#the nra's global impact

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Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism

(RNS) — The Muslim and Jewish communities in the West have a decades long history of standing together in solidarity against Islamophobia and antisemitism and supporting one another in times of pain. We have faced a similar bigotry and an uptick of hate-fueled attacks on our communities in recent years. We have been familiar faces to one another at the endless press conferences in the aftermath of so many of those incidents.

But these relationships cannot be confined to empathy at home. When that same hatred is overseas, it has to be just as near to our hearts. And at a time in which Palestinian civilians — two-thirds of whom are women and children — are being killed at a rate of 280 per day, we must affirm that anti-Palestinian racism and bigotry are also extensions of Islamophobia. We must also be crystal clear as to what anti-Zionism is and is not. 

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism.

It is a travesty that we are forced to state and defend what should be an undeniable fact. It is a strategic conflation made by the Zionist lobby, engineered to suppress a shift in narrative and public opinion that increasingly humanizes Palestinians and rejects the Israeli occupation. Over the past two months, Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment and ground invasion has resulted in more than 16,000 Palestinians killed and at least 40,000 more injured. And with that, a global audience otherwise ignorant of the Palestinian catastrophe has been granted firsthand access to the crimes of the Israeli occupation.

House Resolution 894, a resolution that strongly condemns and denounces the “drastic rise of antisemitism in the United States and around the world,” also states “that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” This is an ignorant at best — malicious at worst — attempt to amalgamate two disparate concepts. Antisemitism is a discriminatory and bigoted view of the Jewish people, a people with a millennialong history, while anti-Zionism opposes a political ideology introduced in the late 19th century that sought the establishment of an ethnostate on Palestinian territory. 

On December 5, the resolution passed despite last-ditch efforts by three Jewish Democrats, who urged their colleagues to avoid what they termed an “attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain.” They described the resolution as “just the latest unserious attempt by Republicans to weaponize Jewish pain and the serious problem of antisemitism to score cheap political points.” While 92 Democrats voted merely “present,” a majority voted in favor, marking a dramatic disconnect between Democrats in Congress and their constituents — at a time when Gallup data shows “Democrats’ sympathies in the Middle East now lie more with the Palestinians than the Israelis.”

And the impact of AIPAC lobbying cannot be overstated. As M.J. Rosenberg wrote for the Huffington Post in 2017, “(Democrats) are in the grip of a foreign policy lobby as powerful as the NRA, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.” Rosenberg alluded to Democrats’ decadeslong frustration with the National Rifle Association’s lobbying efforts against gun control measures. “Sorry, Democrats: your NRA is spelled AIPAC,” he titled the piece. 

House Republicans, and the GOP at large, began this deliberate mischaracterization of anti-Zionism years ago. In his remarks at the 2019 AIPAC Policy Conference, then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo catered to the crowd. “Let me go on the record,” he said. “Anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” He defined anti-Zionism as denying “the very legitimacy of the Israeli state and of the Jewish people.”

And that is exactly the conflation AIPAC hopes to embed and establish in the public discourse, the idea that the Israeli occupation and the Jewish people are inseparable. But as Dave Zirin of The Nation puts it, this is the greatest disservice to the Jewish people. “Anyone who attempts to fasten a 5,000-year-old religion to a 150-year-old colonial project is guilty of antisemitism. They are pushing the idea that my family, merely because of our religion, supports war crimes abroad and the crackdown on critics at home.” It also assumes American Jews are a homogenous group; a Pew Research Center survey found that most American Jewish adults take the position that God “did not literally give” the land of Israel to the Jewish people. 

Anti-Zionists, including thousands of Jews across the globe, reject the notion of an ethno-state that expels the existing Palestinian population. Anti-Zionists oppose the Israeli occupation on the basis of the myriad human rights abuses that Israel has carried out since its founding. These include the displacement and ethnic cleansing of millions of Palestinians, the establishment of an apartheid system that systematically disenfranchises Palestinians, a sustained illegal occupation, the murder of tens of thousands of Palestinians over the past seven decades and the ongoing genocide in Gaza. 

Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. It would be absurd to be forced to make the same clarifications regarding other distinctly independent concepts, and it is an indictment of the uninformed level of discourse Congress has succumbed to. Equating anti-Zionism and antisemitism is a strategic and calculated measure designed to stifle criticism of the Israeli occupation and instill fear in those who speak out, Jews and non-Jews alike. 

After the resolution’s passage, I wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that, “according to the House of Representatives, the Muslim community that has stood in solidarity in front of synagogues and Jewish community centers against hate for years — yet also opposes Zionism — is to be considered antisemitic. And all of the brave members of the Jewish community standing in solidarity against occupation are also apparently antisemites. Make it make sense.”

Unfortunately, it will never make sense. To equate anti-Zionism and antisemitism is to conflate being Jewish with being Zionist, and, as Dave Zirin posited, “this is rank antisemitism: the assumption that to be Jewish is to support Israel’s crimes.” Ironically, despite the resolution’s stated attempts to condemn antisemitism, it — in fact — fans the flames of bigotry. This resolution seeks to weaponize Jewish pain by criminalizing criticism of the occupation, apartheid and systemic racism, all of which are part and parcel of the current Israeli fabric.

