#112 Countries

[xtruss]

The US Sent Cluster Munitions to Ukraine But Activists Still Seek to Bolster a Treaty Banning Them

Backers of an international agreement that bans cluster munitions are striving to prevent erosion in support for it after what one leading human rights group calls an “unconscionable” U.S. decision to ship such weapons to Ukraine for its fight against ...

— By Jamey Keaten | September 5, 2023

Police officers look at collected fragments of the Russian rockets, including cluster rounds, that hit Kharkiv, in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Dec. 3, 2022. Backers of an international agreement that bans cluster munitions are striving to prevent erosion in support for it after what one leading human rights group calls an “unconscionable” U.S. decision to ship such weapons to Ukraine for its fight against Russia. Advocacy groups in the Cluster Munitions Coalition released their latest annual report on Tuesday Sept. 5, 2023. AP Photo/Libkos . The Associated Press

Geneva, Switzerland — Backers of an international agreement that bans cluster munitions are striving to prevent erosion in support for the deal after what one leading human rights group calls an “unconscionable” U.S. decision to ship such weapons to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Advocacy groups in the Cluster Munitions Coalition released their latest annual report on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting next week of envoys from the 112 countries that have acceded to or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The treaty prohibits the explosives and calls for clearing areas where they litter the ground because they harm and kill many more civilians than combatants,

A further 12 countries have signed the convention. The United States and Russia are not among them.

Mary Wareham of Human Rights Watch, who has long championed the 15-year-old convention, says the coalition was “extremely concerned” about the U.S. move in July, after an intense debate among U.S. leaders, to transfer unspecified thousands of 155mm artillery-delivered cluster munition rounds to Ukraine.

More than 20 government leaders and officials have criticized that decision, the coalition says.

Hoping to avoid defections from the convention, Wareham says supporters hope signatories will “stay strong — that they do not weaken their position on the treaty as a result of the U.S. decision. And we don’t see that happening yet. But it’s always a danger.”

U.S. officials argue that the munitions — a type of bomb that opens in the air and releases smaller “bomblets” across a wide area — could help Kyiv bolster its offensive and push through Russian front lines.

Photo: Sergei Supinsky/AFP Via Getty Images

U.S. leaders have said the transfer involves a version of the munition that has a reduced “dud rate,” meaning fewer of the smaller bomblets fail to explode. The bomblets can take out tanks and equipment, as well as troops, hitting multiple targets at the same time.

But Wareham cited “widespread evidence of civilian harm that (is) caused by these weapons. It was just an unconscionable decision.”

The report says civilians accounted for 95% of cluster munition casualties that were recorded last year, totaling some 1,172 in eight countries: Azerbaijan, Iraq, Laos, Lebanon, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. The monitor noted efforts in places like Bulgaria, Peru and Slovakia to destroy their stockpiles of the munitions in 2022 and earlier this year.

Children made up 71% of casualties from explosions of cluster-munition remnants last year, the report said.

It said Russia had “repeatedly” used cluster munitions in Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces to invade Ukraine in February last year, while Ukraine had used them “to a lesser extent.”

Washington’s decision “is certainly a setback,” said Wareham, “but it’s not the end of the road for the Convention on Cluster Munitions by far.”

[humanrightsupdates]

Lithuania: Don’t Leave Global Ban on Cluster Munitions

(Berlin) – Lithuania’s parliament should reject a government proposal to withdraw from the 2008 treaty banning cluster munitions, Human Rights Watch said today. If approved, Lithuania would be the first country to leave the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which 112 countries have ratified.

“Lithuania’s lawmakers should reject this ill-considered proposal and reaffirm their support for the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” said Mary Wareham, deputy crisis, conflict, and arms director at Human Rights Watch. “Withdrawing from the convention will stain Lithuania’s otherwise excellent reputation on cluster munitions and increase the risk of civilian harm.”

Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, and mortar projectiles, or dropped by aircraft. They typically open in the air, dispersing multiple submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving duds that can indiscriminately injure and kill, like landmines, for years until they are cleared and destroyed.

The Convention on Cluster Munitions is a lifesaving instrument that comprehensively bans cluster munitions and requires the destruction of stockpiles, clearance of cluster munition remnants, and assistance to victims of the weapons. Lithuania actively participated in negotiating the convention and was among the first countries to sign it in Oslo on December 3, 2008, leading by example among countries from the Baltic region. Upon signing, Lithuania pledged its full support for the convention, describing it as “an outstanding example of cooperation” that it hoped would continue.

However, since 2023, Lithuania’s defense minister has advocated for the country to withdraw from the convention, asserting that cluster munitions are a necessary weapon due to changes in its national security situation since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. On July 11, 2024, the Lithuanian government submitted a proposal to parliament recommending that Lithuania withdraw from the Convention on Cluster Munitions.

[darkmaga-retard]

By Brett Wilkins / Common Dreams

The overwhelming majority of cluster bomb casualties last year were civilians, with children making up nearly half of those killed or maimed by remnants of the internationally banned munitions, a report published Monday revealed.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) published its annual Cluster Munition Monitor report, which “details the policy and practice of all countries with respect to the international treaty that prohibits cluster munitions and requires destruction of stockpiles, clearance of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants, and victim assistance.”

That treaty, the landmark Convention on Cluster Munitions, has been ratified by 112 nations. However, numerous countries that are not parties to the agreement—including Myanmar, Russia, Syria, Ukraine, and the United States—continued to use or sell cluster bombs.

“Cluster munitions can be fired from the ground by artillery, rockets, missiles, or mortars, or dropped by aircraft,” HRW explained. “They typically open in the air, dispersing multiple submunitions or bomblets over a wide area. Many submunitions fail to explode on initial impact, leaving unexploded duds that can indiscriminately injure and kill like landmines for years, until they are found and destroyed.”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.7 (after 1930)

1930 – The 7.1 Mw  Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed. 1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces. 1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. 1945 – World War II: Last German U-boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland. 1945 – World War II: Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day. 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded. 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress. 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer. 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13). 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. 1964 – Pacific Airlines Flight 773 is hijacked by Francisco Gonzales and crashes in Contra Costa County, California, killing 44. 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits. 1991 – A fire and explosion occurs at a fireworks factory at Sungai Buloh, Malaysia, killing 26. 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise. 1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49. 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada. 1994 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February. 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. 1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup. 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia. 2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people. 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people. 2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.

[prelawland]

Originalism: Distinguishing Intentionalism and Textualism

By Adam Naddaff Slocum, Bates College Class of 2022

February 16, 2021

As a PreLaw student, it is important to understand the different judicial methods of interpreting a Constitution. This brief article will cover originalism as well the related interpretations of intentionalism and textualism. Originalism is thought of as a method of adjudication using the text of the Constitution or the intentions of its writers as binding authority. There are plenty of legal philosophers that argue in favor of originalism noting that the courts do not have the authority to amend laws, so they must follow what was originally written or intended in the constitution.[1] Most originalists make decisions based on principled studies of the text or intent of the Constitution, and not on moral values. This is because originalists believe that the constitution itself is a morally sufficient way of adjudication. Many originalists argue that judges are bound by the original understanding of the text and not the current understanding because the founders interpreted the Constitution in an originalist way, so that is the precedent for following judges.

One method of originalism is Constitutional intentionalism, which is the method of understanding the Constitution through interpreting the intentions of its framers, adopters, and or ratifiers. This includes the beliefs they would have accepted, their larger purposes, and specific policies that they had in mind.[2] A problem with intentionalism is that it is highly unlikely everyone had a collective intention when framing the country. This is evident through various disputes over the power of the federal government and of course slavery. Many intentionalists do not even justify their views because they view intentionalism as the sole method of adjudication, and thus it does not need support. They argue that the Constitution is simply a matter of intent.

Some intentionalists even believe that there is an obligation to honor and implement the intentions of members of colonial America. The primary concern of intentionalism is of course what these individuals had in mind. It does indeed qualify as a theory of legal interpretation because its goal is to uncover legislative intent.[3] Furthermore, intentionalists argue that since the Constitution is a social contract created by the people, it is a politically moral document and is binding. Thus, it deserves respect from every citizen of the United States. The United States was founded on the principle of conforming to the Constitution. Intentionalism understands the Constitution as public law, thus making it essential for it to be treated legitimately with the original intention of the founding members of America in mind. This is how intentionalists feel they can best benefit the common good.

Another version of originalist adjudication is textualism. The strict version of textualism interprets phrases of the Constitution in an exact nature when deciding a case. However, a moderate textualist understands the Constitution in the context of the language and society in which it is implemented. Strict textualism focuses more on the original meaning. Strict textualism is precise, but moderate textualism recognizes the text could be interpreted in different ways. Therefore, the legal language of the Constitution is sometimes unclear to moderate textualists. For these textualists, judicial decisions make the text of the constitution more clear. In a way, this can be considered non-originalism because it allows for the use of extra-constitutional principles in adjudication. Overall, textualism is not about what was intended to do, it is about what was done. This focuses on the text that was ratified not on the intentions of the founders of modern America. It focuses on the original meaning and text of the Constitution, not the current interpretation of Constitutional intent.[4]The basic argument for textualism as the best method of originalist adjudication is that there is no sound way to accurately interpret the Constitution using intentionalism.[5] First, by way of analyzing the intentions of the Constitutional framers, intentionalism neglects that the Constitution had to be ratified for it to be valid. The document was drafted in Philadelphia, but it did not become the law of the land until it was ratified by the states. It originally failed to ratify because states wanted a Bill of Rights that the drafters did not think was necessary. This shows the lack of collective intention that makes intentionalist originalism extremely problematic. Different states and founding fathers had very different goals and intentions, so it is not plausible to make sound judicial decisions based on a supposed collective intention. Consequently, it is obvious that the intention of the ratifiers did not match the actual text of the Constitution, thus making it impossible for an intentionalist to accurately adjudicate using the Constitution. Furthermore, another problem with the intentionalist method is that part of the job of judges is to apply the Constitution to modern day cases, but in a way it is impossible to apply past intentions to entirely new questions that were unthinkable in the eighteenth century. These are the basic arguments for textualism.

