Japanese PM Kishida asked German Chancellor Scholz to remove comfort women statue in Berlin




Rebecca Moon
Thu, May 12, 2022

Over a year after the installation of a comfort women statue in Mitte of central Berlin, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida asked German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to remove the statue.

“Comfort women” is a euphemism for the women from mostly Asian nations who were enslaved into brothels by the Japanese military during World War II.

A pro-Korean civic group erected the statue in September 2020 with the approval of local authorities. The installation was allowed to stay for one year and was extended for an extra year.

In October 2020, the Mitte district initially requested for a local Korean group to remove the statue before deciding to leave it. Berlin’s mayor, Michael Müller, also advocated for a future memorial that addresses sexual violence in broader terms.

Japan has repeatedly made requests to the Mitte district that the statue’s permit be removed. The Mitte district has denied the requests and expressed hope that Japan and South Korea would reach an agreement on the statue’s presence.

During a press conference on Wednesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno shared that during a meeting in late April between Kashida and Scholz in Tokyo, Kashida expressed continued disappointment to the German at the statue’s continued installation.

“The prime minister said it was extremely regrettable to see the comfort women statue remain and sought cooperation again from the German side,” Matsuno said per Kyodo News. “We will approach various parties concerned, tenaciously explain our government’s stance and call for swift removal of the statue.”

As tensions over the issue of recognizing comfort women persist between South Korea and Japan, activists and remaining survivors are continuing to fight for justice “until the very end."

Women to be offered three-day menstrual leave from work in European first — but critics fear hiring ‘stigmatization’


David Ramos—Getty Images

Sophie Mellor
Thu, May 12, 2022

Spain’s government is preparing a law that would overhaul its current regulation around women’s rights—covering everything from menstruation leave to abortion reform.

The draft legislation, which is being discussed by Spain’s socialist-led coalition government next week, plans to allow women over the age of 16 to have an abortion without being granted permission from their parents or guardians.

It also introduces several measures to make menstruation and women’s sexual health a matter of public health.

The legislation plans three days of menstrual leave a month, extendable to five, for women who suffer from severe period pain.

It also makes pads and tampons available for free at schools, educational centers, and to marginalized women, while also removing the VAT from their sale in supermarkets.

It is unclear how many of the reforms will be kept in the text by the time it reaches the Council of Ministers next Tuesday and what its final wording will be, according to El Pais.
Hiring fears

However, some critics fear the menstruation reform may lead to more prejudice against hiring a woman in the workplace.

Cristina Antoñanzas, deputy secretary of the Unión General de Trabajadores—a major Spanish trade union—told Spanish radio network Cadena Ser the move might "stigmatize women," adding “I don't know if it does us women a disservice."

Nadia Calviño, the First Vice President and Minister of Economic Affairs, assured the public in an interview on RTVE saying the government "is not going to take any action that stigmatizes women,” with regards to menstruation.

Abortion reform

The new legislation, if signed into law, will break down many of the barriers to women getting an abortion.

Not only will people under the age of 16 be allowed to get an abortion without their parent’s consent, but the law will also eliminate the three-day period of reflection required for women before getting an abortion.

While voluntary abortion was previously legal in Spain for women in the first 14 weeks of gestation, there was difficulty in finding a hospital or a doctor that would be willing to perform the procedure, according to the Guardian.

In the new legislation, there will be a register containing the names of all the doctors willing to do the procedure, and any medical staff who does not want to do the procedure will be given the ability to opt out of their involvement.

As part of the new reforms, the government also plans to provide free hormonal contraceptives, including the morning-after pill, which will be financed into the public health system and distributed within a framework of sex education campaigns, the draft legislation says.

Extended paid leave for childbirth

There are also new proposed reforms for women who do want a child.

Paid leave for childbirth is to be extended in the draft legislation to begin from week 36 to the moment of birth — giving mothers 4 extra weeks' pay.

The legislation also includes more laws around surrogacy, which in Spain is currently illegal as it is considered a form of "violence against women."

The new law would allow the courts to prosecute couples who go abroad to use a surrogate.

“It is this government’s duty and its intention to safeguard the right to abortion in the public health system and do away with the obstacles that prevent women from deciding when it comes to their bodies and their lives,” Spain's Equality Minister Irene Montero said in February.

Menstruation action

While most women celebrate the more relaxed rules on abortion, others believe menstruation leave may negatively impact women.

Around a third of women who menstruate suffer from severe period pain known as dysmenorrhea, according to the Spanish Gynecology and Obstetrics Society.

"When the problem cannot be solved medically, we think it is very sensible that there should be temporary incapacity associated with this issue," Ángela Rodríguez, Spain’s Secretary of State for Equality and against Gender Violence, said to El Periodico in a recent interview.

"It is important to clarify what a painful period is, we are not talking about a slight discomfort, but about serious symptoms such as diarrhea, severe headaches, fever," Rodríguez said.

