.
‘Because they have nothing to lose,’ she added, ‘they are standing up and saying, ‘Enough of this. I am willing to die to have a life worth living.’
Information about the protests remains partial at best. Internet access continues to be disrupted or fully blocked, especially on widely used messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram, making it difficult for Iranians to communicate with one another or to share updates on the unrest with the outside world.
But witnesses say the demonstrations, which spread to at least 80 cities on Saturday, are the most forceful, vitriolic and emboldened they can remember, far more intense than the previous tremors of unrest. Desperate to damage the powers-that-be before the inevitable crackdown, videos circulating on social media and shared with The New York Times show, protesters have set fire to security vehicles and assaulted members of Iran’s widely feared paramilitary forces, in some cases killing them.
The information that has leaked out, after many hours’ delay, also suggests an escalating crackdown. The authorities have moved to crush the demonstrations with violence, including live fire and tear gas. Dozens of people have died. The Committee to Protect Journalists said on Saturday that at least 17 journalists had been detained, including one of the first to report on Ms. Amini’s hospitalization, and arrests of activists are also mounting.
With Iran’s economy at a nadir and Ayatollah Khamenei in ill health, the government is likely to dig in rather than show any signs of weakness, analysts said. But violence will only buy time, they say, not long-term peace.
The regime’s top leaders have ‘always said, ‘We’re not going to make concessions, because if we make one small concession, we’ll have to make bigger concessions,’ said Mohamed Ali Kadivar, an Iranian-born sociologist at Boston College who studies protest movements in Iran and elsewhere. ‘Maybe they’ll push people off the street, but because people want change, repression is not going to stop this. Even with a crackdown, then they would just go home for a while and come back.’
Avenues for pushback have dwindled in recent years, leaving Iranians with only protest as a means of demanding change. Just how much their political freedoms had shrunk became clear last year, when the country’s leadership disqualified virtually all candidates except the supreme leader’s preferred one, the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi, from the presidential election. In the process, they degraded what had once been a forum for Iranians to debate political issues and choose their representatives, even if the candidates were always preselected from within the governing apparatus.
Mr. Raisi opposed returning to the 2015 nuclear deal with the United States that had put limits on Iranian nuclear development in exchange for lifting sanctions and economic openness. His election, combined with the worsening economy, left Iranians who craved better opportunities, more social freedoms and closer ties with the rest of the world in despair.
‘The reason the younger generation is taking this kind of risk is because they feel they have nothing to lose, they have no hope for the future,’ said Ali Vaez, Iran director for the International Crisis Group, noting that protests were now a regular feature in Iran.
By continually blocking reforms, the country’s leadership has ‘created a situation where people no longer believe that the system is reformable,’ he added. ‘I think people would be willing to tolerate a milder version of the Islamic Republic, but they’ve just entrenched their positions and have created this situation. It’s turned Iran into a tinderbox.’
The head scarf, known as the hijab, is an especially inflammatory issue: The law requiring women to wear loose robes and cover their hair in public has been a pillar of the ruling theocracy and a lightning rod for reform-minded Iranians for decades, drawing one of the first protests against the ayatollahs after the 1979 revolution from women who did not want to be forced to cover up.
During the tenure of Mr. Raisi’s predecessor, the reformist Hassan Rouhani, the morality police had been discouraged from enforcing Iran’s often draconian laws against women, particularly the requirement that they wear the hijab in public in the proper fashion, entirely covering their hair. That led to young women showing more hair, even in devoutly conservative cities such as Qum. Unmarried men and women were allowed to mingle in public in some places, while contemporary Western music thumped in Western-style cafes in upscale northern Tehran.” Read more at New York Times
Why Japan Is Angry About a State Funeral for an Assassinated Leader
The fallout from Shinzo Abe’s death has day. Many are voicing their critique ofashi for The New York Times
By Motoko Rich and Ben Dooley
Sept. 24, 2022
“TOKYO — Nearly three months after Shinzo Abe, Japan’s most influential and longest-serving prime minister, was gunned down in broad daylight at a campaign stop, his death is still reverberating, though in ways few would have predicted.
An outpouring of anger prompted by the assassination has been directed not at the killer, his ability to make and deploy a firearm in a country where guns are tightly restricted, or the security detail that failed to protect Mr. Abe. Instead, the public has turned its ire toward the slain leader’s long-governing Liberal Democratic Party and its plan to hold a state funeral for him next week.
