Fighting to Never Forget

Students and professors rally for the future of Youngstown State’s Jewish studies center amid budget cuts, saying its lessons are as important as ever.

By Colleen Flaherty
January 13, 2022

TWITTER/@YSUFACULTY
Supporters of Youngstown State University’s Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies attend a student-led rally on campus Wednesday.

Students at Youngstown State University held a rally Wednesday in support of the campus Center for Judaic and Holocaust Studies. The center’s faculty director, Jacob Ari Labendz, will be laid off in May as part of a larger plan to cut YSU’s academic budget.

The university hasn’t said it will close the Holocaust studies center, which is endowed. But students, alumni and faculty and community members say it can’t function without a dedicated expert at the helm. Currently there are no plans to replace Labendz, the Clayman Assistant Professor of Judaic and Holocaust Studies in the history department.

“White nationalism and anti-Semitism remain a threat to minorities and to take away a resource like the CJHS, as well as Dr. Labendz’s expertise in the subject matter, is a direct threat to the safety of vulnerable populations in Youngstown,” says a petition delivered to YSU administrators during the rally, along with individual student letters of support for the center and Labendz.

The petition notes that a self-declared white nationalist threatened the Youngstown Jewish Community Center with gun violence in 2019 and was later convicted of the crime. It also says the campus center faced a separate, emailed bomb threat last year.
‘Holocaust Studies Matter’

“In a world still reeling from its legacy—and in a climate that weaponizes the memory of Nazism to make facile political and personal gains—Holocaust studies matter,” the petition says. “In a world where individuals try to deny or debate the Shoah as an actual historical event, Holocaust studies matter. In a time when religious and cultural minorities face growing threats from white nationalists, Holocaust studies matter. History begs careful and sensitive inquiry and, through its analysis, teaches lessons in the present day that matter.”

In addition to campus groups, organizations such as the American Historical Association, the Islamic Society of Greater Youngstown and the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation have asked the university to restore Labendz’s position.

The historians’ letter to YSU, for instance, says that the university “has so far made no announcement regarding how (or even if) it intends to continue the center or use its endowment. Given this center’s various roles within and beyond the university, diminishing its activities runs counter to YSU’s stated commitment to greater community engagement and to improving diversity, equity and inclusion.”

The letter also questions that the decision to shrink core liberal arts departments such as history, calling it an “especially odd move at a time when civic leaders from all corners of the political landscape have lamented the level of historical knowledge of American citizens. In addition, overwhelming evidence shows that employers seek the kind of skills a history degree can provide.”

Wednesday’s protest is one of several that students, alumni and faculty members have planned since YSU announced plans in November to lay off at least nine full-time professors, some of them tenured, and shutter 26 academic programs. YSU engaged with Gray Associates, a program evaluation and data analytics firm, prior to making these cuts, and has said that 10 affected programs “have no students and three others have just one. In all, about 90 students—less than 1 percent of all YSU students—are enrolled in the programs that will be eliminated.”

During the academic review, programs were grouped into five viability categories, from “Grow+” to “Sunset.” Labendz’s center wasn’t part of the review process, but history, his home department, was designated a “growth” category. It remains unclear to him and his supporters why he was targeted for nonrenewal.
‘A Detriment to the Students and the Community’

Mustansir Mir, a tenured professor of Islamic studies at YSU, also received a notice of retrenchment last fall. Mir did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he is referenced in a joint open letter to YSU from two local Islamic and Jewish groups, which also expresses support for Labendz. The letter says Mir is the only full-time faculty expert in religion remaining in the department of humanities and social sciences after previous faculty departures and that his loss “will mean the end of the study of religious traditions around the world at YSU, something that clearly will be a detriment to the students and the community at large.”

Studying the historical lessons of the Holocaust is “equally as crucial,” the joint letter continues. “During these perilous, polarized times, where we are seeing a substantial uptick in anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and political misappropriation of Holocaust history, it is more vital now than ever that a pedagogically qualified historian be present on campus to teach about and direct programming on this material.”