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

SEE https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2022/05/it-will-benefit-women-spain-debates-if.html

Russia could strike back at the West by calling on its network of white-supremacist groups to commit terror attacks there, analysts warn

Tom Porter
Sat, May 14, 2022

Russian ultra-nationalists wave Russian Empire's black-yellow-white flags in Moscow in 2012

.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images


A former US intelligence official warned of a likely bid by Russia to stir "political violence."

Two Russian groups currently fighting in Ukraine have ties to far-right groups in the US and Western Europe.

A steady supply of Western weapons has enabled Ukraine's outnumbered military to hold back Russian forces and inflict thousands of casualties during the ongoing war.

But experts are increasingly concerned that as Russia's invasion stalls, the Kremlin could choose to retaliate against the West not just through economic and diplomatic means, but also by inciting violent attacks at the heart of the NATO alliance.

The tool it could seek to exploit is a network of neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups in Russia, Western Europe, and the US with which it has cultivated ties for decades.

"They've done that before in much of Europe and I would not be surprised if they are doing that today — trying to get their intelligence services at the right moment to get these groups agitated," Chris Chivvis, who served as the National Security Council's intelligence officer for Europe from 2018 to 2021, told Insider.

He warned of a likely effort to stir "political unrest, political violence" and "get these groups agitated to achieve political effects in countries in Europe, and possibly the United States."

Russia's embassies in London and Washington, DC, did not reply to Insider's request for comment. Insider was unable to contact the groups mentioned in this story due to the secretive nature of their operations.
Neo-Nazi militants fight alongside Russian forces in Ukraine

The Kremlin has sought to portray its Ukraine invasion as a bid to "denazify" the country. But analysts say its forces are fighting alongside groups who openly espouse neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology — exposing the hollowness of Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda.

The groups have extensive ties to far-right extremists across the West, as well as deep connections with Russia's military and intelligence services, experts told Insider.

They could offer the Kremlin a potential route for inflicting violence and chaos in the Western nations providing key diplomatic and military support to Ukraine, while maintaining plausible deniability, experts say.

Colin Clarke

One such threat is the Wagner Group, a mercenary force that has previously been deployed as a Kremlin proxy in conflicts in Syria, Libya, and Mali.

Its fighters have been linked to a string of atrocities in Ukraine, with German intelligence saying they were involved in the massacre of civilians in Bucha during the Russian occupation of the Kyiv suburb in March.

A mural praises the Russian Wagner group and its mercenaries fighting in Ukraine on March 30, 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia.

Pierre Crom/Getty Images

The group makes no secret of its espousal of Nazi ideology, with its leader, Dmitry Utkin, having been photographed with Nazi insignia tattoos, and its fighters decorating their vehicles with neo-Nazi runic symbols, according to a report by the Italian think tank ResPublica.

The Rusich, a Wagner affiliate deployed in Ukraine, also openly flaunts its ties with neo-Nazism, using a Slavic version of the Nazi Swastika, the Kolovrat, as its symbol.

Colin Clarke, the director of research at the Soufan Group, told Insider that the Kremlin could deploy fighters from Wagner to commit terror attacks in the West or commission fighters to encourage contacts in the West to commit violence on its behalf.

"The Russians send their own guys into Europe to whack people," he said, referencing assassinations and attempted assassinations in countries including the UK and Germany that Western officials have linked to Russian security services.

"I don't think anything's beyond the pale for Putin. It's just a matter of: Does this make sense tactically? And if you think about how much terrorism resonates, the psychological impact if that stuff starts happening, I think it's a whole other dimension to this conflict," he said of the possible effects of a Russia-instigated terror attack in the West.

But Jason Blatzakis, an expert of terrorism at the Middlesbury Institute, was skeptical that Russia would deploy fighters to commit direct attacks, saying it would mark a serious escalation in Russia's confrontation with NATO allies.

A picture taken on February 28, 2015 shows a member of the Russian Imperial Movement, a nationalist group in Russia, walking close to a banner reading "God.Tsar.Nation.We are Russians, God with us" at a training base in Saint Petersburg.

OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP via Getty Images

Instead, he said, it was likely Russia would seek to stir chaos through "direct relations" between extremists in Russia and their counterparts in the West.

Many Western far-right and white supremacists revere Putin's Russia, regarding it as a bastion of white identity. They see the Ukraine conflict as a civilizational battle between liberalism and Russia's traditional, hierarchical system.

"I think what people need to be mindful of is that actually Russia is providing support that meets the legal definition of support to terrorism," Blatkazis said of the ties between Russia and white supremacist groups.

Links to the West, including the US

The Wagner Group and its affiliates do not pose the only threat, with a rival organization having brokered alliances with violent right-wing extremists across the West.