[officewebmaster315]

amc stand for australian medical council

The acronym AMC stand for Australian Medical Council, a pivotal organization responsible for maintaining the standards and quality of medical education and practice in Australia. Established in 1985, the AMC has been the central authority tasked with assessing the qualifications of international medical graduates (IMGs) and ensuring they meet the necessary standards to practice medicine in Australia. In this article, we will delve into the essential functions and significance of the Australian Medical Council.

Accreditation of Medical Programs:

The Australian Medical Council (AMC) plays a crucial role in accrediting medical programs offered by universities and institutions in Australia. This accreditation process ensures that medical education in the country aligns with international standards, producing competent and skilled medical practitioners.

Assessment of International Medical Graduates (IMGs):

The AMC assesses the qualifications and skills of international medical graduates (IMGs) who aspire to practice medicine in Australia. IMGs from various countries must undergo a comprehensive assessment process to determine their eligibility to practice medicine in the country. The AMC's assessment includes evaluating academic qualifications, clinical competence, and language proficiency.

Standardization of Medical Competencies:

The AMC has developed the Australian Medical Council's National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) Competency Standards. These standards set the bar for essential competencies expected of medical practitioners in Australia, serving as a benchmark for medical education providers and medical practitioners.

Collaboration with Medical Boards:

Collaborating closely with the Medical Board of Australia and other relevant authorities, the AMC helps establish and maintain the highest standards of medical practice. This collaboration ensures that medical practitioners, whether domestically trained or international graduates, adhere to the highest ethical and professional standards.

Ongoing Professional Development:

Medical practitioners registered with the AMC must engage in continuous professional development (CPD) to stay updated with the latest developments in the medical field. The AMC supports this by providing resources and guidelines for CPD activities, ensuring that healthcare professionals continually enhance their skills and knowledge.

International Recognition:

Graduates who successfully complete the AMC assessment are often recognized by other countries, making it easier for them to pursue medical careers internationally. This international recognition adds to the global mobility of medical professionals.

Impact on Healthcare Quality:

The stringent standards and evaluations conducted by the AMC significantly contribute to the overall quality of healthcare in Australia. Patients can have confidence that their healthcare providers meet the highest standards of competence and professionalism, ultimately improving healthcare outcomes.

Challenges and Future Directions:

While the AMC has made significant contributions to the Australian healthcare system, challenges such as the increasing demand for medical professionals and evolving healthcare needs persist. The council must adapt to these changes and continue to evolve its standards and assessment processes accordingly.

The acronym AMC stand for Australian Medical Council, a vital institution ensuring the quality and integrity of medical education and practice in Australia. Its rigorous assessment processes, accreditation of medical programs, and collaboration with medical boards contribute to maintaining high standards of medical care in the country. The AMC's influence extends beyond Australia's borders, making it a respected authority in the international medical community. As healthcare continues to evolve, the AMC will play a crucial role in shaping the future of the medical profession in Australia.

[wolfsnape]

The NRA’s Global Impact, Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj.

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[bountyofbeads]

‘Simply Unacceptable’: 145 Executives Demand Action on Gun Violence https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/12/business/dealbook/gun-background-checks-business.html

Thank you Andrew Sorkin for your important voice in this conversation on the epidemic of gun violence in our country. Since Mitch McConnell and the GOP refuse to do anything on this matter, because they're bought and paid for by the NRA, it's time for responsible Corporations and the American people to act to end these mass murders and gun violence. Also a special thank you to organizations like @MomsDemandAction, @EveryTownUSA and the #Parkland students and activists for all your work.

BREAKING: 145 business leaders representing some of the nation’s leading corporations have issued a joint letter to the U.S. Senate, urging them to pass a law to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law.

145 Business Leaders Call on Congress to Act on Gun Violence

“Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable,” the corporate chiefs urged senators in a letter.

By Andrew Ross Sorkin "| Published

Sept. 12, 2019 Updated 9:36 a.m. ET | New York Times | Posted September 12, 2019 1:27 PM ET |

In a direct and urgent call to address gun violence in America, the chief executives of some of the nation’s best-known companies sent a letter to Senate leaders on Thursday, urging an expansion of background checks to all firearms sales and stronger “red flag” laws.

“Doing nothing about America’s gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety,” the heads of 145 companies, including Levi Strauss, Twitter and Uber, say in the letter, which was shared with The New York Times.

The letter — which urges the Republican-controlled Senate to enact bills already introduced in the Democrat-led House of Representatives — is the most concerted effort by the business community to enter the gun debate, one of the most polarizing issues in the nation and one that was long considered off limits.

The debate and the decision to sign — or not sign — are a case study in how chief executives must weigh their own views and the political risks to their businesses.

“To a certain extent, these C.E.O.s are putting their businesses on the line here, given how politically charged this is,” said Chip Bergh, chief executive of Levi Strauss, a company whose denim jeans have long been a symbol of America. Mr. Bergh spent the last several days trying to cajole his peers into joining him and gun control advocates like Everytown, which is funded in part by Michael Bloomberg. “Business leaders are not afraid to get engaged now,” he added. “C.E.O.s are wired to take action on things that are going to impact their business and gun violence is impacting everybody’s business now.”

