It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Saturday, April 23, 2022
After decades of interfering in the island nation with nuclear testing, disposal of radioactive waste, and human experimentation, U.S. leaders are considering a formal apology.
BY EDWARD HUNT
APRIL 19, 2022
Creative Commons
U.S. nuclear waste dome (L) in the Marshall Islands.
Some U.S. officials are considering whether to issue a formal apology to the Marshall Islands, a small island nation in the Pacific Ocean that the United States subjected to years of nuclear testing and human experimentation during the Cold War.
Last month, several members of Congress introduced resolutions that, if approved, would offer an apology to the people of the Marshall Islands who suffered from nuclear testing and the disposal of radioactive nuclear waste.
From 1946 to 1958, the United States detonated sixty-seven nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, destroying entire islands and causing serious health problems for local residents, including cancer.
“Our government used the Marshallese as guinea pigs to study the effects of radiation and turned ancestral islands into dumping grounds for nuclear waste,” said U.S. Representative Katie Porter, Democrat of California, who introduced one of the resolutions into Congress.
The Marshall Islands, home to about 50,000 people, are located 2,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. The nation consists of two island chains that include several small islands and low-lying atolls. Its total landmass, which is threatened by rising sea levels, is around seventy square miles.
From 1947 to 1986, the Marshall Islands were part of the U.N. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Since then, the nation has remained under indirect U.S. control through a compact of free association, in which the United States is the dominant military power in the region in exchange for providing economic assistance to the islands.
With these economic provisions set to expire at the end of 2023, U.S. officials have been trying to renegotiate the compact, which provides about 21 percent of the islands’ expenditures. As Marshallese leaders have been pressing their concerns about the ongoing effects of past nuclear testing, U.S. officials have been struggling to arrange formal negotiations.
“We made clear through our ambassador there that we’re ready for formal negotiations,” State Department official Mark Lambert told Congress last month. “We have not received a response back.”
From 1946 to 1958, the United States detonated sixty-seven nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, destroying entire islands and causing serious health problems for local residents, including cancer. The United States also conducted experiments on the Marshallese people, transported soil from a nuclear testing site in Nevada to the islands, and experimented with lethal biological weapons, all without the knowledge and consent of the Marshallese people.
“A formal apology is long overdue to the Republic of the Marshall Islands for the harmful legacy of U.S. nuclear testing,” Senator Edward Markey, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a March 1 statement.
This legacy includes Runit Dome, a dumping ground for radioactive soil and debris built by the United States in the 1970s. Although the site is capped by a concrete dome, its interior has been leaking, raising concerns about its effects on the surrounding environment.
At a Congressional hearing last October, Biden Administration officials offered contradictory accounts of U.S. responsibility for the leaking site. Energy Department official Matthew Moury claimed the Marshallese government is fully responsible for the dome, but Interior Department official Nikolao Pula disagreed, saying that the United States bears “some appearance of responsibility” to work with the Marshallese government.
Frustrated by the Biden Administration’s lack of transparency, Porter accused the State Department of spending “a considerable amount of time” coaching the witnesses “on what not to say.” She said an apology to the people of the Marshall Islands from the United States would be a necessary first step toward repairing the relationship.
“It’s very hard for me to understand how we have recognized what we have done with this testing, and how we have accepted and acted on responsibility if we haven’t even issued an apology,” Porter said.
Many U.S. leaders insist that the United States has already taken full responsibility for its years of nuclear testing, citing an agreement with the Marshall Islands that refers to a “full settlement” for all claims related to this testing. The settlement included a payment of $150 million.
But what these U.S. officials fail to acknowledge is that the agreement leaves open the possibility of additional compensation, particularly for changed circumstances, such as new information about the nuclear programs.
“It said that if new information came to light or the $150 million proved inadequate, the Marshallese could ask to reconsider the deal,” Porter noted.
With negotiations over the compact stalled, several Congressional leaders are growing increasingly concerned about the implications for the U.S. military presence in the region. Without some kind of settlement, they fear that the United States could lose access to a strategically important part of the Pacific Ocean.
The islands are home to the Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site, one of the military’s most important missile ranges. It is used by the U.S. military to test offensive and defensive ballistic missiles, including hypersonic missiles that fly several times faster than the speed of sound.
“The Ronald Reagan test site is vitally important for our ballistic missile testing,” Defense Department official Siddharth Mohandas told Congress last month. “We test hypersonics there.”