Aleksei Milchakov and Yan Petrovsky — the founders of the Wagner-affiliated Rusich group — reportedly met at a training camp for the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white supremacist group dedicated to restoring the Russian empire.

The RIM has drawn dedicated extremists from across Europe and the US to its paramilitary training camp near Saint Petersburg as it aggressively cultivated international connections, security analysts say.

Like the Wagner Group, it is believed to have deployed fighters to Ukraine, with the group's banner displayed by fighters in east Ukraine in a picture posted in the group's Telegram channel reviewed by Insider.

Members of neo-nazi organization Nordic Resistance Movement hold their banners during a demonstration on October 27, 2018 in Fredrikstad, some 90 km south of Oslo.

ORN E. BORGEN/NTB scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Swedish officials said in a 2017 lawsuit that the group trained extremists from the far-right Nordic Resistance, who committed attacks on refugee centers in 2016, and has been linked to violent far-right plots in Germany and Spain. Also in 2016, RIM leaders traveled to the US, where they met US white nationalist figure Matthew Heimbach, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism said in a 2020 report.

The State Department in 2017 designated the RIM a terrorist group, the first time it had given the designation to a white-supremacist organization.

Despite the sanctions, Stanislav Vorobyev, the group's leader, said in a recent interview on the "Verified" podcast that he remains in contact with far-right extremists in the US but gave no specific details.

Clarke said that a key concern was the potential Russian contact with groups such as Atomwaffen, a neo-Nazi terror group with cells in the UK and US, linked to a string of violent plots, and neo-Nazi groups in Nordic nations.

"The ultimate end game is they maintain these relationships because one day they might have to cash in their chips," he said, describing the potential of a pro-Russian terror attack committed by an American as "our worst case scenario realized."

He raised the prospect of the psychological impact that could be caused by "a neo-Nazi guy in Virginia launching an attack at the behest of the Russians and was maybe paid to do it or trained by them."

"That's a big deal," he said. "That's a really big deal."

Read the original article on Business Insider

WAIT, WHAT ?

US insists it does not support Taiwan independence after fact sheet change angers Beijing

WHY ARE YOU SELLING THEM WEAPONS THEN

Carl Samson
Fri, May 13, 2022

After a State Department fact sheet was changed to observe Taiwan’s “best interests,” U.S. officials have maintained that Washington upholds the "one China" policy and therefore does not support the island’s independence.

The fact sheet change, which apparently angered Beijing, removed an acknowledgment of “the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China,” as well as a statement saying the U.S. “does not support Taiwan independence.”

In a press briefing on Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the fact sheet had not been updated for years. “I think we care most about ensuring that our relationships around the world are reflected accurately in our fact sheets,” he said.

China, in response, slammed the change as “political manipulation of the Taiwan question.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian stressed that the island is an “inalienable” part of China and that “the attempt to change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait will hurt the United States itself.”

On Wednesday, Price affirmed that the U.S. does not support Taiwan’s independence, pursuant to its official commitment to Beijing’s "one China" policy made in 1979. Under the policy, Washington recognizes Beijing as the “sole legal government of China,” though it allows for unofficial ties with Taiwan, including assistance with self-defense.

“We do not support Taiwan independence, and we have repeatedly made this clear both in public and in private,” Price said in a press briefing.

“Though the United States does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan and does not support Taiwan independence, we do have, as you know, a robust unofficial relationship with Taiwan as well as an abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”

Washington, however, maintains ambiguity on the extent of its military assistance to Taiwan. This policy supposedly deters Beijing from launching an assault and Taipei from seeking independence at the same time.

Still, the U.S. reiterates its “rock-solid” commitment to Taiwan’s defense. The fact sheet update also says it “continues to encourage the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan.”

“We will continue to stand with our partner Taiwan. Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid, including in the face of acts of potential intimidation,” Price said.

On Tuesday, the guided-missile cruiser USS Port Royal made a “routine” Taiwan Strait transit “in accordance with international law.” This was the second U.S. mission in two weeks, drawing an angry response from Beijing.

Republican-led bill targeting Disney's Mickey Mouse 'can't possibly pass': Lawyer

Alexandra Canal

·Senior Reporter

Fri, May 13, 2022

Following Disney's (DIS) public battle with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who revoked the company's special tax district after it vowed to help repeal the Parental Rights in Education Act (or what critics have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill), the entertainment giant is now fighting another Republican lawmaker.

Earlier this week, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley proposed legislation limiting copyright protections to 56 years. The bill would also apply retroactively to firms with a market capitalization above $150 billion that operate in the motion picture industry.

Hawley admitted on Twitter that the new legislation was created in an effort to target "woke" Disney and its slew of animated characters, most notably Mickey Mouse.

Since 1928, the original Mickey Mouse, which appeared in the animated short film "Steamboat Willie," has been protected under copyright law. Disney has twice lobbied Congress for extensions, therefore allowing the media giant 94 years of exclusive rights to media and merchandise.