Mr. Bergh said he was encouraged by the conversations. “The tide is turning,” he said, citing a spate of recent polls that show a majority of Americans in both parties support background checks and red flag laws. “People were starting to be much more open-minded,” he said, even when the discussion didn’t conclude with a signature.

Yet he is also bracing for a backlash. “This has been spun by the N.R.A. as we’re trying to repeal the Second Amendment,” Mr. Bergh said. “Nothing is further from the truth.”

The movement has gained momentum since last month, when a shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso killed 22 people. A day later, nine people were shot and killed in Dayton, Ohio.

“Gun violence in America is not inevitable; it’s preventable,” the business leaders wrote. “We need our lawmakers to support common-sense gun laws that could prevent tragedies like these.”

In addition to the expanded background checks, they are pressing the government to let federal courts issue temporary orders keeping guns out of the hands of people considered at risk of violence, under what is known as a red-flag law.

A week ago, Walmart, the largest retailer and employer in the country, wrote its own letter to Congress, pushing for a debate over reauthorizing an assault weapons ban. It also announced that it was removing certain ammunition and guns from its shelves and would discourage “open carry” in its stores. Other retailers followed suit by changing their open-carry policies, including Kroger, CVS, Walgreens and the Wegmans grocery chain.

The letter signers on Thursday include the leaders of Airbnb, the Gap, Pinterest, Lyft, the Brookfield Property Group and Royal Caribbean.

Missing from the list, however, are some of America’s biggest financial and technology companies, including Apple, Facebook, Google, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, some of which debated internally whether to sign the letter.

Two companies that signed may raise eyebrows in Washington: Thrive Capital, whose founder, Joshua Kushner, is the brother of Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law, and Bain Capital, the private equity firm co-founded by Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah.

The letter is the latest example of the business community’s stepping into a sensitive political area — sometimes reluctantly — during the Trump presidency. Business leaders have criticized Mr. Trump’s immigration policy and his response to the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Va. On guns, the president has on several occasions offered support for stronger firearms policies before stepping away.

Some of the letter signers plan to lobby lawmakers in Washington, but it is unclear how much money, if any, the companies may devote to this issue.

Some executives signed on without hesitation. Others mulled it, often creating a raucous debate inside their offices and among their boards of directors, only to decide that the political risk was too high. More than a half-dozen executives spoke about their deliberations on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of conversations.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook did not sign, although he told colleagues and peers that he agreed with stricter background checks, two people involved in the conversation said. With Facebook under federal scrutiny — and contending with a drumbeat of criticism from Republicans who contend that the company’s platform silences conservative voices — Mr. Zuckerberg has decided that activism on this issue would only intensify the spotlight on the company, these people said. Others inside Facebook made the case that it was a moral responsibility to press for more responsible gun sales laws.

Similar concerns were raised by the leadership at Google, whose YouTube unit was the site of a shooting last year. Google recently announced an internal policy that would make it hard for the company to consider signing the letter. That policy includes this line: “Our primary responsibility is to do the work we’ve each been hired to do, not to spend working time on debates about non-work topics.”

Uber’s chief executive, Dara Khosrowshahi, signed. His company’s policy bans guns from its vehicles, either for drivers or passengers. Once he signed, Lyft, Uber’s main rival, signed as well.

Several executives said one of the biggest practical worries was whether taking such a stance would lead to in-store confrontations with angry customers carrying guns. Would they be putting their employees in danger or even just in an uncomfortable discussion about a divisive issue?

Even banks like Citigroup and Bank of America, which both publicly distanced themselves from gunmakers this year by ending lending and banking relationships with manufacturers, declined to sign the letter. After they made their positions public this year, the banks were rebuked by Republican lawmakers. Louisiana passed a law preventing the banks from working on bond offerings for the state.

“I personally believe the policies of these banks are an infringement on the rights of Louisiana citizens,” the state’s treasurer, John Schroder, said at the time. “No one can convince me that keeping these two banks in this competitive process is worth giving up our rights.”

For better or worse, business leaders are increasingly carving out positions on social issues. It’s not new — and the Hobby Lobby fight against the contraceptive provision of the Affordable Care Act shows us that such positioning does not confine itself to progressive causes — but it is growing.

In some cases, those maneuvers have happened out of necessity, as when top executives could not count on a strong response from Washington after the killing of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. That touched off a flurry of calls between some of the country’s top finance executives about how to handle a conference being hosted by Saudi Arabia, whose crown prince had been implicated in Mr. Khashoggi’s disappearance.

But over the last three years, businesses have become engaged on social issues like immigration, climate change and race in a way that would have been unfathomable a decade ago. On Thursday, businesses turned to the problem of gun violence.

The letter suggested that background checks on all gun sales were a “common-sense solution with overwhelming public support.” A number of polls have put backing for such policies above 90 percent.

The market is demanding action — and businesses are listening.

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Just in case your still struggling with the feral hog thing....