For this reason, some Senate leaders are giving more serious consideration to the idea of issuing a formal apology to the Marshallese people. At a hearing last month, U.S. Senator Mazie Hirono, Democrat of Hawaii, pressed three officials from the Biden Administration on the recently introduced resolutions. “It is very important to the peoples of these nations that we formally apologize,” Hirono said.
The administration officials claimed to have no knowledge of the White House’s position on the matter, leaving Congress with questions about whether the officials would prioritize the issue.
“I would very much like all of you to get back to me as to why we cannot support a formal apology,” Hirono said. “I’d say that it’s long past time.”
This may be the most frustrating Earth Day in the 50-year history of the celebration. At no other time have we been faced with such acute peril from anthropogenic climate disruption. At no other time have more people been personally invested in making the changes necessary to create a sustainable world. At no other time has actually making those changes in the halls of power seemed more challenging.
This is the agony of the paradigm shift, of the great change that must happen even in the implacable face of vast, entrenched wealth. Those who believed Big Oil, Big War, and all the other pillars of this presently collapsing pillage-and-plunder system were going to see all the fires, floods and storms, and say, “Wow, this sucks and might make it harder for us to make money in 20 years, something must be done!” were badly fooling themselves. Today’s system is about MONEY NOW, about wringing the last few coppers from the bones of the laboring class while there is still time on the clock.
The recent summer-to-spring legislative fiasco over President Biden’s signature policy initiatives is instructive. Biden’s bills — the large Build Back Better Act and a smaller infrastructure bill — were the result of a progressive eruption within the ranks of the Democratic Caucus. Progressive legislators, led by Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, filled the bill with vital climate action policies that would be paid for by taxing wealthy people and corporations their fair share. Right there, you can see how the effort was all but doomed from the start.
A one-vote majority in the Senate elevated Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of Arizona (who received 270,510 votes when reelected in 2018, compared to Biden’s 81,000,000 vote haul in 2020) to the status of kingmaker… or planet-breaker, depending upon where you stand. Like a vampire stooped over pliable prey, Manchin supped on the blood of these bills for months, until one was passed in skeletal form. The other remains in rewrite limbo. He did this for coal and campaign contributions from coal interests, and no other reasons besides.
Manchin’s partner in this effort, Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (665,000 votes collected in her own 2018 race), likewise poured sand and ground glass into the gears of both pieces of legislation. She didn’t want rich people and huge pharmaceutical companies to pay for it by way of equitable taxation and drug price stabilization, and refused to budge despite multiple good-faith efforts to gain her support. In the end, the Democratic Caucus was left fighting amongst itself, Mitch McConnell and the GOP hardly had to break a sweat, and measures to save the planet from our destruction and extraction once again fell to dust.
The recent war in Ukraine also underscores the long slog between necessity and accomplishment. When Russia, one of the world’s top producers of fossil fuels, charged toward Kyiv behind a wall of tanks, Russian President Vladimir Putin was suddenly confronted with a raft of sanctions levied by an appalled world.This is the agony of the paradigm shift, of the great change that must happen even in the implacable face of vast, entrenched wealth.
These sanctions have had only a dubious effect on that nation’s war-makers, and have inflicted further devastation on Russian civilians. Another impact: They have forced NATO nations and others to go looking for their fossil fuels elsewhere. Biden, in defiance of a campaign pledge to ban new drilling on public lands, is now undertaking a massive, wildly pollutive campaign of oil and gas production in order to make up for the coming shortfall.
“The department’s plans are the latest example of the political tightrope the president is trying to walk,” reports The Washington Post. “Ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices soaring, Biden has faced pressure to alleviate the pain Americans feel at the pump. He has urged U.S. oil companies to boost production and has released millions of barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to compensate for the loss of Russian oil from global markets.”
Thus does war hurl back even mediocre progress on attacking the environmental crisis that hedges closer to us by the day. Thus does greed and lust for power eviscerate all but the slimmest chance for meaningful climate repair, precisely in this tipping-point moment historians will revel in, if there are any left with the patience to pile through the paperwork.
The mood this Earth Day is one of deep frustration and fear. If there can be said to be a bright spot, it is this: We know what we have to do, and now we know who stands against us. All pretense is cast aside. What to do with this information is entirely up to you.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.
