CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Bank of China, Everbright Bank fined US$2.2 million for flouting asset management rules
WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS

Sun, June 5, 2022, 

China's banking regulator imposed multimillion-yuan fines on two banks for violating rules on wealth management products, the first such penalty since they came into effect in January.

The fines were imposed on Bank of China and China Everbright Bank and their wealth management units, both of which were established by their parent companies in 2019.

The rules seek to stamp out shadow banking risks by imposing stringent requirements such as leverage limits and banning malpractices like providing investors with an implicit guarantee against losses.

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Bank of China and its wholly-owned wealth management unit were fined 6.6 million yuan (US$991,000), while China Everbright Bank and its wealth unit were penalised 8.3 million yuan, according to the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) on Friday.

China Everbright Bank and its wealth unit were penalised 8.3 million yuan by the mainland's banking regulator. Photo: AFP alt=China Everbright Bank and its wealth unit were penalised 8.3 million yuan by the mainland's banking regulator. Photo: AFP

"Leading state-owned banks have rarely been subjected to such penalties as they generally have more stringent internal risk management than other commercial banks," said Chen Shujin, an analyst at Jefferies. "The fines underscore how banks are still adjusting their businesses to fully comply with the new rules."

Since details of the new rules was announced in August 2018, banks had until the end of 2021 to align themselves with the new requirements. To adhere to the changes, Chinese banks have set up dedicated wealth management subsidiaries.

The CBIRC said on Friday that the two banks and their subsidiaries had products that flouted regulatory requirements. This included exceeding a 30 per cent market cap on a single security held by all wealth products marketed by a bank and crossing a leverage limit that caps total assets to net assets at 140 per cent for open-end mutual funds.

Chinese banks continue to actively developing their wealth management business to compensate for the sluggish growth in their interest income, which has been weighed down by reducing lending rates to borrowers as banks heed Beijing's call to support the economy ravaged by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Banks still have room to grow their fee and commission income from wealth management services, analysts said.

The country's wealth management segment grew 12.1 per cent to 29 trillion yuan, servicing 81 million investors in 2021, according to a report issued by China Central Depository & Clearing.

The banks' wealth subsidiaries, meanwhile, reported a combined net profit of 24.4 billion yuan in 2021, more than double from 2020, an EY report on China's banking sector from May showed.

"With the new regulations, the new wealth management business model will also face challenges in customer onboarding, investment research capability, risk management capability and system optimisation," Kelvin Leung, EY's Greater China financial services banking and capital markets leader, said in the report.

This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2022 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Copyright (c) 2022. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Meet a teacher with $303,000 in student debt who says Biden's $10,000 loan-forgiveness plan 'is not even a drop in the bucket'

Ayelet Sheffey
Sun, June 5, 2022

President Joe Biden has not confirmed an amount for any student-loan forgiveness but some reports have suggested he is looking at some relief for federal borrowers making less than $150,000 a year.

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster

Reports have suggested Biden is considering $10,000 in student-loan relief for federal borrowers.


Cheryl told Insider that amount wouldn't make a difference to her $303,000 student-debt load.


She said she has no problem paying back what she borrowed, but the interest just keeps growing.

If it weren't for compounding interest, Cheryl — who requested her last name be withheld for privacy concerns — thinks President Joe Biden's plans to forgive $10,000 in student debt for federal borrowers might have made a difference for her.

But with $303,000 in federal student debt — and an additional $20,000 in private student loans — the president's plan just isn't enough.

"It is not even a drop in the bucket," Cheryl, 53, told Insider. "If you wanted to make a real difference, you could do away with half the interest we've accrued, but for now I'll never be able to cover the payments."

As a teacher in Massachusetts, Cheryl had to take out student loans for her bachelor's degree in English and her master's degree in education. While she said she has no problem paying back the debt she borrowed, the problem is the interest that accrued while she was in school and her loans were in forbearance. That's making it nearly impossible for her to touch her principal balance at her current income level.

Biden has not confirmed an amount for any student-loan forgiveness he might implement, but recent reports have suggested he is looking at $10,000 in relief for federal borrowers making under $150,000 a year. While that's an amount he pledged to fulfill on the campaign trail, many Democratic lawmakers and advocates had hoped he would go bigger and are disappointed he appears to be settling on an amount that would hardly make a dent in the US's $1.7 trillion student-debt load.