Labendz, who attended the student-led rally in support of the center, said, “I do understand that the people running the university believe, in good faith, in the very big decisions they’re making for the university. But I’m hoping they make different ones. And I’m hoping that they involve faculty in a more meaningful way, moving forward.” Most of all, he said, “I just hope that the center can keep doing its work. [The center has] been around for decades and I’d like it to be around for decades more, particularly given what we’re seeing in the political arena today, which includes but is not limited to what are apparently increased manifestations of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.”

He added, “We’ve had incidents in Youngstown, and I think we need to be prepared to not only talk about hatred, but to talk about the communities that are being targeted and spread awareness of what they’re like, what they value and what their histories are.”

Labendz will have the opportunity to appeal his layoff, but he said he’s not yet sure how to fight for his position when he’s only ever received positive reviews and kudos. His contract ends May 15, but he said the university has already agreed to let him stay on until the end of that month to hold a center symposium he’s planning.

YSU says that cutting Labendz, Mir and other professors and programs is necessary due to decreased enrollment—some 11 percent over all in three years—and a projected $10 million structural deficit next year. The university balanced the budget this year due to an influx of COVID-19–related funding, but it says it can’t count on that kind of help in the long run.

“While these are difficult decisions, they are necessary to further position us for success in the post-pandemic era,” President Jim Tressel said in a statement.

The university hasn’t declared financial exigency, however, which is academe’s widely followed standard—based on American Association of University Professors guidelines—for eliminating tenured professors. At the same time it is making cuts to academics, the university is increasing funding for athletics by some $885,000 to add three new Division I sports, buying land around campus and considering building a new student center, according to the National Education Association–affiliated faculty union. The group has asked for an audit of university finances, thus far unsuccessfully.

Mark Vopat, professor of philosophy at YSU and faculty union spokesperson, said, “We’re not saying that some of these programs didn’t need to be pared down. Some of them were done.” Yet “there are all these other places in the university where we’re not clear where the money is going, or what kind of cuts are being made.”

More than surplus academics, Vopat said that YSU suffers from “a lack of vision … A budget isn’t a vision.”

“Some of this seems to be happening without a vision for what the university is supposed to look like or going to look like,” Vopat continued. “Something like Judaic and Holocaust studies, and Islamic studies, for that matter—these are important issues right now, right?”

Citing news about public figures comparing wearing face masks or getting vaccinated against COVID-19 to elements of the Holocaust, Vopat said students need to learn precisely why such analogies are misguided.

“These are things students should have access to.”

US College Spends More on Marketing Than Financial Aid


By Suzanne Smalley
January 13, 2022

The largest private college in Michigan is a nonprofit that spends more on marketing than on financial aid and graduates fewer than a quarter of its students, according to a joint investigation from the Detroit Free Press and ProPublica that was published Wednesday.

Federal data shows that Baker College’s graduation rate is well below the national average for private four-year schools and is the third lowest among 26 private four-year schools in Michigan. Ten years after enrolling at Baker, fewer than half of former students made more than $28,000 a year.

Baker has an unusual oversight structure in which the university president also serves on the Board of Trustees, the Free Press and ProPublica reported. A retired Baker president served as the board chair until recently, earning more than $1 million a year for part-time work, the investigation showed. Boards are typically used to counterbalance university administrations and check their power, making the Baker arrangement highly unusual.

Baker officials told the Free Press and ProPublica that its open enrollment policy, under which it accepts most applicants with a high school degree or GED, is to blame for its low graduation rate. Baker has stressed its commitment to improving student outcomes and reducing debt but has not said how it does so, the Free Press and ProPublica reported.

Baker spent $9.7 million on marketing in the 2019–20 school year, which its president, Bart Daig, has previously said was justified because many of the programs Baker offers are not well-known.

Tony Blair: Iraqis 'disgusted' at knighthood being offered to war architect

A petition calling for the former prime minister to have his knighthood withdrawn has collected almost three quarters of a million signatures

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair speaks during a news conference in London on 6 July 2016, following the release of the Iraq Inquiry report (AFP)

By Alex MacDonald

Published date: 5 January 2022 

Iraqi campaigners and politicians have expressed their "disgust" at the decision by the British government to award a knighthood to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, citing his involvement in the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation.

The anger comes as a petition launched in the UK calling for the former Labour leader to have the honour withdrawn reached over 700,000 signatures.

