#vice president of communications and public relations

[gothamnewsnetwork-official]

Helena Wayne-Kyle; dead at 17.

Today our city mourns for we have lost one of our own.

Helena Wayne-Kyle (@the-best-of-waynes) (see related articles), daughter of Gotham Socialite Bruce Wayne (@officialbruciewayne) (see related articles) and alleged thief and socialite, Selina Kyle (@selinakyl-ee) (see related articles), has passed away tonight in a car wreck just outside of Gotham. Ms. Wayne-Kyle

Ms. Wayne-Kyle had been travelling to Metropolis (see related articles) to stay with a friend when her car swerved off the road and crashed. Authorities were not informed until what is assumed to be several minutes after and were unable to save the Gotham City (see related articles) heiress from the ensuing fire.

Her car had allegedly been in bad shape at the time of the crash and looked to have not been taken in for work in several months, though GCPD (see related articles) have ruled her death to be accidental, and ask that any speculation be put to rest.

She was proclaimed dead at the scene at approximately 6:00 AM today, just a few months after her 17th birthday. She is survived by her family (see related articles), both immediate and extended, as well as her close friend Karen Starr (@brightest-starr-girl) (see related articles).

Ms. Wayne-Kyle was known by Gothamites as an avid philanthropist, a legacy carried through her father from her grandparents, Thomas and Martha Wayne (see related articles). She was known to be involved in many charities and non-profits via the Thomas and Martha Wayne foundation and their subsidiaries (see related articles).

She specifically spent her time working to better our city’s foster care system, and adoption processes, as well as being a known advocate for children’s safety, working with many programs to better protect the youth of this city.

[Pictured Above - Helena Wayne-Kyle, photographed at the GCPD annual children’s benefit gala, of which she was a known benefactor.]

Though the public knew her best for her community work, Ms. Wayne-Kyle was heavily involved in her academics. An honour-role student and senior class representative of her year, she was known throughout her school community for her leadership roles within numerous clubs, such as the school’s Model UN (of which she was vice-president) and Mock Law Society (of which she was president), among many others.

“ Len was an incredible person, always doing whatever it took to help those around her, from the orphanages, shelters, and foster care centers she devoted so much time and love to, to anyone her family—no matter what it cost her […]

[…] She had one of the largest hearts of anyone I’ve ever met. ”

- Karen Starr, Helena’s best friend of 8 years, taken from a statement made to the journal.

A soul taken from the world too soon, Helena Wayne-Kyle will forever be remembered by Gothamites as a positive force within the community, she will be dearly missed by all around her.

Her funeral will be held on December 29th at 1043 Cathedral Square, Gotham City, for those who wish to pay their respects.

[Pictured Above - The funeral invitation of Helena Wayne-Kyle.]

Gotham reports is certified in fair, unbiased, and reliable reporting

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[sohaibsmart]

Amazon Prime Day occasion begins, gross sales up 12% in first 7 hours: Report | Firm Information

Prime Day can function a bellwether for the vacation procuring season. 3 min learn Final Up to date : Jul 17 2024 | 12:10 AM IST Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime Day gross sales rose virtually 12 per cent within the first seven hours of the occasion in contrast with the identical interval final 12 months, based on Momentum Commerce, which manages 50 manufacturers in a wide range of product…

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #19

May 17-24 2024

President Biden wiped out the student loan debt of 160,000 more Americans. This debt cancellation of 7.7 billion dollars brings the total student loan debt relieved by the Biden Administration to $167 billion. The Administration has canceled student loan debt for 4.75 million Americans so far. The 160,000 borrowers forgiven this week owned an average of $35,000 each and are now debt free. The Administration announced plans last month to bring debt forgiveness to 30 million Americans with student loans coming this fall.

The Department of Justice announced it is suing Ticketmaster for being a monopoly. DoJ is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for monopolistic practices. Ticketmaster controls 70% of the live show ticket market leading to skyrocketing prices, hidden fees and last minute cancellation. The Justice Department is seeking to break up Live Nation and help bring competition back into the market. This is one of a number of monopoly law suits brought by the Biden administration against Apple in March and Amazon in September 2023.

The EPA announced $225 million in new funding to improve drinking and wastewater for tribal communities. The money will go to tribes in the mainland US as well as Alaska Native Villages. It'll help with testing for forever chemicals, and replacing of lead pipes as well as sustainability projects.

The EPA announced $300 million in grants to clean up former industrial sites. Known as "Brownfield" sites these former industrial sites are to be cleaned and redeveloped into community assets. The money will fund 200 projects across 178 communities. One such project will transform a former oil station in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood, currently polluted with lead and other toxins into a waterfront bike trail.

The Department of Agriculture announced a historic expansion of its program to feed low income kids over the summer holidays. Since the 1960s the SUN Meals have served in person meals at schools and community centers during the summer holidays to low income children. This Year the Biden administration is rolling out SUN Bucks, a $120 per child grocery benefit. This benefit has been rejected by many Republican governors but in the states that will take part 21 million kids will benefit. Last year the Biden administration introduced SUN Meals To-Go, offering pick-up and delivery options expanding SUN's reach into rural communities. These expansions are part of the Biden administration's plan to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease by 2030.

Vice-President Harris builds on her work in Africa to announce a plan to give 80% of Africa internet access by 2030, up from just 40% today. This push builds off efforts Harris has spearheaded since her trip to Africa in 2023, including $7 billion in climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation, and $1 billion to empower women. The public-private partnership between the African Development Bank Group and Mastercard plans to bring internet access to 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria, before expanding to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Ghana, and then the rest of the continent, bring internet to 100 million people and businesses over the next 10 years. This is together with the work of Partnership for Digital Access in Africa which is hoping to bring internet access to 80% of Africans by 2030, up from 40% now, and just 30% of women on the continent. The Vice-President also announced $1 billion for the Women in the Digital Economy Fund to assure women in Africa have meaningful access to the internet and its economic opportunities.

The Senate approved Seth Aframe to be a Judge on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, it also approved Krissa Lanham, and Angela Martinez to district Judgeships in Arizona, as well as Dena Coggins to a district court seat in California. Bring the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 201. Biden's Judges have been historically diverse. 64% of them are women and 62% of them are people of color. President Biden has appointed more black women to federal judgeships, more Hispanic judges and more Asian American judges and more LGBT judges than any other President, including Obama's full 8 years in office. President Biden has also focused on backgrounds appointing a record breaking number of former public defenders to judgeships, as well as labor and civil rights lawyers.

[opiopal]

imagine just a regular human OM au,

as in like, no angels, no demons, no magic, none of that whatsoever, everyone is just their character trope but in a regular kinda sitcomy romance

RAD is just a fancy private school, Dia is like, the rich principals son who’s also like class president, and Luci is vice, snd luci made all his brothers join student council because he wanted them all to have at least one activity that would look good on a resume for them, mams is still known for being scummy, Levi is rarely seen at school cause he’s a shut in nerd, Asmo is super popular, ect. Ect. Literally it’s just them but… human. and mc showing up is just like, they qualified for this program and didn’t really know it(bc public schools suck at communication dog), and so they are suddenly told they’re gonna be flown halfway across the world for this, and the rest is history.

now, you guys are probably thinking, “Opi, you basically just said imagine OM but without the thing that makes it OM” and to that I say,

Yah lol,

BUT LISTEN!

it has potential to be cute, like, instead of big cool pact marks, it’s just the brothers who like mc doodling on their arms in pen when they’re bored, like they all do it and don’t really know why, but mc lets them so they do it. or like, mc is just given an item to signify that they gained that brothers friendship, like a bracelet, painted nails, a keychain, hairclip, a book, literally anything at all.