But in 2024, the copyright protection for that particular image of Mickey Mouse is set to expire. It will then be released into the public domain for artists and creatives to utilize in their work.

For context, Disney pulled in more than $5.2 billion in retail sales and merchandise licensing (toys, apparel, games, home décor, and other products) last year, an 11 % increase compared to 2020. It is not known how much of that bucket specifically came from the sales of Mickey Mouse-branded items.

Hawley, who is also a constitutional lawyer, is part of a larger Republican-led effort to ensure that Disney is not granted further copyright extensions. His legislation would also strip Disney of those protections as soon as this year.

Sacramento, California, USA - June 8, 2012: A 2008 USA postage stamp with Disney's Mickey Mouse as he appeared in Steamboat Willie, playing the title character. It was the first public appearance of Mickey Mouse.

How we got here

But some legal experts say the bill will never pass, slamming it as unconstitutional.

Originally, copyright protections in the U.S. only lasted for a period of 28 years. A provision was later added that allowed certain works, if still commercially viable, to renew their protections for another term of 28 years, thus creating a max-protection window of 56 years.

In 1988, the U.S. enacted the Berne Convention Implementation Act, which amended the copyright law to one term of life on the part of the author, plus 50 years. This new legislation resulted in an effort to hep the U.S. keep up with the rest of the world, which was significantly more advanced when it came to copyright laws and protections.

For corporate entities (which live forever) copyright protections were updated to exist for 75 years from the time the work was created.

Flash forward to 1998 when then-President Bill Clinton signed the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act, which increased protections to life of the author, plus 70 years. Consequently, corporate copyright terms were changed from 75 years of fixation to 95 years of fixation.

Disney was part of that corporate lobbying push and was documented to have donated significantly to federal candidates at the time of the legislation's voting; thus causing the act to be known as the "Mickey Mouse Protection Act."

Still, some lawyers argue that that colloquial interpretation does not represent the true motivation of the law.

"Certainly Disney was part of that corporate lobbying effort, but it wasn't a bill designed to specifically keep 'Steamboat Mickey' out of the public domain," explained trademark attorney David Leichtman.

"It was to keep the U.S. in step with what the rest of the world was doing on copyright...most of the countries in Europe had already moved their terms from life plus-50, to life plus-70," he continued.

Disney has not yet publicly commented on the matter, but, so far, there hasn't been any indication that the company plans to lobby for a third time to extend its Mickey Mouse copyright protections.

Experts say it's unlikely that there will even be an appetite to pursue a third extension due to the difficult nature of passing copyright legislation, in addition to the fact that the U.S. is now on par with international norms when it comes to overall copyright protections.

Why Sen. Hawley's bill 'can't possibly pass'

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) pauses while speaking during Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland's confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Washington, DC, U.S., February 22, 2021. Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

Lawyers say it is incredibly unlikely that the bill will pass since Hawley's proposition of just 56 years of protection goes back to pre-1988 law.

"It can't possibly pass, and no president would ever sign it — whether they're Democrat or Republican — because it puts the U.S. out of step and at a competitive disadvantage with the rest of the world," Leichtman affirmed, adding it would have "really horrible impacts on actual real artists and smaller companies" moving forward.

Furthermore, Hawley's retroactive clause, which targets firms with a market capitalization above $150 billion, is considered unconstitutional in that it violates a bill of attainder — legislation that makes it unlawful to directly target and punish a small group of people or companies.

"He's just doing it for publicity," the attorney continued.

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard University, agreed, saying, "This requires no implication. It's open and shut. The U.S. Supreme Court would vote nine to nothing that this an unconstitutional taking."

He added that the bill, in addition to violating the bill of attainder, would also be in "violation of the basic principles of free speech and of the First Amendment," citing the politically-motivated nature of its inception.

The professor went on to explain that it would also violate the Fifth Amendment, which says that no private property should be taken for public use without just compensation.

Tribe told Yahoo Finance that, since the copyright has not yet expired under existing law, "it's a form of property."

"Intellectual property is every bit as much property as brick and mortar and land, and it can't be taken for any public benefit or public justification without just compensation," he continued.

Yahoo Finance reached out to the office of Sen. Hawley for comment but has yet to hear back.

A visitor walks past a mural depicting Disney character Mickey Mouse to celebrate his 90th birthday during the annual MIPCOM television programme market in Cannes, France, October 15, 2018.

Even if the bill hypothetically were to pass (and not be overturned), it wouldn't have any real, tangible impact on the company, Leichtman said.

"The copyright that will enter the public domain in 2024 is just the 1928 'Steamboat Mickey,' which is rarely used at this point by Disney," Leichtman noted, adding that the company will still have copyright protections on its most recent iterations of Mickey, which are more valuable.