William Rivers Pitt is a senior editor and lead columnist at Truthout. He is also a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of three books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn’t Want You to Know, The Greatest Sedition Is Silence and House of Ill Repute: Reflections on War, Lies, and America’s Ravaged Reputation. His fourth book, The Mass Destruction of Iraq: Why It Is Happening, and Who Is Responsible, co-written with Dahr Jamail, is available now on Amazon. He lives and works in New Hampshire.
PTI chief demands, open SC hearing, CEC resignation
SAMAA | Samaa Web Desk - Posted: Apr 23, 2022
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chief Imran Khan has demanded an “open hearing” in the Supreme Court of Pakistan on the “threat” he was allegedly issued by the United States, claiming that the National Security Committee statement issued on Friday had confirmed the ‘conspiracy’ against him.
Addressing a press conference at his Bani Gala residence in Islamabad on Saturday, the PTI chief also demanded resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja.
His demand came as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) poised to give a ruling in the foreign funding case involving PTI.
Imran Khan also announced that he had told his workers to prepare for a march on Islamabad.
The NSC on Friday dismissed Khan’s claims about a ‘foreign conspiracy’ to topple his government.
However, at the press conference Imran Khan said that the NSC statement had confirmed what he was saying and it proved he was not lying. The meeting has confirmed that the communique was a fact, he said.
Imran Khan said he wanted the Supreme Court to take up the issue of communique, which, he said, the court should have taken up when the National Assembly deputy speaker disallowed the no-confidence motion against Khan.
He said he wanted an open hearing in the Supreme Court because if the court fails to investigate the issue no prime minister in Pakistan will be able to resist foreign pressure.
Imran Khan claimed that Pervez Musharraf’s decision to side with the US in its ‘war on terror’ was also an example of foreign pressure.
Khan said the former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had brought the PML-N and PPP closer when she was in office (2005-2009) and this too was foreign intervention.
“The second thing I want that when the Supreme Court investigates,” it would be revealed who was visiting foreign diplomatic missions Pakistan, he said.
Imran Khan said journalists had started to report beforehand on his government’s end.
“If our institutions does not stand with our nation’s self-respect” it would amount to putting our children’s future at risk, he said.
The PTI chief said that the Supreme Court and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) were not showing any “urgency” over the issues, including the interpretation of Article 63-A.
Imran Khan then demanded that the chief election commissioner must step down because for an umpire to be neutral both parties must accept it.
The PTI chief revealed that he had already instructed his party’s district level organisations to organise a march on Islamabad for which he would give a date later.
When asked the word ‘conspiracy’ was not in either of the NSC statement, Khan said that it was wrong to claim that the communication was not an unusual development.
Any one saying this is a “liar” because such language is not used in diplomatic communications, he said.
Imran Khan said that the “threat” issued to him was conspiracy and it was rare because in the past only Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Musharraf had received such threats.
When asked about the new government reversing his government’s decision, Imran Khan, instead of answering the question, said that the conspiracy had been proven and now Shehbaz Sharif must apologise to him.
The PTI has been accusing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) of partiality as the body hears the funding case and has been instructed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to hand down a ruling within 30 days.
The PTI has filed a petition before the IHC challenging the order. It has also urged that ECP be directed to probe accounts of all the political parties in Pakistan and conclude the proceedings within 30 days.
The PTI has been accused of receiving funding from illegal foreign sources in a case that was filed in 2014 by PTI’s founding member Akbar S. Babar.
The party has stalled a ruling for seven years through petitions before courts.
On April 14, when the IHC ordered the ECP to give a ruling in 30 days, it also dismissed a PTI petition to remove Babar from the case.
She is in Pakistan on four-day visit
SAMAA | Samaa Web Desk - Posted: Apr 22, 2022
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar met former PM Imran Khan
US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, known for her stance on Islamophobia and Kashmir cause, arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday on a four-day visit.
During her stay in Pakistan she met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, President Arif Alvi as well as former prime minister and PTI chairman Imran Khan.
On Thursday, she along with a delegation comprising with Timothy Mynett, Nicholas Lampson and Tahir Javed visited Line of Control in Azad Kashmir.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price was asked by ARY News reporter to confirm Thursday if it’s true that Ilhan Omar is representing Biden government in Islamabad and the US is trying to clear the air with Imran Khan as claimed by his close associates.
“Well, as I understand it, Representative Omar is not visiting Pakistan on U.S. Government-sponsored travel,” said Price. He referred the report to Omar’s office for questions on her travel.