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from InsideClimate News:

With rising global temperatures threatening to limit the skiing season and even warm some resorts out of existence, major ski companies are turning to their customers for help in the fight against climate change. Their goal: turn millions of snow-lovers into climate voters.

"The industry's much bigger, much more rabid, maybe more powerful and wealthy than the gun lobby, and yet we have no power," said Aspen Ski Co.'s Auden Schendler, pointing out that 10 million skiers logged about 59 million visits to U.S. resorts last winter.

"How do you mobilize that?" he asked. "Weaponize the outdoor community as a political movement."

That means venturing beyond the corporate sustainability campaigns already underway at resorts and ski companies, such as pressing local utilities to switch from coal to renewables, signing letters to policy makers and sending snow sport celebrities to lobby Congress.

Winter sports companies are now trying to mobilize those millions of skiers, snowboarders and other winter enthusiasts into a passionate political force for action on climate change by encouraging them to contact policy makers, vote for climate-friendly candidates and spread the word about climate change in their circles. The 2020 elections could become a proving ground for this new strategy to mix politics and play.

The winter sports industry knows it is facing an uncertain future.

One analysis, from a 2018 report by scientists with Climate Impact Lab, predicts that the number of days with below-freezing temperatures in Truckee, California, could shrink from 41 to 8 on average by the end of the century, and from 196 days to 141 at Stowe, Vermont. Rocky Mountain resorts, like Breckenridge and Taos, can expect their low-temperature days to decline by as much as one-third.

Another study, published in 2017, found that climate change will shorten the winter recreation season across the U.S., with half as many downhill skiing days in some places by 2050 and up to 80 percent fewer by 2090.

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the usa’s lack of gun control does not just impact us. here’s a video from hasan minhaj about the nra’s global impact, how they seek to loosen gun laws in other countries, and what we need to do. the usa’s actions do not exist in a vacuum and we must seek to create common sense gun laws before it is too late.

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patriot act with hasan minhaj: the NRA’s global impact

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The NRA’s Global Impact | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj 

Minhaj looks at the NRA’s attempts to roll back gun laws in New Zealand and Australia (amongst other concerns), including the mess with One Nation!

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0 Colts still weary of Titans

0 colts still weary of titans Coach Georgia Cann is going into the season under the impression that they can match up with everyone in the BFNL. The girls at the back were solid and I was really happy with how they cleaned up. Once complete, more than 40 percent of Ford's global nameplates will come in electric versions. It's time for the Jaguars to make a change.. The biggest area for improvement for the Devils coach factory outlet online will be on the defensive end where they allowed the most goals in the league by a wide margin. But, so far, it's been nothing but positive reviews for Dan Campbell, who took over the team for the recently fired Joe Philbin. Pooley said his side will maintain the style fostered under previous coach Adam Whitemore. For head coach Andy Partin Helped Region 3 to a gold medal in 2007 State Games Member of five WWBA national events helping the Dirtbags to five top 10 finishes and a second place finish in 2007 Played in the USA Youth National Tournament (Jupiter, Fla.) during the 2005 06 season Currently ranked as the No. Not when there is so much at stake. Sacrifice, of course, was central to ancient Israelite religion. Doesn mean we going to prove it. Anybody can play. The castle also lights up and reflects cutie marks when the heart in the center is pressed. But then she dares to get a little curious and she ventures off the path. 10. Got on us early when we were up there, and didn look back, Culver said. The teams traded baskets in the extra session, and Ellis hit a 3 pointer from the wing to tie the game 86 all with 1:15 left. Saints coach Alex Russell said his players are on a high after toppling Lilydale and want to consolidate the victory with Brad Pearton and Tom Armstrong out injured. The ball ricocheted off a New York defender and directly into the path of a waiting Romario, who fired it into the back of the net with a roundhouse volley, pushing the lead to 2 0.. Buffalo: Oats captured lightning in a bottle this season with a team that could make some noise in the NCAA Tournament. During a day and age when the NFL drops full year bans on players who smoke weed, a team like the Bengals will spend new jordan shoes a second round draft pick on Joe Mixon, the former University of Oklahoma running back who was caught on video punching a woman in the face.. Congratulations to Mr. If you manage other workers, this is the time to have any hard conversations you been putting off. Speakers for this year's festival are to be announced.. The Warriors have 10 players with a combined 140 games of finals experience; the Raptors have four players who have been in a combined 38 finals games. Hershey bar is a nice size) and the printing, but it shouldn't break your budget. Below is the closed captioning text associated with this video. The Honor Flight Network helps veterans of the "greatest generation" make a free pilgrimage to the World War II Memorial on the National Mall in Washington. The figure is meant to represent how much each student in Florida is worth to Rubio, based on how much money he received from the NRA.. These are human beings and young kids. Ron has personally mentored elementary students for five years. Hundreds of Yarmouth fans made the trek to Bridgewater to cheer on their team and were loud and proud throughout the game.. Being a good coach requires an intense knowledge of the game and a personality that is capable of motivating a team. George Police Officer Jeffrey Ashworth in support of the arrest.. Coming in at 1 on this list is of course the disaster that occurred last March in the NCAA Tournament Round of 16. UPDATE 11.25am: Reserves grand final underway between St Pats and Evandale UPDATE 11.11am: Evandale reserves run out on the groundSeptember 8 2018 10:00AM. A lot of times now coaches call a lot of the pitches and catchers don't have the opportunity to call their own games. In the wake of Perrantes' departure, Devon Hall (8.4 ppg., 4.4 rpg., 37.2% 3pt.) will provide senior leadership after doing just about everything for the team as a junior. We run out of clean clothes, that is we tired of washing our few garments in the sink every night, and we want to speak English to people besides each other. Against nazareth this weekend. Saints coach Allan O'Sign said his side's fight to overcome Deloraine gave them confidence but improvement in their ability to play four quarters is required. What was achieved, measured against specific business goals? "The purpose of this impact evaluation was to determine if those results were produced, why and by whom, and, if not, why not. "You could tell they have been playing together for a while because they know who is making what run. 7 jersey, but Ivan being at the helm would only make it more unlikely for another playmaker to usurp him.. That really motivated a lot of girls and kept them there. The second half saw Saint Louis FC press for the equalizer but the closest attempts came from set pieces. "They looked forward to it. Reid crew learned to handle every simulation NASA could throw at them. On draft day, Oakland decided to select Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley with the 24th overall pick. Her nervousness mounted, and she was quite worried, but when her daughter ran by she saw her daughter looked strong! At the conclusion of the marathon, parents were visibly moved with pride, with shining faces and even tears.