Secondly, "Disney has very strong trademark rights on Mickey Mouse. Trademark rights live forever, as long as you continue to use the mark in commerce," the attorney said.

Consequently, as long as Disney sells branded-products that feature 'Steamboat Mickey,' the public cannot sell that image in the same way since it would be in violation of those rights.

Ultimately, Hawley's bill "is going nowhere," Leichtman reiterated, although it does represent yet another moment of Disney getting caught in the crossfires of politicians — all due to its response to Florida's Parental Rights in Education Act.

The controversial bill, which will go into effect on July 1, states, "Classroom instruction by school personnel or third parties on sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards." Parents will be able to sue districts over violations.

Disney CEO Bob Chapek initially decided not to speak publicly on the matter, opting instead to work behind the scenes in an attempt to soften the legislation. It didn't work.

The executive eventually reversed course following intense backlash over his belated response to the bill. He publicly denounced the act during the company's annual shareholder meeting on March 9, in addition to directly apologizing to employees in a company memo.

Chapek, whose contract expires on February 28, 2023, has dealt with a fair amount of controversy during his tenure. In addition to the DeSantis drama and "Don't Say Gay" fallout, the executive came under further scrutiny following a now-settled breach-of-contract lawsuit with "Black Widow" actress Scarlett Johansson last summer.

Disney, which reported second quarter financial results on Wednesday that missed on both the top and bottom lines, has seen shares fall more than 30% year-to-date.

Alexandra is a Senior Entertainment and Food Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @alliecanal8193 or email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com

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The Army Is Preparing for the End of Nationwide Abortion Rights as Senators Press to Keep Access



Rebecca Kheel
Thu, May 12, 2022

The Army is weighing new policies in response to the Supreme Court's expected decision to reverse Roe v. Wade and eliminate protections on abortion rights across the country, the service's senior enlisted leader told Congress on Thursday.

Sergeant Major of the Army Michael Grinston's testimony to the House came the same day that eight Senate Democrats separately pressed the Pentagon to ensure female troops will continue to be able to access abortion services if the high court acts on Roe.

News outlet Politico on May 2 published a draft ruling that the Supreme Court's five-judge conservative majority had been working on earlier this year, setting the stage for an expected decision later this summer to overturn the precedent-setting case from 1973 that has kept abortion rights the law of the land for decades.

"The answer is yes, we are drafting policies to ensure we take care of our soldiers in an appropriate way," Grinston told a House Appropriations Committee subpanel. "There are drafts if it were to be overturned, but that would be a decision for the secretary of the Army to decide the policy."

Grinston did not provide any more details about what the draft policy could entail, but pledged to keep lawmakers apprised of the drafting process.

"We do not want to disadvantage anyone in our force -- men, women -- or alienate anyone that is eligible to serve in the military," Grinston added when asked how overturning Roe could affect recruitment of women. "We'll continue to recruit as best as we can with the policies that we have."

Separate from the hearing, eight Senate Democrats, led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on Thursday penned a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin urging him to ensure female troops "have the ability to continue accessing safe reproductive health care no matter where in the nation their military service sends them." The letter comes a day after Senate Democrats failed to advance a bill to codify Roe after all Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., voted against it.

Up to 26 states could ban abortion after Roe is overturned, including 13 that have so-called trigger laws to immediately end abortion after a Supreme Court ruling, according to the pro-abortion rights Guttmacher Institute.

Military doctors are already barred from performing abortions under most circumstances because of a law that bans federal funding from being used, with exceptions for when the mother's life is at risk. That means servicewomen must go off base to get abortions.

Experts and advocates have been warning that overturning Roe could be particularly hard on female troops, who cannot choose where they are stationed, because those based in states that ban abortion will have to ask for leave from their commanders to travel out of state.

"Women in the military already have a higher rate of unintended pregnancies than civilian women," Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., said at Thursday's hearing. "For those female soldiers in states with restrictive abortion laws, their options for safe abortions may be completely erased if Roe v. Wade is overturned."

Despite Grinston's comments Thursday, officials at the Defense Department level have sidestepped questions about post-Roe policies, saying the ruling isn't final yet.

"The health and well-being of our men and women are paramount concerns of department leadership, and we certainly want to make sure that whoever they are and wherever they are that they know that we're serious about that pledge," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters the day after the draft opinion leaked, while adding he's "just not going to entertain" questions specifically about a ruling that's not official yet.

But in their letter Thursday, the eight Senate Democrats argued that "we cannot wait to act" until after the court's final decision.

The senators argued that, "at a minimum," the Defense Department should make it easier for service members to take leave if they need to travel out of state for reproductive health care.

They said a decision by the court to reverse Roe would strip hundreds of thousands of troops, dependents and DoD civilians of access to reproductive health care and create a "scenario where service members' reproductive and healthcare rights would become dependent on their duty station."