In short, originalism, including intentionalism and textualism are controversial but important methods of Constitutional interpretation for PreLaw students to understand.

______________________________________________________________

Adam Naddaff Slocum is a junior at Bates College majoring in Politics, minoring in Philosophy and History, and concentrating in Law & Society. He is from Canton, Massachusetts, and enjoys spending time on the ocean. He hopes to attend law school and work as a litigator.

______________________________________________________________

[1] Colby, Thomas B., and Peter J. Smith. "LIVING ORIGINALISM." Duke Law Journal 59, no. 2 (2009): 239-307.

[2] Gibbons, John J. "Intentionalism, History, and Legitimacy." University of Pennsylvania Law Review 140, no. 2 (1991): 613-45.

[3] Gates, John B., and Glenn A. Phelps. "Intentionalism in Constitutional Opinions." Political Research Quarterly 49, no. 2 (1996): 245-61.

[4] Smith, Peter J. "Textualism and Jurisdiction." Columbia Law Review 108, no. 8 (2008): 1883-948.

[5] Meltzer, Daniel J. "PREEMPTION AND TEXTUALISM." Michigan Law Review 112, no. 1 (2013): 1-57.

[breakingmllc]

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Every monday read the information below could educate you 1 16 17 the disclaimers talk show by dave and edward johnston also on youtube oregon trackers live stream 5pm oregon 6 mountain 7pm central 8pm eastcoast call in 712 775 7035 228627 constitution lawful bloodline american republic v legal democracy please read about the law edward johnston filings published in the media also filed filed a Skull Middle Finger Zero Given T Shirt must watch with your children red skelton’s pledge of allegiance helvering v davis wikipedia the free encyclopedia en wikipedia org wiki helvering_v _davis helvering v davis 301 u s 619 1937 was a decision by the united states supreme court which held that social security was constitutionally permissible please watch 3 16min if I were the devil paul harvey good audio always with respect please govern yourself accordingly notice we are not attorney or lawyers if you would like legal advice contact a lawyer or attorney even tho their is no such thing attorney’s license ain’t no such thing freedom www freedom school com law attorney license no such whereas military flag with the gold fringe martial law flag pursuant to 4 u s c chapter 1 1 2 3 executive order 10834 august 21 1959 24 f r 6865 a military flag is a flag that resembles the regular flag of the united states except that it has a yellow fringe border on three sides the president of the united states designates this deviation from the regular flag by executive order and in his capacity as commander in chief of the military the placing of a fringe on the national flag the dimensions of the flag and the arrangement of the stars in the union are matters of detail not controlled by statute but are within the discretion of the president as commander in chief of the army and navy 34 ops atty gen 83 the law of the flag regulates the laws under which contracts entered into will be governed see ruhstrat v people any courtroom that displays such a flag behind the judge is a military courtroom which is operating under military law and not constitutional law or common law or civil law or statute law restrictions note added this court is thereby receiving public funds under false and fraudulent pretense and is committing treason against the constitution under the 16th american jurist prudence section 177 whereas 1 2 american flag such as a gold fringe mutilates the flag and carries a one year prison term this is confirmed by the authority of title 36 section 176 g the gold fringe is a fourth color and purportedly represents color of military law jurisdiction and when placed on the title 4 u s c section 1 2 flag mutilates the flag and suspends the constitution refer to title 18 u s c section 242 see black s law dictionary attorney’s license ain’t no such thing attorney’s license ain’t no such thing bigger text all lawyers and lawyer title 42 408 a 8 title 42 408 a in general whoever 8 discloses uses or compels the disclosure of the social security number of any person in violation of the laws of the united states shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than five years or both this is why it has to be done in admiralty law in title 28 u s c judiciary and judicial procedure in the chapter and section that defines court debt judgment and united states chapter 176 federal debt collection procedure section 3002 united states means a federal corporation 28 u s c 3002 15 title 28 united states code means literally title 28 district of columbia municipal corporation code the states and district courts are all run by privately hired corporation we are treated in court as executive order 6 and 7 vol xv app 45 only has signature of the secretary of the state william h seward andrew johnson the president was against the 14th amendment he stated it creates a defacto government then in 1868 the 14th amendment created a different citizen making all persons corporations citizens of the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof y it has to be done in admiralty law in title 28 u s c judiciary and judicial procedure in the chapter and section that defines court debt judgment and united states chapter 176 federal debt collection procedure section 3002 united states means a federal corporation 28 u s c 3002 15 title 28 united states code means literally title 28 district of columbia municipal corporation code the states and district courts are all run by privately hired corporation we are treated in court as executive order 6 and 7 vol xv app 45 only has signature of the secretary of the state william h seward andrew johnson the president was against the 14th amendment he stated it creates a defacto government then in 1868 the 14th amendment created a different citizen making all persons corporations citizens of the united states and subject to the jurisdiction thereof merely being native born within the territorial boundaries of the united states of america does not make such an inhabitant a citizen of the united states unless an american indian original to this land subject to the jurisdiction of the fourteenth amendment elk v wilkins neb 1884 5 s ct 41 112 u s 99 28 l ed 643 trey gowdy lays down facts about illegal immigration 8 u s code 1401 nationals and citizens of united states at birth 1978 subsec a pub l 95 432 3 struck out a before the following and redesignated pars 1 to 7 as a to g respectively u s citizens were declared enemies of the u s by f d r by executive order no 2040 and ratified by congress on march 9 1933 fdr changed the meaning of the trading with the enemy act of december 6 1917 by changing the word without to citizens within the united states to cover the debt in 1933 and future debt the corporate government determined and established the value of the future labor of each incorporated individual in its jurisdiction to be 630 000 a bond of 630 000 is set on each certificate of live birth the certificates are bundled together into sets and then placed as securities on the open market these certificates are then purchased by the federal reserve and or foreign bankers the purchaser is the holder of title this process made each and every person in this jurisdiction a bond servant u s citizens were declared enemies of the u s by f d r by executive order no 2040 and ratified what is hjr 192 can we discharge our debts to the jun 7 2014 house joint resolution 192 was then passed by congress on june 5 1933 this law was passed to do away with the gold clause for lawful bloodline american house joint resolution 192 1933 redemption tribe net tribes tribe net redemption101 thread 07f05122 0090 408b house joint resolution 192 this article does not contain an absolute prohibition against the states making something else a tender in transfer of debt hjr 192 background 1933 the bankruptcy of the united www youhavetheright com tour3 background 1933 the bankruptcy of the united states passed house joint resolution 192 which served impossible as notes of debt do not pay for anything gonzales v oregon 546 u s 243 2006 was a decision by the united states supreme court which ruled that the united states attorney general could not enforce the federal controlled substances act against physicians who prescribed drugs in compliance with oregon state law for the assisted suicide of the terminally ill it was the first major case heard under the leadership of chief justice john roberts 1 it is the duty of every lawful bloodline american to oppose all enemies of this nation foreign and domestic note added every lawful and recognized american citizen including all elected appointed hired public servant s children’s protection services police sheriff’s martials cia fbi capital police secret service city council county commissioners board of commissioners et al religious organizations associations schools colleges universities schools of law corporations llc’s doctors nurses health care providers unions et al to preform they of oath of office in compliance to the 1776 constitution for the united states of america to all matters herein related thereof please help pass this information to other professionals in your area and honor thy 1776 constitutional oath of office in your area of expertise it is after all as lawful americans’ right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness that ‘god’ promised mine and your bloodline of this united states of america for all mankind thereof please read read title 18 all of it”the original thirteenth article of amendment to the constitution for the united states if any citizen of the united states shall accept claim receive or retain any title of nobility or honour or shall without the consent of congress accept and retain any present pension office or emolument of any kind whatever from any emperor king prince or foreign power such person shall cease to be a citizen of the united states and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them or either of them journal of the senate citizens federal and persons vs people citizens citizens are members of a political community who in their associated capacity have established or submitted themselves to the dominion of a government for the promotion of their general welfare and the protection of their individual as well as collective rights u s v cruikshank 92 u s 542 if one is established as a people individually or collectively then one is entitled to all the rights which formerly belonged to the king by his prerogative lansing v smith 4 wend 9 n y 1829 21 am dec 89 10c const law sec 298 18 c em dom sec 3 228 37 c nav wat sec 219 nuls sec 167 48 c wharves sec 3 7 a people may do anything he or she wishes to do so long as it does not damage injure or impair the same right or property of another individual 10 pick 9 united states exp co v henderson 69 iowa 40 28 n w 426 greenl ev 469a quoted in hale v henkel 201 u s 43 1906 a people owes no duty to the state or the public as long as he does not trespass lansing v smith 21 d 89 people of a state are entitled to all rights which formerly belonged to the king by his prerogative 2 citizens united states citizenship does not entitle citizen to rights and privileges of state citizenship citizenship of the united states does not entitle citizen to privileges and immunities of citizen of the state since privileges and immunities of one are not the same as the other tashiro v jordan s f 1234g s c c 5 20 1927 both before and after the fourteenth amendment to the federal constitution it has not been necessary for a person to be a citizen of the united states in order to be a citizen of his state crosse v board of supervisors of elections 1966 221 a 2d 431 p 4 the fourteenth amendment of the constitution of the united states ratified 1 in 1868 creates or at least recognizes for the first time a federal citizenship of the united states as distinct from that of the states black’s law dictionary 6th edition 1 this is a bold lie it was never ratified per article v of the u s constitution congressional record house june 13 1967 pg 15641 15646 and dyett v turner 1968 are very clear about this travelers red lights flashing behind you when a cop turns on emergency lights to stop someone and asks for license and regis tration and then writes a summons ticket executes it and demands one s bond in the form of an agreement to appear and then serves the summons the cop is breaking the laws 1 the turning on of lights means an emergency is in effect the cop wants people to think he is stopping traffic and that the one being stopped is the emergency where was the emergency nowhere of course the cop just wanted to perform a traffic stop by doing so the cop perpetuated several fraudulent actions a the cop deceived the one being stopped into thinking there was an emergency b impersonated a government official on emergency business the cop in reality is a corpora ficta employee and not a government employee he has no authority of a government official at all there are two lawfully excusable conditions for seizing property or people 1 a warrant of the law 2 first hand observation of a crime being committed this is not just the law this is constitutionally mandated the cop needs the drivers license and regis tration as prima facie evidence to support the claim of trafficking instead of traveling if indeed one is not transporting people or property for hire or profit 2 cops are only authorized to enforce statute and ordinance not law statutes are passed by state of corpora fictas ordinances are passed by city county of corpora fictas law is only the natural law common law dmv is only a corporate dept in state of oregon ohio ca corpora ficta license and regis tration are commercial agreements and not contracts iff one of us is not involved in commercial activity then there is no exercise of a privilege that must be licensed and regis tered licenses and regis trations are only required for commercial activity that means business only in law people have the right to travel as a part of one s right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness 3 iff the cop perceives that one of us may have broken the law or actually infracted a statute and writes a ticket with a summons the cop is now impersonating an officer of the court which the cop is clearly not the cop is thereby impersonating a judicial officer who in all of america can write a summons to a court unless they are actually authorized to serve in a judicial capacity answer no one else may 18 u s code section 31 the term motor vehicle means every description of carriage or other contrivance propelled or drawn by mechanical power and used for commercial purposes on the highways in the transportation of passengers passengers and property or property or cargo that means unless you are in commerce making money to transport people or cargo most of us are not commercial or in commerce most of us just go from point a to point b most of us who are not corporate government employees or on federal jurisdiction no cop can drag u into jurisdictrion no officer can acquire jurisdiction by deciding he has it the officer whether judicial or ministerial decides at his own peril middleton v low 1866 30 c 596 citing prosser v secor 1849 5 barb n y 607 608 the innocent individual who is harmed by an abuse of governmental authority is assured that he will be compensated for his injury owens v city of independence 100 s ct 1398 1980 if one individual does not possess such a right over the conduct of another good and lawful christian man no number of individuals in a deliberative body can possess such a right all combinations therefore to effect such an object are injurious not only to the individuals particularly oppressed but to the public at large people v fisher 14wend n y 9 28 am dec 501 when you been kidnap and held for ransom aka arrested did they take you immediately before a magistrate like the law says no they took you to book you well guess what that’s not proper and you were falsely imprisoned check this out go immediately to a magistrate no photographs no fingerprinting the one arresting has a duty to immediately seek a magistrate and failure to do so makes a case of false imprisonment heath v boyd 175 s w 2d 217 1943 brock v stimson 108 mass 520 1871 to detain the person arrested in custody for any purpose other than that of taking him before a magistrate is illegal kominsky v durand 12 atl 2d 654 1940 any undue delay is unlawful and wrongful and renders the officer himself and all persons aiding and abetting therein wrongdoers from the beginning ulvestad v dolphin 278 pac 684 1929 the taking of the plaintiff s picture before conviction was an illegal act hawkins v kuhne 137 ny supp 1090 153 app div 216 1912 the power to arrest does not confer upon the arresting officer the power to detain a prisoner for other purposes geldon v finnegan 252 n w 372 1934 compulsory fingerprinting before conviction is an unlawful encroachment and involves prohibited compulsory self incrimination people v helvern 215 n y supp 417 1926 summary attorney bruce l mccrum and ed johnston lawful bloodline american as filed further harassment from city of toledo chief of police david enyeart ed’s unlawful kidnapping by ruark’s camera part 1 state senator arnie roblan on the rights to travel and uninsured motorist fund 05 13 2013 if money is wanted by rulers who have in any manner oppressed the people they may retain it until their grievances are redressed and thus peaceably procure relief without trusting to despised petitions or disturbing the public tranquility journals of the continental congress 26 october 1774â 1789 journals 1 105â 13 notice all rights reserved permission to distribute for non commercial purposes is hereby granted in whole or part provided attribution and a link to this article is included commercial distribution without the written permission of the author is prohibited this public email message including any attachment s is limited to the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain privileged and or confidential information any and all political private or public entities federal state or local corporate government s municipality ies international organizations corporation s agent s investigator s or informant s et al and or third party ies working in collusion by collecting and or monitoring my email s and any other means of spying and collecting these communications without my exclusive permission are barred from any and all unauthorized review use disclosure or distribution with explicit reservation of all my rights without prejudice and without recourse to me any omission does not constitute a waiver of any and or all intellectual property rights or reserved rights notice copy right lawful bloodline americans lawful americans 2013 the electronic communications privacy act 18 u s c 119 sections 2510 2521 et seq governs distribution of this message including attachments the originator intended this message for the specified recipients only it may contain the originator s confidential and proprietary information the originator hereby notifies unintended recipients that they have received this message in error and strictly proscribes their message review dissemination copying and content based actions recipients in error shall notify the originator immediately by e mail and delete the original message authorized carriers of this message shall expeditiously deliver this message to intended recipients see quon v arch anything stated in this email may be limited in the content and is not to be taken out of context wireless copyright notice federal and state laws govern copyrights to this message you must have the originator s full written consent to alter copy or use this message originator acknowledges others copyrighted content in this message otherwise without prejudice and without recourse to me any omission does not constitute a waiver of any and or all intellectual property rights or reserved rights u c c 1 207 1 308 notice to agents is notice to principals notice to principals is notice to agents home edward m johnston has filed in state of oregon secretary office including this filed with the senate and house as you can see not one of the elected and public servants have disagree with the facts this public notice published for three weeks in new oregontrackers com. 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[massejasse]