Blair has been accused of war crimes over his role in the invasion of Iraq, which toppled longtime ruler Saddam Hussein and led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, widespread internecine violence and ongoing instability in Iraq and beyond.

There was further anger on Wednesday after it was claimed by Blair's former defence secretary Geoff Hoon that he had been told to "burn" a memo from the British attorney general which cast doubt on the legality of the Iraq war.

Anti-war protesters march down Whitehall in London on 22 March 2003 to demonstrate against the invasion of Iraq by the United Kingdom and United States (AFP)

Rami al-Sakini, an Iraqi MP and member of the Foreign Relations Committee, told Middle East Eye that the knighthood should be withdrawn.

"Of course this is neither appropriate nor correct," said Sakini, who is an MP for the southern city of Basra, which fell under British administration following the invasion.

"Especially for Tony Blair, who participated in the occupation of Iraq and was a major reason for wasting the resources of this country."

Sakini, whose Sairoun party won the largest number of seats in Iraq's parliamentary elections last October, said giving Blair the title was effectively "honouring the violation" that was the Iraq war.

The actions of British forces in Basra have repeatedly come in for criticism with claims of willful killings, detainee abuse, and what the International Criminal Court has deemed "credible allegations of torture and rape".

Apart from the initial violence, many have argued that the subsequent chaos provoked by the invasion led to the rise of the Islamic State group, who capture vast swaths of Iraq and Syria in 2014 and have launched terror attacks around the world that have led to thousands of deaths.

Ali al-Baroodi, a teacher and campaigner in the former IS stronghold of Mosul - which was obliterated in 2017 in a foreign-backed campaign to defeat the militant group - told MEE that honouring Blair was "disgusting" referring to him as "B-Liar" as many anti-war campaigners have done.

"It's horrendous news to be honest," he said.

'A crime against humanity'

On Tuesday, Blair's successor as Labour Party leader, Keir Starmer, said that the former prime minister "deserves" to be knighted and cited a number of domestic reforms he introduced during his time in office, 1997-2007.

Speaking to ITV, Starmer said he understood many held "strong views" about the Iraq war, but said that this did "not detract from the fact that Tony Blair was a very successful prime minister of this country and made a huge difference to the lives of millions of people in this country.”

But for Iraqis, and many others across the globe, the 2003 invasion has come to be seen as an outrage.

Kamal Jabir, a politician with the Civil Democratic Alliance, and a former freedom fighter against Saddam Hussein in the 80s and 90s, said: "With millions of caring world citizens l stood firm in objecting the 2003 war against Iraq - I was hoping that Tony Blair as one of the young leaders of the Labour Party would have the courage and the wisdom not to follow [US President] George Bush’s wrong decision to invade Iraq using false and fabricated intelligence to justify an ugly and unfair war that paved the way to the rise of the present corrupt and Islamic extremist parties and gangs in Iraq."

'The 2003 war against Iraq was a crime against humanity - therefore Blair should be tried instead of getting rewarded'

- Kamal Jabir, Civil Democratic Alliance

Although Blair was leader of the Labour Party through three UK election victories, his reputation since leaving office has slumped heavily and continued scrutiny has been poured on the justification for the war.

The new revelations by Hoon, which come from his recently published memoirs, suggest that a "very long and very detailed legal opinion” from Attorney General Peter Goldsmith indicated that the invasion was on shaky legal ground.

“It was not exactly the ringing endorsement that the chief of the defence staff [Mike Boyce] was looking for, and in any event, I was not strictly allowed to show it to him or even discuss it with him,” wrote Hoon.

“Moreover, when my principal private secretary, Peter Watkins, called [Blair's chief of staff] Jonathan Powell in Downing St and asked what he should now do with the document, he was told in no uncertain terms that he should ‘burn it’.”

He said the legal document was not burned, but eventually locked away in a Ministry of Defence safe and is "probably still there."

A poll released by the British polling agency YouGov on Tuesday suggested the UK public was overwhelmingly opposed to the former premier being knighted.

According to the poll, 62 percent of the public either "tend to" or "strongly" disapprove of Blair receiving the honour, with only 14 percent in favour.

Meanwhile, 56 percent of Labour Party voters also disapproved.

Jabir told MEE that virtually the entire political establishment in the UK and US now accepted that the war had been wrong and that the damage caused in "wasted" lives had been incalculable.