The 39-year-old Omar belongs to the Democrats and represents the State of Minnesota in Congress. She is the first Somali-American legislator and one of the two Muslim women elected to the US Congress in 2018. Omar was sworn into office in January 2019.
Born in Somalia, Omar’s family fled the country’s civil war when she was eight. The family spent four years in a refugee camp in Kenya before coming to the United States in the 1990s. In 1997, she moved to Minneapolis with her family.
Stance on Kashmir
Omar has stalwartly supported Kashmiris and has been vocal against the Indian atrocities in the valley.
In 2019, Omar had called for an immediate restoration of communication, respect for human rights, and religious freedom when the Indian government unilaterally scrapped the law that grants special status to Indian occupied Kashmir, saying that the international organisations should be allowed to fully document what is happening on the ground.
‘Islamophobia pervades our culture’
In 2021, Omar had tabled legislation to create a special envoy combatting Islamophobia following anti-Muslim comments by her colleague calling the Minnesota Democrat a terrorist.
She highlighted that Islamophobia pervades the US’ culture, politics and even policy decisions suggesting that Muslim women are all oppressed, or that Muslims hate other religions.
‘Omar not allowed to enter Israel’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu banned the two Democratic U.S. congresswomen from visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories over their remarks on the Israeli government and Trump’s unwavering support of suppressing Palestinians.
The two representatives also had voted against a nonbinding resolution condemning a Palestinian-led movement calling for boycotts, divestment and sanctions in Israel, which they have repeatedly defended.
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Spain Expects Olive Growers to Get Relief Soon From U.S. Tariffs
Thomas Gualtieri and Alonso Soto, Bloomberg News
Manuel Sanchez, a field worker, prunes an olive tree in an olive grove near Moron Air Base in Arahal, Spain, on Wednesday, March 13, 2019. The relationship between Washington and Madrid is being put to the test after Trump slapped a 35% tariff on black Spanish table olives, following complaints by American growers that Madrid unfairly subsidizes its industry. , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- Spain is confident the U.S. will remove additional custom duties on olive imports in coming months if a court in Washington rules again in favor of Spanish growers.
The U.S. Court of International Trade is set to issue its third decision on the matter by the end of July, after the previous rulings favorable to Spanish companies were appealed by the U.S. Commerce Department.
Spain is the world’s largest olive producer, and its exports to the U.S. plunged after the Trump administration imposed import taxes on products it deemed to be subsidized with trade-distorting aid from the European Union.
Spain’s Secretary of State for Trade Xiana Mendez said her government expects the court to again favor Agro Sevilla Aceitunas SCA and Angel Camacho Alimentacion SL, strengthening Madrid’s position that the duties are unfair.
A World Trade Organization panel backed Spain in November, saying that U.S. did not apply the measures correctly. The U.S. declined to appeal that ruling.
So far the U.S. has cut the additional duties to 7.3% following an internal revision. The Spanish government is now waiting to negotiate the deadline for the U.S. to abide by the WTO’s decision.
As the legal overhaul could take time, the Spanish government has asked Washington to scrap the duties in the meantime, “being aware of the unfair damage Spanish olive maker are suffering,” Mendez said in an interview. “The two things aren’t incompatible, it’s just a matter of political will,” she said.
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
Concerns about War Increase Efforts to Mine Potash in Michigan, Worrying Some Locals
The war in Ukraine has the U.S. looking for fertilizer at home. A mine in Central Michigan would use 2 million gallons of groundwater a day for its operations.
by Lina Tran / Grist
This story was originally published by Grist.
A mile and a half below Doug Miller’s backyard in central Michigan lie the remnants of an ancient salty sea. When the waters receded around 350 million years ago, they left behind thick deposits of potash, a commonly used fertilizer. For Miller, a retired engineer, the stuff is out of sight, but top of mind, as the company Michigan Potash & Salt has sought to build a mining facility next door.
The facility would pull vast amounts of groundwater from the same aquifer as Miller’s. “I highly expect if they actually do this, my well would run dry,” he said.
The mine in the rural township of Evart has been in the works since 2012, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has raised the stakes. With its close ally Belarus, the two countries produce 40% of the world’s potash, which is rich in potassium, one of three essential plant nutrients. Prices were already on the rise, and shutting off major providers from global markets is expected to keep pushing them up. So the U.S., which imports nearly all of its potash, is looking to support domestic sources, like the planned mine next to Miller’s property.