"A soldier at Fort Drum would retain their personal autonomy while a soldier at Fort Hood would not," they wrote. "This outcome would violate the trust servicemembers place in the Armed Forces when they swear an oath to defend the Constitution."

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at Rebecca.Kheel@Military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

US Military Risks a Decline in Female Troops Under Roe Rollback

Members of Congress, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), Rep. Jackie Speier (D-California), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-California) and others join a pro-choice rally in front of the U.S. Supreme Court as the justices hear hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, a case about a Mississippi law that bans most abortions after 15 weeks, on Dec. 1, 2021 in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Tribune News Service)

7 May 2022

Bloomberg News | By Roxana Tiron

U.S. troops could see their access to abortion severely curtailed if the Supreme Court overturns its landmark ruling on reproductive rights, potentially hurting military recruitment and the retention of women.

As employees of the federal government, doctors on military bases are already banned from performing abortions so female troops — and the female spouses of troops — must seek out the procedure on their own. That would become much more difficult if the Supreme Court overturns the precedent set in its Roe v. Wade ruling almost five decades ago, as a leaked draft ruling indicates it’s likely to do.

At least 26 states probably would place restrictions on abortion laws, including Texas, Florida and other southern states that have many of the nation’s military bases, according to Sean Timmons, a managing partner at Tulley Rinckey who specializes in military law.

The potential impact on recruitment and retention would come as the military is already struggling to find qualified troops. Women make up almost 20% of the 1.3 million-member active-duty force.

“It places an undue burden on women serving in the military because they are going to have to go through extraordinary lengths to seek fair access to reproductive health care, which they wouldn’t be facing if they hadn’t joined the military, for example, and then been stationed in a state that has very restrictive access,” said Rachel VanLandingham, an associate professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in national security law.

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But Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, disputed the idea that new limits on abortions could affect women’s willingness to serve.

“I have seen nothing from the Department of Defense that has led me to believe that access to abortion is a factor in recruiting and retention one way or another,” Inhofe said in a statement.

Defense Department spokesman John Kirby declined to directly address the abortion issue when questioned this week. But he said “the health and well-being of our men and women are paramount concerns of department leadership,” and “we are serious about making sure they have the information, the tools that they need to make the most informed decisions for their own personal health and well-being.”

“Of course we cannot be an effective military without the brave women who serve inside the military, and who serve in the civilian ranks,” he told reporters.

Military medical facilities aren’t allowed to perform abortions — and the cost of the procedure in private facilities isn’t covered by the military’s Tricare health insurance — because of the Hyde Amendment of 1976, which prohibits the use of federal dollars for abortions unless the life of the mother is at risk.

Women can ask to be discharged from the military if they are pregnant, according to Timmons.

To get an abortion out of state, women in the military would have to ask for approved leave from their commanders, and probably have to disclose the reason. “It could well lead to additional hostile work environment, harassment, obnoxious behavior from colleagues if they know why the absence is necessitated,” Timmons said.

Asking for leave also can put women at a disadvantage on performance evaluations — especially if they are based overseas in places where abortion is banned — because they’d be asking for special treatment to take the leave, said VanLandingham, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.

“It adds to the burden the women already shoulder by being in the minority in the military within a still very much male culture,” she said.

The vast majority — 95% — of all women serving in the military are of reproductive age, according to Defense Department estimates. The Pentagon provides health care to more than 1.5 million women of reproductive age, including servicewomen on active duty, in the guard and reserves, as well their dependents, according a statement by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., who have championed women’s health care in the military.

Studies have also shown that women in the military have a 50% higher rate of unplanned pregnancy than the general population, according to the lawmakers.

Despite incremental increases in the population of military women over the past 15 years, female service members are 28% more likely to separate from service than their male active-duty counterparts, according to a Government Accountability Office report in 2020. Family planning, sexual assault, and dependent care were some of the issues listed as influencing women’s decisions to leave the military, according to the GAO.

Because Congress isn’t likely to scuttle the Hyde Amendment any time soon, VanLandingham, the law professor, urged the Pentagon and the Biden administration to change internal policies and attitudes to let troops know “that we will take care of you, we will help seek access to reproductive health care, and to overcome these additional burdens.”

Democratic Senators Urge 

Defense Secretary To Protect Abortion Rights For Service Members

Sanjana Karanth

Thu, May 12, 2022, 

A group of Democratic senators sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Thursday urging him to proactively implement measures protecting abortion rights for service members in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

In the letter, senators led by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) brought up a recently leaked Supreme Court draft opinion in which conservative justices voted to overturn the 1973 landmark decision that guaranteed a person’s right to an abortion at the federal level.

The senators warned that hundreds of thousands of troops, dependents and Defense Department civilians stationed in states with abortion bans would lose access to reproductive health care and potentially face criminal prosecution if the Supreme Court’s final opinion is similar to the leaked draft.