"At the end of the day, we have to recognize that $10,000 is not enough," Wisdom Cole, the national director of the NAACP Youth & College Division, previously told Insider. "$20,000 is not enough. $30,000 is not enough. We have to cancel a minimum of $50,000 or more. Isn't the goal to get the most amount of relief to the most borrowers?"
'I'm totally screwed' when student-loan payments restart

The Biden administration has emphasized that before student-loan payments are set to resume after August 31, it will make an announcement on broad relief. But if it's $10,000 in forgiveness, Cheryl said she will not be able to afford her federal debt bill on the income she makes right now — especially as she's getting ready to send her nephew, who she is financially supporting, to college.

"I'm totally screwed," Cheryl said. "And now I'm trying to put a kid through college and he got a good scholarship, but it doesn't pay for everything. I have no idea how I'm going to do it, I guess I'll have to get another job."

During the payment pause, Cheryl was still making around $400 monthly payments on her private student loans, and not having to make the $200 federal monthly payments under her income-driven repayment plan provided a slight financial reprieve that helped her afford other basic necessities.

"I have $200 to get gas, and groceries and everything else, and there's not much left after that," Cheryl said. "It keeps you in this nasty little loop that you can't get out of because I can't afford to pay it down and the interest keeps coming."

Although Cheryl's profession technically qualifies for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which forgives student debt for public servants after ten years of qualifying payments, she was denied due to what she said was her time spent in payment forbearance while in school.

The Education Department has announced actions to allow past payments to be counted toward forgiveness, but Cheryl is still waiting and said "the money made from teaching will never come close to what you need to borrow to become one."

How lawmakers are reacting to the potential $10,000 in relief

Biden himself has not confirmed an amount of student debt he will cancel for federal borrowers, but when he said $50,000 in relief was off the table last month, some Democratic lawmakers and advocates grew concerned. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — one of the leading voices for broad student-loan forgiveness — released data that emphasized how going bigger on relief will be much more impactful.

The data found that $50,000 in debt relief would zero out balances for 30 million, or 76%, of all federal borrowers, compared to 13 million borrowers for $10,000 in relief.

"As this analysis clearly shows, canceling student debt is a matter of racial justice and about providing relief to millions of hard-working people who invested in their education but are now drowning in debt," Warren said in a statement. "The more President Biden cancels, the more we narrow the racial-wealth gap among borrowers and the bigger the boost to Americans' economic futures. This is the right thing to do."

But Republican lawmakers are saying the exact opposite. Insider previously reported on GOP concerns that Biden is canceling student debt to win Democratic votes at the midterms, and Virginia Foxx — a top Republican on the House Committee on Education and Labor — has frequently said canceling student debt would exacerbate inflation and cost taxpayers, referring to the $150 billion cost of the pandemic pause on payments.

For Cheryl, the issue is simple — she wants to pay back what she borrowed, and nothing more.

"I don't mind paying back the money I borrowed," Cheryl said. "But I do mind the government making their money off my back."

Azzi: The patriarchy's worst fear – women who think and compete

Robert Azzi,
Portsmouth Herald
Sun, June 5, 2022, 

“In the nineteenth century," Adrienne Rich wrote in The Theft of Childbirth, "the educated woman was seen as a threat to the survival of the species…. Patriarchal society would seem to require not only that women shall assume the major burden of pain and self-denial for the continuation of the species, but that a majority of that species—women—shall remain essentially uninformed and unquestioning.”

Today, in the twenty-first century, 50 years after the passage of both Title IX and Roe v. Wade, it appears that patriarchal interests continue to assault - from the womb to the football pitch - women's bodies and interests.

Much has been written recently, after the leak of Justice Alito's hateful attack, about Roe v. Wade and what overturning it would mean to women.

Less has been reported about attacks on Title IX, which was passed to prohibit sex discrimination - including on issues of pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity - in any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

Over time it created new opportunities for women - opportunities denied them for generations by the misogynistic manipulations of cisgendered, patriarchal white men.

Before 1972 there were fewer than 300,000 girls playing sports in only about 15,000 American high schools, compared with over 3,600,000 million boys in virtually every school.

Today, because of Title IX, there are over 3,400,000 girls (in over 312,000 schools) competing across a sports spectrum - including at what Americans call soccer - with many hopeful for college scholarships unavailable before 1972.

Last month, 50 years after Title IX was passed; 50 years after women were given sports platforms upon which to compete and showcase their athletic abilities, an historic agreement was struck that guarantees that all national team soccer players - regardless of gender - will receive equal pay when representing America.