So maybe mc and mams becoming friends would have to be more of a hostage situation rather then an exchange??? Like, instead of “if I give you your credit card you gotta make a pact with me,” it’s “if you don’t give your brother his toy back I’ll cut your card,” and somehow it turned into mams hanging around mc more often, maybe he liked them being mean or something lol, we know how he is.

also, maybe this would make the brothers whole situation sadder?? Since it would practically be a highschool au, they’d all have to be like 16-19, so would this mean they got kicked out of their home after the death of their sister? Maybe their father, while in grief, decided to blame the seven of them for encouraging her? Maybe she got attacked/mugged, or got into a car crash with her bf? Obviously this work leave zero room for mc and her being related in a sense(maybe they had been friends in the past?) so the brothers beginning to like mc more would have to happen more organically instead of being pushed further along with the Lilith plot point.

Thought moving onto the other characters, Solomon is probably just a weirdo that’s into scifi stuff, and believes in a bunch of stuff(maybe ghosts are still real or something? So he gives mc things to ward off evil spirits as gifts) he’s probably still a student as well, but has back problems or something so everyone calls him old. Thirteen prolly just skips class whenever she feels like it(which is prolly always) so she’s rarely seen/isn’t seen until later into the series, but whenever she’s around she’s like, that one super cool side character that you want to hang out with but luci doesn’t allow it because he worries that she smokes behind the school or something wild like that. Mephisto I feel like would be that one kid you rarely see because he’s in all the honors and honors college classes, so unless you also get into one there’s a rare chance of seeing him around the school, though when you bump into him, he’s so weirdly passive aggressive, like sorry for breathing wrong I guess???? (He would totally get into a fight for someone stepping on his designer shoes) I could also imagine him pulling the whole “my father will hear of this!!” Crap. Though eventually he’d warm up and be pretty nice! Though wouldn’t wanna show it often in public, but he just might, only for mc of course. Raphael simeon and Luke are most likely those close family friends that you legit forget aren’t actually family because they’re so insanely close, and I can imagine they’re basically the same, though maybe luke isn’t a little speciest. Luke is most likely either just like, a 6th grader that is around sometimes, or is in a higher grade cause he was moved up. Simeon is on ao3, and TOL is totally an on going story he wrote in like the 5th grade and just kept it going because he realized people really really liked it. Levi is probably just one of those WEEEIRRDOOS who got the fics printed out into book format to keep physical copies of lol, rapheal.. I don’t know him very well, though I feel as if he’d be one of those like, eerily quiet kids, not like “the quiet kid” just.. he’s quiet, but you chat with him and he’s a bit of a nerd, not a raging one, but a chill one, and he likes his hedgehog, I could see him carrying a photo of his hedgehog around to show people.

now here’s the gag guys..

barbatos is the exact same, like there is nothing with him that seems different at all, he’s odd, he shows up randomly, he’s very attentive, and has his strong hate/fear of rodents. no one knows if he actually has any classes of his own because he just follows dia around all day long,

but yea, also no I’m not running out of ideas gang lol, this is just one of my many many OM AU’s I think about often, and I guess I’m just in a domestic mood today lol

[contemplatingoutlander]

By Morgan McKenzie | mmckenzie@greeleytribune.com PUBLISHED: December 8, 2024 at 6:00 AM MST

Nearly 18 years ago, immigration agents stormed Greeley’s Swift & Co. meatpacking plant to detain and deport undocumented workers.

Some parents never returned home, leaving behind children, while others fled into hiding to avoid the same fate.

As the anniversary of the raids approaches, some leaders in the community worry history will repeat itself with President-elect Donald Trump’s plans to carry out mass deportations of migrants living in the United States without documentation.

Mitzi Moran, CEO of Evans-based Sunrise Community Health, is one of several community leaders voicing concern over Trump’s plan to deport an estimated 11 million undocumented people.

Throughout his campaign, Trump said it’s time to crack down on undocumented Hispanic and Latino immigrants, once referring to them as “poisoning the blood” of the U.S. and repeatedly calling them “criminals.” He’s said he plans to declare a national emergency to launch “the largest deportation program in American history,” enlisting the help of the military.

Trump’s message that an immigration crackdown could improve safety, restore American jobs and reduce government spending resonated with about 50% of voters across the U.S. and more than 59% of Weld County voters.

Households with undocumented immigrants and many who work with immigrants, however, fear deportations will lead to forced separations of families, negative impacts on the economy and food production and the loss of diversity. And they say places like Greeley, with its larger populations of Latino and Hispanic immigrants, would suffer.

In Weld County, Hispanics or Latinos make up 31.3% of the population as of a July 2023 estimate from the U.S. Census. In Greeley, that number rises to about 39.9%. In Greeley-Evans School District 6, nearly 70% of students identify as Hispanic or Latino.

Echoes of 2006

On Dec. 12, 2006, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted raids at six Swift-owned meat processing plants, arresting nearly 1,300 workers who lacked documentation. At the Greeley plant, which is now owned by JBS, ICE detained 273 undocumented workers out of 2,200 employees.

Concerns about Swift employees engaging in identity theft sparked an investigation that led to the raids, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.  [...] Across the nation, undocumented workers stopped reporting to work out of fear of future raids. Swift, with an estimated 23% of undocumented immigrants serving as production workers at the time, had to replenish its depleted workforce, the Center detailed. [...]

The day of the raids, more than 200 children in the Greeley area were left behind at school as they lost one or both of their parents. The separation of families shook the community, and organizations like United Way had to step up to figure out what to do for children who had nowhere to go.

“Everyone was involved,” Juan Gomez said. “Not just the parent was affected, but the family was affected … the community was affected.”

[Below the cut are more excerpts from this excellent example of local reporting by Morgan McKenzie for the Greeley Tribune, Greeley, Colorado.]

Gomez serves as the vice chairman of the Sunrise Community Health board and works with Sunrise’s migrant farmers program.

Repercussions of the raids lasted for years. Undocumented residents and people with undocumented family members were too afraid to seek services or report crimes against them, Moran said. [...] At an election watch party, Deb Suniga, who runs public relations for the Latino Coalition of Weld County, felt the room full of women, members of the LGBTQ+ community and those who identify as Hispanic or Latino “go numb” when the first round of results came in with Trump in the lead. [...] They anticipate Trump will move forward on mass deportation plans with full force based on recent moves like naming Tom Homan, former acting ICE director, as the incoming “border czar.” Trump also promised to utilize the National Guard to assist with deportations, despite federal law typically prohibiting the military’s role in engaging with domestic law enforcement, which includes immigration arrests and deportations. [...] Other community leaders who work with immigrant populations question what mass deportations would mean for families and the workforce.

The Sunigas worry entire families, no matter an individual’s citizenship status, will be forced to leave. [...] Economists expect mass deportations to drive up inflation and undercut economic growth, according to an article from Foreign Policy.

Long-term deportation costs are estimated to be $88 billion annually if 1 million people get deported per year, according to the American Immigration Council. This surpasses the Department of Homeland Security’s $62 billion budget in fiscal year 2025. [...] Supporters of deportation say it will give jobs back to Americans, but opponents like Gomez argue citizens won’t fill the roles, citing low pay and harsh conditions. If migrant workers get deported, Gomez anticipates a huge void in the agriculture industry, which is important to Weld County. [...]

Challenging negative stereotypes

Gomez wants Trump and his team to focus on the positive contributions immigrants bring to America just as much as the negative.

Those in support of mass deportation based on the concept that immigrants take advantage of America’s resources are misinformed, Gomez said. Some benefits are available to undocumented immigrants, like emergency Medicaid or free school lunches, but for the most part, they are ineligible for federally funded support. This includes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, regular Medicaid, Supplemental Security Income and more.