Fumio Kishida, the current prime minister, is suffering his worst approval ratings sinreets or signed petitions opposing the state fue country by Mr. Kishida and his cabinet.” Read more at New York Times
More Than 700 Children Have Died in a Measles Outbreak in Zimbabwe
It is driven by a decline in child immunization during the pandemic and the influence of an anti-vaccination evangelical church.
By Tendai Marima and Stephanie Nolen
Sept. 24, 2022
“BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe — A measles outbreak has killed more than 700 children and infected thousands of others across Zimbabwe, highlighting the risks of faltering childhood immunization campaigns around the globe.
As of Sept. 6, the country’s Ministry of Health and Child Care was reporting more than 6,500 cases and 704 deaths. It has not released numbers since then.
The outbreak is the result of a grim confluence of factors endangering child health in many countries.
Routine immunization dropped significantly in Zimbabwe during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anxious parents stayed away from health centers; health care workers were reassigned from routine vaccination programs to the Covid-19 pandemic response; and school closures and lengthy lockdowns scuppered the usual outreach campaigns.” Read more at New York Times
September 25, 2022
By German Lopez
Good morning. Republican governors’ immigration stunts are actually helping some migrants.
Lever Alejos, 29, from Venezuela, is one of the thousands of migrants who arrived on buses sent by the governors of Texas and Arizona last month near Capitol Hill.Oliver Contreras for The New York Times
Another border crisis
“Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida created a firestorm this month for what he did to about 50 migrants, mostly from Venezuela, who had recently crossed the southern border: He put them on two planes that took them to Martha’s Vineyard, the famously liberal and upscale vacation destination in Massachusetts. He was following the lead, albeit more explosively, of his fellow G.O.P. governor Greg Abbott of Texas, in sending migrants to progressive strongholds.
To understand what’s going on, I spoke with my colleague Miriam Jordan, who has been covering the story at the border and across the U.S.
German Lopez: Who are the migrants getting caught up in all of this?
Miriam Jordan: They are mostly Venezuelans, coming to the U.S. to find jobs and send money back home. Venezuela is a broken country, where political dissent is repressed and the economy has collapsed. There are shortages of food, medicine and other staples.
The migrants I’ve talked to were impoverished after living in those conditions. Many had once been solidly middle-class. If they had jobs or small businesses, they were earning very little money, and their savings were depleted. So they made this decision to leave, however they could.
Today, one out of five Venezuelans lives outside their home country.
I am one of those one in five. My entire family has left Venezuela over the past three decades. But not everyone is so fortunate to have the money or the legal means to do that.
Right. Millions of these migrants first went to nearby countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Chile and Peru. But because the economies of those countries began to sputter, they said that they could no longer make as much money to send home. The United States, they heard, was allowing Venezuelans who made it to the border to stay in the country, and jobs were plentiful.
So these migrants were willing to basically risk their lives to reach the United States. They braved the lawless jungle out of Venezuela and passed through seven countries to ultimately reach the United States out of despair, out of a desire to make a living and support their families.
What happens once they get to the U.S.?
Once they cross the Rio Grande to Texas, they turn themselves in to the Border Patrol and often request asylum. They will later claim in court that they need asylum because the Maduro regime retaliates against people who do not support his party. It’s an uphill battle, but their cases take years to be adjudicated, and, meanwhile, they can remain in the United States.
Back to the border: After they have been processed, the Border Patrol releases them — for example, at a church in a border town, such as Eagle Pass, Texas. There, they are offered two options: They can buy a bus ticket to get to San Antonio and beyond. If they don’t have any money, they are encouraged to board a free bus to Washington, D.C., New York or Chicago.
The free service is provided by Abbott, who’s trying to show that he’s keeping the border under control and spreading the responsibility for this influx of migrants to Democratic cities and states.
How do the migrants do if they take that free ride?
Ironically, it’s benefiting many of the migrants.
For example: I met a Venezuelan migrant named Lever Alejos. He had used up all the money he saved to make the trek to the U.S. from Venezuela. He took one of the buses to Washington, D.C., where he found a bed in a shelter. In a matter of weeks, he has managed to not only find work; he has started sending money back to Venezuela to support his 7-year-old son. He said his son’s life is 100 percent better. He has also saved to buy a cellphone and plans to buy a used 2012 Honda Civic.
Alejos sends his son $150 twice a month.Oliver Contreras for The New York Times
Is this backfiring for Abbott, if the migrants are doing well and they’re filling an economic need for Democratic areas?