Why we are taking Arctic oil to court With this historic court case a new generation is now taking action to stop oil companies from kidnapping our future.

Nature & Youth and Greenpeace Nordic, alongside a broad coalition, have filed an unprecedented people-powered legal case against the Norwegian government.

It has the potential to become a rallying point for people resisting fossil fuel exploration around the world. This case is about holding back the oil industry at the final frontier. It is about protecting the fragile Arctic. It is about a new generation stepping up to hold governments accountable to their climate promises.

We will argue in court that we must take action to keep the Paris climate agreement on track, and we will invoke the Norwegian people's right to a healthy and safe environment, as it is written in article 112 of Norway's Constitution. This lawsuit demands that Norway upholds its constitutional guarantee for future generations. Norway was among the first countries in the world to ratify the Paris Climate agreement and has promised to reduce its emissions by ambitious targets. At the same time, the Norwegian state-owned oil company, Statoil, has announced a major new exploration campaign in the Barents Sea. They want to drill up to seven new exploratory wells in the Arctic next year.

How can it be right to agree to a 1.5 degree limit on global warming in Paris and just weeks later announce you are starting a new chapter for Arctic oil? The science is already clear, we have to keep 80% of the proven fossil-fuel reserves in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change.

This will be a case of the people vs. Arctic oil. This is not just a Norwegian issue, but a global one.

As the polar ice cap melts, desperate oil companies are attempting to move even further north to drill for more of the same oil that is behind the global warming and which threatens the Arctic nature and wildlife with devastating oil spills. If we, together, don´t stop them, they could destroy one of the world’s last great wilderness areas forever and push our climate beyond saving.

This is a critical moment. Oil is warming our world and polluting our oceans. No one wants this to be the legacy we leave for future generations. But if enough people join us in this case, it can be a catalyst for similar legal actions in other parts of the world to keep the fossil fuels in the ground. As millions of us come together and take the climate crooks to court, we continue to build a movement to take back our future. Starting in the Arctic, it is time to end the oil age.

Please help us have the best chance possible - we need thousands of people to show their support - add your name and it will be submitted to the court to demonstrate this is a global concern.

Ingrid Skjoldvær is Head of Nature & Youth Norway

[sufredux]

Israel’s Second-Class Citizens

When the world focuses on the Arab-Israeli crisis today, the plight of the 4.6 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank gets most of the attention. But another pressing question haunts Israeli politics: the status and future of Israel’s own Arab citizens, who number around 1.7 million and make up around 21 percent of its popu­lation. Over the past few decades, Arabs in Israel have steadily improved their economic lot and strengthened their civil society, securing a prominent place in the country’s politics in the process. But since 2009, when Benjamin Netanyahu began his second term as prime minister, they have also seen their rights erode, as the government has taken a number of steps to disenfranchise them. Israeli policymakers have long defined their state as both Jewish and democratic, but these recent actions have shown that the govern­ment now emphasizes the former at the expense of the latter.

This onslaught has triggered a debate among the leaders of the Arab commu­nity in Israel over how to respond. One camp wants Arab citizens to deepen their integration into mainstream society and join forces with the Israeli left to push for equality on the national stage. The other urges Arabs to withdraw from national politics altogether, creating autonomous cultural, educational, and political institutions instead. At the moment, Arab political leaders seem to favor the former approach. But the best strategy would be for Arabs to synthesize these competing visions into a unified program: one that calls on the Israeli government to integrate Israel’s Arab citizens into existing polit­ical structures even as it demands greater autonomy in such areas as edu­cational and cultural policy. The goal would be a system that grants Jews and Arabs equality in shared institutions and protects the rights of both to shape their own communities.

LEFT OUT AND MOVING UP             

Israel’s Arab citizens are the descen­dants of the approximately 150,000 Palestinians who stayed in the country following the expulsion of the majority of their brethren around the time of Israel’s establishment in 1948. Over the two decades that followed, Israel’s remain­ing Arabs suffered from high rates of poverty and low standards of living, had few opportunities for education, and were governed by martial law, which imposed various restrictions on them, from limitations on domestic and inter­national travel to constraints on setting up new businesses. To prevent the emergence of independent Arab centers of power, the Israeli government also closely supervised the activity of Arab municipal and religious institutions and arrested many Arab activists.