For the Denver-based Michigan Potash & Salt, with 15,000 acres of mineral rights across Osceola and Mecosta counties, the Russian conflict is the latest reason why it needs to get its operations up and running ASAP. “Michigan Potash stands ready to support American farmers by replacing one-to-one all the potash imported from Russia,” said Theodore Pagano, the company’s founder and CEO, in a statement. In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced a $250 million investment to support all-American fertilizer companies like Pagano’s. Once it’s operating, Michigan Potash’s site is expected to be the largest source in the country by far.
To Miller and others in the area, the risks of mining and pumping out all that groundwater to extract the potash simply aren’t worth it. They worry about the potential damage to sensitive wetlands as well as their drinking water. They question whether the U.S. really needs potash from central Michigan when there’s plenty at well-established facilities just across the U.S.-Canada border.
“All of a sudden you get a war overseas, and he’s fanning the flames that we have to have domestic production,” said Ken Ford, a forester in Osceola County, referring to Pagano.
While the U.S. relies heavily on international potash — importing 94% of its annual use — 83% of it comes from Canada, home to the largest mines in the world and directly connected by rail to the Corn Belt. (In March, a union strike shut down the railway for two days, stoking concerns about the tenuous supply chain.) Russia and Belarus each represent 6%.
In December, Michigan Potash obtained the last of the permits it needs to begin construction. The company would use solution mining to free the potash from the deep earth, valued at $65 billion. That involves injecting pressurized streams of hot saltwater, or brine, underground to dissolve the salt beds. Then, that brine would be pumped back to the surface, where it’s dried at high heat to extract the crystallized potash. Table salt is a byproduct of the process, which the company would sell, too.
This form of mining requires a lot of water: The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy, or EGLE, has already granted permission for Michigan Potash to extract 725 million gallons of groundwater each year. That amounts to some 2 million gallons a day — far exceeding the withdrawal allotted to the Nestlé bottled water plant just a few miles away.
Michigan Potash says it would recycle as much water as possible, calling its system a “closed loop.” Their production would capture the hot steam from boiling the potash out of the brine, which would supplement their water use. But only so much can be recycled. When the brine can’t be reused anymore, they’d inject the wastewater back underground into deep wells. Overall, the company has proposed boring 11 wells: eight for mining and three for waste.
Ford, who’s on the board for the Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation, said the site is unsuitable for mining. It slopes on all sides. And it’s in the middle of four creeks that wander through a large freshwater marsh before flowing into the Muskegon River. “They literally could not have picked a worse location for this,” Ford said.
In the last 24 hours, FDNY Fire Marshals have determined that there were four accidental electrical fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in electric scooters/E-Bikes.
FDNY Fire Marshals have determined that there were four accidental electrical fires caused by lithium-ion batteries in electric scooters/E-Bikes in the last 24 hours.
In a Facebook post, the FDNY a total of 12 people were injured in these fires.
The department reports that more than 40 fires have been caused by lithium-ion batteries in electric scooters/E-Bikes since the start of the new year, resulting in 20 injuries.
More states are restricting the shackling of pregnant inmates, but it still occurs
April 22, 2022
JOE HERNANDEZ
A pregnant female inmate at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center in Chicopee, Mass., poses for a portrait in the facility's visiting area in 2014.
The Tennessee legislature gave its final approval to a bill on Thursday that would restrict the use of shackles and other restraints on pregnant inmates — the latest state to limit what medical experts say is a routine but dangerous practice for pregnant people and fetuses.
More than a dozen states have no laws restricting the shackling of pregnant inmates, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and those that do often make exceptions for public safety or other reasons.
It's unclear exactly how many pregnant inmates are shackled or restrained each year, but experts say it still occurs in U.S. prisons and jails, where an estimated 58,000 pregnant women pass through annually.
A 2018 study found that, among hospital nurses who said they cared for incarcerated women during pregnancy or the postpartum period, 82.9% reported that their incarcerated patients were shackled "sometimes to all of the time."
"It's a very demeaning and dangerous practice," Corene Kendrick, deputy director of the ACLU National Prison Project, told NPR.
"A lot of these policies that prison systems have about shackling people when they go to outside medical care are just absurd," Kendrick added.
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The medical community opposes shackling pregnant inmates
Medical experts roundly criticize the practice of shackling pregnant inmates. National organizations — from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists to the American Medical Association to the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses — oppose it, or support restrictions.