Ultimately, it’s about optics. It’s in part about securing support from his right-wing base. They back cracking down on unauthorized immigration; punishing people who, in their view, didn’t come to the U.S. the right way; and placing the burden of helping the migrants on Democratic cities and states.
He is also perhaps trying to appeal more to independents. In Texas, some polls have shown that more than half of voters agree with Abbott’s policy, and that immigration is a bigger concern than abortion for many. And the stunts are costing Democratic cities and states money in the short term; they have to offer shelter and other services to the migrants.
What is the problem these Republican governors are trying to expose?
President Biden took office promising a more humane approach to the southern border than Donald Trump, who was willing to take extreme measures, such as separating families, to deter people from coming to the U.S.
Abbott announced plans for buses in response to the Biden administration’s intention to end Title 42, a Trump pandemic policy that requires border agents to immediately deport people who have entered the country illegally back to Mexico or their home country. That policy actually remained in place, because a court sided with Texas and other states that sued to block Biden from ending it.
Still, large numbers of Venezuelans began showing up at the border. Mexico won’t take people from countries that are far away, like Venezuela. And because the U.S. has no diplomatic ties to Venezuela, it also can’t fly deportation planes with migrants back there. As a result, they’re left in the United States.
Miriam Jordan is a national correspondent for The Times, covering immigration. She grew up in Brazil and the U.S., and speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Hebrew. She has also worked at Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.” Read more at New York Times
DeSantis portrays himself as champion of immigrants’ welfare after backlash
Florida governor now claims he was helping migrants find ‘greener pastures’ in Martha’s Vineyard
“To hear Ron DeSantis tell it, his splurge of up to $12m of Florida taxpayers’ money to fly migrants between two states he’s not governor of is all Joe Biden’s fault.
The US president’s border policies, the Republican Florida governor insists, left him no alternative but to step in to the immigration fight, which he did by dumping two planeloads of mostly Venezuelan asylum seekers from Texas in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last week with no advance notice.
‘Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them,’ DeSantis’s office claimed in a statement painting him as a champion of the immigrants’ welfare who is “sharing the burden” of border states.
DeSantis portrays himself as champion of immigrants’ welfare after backlash
Florida governor now claims he was helping migrants find ‘greener pastures’ in Martha’s Vineyard
To hear Ron DeSantis tell it, his splurge of up to $12m of Florida taxpayers’ money to fly migrants between two states he’s not governor of is all Joe Biden’s fault.
The US president’s border policies, the Republican Florida governor insists, left him no alternative but to step in to the immigration fight, which he did by dumping two planeloads of mostly Venezuelan asylum seekers from Texas in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last week with no advance notice.
“Florida gave them an opportunity to seek greener pastures in a sanctuary jurisdiction that offered greater resources for them,” DeSantis’s office claimed in a statement painting him as a champion of the immigrants’ welfare who is “sharing the burden” of border states.
“They have been provided accommodations, sustenance, clothing and more options to succeed,” the statement added, without noting such aid was provided entirely by authorities on the ground, who moved swiftly to deal with the sudden and unexpected influx.
Yet many have called the action “a vile political stunt” by a man considered a likely frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. It also appears that it has sinister racist roots that long predate Biden’s ascent to the Oval Office and are now designed to inflame white nationalism and xenophobia within the modern Republican party.
DeSantis’s enterprise, and parallel efforts by the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, in sending buses of migrants to the Democratic-run cities of Washington DC, New York and Chicago, mirror a rightwing strategy of the civil rights era of the 1960s when racial minorities were moved from one state to another to harvest political capital.
The JFK Library was quick to notice in a tweet posted last week as the DeSantis flights came to light, coincidentally, or not, the first day of Hispanic heritage month.
‘To embarrass Northern liberals and humiliate Black people, southern White Citizens Councils started their so-called ‘Reverse Freedom Rides,’ giving Black people one-way tickets to northern cities with false promises of jobs, housing, and better lives,’ the tweet said.
DeSantis has been accused – in a federal class action lawsuit filed this week by some of the migrants – of similarly conning those he calls “volunteers”, offering them a $10 meal voucher at a San Antonio McDonald’s, and dangling fake assurances of employment and accommodation in Massachusetts that were not his to give.
‘For DeSantis to now claim that he’s a champion of these asylum seekers and migrants who were lured and tricked on to planes, and brought to Martha’s Vineyard without their meaningful consent, that’s kind of the height of irony, isn’t it?’ said Elora Mukherjee, professor of social justice and human rights at Columbia Law School.
‘Americans have generally been very welcoming to immigrants, especially those who are fleeing persecution, such as these Venezuelan asylum seekers and migrants.