"The 2003 war against Iraq was a crime against humanity - therefore Blair should be tried instead of getting rewarded," he said.

"Looks like the moral compass among the leaders in the UK is fading away like every other country in the world."

Shark Attacks More Likely During Full Moon, Study Finds

BY ROBYN WHITE ON 1/13/22 

Sharks are more likely to attack humans during a full moon, a study has found.

While the exact cause for this remains unclear, the research shows a clear connection between a shark's behavior and the lunar phase.

The scientists, from the University of Florida and Louisiana State University, used shark attack data between 1970-2016 from across the globe to test for a relationship between shark attacks and the full moon. Their findings are published in the Frontiers in Marine Science.

A series of tests were run across shark attacks that occurred in North America (1,095 attacks), Australia (307 attacks), Africa (280 attacks), and the Pacific Ocean Islands (260 attacks). These four groups were selected based on having more than 100 reported shark attacks in their coastal waters.

Findings confirmed that more shark attacks "than were expected" occurred when lunar illumination was more than 50 percent, while all instances of fewer shark attacks than expected happened at less than 50 percent.

A full moon occurs at 100 percent illumination.

"Anytime an observed number of shark attacks was significantly lower than the expected number, it was during very low lunar illumination, whereas anytime an observed number of shark attacks was significantly higher than the expected number, it was during high lunar illumination phases," the study said.

Great white sharks in particular, were found to have attacked less when the lunar illumination was between 0 percent and 10 percent.

Researchers have found a link between the lunar phases and shark attack risk.

"If lunar light indeed has a direct effect on shark behavior, the significant moon phase effect detected for white sharks may be explained by this species' habit of feeding mostly at or near the water surface, targeting meso- and epipelagic prey items," the study said.

Shark attacks are incredibly rare, however according to the research it is "well-documented" that more occur when the moon is in a fuller phase.

In 2020, the International Shark Attack File, run by Florida Museum, recorded 129 shark-human interactions. This included 57 unprovoked attacks, 10 of which were fatal. Three of these were in the U.S., six in Australia and one in Saint Martin.

"Our findings contribute to a fuller understanding of shark behavior, which may help risk management in the future," the study said. "Ultimately, moon phase and lunar illumination will not likely be a strong predictor that alone can forecast risk of shark attack. Local environmental variables are expected to continue to be more practical information for assessing risk.

"However, the results here strongly support the idea that moon phase does play a role in overall risk of shark attack, and if future studies are able to consider local and regional environmental conditions along with lunar illumination, both understating shark attacks and forecasting risk may improve."

The research concludes that while preventing all shark attacks worldwide remains an "unlikely goal," a continued understanding of shark biology, ecology, and environmental interactions should help to develop better estimates of attack risk.

US to return looted Veiled Head of a Female antiquity to Libya

$1.2m piece had been stolen from a tomb in north African country and bought by billionaire Michael Steinhardt

'Veiled Head of a Female', a marble antiquity dating back to 350 BCE

 valued at about $1.2 million. Handout

Ahmed Maher

Jan 13, 2022

American prosecutors and law enforcement officers have announced they are to return an ancient antiquity to Libya after investigators concluded that smugglers had stolen the marble artefact from its country of origin.

“It is with great pleasure that we are returning the Veiled Head of a Female back to the nation of Libya, from where it was looted during civil unrest,” said Erik Rosenblatt, deputy special agent in charge at Homeland Security Investigations in New York.

“Though this antiquity has a monetary value of more than $1.2 million, it is the historical and sentimental value of the antiquities that renders it priceless to the people of Libya.”

READ MORE

Chastised US tycoon returns $70m of looted antiquities from Iraq, Lebanon and beyond

A long investigation last month concluded that New York billionaire Michael H Steinhardt bought the antiquity in 2000. It came from a tomb in the ancient city of Cyrene, modern day Shahhat, in north-eastern Libya.

Prosecutors have worked over the past five years with investigators from several countries including Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Israel, Turkey and Lebanon.

They said Mr Steinhardt – whose net worth is estimated by Forbes to be $1.2 billion – has owned and traded more than 1,000 antiquities since 1987 and his art collection has been valued at about $200m.