Finally, the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) agreed to pay athletes equally for doing exactly the same job: A job, I might add, where men, since 1934, have never finished above 8th place while America's women have won four World Cups since 1991!

“When my coach said I ran like a girl," Mia Hamm recounted, "I said that if he could run a little faster he could too.”

A job where previously women soccer players couldn't earn more than $260,000 while male losers could earn more than $1,000,000.

According to the NY Times, “U.S. Soccer will distribute millions of extra dollars to its best players through a complicated calculus of increased match bonuses, pooled prize money and new revenue-sharing agreements that will give each team a slice of the tens of millions of dollars in commercial revenues that U.S. Soccer receives each year ...”

This isn't about equity - it's about equal pay for equal work!

Right-wing activists have for some time been attempting to conflate "equality" and "equity," in the minds of suggestible followers, intimating that somehow Democrats and progressives are trying to assure equal societal outcomes.

Nothing's further from the truth: Equity and Equality may sound similar but they're not.

Equality means all individuals or groups should be given the same resources or opportunities while equity recognizes that because some individuals or groups have different (often limited) circumstances they may need different resources and opportunities in order to equally compete.

For example, students with broadband at home are advantaged over students who have to sit on the curb in front of McDonalds to access the internet.

Teams with fully-equipped weight rooms are advantaged over teams that don't.

To suggest that women athletes should not be equally compensated with men because they've been competing for fewer years is to suggest, perhaps, that Black American votes should count less since they've been voting for fewer years than privileged whites.

Perhaps, as women have only been voting for 102 years, their votes should be devalued by 50%; perhaps Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's opinions should've mattered less because she occupied a seat believed reserved for white men.

Some critics whine that sports “equity” means that some male sports programs may have been eliminated by making room for women, reasoning that ignores that for generations only men decided who got to play what.

Today, an overwhelming number of high-ranking women executives at Fortune 500 companies say their opportunity to compete in sports contributed to their success in fields previously dominated by white men.

Perhaps that is really patriarchy's fear.

"When I was a little boy," Will Smith recounts in King Richard, "my mom used to say, 'Son, the most powerful, the most dangerous creature on this whole earth is a woman who knows how to think.'"

Women who think: May their presence persist.

Robert Azzi, a photographer and writer who lives in Exeter, can be reached at theother.azzi@gmail.com. His columns are archived at theotherazzi.wordpress.com

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: The patriarchy's worst fear – women who think and compete

'Enough is enough': Boston Celtics wear 'We are BG' shirts to support Brittney Griner at NBA Finals

Cydney Henderson, USA TODAY
Sat, June 4, 2022,

The Boston Celtics stand in solidarity with Brittney Griner.

Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Grant Williams and other Celtics teammates donned black and orange shirts that read "We Are BG" ahead of their practice at the Chase Center in San Francisco on Saturday. The back of the shirt featured a QR code that links to a Change.org petition to "Secure Brittney Griner's Swift and Safe Return to the U​.​S."

As of Saturday afternoon, the petition has over 243,000 signatures.

"As a collective, we wanted to come out and show our support for Brittney Griner," said Brown. "She's been over there for an extended amount of time, and we feel like enough is enough."

Williams added: "We just wanted to show that togetherness and love that we have throughout not only the NBA, the WNBA. She’s been a vital part of the WNBA for years past, college and in the amount of impact she’s had on young female athletes."

Griner, a seven-time WNBA All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medalist, has been detained for 107 days after vape cartridges containing oil derived from cannabis were allegedly found in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. The U.S. State Department reclassified Griner as being "wrongfully detained" by the Russian government last month.

WHAT'S NEXT? Former governor who helped free Trevor Reed hopeful for Griner

Williams said he coordinated with the Women's National Basketball Players Association and the National Basketball Players Association to overnight the shirts for the players.

"We just wanted to do that as a team," Williams explained. "It was one of those things where no one questioned it. Everyone said, 'Let's do it.' Everyone put the shirt on immediately when we got them, fresh off the box. They were ironed and good to go. So we wanted to show that love and support."

Jayson Tatum opened up about getting to know Griner while representing the 2020 United States men's and women's national teams. Tatum and Griner both won an Olympic gold medal during the Tokyo Games.