Undocumented workers get taxes taken out of their paychecks without getting a tax return, Gomez added.

“That’s what a lot of people don’t understand, they’re still contributing to society, but for the most part, they’re not able to get anything in return,” he said.

A 2024 study funded by the National Institute of Justice examined Texas criminal records from 2012 to 2018. The study found that “undocumented immigrants are arrested at less than half the rate of native-born U.S. citizens for violent and drug crimes and a quarter the rate of native-born citizens for property crimes.”

Research shows no correlation between undocumented immigrants and a rise in violent or property crime from 2007 to 2016 in metro areas around the nation, according to investigations by The New York Times and The Marshall Project. 

The American Immigration Council also looked at data from 1980 to 2022, finding crime rates declined as immigrant populations grew. In 2022, immigrants had doubled to 13.9% of the U.S. population, compared to 6.2% in 1980. However, the total crime rate was 5,900 crimes per 100,000 people in 1980, dropping by 60.4%, to 2,335 crimes per 100,000 people, in 2022. [...] As the nation sits “in a dark cloud” waiting for January, Deb foresees key people from all different groups that represent Latino, LGBTQ+, Black and other populations will come up with “game plans” together.

But first, these communities need to heal and prepare for the changes in a time of anticipation.

“We are stronger together,” Moran said. “We’re stronger united. We’re stronger when we welcome our neighbor.”

[mariacallous]

When the American Jewish Committee began working with U.S. bishops years ago to educate Catholics about antisemitism, they didn’t anticipate a global spike in the hatred they were trying to combat.

Nor did they know that just weeks before they would ultimately publicize their work, Pope Francis would suggest that Israel is guilty of genocide in Gaza.

But when Rabbi Noam Marans and Bishop Joseph Bambera came together last week to launch a glossary of antisemitic terms, annotated by Catholic commentary, that was the context. Marans described the glossary as a “milestone” ahead of the 60th anniversary of the church’s landmark declaration that Jews did not kill Jesus. And he noted that while relations between Catholics and Jews have massively improved from centuries past, they’re facing new stresses.

“It’s easy to lose perspective on an event like this, which was surely unimaginable to my grandparents in Bialystok, Poland,” Marans said at the launch event on Wednesday. “This has been a complete transformation in the relationship that has benefitted both communities.”

Referring to the Jewish blessing to mark significant occasions, he said, “It’s a shehechiyanu moment.”

Then he added, “And even shehechiyanu moments have flies in the ointment.”

In the document published last week, the AJC’s “Translate Hate” ongoing glossary — which has around 60 entries on antisemitic terms — has been appended with Catholic commentaries on 10 of those entries. The commentaries were written by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, which Bambera chairs.

The entries with commentary range from “Blood libel” to “From the river to the sea,” a common chant at pro-Palestinian rallies that the AJC and other Jewish groups say is a call for Israel’s annihilation.

For example, in the entry on “Blood libel,” the canard that Jews kill Christian children and use their blood for ritual purposes, the Catholic gloss notes that the church has long rejected the idea, but that it still pops up in some Catholic discourse.

“Today, this charge may disguise itself in less traditional forms that must also be disavowed, such as the idea that the Jewish people support abortion as a means of ritualistic child sacrifice, or that Jews are intent on spilling the blood of their enemies for its own sake,” it says.

The entry on “From the river to the sea” says the church endorses the two-state solution and “encourages Catholics to understand and respect the deep religious connection Jews feel towards Israel.”

And in the entry on “philosemitism,” the Catholic commentary notes that the church has advised against seders that appropriate Jewish tradition. “The best way for Christians to experience the Seder meal is to observe it by invitation from a Jewish family or organization that welcomes non-Jews to this central celebration of Jewish life,” the commentary says.

The guide comes at a time when, perhaps awkwardly, the topic of Catholic antisemitism could hardly be more topical.

The adherence of J.D. Vance, the U.S. vice president-elect, to a strain of traditional Catholicism has renewed attention to varieties of Catholic belief. (Vance has weighed in on church debates, saying, for example, that while he is “not a big Latin Mass guy,” he did not support the church’s recent effort to restrict the traditional liturgy that prays for Jews to convert to Christianity.) Both Marans and Bambera said antisemitism exists in the traditionalist wing of the church but portrayed it as a fringe attitude.

Meanwhile, a series of recent statements by Pope Francis has provided a case study in the way Catholic values and scriptural citations can grate on Jewish ears.

Last month, Francis cited experts saying “what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of a genocide,” and called for the charge — which Israel strenuously rejects — to be “carefully investigated.” Then, this month, he attended the inauguration of a nativity scene at the Vatican that positioned baby Jesus on a keffiyeh, or Palestinian scarf — a nod to activists who have identified Jesus, a Jew born in Roman times, as a Palestinian. Both incidents drew outcry from Jewish groups, and the nativity scene has since been removed.

Earlier, in a letter to Middle Eastern Catholics on Oct. 7, the one-year anniversary of the Hamas attack, Francis denounced “the spirit of evil that foments war,” and quoted a passage from the Gospel of John to call it “murderous from the beginning” and “a liar and the father of lies.” The quote raised eyebrows because, in the New Testament, it is spoken by Jesus to a group of Jews, whom he calls children of the devil.

The word choice drew criticism from Philip Cunningham, a theology professor specializing in Jewish-Catholic relations at St. Joseph’s University.

“It is perilous to cite polemical words out of context, particularly words that have consistently sparked enmity toward Jews for centuries,” he wrote in America, a Jesuit magazine. “There is also something peculiarly surreal about this in a letter dated Oct. 7.”

A considerable portion of Wednesday’s event was taken up with Marans and Bambera discussing — and not quite seeing eye to eye — about Francis’ recent comments. (The pope has also issued statements condemning antisemitism, including during the current Gaza war.) Marans, AJC’s director of interreligious affairs, said in an interview that Francis has demonstrated his opposition to antisemitism — but added that his conduct has precipitated a “crisis” borne of “a lack of proper attention to Catholic-Jewish relations.” The genocide accusation, Marans said, was the most problematic.

“Whimsical use of the word ‘genocide’ against the Jewish people is dangerous because it characterizes the only Jewish state in a way that is grist for the mill of Jew-haters — which Pope Francis is absolutely, unequivocally not,” Marans said. “How does one rationalize those disappointments in speech and action with that overwhelming commitment to opposing antisemitism?”

For Bambera, the pope’s statements are simply expressions of the Catholic emphasis on the value of peace and human life. Francis’ statements stem from his concern for “the dignity of the human person,” the bishop said, including both Palestinians and Israelis.

“When he reflects upon the suffering of people who are victimized by terrorism and war, whether it be the Jewish people or countless others around the world, he will always speak of the value of human life and the need to preserve and protect it,” Bambera said at the event. He also reiterated Francis’ opposition to antisemitism.

But while Bambera and Marans read Francis’ words differently, they agreed on the path forward: more dialogue.

“I absolutely understand and appreciate the reaction of the Jewish community, the concern, perhaps the hurt, perhaps a worry about what this says about our relationship,” Bambera said in an interview. “One of the most significant things about the relationship that we have established, and that quite frankly Pope Francis supports and encourages, is the fact that we Jews and Catholics alike can talk candidly about this.”

The AJC has promoted Catholic-Jewish dialogue for more than half a century. It was active in shaping the 1965 church declaration that rejected antisemitism and said the Jews did not kill Jesus, called “Nostra Aetate” and adopted as part of Vatican II. The group consulted on the document, bringing on Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel as an adviser.

Marans said the relationship has only improved since then. He added that — even in light of the pope’s statements on Israel — Catholic attitudes toward Israel are in a better place than those of some liberal Protestant denominations that have weighed divestment from Israel.