American billionaire Michael Steinhardt has agreed to turn over $70 million worth of stolen antiquities and will be subject to an unprecedented lifetime ban on acquiring such items. AP

His lawyers said he agreed to surrender 180 stolen antiquities valued at $70m. Mr Steinhardt, 81, from Brooklyn, has been banned for life from acquiring antiquities.

“I’m committed to ensuring transactions in the art industry are legal and those peddling in stolen or looted antiquities are shut down," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. "While the million-dollar price-tag on this relic is impressive, you can’t put a price on a country’s cultural heritage.

The Veiled Head of a Female is the first object of the looted collection from 11 countries to be repatriated.

A Neolithic mask (C) loaned by Michael Steinhardt is displayed at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. AP

The antiquities had been trafficked for years by 12 illicit networks and appeared on the international art market without legal paperwork.

New York state laws allow prosecutors to return stolen property such as antiquities to its rightful owners irrespective of when the theft took place.

The US is one of the first countries to sign and ratify the 1970 Unesco Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.

Unesco estimates the illegal trading in antiquities and cultural valuables rakes is worth about $10bn a year.

Updated: January 13th 2022, 2:18 AM

PRACTICE RUN

Ransomware attack locks down US prison

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

By AFP News January 13, 2022

A ransomware attack locked down a US jail, knocking out security cameras and leaving inmates confined to their cells, court documents show.

Cyber attackers hacked into the computer system that controls servers and internet access at the prison in Bernalillo County, New Mexico last week.

For a short time, the jail's automatic door system was knocked out, meaning staff at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) had to manually unlock each cell when detainees needed to get out for exercise or recreation.

"The lack of camera coverage... creates a significant security concern for the safety of staff and inmates during out of cell time," a court filing from January 6 says.

"This means inmates, even inmates in general population, are temporarily limited to their cells.

"Inmates will still be removed from their cells for medical care, but they will not receive unstructured 'time-out.'"

The jail was just one facility affected by the cyberattack, which also felled services across Bernalillo, New Mexico's most populous county.


Ransomware attacks are thought to cost US companies billions of dollars a year Photo: AFP / OLIVIER DOULIERY

A news release dated January 10 said the county continued to be affected by "cyber issues," including the issuing of marriage licenses, voter registration and real estate transactions.

"The public is being asked to understand the gravity of this ransomware issue and that, at this time, county services are still limited," the release said.

AFP was unsuccessful in attempts to contact the prison.

There was no information about who was behind the cyberattack, or what their demands were.

Ransomware attacks, where a hacker takes data from the victim or takes control of a computer system until a ransom is paid, are becoming increasingly common as more official and commercial business is conducted online.

The United States last year offered a $10 million reward for help finding the leaders of the "Darkside" gang, a Russia-based outfit Washington blames for an assault that shut down one of the country's largest oil pipelines.

More than half a billion dollars in ransomware-related payments were reported to US authorities in the first half of 2021 alone, though the true cost is thought to be considerably higher.

Companies and institutions face intense pressure to pay up in order to get their data unlocked, but also to keep the attack from potentially angry clients and authorities who issue stern warnings not to give cash to criminals.

 Document showing KLA’s efforts to join forces with US during WWII uncovered

Posted on : Jan.13,2022 17:41 KST Modified on : Jan.13,2022 

• 
  

The document, authored in 1942, illustrates the Korean Provisional Government’s concerted efforts to reach out to the US

Korean Liberation Army Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok (second row, center) and other members of the KLA's 2nd Company. (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs announced Tuesday that it had uncovered the first official proposal for a military coalition between Korea and the US that was drafted during World War II by the Korean Liberation Army (KLA), the army of the Korean Provisional Government.

The document takes the form of a 10-page report composed on June 3, 1942, by KLA Chief of Staff Lee Beom-seok with the intent of sending it to the US federal government. It vividly illustrates how the KLA aggressively sought to reach out to the US and join forces with it after fighting began in the Pacific theater.

The document in question describes in detail the necessity of Korean independence, the KLA’s mission, the role the KLA could play in the Pacific theater of the war, and what matters would need to be negotiated with the US.

“This document is of great significance since it’s an official document produced by the Korean Liberation Army that shows the army’s initial attempt to make diplomatic contact with the US and offer to take part in the war,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs explained.

