Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Annette’s News Roundup.
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Kamala is always busy.
Sick of the media ignoring the Vice President? Here is another instance. 👇
The media IS NOT making a big enough deal about Vice President Kamala Harris’ FIERY speech in Tennessee!
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) April 8, 2023
It was likely the greatest speech of her career.
Raising her voice at times, Vice President Harris shook her fist in the air.
“We will not be defeated, we will not be… pic.twitter.com/a7d1Qc7Rvb
During remarks at Fisk University in Nashville, Vice President Kamala Harris shared her support for the state representatives expelled from the Tennessee House of Representatives after they protested with a bullhorn on the general assembly floor.
Touch 👇 to watch. This is what they ignored.
Madam Auntie VP Kamala Harris being auntie at the White House Easter Egg Roll. 🐣 🌸 pic.twitter.com/SzsFDSSNXe
— Madam Auntie VP Kamala Harris is THEE GOAT! (@flywithkamala) April 10, 2023
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An op-ed from former President Bill Clinton on the peace in Ireland.
Bill Clinton: Why peace has endured in Northern Ireland -Hope and history rhymed.
Twenty-five years ago, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern signed the Good Friday Agreement, achieving peace in Northern Ireland after three decades of sectarian violence known as the Troubles claimed more than 3,500 lives. The April 10, 1998, agreement, approved by 71 percent of voters in the North and 94 percent in the Irish Republic, was the result of years of painstaking negotiation between parties who had long seen each other as bitter enemies, a consequence of bombings, reprisals, discrimination in work and social life, constant anxiety and fear — all leaving a dark cloud hanging over their children’s collective future.
For the first time, the largely Protestant unionist parties and the primarily Catholic nationalist parties now would renounce violence, share power and determine their future together.
A generation on, the situation in Northern Ireland is far from perfect. Too little progress has been made in true integration between the two communities. Divided neighborhoods remain, and economic inequality persists. The uncertainty surrounding Brexit — which Northern Ireland voted against — has led to political paralysis and left the country without a standing government for more than a year. But against the odds, the peace has held and democracy has not lost its grip.
The Windsor Framework, agreed on earlier this year by Britain and the European Union, offers the opportunity to maintain a growing Northern Ireland economy. And it embraces the Good Friday Agreement’s promise that peace would be strengthened by special relations between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic while the North retains its place in the United Kingdom.
Why has peace in Northern Ireland endured, when other efforts around the world remain stubbornly far from a resolution? I believe the answer lies in the way the peace was made.
First, the process was driven by the people. They’d grown weary of the killing and the arbitrary tragedies of nonlethal political violence, and weary of the economic deprivation born of the divisions.
It was clear in the faces of the people I met on my visits there, of all backgrounds, that they were determined that the conflict must end. As Hillary has emphasized, the people, especially the women, were out in front of the politicians because they wanted their children and grandchildren to grow up outside the shadow of violence and hatred.
The Good Friday Agreement negotiations were driven and maintained through the rough spots by the demand for peace. It has produced an entire generation in Northern Ireland that has grown up largely free from the horrors of sectarian violence, free to focus on solving problems and seizing opportunities.
Second, the political leaders on all sides showed real courage in making sacrifices and compromises with their adversaries and committing to inclusivity, knowing perfectly well that they were putting their own political futures at risk. Trust was built slowly but surely through years of confidence-building measures, such as prisoner releases and cease-fires.
Third, the peace process was successful because the United States was deeply involved in a way that both sides came to see as positive. I believed America could and should play a role in the Northern Ireland peace process — not in spite of, but because of our “special relationship” with the United Kingdom, and because of the large Irish American community that cared deeply about their ancestral homeland.
Finally, the peace has held because the framework of the Good Friday Agreement has proved to be fair to all sides and better than any other deal that’s out there.
The details, hammered out under the brilliant, patient but determined watch of special envoy George Mitchell, reflected the complex views of both communities, enabling them to trust the agreement to protect their myriad interests. The agreement committed the parties to majority rule with minority rights, respect for individual rights, civil rights and the rule of law, the prohibition of violence, and disarmament and demobilization of paramilitary groups.
It also created a system of shared decision-making, shared economic benefits and special ties to the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom.
On this anniversary, the people of Northern Ireland and all their friends around the world have much to celebrate. I hope this moment of shared memory will allow them to continue the work of peace and inspire others to believe, as Heaney wrote, in “miracles / And cures and healing wells” and find their own way forward. (Washington Post).
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Guns, Guns, Guns. Yesterday it was Louisville.
This is Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie’s Christmas card.