Since 1966, when martial law was lifted, the situation of Arab citizens has improved greatly. Consider education: in 1960, only 60 Arab students were enrolled in Israeli universities; today, there are more than 20,000 Arab uni­versity students in the country, two-thirds of whom are female, and around 10,000 Arab Israelis study abroad. Living standards have also risen, as has the status of women, and a strong middle class has emerged.

In 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, 66 of the 112 towns in Israel with more than 5,000 residents had virtually all-Arab popula­tions. And thanks to high birthrates and a young population—half of Israel’s Arab citizens are under the age of 20, whereas only 30 percent of Jewish Israelis are—the Arab Israeli popula­tion is likely to keep growing fast, with or without more support from the government. (Some Israeli officials have described the grow­ing Arab population as a threat to the Jewish majority; in fact, since the Jewish population is also growing, it is likely that Arabs will continue to make up only around 20 percent of Israel’s popula­tion over the next three decades.)

In short, Arabs in Israel are wealthier, healthier, and more numerous than ever before. Yet by most measures of well-being, they still lag behind their Jewish counterparts. In 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, the median annual income of Israel’s Arab households was around $27,000; for Jewish households, it was around $47,000, nearly 75 percent higher. The infant mortality rate is more than twice as high among Arabs as it is among Jews. Arabs are also underrepresented in Israel’s bureaucracy and academic institutions, making up less than two percent of the senior faculty in the country’s universities. And Arabs remain deeply segregated from Israel’s Jewish population: 90 percent of Arabs live in almost exclusively Arab towns and villages, and with just a few exceptions, Arab and Jewish children attend separate schools. (Nevertheless, Arabs and Jews remain relatively open to integration: a 2015 survey by the Israeli sociologist Sammy Smooha found that more than half of Israel’s Arabs and Jews supported the idea of Arabs living in Jewish-majority neighborhoods.)

What is more, when it comes to government support in such areas as the allocation of land for new construction, financing for cultural institutions, and educational funding, Arabs suffer from ongoing discrimination, despite some recent progress. Arabs make up around 21 percent of Israel’s population, but according to the Mossawa Center, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for Israel’s Arab citizens, Arab communities receive only seven percent of government funds for public transportation and only three percent of the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport’s budget is allocated for Arab cultural institutions; Arab schools are also significantly underresourced. (Toward the end of 2015, the Israeli government approved a five-year economic develop­ment program for Israel’s Arab community, worth up to $4 billion, that will increase funding for housing, education, infra­structure, transportation, and women’s employment. Although the plan represents a step in the right direction, the exact amount of funding that will be allocated to each of these areas remains unclear, as does the process by which its implementation will be monitored.) And then there is the fact that Israel defines itself along ethnonationalist lines that exclude the Arab minority—from a national anthem that famously describes the yearning of a Jewish soul for a homeland in Zion to a flag that displays a Star of David. In these ways, the Israeli government has maintained the dominance of the Jewish majority and denied Arabs genuine equality.

Arabs in Israel thus confront a frustrating confluence of factors: on the one hand, they enjoy a rising socioeco­nomic position; on the other, they face a government that in many respects has prevented them from achieving true equal­ity. How they respond to this frustrating dynamic, and how the Israeli govern­ment reacts, will have an enormous impact on the future of Israeli society, politics, and security.

THE INTERNAL DIVIDE

Arabs in Israel are not politically mono­lithic, and their goals vary. Their civic organizations, political activists, and public intellectuals offer competing visions for both the community’s internal develop­ment and its relationship with the state.

Broadly speaking, however, their agendas tend to fall into one of two frameworks, each based on a different understanding of Arab Israelis’ split identity. The first—call it a “discourse of difference”—suggests that Arabs’ ethno­cultural identity, rather than their Israeli citizenship, should be the starting point of their demands for change. By this logic, the Israeli government should empower Arabs to autonomously govern their own communities, by, for example, encouraging Arab officials to reform the curricula of Arab schools. The second—a “discourse of recognition”—takes Israeli citizenship, rather than Arab identity, as its starting point. This framework suggests that equality will be achieved when the state recognizes Arabs as equal Israeli citizens and equitably integrates them into existing institutions.

By most measures of well-being, Israel's Arab citizens still lag behind their Jewish counterparts.

For now, the latter approach seems to be dominant among Arabs in Israel. But even across this divide, there are a number of areas of consensus. Arabs of all political tendencies tend to condemn the government’s current policies as segre­gationist and discriminatory; many also contend that the government’s professed commitments to democracy and to the Jewish character of the state are irreconcilable. Nor are these the only points on which most Arabs agree: around 71 percent of Arabs in Israel support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a 2015 survey, and only 18 percent reject the coexistence of Arabs and Jews in Israel.

The various strains of Arab political thought were brought together in December 2006, when a group of Arab activists and intellectuals published a declaration, The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel, that sought to define Arabs’ relationship with the state and their hopes for the country’s future. The document, which I co-authored, called on the Israeli government to recognize its responsibility for the expulsion of Palestinians around the time of Israeli independence and to consider paying reparations to the descendants of the displaced; to grant Arab citizens greater autonomy in managing their cultural, religious, and educational affairs; to enshrine Arabs’ rights to full equality; and, perhaps most striking, to legally define Israel as a homeland for both Arabs and Jews—a direct challenge to the historically Jewish character of the state.

Ratified by the National Committee for the Heads of the Arab Local Author­ities in Israel (a body that represents all of Israel’s Arabs), the document was embraced by the Arab public: a poll I conducted in 2008 with the sociologist Nohad Ali found that, despite their many differences, more than 80 percent of Arab Israelis supported its main proposals. In the years since its release, politicians representing some of Israel’s major Arab political parties have repeatedly called on the govern­ment to act on its demands. But Jewish leaders in the Israeli government, media, and academia have largely opposed the document. The board of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank, produced a statement in January 2007 arguing that the Future Vision report, as well as two other documents released by Arab activists in 2006, “den[ied] the very nature of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state” and declaring that the institute “reject[ed] this denial and its implication that there is an inescapable contradiction between the state’s Jewish and democratic nature.”

Bedouin children play in Umm el-Hiran, an unrecognized Bedouin village near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, March 2016.

PARLIAMENTARY PREJUDICE

Arab-Jewish relations got even worse in the years after 2009, when Netanyahu returned to the premiership. Since then, the Israeli government has taken numerous steps to further hold back Arab citizens, from rules that limit the rights of Arabs to live in certain Jewish villages to a law that restricts the ability of Palestinians in the West Bank to obtain Israeli citizenship if they marry an Arab citizen of Israel. (Foreign Jews of any nationality, meanwhile, can become Israeli citizens without establishing family ties to Israelis.) In the Negev desert, home to most of Israel’s Bedouins, the government has introduced projects that aim to cement Jewish control of the land, by, for example, demolishing unrec­ognized Bedouin settlements and establishing planned Jewish towns in their place. More generally, the Netanyahu government has stepped up the official rhetoric affirming the need to strengthen the Jewish character of the state.

In March 2014, the Knesset passed a law raising the threshold for representation in the legislature from two percent to 3.25 percent of the popular vote. The move threatened to strip the four so-called Arab parties—Balad, Hadash, Ta’al, and the Islamic Movement in Israel’s southern branch—of their seats in the election of 2015. It was a reminder that the Israeli government’s anti-Arab policies derive as much from the calcu­lation on the part of the Netanyahu government that weakening the poli­tical position of Arabs might keep left-wing parties from regaining power as from the prejudices of some Israeli officials.

Largely to prevent their exclusion from the Knesset, the Arab parties banded together in January 2015 to create the Joint List, a big-tent political party that ran on a single ticket in the election held that March. On election day, Netanyahu sought to boost Jewish turnout by making the racially charged claim that Arab voters were “streaming in droves to polling stations.” The Joint List was remarkably successful nevertheless. Some 82 percent of Israel’s Arab voters cast a ballot in support of it. With 13 seats, it emerged as the third-largest political party in the Knesset after Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the center-left Zionist Union. Even more impressive, the Joint List managed to increase turnout among Arab voters by seven percentage points, from 56.5 per­­cent in the 2013 election to 63.5 percent in 2015. This surge suggests that Arabs in Israel have become more confident that their elected representatives can over­come their differences and act as an effec­tive united force in the Israeli establishment—in short, that national politics offer a path toward change. At least when it comes to parliamentary representation, right-wing efforts to impede the progress of the country’s Arabs have not succeeded.

Regardless of the state’s choices, Arabs in Israel can still shape their own fate.

Rather than accept this show of strength, Netanyahu’s coalition responded with further measures meant to weaken Arabs’ political position. In November 2015, his government outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Move­ment, an Islamist organization that has rallied a substantial portion of the Arab community around opposition to what it describes as Jewish threats to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. And in February of this year, after three Arab parliamentar­ians visited the families of Palestinians who were killed after attacking Israelis, Jewish lawmakers introduced a so-called suspension bill that would allow a three-fourths majority of the Knesset to eject any representative deemed to have denied the Jewish character of the state or incited violence. The Arab popu­lation views the proposed law as a direct attempt to sideline their representatives on the national stage. “Despite the delegit­imization campaign against us and the raising of the electoral threshold, we decided to remain part of Israeli poli­tics,” Ayman Odeh, an Arab parlia­mentarian who heads the Joint List, said during a debate on the proposed rule in the Knesset in February. “Yet we continue to be harassed.”

CITIZENS, UNITED

These developments have intensified the search for a new approach among Arab elites. Two main alternatives have emerged. The first, headed by Odeh, argues that Arab Israelis should work with the Israeli left to unseat the Netanyahu government and replace it with a center-left coalition that is willing to resume the peace talks with the Palestinians and consider major steps to advance the equality and integration of Arab citizens. The second, led by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, as well as those Knesset members on the Joint List who represent Balad, opposes forming a coalition with the Israeli left. Both camps support the creation of a separate political body to represent Arab citizens, but whereas the former believes that such a body should supplement Arab voters’ current representation in the Knesset, the latter believes it should replace it.