The document states that the KLA, as the military arm of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, would “form the basis of the national army of Korea following the future establishment of an independent state.”

“The KLA’s mission is to achieve not only Korean independence but also peace for humanity alongside the Allies,” it reads.

One revelation in the document is the concrete proposal it makes for a military coalition with the US. “The KLA will deploy its forces in the Pacific War and with American aid will form Korean guerilla units in China that can roil the Japanese army at its rear.”

The document mentions specific aspects of carrying out the war that the KLA needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply,” showing how seriously the KLA had explored forging a military coalition with the US in World War II.

In the document, shown in part here, Lee Beom-seok listed the items that Korea needed to negotiate with the US including “the size of the deployment, the place of operations, transportation and logistics, chain of command, and the issue of supply.” (provided by the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)

“This document shows specifically that figures in the Korean Provisional Government, the Korean Liberation Army and the Korean Commission in the US tried to set up a military coalition with the US during the war in the Pacific,” said Jung Byung-joon, a professor of contemporary Korean history at Ewha Womans University.

“This is a rare document, the first of its kind to be discovered in Korea or elsewhere. It is therefore of great historical significance,” said Kim Gwang-jae, a researcher with the National Institute of Korean History who researches the KLA.

“We plan to analyze the papers of George McAfee McCune, which contain a detailed record of the activities of the US Office of Strategic Services, to identify more Koreans who contributed to the cause of independence. Moving forward, we will release more documents related to the independence movement that remain unknown in Korea,” the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said.

This document was one of many donated by George McAfee McCune to the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawai’i. It was uncovered by the ministry last December as part of a project to collect records about the independence movement outside of Korea.

George McAfee McCune was the son of George Shannon McCune, an American missionary and freedom fighter who was awarded the Order of Merit for National Foundation, Independent Medal, in 1963. The younger McCune came to possess documents related to the Korean independence movement while serving as a Korean expert at the US Office of Strategic Services and the State Department during World War II.

By Kwon Hyuk-chul, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

NO HONOUR IN IT
On the prowl: Mali child cat hunters honour age-old tradition

Author: AFP|Update: 14.01.2022 

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string / © AFP

Fifteen-year-old Kadi Ben Wahab puffs out his chest and poses for a photo with several friends, before setting off to hunt cats in northern Mali's Timbuktu.

As part of an age-old tradition in the city, in the desert north of the troubled Sahel state, Kadi and his band of hunters hit the streets after dark in order to trap, skin and cook cats.

They dance and sing after a successful hunt, throwing the skins of their prey over the electric cables that hang over the alleyways.

"I killed this one a few days ago," says Kadi, pointing to a cat skin hanging nearby -- not an uncommon sight in Timbuktu.

The boy says he is the best cat hunter in his neighbourhood and, as such, is the leader of his gang.

Timbuktu children also use torches to hunt, and kill their feline prey with clubs / © AFP

The children standing beside him are between six and 12 years old.

Despite their nighttime escapades, they lead otherwise ordinary lives: going to school during the day and eating dinner with their families in the evening.

But after dinner they often sneak out to hunt cats -- always targeting neighbourhoods other than their own.

Their weapon of choice is a crate-like wooden trap, which contains a piece of mutton as bait and can be pulled closed with a piece of string.

But Timbuktu children also use torches so they can hunt and kill their feline prey with clubs. Others use dogs.

© AFP

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill.

The unusual pastime offers children an escape in an otherwise tough environment: landlocked and conflict-torn Mali is one of the poorest nations in the world.

Compounding the shortage of distractions from the daily grind, Timbuktu is in Mali's volatile north, where a jihadist insurgency has raged since 2012.

- 'The best hunter' -

None of the Timbuktu residents interviewed by AFP were able to date the origin of the city's cat-hunting tradition, although several cast it as a rite of passage for boys.

The unusual pastime offers children an outlet in an otherwise tough environment / © AFP

The practice nonetheless appears to be older than living memory.

Timbuktu poet Sane Chirfi said that after one of his octogenarian relatives had died, an old cat trap was found in his possession.

"It goes back a very, very long time," he said.

"It's impossible to find anyone in town who didn't hunt cats as a child."