But what we’re seeing is DeSantis playing toward the xenophobic and nationalistic white supremacist impulses that are at the base of the modern Republican party. It’s a well-timed act of political theater to propel him forward and gain as much national media attention as possible as part of his bid to become our next president.’
DeSantis’s office did not respond to questions from the Guardian, including his use of a $12m fund approved by the Florida legislature solely for the removal of migrants already “in state”, which those flown to Martha’s Vineyard were not. Democratic state senator Jason Pizzo filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing DeSantis of breaking state law and seeking to end the flights.
The governor also won’t say how “DeSantis Air,” as close aides mockingly refer to the operation, chose Martha’s Vineyard. But clues are not hard to find.
“It’s got to be Martha’s Vineyard. It’s a natural,” Tucker Carlson, conservative host on DeSantis’s favorite network Fox News, said on air in July as he assessed areas of “zero diversity” to suggest to Republican governors.
“They’re begging for more diversity. Why not send migrants there, in huge numbers? Let’s start with 300,000 and move up from there.”
Debate has focused on the legality of the actions of DeSantis and Abbott in moving migrants across state lines under allegedly false pretenses. A sheriff in Texas opened a criminal investigation this week, and the White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called it “an illegal political stunt.”
But other than muffled grumblings from some lower profile politicians, Republicans have been largely silent. That has drawn the attention of Democrats in both Texas and Florida, and specifically Miami, where immigrants account for 55% of the population.
Annette Taddeo, a Colombian-born state senator running for a US House seat representing the city in November’s midterms, pointed to a gathering DeSantis hosted in May at the Miami Freedom Tower when, flanked by numerous local, state and nationally elected Republicans, he announced he was dedicating 7 November as “victims of communism” day, honoring Venezuelans among those who had fled communist regimes.
“It’s just so hypocritical of all of these Republicans who are now conveniently quiet again when they were all there standing next to the governor when they lauded November 7,” she said.
“You can’t just claim that you care about Cubans and Venezuelans and Nicaraguans if you’re not going to be there for them when they actually come here. These people are the success that we all speak of, the American Dream that we all speak of, but here they are using them as pawns.”
Taddeo said Spanish-language radio stations in south Florida, which has a sizeable Venezuelan diaspora, had been abuzz since news of the DeSantis migrant flights emerged.
“I can tell you from a Miami perspective, this right here is toxic,” she said.
“You can measure it by the number of calls into these radio stations, specifically expressing their outrage. I have heard from so many Republicans and independents, who tend to be more conservative, and independents who sometimes vote this way.
“Luring people with a McDonald’s meal and getting them to agree to get on this plane under false pretenses is human trafficking. It’s an outrage,” she said.
Whether the various lawsuits have legs remains to be seen, with some experts suggesting a political remedy was preferable.
“There’s nothing inherently wrong with having a collective solution to the distribution of refugees in our country,” Daniel Morales, professor of immigration law at the University of Houston law school said.
“My understanding is El Paso has quietly been moving refugees in coordination with places that have the capacity to receive them. It’s fine for folks to share in the burden from other places – the issue is how that sharing occurs.
“If folks are really serious about solving capacity issues, or spending funds in a way that could be productive, they would coordinate with receiving states and cities, but that’s not the objective here.
“You have human beings used for clearly political purposes, to galvanize the media around this issue. DeSantis and Abbott have done this. I think it’s going to require some sort of public reckoning in the polls. There’s more likely a political remedy than a legal remedy.”
Charlie Crist, the former Florida governor and Democratic candidate challenging DeSantis in November’s midterms, said his opponent was engaged in “cruelty” over immigration that deflected attention from other issues unpopular with voters, including Florida’s new 15-week abortion ban.
“It’s a war on Hispanics by his administration. It’s a war on women. It’s a disaster. It’s inhumane. This is not the act of a sincere, dedicated, compassionate public servant. This is the act of a raw political animal,” he said.” Read more at The Guardian
'Serious health risks': Industry experts warn of contaminants in marijuana alternative delta-8
Suzan Kennedy wasn't concerned earlier this year when a bartender in St. Paul, Minnesota, described a cocktail with the cannabinoid delta-8 THC as "a little bit potent." Kennedy's Wisconsin roots meant she could handle booze, she said, and she had smoked marijuana before.