"Being over there with the Olympics, obviously it was during COVID and we couldn't really go out and see other events and things like that. So after the games, after practice, we would be in the hospitality room, men and women. We would be in there, playing cards, karaoke, things like that, video games," Tatum said. "Great person to be around. She just enlightens the entire room with her personality."

He continued: "It's extremely tough seeing what she's going through. I know everybody sees and feels that, and obviously we're all together in support trying to bring her back to her family and things like that. Yeah, wearing those shirts today in support of her."

'NOT THE SAME': Phoenix Mercury, fans feel Brittney Griner's absence

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league is working to "expedite" Griner's release.

"It’s been now over a hundred days since she’s been illegally held in Russia," Silver said Thursday ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals. "I think it’s something that all of us should be heard on, contacting your representatives and others. I will only say we are working in lockstep with the U.S. government and outside experts on trying to expedite her release in any way we can. Certainly our hearts go out to her and her family, and just are eager for her safe return. And so I join my colleagues in the WNBA in making reference to her as well."

Game 2 of the NBA Finals takes place Sunday on ABC at 8 p.m. ET. The Celtics lead the series 1-0.

Follow Cydney Henderson on Twitter @CydHenderson

BRITTNEY GRINER'S WIFE pleads to President Biden to help bring WNBA star home

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boston Celtics wear 'We are BG' shirts to support Brittney Griner

Celtics ramp up pressure on White House to bring Brittney Griner home from Russia

Jason Owens

Sat, June 4, 2022,

Boston Celtics players delivered a message to the White House on Saturday during their NBA Finals practice.

Bring Brittney Griner home.

Marcus Smart, Jaylen Brown, Grant Williams and other Celtics players wore T-shirts at practice reading "We are BG" and imprinted with a QR code on the back linking to a petition calling for Griner's safe return.

Griner — a seven-time All-Star for the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury — has been detained in Russia on drug charges since Feb. 17 after she allegedly carried vape cartridges containing hashish oil through a Moscow airport security checkpoint. Smart, Brown and Jayson Tatum all spoke about Griner during their media availability.

"It's extremely tough seeing what she's going through," Tatum said. "Everybody sees and feels that. Obviously we're all together and support trying to bring her back to her family."

"We feel like it was a good idea to use our availability and our platforms to bring attention to certain matters," Brown added. "I always stand for that. Being an athlete, we're not just here to entertain you guys. We also have a voice. ... Today was a good day to bring attention to a topic that was necessary."

Smart simply stated: "Free BG, man. We're here. We're here for her. We stand with her."

The petition linked to the QR code is titled: "Secure Brittney Griner's Swift and Safe Return to the U​.​S." It calls for President Joe Biden by name to take action to bring Griner home.

"White House and Biden Administration, we ask that you take action today – doing whatever is necessary – to bring Brittney Griner home swiftly and safely," the petition reads.

It also blames "pay inequity" for Griner's detention. Griner was in Russia during the WNBA's offseason to play for EuroLeague team UMMC Ekaterinburg. She reportedly makes substantially more money playing in Russia than in the WNBA.

With Russia engaged in its ongoing war against Ukraine and its people, negotiating Griner's return is far from a simple matter. Russia has reportedly demanded that the U.S. deliver convicted international arms dealer Viktor Bout aka the "Merchant of Death" in exchange for Griner. Bout has been detained in the U.S. since a 2008 international sting operation and 2012 conviction on four charges including conspiracy to kill Americans.

As calls for Brittney Griner's return amplify, negotiating her release from Russian detainment remains perilous. (AP /Ross D. Franklin)

Petro Retakes Lead in Colombian Presidential Election Race


Matthew Bristow
Sat, June 4, 2022, 4:33 PM·1 min read

(Bloomberg) -- Leftist candidate Gustavo Petro retook the lead in Colombia’s presidential election race, according to a Centro Nacional de Consultoria poll published by Semana magazine.

Petro had 44.9% support compared to 41% for construction magnate Rodolfo Hernandez, the survey found. The poll of 2,172 people was conducted between May 31 and June 2 and has a margin of error of 2.1%

A previous CNC poll published May 31 also showed a technical tie, but with Hernandez leading by two percentage points. Petro had been the favorite to become Colombia’s next president, but Hernandez’s unexpected surge to second place in the May 29 first round upset those calculations as other candidates offered him their endorsements.

Petro is “nervous, scared, totally disappointed,” Hernandez told Semana magazine in an interview published Saturday. “I’m breathing down his neck.”