Another Timbuktu writer, Salem Ould El Hadj, told AFP that he ate cats as a child "like any other Timbuktu citizen".

However, poet Chirfi said that aspects of the tradition are being lost.

Once, only runaways or strays were hunted. Nowadays, hunters target domestic pets too.

Bemused adults allow the children to use cooking utensils so that they can cook their kill / © AFP

Abdoulaye Sow, a man in his twenties who is from the same neighbourhood as Kadi, said that he had lost his own pet cat Pipo to the hunters two months ago.

"It didn't stand a chance", he said, adding that his pet was likely hard to kill.

Despite the violent loss of his feline companion, there appeared to be no hard feelings.

"It's just the way it is," said Sow, shrugging his shoulders, before pointing out that kids from his own neighbourhood killed cats belonging to others.

One need only look up, he said, to see the dozen or so cats that Kadi's gang had hung on the nearby cables in recent weeks.

"He's the best hunter".

A Portland restaurant eliminated tipping, added a 22% service fee, and raised its lowest wage to $25

dreuter@insider.com (Dominick Reuter) - 

© Provided by Business Insider10'000 Hours/Getty Images

The owners of a restaurant in Portland have swapped tips for a 22% service charge on all checks.

They also increased the lowest wage to $25 and are offering health insurance for all employees.

Co-owner Bonnie Morales said the new policy is more equitable for kitchen and dining room workers.

The owners of a nationally recognized Russian gourmet restaurant in Portland, Oregon, have ended optional tips on their guest checks in favor of a 22% service charge on all orders.

In a statement on its website explaining the policy, Kachka says "tipping, at its most innocent, creates inequity between 'front-of-house' and 'back-of-house' workers, and at its most sinister, continues a tradition of racism."

The new policy began last week after several months of planning, co-owner and head chef Bonnie Morales told Insider.

The move smooths out the ordinarily variable revenue from traditional tipping, and helps her provide a minimum wage of $25 and health insurance to all employees.

"With inflation with staffing shortages, with more challenges with guests," she said. "This started to become less and less of a 'would be nice to have' and kind of turned into a 'we need to have.'"

While critics have commented that they would like to reserve the right to tip less than 22% to express dissatisfaction with poor service, BS EXCUSE, TAKE IT UP WITH THE MANAGER

Morales told Insider that those diners are not really Kachka's typical clientele.

"Our customers on average leave 22%, which is how we arrived at that number, so in fact, your bill will be exactly the same as it was beforehand," she said.

Other critics of mandatory service charges have also said that restaurants should instead raise the prices of specific menu items, but Morales argues that diners in the US have a hard time digesting those increases, even when the final bill comes out even in the end.

In other words, years of culinary tradition have psychologically conditioned most people to have a particular attachment to paying for service separately.

If anyone is getting shorted in this arrangement, it's the front-of-house staff, who can sometimes earn more than the owners or head chefs at some restaurants. Meanwhile the big winners here are the back-of-house staff, who typically receive little to no extra income from tips.

COMMONWEALTH

Morales said Kachka's servers have had several months to consider the situation and look for higher-paying positions elsewhere, but so far nobody has quit.

"Not a single person said that I deserve to make more than the folks in the kitchen or that my job is harder. Everyone recognizes the inequity, and it's something that's sort of an unspoken truth of the industry," she said.

Although the actual policy has only been in place for a week, Morales is optimistic, having run parallel payrolls since September in order to model the effects on Kachka's finances.

"The only thing that wasn't involved in that math is Omicron," she said of the coronavirus variant, which is again disrupting businesses across the US and around the world.

Manchin and Sinema have been allowed to lie about the filibuster

Michaelangelo Signorile, 

The Signorile Report
January 13, 2022

Senator Joe Manchin speaking to reporters. (Screenshot)

We’ve now reached a critical stage in which President Biden went full force in attacking those standing in the way of voting rights, comparing them to the racists of the past, including George Wallace. And the president, in his powerful speech in Georgia yesterday in which he demanded the Senate create a filibuster carve-out for voting rights, didn’t distinguish between Republicans and those two Senate Democrats, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who refuse to back a carve-out.