These competing platforms have split the Arab public. In the 2015 survey conducted by the sociologist Smooha, 76 percent of Arab Israelis polled supported the Joint List’s coop­eration with Jewish parties in the Knesset. But 33 percent of Arab respondents voiced support for a boycott of Knesset elections; 19 percent supported the use of any means, including violence, to secure equal rights; and 54 percent said that a domestic intifada would be justified if the situation of Arabs does not sub­stantially improve.

The future of the Arabs in Israel depends in part on their ability to over­come these internal divisions, which have hindered the ability of the Arab leadership to achieve progress. Disagree­ment among Arab leaders as to whether a directly elected Arab political institution should replace or supplement Arabs’ representation in the Knesset, for example, has so far left the Arab population without an elected body of its own. In fact, it should be possible to synthesize these competing visions into a unified program that pushes for equal repre­sentation in existing institutions and greater autonomy when it comes to educational and cultural policy. No matter what shape such a platform takes, however, it should commit Arab activists to nonviolence, and it should clearly demand that the Israeli government abolish discrimination in the allocation of state resources. Finally, since broad support for Arabs’ demands for change will make them more effective, Arabs should invite Jews in Israel, Jewish organi­zations outside the country, Arabs and Palestinians in the region, and others in the international community that are sympathetic to their cause to endorse the platform.

But in many ways, the future of the Arabs in Israel hinges on developments over which they have little control. The first is how the Netanyahu government and its successors manage Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: whereas open vio­lence between Israel and the Palestinians tends to exacerbate anti-Arab sentiment among Israel’s Jewish majority, a solution to the conflict could set the stage for reconciliation among Arabs and Jews in Israel. The second, of course, is how the Israeli government treats its own Arab citizens. Regardless of the state’s choices, however, Arabs in Israel can still shape their own fate—but that will require settling on a unified political program.

[newstfionline]

85-Year-Old Marathoner Is So Fast That Even Scientists Marvel

By Jeré Longman, NY Times, Dec. 28, 2016

MILTON, Ontario--It was a day for talking, not running. Snow was piled along the streets. The driveway was icy. Ed Whitlock’s shoulder hurt. His face had been puffy. He did not feel well enough for the cemetery.

At a visitor’s urging, Whitlock showed his display of novelty trophies. A beer can for winning a series of races as a 60-year-old. (“There’s still beer inside!”) A coffee mug for becoming the first (and still only) person older than 70 to run a marathon in under three hours. A baseball for throwing out the first pitch at a minor league game.

“It bounced three times to the catcher,” Whitlock said a few days before Christmas. “My arm is terrible.”

It is not his arm, but his legs and lungs that have made him a scientific marvel and octogenarian phenom. In October, at 85, he set his latest distance-running record, completing the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in 3 hours 56 minutes 34 seconds and becoming the oldest person to run 26.2 miles in under four hours.

Having set dozens of age-group records from the metric mile to the marathon, Whitlock remains at the forefront among older athletes who have led scientists to reassess the possibilities of aging and performance.

“He’s about as close as you can get to minimal aging in a human individual,” said Dr. Michael Joyner, a researcher at the Mayo Clinic who has studied performance and aging.

Whitlock’s career has been as unorthodox as it is remarkable. For starters, he trains alone in the Milton Evergreen Cemetery near his home outside Toronto. He runs laps for three or three and a half hours at a time, unbothered by traffic or the eternal inhabitants or the modern theories and gadgets of training.

At the Toronto Marathon, he raced in 15-year-old shoes and a singlet that was 20 or 30 years old. He has no coach. He follows no special diet. He does not chart his mileage. He wears no heart-rate monitor. He takes no ice baths, gets no massages. He shovels snow in the winter and gardens in the summer but lifts no weights, does no situps or push-ups. He avoids stretching, except the day of a race. He takes no medication, only a supplement that may or may not help his knees.

What he does possess is a slight build: He is 5 feet 7 inches and weighs 110 to 112 pounds. He also has an enormous oxygen-carrying capacity; an uncommon retention of muscle mass for someone his age; a floating gait; and an unwavering dedication to pit himself against the clock, both the internal one and the one at the finish line.

“I believe people can do far more than they think they can,” said Whitlock, a retired mining engineer who was born in greater London and speaks with British self-deprecation. “You have to be idiot enough to try it.”

Four years ago, at 81, Whitlock underwent a battery of physiological and cognitive tests at McGill University in Montreal. One of the tests measured his VO2 max, the maximum amount of oxygen that can be consumed and used by the muscles during exercise. It is measured in milliliters of oxygen per kilogram of body weight per minute. The higher the number, the greater a person’s aerobic fitness.

A top Olympic-level cross-country skier might have a VO2 max of 90, compared to 20 for those living independently in their 80s. Mr. Whitlock’s score was an exceptional 54. That is roughly equivalent to someone of college age who is a recreational athlete, said Russell Hepple, an exercise physiologist who performed the tests on Whitlock at McGill with his colleague and wife, Tanja Taivassalo.

A VO2 max reading of 54 appears to be unsurpassed for people tested in their 80s, said Scott Trappe, the director of the human-performance laboratory at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., who has studied Swedish cross-country skiers who continued to perform at high levels into their 80s and early 90s, including the 1948 Olympic champion Martin Lundstrom.

“There’s nothing higher than that in the literature,” Trappe said of Whitlock. “It’s phenomenal physiology.”

At McGill, Whitlock also underwent imaging and biopsy testing of his muscles. The smallest functional entity of muscle is called a motor unit, which consists of a neuron and the muscle fibers it activates. The number of functioning motor units declines with age.

For example, a healthy young adult has about 160 motor units in the shin muscle, called the tibialis anterior, which helps lift the toes. In an octogenarian, that number could have declined to about 60 motor units, Hepple said, but Whitlock retained “closer to 100.”

This preservation might largely be explained, he said, by a chronically elevated level of circulating chemicals, called neurotrophins, which protect and nurture neurons, helping them survive.

“That’s a big advantage,” said Hepple, who has recently moved to the University of Florida and is continuing to analyze his study of Whitlock and other aging athletes. “If you have more motor units, in the context of age, that would be reflected in better maintenance of muscle mass, which in turn would translate into better strength.”

Beyond genetics, there are other factors that surely have contributed to Whitlock’s stunning endurance, said Joyner of the Mayo Clinic.

He compared Whitlock to Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic marathon champion who has continued to run sub-three hour marathons into her late 50s and has said she will attempt the extraordinary feat into her 60s.

Neither Whitlock nor Benoit Samuelson could be considered extroverts. Yet athletes like them who remain highly active as they age “haven’t killed off their inner 13-year-old,” Joyner said. He described them, in general, as curious, relatively unconstrained and full of “physical and emotional vigor,” not so different from the older aunt or uncle who insists on shooting squirt guns at family reunions.

“There are biological factors; I’m not naïve about that,” Joyner said. “But the message with these people is not that they’re freaks. It is that a whole lot of aging, with a bit of luck, is under some volitional control.”

Inevitably, though, even Whitlock has made some concessions to growing older. His marathon time at age 85, 3:56:34, is more than an hour slower than the 2:54:48 he ran in Toronto at age 73 in what is widely considered his greatest masters race.

Adjusted for age, that race was the equivalent of a runner in his prime completing a marathon in 2:04:48, which is less than two minutes off the current world record of 2:02:57. Writing in The New York Times, the running journalist Marc Bloom said that Whitlock’s performance in 2004 may have made him “the world’s best athlete for his age.”

The next looming marathon record is for age 90 and beyond. Fauja Singh of England ran 5:40:04 at the purported age of 92 in 2003, but his mark has not been ratified because he has been unable to produce a birth certificate. Otherwise, statisticians list the age-group record variously as 6:35:47 or 6:46:34.

“We’ll see if I’m running when I’m 90,” Whitlock said. “You never really know if you’ve run your last race or not. I think I do have longevity in my genes”--an uncle lived to 107, he said--”but you never know, you might get hit by a bus.”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.7

351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt. 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope. 1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista. 1544 – The Burning of Edinburgh by an English army is the first action of the Rough Wooing. 1664 – Inaugural celebrations begin at Louis XIV of France's new Palace of Versailles. 1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces. 1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace. 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. 1763 – Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British. 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic. 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision. 1832 – Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London. 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history. 1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards. 1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. 1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day. 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire. 1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy. 1920 – Kyiv Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kyiv only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later. 1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later. 1930 – The 7.1 Mw  Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed. 1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces. 1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. 1945 – World War II: Last German U-boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland. 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day. 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded. 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress. 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer. 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13). 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits. 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise. 1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49. 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada. 1994 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February. 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. 1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft apparently inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup. 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia. 2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people. 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people. 2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.

[judithco]

Kuwaiti government approves deterrent penalties for violators of the "decisions of Corona"

Imprisonment for 6 months and a fine of 30,000 dinars. The Kuwaiti government ratifies deterrent penalties for violators of the "decisions of Corona" 604 0 0 Editorial team Riyadh | Editorial team 21 Rajab 1441/16 March 2020 10:21 PM The Kuwaiti Cabinet issued, on Monday, a decision to punish anyone who violates the decisions related to the Corona virus by imprisonment or a fine or both, and the Kuwaiti Cabinet decided to increase the penalty for anyone who violates the decisions related to the Corona epidemic by imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months and a fine of not less than 10 thousand One dinar and not more than 30 thousand dinars.

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The Kuwaiti Cabinet has introduced a provision in the law to punish those who know that he has one of the communicable diseases and caused the infection to be transmitted to others in a manner that I intend to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding 5 years and a fine to be transferred from 10 thousand Kuwaiti dinars.

The Kuwaiti Cabinet approved an increase in the ministries budget to cover the urgent needs to tackle Corona, and the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health said that the number of people recovering from the Corona virus reached 9 cases, while 8 new cases were registered. The ministry’s spokesman stated that the number of confirmed injuries in the country reached 112 cases.