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The NRA’s Global Impact | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix

[justjokeswithtomhannigan]

Jokes 7/13/19

Vice President, Mike Pence, said today in an interview that he believes people are only focusing on the troubled border facilities. It’s an interesting interpretation from someone who also only focuses on the worst parts of the Bible.

A Glacier the size of Florida is becoming unstable and could have disastrous effects on the global sea levels. Classic Florida. 

A new species of Dinosaur has been discovered by Swiss scientist. So far all we know about the new species is that it stayed neutral and wouldn’t get between the meteor and other Dinosaurs. 

Four months after Christchurch shooting, New Zealand residents have begun turning in their guns for money. Anti-Gun groups in America see this as a great chance for the struggling NRA to able to pay their bills once again. 

This week over 400,000 Alien Enthusiast pledged to raid Area 51 over Facebook. This is expected to go off without a hitch since no one has more follow-through than angry nerds on the internet. 

In street justice news, a car thief was beaten to death in Philadelphia after stealing a car with three children inside of it. The surprising part of this is that its existence means someone broke Philadelphia’s strict “no snitching” policy.

Disney’s live-action remake of The Lion King is currently receiving a lot of negative reviews. If these reviews impact its box office, it could be the first time ever that Hakuna Matada does mean worries. 

Toy Company, Mattel, has announced, they’ll be releasing a David Bowie Barbie Doll. For whatever reason though, it’s old-aged Bowie. 

This week Scientist unveiled the first ever image of what Quantum Entanglement looks like, but if you’ve seen people shopping on Black Friday it looks just as messy and chaotic. 

A producer of the upcoming live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie recently said that he expects fans will like the redesign of the character. Saying, “We’ve taken his teeth out completely and edited around whatever it is Jim Carry was doing.”

This year, Finland will be the host of the Heavy Metal Knitting World Championship. Finland won the bid to host the Championship after every other Northern European country said, “That’s not a real thing, right?”

[quakerjoe]

The NRA’s Global Impact | Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj | Netflix

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House Democrats Issue First Subpoena in Ukraine Impeachment Inquiry https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/27/us/politics/house-democrats-impeachment-trump.html

House Democrats Issue First Subpoena in Impeachment Inquiry

Three committee chairmen issued the first subpoena in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump, seeking documents and witnesses regarding his dealings with Ukraine.

By Nicholas Fandos and Sheryl Gay Solberg | Published Sept. 27, 2019 Updated 6:15 PM ET | New York Times | Posted September 27, 2019 6:48 PM |

WASHINGTON — House Democrats, kick-starting their impeachment inquiry into President Trump, subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday, demanding he produce a tranche of documents related to the president’s dealings with Ukraine. Separately, they instructed him to make five State Department officials available for depositions in the coming two weeks.

A failure to do so, the leaders of three House committees wrote jointly, would be construed as “evidence of obstruction of the House’s inquiry” — an offense Democrats have made clear they view as grounds for impeachment.

It was the first major action in the rapidly escalating impeachment investigation, which began this week amid revelations that Mr. Trump  pressured President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine to investigate a leading political rival, possibly using United States aid as leverage. It came as House Democrats planned an aggressive pace for their inquiry, eyeing their first hearing on the matter as early as next week.

The Intelligence Committee has also scheduled a private briefing for next Friday with Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general, who first attempted to share a whistle-blower complaint outlining the matter with Congress, according to a committee official.

Mr. Atkinson met with House lawmakers last week, but was restricted from discussing any of the complaint’s substance. This time, Mr. Atkinson will be freer to describe his efforts to corroborate the complaint, which he ultimately deemed a matter of “urgent concern” that “appears credible.”