This article was originally published at The Signorile Report

The media has, however, allowed Manchin and Sinema to distinguish themselves from GOP senators — who don’t support the voting rights legislation at all — as defending democracy in opposing a carve-out for the filibuster even as they support the voting rights bills. Reporters do this by not challenging the lies and distortions the two senators offer up.

Manchin, who has steadfastly refused to support a carve-out to the filibuster for voting rights legislation — ready to allow democracy to be destroyed — said this to reporters just a few days ago:

Democrats can win the Senate in 2022 -- and make it Manchin-proof
[The filibuster is] the tradition of the Senate here in 232 years now. … We need to be very cautious what we do. … That’s what we’ve always had for 232 years. That’s what makes us different than any place else in the world.

The statement is completely false (yet wasn’t challenged by the reporters), as the Washington Post’s fack-checker Glenn Kessler explained today:

The filibuster, contrary to Manchin’s suggestion, is not mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, which went into effect 232 years ago…
…[I]t was decades — 1856 — before the Senate established a right of unlimited debate…The word “filibustering” was first used on the Senate floor to connote unlimited debate in 1853, according to [legal scholars Catherine] Fisk and [Erwin] Chemerinsky. But it was not until the 1880s that filibusters were successful in derailing legislation…

That would make it 166 years that it’s been around, not 232 (and certainly not created by the nation’s founders, who explicitly rejected a supermajority for passing bills). Except even that is not exactly true. The current form of the filibuster, in which 60 votes are needed to even open debate — and an opposing senator is no longer required to hold the floor, speaking throughout the filibuster (eventually giving up or changing minds of proponents of a bill) — has only been around since 1975, as attorney Max Kennerly notes.

The filibuster has been changed, modified, reformed — whatever word you want to use — several times during the 20th century, and many exemptions have been made to it. That included just last month when the Senate raised the debt ceiling.

Moreover, while Democrats led by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid voted to end the use of the filibuster for lower court federal judges during the Obama years — because Republicans were blocking every one of President Obama’s appointees — Republicans led by Mitch McConnell ended the filibuster for Supreme Court justices just in time for Donald Trump to pack the court with extremists.

None of this is ever raised by reporters and interviewers with Manchin, or with Sinema, as they refuse to support ending or reforming the filibuster while Republicans are intent on blocking everything President Biden and Democrats want to accomplish for the American people.

Both Manchin and Sinema are allowed to promote themselves as upholding constitutional principles — again, though the Constitution has no stipulation for a filibuster — and the sanctity of Senate rules and procedures, as if those haven’t changed hundreds of times.

Sinema claimed last year that, “the filibuster was not created to accomplish one thing or another. It was created to bring together members of different parties to find compromise and coalition.”

That was preposterous, as many noted on social media. The filibuster wasn’t “created” so there would be comity; it was put in place many years after the nation’s founding and has been used by the minority to obstruct, overwhelmingly used to block civil rights legislation.

Sinema rarely gives interviews, though she goes to one reporter, Burgess Everett, at Politico — who never raises any of these issues or her lies. A recent rare CNN sit down with her also was a puffy interview that didn’t challenge her on her lies and distortions about the filibuster. It seems as if interviews aren’t granted unless certain conditions are met — like not bringing up specific issues — and media outlets are only too willing to get an interview with an elusive subject and beat out competition, even if means that subject gets a pass.

In the case of Manchin, he does give interviews in the hallways of Congress and elsewhere as he goes about his business, but he decides whom he allows to question him on the spot and ignores questions from others. Those he does speak with don’t challenge him on the lies he spouts in response — as we saw this week — and allow him, like Sinema, to promote himself as a defender of something sacred.

But if Sinema and Manchin really believed the minority should always have outsized power they wouldn’t support budget reconciliation — which is how the American Rescue Plan, which they voted for, was passed — since that is a filibuster carve-out itself, passed with only 51 votes. Of course, Republicans used the procedure to pass massive tax cuts for the wealthy under Trump, so it would be hard for Manchin and Sinema to oppose its use.

The truth is that Manchin and Sinema are bowing to donors who want the filibuster in place for legislation like voting rights because they don’t want Democrats advancing their agenda and want the GOP to have power in the minority, and, ultimately, to seize back the majority. As we’re headed for a showdown on the filibuster and a carve-out for voting rights, blame should also be laid at the feet of the media, which has allowed the lies to go unchecked.