[phgq]

NorMin 2019: Tales of 2 Lanao, mass surrenders, call for justice

#PHnews: NorMin 2019: Tales of 2 Lanao, mass surrenders, call for justice

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The first month of 2019 marked a new chapter in Mindanao's history when the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) was ratified through a plebiscite on January 21.

The Lanao del Sur Provincial Plebiscite Board of Canvassers (PPBC) officially recorded a total of 503,420 voters who answered "yes" and 9,735 "no" to the question whether they want their respective localities to be part of the new region that would replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In Marawi City alone, 58,688 voted "yes," while only 112 voted "no."

The majority of votes led to the creation of the new Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), with Cotabato City, and some barangays in North Cotabato as new part of the territory. 

But the province of Lanao del Norte refused to let go of its six towns to be part of the new BARMM.

In its separate BOL plebiscite on February 6, the provincial office of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said the province's 22 towns have a total of 352,518 registered voters, but only 242,667 actually cast their ballots.

Under the BOL, the six towns planned to be included in the BARMM are Balo-i, Munai, Nunungan, Pantar, Tagoloan, and Tangkal.

Lanao del Norte 1st District Rep. Mohamad Khalid Q. Dimaporo casts his vote in a precinct in Tubod town on Feb. 6, 2019. Dimaporo and his family holding elective posts in the province already expressed their objection to let the six towns to be part of BARMM due to socio-economic grounds, and the history of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front attacking its towns in the previous decades. (PNA photo by Nef Luczon)

 Anti-communism drive

When President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) 70, which led to the creation of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), calls for rebels and supporters to surrender intensified throughout the year.

ELCAC has its localized versions, through the local government units, which were crucial in implementing EO 70 to the grassroots with the help of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).

Individuals who claim to be members of the communist rebel group, New Peoples' Army, surrender to the military along with their firearms and ammunition. This is one of the many instances the military claimed it facilitated the surrender of rebels and its supporters mostly from Bukidnon province in the year 2019. (Photo courtesy 8th Infantry Battalion)

Most of the mass surrenders happened in Bukidnon province, with raids and offensives undertaken by the military that said to expose hideouts, including alleged abuses and crimes committed by the rebels.

This also prompted the AFP, specifically the 403rd Infantry Brigade under the 4th Infantry Division, to file charges against the Communist Party of the Philippines.

In addition, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Jose Ruperto Martin Andanar was appointed to be the officer-in-charge for the Cabinet Officers for Regional Development and Security (Cords) in Region 10.

Cords-10, under Andanar's leadership, was tasked to implement and supervise EO 70 in the region, which according to Andanar will remain unhampered.

In one of the gatherings participated by the media here on December 13, Andanar said that the Regional TF-ELCAC in Northern Mindanao tops the country for being the most active region in implementing EO 70 and yielding rebel surrenders.

These surrenders were then screened so that they will be qualified to avail of the Enhanced Comprehensive Local Integration Program (E-Clip), a government program that provides livelihood and financial aid to the former rebels and their families.

The death of Philippine Military Academy's (PMA) Cadet 4th Class Darwin Dormitorio on September 18, became a national headline. But his story in his home city, Cagayan de Oro, gave more perspective to the cadet's family in calling for justice.

Not only Dormitorio's family but also the community of the schools he attended prior to PMA, held prayer rallies in remembrance of him. His death has caused the resurgence of the conversation and debate surrounding the Anti-Hazing Law.

Eventually, suspects were arrested, who were Dormitorio's upperclassmen, and PMA officials were replaced due to the incident.

Dormitorio was laid to rest in Cagayan de Oro City, while charges against the suspects are pending in the courts. (PNA)

Soldiers of the Army’s 4th Infantry Division salute Philippine Military Academy (PMA) cadet 4th class Darwin Dormitorio before his remains are buried at the Cagayan de Oro Gardens in Barangay Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City, on Sept. 25, 2019. Col. Claro Unson, PMA deputy dean for academics, said failure to strictly enforce the Anti-Hazing Law was one of the shortcomings of officials of the PMA that led to Dormitorio’s death. (Photo by Jigger J. Jerusalem)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "NorMin 2019: Tales of 2 Lanao, mass surrenders, call for justice." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089620 (accessed December 28, 2019 at 12:30AM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "NorMin 2019: Tales of 2 Lanao, mass surrenders, call for justice." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089620 (archived).

[wkirtley]

New Post has been published on ACERIS LAW

New Post has been published on https://www.acerislaw.com/arbitration-in-brazil/

Arbitration in Brazil

Arbitration in Brazil has developed significantly over recent decades. The latest ICC statistical report for the year 2016 shows an increasing number of Brazilian parties using arbitration, with 123 Brazilian parties compared to 112 in 2014, placing Brazil in 3rd place in party-rankings worldwide. Brazil is today described as having a pro-arbitration legal regime and arbitration is frequently used in the construction and infrastructure sectors.

Influenced by Spanish arbitration law and the UNCITRAL Model Law, Brazil’s Arbitration Act (“BAA”) was enacted in 1996 and was recently amended in 2015. The BAA governs both domestic and international arbitrations in Brazil.

Pursuant to the BAA, an arbitration agreement, either in the form of an arbitration clause or of an arbitration submission, must be in writing. It can be included in the main contract or inserted in a separate instrument. The arbitration agreement is separate from the underlying contract. Consequently, if such a contract is held to be null and void, this will not necessarily render the arbitration agreement invalid (BAA, Article 8).

The parties are free to select the applicable law to the arbitration agreement as long as it does not violate morality and public policy. However, arbitration is limited to disputes concerning disposable patrimonial rights. The 2015 amendment clarified the issue of arbitration and Brazil’s public administration. State entities can arbitrate disputes concerning disposable patrimonial rights, but arbitration must be conducted de jure and be public (BAA, Article 2).

Parties should also include in their arbitration agreement an odd number of arbitrators along with the rules for their appointment. Parties may refer to the rules of arbitral institutions for the appointment of the arbitrators. However, the parties may mutually agree not to be bound by the arbitral institutions’ rules that provide for the selection of the arbitrator, co-arbitrator or chairman from their rosters of arbitrators. If the parties fail to specify how to appoint their arbitrators, then domestic courts are given the power to determine this (BAA, Article 13).

In accordance with Article 14 of the BAA, a person linked to the parties or the dispute at hand cannot act as an arbitrator. Further, an arbitrator is required to act with impartiality, independence, competence, diligence and discretion. The BAA requires the arbitrator to disclose any information that could raise doubt as to their impartiality or independence, prior to their appointment.

The annulment of an award may be sought before Brazilian courts within 90 days after it is rendered. The invalidity of the arbitration agreement, the lack of capacity, of independence and/or impartiality of an arbitrator, and the failure to meet formal requirements, constitute the primary grounds for annulment under Article 32 of the BAA. An award contrary to public policy may also be annulled.

Concerning the enforcement of arbitration awards, Brazil ratified the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Awards (“New York Convention”) only in 2002. Awards rendered in Brazil are today enforceable without any further step. The recognition of foreign awards requires a homologation and must be recognized by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice since 2014 pursuant to Article 38 of the BAA.

Regarding the enforcement of foreign awards annulled at the seat of arbitration, in 2015 the Superior Court of Justice held inadmissible recognition of an award that was annulled at the seat of arbitration, unlike in many European countries such as France. It considered that the recognition of the ICC award that had been vacated in Argentina, the seat of arbitration, would violate, inter alia, the BAA as well as the New York Convention of 1958 (EDF International S/A v. Endesa LatinoAmérica S/A & YPF S/A (SEC No. 5.782/AR).

Domestic arbitration is also increasing in Brazil. Brazilian arbitral institutions now administer a considerable number of cases. The Arbitration Center of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce (CCBC), the Chamber of Mediation, Conciliation and Arbitration of São Paulo (CIESP/FIESP), the Arbitration Center of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AMCHAM), the Arbitration and Mediation Chamber of Fundação Getúlio Vargas (CAM/FGV) and, the Business Arbitration Chamber: Brazil (CAMARB), are the principal arbitral institutions.

Brazil was long the “black sheep” of international arbitration. Since 1996 and the enactment of the Brazil Arbitration Act (“BAA“), however, Brazil has made significant steps to foster international commercial arbitration. The ratification of the New York Convention of 1958 was a major improvement and Brazil is now considered arbitration-friendly State.

Yet, Brazil remains a non-signatory of the 1965 Convention on the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States and its recent Cooperation and Facilitation Agreements with Mexico, Angola, Colombia, Malawi, and, Mozambique, do not provide for any investor-State dispute settlement provisions.

The current arbitration law of Brazil, as modified in 2015, may be found in its integrality below.

Download the PDF file .

[sufredux]

Israels Second Class Citizens

When the world focuses on the Arab-Israeli crisis today, the plight of the 4.6 million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank gets most of the attention. But another pressing question haunts Israeli politics: the status and future of Israel’s own Arab citizens, who number around 1.7 million and make up around 21 percent of its popu­lation. Over the past few decades, Arabs in Israel have steadily improved their economic lot and strengthened their civil society, securing a prominent place in the country’s politics in the process. But since 2009, when Benjamin Netanyahu began his second term as prime minister, they have also seen their rights erode, as the government has taken a number of steps to disenfranchise them. Israeli policymakers have long defined their state as both Jewish and democratic, but these recent actions have shown that the govern­ment now emphasizes the former at the expense of the latter.

This onslaught has triggered a debate among the leaders of the Arab commu­nity in Israel over how to respond. One camp wants Arab citizens to deepen their integration into mainstream society and join forces with the Israeli left to push for equality on the national stage. The other urges Arabs to withdraw from national politics altogether, creating autonomous cultural, educational, and political institutions instead. At the moment, Arab political leaders seem to favor the former approach. But the best strategy would be for Arabs to synthesize these competing visions into a unified program: one that calls on the Israeli government to integrate Israel’s Arab citizens into existing polit­ical structures even as it demands greater autonomy in such areas as edu­cational and cultural policy. The goal would be a system that grants Jews and Arabs equality in shared institutions and protects the rights of both to shape their own communities.