Colombians vote in the presidential runoff on June 19. Petro wants to tax the wealthy and halt oil exploration, while Hernandez is campaigning on a pledge to cut government waste and corruption.

'Surprising results': In Colombia, leftist Petro and populist Hernandez head for run-off

Colombian leftist Gustavo Petro came out on top in the first round of the Andean country's presidential election on Sunday (May 29) and will face a surprise contender - businessman Rodolfo Hernandez - in a second round on June 19. Pascal Drouhaud, Expert on Latin America, gives his analysis.

The left could be poised to take power in Colombia for the first time

Juan Manuel Morales, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Université de Montréal - Yesterday -THE CONVERSATION

Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla fighter, obtained 40.34 per cent of the vote in the first round of Colombian elections on May 29.


© (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)Presidential candidate Gustavo Petro, centre and his running mate Francia Marquez, at his right, stand before supporters with Marquez's wife and daughter on election night in Bogota, Colombia.


© (AP Photo/Mauricio Pinzon)Rodolfo Hernandez casts his ballot during presidential elections in Bucaramanga, Colombia.

He will face Rodolfo Hernández, a businessman-turned-politician who won 28.17 per cent of the vote to finish in second place, in the final round on June 19.

These results are striking for three reasons.

First, if Petro prevails, it will be the first time a left-wing candidate has become president in a country traditionally governed by right-wing, elitist parties.

Second, both candidates ran on platforms critical of the political establishment.

Third, Uribismo, the dominant right-wing political movement formed around former president Álvaro Uribe, will not have a candidate in the decisive round of elections for the first time in 20 years.

Rebel turned politician

A former member of the M-19 leftist guerrilla group, Petro started his political career in 1991, just after the organization disarmed as part of a peace process.

In the past 30 years, he’s been a member of congress (from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2018 to 2022), mayor of Bogotá (from 2012 to 2015) and three-time presidential candidate (in 2010, 2018 and 2022).

Born to a middle-class family in a small town in the Caribbean region of Colombia, he is different from the so-called Andean elites that have traditionally dominated the country. If elected, Petro promises, among other things, to stop oil exploration, to provide free public higher education for all and to thoroughly revamp the pension system to increase coverage.

His proposals for radical change have made him popular with younger and lower-income voters, many of whom participated in massive protests in 2021 against the right-wing government of incumbent Iván Duque, who holds the lowest approval ratings of any president in the country’s recent history.


© (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)Protesters lie on the ground in Bolivar square to protest the killing of civilians during Colombia’s internal conflict in Bogota, Colombia, in August 2021.

Petro’s detractors, on the other hand, decry his past membership in a rebel organization and what they describe as his populist proposals. Critics argue that his tenure as mayor of Bogotá was mired in controversy and that he will try to perpetuate that style of governance if president.

Resistance to Petro’s success, however, should be understood within the historical context of the elitist right-wing dominance of Colombia and the exclusion of left-wing alternatives.

Colombia presidential election: Who is Gustavo Petro? • FRANCE 24 English

Colombians clamoring for "change" gave a leftist ex-guerrilla an historic lead Sunday in a first round of presidential elections that will culminate in a runoff against a maverick outsider in June. 62-year-old Gustavo Petro, a former Bogota mayor, won 40.3% of votes in Sunday's first round.

Colombia’s fear of the left

Colombia has been touted in the past as an example of democratic stability in South America. The only military dictatorship the country suffered in its recent history (1953–57) was short-lived and relatively benign compared to the more repressive regimes of other South American countries.

Unlike most of the continent’s countries, populist leaders haven’t obtained power in Colombia. Also, while the majority of the region turned left in the early 2000s, Colombians elected Álvaro Uribe, a neoconservative leader who prioritized the market and the militarization of security.

This apparent political stability has not come without a price. Elitist parties — both liberal and conservative parties — monopolized power throughout the 20th century and thwarted the rise of left-wing parties and dissident movements.

The front-runner for the presidential elections in the late 1940s, populist leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, was assassinated in 1948, giving way to a dark period known as “La Violencia” that resulted in the massacres of thousands of people. Later, the systematic killing of left-wing leaders, politicians and activists by right-wing paramilitaries and state agents kept power firmly in the hands of traditional elites.


© (AP Photo/William Fernando Martinez)Álvaro Uribe speaks during an interview in Bogota in 2009.

During the eight years that Uribe was president, 6,402 people were the victims of extrajudicial killings perpetrated by the army.