“It is a different universe on the Catholic side because there is such commitment to Catholic-Jewish relations,” he said. “It is a given of the Catholic Church today that it is supportive of Catholic-Jewish relations wholeheartedly.”

The AJC touted plans to translate the Catholic edition of its glossary into more languages, including Spanish and Polish, and hopes to use it as a model both for Protestant denominations and other religions. Holly Huffnagle, the AJC’s U.S. director for combating antisemitism, said the group’s core goal is to teach people what antisemitism is and how to recognize it.

“People are more likely to listen to those they know, those they trust,” she said. “If you are Catholic, you’re more likely to listen to your priest than a Jewish leader.”

Working with interfaith partners, she said, has become especially important as those ties have frayed recently, in a moment where protest of Israel’s actions, and antisemitism, have been on the rise.

“The Christian space is a natural partnership,” she said. “What does it look like to go to other faiths and figure out how to do this project jointly? We have to take a step back in this moment, as we’ve seen real relationships decline.”

Both Bambera and Marans said the key to success in this project would be Catholic leadership using the glossary and imparting its message to the rank-and-file. Bambera said the archbishop of a major American archdiocese asked if he could distribute it to his clergy — which he took as a good sign.

He added that he hopes to have “more conversations about hard questions” between Catholics and Jews.

“Those hard questions shouldn’t stop the dialogue,” he said. “They should be able to grow because the dialogue is rooted in mutual respect and understanding.”

[womanfredvonkarma]

what's happening in argentina?

I don't fault you for the broad question because I'd ask too, but I need you to know that as a non-smoker I've never felt so strongly the need for a cigarette as I did just now thinking about answering this question. But I'll do my best.

In November of last year, the country elected Javier Milei as president. He would swear into office the next month. Javier Milei is a self-identified anarcho-capitalist and libertarian, although he states he is a minarchist in the short term (meaning he thinks the only functions the State should serve are those of law enforcement: no public education, social development, market regulations, etc etc). Some of his most controversial campaign statements included projects to legalise the free and unregulated sale of organs, and, along with his vice-president Victoria Villarruel (who in her youth organised visits to Jorge Rafael Videla in prison), apologia for the 1976 military dictatorship by revindicating the theory of the two demons (fair warning that from what I skimmed that article is biased in favour of the theory) and casting into doubt the estimated 30.000 victims of state terrorism (torture, disappearance followed by death) (also warning that that article uses the name the military junta gave this process) during its duration.

Since he took over six months ago, the population's purchasing power has dropped by 38%, plunging millions of people below the line of poverty. In stark contrast to this, Milei has been travelling around the world using public funds to visit his ultraright idols; most notably, Trump, who is not the political leader of any country at the moment (making his trip to see him a personal visit and not a diplomatic one, thus invalidating his arguments for using our money to go there).

On the subject of diplomacy, his government has been swinging quite a lot of bats at hornets' nests, accusing China and Brazil of communism and insulting the wife of the president of Spain. All of this is an international relations nightmare that will take endless apologies to undo.

Another interesting resolution deregulates the operations of foreign companies, SPVs, and offshore companies (article in Spanish), with the stated goal of attracting investments. Those types of companies have historically been used to conceal illicit activity, so resolutions in that vein pave the way to effectively turn Argentina into a fiscal paradise. This isn't the only problem they pose (offshore companies don't pay taxes, so there'd be a loss in the public sector, for example), but it is the most worrying to me because they also eliminated restrictions for Sociedades de Acciones Simplificadas (simplified stock companies), most of which have historically been used to commit crimes among which is the drug trade. Once you have narcos in your country, there's no taking it back--Argentina would be at real risk of ceasing to exist as we know it.

This administration is also slashing public spending, resulting in some universities suspending their activities temporarily. They also failed to deliver oncological medicine, depriving cancer patients of assistance the state is obligated to provide. As a result of this, several people have died already. In this climate of extreme poverty, soup kitchens have been shutting down en masse due to the withdrawal of state funding, and laws that protected tenants' rights and regulated rent prices have been severely modified to the detriment of the tenants.

The violent decrease in public spending also resulted in thousands of state workers being fired overnight. The attack is especially centred on state organisations that promote the arts or whose purpose is to fight discrimination. On this subject, 10% of the transgender and travesti workers who had their positions guaranteed by the law were fired illegally, and government members are outspoken about their opposition to this law--which isn't surprising. Diana Mondino, the current chancellor, has compared same-sex marriage to "the right to having lice" while she held a position in Congress. Ricardo Bussi, a current legislator, compared homosexuality to disability in October 2023. Coming to this year, Francisco Sánchez, the Secretary of Religion, said that the laws protecting the right to abortions, divorce, and same-sex marriage "seek to pervert our children and damage society". Milei is also on record describing abortion as "homicide aggravated by the bond".

Also recently, Milei's biographer, Nicolás Márquez, gave a one-hour interview in which he characterised homosexuality as a disease, claiming that when the State "promotes homosexuality" (as it allegedly did before Milei came to power), it is aiding a "self-destructive" conduct, supporting these claims with unfounded statistics about the correlation between STIs and homosexuality; he also denied the existence of homophobia and described lesbians and gays as being "against nature". For the sake of full disclosure, I will say he explicitly freed Milei and his government of responsibility for his declarations--but I think it's really important to point out the kind of people and rhetorics this government is giving a platform to; after all, nobody knew Nicolás Márquez before he started writing for Milei. In approximately the same time frame, and in response to a horrific hate crime that resulted in the death of three lesbians, Manuel Adorni, the presidential spokesman, said that he "doesn't like" to talk about a hate crime because men suffer violence too--and he said this in a press conference.

I'm probably forgetting something important--so much has happened in the past months--but I hope this is enough to give you an impression of the changes our society is undergoing. Please let me know if you have follow-up questions. <3

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Ashley Hansen didn't quit afterall. 

Instead today, she's been joined by 3 new people. Or 3 people reporting to her have been revealed. 

https://people.com/meghan-markle-prince-harry-announce-changes-pr-team-8637111

Quote:

Former Director of Global Communications Miranda Barbot has been promoted to the role of Vice President of Programs and Media Operations, PEOPLE confirms. In her place, Charlie Gipson and Kyle Boulia have joined the office of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as communications executives, both reporting to Ashley Hansen, who remains head of communications for the couple.

Gipson, based in the U.K., is taking on the role of Director of Communications, serving as a point contact for European media outlets. During his two decades in brand management and public relations, Gipson has led campaigns for clients including Instagram, Samsung and HARIBO.

Boulia is the new Deputy Press Secretary and Director of Communications for U.S. media, based in Los Angeles. He previously worked at leading global talent, sports, entertainment, and advisory company United Talent Agency.

Ashley is heading up a PR team of 4.....for 2 people who don't work and who she revealed in December when she attempted to quit, don't listen or take any advice. I hope the increased salary or new promises to make her rescind her resignation was worth it. 

At least she gave us all a priceless moment of hilarity when she was pictured shoving Markle off the Variety red carpet. 

*****

Old ask (from April)

[shironayatl]

And today's the mini event for the next big event!

Today we know what's their background is, so here we go!

The Leadership of the Student Union

Minerva Academy Student Union is an organization established by the academy. Through the careful management of each student union, it has now become an indispensable bridge and leader between the academy and students. In addition to the leadership team with the president and vice president as the core, there are also a number of functional departments responsible for different matters such as publicity, literature and art, and sports.

Among them, the Publicity Department has performed particularly well, and has been awarded the title of Excellent Department many times recently. The Publicity Department is responsible for daily tasks such as printing school newspapers and posting posters. It's not only records major activities of the college, but also records the energetic mental outlook of students. It is an indispensable student organization.