Hours after enjoying the tasty drink and the silliness that reminded Kennedy of a high from weed, she said, she started to feel “really shaky and faint” before collapsing in her friend’s arms. Kennedy regained consciousness and recovered, but her distaste for delta-8 remains, even though the substance is legal at the federal level, unlike marijuana.
“I’m not one to really tell people what to do,” said Kennedy, 35, who lives in Milwaukee and works in software sales. But if a friend tried to order a delta-8 drink, “I would tell them, ‘Absolutely not. You’re not putting that in your body.’”
POLL:Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for first time ever in US
'SIXTY-YEAR SENTENCES':Marijuana is being legalized in parts of US. That's not helping everyone with convictions.
The FDA and some marijuana industry experts share Kennedy’s concerns. At least a dozen states have banned the hemp-derived drug, including Colorado, Montana, New York, and Oregon, which have legalized marijuana. But delta-8 manufacturers call the concerns unfounded and say they’re driven by marijuana businesses trying to protect their market share.
So what is the difference? The flower of the marijuana plant, oil derived from it, and edibles made from those contain delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the substance that produces the drug’s high, and can be legally sold only at dispensaries in states that have legalized marijuana.
Similar products that contain delta-8 THC are sold online and at bars and retailers across much of the U.S., including some places where pot remains illegal. That’s because a 2018 federal law legalized hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant. Hemp isn’t allowed to contain more than 0.3% of the psychotropic delta-9 THC found in marijuana.
Suzan Kennedy wasn't concerned earlier this year when a bartender in St. Paul, Minnesota, described a cocktail with the cannabinoid delta-8 THC as "a little bit potent." Kennedy's Wisconsin roots meant she could handle booze, she said, and she had smoked marijuana before.
Hours after enjoying the tasty drink and the silliness that reminded Kennedy of a high from weed, she said, she started to feel “really shaky and faint” before collapsing in her friend’s arms. Kennedy regained consciousness and recovered, but her distaste for delta-8 remains, even though the substance is legal at the federal level, unlike marijuana.
“I’m not one to really tell people what to do,” said Kennedy, 35, who lives in Milwaukee and works in software sales. But if a friend tried to order a delta-8 drink, “I would tell them, ‘Absolutely not. You’re not putting that in your body.’”
POLL:Marijuana use is outpacing cigarette use for first time ever in US
'SIXTY-YEAR SENTENCES':Marijuana is being legalized in parts of US. That's not helping everyone with convictions.
The FDA and some marijuana industry experts share Kennedy’s concerns. At least a dozen states have banned the hemp-derived drug, including Colorado, Montana, New York, and Oregon, which have legalized marijuana. But delta-8 manufacturers call the concerns unfounded and say they’re driven by marijuana businesses trying to protect their market share.
So what is the difference? The flower of the marijuana plant, oil derived from it, and edibles made from those contain delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, the substance that produces the drug’s high, and can be legally sold only at dispensaries in states that have legalized marijuana.
Similar products that contain delta-8 THC are sold online and at bars and retailers across much of the U.S., including some places where pot remains illegal. That’s because a 2018 federal law legalized hemp, a variety of the cannabis plant. Hemp isn’t allowed to contain more than 0.3% of the psychotropic delta-9 THC found in marijuana.” Read more at USA Today
Pink Floyd founder cancels Poland concerts after war remarks
yesterday
FILE - Roger Waters performs at the United Center on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, in Chicago. Polish media are reporting that Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine. An official with the concert arena in Krakow where Waters had been scheduled to perform in April said the musician's manager had withdrawn the April performances without giving a reason. (Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP, File)
“WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Pink Floyd co-founder Roger Waters has canceled concerts planned in Poland amid outrage over his stance on Russia’s war against Ukraine, Polish media reported Saturday.
An official with the Tauron Arena in Krakow, where Waters was scheduled to perform two concerts in April, said they would no longer take place.
“Roger Waters’ manager decided to withdraw ... without giving any reason,” Lukasz Pytko from Tauron Arena Krakow said Saturday in comments carried by Polish media outlets.
The website for Waters’ “This Is Not a Drill” concert tour did not list the Krakow concerts previously scheduled for April 21-22.
City councilors in Krakow were expected to vote next week on a proposal to name Waters as a persona non grata, expressing “indignation” over the musician’s stance on the war in Ukraine.
Waters wrote an open letter to Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska early this month in which he blamed “extreme nationalists” in Ukraine for having “set your country on the path to this disastrous war.” He also criticized the West for supplying Ukraine with weapons, blaming Washington in particular.
Waters has also criticized NATO, accusing it of provoking Russia.” Read more at AP News