Uribe has been a dominant figure in the country for the last 20 years.

He was president from 2002 to 2010; his defence minister and former ally was voted president in 2010; his chosen candidate, Iván Duque, won his presidential bid in 2018; and Uribe successfully led the campaign against the peace accord with the country’s biggest guerrilla group — FARC — in the 2016 referendum.

The deal was ultimately implemented despite the negative result, and Uribe is now increasingly unpopular among Colombians. Institutional reforms and the 2016 peace accord have also invigorated the left.

After being portrayed for decades as the internal enemy, the left is finally a serious contender for the office of president.


© (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia, File)In this 2016 photo, supporters of the peace process with rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, celebrate as the Colombian president and a top rebel leader signed a revised peace pact in Bogota.

Future implications

Petro will face important challenges. First, dispersed anti-left political forces will now likely coalesce around the right-wing outsider Hernández, mounting a serious bid for the presidency.

Second, Petro’s party, Pacto Histórico, doesn’t hold a majority in congress and, if elected president, he will have to establish shaky alliances with unlikely partners.

And while his promises for radical change have inspired many, heightened expectations might quickly turn into disappointment or backlash, similar to left-wing leaders Gabriel Boric in Chile and Pedro Castillo in Perú.

Nonetheless, the consolidation of the left as a legitimate and viable electoral option in Colombia is important for the democracy of a country that has suffered decades of politically motivated conflict and high levels of socioeconomic inequality.

These elections can be seen as a sign that the left-right divide in Colombia is moving from armed confrontation to democratic disagreement.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
Colombia’s murder rate is at an all-time low but its activists keep getting killed

Colombia gives nearly 1 million Venezuelan migrants legal status and right to work

Juan Manuel Morales currently does fieldwork with right-wing activists in Colombia for his dissertation.

Colombia Election Runoff: Leftist Gustavo Petro Leads Presidential Vote But Faces Trump-Like Tycoon

#DEMOCRACYNOW

  

Buttigieg called blaming mass shootings on school design the 'definition of insanity'

salarshani@businessinsider.com (Sarah Al-Arshani) - Yesterday 

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, seen here in Glasgow in November 2021, called blaming mass shootings on the doorway designs in schools 'the definition of insanity' in an interview Sunday. Photo by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images

After the Uvalde elementary school shooting, some lawmakers proposed changing school design.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it's insane to say school design is to blame.
Democratic lawmakers have pushed for stricter gun control in the aftermath of the shooting.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said it was insane to blame mass shootings on the design of schools.

"And the idea that us being the only developed country where this happens routinely, especially in terms of the mass shootings, is somehow a result of the design of the doorways on our school buildings, is the definition of insanity if not the definition of denial," Buttigieg said during an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos that aired Sunday .

The former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said if he was mayor during a local mass shooting, like the one recently in Uvalde, Texas, the worst part would be having to talk "to families of people who have lost their loved ones and knowing that nothing you can do will bring those loved ones back."

"We have a horrific scourge of gun violence in this country and you know, as mayor -- as every mayor is doing around the country, you take the steps that you can to reduce community violence, to invest in partnerships, to make sure that you've taken the steps you can locally," he said.


In the aftermath of the shooting in Uvalde, where an 18-year-old gunman barricaded himself in a classroom at Robb Elementary School killing 19 children and two adults, some GOP lawmakers suggested mass shootings are a result of faulty school designs or not arming teachers.

During an interview with Fox News' Jesse Watters, Sen. Ted Cruz said adding bulletproof doors and glass to schools would keep them safe.

"Have one door into and out of the school and have that one door, armed police officers at that door," Cruz argued. "If that had happened, if those federal grants had gone to this school, when that psychopath arrived, the armed police officers could have taken him out and we would have 19 children and two teachers still alive."

Many Democratic lawmakers have pushed for stricter gun control measures as more and more mass shootings rattle the country.

Other lawmakers have said resolutions like those Cruz proposed are not useful.

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas told Politico he didn't want to revive ideas that haven't worked.

"What we do not need are solutions that have already been tried and done," he said on CBS' "Face the Nation. "I visit schools every day in Kansas City. Almost all of them are fortified. Most of them have armed guards these days, at least one. So these types of solutions they keep saying have been done."

Scalise pins blame on Democrats for gun violence

Brad Dress - Yesterday 


House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) on Sunday blamed Democrats for a rise in gun violence across the U.S., blaming the “defund the police” movement and local authorities for being lax on criminals.