— Jack Cocchiarella (@JDCocchiarella) April 10, 2023
5 people were killed in Louisville Kentucky today because Republicans care more about guns than people. pic.twitter.com/uP6JsCMCyP
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What states and businesses can do after Kacsmaryk stopped mifepristone.
Also, drug companies speak out.
These 23 states can all amend their constitutions to protect abortion.
Voters in California, Michigan, and Vermont resoundingly approved amendments to their state constitutions last year that now guarantee the right to an abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Many more states can—and should—follow suit.
Two states, New York and Maryland, in fact, have already placed similar amendments on the ballot, but another 21 could do the same thing, as illustrated in the map at the top of this post and in this companion spreadsheet. Together, these 26 states would cover 58% of the nation’s population—a critical step in the battle to restore abortion rights for the entire nation. (Daily Kos).
How employers should respond to dueling rulings that reveal the uncertainty of abortion access in the U.S.
The dueling rulings [by federal judges on mifepristone] set up the matter to head to the Supreme Court, with implications beyond the already critical issue of abortion access. Kacsmaryk’s ruling could undermine the ability of the FDA to approve and regulate drugs. The eventual fate of safe and accessible medication abortion in the U.S. is unclear and confusing—for everyone, including businesses.
Jen Stark, co-director of the Center for Business and Social Justice and part of Don’t Ban Equality, an effort to engage business on the issue of reproductive rights, offers some advice for employers unsure of how to respond. While companies are often reluctant to weigh in on unsettled legal matters, Stark says that silence is equivalent to taking a stand. “The sidelines are not the middle ground anymore,” she says.
• Companies should speak up to the media when asked how the issue affects their workforces, she advises. Business associations can sign amicus briefs, engage privately with lawmakers, and provide safety in numbers for companies worried about stepping into the debate on their own.
• Businesses can engage lawmakers in their operational locations about pending legislation, including the Women’s Health Protection Act, state efforts to codify the right to abortion, and anti-abortion legislation that continues to advance.
• Companies should examine how their products and services could impact people who seek reproductive health care. Financial services, data tracking and surveillance, and pharmaceutical sales all intersect with abortion access.
• Companies that engage in political giving should reevaluate where their money is going ahead of the 2024 election cycle. “Employers that support diversity, equity, and inclusion need to consider the bottom-line and personal consequences of providing uncritical support to lawmakers that are advancing dangerous policies that are opposed by a majority of workers in the U.S.,” Stark says.
• Employers should communicate about these actions with their workforces. Abortion restrictions lead to more time away from work, logistical hurdles, and threaten worker safety and well-being. While many companies began to cover travel costs and implemented other policy and benefits changes after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, they should continue to proactively communicate to employees and answer questions in the wake of these rulings.
“Chaos and fear can make abortion care even less accessible,” Stark says. With these steps, employers can play a small part in lessening some of that uncertainty. (Broadsheet).
Drug Company Leaders Condemn Ruling Invalidating F.D.A.’s Approval of Abortion Pill.
More than 400 executives said that the decision ignored both scientific and legal precedent and that, if the ruling stood, it would create uncertainty for the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.
The pharmaceutical industry plunged into a legal showdown over the abortion pill mifepristone on Monday, issuing a scorching condemnation of a ruling by a federal judge that invalidated the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the drug and calling for the decision to be reversed.
The statement was signed by more than 400 leaders of some of the drug and biotech industry’s most prominent investment firms and companies, none of which make mifepristone, the first pill in the two-drug medication abortion regimen. It shows that the reach of this case stretches far beyond abortion. Unlike Roe v. Wade and other past landmark abortion lawsuits, this one could challenge the foundation of the regulatory system for all medicines in the United States.
“If courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone,” said the statement. (New York Times).
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The world is watching Tennessee.
Attorneys for Justin Jones and Justin Pearson ,including former AG Eric Holder, warned House Speaker Cameron Sexton against interfering with their reappointments. Sexton's office says they have no such intentions.
So far, one of the expelled lawmakers returned to the Tennessee legislature.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/10/us/politics/nashville-council-tennessee-lawmaker-jones.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShareThe move to reappoint Representative Justin Jones was a swift rebuke to the Republican supermajority over its decision to expel him and another lawmaker for leading a gun control protest.
NASHVILLE — Justin Jones, one of the two Black Democrats expelled from the Tennessee House of the Representatives for leading a gun control protest on the House floor, was sworn back in to his seat on Monday in a swift rebuke to the state’s Republican supermajority.