Minerva Academy Drama Club

Minerva Academy focuses on cultivating students' interests and hobbies. Minerva Academy has opened many clubs of different directions and types. The drama club is one of the most outstanding clubs among the many clubs. It has many members and with students that are good at acting, dancing, scripting, directing, etc.

The drama club has their own classroom. The space in the classroom covers the rehearsal space and prop storage space. It is also equipped with professional video recording and playback equipment. In addition, the school has also specially approved drama club students to use the school auditorium and other venues for rehearsals during specific times, so that students can better understand and learn drama-related content.

Overseas Exchange Program

In order to promote academic exchanges between on-campus students and classmates from overseas institutions, improve students' comprehensive quality, and stimulate students' innovative learning motivation, Minerva Academy has established an overseas exchange program. Every year, the academy will select a number of students to go overseas for cooperation. In addition to exchange studies between schools, overseas academy will also send students to this city to study with students from Minerva Academy.

Since overseas student representatives came to the city for inspection and decided to make Minerva Academy a key partner for the exchange program, the program has been implemented for many years, with a total of 43 students participating. Hoping the friendship between the two schools will last forever and the exchanges will last forever.

Strong artistic atmosphere

Under the concept of diversified development of Minerva Academy, the art lovers who gathered together continued to communicate and collaborate with each other, forming a strong artistic atmosphere in a corner of the campus.

The building is included with a fully equipped art classroom. The commonly used drawing board paints, plaster models, etc., the art classroom also prepares art book sections of different styles for students to refer to when creating. In addition to hosting club activities for students in the art club, the art classroom is also open to students outside the club during non-club time. Students who are interested are welcome to visit and experience and step into the door of the art world.

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from Grist:

A row of executives from grain-processing behemoth Archer Daniels Midland watched as Verlyn Rosenberger, 88, took the podium at a Decatur City Council meeting last week. It was the first meeting since she and the rest of her central Illinois community learned of a second leak at ADM’s carbon dioxide sequestration well beneath Lake Decatur, their primary source of drinking water. 

“Just because CO2 sequestration can be done doesn’t mean it should be done,” the retired elementary school teacher told the city council. “Pipes eventually leak.” 

ADM’s facility in central Illinois was the first permitted commercial carbon sequestration operation in the country, and it’s on the forefront of a booming, multibillion-dollar carbon capture and storage, or CCS, industry that promises to permanently sequester planet-warming carbon dioxide deep underground. 

The emerging technology has become a cornerstone of government strategies to slash fossil fuel emissions and meet climate goals. Meanwhile, the Biden administration’s signature climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, has supercharged industry subsidies and tax credits and set off a CCS gold rush. 

There are now only four carbon sequestration wells operating in the United States — two each in Illinois and Indiana — but many more are on the way. Three proposed pipelines and 22 wells are up for review by state and federal regulators in Illinois, where the geography makes the landscape especially well suited for CCS. Nationwide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is reviewing 150 different applications. 

But if CCS operations leak, they can pose significant risks to water resources. That’s because pressurized CO2 stored underground can escape or propel brine trapped in the saline reservoirs typically used for permanent storage. The leaks can lead to heavy metal contamination and potentially lower pH levels, all of which can make drinking water undrinkable. This is what bothers critics of carbon capture, who worry that it’s solving one problem by creating another.

In September, the public learned of a leak at ADM’s Decatur site after it was reported by E&E News, which covers energy and environmental issues. Additional testing mandated by the EPA turned up a second leak later that month. The EPA has confirmed these leaks posed no threat to water sources. Still, they raise concern about whether more leaks are likely, whether the public has any right to know when leaks occur, and if CCS technology is really a viable climate solution.

Officials with Chicago-based ADM spoke at the Decatur City Council meeting immediately after Rosenberger. They tried to assuage her concerns. “We simply wouldn’t do this if we didn’t believe that it was safe,” said Greg Webb, ADM’s vice president of state-government relations. 

[aimeedaisies]

The Princess Royal’s Official Engagements in January 2024

04/01 With Sir Tim As Honorary President, attended the Oxford Farming Conference.

05/01 unofficial Sir Tim, as Trust President of the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, visited emergency work at the Stanway Viaduct near Toddington. 🦺🚂

10/01 Princess Anne, accompanied by Sir Tim, carried out the following engagements in Colombo to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of United Kingdom-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations;

As President of the United Kingdom Fashion and Textile Association, visited MAS Active in Katunayake. 👚

As Patron of Save the Children UK, visited the Save the Children Sri Lanka Head Office to mark its 50th Anniversary. 👧

As Patron of Save the Children UK, visited a Save the Children Sri Lanka programme at Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children. 🏥

Called upon The President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Mrs Wickremesinghe at The President's House. 📩

Attended a Dinner given by The President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka and Mrs Wickremesinghe at The President's House to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of United Kingdom-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations. 🍽️

11/01 Princess Anne, accompanied by Sir Tim, carried out the following engagements in Kandy and Jaffna to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of United Kingdom-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations;

Visited the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic, Sri Dalada Maligawa in Kandy. 🛕

Met representatives of the Tamil Community at Jaffna Public Library. 📚

Visited the Halo Trust De-mining site, the United Nations Development Programme and International Organisation for Migration Resettlement site in Muhamalai. 🧨

12/01 Princess Anne, accompanied by Sir Tim, carried out the following engagements in Colombo to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of United Kingdom-Sri Lanka Bilateral Relations;

Visited the British High Commission Office. 🇬🇧

As President of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, laid a wreath at Jawatte Cemetery. 🪦

Visited Vajira Pillayar Kovil Hindu Temple 🛕

As President of the English-Speaking Union of the Commonwealth, visited the British Council. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🗣️

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, visited the Mission to Seafarers Colombo. ⛵️

Visited Hatch Works. 📆

As President of the Mission to Seafarers, attended a Key Supporters Reception at the Cathedral of Christ the Living Saviour. ⛪️

Attended a Reception given by the British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka at the Residence in Colombo. 🍹🇬🇧🇱🇰

16/01 As Patron of Police Treatment Centres,visited Castlebrae Treatment Centre in Perth. 👮🩺

As Vice President of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, and Former Patron of the Heart of Arabia Expedition, attended a Reception at the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. 🌍

Opened the Vertical Farm Engineering Innovation Centre in Inverkeithing. 🌾⬆️

17/01 Held an Investiture at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.🎖️

As Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh, attended a Reception to mark the 60th Anniversary of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence and later opened the Institute for Regeneration and Repair at the University. 🎓🎮

As Honorary Member of the New Club attended the 70th Anniversary Amalgamation Dinner. 🍽️

18/01 As President of the UK Fashion and Textile Association, visited Advanced Clothing Solutions in Motherwell. 👗

As Patron of Citizens Advice Scotland, visited Hamilton Citizens Advice Bureau. 👩‍⚖️

23/01 Opened the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Medical Sciences at Imperial College NHS Hospital in London. 🏥

As Patron of Livability, attended the Thanksgiving Service to mark the 180th anniversary at All Hallows by the Tower. 🎂⛪️

As Royal Honorary Colonel of the University of London Officers’ Training Corps, attended the Annual Reception at Yeomanry House. 🎓🫡

24/01 On behalf of The King, held an Investiture at Windsor Castle. 🎖️

As Patron of Save the Children UK, visited the London Head Office. 👧👦

As President of the City and Guilds of London Institute, visited Cox Workshops Limited in London. 🛠️

25/01 As Royal Patron of the National Coastwatch Institution, visited Cromer Station. 🛟