Dr. Carolyn Sufrin, an associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, says having an inmate shackled during labor and delivery presents challenges for doctors and nurses.
SHOTS - HEALTH NEWS
Pregnant Behind Bars: What We Do And Don't Know About Pregnancy And Incarceration
For example, if medical staff detect a deceleration in the fetal heart rate and are worried about fetal distress, they may want to have the pregnant inmate change positions. In other cases, if an inmate requires emergency C-section, they'll need to be quickly transferred to the operating room.
"All of those things are impeded if that person is shackled to the bed, and we don't have time to be negotiating with an officer to unlock the restraints so that we can provide emergency, time-sensitive medical care," Sufrin said.
Even before labor and delivery, pregnant inmates who are shackled face other hazards, such as blood clots. Sufrin said restrained inmates are also at a higher risk of falling and are unable to break their fall, which could result in bleeding or even stillbirth.
The practice is not universally banned across the U.S.
Despite the widespread opposition to shackling pregnant inmates, not all states prohibit it by law.
At least 37 states have laws limiting the shackling of pregnant inmates, after Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed a measure into law last week.
LAW
Difficult Births: Laboring And Delivering In Shackles
Some of those states go as far as banning shackling throughout pregnancy as well as during labor, delivery and the postpartum recovery period.
Federal law also restricts the practice. The First Step Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in 2018, bars the use of restraints on pregnant people in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Sufrin said these kinds of laws are necessary now because prisons and jails were never contemplated to house and provide health care for pregnant people.
Federal Legislation Seeks Ban On Shackling Of Pregnant Inmates
"The reason that we have to have a law, to me, is because our carceral system is fundamentally gendered to imagine the default prisoner as male," she said.
Even among the laws that do exist, there frequently are exceptions if officials believe a pregnant inmate may attempt to flee or harm others.
Tennessee is the latest state to move toward limiting restraints on pregnant inmates
According to Tennessee lawmakers, state officials already limit the practice of shackling pregnant inmates during labor at state-run facilities, but the proposal would enshrine that prohibition into state law and also apply it to county jails.
The state Senate approved the bill without opposition on Thursday. The House of Representatives passed it on Monday.
It now needs the signature of Republican Gov. Bill Lee to become law.
The measure restricts pregnant inmates from being put in restraints except under certain circumstances, such as if a corrections officer determines the inmate is a flight or security risk. Inmates can also be restrained "solely by handcuffs in the front of her body" during transport or outside their facility.
NATIONAL
Pregnant, Locked Up, And Alone
The law prohibits a pregnant inmate from being restrained around the ankles, legs or waist during labor and delivery. It also forbids restraining a pregnant inmate's hands behind their back or attaching them to another inmate.
"We want safe and healthy pregnancies for every mother and child," state Sen. Raumesh Akbari, the Democrat who sponsored the Tennessee bill, said in a statement.
"By restricting the dangerous and inhumane practice of shackling incarcerated women who give birth while in correctional custody, we are promoting better pregnancy outcomes," she added.
The Tennessee Sheriffs' Association took issue with an earlier version of the bill, arguing that pregnant inmates could still pose a threat to those around them, WPLN reported.
DISCIPLINE AND WOMEN IN PRISON
Federal Report Says Women In Prison Receive Harsher Punishments Than Men
"Just because an inmate's pregnant does not mean they're incapacitated, and we do not know what's in everyone's mind as to what their attempts or actions could be," the association's executive director, Jeff Bledsoe, testified at a recent committee hearing. "We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best, and restraints help us to protect ourselves, to protect the inmate."
The bill was later amended to take into account those concerns as well as other feedback from the Tennessee Department of Correction, according to WPLN.
Six states have passed laws this year that copy abortion bans in Mississippi and Texas.
ARIANNA COGHILL
Gina M. Randazzo/ZUMA
With Roe v. Wade at risk of being overturned by the Supreme Court, 2022 is shaping up to be a historically bad year for reproductive rights. And while anti-choice lawmakers have been working toward this for decades, they’ve only gotten bolder with their moves in the past few years.
If the court does away with Roe, 26 states will put in place bans or severe abortion restrictions, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights think tank. Meanwhile, emboldened by the passing of other abortion bans in previous years, Republicans politicians have passed abortion bans left and right this year, setting reproductive rights back nearly half a century: In the first four months of this year alone, lawmakers across 42 states introduced a grand total of 536 bills restricting access to abortions—86 of which effectively banned abortion outright.