The letters to Mr. Pompeo were sent by Representative Eliot L. Engel of New York, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee; and Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the chairman of the Oversight and Reform Committee.

“The committees are investigating the extent to which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding security assistance provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression,” the three chairmen wrote.

[Read the letter from three House committee chairmen informing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the subpoena.]

The subpoena for documents seeks any communications or other paperwork related to a call between the two leaders, efforts by the president’s private lawyer to advance the effort, as well as the Trump administration’s decision to temporarily withhold $391 million in security aid from Ukraine.

The two letters pointed to an aggressive strategy on the part of House Democrats to pressure the Trump administration to furnish crucial information surrounding Mr. Trump’s dealings with Ukraine or risk strengthening their case for impeaching the president based on obstruction of Congress.

The officials that the Democrats said must appear for depositions in early October were Marie Yovanovitch, the former American ambassador to Ukraine; Ambassador Kurt Volker, the United States special envoy to Ukraine; George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs; T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, a State Department counselor; and Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the European Union. The officials were either mentioned in a whistle-blower complaint related to the Ukraine matter released this week or are connected to American policy work in the region.

“This subpoena is being issued by the Committee on Foreign Affairs after consultation with the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Oversight and Reform. The subpoenaed documents shall be part of the impeachment inquiry and shared among the Committees,” the Democrats wrote. “Your failure or refusal to comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the House’s impeachment inquiry.”

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letters.

Lara Jakes contributed reporting.

"It was not clear whether Mr. Trump asked Mr. LaPierre for his support, or if the idea was pitched by the N.R.A. During the meeting, Mr. LaPierre asked that the White House “stop the games” over gun control legislation, people familiar with the meeting said."

Trump Meets With LaPierre to Discuss How N.R.A. Could Support Political Defense

By Maggie Haberman and Annie Karni | Published Sept. 27, 2019 Updated 6:23 PM ET | New York Times | Posted September 27, 2019 6:40 PM ET |

President Trump met in the Oval Office on Friday with Wayne LaPierre, the chief executive of the National Rifle Association, and discussed prospective gun legislation and whether the N.R.A. could provide support for the president as he faces impeachment and a more difficult re-election campaign, according to two people familiar with the meeting.

It was not clear whether Mr. Trump asked Mr. LaPierre for his support, or if the idea was pitched by the N.R.A. During the meeting, Mr. LaPierre asked that the White House “stop the games” over gun control legislation, people familiar with the meeting said.

It was unclear what the N.R.A.’s financial support would look like, and whether it would pay for ads, as it did during Mr. Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Mr. LaPierre has been a leader in an aggressive campaign by gun rights advocates to influence the White House in the months since the back-to-back mass shootings in Texas and Ohio. In a series of calls and meetings, he has tried to move Mr. Trump away from proposing any sort of background check measures that he said after the mass shootings he might support.

Privately, Mr. Trump has raised questions with his aides about the N.R.A.’s ability to help back his 2020 campaign the way it did in 2016, when it poured over $30 million into his election, more than any other outside group.

Since then, the N.R.A. has been plagued by internal fighting, investigations, financial strains and scandal. But aides have reassured him that the group is in good financial shape, while his own political fortunes have shifted since the mass shootings.

‘The New Berlin Wall’: Why Ukraine Is Central to the Scandal

By Andrew Higgins | Published Sept. 27, 2019 Updated 5:57 PM ET |New York Times | Posted September 27, 2019 6:45 PM ET |

IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Ukraine — His voice crackling over what he complained was a “terrible” sound system, Donald J. Trump in September 2015 heaped praise on the oligarch who had invited him to speak by video link from New York to a conference in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine.

The Ukrainian oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, had secured 20 minutes of Mr. Trump’s time — and a heap of flattery from the future president, who described him as “a very, very special man” — with a donation of $150,000 to Mr. Trump’s now defunct foundation.

Mr. Pinchuk, a steel magnate long enmeshed with Ukraine’s business and political elite, had earlier donated more than $10 million to the Clinton Foundation and been invited to dine at the Washington home of Hillary and Bill Clinton.

The equal opportunity largess of powerful Ukrainians like Mr. Pinchuk helps explain why so many of the most dimly lit and hazardous roads of American politics keep leading back to Ukraine, a poor, dysfunctional country on Europe’s eastern fringe.

[Read more about how Ukraine landed in the middle of an American political drama.]

Caught between the clashing geopolitical ambitions of Russia and the West, Ukraine has for years had to balance competing outside interests and worked hard to cultivate all sides, and also rival groups on the same side — no matter how incompatible their agendas — with offers of money, favors and prospects for career advancement.

Paul Manafort, Rudolph Giuliani, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter and Hillary Clinton have all, at one time or another, found their way there, escorted by Ukrainian guides with deep pockets and a keen sense of how to appeal to their vanities, ambitions and greed.

“The fact is Ukraine is an amazing place,” Mr. Trump told Mr. Pinchuk’s conference in 2015. “I’ve known so many people over so many years in the Ukraine.”