LEFT OUT AND MOVING UP              

Israel’s Arab citizens are the descen­dants of the approximately 150,000 Palestinians who stayed in the country following the expulsion of the majority of their brethren around the time of Israel’s establishment in 1948. Over the two decades that followed, Israel’s remain­ing Arabs suffered from high rates of poverty and low standards of living, had few opportunities for education, and were governed by martial law, which imposed various restrictions on them, from limitations on domestic and inter­national travel to constraints on setting up new businesses. To prevent the emergence of independent Arab centers of power, the Israeli government also closely supervised the activity of Arab municipal and religious institutions and arrested many Arab activists.

Since 1966, when martial law was lifted, the situation of Arab citizens has improved greatly. Consider education: in 1960, only 60 Arab students were enrolled in Israeli universities; today, there are more than 20,000 Arab uni­versity students in the country, two-thirds of whom are female, and around 10,000 Arab Israelis study abroad. Living standards have also risen, as has the status of women, and a strong middle class has emerged.

In 2014, the most recent year for which data are available, 66 of the 112 towns in Israel with more than 5,000 residents had virtually all-Arab popula­tions. And thanks to high birthrates and a young population—half of Israel’s Arab citizens are under the age of 20, whereas only 30 percent of Jewish Israelis are—the Arab Israeli popula­tion is likely to keep growing fast, with or without more support from the government. (Some Israeli officials have described the grow­ing Arab population as a threat to the Jewish majority; in fact, since the Jewish population is also growing, it is likely that Arabs will continue to make up only around 20 percent of Israel’s popula­tion over the next three decades.)

In short, Arabs in Israel are wealthier, healthier, and more numerous than ever before. Yet by most measures of well-being, they still lag behind their Jewish counterparts. In 2013, the most recent year for which data are available, the median annual income of Israel’s Arab households was around $27,000; for Jewish households, it was around $47,000, nearly 75 percent higher. The infant mortality rate is more than twice as high among Arabs as it is among Jews. Arabs are also underrepresented in Israel’s bureaucracy and academic institutions, making up less than two percent of the senior faculty in the country’s universities. And Arabs remain deeply segregated from Israel’s Jewish population: 90 percent of Arabs live in almost exclusively Arab towns and villages, and with just a few exceptions, Arab and Jewish children attend separate schools. (Nevertheless, Arabs and Jews remain relatively open to integration: a 2015 survey by the Israeli sociologist Sammy Smooha found that more than half of Israel’s Arabs and Jews supported the idea of Arabs living in Jewish-majority neighborhoods.)

What is more, when it comes to government support in such areas as the allocation of land for new construction, financing for cultural institutions, and educational funding, Arabs suffer from ongoing discrimination, despite some recent progress. Arabs make up around 21 percent of Israel’s population, but according to the Mossawa Center, a nongovernmental organization that advocates for Israel’s Arab citizens, Arab communities receive only seven percent of government funds for public transportation and only three percent of the Israeli Ministry of Culture and Sport’s budget is allocated for Arab cultural institutions; Arab schools are also significantly underresourced. (Toward the end of 2015, the Israeli government approved a five-year economic develop­ment program for Israel’s Arab community, worth up to $4 billion, that will increase funding for housing, education, infra­structure, transportation, and women’s employment. Although the plan represents a step in the right direction, the exact amount of funding that will be allocated to each of these areas remains unclear, as does the process by which its implementation will be monitored.) And then there is the fact that Israel defines itself along ethnonationalist lines that exclude the Arab minority—from a national anthem that famously describes the yearning of a Jewish soul for a homeland in Zion to a flag that displays a Star of David. In these ways, the Israeli government has maintained the dominance of the Jewish majority and denied Arabs genuine equality.

Arabs in Israel thus confront a frustrating confluence of factors: on the one hand, they enjoy a rising socioeco­nomic position; on the other, they face a government that in many respects has prevented them from achieving true equal­ity. How they respond to this frustrating dynamic, and how the Israeli govern­ment reacts, will have an enormous impact on the future of Israeli society, politics, and security.

THE INTERNAL DIVIDE

Arabs in Israel are not politically mono­lithic, and their goals vary. Their civic organizations, political activists, and public intellectuals offer competing visions for both the community’s internal develop­ment and its relationship with the state.

Broadly speaking, however, their agendas tend to fall into one of two frameworks, each based on a different understanding of Arab Israelis’ split identity. The first—call it a “discourse of difference”—suggests that Arabs’ ethno­cultural identity, rather than their Israeli citizenship, should be the starting point of their demands for change. By this logic, the Israeli government should empower Arabs to autonomously govern their own communities, by, for example, encouraging Arab officials to reform the curricula of Arab schools. The second—a “discourse of recognition”—takes Israeli citizenship, rather than Arab identity, as its starting point. This framework suggests that equality will be achieved when the state recognizes Arabs as equal Israeli citizens and equitably integrates them into existing institutions.

By most measures of well-being, Israel's Arab citizens still lag behind their Jewish counterparts.

For now, the latter approach seems to be dominant among Arabs in Israel. But even across this divide, there are a number of areas of consensus. Arabs of all political tendencies tend to condemn the government’s current policies as segre­gationist and discriminatory; many also contend that the government’s professed commitments to democracy and to the Jewish character of the state are irreconcilable. Nor are these the only points on which most Arabs agree: around 71 percent of Arabs in Israel support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, according to a 2015 survey, and only 18 percent reject the coexistence of Arabs and Jews in Israel.

The various strains of Arab political thought were brought together in December 2006, when a group of Arab activists and intellectuals published a declaration, The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel, that sought to define Arabs’ relationship with the state and their hopes for the country’s future. The document, which I co-authored, called on the Israeli government to recognize its responsibility for the expulsion of Palestinians around the time of Israeli independence and to consider paying reparations to the descendants of the displaced; to grant Arab citizens greater autonomy in managing their cultural, religious, and educational affairs; to enshrine Arabs’ rights to full equality; and, perhaps most striking, to legally define Israel as a homeland for both Arabs and Jews—a direct challenge to the historically Jewish character of the state.

Ratified by the National Committee for the Heads of the Arab Local Author­ities in Israel (a body that represents all of Israel’s Arabs), the document was embraced by the Arab public: a poll I conducted in 2008 with the sociologist Nohad Ali found that, despite their many differences, more than 80 percent of Arab Israelis supported its main proposals. In the years since its release, politicians representing some of Israel’s major Arab political parties have repeatedly called on the govern­ment to act on its demands. But Jewish leaders in the Israeli government, media, and academia have largely opposed the document. The board of the Israel Democracy Institute, a think tank, produced a statement in January 2007 arguing that the Future Vision report, as well as two other documents released by Arab activists in 2006, “den[ied] the very nature of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state” and declaring that the institute “reject[ed] this denial and its implication that there is an inescapable contradiction between the state’s Jewish and democratic nature.”

Bedouin children play in Umm el-Hiran, an unrecognized Bedouin village near the southern Israeli city of Beersheba, March 2016.

PARLIAMENTARY PREJUDICE

Arab-Jewish relations got even worse in the years after 2009, when Netanyahu returned to the premiership. Since then, the Israeli government has taken numerous steps to further hold back Arab citizens, from rules that limit the rights of Arabs to live in certain Jewish villages to a law that restricts the ability of Palestinians in the West Bank to obtain Israeli citizenship if they marry an Arab citizen of Israel. (Foreign Jews of any nationality, meanwhile, can become Israeli citizens without establishing family ties to Israelis.) In the Negev desert, home to most of Israel’s Bedouins, the government has introduced projects that aim to cement Jewish control of the land, by, for example, demolishing unrec­ognized Bedouin settlements and establishing planned Jewish towns in their place. More generally, the Netanyahu government has stepped up the official rhetoric affirming the need to strengthen the Jewish character of the state.

In March 2014, the Knesset passed a law raising the threshold for representation in the legislature from two percent to 3.25 percent of the popular vote. The move threatened to strip the four so-called Arab parties—Balad, Hadash, Ta’al, and the Islamic Movement in Israel’s southern branch—of their seats in the election of 2015. It was a reminder that the Israeli government’s anti-Arab policies derive as much from the calcu­lation on the part of the Netanyahu government that weakening the poli­tical position of Arabs might keep left-wing parties from regaining power as from the prejudices of some Israeli officials.

Largely to prevent their exclusion from the Knesset, the Arab parties banded together in January 2015 to create the Joint List, a big-tent political party that ran on a single ticket in the election held that March. On election day, Netanyahu sought to boost Jewish turnout by making the racially charged claim that Arab voters were “streaming in droves to polling stations.” The Joint List was remarkably successful nevertheless. Some 82 percent of Israel’s Arab voters cast a ballot in support of it. With 13 seats, it emerged as the third-largest political party in the Knesset after Netanyahu’s Likud Party and the center-left Zionist Union. Even more impressive, the Joint List managed to increase turnout among Arab voters by seven percentage points, from 56.5 per­­cent in the 2013 election to 63.5 percent in 2015. This surge suggests that Arabs in Israel have become more confident that their elected representatives can over­come their differences and act as an effec­tive united force in the Israeli establishment—in short, that national politics offer a path toward change. At least when it comes to parliamentary representation, right-wing efforts to impede the progress of the country’s Arabs have not succeeded.

Regardless of the state’s choices, Arabs in Israel can still shape their own fate.

Rather than accept this show of strength, Netanyahu’s coalition responded with further measures meant to weaken Arabs’ political position. In November 2015, his government outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Move­ment, an Islamist organization that has rallied a substantial portion of the Arab community around opposition to what it describes as Jewish threats to Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem. And in February of this year, after three Arab parliamentar­ians visited the families of Palestinians who were killed after attacking Israelis, Jewish lawmakers introduced a so-called suspension bill that would allow a three-fourths majority of the Knesset to eject any representative deemed to have denied the Jewish character of the state or incited violence. The Arab popu­lation views the proposed law as a direct attempt to sideline their representatives on the national stage. “Despite the delegit­imization campaign against us and the raising of the electoral threshold, we decided to remain part of Israeli poli­tics,” Ayman Odeh, an Arab parlia­mentarian who heads the Joint List, said during a debate on the proposed rule in the Knesset in February. “Yet we continue to be harassed.”