As President of the Royal Yachting Association, opened Norfolk Schools Sailing Association’s new facilities at Filby Centre, Norfolk. ⛵️

As Patron of National Association of Official Prison Visitors, visited HM Prison Norwich. 🔗

30/01 As Patron of Save the Children UK, visited the Stockton Heath Charity Shop. 🛍️

Visited Jodrell Bank Observatory UNESCO World Heritage Site at the University of Manchester. 🌌🪐

As President of the Riding for the Disabled Association, opened the new Centre and Platinum Jubilee Stables at Reaseheath Equestrian College in Nantwich. 🏇🏼

31/01 Held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace.🎖️

As Royal Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, attended the 10th Anniversary Reception of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation at Prince Philip House in London. 🏆

Total official engagements for Anne in January: 41

2024 total so far: 41

Total official engagements accompanied by Tim in January: 17

2024 total: 17

[posttexasstressdisorder]

The simple yet powerful way Tim Walz just exposed Donald Trump

John Stoehr

September 20, 2024 6:51AM ET

US Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks at Temple University in Philadelphia on August 6, 2024. © Brendan Smialowski, AFP

This article was paid for by Raw Story subscribers. Not a subscriber? Try us and go ad-free for $1. Prefer to give a one-time tip? Click here.

Tim Walz was in Michigan recently. In a stump speech, he noted differing views on the meaning of homeownership. He said that for “the real estate mogul, the venture capitalist, whatever,” a house is “just an asset to be traded and sold.” To everyone else, however, it’s “a place to gather around the kitchen table to talk with our kids about what happened at school.”

The message was simple but powerful.

Donald Trump (“the real estate mogul”) and JD Vance (“the venture capitalist, whatever”) stand together as normal men who care about and understand the normal struggles of normal Americans, but they are not normal, nor do they care about or understand normal people’s struggles.

They don’t even know the meaning of owning a house and what it takes to achieve that dream. To them, it’s not real. It’s an abstraction. It has no value beyond its market value. But “to us,” Walz said, it’s so much more.

“That’s what Kamala Harris wants for you,” he said.

ALSO READ: Let's call Springfield what it is: Republican-made terrorism

Leigh McGowan, a social media influencer who goes by “Politics Girl,” watched the speech. She saw how Walz uses simple words to capture a common experience to rally normal Americans toward the common good and against “the real estate mogul, the venture capitalist, whatever.”

Then McGowan did something useful.

She named Walz’s rhetoric.

“It feels like he cannot possibly be real,” McGowan said. “Here’s this man who is masculine without being weirdly alpha, who hunts, who shoots, who was a teacher, who is a veteran. He’s just a good dad and a great husband, and he believes in the nation. He’s not trying to be president, he doesn’t have bigger ambitions, and he’s happy to be second banana to a woman. It’s like you made him in a lab as the perfect candidate.

“He talks to us in common sense,” she said.

Trump’s uncommon languageIf Tim Walz talks in common sense, what does Trump talk in?

Well, it’s common in that grievance and hate are ubiquitous. Beyond that, however, Trump does not communicate using words everyone can understand to relate the joys and sorrows they have experienced.

Virtually every word he chooses says more about him than it does anyone else. So while you don’t have to know anything about Tim Walz to understand his speeches, you have to know a lot about Donald Trump to understand his. Indeed, to talk about his speeches requires a kind of specialized language. And if you don’t know the lingo, you’re lost.

After nearly a decade in the public eye, Trump’s presence has become commonplace. It took someone like Walz speaking in the language of common sense to jolt us out of the normalcy that is Trump. Walz helped us realize we don’t really understand what the man is talking about.

I would even say the impact of that jolt is why McGowan said Walz “feels like he cannot possibly be real.” But it’s not Walz who doesn’t feel real.

It’s Trump.

Thanks in part to Walz, it’s clearer now than ever that Trump’s speeches have gotten longer, windier and more rambling. They start out grounded in discernable reality but eventually, they become so abstract as to be meaningless. Here he is, explaining, well, I don’t really know.

I don't think I've ever said this before. So we do these rallies. They're massive rallies. Everybody loves, everybody stays till the end. By the way, you know, when she said that, well, your rallies people leave. Honestly, nobody does. And if I saw them leaving, I'd say, and ladies and gentlemen make America great again and I'd get the hell out, ok? Because I don't want people leaving. But I do have to say so I give these long sometimes very complex sentences and paragraphs but they all come together. I do it a lot. I do it with Raising Cain. That story. I do it with the story on the catapults on the aircraft carriers. I do it with a lot of different stories. When I mentioned Doctor Hannibal Lecter, I'm using that as an example of people that are coming in from Silence of the Lambs. I use it. They say it's terrible. So they say so I'll give this long complex area for instance that I talked about a lot of different territory. The bottomline I said the most important thing. We’re going to bring more plants to your state and this country to make automobiles. We’re going to be bigger than before. The fake news and there’s a lot of them back there. You know, for a town hall, there's a lot of people but the fake news likes to say, the fake news likes to say, oh, he was rambling. No, no, that's not rambling. That's genius. When you can connect the dots. Now, now, Sarah, if you couldn't connect the dots, you got a problem. But every dot was connected and many stories were told in that little paragraph.

A normal person’s common language

Trump may not sound like a rich man, but he’s still a rich man.

When he talks about normal things, it sounds weird.

He has never gone back-to-school shopping. He has never pumped his own gas. He’s never written a check for the electric bill. He does not know what it’s like to be sticker-shocked at the supermarket. He has no idea what it feels like to go from renting to owning. He sure-as-hell doesn’t know how it feels to be forced to choose between food and medical bills.

He does not even know the meaning of a $10 bill. He does not know what it can buy, because $10 to “the real estate mogul” isn’t money. It’s power.

Indeed, $10 means nothing, just as tariffs mean nothing. Tariffs aren’t real economic tools presidents use to address real economic problems. They are abstractions. As such, whether they work makes no difference to him. Whether they cause suffering doesn’t matter. Suffering is abstract, too.

To a normal person, the price of things is about as real as it gets.

To Trump, the price of things is as real as fairy dust.

So he can say, as he did this week, that he will lower “energy bills” by 50 percent. He can say, as he did in January, that the cost of gasoline has gone from under $2 a gallon to “5, 6, 7, 8 dollars.” He can say, as he did this week, that he will decrease the price of food by decreasing the food supply (via tariffs on imports). To a normal person, that makes no sense. To a rich man, sense is beside the point. Money isn’t money. It’s power.

In the end, you don’t have to know much about Tim Walz to understand his speeches, because Tim Walz is himself a normal person. He knows the meaning of a $10 bill. He knows the meaning of owning a home. He speaks in common sense, because his own experience is so common. When he says, “that’s what Kamala Harris wants for you,” it makes sense.

It feels real.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dexter Van Zile

Anyone who has any doubts about the success enjoyed by the Islamist-led campaign to squeeze Jews out of the public square in the US needs to watch the video of the Boston City Council meeting that took place on February 14, 2024. The success of this campaign was on full display when District Six City Councilor Ben Weber, the only Jew on the council, withdrew a “negotiated ceasefire” resolution from the agenda. It was yet another moment when the Tikkun Olam agenda of “repairing the world” was handed its head by Islamist activism in the United States.

Weber’s resolution was pretty straightforward and “balanced.” In addition to highlighting the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians and calling for a negotiated ceasefire between Hamas and the Netanyahu government, Weber’s resolution asked councilors to call on Hamas to return the hostages it took on October 7, and work for the safe return of Massachusetts residents stuck in Gaza.