Within an hour of the Metropolitan Nashville Council unanimously voting to temporarily appoint Mr. Jones back to the seat, the young lawmaker had returned to take his place in the Republican-controlled legislature that overwhelmingly voted to expel him just four days earlier.
After leading hundreds of supporters on a march from the council meeting, Mr. Jones took his oath of office on the steps of the State Capitol, now empowered with a national platform and the backing of Democrats across the state and the country.(New York Times).
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The Deafening Silence of Florida’s College Presidents.
Zero for 40.
For a baseball player, that would be an awful slump. For a gambler it would be a costly run of bad luck.
For the presidents of the 40 public colleges and universities in Florida, it is at best an embarrassment and at worst a dereliction of duty.
Since the governor and Legislature in Florida began systemically to remake public higher education in the state into a branch of the most conservative faction within the Republican Party, the leaders of the affected institutions have refrained from uttering a public word in support or defense of their students, faculty, and staff.
Worse, the 28 presidents of the community colleges signed a statement that attempted to placate the governor without appearing overtly sycophantic, promised to suppress the much-dreaded “critical race theory” while somehow “developing campus environments that … welcome all voices,” and managed in doing so only to appear foolish.
Inside Higher Ed recently contacted all 40 presidents and offered them the rare opportunity to comment anonymously on the state’s legislative and gubernatorial initiatives, including the widely publicized HB 999, which would, among other things, “ban” the teaching of “Critical Theory, including, but not limited to, Critical Race Theory, Critical Race Studies, Critical Ethnic Studies, Radical Feminist Theory, Radical Gender Theory, Queer Theory, Critical Social Justice, or Intersectionality.”“Including, but not limited to” is a nice touch, as the range of topics falling under the heading of “Critical Theory” — why are these things capitalized, anyway? — is almost limitless since it is safe to assume that no member of the Florida Legislature could actually define any of those fields.
Presidential responses, anonymous or otherwise: zero for 40.
The only president of a public institution in the state who has attempted in any form to defend the work at her institution is Patricia Okker, formerly the leader of New College. She was, of course, fired about 15 seconds after Christopher Rufo became the de facto leader of what until recently was an admirable liberal-arts college. She might have been mostly out the door, but at least she should be given credit for not going quietly. (The Chronicle of Higher Education.)
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Striking in New Jersey.
Rutgers University is one of the nation’s premier institutions of higher learning. I am calling the University and union bargaining committees to meet in my office tomorrow to have a productive dialogue. pic.twitter.com/KTDmpm3LKD
— Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) April 10, 2023
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How to Rig an Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Vote.
The 7 minute film Tom Hanks and Jeffrey Robinson made, on the racist election of 1876. A must watch. A must share.
Tom Hanks narrates the film, “How to Rig an Election: The Racist History of the 1876 Presidential Contest,” which focuses on a rarely taught chapter of white supremacy 11 years after the Civil War ended. Tensions were so high between the North’s candidate, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, and the South’s, Democrat Samuel Tilden, that the country nearly devolved into violence. Deal-making eventually lead to peace for America but a certain hell for Black Americans, a legacy that lasts today. (Washington Post).
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The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes involving accusations that Russia has forcibly taken Ukrainian children.
Russia continues to kidnap Ukrainian children. Some fight back.
Ukraine brings back 31 children from Russia amid war.
Ukrainian mothers and their children returning home from Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine, where the children had been taken by the Russian authorities and military. (New York Times)
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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of a Ukrainian rescue organization said Saturday that the organization has brought back 31 children from Russia, where they had been taken during the war.
Mykola Kuleba said at a news conference in Kyiv that the children were expected to arrive in the capital later in the day. Kuleba is the executive director of the Save Ukraine organization and is the presidential commissioner for children’s rights.
Deportations of Ukrainian children have been a concern since Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of Ukraine. The International Criminal Court increased pressure on Russia when it issued arrest warrants on March 17 for President Vladimir Putin and Russian children’s rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of abducting children from Ukraine. (Associated Press).
The Russians Took Their Children. These Mothers Went and Got Them Back.
Natalya Zhornyk, 31, before departing to find her son, Artem, in Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.
Yulia Radzevilova, 36, before departing to find her child.
Alina Sehen, 53, before departing to recover her daughter, Nina Nastasiuk, 16, in Russian-occupied territory of Ukraine.
Olha Mazur, 36, before departing to find her son, Oleksandr Chugunov, 16, known as Sasha, in Russian-occupied territories.
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Making a nerve-wracking 3,000-mile journey from Ukraine, into Russia-occupied territory, and back again, a group of mothers managed to recover their children from the custody of the Russian authorities.