So far, six states have successfully passed versions of these bans, and most of them look eerily familiar. It appears as those legislators are taking a page straight out of either Texas or Mississippi’s playbook: In 2021, Texas passed a law that prohibited abortions only after six weeks of pregnancy, while three years prior, Mississippi passed a law preventing abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The aftermath of these laws has been devastating. People seeking abortions in Texas have been forced to flee to other states—and sometimes other countries—to receive the procedure. Currently, there are eight states that have either banned or are attempting to ban abortions a maximum of 15 weeks after a pregnancy. Here’s a look at where they stand:
Arizona
On March 30, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed a bill that mirrors Mississippi’s, forbidding abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The law also makes no exceptions for cases of rape or incest. “In Arizona, we know there is immeasurable value in every life—including preborn life,” Ducey said. “I believe it is each state’s responsibility to protect them.” The law will go into effect in late June.
(Apparently, “the immeasurable value in every life” doesn’t include trans children: Ducey also signed several pieces of anti-trans legislation this year, including a bill that bars gender confirmation surgery for minors and prevents trans girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.)
Florida
On April 14, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the latest 15-week ban, one that has an exception only for medical emergencies—meaning victims of rape or incest would not be able to get an abortion. The law goes into effect on July 1.
Idaho
Two weeks before Idaho’s six-week abortion ban was supposed to take effect, the state’s Supreme Court temporarily blocked it. The law allows the father, siblings, grandparents, and other extended family members of a fetus to sue the providers of an abortion up to four years after the procedure. If successful, the family could receive $20,000. On April 20, the court allowed Idaho lawmakers to use their own private attorneys to defend their positions in the upcoming court case.
Kentucky
On April 14, Kentucky’s legislature managed to override a veto from the governor on a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks. The only exception for abortion outside the 15-week timeframe is a medical emergency.
The ACLU and Planned Parenthood have filed lawsuits against the state, questioning the constitutionality of the law. Until the matter is sorted out in court, the state’s only two abortion providers have halted all procedures.
Mississippi
In 2018, Mississippi passed the 15-week abortion ban that started them all. The ban outlaws abortion in the state, with exceptions only for the mother’s life and fetal abnormalities. There are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
In December, the Supreme Court heard arguments about Mississippi’s law. The court is expected to hand down its decision in June.
Oklahoma
On April 12, Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt signed legislation that makes performing an abortion illegal in Oklahoma. There are no exceptions in cases of rape or incest. If found guilty of providing an abortion, a person could face 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. Upon signing the bill, Stitt declared Oklahoma “the most pro-life state in the country.” The bill will go into effect in August.
South Dakota
On March 23, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem signed a bill that restricts the use of abortion pills, forcing a pregnant person seeking medication abortions to wait three days after an initial screening before getting their first dose of the two-dose regimen. The person would then have to schedule a third visit before getting their second and final dose. The law also bans abortions via telemedicine. Currently, South Dakota’s law is wrapped up in a federal court case and won’t go into effect until an injunction is lifted.
Texas
Texas’ absolute monster of a law not only bans abortions after six weeks, but it also does not include any exceptions for victims of rape or incest. The bill also encourages people to sue anyone suspected to have helped someone get an abortion, with the promise of a $10,000 award. Gov. Greg Abbott signed this bill into law in May 2021, kickstarting an entire slew of copycat bills across eight states.
Jeff Tracy
Axios
Referees often get an earful from fans and players, but the behavior has gotten so bad in youth sports that they're now quitting en masse.
State of play: 50,000 high school referees (roughly 20% of the nationwide total) quit between 2018 and 2021, per the National Federation of State High School Associations, NYT reports.
60% of officials surveyed in 2020 said their top reason for quitting would be verbal abuse from parents and fans.
Sadly, verbal abuse isn't even the worst of it: Last year, a high school football player tackled a ref; three weeks ago, kids and parents attacked a basketball ref. The list goes on.
Why it matters: This exodus has led to canceled games across the country, threatening youth sports just as they've begun returning to normal after two pandemic-stricken years.
Context: This crisis began well before March 2020, but the pandemic exacerbated it. Some older refs feared returning for health reasons, while younger ones left the oft-abusive gig behind amid the shutdown.