Before announcing that he was withdrawing the resolution from consideration, Weber declared that while writing the resolution, he sought input from fellow councilors, officials from Boston’s Jewish Community Relations Council, and a prominent Boston-area Palestinian-American lawyer working to get Massachusetts families safely out of Gaza. Weber didn’t say which councilors he spoke to, but The Boston Globe subsequently reported that Weber had spoken with former council president (and Israel supporter) Ed Flynn and anti-Israel zealot Tania Fernandes Anderson.

The dialogue was to no avail. “It has come to my attention that the language of the resolution I drafted may cause more division, which is the opposite of what I hope to do,” Weber said. “So out of my respect to my council colleagues and members of the Boston community, I withdraw this resolution to have further conversations.” In short, Weber, a first-term city councilor, didn’t want to force his colleagues to declare their response to the October 7 massacre openly, because to do so would make him a one-term city councilor.

After the meeting, Weber told me that he felt obligated to withdraw the resolution after unnamed people expressed concerns that it was promoting the involuntary departure of Palestinians from Gaza and that it appeared to promote “one side over the other.” The notion that Weber’s resolution promoted the involuntary evacuation of Palestinians from Gaza is an intentional misreading of the text. Weber’s resolution says nothing about the expulsion of Palestinians. And as far as “taking sides,” the resolution was clearly written as an attempt to mollify “pro-Palestinian” (anti-Israel) activists, including Fernandes Anderson, by highlighting the suffering in Gaza without acknowledging it was Hamas who was responsible for this suffering. The logic is simple. If there would have been no October 7 massacre (and no terrorism from Gaza before that), there would never have been any conflict in Gaza.

If Weber had been paying attention, he would likely have spared himself the humiliation of having to withdraw the resolution by not submitting it in the first place. It’s not as if Boston isn’t in bad need of some Tikkun Olam.

But beyond these problems, speaking openly about Hamas’ October 7 massacre and its aftermath is becoming increasingly out of bounds for Israel and its supporters, Jews especially, in American civil society. Jews on college campuses have been bullied and harassed for years and this bullying has only become more intense in the aftermath of October 7. Jewish students have been forced to seek shelter in libraries and classrooms, as Hamas supporters, campus Islamists, and their progressive allies recreate the modern-day equivalent of the “ghetto bench,” which drove Jews into hiding in Polish colleges and universities in the 1930s.

[beardedmrbean]

Invisible, and now silent. Three years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghan women continue to see their few remaining rights dwindle away.

A Taliban ministry promulgated a new set of laws on August 21 that it said “will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice”. The laws aim to control all aspects of the social and private life of Afghans, especially of Afghan women.

Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.

The new laws are “attacking their very existence”, Chekeba Hachemi, president of the organisation Free Afghanistan, told FRANCE 24.

“We no longer have the right to hear the sound of a woman's voice, or to see even a glimpse of a woman's body. It's as if we were telling them: ‘We want to kill you slowly’.”

“The only right we are allowed is to breathe. And even then ...” Hamida Aman, the founder of Begum TV, a Paris-based channel aimed at educating Afghan women and girls, told France Culture.

Just going by my own personal abuse healing…the left don’t know jackshit about what natives and marginalized groups without victims complexes want

The UN, the European Union, human rights groups and Afghan organisations have expressed their deep concerns over the new set of laws, which include some provisions that have already been in effect informally since the Taliban seized power again in August 2021.

But there is only so much the international community can do to help Afghan women.

Short-lived optimism

“After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one,” said Roza Otunbayeva, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, in an August 25 statement in which she said the laws evoke “a distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future”.

The UN has called for the immediate repeal of the text.

The NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW) denounced a “new attack on the rights of women and girls”. The EU said it was “distressed” by the decree, which was “a new blow” to the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

The EU also said the new laws create “another obstacle to the normalisation of relations” with Afghanistan, signalling that European recognition of the Taliban regime can only be achieved if Kabul “fully respects [its] international obligations and [those] towards the people of Afghanistan”.

The Taliban, in return, have denounced the “arrogance” of the West in its condemnations of the restrictions on women – which UN officials including Secretary General Antonio Guterres have described as “gender-based apartheid”.

On the same day the Taliban ministry published the new laws, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said in a statement that the regime had banned him from entering the country.

International condemnations no longer seem to have any effect.

“In the first year after the regime change in Afghanistan, the situation was not as bad as people might have feared,” said Mélissa Cornet, a specialist on gender issues in Afghanistan, pointing out that journalists were still working and women were still attending university.

“The Taliban really wanted to be recognised by the international community. They made lots of reassurances and there was a real hope they had changed,” said Cornet, who lived in Kabul while overseeing research on women's role in Afghan society for local and international organisations beginning in 2018.

This optimism, however, was short-lived. “As soon as the Taliban realised they would not be formally recognised by regaining a seat at the UN and the frozen assets of the central bank, there was a U-turn,” Cornet explained. “They said to themselves, ‘If we play the game and get nothing in return, we'll do what we want at home’.”

'Nobody wants another conflict'

The Taliban first came to power in Afghanistan in 1996 and were overthrown in 2001 by a NATO intervention following the September 11 attacks. But despite 20 years of war and occupation by US-led NATO troops, the Taliban slowly regained control of the entire country and outlasted the United States, despite the latter's military superiority.    

“There's a very proud side to saying, ‘We were in power in the 1990s, the United States came but we beat them in the end, so now you Western states have no right to come and lecture us and tell us what to do’,’’ Cornet said.

Ironically, since the international community made women's rights its focus, it has now become very difficult for the Taliban to compromise on this issue, she said. “If they ever announced that schools were reopening [for women], it would be seen by Taliban ultraconservatives as a kind of defeat, a concession, to the internationals.”

From one law to the next, human rights in Afghanistan – and women's rights in particular – are being eroded without the international community being able to intervene.

“For three years, we've seen the status of women go [from bad to worse], and we've reached a stage where it's unacceptable that the world isn't reacting,” said Chela Noori of the Afghan Women of France organisation.

The world is moving “towards acceptance of this situation, [because] nothing stands in the way of the Taliban”, said Begum TV's Aman.

“Unfortunately, there's not much we can do, which is why it's difficult to continue proposing solutions,” Cornet said.

Without a resistance movement in Afghanistan, the situation cannot change, Cornet said. “After all the decades of war, nobody wants another conflict, another war, or an invasion.”

And the Taliban regime is capitalising on the situation, said Cornet, pointing to the fact that the country is at peace for the first time in 20 years, poppy production has declined by 95 percent (almost all the heroin consumed in Europe comes from Afghanistan), there are no prominent terrorist groups operating in the country and the borders are under control, preventing any wave of migration to Europe.

“Security issues are more important to Western countries than women's rights in this distant country,” Cornet observed, calling out the “cynicism” of such an assessment.

'The UN has to work with the Taliban'

Heather Barr, deputy director of the Women's Rights Division at HRW, deplores the fact that the crisis in Afghanistan has been relegated to a secondary concern by the Ukraine war. “The lack of an effective international response gives the impression that women's rights are not really a concern for world leaders,” she said in February.

“No one cares about Afghan women or human rights in this country,” Aman told France Culture, recalling the conditions under which the Doha III conference, the third UN meeting on Afghanistan in the Qatari capital, took place in late June.

The Taliban, which had not taken part in the two previous conferences, made their participation in the third conditional on the exclusion of civil society organisations, and particularly women, from the talks.

The UN once again called for the “inclusion of women” in public life during the discussions, a request that did not prevent the Taliban from continuing to harden its policies towards women.

“The United Nations is silent in the face of the Taliban,” Aman lamented.

Cornet noted the UN needs to maintain contacts with the regime to continue providing aid to the country.   