Scalise pins blame on Democrats for gun violence

HE CLAIMED THE SAME THING AFTER BEING SHOT, BLAMED BERNIE SANDERS CAMPAIGN FOR INCITING HIS SHOOTING

In an interview with “Fox News Sunday” guest host John Roberts, Scalise said the reason gun violence and crime rates are so high in the U.S. compared to other countries is because of the “defund the police” movement and loose policies from city district attorneys, who he claimed release prisoners early or hand down lighter sentences to violent criminals.

“You look at America in the last couple of years, you’re seeing this crazy ‘defund the police’ movement. But you’ve also seen a movement that’s been going on for a few years in big cities where the [district attorneys] aren’t even prosecuting criminals until it is a shooting,” he said.

“They’re letting criminals back out on the streets and inevitably what you see is higher rates of crime,” Scalise continued. “And what you’re also seeing is more and more American citizens, law abiding citizens, buying guns to defend themselves.”


Scalise joins a number of Republicans pushing back against gun control measures to curb a rising number of mass shootings and gun violence across the country. A group of bipartisan senators have been meeting to determine if they can come to any agreement on a gun-related measure following the killing of 19 children and two adults at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, last month.

The Louisiana Republican told Roberts on Sunday he does not support red flag laws despite a majority of Americans expressing support for measures that take guns away from individuals a court deems a threat.

Scalise repeated a GOP talking point that Congress should address mental health and other societal factors that cause mass shootings. He said everyday gun violence on the streets, which are less high profile but take far more lives than mass shootings, are rising because Democrats are lax on the “out of control” crime.

“Look at the smash-and-grab crimes. Do you think it’s going to end there?” he told Roberts on Sunday. “If they think they can get away with a crime, they’re not going to be charged, they will go on to commit other crimes. It’s happened in other places. Let’s get back to regular policing.”

4 in 10 Republicans think mass shootings are 'unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society': CBS/YouGov poll



Katie Balevic

THE HILL
Sun, June 5, 2022

Some 44% of Republicans say mass shootings are "something we have to accept as part of a free society," a poll found.

The poll found that a majority of Democrats and Independents said shootings are preventable "if we really tried."

The survey comes after a string of mass shootings have again prompted Congress to assess gun control.

More than 4 in 10 Republicans think mass shootings are inevitable in a "free society," according to a new poll by CBS News and YouGov.

The survey results came on the heels of a string of mass shootings across the country that have prompted Congress to once again consider legislation on gun control.

One of the questions in the poll asked respondents if they feel that mass shootings are "unfortunately something we have to accept as part of a free society" or "something we can prevent and stop if we really tried."

In response, 44% of Republicans said mass shootings are inevitable "as part of a free society." Meanwhile, 85% of Democrats and 73% of Independents said mass shootings are preventable "if we really tried."

The survey had a sample size of 2,021 US adults that were interviewed between June 1 and June 3, per CBS News, which noted the margin of error is ±2.6 points.

Following the shooting in Uvalde, President Joe Biden insisted that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is a "rational Republican" who could agree to gun control measures, despite the party's longtime refusal to seriously entertain policy changes on firearms.

McConnell signaled his willingness for Republican senators to work with Democrats on a bipartisan push for gun safety legislation, but he did not endorse any specific proposals. The Minority Leader said he had "encouraged" Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, to talk to key Democrats "who are interested in trying to get an outcome that's directly related to the problem."

Days later, a conservative radio host tweeted that Cornyn was "open to making gun laws more restrictive." Cornyn responded to the tweet, saying it was "not gonna happen."

In the CBS/YouGov poll, respondents from political parties across the board seemed to agree that it is unlikely Congress will "pass any laws in the next few months that will make significant changes to gun policy."

A total of 66% of Democrats, 72% of Independents, and 71% of Republicans indicated that they think it is "not very likely" or "not at all likely" that Congress passes significant, new gun policies in the coming months.

B&D CHILD ABUSE

Legal claims shed light on founder of faith group tied to Amy Coney Barrett

Stephanie Kirchgaessner US Investigations Correspondent
Mon, June 6, 2022

Photograph: Barbara Allison/AP

The founder of the People of Praise, a secretive charismatic Christian group that counts supreme court justice Amy Coney Barrett as a member, was described in a sworn affidavit filed in the 1990s as exerting almost total control over one of the group’s female members, including making all decisions about her finances and dating relationships.