The last word: "This is a nightmare across all sports," Dana Pappas, director of officiating services for NFHS, told NYT.
It is natural to ask whether the recent floods will occur more often within the context of climate change or whether they were simply freak events
A general view of a severely damaged home and a crack in the road following
Justin Pringle | a day ago
This article first appeared in The Conversation.
Severe weather, rain and flooding are at the forefront of the minds of many South Africans, especially those in KwaZulu-Natal. Early last week (11-12 April 2022), the province’s coast received heavy rain, with some areas recording over 300mm in 24 hours. This is about a third of the annual rainfall in KwaZulu-Natal.
The rain was caused by a strong cut-off low weather system off the east coast of southern Africa. Cut-off lows frequently occur off this coast during the autumn months. These systems can cause localised flooding as well as large wave events.
The port city of Durban (in the municipality of eThekwini) has experienced flooding events almost every year since 2016. Storms responsible for these floods typically dropped 100mm-150mm of rain in 24 hours, according to the eThekwini data portal.
Between 11-12 April 2022, a storm system dropped even more rain than that. It caused devastating floods, landslides, and loss of life. It is natural to ask whether the recent floods in the area will occur more often within the context of climate change or whether they were simply freak events. It is not possible to state conclusively that this storm was a result of climate change. However, scientists believe these types of intense weather systems will occur more frequently in the future.
Perhaps more pertinent is the question: did anyone see this coming? There isn’t a simple answer. It’s something that has been challenging scientists and engineers around the world for decades. For example scientists like myself have been trying to apply the principles of fluid mechanics to address these types of questions.
This is important because if we can predict the occurrence of an event, we can arm disaster management teams with life-saving information.
PREDICTING FLOODING
Predicting flooding is not new and consists of two methods. The first relies on historical rainfall and flood records that come from weather stations and river gauges. South Africa has many of these stations throughout the country. It is vital that these stations are properly maintained.
The second method involves computer modelling. It is difficult to predict where rain will fall, how much will fall and whether this will cause flooding. These processes depend on spatial gradients that are not resolved in regional climate models. For example wind moves from high pressure to low pressure, sometimes bringing with it rain. However the wind speed (and how quickly the rain arrives) depends on the difference between the high and low pressure. This is typically very difficult to model accurately. Advances in computer power will likely be able to address this in the future.
Predicting where the water will flow once it reaches the ground is also challenging. Some water infiltrates the soil and flows as groundwater, while some water runs along the surface (called surface runoff). Both the surface and groundwater runoff contribute to the water flowing in rivers. If the ground is saturated, there is less infiltration and more surface water will flow into rivers, causing more flooding. Increased surface runoff also contributes to landslides and erosion. Hardened impermeable surfaces in cities and residential areas also cause increasing surface runoff. Storm duration is another factor that can influence flooding.
All these factors can combine to drive significant flood events.
How do engineers and city managers develop plans to respond in real-time to these events? A possible answer lies in developing forecast early warning systems. There are good examples in the Netherlands.
FORECAST EARLY WARNING SYSTEM
The eThekwini coastal, stormwater and catchment management department has developed a forecast early warning system in conjunction with the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the Dutch engineering research institute Deltares. The design incorporates weather forecasting, flood prediction and coastal modelling. The goal of the system is to alert authorities to severe weather to provide them with temporal and spatial information to guide decision making. An example of a system like this is the Global Storm Surge Information System.
The department’s engineers and managers have deployed hundreds of rain, weather, water level and coastal monitoring gauges throughout the region that provide authorities with real-time information. The system is still in a developmental stage and requires resource investment from national government, South African universities and local authorities.
The early warning system works by downscaling output from global modelling centres such as the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and National Centres for Environmental Prediction. This data is fed into numerical models that predict flooding and coastal processes at regional and local scales.
The European Centre model did predict severe rain, about three days before the flood. The National Centres model did not. This highlights the difficulties in predicting weather and any decision making that follows.
Observations from the recent flood event suggest there is still a long way to improve and further develop the system. This will rely on improved data sharing between government departments, universities and communities. Currently this isn’t easy in South Africa, for policy reasons.
Furthermore, government and local authorities must invest in city engineering staff and technical decision-makers.
Lastly, even if the forecast system works, African cities of the future need significant “on the ground” support in the form of disaster management teams such as police, rescue workers, paramedics and places of shelter.