For weeks after Russian troops forcibly removed Natalya Zhornyk’s teenage son from his school last fall, she had no idea where he was or what had happened to him.
Then came a phone call.
“Mom, come and get me,” said her son, Artem, 15. He had remembered his mother’s phone number and borrowed the school director’s cellphone.
Ms. Zhornyk made him a promise: “When the fighting calms down, I will come.”
Artem and a dozen schoolmates had been loaded up by Russian troops and transferred to a school farther inside Russian-occupied Ukraine.
While Ms. Zhornyk was relieved to know where he was being held, reaching him would not be easy. They were now on different sides of the front line of a full-blown war, and border crossings from Ukraine into Russian-occupied territory were closed.
But months later, when a neighbor brought back one of her son’s schoolmates, she learned about a charity that was helping mothers bring their children home.
Since it is illegal for men of military age to leave Ukraine now, in March Ms. Zhornyk and a group of women assisted by Save Ukraine completed a nerve-wracking, 3,000-mile journey through Poland, Belarus and Russia to gain entry to Russian-occupied territory in eastern Ukraine and Crimea to retrieve Artem and 15 other children.
Then they had to take another circuitous journey back. “Come on, come on,” urged Ms. Zhornyk, as a cluster of children, laden with bags and suitcases, emerged hesitantly through the barriers at a border crossing from Belarus into Ukraine. She had crossed with her son just hours earlier and pushed forward impatiently to embrace the next group.
“There are no words for all the emotions,” Ms. Zhornyk, 31, said, describing her reunion with Artem. “I was full of emotion, and nervous, nervous.”
In the 13 months since the invasion, thousands of Ukrainian children have been displaced, moved or forcibly transferred to camps or institutions in Russia or Russian-controlled territory, in what Ukraine and rights advocates have condemned as war crimes.(New York Times).
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Some celebrate Black History Month. Some celebrate Women’s History Month. In Mississippi, there’s Confederate Heritage Month.
Gov. Reeves Declares Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi.
For the fourth year in a row, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves has signed a proclamation declaring April as Confederate Heritage Month in Mississippi, keeping alive a 30-year-old tradition that former Republican Gov. Kirk Fordice first began. Black people make up 38% of Mississippi’s population, which is the highest for any state.
A branch of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the SCV Camp 265 Rankin Rough & Ready’s, posted a copy of the proclamation on its Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.
“Whereas, as we honor all who lost their lives in (the Civil War), it is important for all Americans to reflect upon our nation’s past, to gain insight from our mistakes and successes, and to come to a full understanding that the lessons learned yesterday and today will carry us through tomorrow if we carefully and earnestly strive to understand and appreciate our heritage and our opportunities which lie before us,” the proclamation says.
“Now, therefore, I, Tate Reeves, Governor of the State of Mississippi, hereby proclaim the month of April 2023 as Confederate Heritage Month in the State of Mississippi.”
After Fordice became Mississippi’s first Republican governor in a century while courting the white supremacist Council of Conservative Citizens and criticizing efforts to atone for the state’s racist past, he issued the inaugural Confederate Heritage Month proclamation at the request of the Sons of Confederate Veterans in 1993.
Since then, one Democratic governor and three Republican governors have followed Fordice’s lead. In the 30 years since, only one governor has ever skipped issuing a Confederate Heritage Month proclamation. Despite issuing them for his first seven years in office between 2011 and 2018, former Gov. Bryant did not issue a Confederate Heritage Month proclamation in 2019, his last year in office, opting instead for a “Month of Unity” proclamation on behalf of a Christian organization.
The SCV is a neo-Confederate organization that promotes Lost Cause myths that downplay slavery as the primary cause of the Civil War. The organization also runs Beauvoir, the Gulf Coast home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Beauvoir is now a museum that annually receives $100,000 from the State of Mississippi “for the purpose of capital development and maintenance.”
Reeves’ ties to the SCV stretch back long before his time as governor. In 2013, he spoke to the SCV’s national gathering in Vicksburg, Miss., in front of a massive Confederate battle flag and in a room decorated with smaller Confederate flags and cotton plants. After then-Lt. Gov. Reeves congratulated the organization for “keeping history for our youth,” speakers defended the Confederate “cause” and compared “Yankees” to German “Nazis” in World War II.
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US music legend to perform at King Charles’ Coronation next month.
US singing legend Bette Midler is performing at the King’s Coronation concert.
The 77-year-old performer will fly over to the UK for the special live performance at Windsor Castle next month on Sunday May, 7.
Bette will star alongside Lionel Richie, 73, and Take That at the free concert for 10,000 people.
(The Sun).