He told Ukraine’s new president, Volodomyr Zelensky, much the same thing this week when they met in New York, though the only specific person from Ukraine he wanted to tell Mr. Zelensky about was a former Miss Universe contestant.

Ukraine, said Serhii Plokhy, a Harvard historian whose books include “The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine,” has for centuries been tugged in different directions by rival suitors, and became a “battlefield” between Russia and the West when it declared its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

“The front lines are always places that attract both heroes and villains who go there from world capitals to make a name, advance a career, make a fortune, etc. — and then carry back home legacies, memories and skeletons for their closets,” Mr. Plokhy said.

Ukraine’s allure for American carpetbaggers, political consultants and adventurers has put it at the center of not just one but now two presidential elections in the United States and a host of second-tier scandals.

Before becoming Mr. Trump’s campaign manager before the 2016 election, Mr. Manafort made millions of dollars in Ukraine, working as an adviser to the country’s leadership out of an office in Kiev. Mr. Giuliani — who has also wound up working with opposing sides in internal Ukrainian battles — has repeatedly looked to the same city and a new set of Ukrainian leaders for dirt on Mr. Trump’s political foes ahead of the 2020 poll.

Yevhen Hlibovytskyi, a lecturer in philosophy at the Ukrainian Catholic University, said Ukraine’s pivotal position in geopolitical struggles had made Kiev, a picturesque capital of cobblestoned streets on the Dnepr River, into the 21st century’s equivalent of Cold War dens of intrigue like Vienna and Berlin, or Casablanca during World War II.

“Ukraine is the country that hosts the Berlin Wall at the moment,” he said. “Ukraine is the country where the clash between the free and unfree world takes place. It’s only natural that some players will be seeking protection in the West,” sometimes by crossing palms with silver.

Put upon over the centuries by more powerful neighbors claiming their land, notably Russia, Poland and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Ukrainians have rarely had firm allies or even their own functioning state, a situation that has encouraged a highly transactional approach to foreign and also domestic affairs.

Unlike Russia, ruled since the time of Ivan the Terrible in the 16th century by a single, strong leader, usually a tyrant, Ukraine has always been a land of competing power centers. This has made it a fertile ground for democracy but also left it a highly fractured nation with an ever shifting constellation of feuding power-brokers who often look to foreigners for help in their internal struggles.

The whistle-blower’s complaint released on Thursday revealed how Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer, played into this dynamic, focusing his efforts to get Mr. Biden and his son investigated on a group of senior law-enforcement officials in Ukraine who had been locked for months in a bitter turf war with rival factions within the same state structure.

The officials Mr. Giuliani sought out in the name of fighting corruption were engaged in a long feud with Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau. The bureau, which has worked closely with the F.B.I. and was set up in 2014 with strong support from the Obama administration, is one of the few government agencies in Ukraine that Western diplomats in Kiev view as reasonably honest and competent.

Mr. Giuliani has his own business history in the country as well. More than two years ago, his company, Giuliani Security and Safety, signed a contract with a wealthy Ukrainian, Pavel Fuks, to consult on emergency planning in Mr. Fuks’s hometown, Kharkiv.

At the time, Mr. Fuks and others had become entangled in a complicated $1.5 billion deal to buy Ukrainian government bonds. In an investigation, Al Jazeera reported that the real sellers were sanctioned former insiders in the government of the disgraced former president of Ukraine, Viktor F. Yanukovych.

Political survival in Ukraine has for centuries often hinged on finding a strong patron abroad. This sometimes led to disaster, most famously in the case of Ivan Mazepa, the Cossack leader of an embryonic state in eastern Ukraine in the 17th century. Initially an ally of Peter the Great of Russia, Mazepa, worried by the rise of powerful Cossack rivals, switched sides to ally with Russia’s great enemy at the time, Sweden, which he thought would offer protection. Instead, it led him to crushing defeat by Russia at the Battle of Poltava in 1709.

“Ukrainians all the time tried to form an alliance with the stronger side,” said Volodymyr Yermolenko, editor in chief at Ukraine World, an online magazine. Mazepa, despite his defeat, is revered as a national hero in Ukraine for trying, albeit with catastrophic consequences, to hold Russia at bay by finding a powerful patron in the West.

Mr. Manafort, Mr. Trump’s former campaign manager and now a convicted fraudster, made a fortune in Ukraine by convincing its since toppled pro-Russian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, that he could, for a hefty fee, help woo Europe and blacken the reputation of his main political rival, Yulia Timochenko, who had been thrown in jail.

Mr. Biden’s son Hunter earned at least $850,000 for serving on the board of a Cyprus-registered Ukrainian gas company that needed help in cleaning up its image after falling foul of anticorruption investigators in Ukraine. The company insisted it was the victim of internal score-settling.

Yevhen Mahda, director of the Institute of World Policy, a research group, compared Ukraine’s recruitment of people like Mr. Manafort to the medieval practice of paying the Catholic Church for “indulgences,” which were supposed to reduce God’s punishment for sinful behavior.

“A lot of Ukrainian politicians have this stereotype that you pay an influential figure in the West, from Europe or America, and they will cleanse you of your sins,” he said.