“As the leader of our military services, it falls upon you to preserve the health and welfare of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardians,” the senators wrote. “With our country facing the likely rollback of personal rights, what are you and your staff doing in preparation to protect the health and welfare of those under your command? What steps will you take to assist service members in need of an abortion?”

The senators advised Austin to “at a minimum” consider policy changes that would allow service members to obtain “special liberty or permissive temporary additional duty permissions in order to travel out of state for reproductive health care and abortions” if they are stationed in a jurisdiction that restricts those rights.

“A soldier at Fort Drum would retain their personal autonomy while a soldier at Fort Hood would not. A service member raped by their supervisor in Mississippi, Kentucky, or Oklahoma would not be permitted to obtain an abortion in those states,” the senators wrote. “In places like Missouri, legislators have sought to ban abortions even for ectopic pregnancies, leaving a service member or their dependent facing a choice of death or criminal activity.”

“This outcome would violate the trust service members place in the Armed Forces when they swear an oath to defend the Constitution,” they continued.

In addition to Gillibrand, the letter was signed by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Angus King (I-Maine). Gillibrand has a years-long history of pushing the Defense Department to better protect service members in the event of sexual assault.

A spokesperson for the Defense Department did not immediately return HuffPost’s request for comment on the letter.

The letter came a day after Republicans again blocked the Senate from advancing the Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have codified Roe v. Wade.

Fauci calls 1 million COVID deaths ‘incredibly tragic’: ‘Many of those deaths were avoidable’



Caroline Vakil
Thu, May 12, 2022

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said in an interview on Thursday that the COVID-19 death toll of 1 million people in the U.S. is “incredibly tragic” and added that “many of those deaths were avoidable.”

“I mean, the idea of 1 million deaths in an outbreak, that is historic in nature. We have had nothing like this in well over 104 years. One of the parts about it that adds to the tragedy is that many of those deaths were avoidable, avoidable if people had been vaccinated,” Fauci told Amna Nawaz of PBS.

“It’s estimated that, if people had been vaccinated to a much greater extent right now, that vaccines would have avoided at least a quarter of those deaths, namely about 250,000.” TRUMP DEATH TOLL

Fauci urged Americans not to let their guard down, reiterating a previous warning that the United States could see a surge in COVID-19 cases between the fall and winter.

“There is a threat and a likelihood that we’ll see a surge as we get into the fall and the winter. So we’ve got to be prepared. And we’ve got to be prepared with vaccinations, with boosters, with optimizing the therapy,” he said.

Asked what more the Biden administration could be doing to combat the pandemic, President Biden’s top medical adviser said officials were continuing to urge those who have not already been vaccinated to get the shots, and as well as working to make COVID-19 treatments more widely available in an effort to protect against serious disease.

The interview comes as Congress remains stalled over COVID-19 funding the White House warns is much needed to keep up with vaccinations and boosters, among other necessities.

If Congress cannot come to a deal, the U.S. could face risks such as shortages of tests, vaccines and COVID-19 treatments, in addition to an inability to fund new potential breakthrough treatments.

Fauci reiterated the need for Congress to pass new COVID-19 funding during his interview.

“First of all, we won’t have enough antivirals. We won’t be able to develop newer and better antivirals. We won’t be able to have a booster for everyone, and we will not be able to get the best possible boosters,” he said, outlining how the U.S. could be impacted without proper pandemic funding.

“We have studies right now that are lined up to try and figure out what the most appropriate booster will be for the fourth shot that likely people will need as we get into the fall. If we don’t get the resources that we asked for, we’re not going to be able to do that,” he added.

Anyone home? ‘Doorway’ on Mars spawns alien conspiracy theories

Sarah Knapton
Thu, May 12, 2022, 

Grainy image shows what appears to be a carved-out doorway on the side of the rock face on Mars - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SWNS

At first glance, it looks as if a doorway has been carefully carved into a rock face on Mars.

The grainy image, taken by the mast-mounted camera on Nasa’s Curiosity rover on May 7 this year, appears to show an opening with an arched lintel leading to a passageway with smooth walls.

Conspiracy theorists have seized upon the snap as evidence for life on the Red Planet, but scientists were quick to point out that the surrounding geology gives a clear picture of how the formation arose - and unsurprisingly it does not require Martian architects.

A large fissure to the left of the doorway demonstrates rock-cracking events frequently occur in the region, while a boulder in the foreground appears to have fallen from the opening.

Sanjeev Gupta, a professor of earth science at Imperial College London, one of the scientists of Nasa's Curiosity rover mission, said the hole was formed through “normal geological processes”.

A large fissure to the left of the doorway demonstrates rock-cracking events frequently occur in the region - NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/SWNS

“The boulder likely just got eroded off a hillslope and tumbled down,” he said. “It does not require a meteorite strike.