“The UN works in Afghanistan and therefore has to work with the Taliban,” she said. “If it takes a very hard line on women's rights, it will be expelled from the country and no one will be able to talk to the regime and help Afghans.”

Afghanistan remains one of the poorest countries in the world. According to the latest World Bank report, “poverty affects half of the population, with persistent high unemployment and underemployment”.

The United Nations Development Programme said in an April 2023 report that over 90 percent of the population was unable to meet its basic food requirements.

The International Crisis Group, an NGO focused on monitoring and preventing deadly conflicts, explained in a January report how Afghanistan's neighbours have been seeking to re-establish relations with Kabul in areas such as security and trade.

Regional nations “are convinced that the best way to secure their countries’ interests and moderate the Taliban’s behaviour in the long term is patient deliberation with Kabul, rather than ostracism”, says the report.

“If you don't talk to them, you can't influence them,” Cornet said simply. “The Taliban couldn't care less about being sanctioned by the international community. The fact that they can't travel or can't use their bank accounts doesn't bother them.”

For their part, Afghan women are doing what they can to be seen and raise awareness of their plight. After laws called on them to hide their faces and lower their voices, several women filmed themselves singing, protesting online under the hashtag #LetUsExist.

“You are afraid of this voice, and this voice will be stronger every day,” wrote Taiba Sulaimani, a young Afghan woman, on X in a message accompanying a video of a group of activists singing in chorus.

In another video, the young woman sings while adjusting her veil in front of the mirror.

“A woman's voice is her identity,” she says. “Not something that should be hidden.”

[anamericangirl]

The most highly venerated deity in Ancient Mesopotamia was Inanna, the Queen of Heaven and the goddess of sex, war and justice. She also had the ability to change a person’s gender. This power of Inanna’s, the ability to change a man into a woman and vice versa, is well accounted for in multiple poetry fragments and is indicative of the existence of people living outside the gender binary in ancient Mesopotamia. The words of Enheduanna, Inanna’s High Priestess in the city of Ur in the 23rd Century BCE, attest to this. In her Passionate Inanna she writes, "To destroy, to create, to tear out, to establish are yours, Inanna. To turn a man into a woman and a woman into a man are yours, Inanna."

Her followers and priests were known for their androgyny and blurring or destroying the gender binary. The gender-blurring members of her faith have often been included in poems and dedications written for her, often with Inanna personally transforming the gender of her devotees. One such example is the pilipili, a group of devout performers in Inanna’s Sumerian festivals. The name pilipili is referenced within Passionate Inanna in relation to an individual named pilipili who is transformed by Inanna. They are raised as a woman, the Sumerian for young woman ki-sikil being used to describe them, and Inanna blesses them, handing them a spear ‘as if she were a man’ and renames them pilipili.

In Sumerian times, priests for Inanna known as the gala were said to have been created by the god Enki to sing laments for her, one of their central roles in her temple. From the beginning of the Old Babylonian Period, their role was heavily expanded, and mourning rites originally sung by women replaced over time by members of the gala. Men who joined the priesthood in devotion for Inanna became women for all intents and purposes, adopting female names and singing in the Sumerian eme-sal dialect, reserved for feminine speakers to render the speech of female gods. The gala were heavily involved in her temples, performing elegies and lamentations, presiding over religious rites and healed and looked after the sick and poor. They were respected members of the community, closely related to the care of their community.

Enki is brother to Elil whom would become the basis for the Hebrew god Yahweh. The Hebrews, or Jews, would recognize 8 total genders, 6 of which were beyond the common female (nekevah) and male (zachar) binary known as Androgynos, Tumtum, Aylonit hamah, Aylonit adam, Saris hamah, and Saris adam.

Yeshua, is a Jewish historical figure who would have likely recognized all 8 genders from his faith. He is seen as a prophet from the god Allah by Muslims. But more commonly he is known as Jesus Christ, the Son of God by his followers called Christians.

During his life, Transgenderism was well known by the public, can you tell me what exactly Jesus Christ said on the issue of gender identity?

That's nice but Inanna isn't real so none of that matters.

Those "8 total genders" are not actually 8 different genders but they are all people who were one of the two genders. So either male or female. What people called them doesn't matter because their gender is determined by biology not language.

Jesus Christ recognized only two genders not 8 like you speculate. the Bible never mentions transgenderism or gender identity in any way but the two existing genders are repeatedly recognized. He says in the beginning that he created them "male and female" and that is how gender is continuously expressed throughout the entire Bible.

[mariacallous]

Three days after Kamala Harris was sworn into the Senate in early January 2017, the U.S. intelligence community released a stunning declassified report that concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign meant to sway the previous year’s presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and undermine faith in U.S. democracy.

The revelations spurred three high-profile investigations into Russian election interference by lawmakers and special counsel Robert Mueller and would come to dominate headlines for much of the Trump presidency.

As a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, which conducted a wide-ranging three-year investigation of Moscow’s interference efforts, Harris had a front-row seat to reams of highly classified material about Russian intelligence operations targeting the United States. The experience left a long-standing impression on the vice president, according to current and former aides who characterize it as a highly formative experience that left her with few illusions about Moscow’s intentions.

“I see those first few weeks as pivotal, because those were both her and Donald Trump’s first few weeks in Washington,” said Halie Soifer, who served as national security advisor to Harris in the Senate.

A Republican source familiar with Harris’s time on the committee said that during the Russia investigation, members were exposed to “borderline raw intelligence” on Moscow’s interference efforts, which they described as an eye-opening experience, even for long-standing members of the committee. “I think it was sobering for everyone,” said the source, who requested anonymity to share their insights.

The Senate’s final report, which spanned over 1,000 pages across five volumes, is generally regarded to be the most detailed look at aggressive Russian intelligence efforts to make inroads with the Trump campaign and to sway the election in favor of the former president.

The report did not reach a conclusion as to whether the Trump team had actively sought to collude with Moscow for its own advantage.

As part of its investigation, the committee reviewed over 1 million pages of documents and interviewed more than 200 witnesses.

While much of the day-to-day work of the probe was carried out by committee staffers, senators from both sides of the aisle have described Harris as a quick study whose advice on questioning witnesses was sought by seasoned committee staff, according to a 2019 BuzzFeed article.

In public hearings on both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees, on which she also sat, Harris developed a reputation for her prosecutorial style as she interrogated senior members of the Trump administration.

“Members get out of it what they put into it, and she put a lot of time and energy and effort into it,” said the Republican source.

Former aides to the vice president have spoken of how her background as a lawyer also informs her view on foreign policy, placing particular emphasis on the importance of international laws and norms. In a 2019 interview with the Council on Foreign Relations, Harris described the U.S. role in building a “community of international institutions, laws, and democratic nations” as America’s biggest foreign-policy achievement since World War II.

While the House Intelligence Committee Russia investigation was beset by political infighting, the Senate investigation remained bipartisan and largely free of public drama—something Harris has spoken fondly of.

“Every week, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee would walk into that wood-paneled room—no cameras, no public, no devices,” said Harris during a memorial service last year for the late California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who had been a long-standing member of the committee.

“Senators of both parties who would take off their jackets and literally roll up their sleeves, putting aside partisanship to discuss what was in the best interests of our national security,” she said.

Harris served on the Intelligence Committee, which, alongside the House panel, provides oversight of the sprawling U.S. intelligence community, throughout her four years in the Senate.

In 2018, Harris backed an amendment that would compel law enforcement to obtain a warrant before accessing the communications of American citizens inadvertently gathered under a controversial program that enabled intelligence agencies to conduct wide-ranging foreign electronic surveillance.

She also used the perch to stress the need for greater investments in election security in light of Russia’s attempt to sway the vote, co-sponsoring bipartisan legislation on election cybersecurity.