The pursuit of foreign protectors and patrons has been a common feature of Ukraine’s political and business elite, no matter what their own political leanings.

Ukraine’s former president Petro O. Poroshenko, elected after street protests toppled his pro-Russian predecessor in February 2014, made good relations with the Obama administration his top foreign relations priority and then invested heavily in wooing the Trump administration, despite having favored Mrs. Clinton in the 2016 election.

Mr. Poroshenko’s eagerness to win over Mr. Trump and his growing fears that political rivals would thwart his re-election opened the way for Mr. Giuliani to press Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Yuri Lutsenko, who has since been fired, to help Mr. Trump’s own re-election by investigating Mr. Biden and his son.

How Mr. Poroshenko expected the Trump administration to help lift his sagging fortunes ahead of Ukraine’s presidential election, held in two rounds in March and April this year, is unclear. He got trounced anyway, losing emphatically to Mr. Zelensky, whose own officials quickly became the Trump team’s new targets in its drive to damage Mr. Biden.

While Democrats want Mr. Trump impeached over his dealings with Ukraine, the president and his allies have counterattacked with their own Ukraine-focused scandals. They have revived a debunked theory that the country colluded with the Clinton campaign to hurt Mr. Trump’s chances in 2016 and asserted, with little evidence, that Mr. Biden used his position as vice president to prevent Ukraine from investigating his son.

Ukrainians, jaded after years of watching their own leaders trade the power and privileges of office for personal financial or political gain, have mostly shrugged off what, for Mr. Trump, is possibly the most serious scandal to buffet the White House since Watergate toppled President Richard Nixon in 1974.

That a country few Americans paid much attention to in the past now commands center stage in Washington has stirred mostly bemusement in Ukraine. Those feelings are also tinged with a touch of pride that, after centuries in the shadow of Russia, its giant neighbor to the east, the nation is no longer seen as a backwater but a pivot around which the fate of the world’s most powerful country implausibly turns.

Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine’s foreign minister under Mr. Poroshenko, said in a wry Twitter message this week that going down in history “as the country that led to the impeachment of the U.S. president” was “not a very fun prospect.” But, he added, “Now everyone understands what we are capable of.”

Andrew Kramer contributed reporting from Kiev, Ukraine.

[sarah-rieser]

CNL Projects and Terrain Exhibitions present ART-IN-PLACE 2022, on view September 1st through October 15th, and I’ve been included - check me out!

Every Body Is Somebody’s Baby

Inspired by The NRA Children’s Museum

Project Description:  A variety of spent pistol & rifle shells hung with fishing line above & below a 'banner' made of baby blankets accented with tiny clothing create silent 'windchimes' across the open space of a suburban front porch. (Materials include vintage handmade blankets and garments, appliqued fleece lettering, acrylic yarns, brass casings, diamond braid rope, weatherproof monofilament, wooden clothespins. Dimensions of approximately 12’ x 5’.)

Suggested Donation Organization:  changetheref.org

https://www.artinplace.net/artistsmz

Press Release:  Over two years after the first iteration, ART-IN-PLACE continues its efforts to bring people together and call us to action through the experience of public art. This summer, our teams at CNL Projects and Terrain Exhibitions once again felt compelled to respond to the state of our country. We invited artists to consider the relentless, ongoing violence epidemic —not only overt gun violence, but the continued multifaceted violences of anti-Blackness and racism, transphobia and homophobia, gender-based violence, violence and harm done to Disabled people, and the exploitation of the environment. ART-IN-PLACE provides a structure to amplify artists' voices in public space around these urgent, complex topics. We look to public art as a tool to engage us in thoughtful dialogue, community connection, and much-needed action to promote change. We are using art as a means to reclaim our human rights.

Artists of any medium and experience level were invited to respond to the current state of our country by exhibiting an original work of art or performance in public. Over one-hundred artworks/performances are displayed outside a home, on a lawn, from a window visible to the public, or through an artist-formed partnership with a local business across the globe.

The ART-IN-PLACE initiative began with three goals in mind:

·        Create opportunity to connect artists with each other around a collective action;

·        Use art as a way to build community for people walking around the area; and

·        Serve as a catalyst for conversations in response to the violence epidemic using art and performance as a tool to drive impact.

Artists across the country were invited to submit to ART-IN-PLACE and represent all skill levels, from hobbyists to trained professionals. Participating artists documented their installations locally and shared images with organizers digitally. While a majority of the 100 submissions came from Chicago neighborhoods, the project’s organizers were pleased to have participation outside of the country, including in Ireland and Jamaica. The spotlight on local artists creates an immediate platform for communities to engage with art and to use it as a lens through which to understand culture, especially a culture in crisis, while the international participation points to the interconnected and global nature of our struggle.

The organizers intend to partner with a local political organization to print a series of postcards featuring a selection of the exhibited works to make available for purchase and/or distribution locally to use as a platform to encourage folks to vote in the midterm 2022 elections. Original artwork is available for sale with proceeds benefitting participating artists and organizations identified by each artist. Visit www.artinplace.net to view all participating artists. To learn more about the project, visit cnlprojects.org and/or terrainexhibitions.org.