“The crack is a fracture and they are abundant on Mars and Earth - no need for marsquakes to produce them.

“There is nothing at all strange in the image - these are just normal geological processes.”

It is not the first time that images from Mars have sparked theories that civilisations may have inhabited the planet.

In 1977, Nasa’s Viking 1 spacecraft photographed what appeared to be a face, staring up from the surface, leading to claims that Martians may have constructed monuments like the Sphinx.

When Nasa’s Mars Global Surveyor flew over the area 11 years later, snapping images 10 times sharper than the original Viking shots, the “face” was found to be a shapeless rock formation. The original facial features had been caused by shadows.
Human brains programmed to find meaning in images

In May 2015, Curiosity photographed a pyramid about the size of a small car, which some people speculated may be the capstone of a larger, buried megalith.

But at the time, Nasa pointed out that the rock was similar to angular volcanic rocks found in Hawaii or Iceland.

Humans brains are programmed to find significance in random images, a psychological phenomenon known as pareidolia.

Facial pareidolia, which is particularly strong, would have helped our ancestors to spot predators in dense undergrowth or in the dark.

It is likely to be the reason why people believed they had spotted a yeti on Mars Gusev crater, in pictures taken by Nasa’s Spirit rover in 2008. A rock which resembled an iguana was also spotted in 2013.

Scientists believe that life may once have existed on Mars, but would struggle today due to the lack of atmosphere. Nasa and the European Space Agency (ESA) have plans to drill down into the surface in the hope of finding fossilised remains of alien lifeforms.

TAX THE RICH EARN A SURPLUS
California Sees Record $97.5 Billion Surplus, Driven by the Rich


Romy Varghese
Fri, May 13, 2022



(Bloomberg) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom said Friday that his state has a record $97.5 billion operating surplus, as high tax rates on its wealthiest residents mean he has more cash to fund liberal priorities such as education and health care.

The surplus is bigger than the entire 2020 spending of any other state except New York and Texas. Of that windfall, lawmakers can tap $49.2 billion for any purpose. That figure surpasses the staggering $38 billion that they had at their disposal during the previous budget season, then considered the biggest.

The surplus is “simply without precedent,” Newsom, a first-term Democrat up for re-election this year, said as he unveiled a $227.4 billion budget for the next fiscal year beginning in July.

While billionaires such as Elon Musk have derided California’s high taxes as they decamped to low-tax states such as Texas, the progressive tax system rakes in more revenue when income rises for its wealthiest residents. That group has reaped the benefits of rising stock prices and stable employment even as many lower-income workers lost their jobs in the pandemic. For capital gains realizations alone, California expects to collect a record $291 billion for 2021, budget documents show.

“It’s a sign of how well a number of people are doing in this economy,” Newsom said. “I’m proud of California’s progressive tax system and we’re the beneficiaries of that.”

This lopsided tax structure, in which the top 1% of earners pay nearly half of personal income-tax collections, also means revenue could plummet severely in an economic downturn. Indeed, capital gains as a share of the personal income collections are at levels last seen shortly before the dot-com bust.

Newsom said he is “deeply mindful” of prospects of a slowdown. More than 90% of the surplus would go to one-time spending items, he said. Reserves, including constitutionally mandated deposits, total $37.1 billion. Newsom also proposes paying off $3.5 billion of bonds early -- an idea pitched by Wall Street -- and using cash instead of selling debt to finance some capital projects.

Newsom’s spending plan also allocates billions of dollars to providing checks to residents to offset rising costs, subsidizing health care and fortifying the state’s energy grid and responses to climate change.

In what Newsom called the biggest inflation package in the country, the state would send $400 refunds to personal car and truck owners, with a maximum of $800 for up to two cars. Legislators have proposed broader taxpayer relief based on income.

Asked about the potential of his surplus spending causing inflation to spike even more, Newsom said he didn’t think there would be a “significant impact.” The governor said offsetting costs for residents is “wise and noble, and it’s something I think that should be celebrated and not criticized.”

While Democrats have a supermajority in both legislative chambers, their priorities have at times diverged from Newsom’s. Lawmakers last month declined to act on the governor’s request to delay an annual inflation-indexed fuel tax increase set for June, saying they saw “pitfalls” in the temporary move.

Some of Newsom’s proposals are “encouraging,” said Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins and Senator Nancy Skinner, chair of the budget committee, in a joint statement. “Others, as happens every year, will require more discussion and negotiation.”

Lawmakers have to approve a budget by June 15 or forgo pay.

Newsom’s spending plans include:

$11.5 billion to every eligible registered vehicle owner, capped at two $400 checks per individual


$2.7 billion for emergency rental assistance


$2 billion for affordable housing production


$1.4 billion for overdue utility bills


$933 million for hospital and nursing home staff


$750 million for free public transit


$125 million to bolster access to reproductive health services