CITIZENS, UNITED

These developments have intensified the search for a new approach among Arab elites. Two main alternatives have emerged. The first, headed by Odeh, argues that Arab Israelis should work with the Israeli left to unseat the Netanyahu government and replace it with a center-left coalition that is willing to resume the peace talks with the Palestinians and consider major steps to advance the equality and integration of Arab citizens. The second, led by the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, as well as those Knesset members on the Joint List who represent Balad, opposes forming a coalition with the Israeli left. Both camps support the creation of a separate political body to represent Arab citizens, but whereas the former believes that such a body should supplement Arab voters’ current representation in the Knesset, the latter believes it should replace it.

These competing platforms have split the Arab public. In the 2015 survey conducted by the sociologist Smooha, 76 percent of Arab Israelis polled supported the Joint List’s coop­eration with Jewish parties in the Knesset. But 33 percent of Arab respondents voiced support for a boycott of Knesset elections; 19 percent supported the use of any means, including violence, to secure equal rights; and 54 percent said that a domestic intifada would be justified if the situation of Arabs does not sub­stantially improve.

The future of the Arabs in Israel depends in part on their ability to over­come these internal divisions, which have hindered the ability of the Arab leadership to achieve progress. Disagree­ment among Arab leaders as to whether a directly elected Arab political institution should replace or supplement Arabs’ representation in the Knesset, for example, has so far left the Arab population without an elected body of its own. In fact, it should be possible to synthesize these competing visions into a unified program that pushes for equal repre­sentation in existing institutions and greater autonomy when it comes to educational and cultural policy. No matter what shape such a platform takes, however, it should commit Arab activists to nonviolence, and it should clearly demand that the Israeli government abolish discrimination in the allocation of state resources. Finally, since broad support for Arabs’ demands for change will make them more effective, Arabs should invite Jews in Israel, Jewish organi­zations outside the country, Arabs and Palestinians in the region, and others in the international community that are sympathetic to their cause to endorse the platform.

But in many ways, the future of the Arabs in Israel hinges on developments over which they have little control. The first is how the Netanyahu government and its successors manage Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank: whereas open vio­lence between Israel and the Palestinians tends to exacerbate anti-Arab sentiment among Israel’s Jewish majority, a solution to the conflict could set the stage for reconciliation among Arabs and Jews in Israel. The second, of course, is how the Israeli government treats its own Arab citizens. Regardless of the state’s choices, however, Arabs in Israel can still shape their own fate—but that will require settling on a unified political program.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 1.9

475 – Byzantine Emperor Zeno is forced to flee his capital at Constantinople, and his general, Basiliscus gains control of the empire. 681 – Twelfth Council of Toledo: King Erwig of the Visigoths initiates a council in which he implements diverse measures against the Jews in Spain. 1127 – Jin–Song Wars: Invading Jurchen soldiers from the Jin dynasty besiege and sack Bianjing (Kaifeng), the capital of the Song dynasty of China, and abduct Emperor Qinzong of Song and others, ending the Northern Song dynasty. 1349 – The Jewish population of Basel, believed by the residents to be the cause of the ongoing Black Death, is rounded up and incinerated. 1431 – The trial of Joan of Arc begins in Rouen. 1760 – Ahmad Shah Durrani defeats the Marathas in the Battle of Barari Ghat. 1787 – The nationally known image of the Black Nazarene in the Philippines was transferred from what is now Rizal Park to its present shrine in the minor basilica of Quiapo Church. This is annually commemorated through its Traslación (solemn transfer) in the streets of Manila and is attended by millions of devotees. 1788 – Connecticut becomes the fifth state to ratify the United States Constitution. 1792 – Treaty of Jassy between Russian and Ottoman Empire is signed. 1793 – Jean-Pierre Blanchard becomes the first person to fly in a balloon in the United States. 1799 – British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the Napoleonic Wars. 1806 – Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson receives a state funeral and is interred in St Paul's Cathedral. 1816 – Humphry Davy tests his safety lamp for miners at Hebburn Colliery. 1822 – The Portuguese prince Pedro I of Brazil decides to stay in Brazil against the orders of the Portuguese King João VI, beginning the Brazilian independence process. 1839 – The French Academy of Sciences announces the Daguerreotype photography process. 1857 – The 7.9 Mw  Fort Tejon earthquake shakes Central and Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). 1861 – American Civil War: "Star of the West" incident occurs near Charleston, South Carolina. 1861 – Mississippi becomes the second state to secede from the Union before the outbreak of the American Civil War. 1878 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. 1903 – Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, son of the poet Alfred Tennyson, becomes the second Governor-General of Australia. 1909 – Ernest Shackleton, leading the Nimrod Expedition to the South Pole, plants the British flag 97 nautical miles (180 km; 112 mi) from the South Pole, the farthest anyone had ever reached at that time. 1914 – The Phi Beta Sigma fraternity is founded by African-American students at Howard University in Washington D.C., United States. 1916 – World War I: The Battle of Gallipoli concludes with an Ottoman Empire victory when the last Allied forces are evacuated from the peninsula. 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Rafa is fought near the Egyptian border with Palestine. 1918 – Battle of Bear Valley: The last battle of the American Indian Wars. 1921 – Greco-Turkish War: The First Battle of İnönü, the first battle of the war, begins near Eskişehir in Anatolia. 1923 – Juan de la Cierva makes the first autogyro flight. 1923 – Lithuanian residents of the Memel Territory rebel against the League of Nations' decision to leave the area as a mandated region under French control. 1927 – A fire at the Laurier Palace movie theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, kills 78 children. 1941 – World War II: First flight of the Avro Lancaster. 1945 – World War II: The Sixth United States Army begins the invasion of Lingayen Gulf. 1957 – British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden resigns from office following his failure to retake the Suez Canal from Egyptian sovereignty. 1960 – President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile. 1961 – British authorities announce they have uncovered the Soviet Portland Spy Ring in London. 1964 – Martyrs' Day: Several Panamanian youths try to raise the Panamanian flag in the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal Zone, leading to fighting between U.S. military and Panamanian civilians. 1965 – The Mirzapur Cadet College formally opens for academic activities in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).[citation needed] 1991 – Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. 1992 – The Assembly of the Serb People in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaims the creation of Republika Srpska, a new state within Yugoslavia. 1992 – The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail. They discovered two planets orbiting the pulsar PSR 1257+12. 1996 – First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians. 2004 – An inflatable boat carrying illegal Albanian emigrants stalls near the Karaburun Peninsula en route to Brindisi, Italy; exposure to the elements kills 28. This is the second deadliest marine disaster in Albanian history. 2005 – Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh. 2005 – The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War. 2007 – Apple CEO Steve Jobs introduces the original iPhone at a Macworld keynote in San Francisco. 2011 – Iran Air Flight 277 crashes near Urmia in the northwest of the country, in icy conditions, killing 77 people. 2014 – An explosion at a Mitsubishi Materials chemical plant in Yokkaichi, Japan, kills at least five people and injures 17 others.. 2015 – The perpetrators of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris two days earlier are both killed after a hostage situation; a second hostage situation, related to the Charlie Hebdo shooting, occurs at a Jewish market in Vincennes. 2015 – A mass poisoning at a funeral in Mozambique involving beer that was contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli leaves 75 dead and over 230 people ill.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 5.7

351 – The Jewish revolt against Constantius Gallus breaks out after his arrival at Antioch. 558 – In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses, twenty years after its construction. Justinian I immediately orders that the dome be rebuilt. 1274 – In France, the Second Council of Lyon opens to regulate the election of the Pope. 1487 – The Siege of Málaga commences during the Spanish Reconquista. 1664 – Louis XIV of France begins construction of the Palace of Versailles. 1685 – Battle of Vrtijeljka between rebels and Ottoman forces. 1697 – Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire. It is replaced in the 18th century by the current Royal Palace. 1718 – The city of New Orleans is founded by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville. 1763 – Pontiac's War begins with Pontiac's attempt to seize Fort Detroit from the British. 1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic. 1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision. 1832 – Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London. 1840 – The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history. 1846 – The Cambridge Chronicle, America's oldest surviving weekly newspaper, is published for the first time in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1864 – American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards. 1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia. 1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector—a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day. 1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many former pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire. 1915 – The Republic of China accedes to 13 of the 21 Demands, extending the Empire of Japan's control over Manchuria and the Chinese economy. 1920 – Kiev Offensive: Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later. 1920 – Treaty of Moscow: Soviet Russia recognizes the independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later. 1930 – The 7.1 Mw  Salmas earthquake shakes northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). Up to three-thousand people were killed. 1931 – The stand-off between criminal Francis Crowley and 300 members of the New York Police Department takes place in his fifth-floor apartment on West 91st Street, New York City. 1937 – Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces. 1940 – World War II: The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later. 1942 – World War II: During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships. 1945 – World War II: Last German U boat attack of the war, two freighters are sunk off the Firth of Forth, Scotland. 1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day. 1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded. 1948 – The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress. 1952 – The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey Dummer. 1954 – Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat and a Viet Minh victory (the battle began on March 13). 1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers. 1976 – The Honda Accord is officially launched. 1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits. 1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise. 1992 – Space Shuttle program: The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49. 1992 – Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first "fast-food murder" in Canada. 1994 – Edvard Munch's painting The Scream is recovered undamaged after being stolen from the National Gallery of Norway in February. 1998 – Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for US$40 billion and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history. 1999 – Pope John Paul II travels to Romania, becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054. 1999 – Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft apparently inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia. 1999 – In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup. 2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia. 2002 – An EgyptAir Boeing 737-500 crashes on approach to Tunis–Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people. 2002 – A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people. 2004 – American businessman Nick Berg is beheaded by Islamic militants. The act is recorded on videotape and released on the Internet.