The court documents also described alleged instances of a sexualized atmosphere in the home of the founder, Kevin Ranaghan, and his wife, Dorothy Ranaghan.

The description of the Ranaghans and accusations involving their intimate behavior were contained in a 1993 proceeding in which a woman, Cynthia Carnick, said that she did not want her five minor children to have visitations with their father, John Roger Carnick, who was then a member of the People of Praise, in the Ranaghan household or in their presence, because she believed it was not in her children’s “best interest”. Cynthia Carnick also described inappropriate incidents involving the couple and the Ranaghan children. The matter was eventually settled between the parties.

Barrett, 50, lived with Dorothy and Kevin Ranaghan in their nine-bedroom South Bend, Indiana, home while she attended law school, according to public records. The justice – who was then known as Amy Coney – graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1997 and two years later married her husband, Jesse Barrett, who also appears to have lived in the Ranaghan household. There is no indication that Amy Coney Barrett lived in the house at the time when the Carnick children were visiting or witnessed any of the alleged behavior described in the court documents.

The examination of the People of Praise’s history and attitude towards women comes as a majority of the supreme court – including Barrett – appear poised to reverse Roe v Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that made abortion legal across the US.

Cynthia Carnick stated in the documents that she had witnessed Dorothy Ranaghan tie the arms and legs of two of the Ranaghans’ daughters – who were three and five at the time the incidents were allegedly witnessed – to their crib with a necktie. She also said that the Ranaghans allegedly practiced “sexual displays” in front of their children and other adults, such as Dorothy Ranaghan lying with her clothes on and “rocking” on top of Kevin Ranaghan in their TV room.

Cynthia Carnick – who no longer uses Carnick as her last name – declined to comment but said that she stood by the statement she made at the time.

In an affidavit that supported Cynthia Carnick’s written statement, a woman named Colette Humphrey said she had lived with Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan from 1973 to 1978, when she was a member of the People of Praise, and confirmed she had witnessed incidents of inappropriate sexual expression.

Humphrey also wrote in her statement: “When I was part of the People of Praise I was in full life submission to Kevin Ranaghan, under full obedience to him and he exercised this authority over most areas of my life. For example, we were ‘in common’ financially, which meant that I had to hand over my paycheck to Kevin Ranaghan and he would decide on how that paycheck would be used. Kevin Ranaghan controlled my dating relationships, deciding who and when I should date.”

Humphrey – who now uses a different surname – did not respond to a request for comment left at her residence.

A third woman, Susan Reynolds, said in a sworn statement that she lived in the Ranaghan household, and that she had at one point been “shocked” to hear that Kevin Ranaghan sometimes showered with two of his daughters, who were ten or eleven at the time. She said in her statement she was later told by Dorothy Ranaghan that Kevin had “decided to quit showering with them” after Reynolds had questioned Dorothy about the practice.

The Ranaghans did not file any affidavits in connection to the 1993 proceeding, to which they were not a party.

Dorothy Ranaghan declined to comment to the Guardian. Kevin Ranaghan said: “These allegations are nearly three decades old, outlandish, and completely without merit. We have a loving and affectionate marriage of 55 years and have welcomed dozens of people into our home as part of our religious faith and commitment to service to God.”

A spokesperson representing the Ranaghans sent an emailed statement to the Guardian on behalf of the couple’s six adult children. It said they were “insulted by false and misleading statements about our childhood relationships with our parents from decades ago”. “We are part of a loving family and bringing these preposterous claims up now is hurtful and irresponsible.”

People of Praise said in a statement: “Since 1967 Kevin and Dorothy Ranaghan have been known and respected for their tireless work sharing the free gift of the Holy Spirit with hundreds of thousands of people around the world. We are proud that they are members and leaders of the People of Praise.”

The claims about the Ranaghans’ behavior and Kevin Ranaghans’ alleged control over at least one former member of People of Praise is coming to light two years after the Guardian first reported that the group had hired a law firm to conduct an “independent” investigation into decades-old claims of sexual abuse against minors by some members of the Christian faith group.

Since then, at least one alleged victim who cooperated with the investigation has been told that the inquiry into sexual abuse claims by the law firm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has been concluded, but that a written report of its findings would not be released to alleged victims or to the public.

When one alleged victim of sexual abuse, who spoke to the Guardian but asked not to be named, asked about the investigation into her own case, lawyer Diane Doolittle of Quinn Emanuel allegedly told her that at least some of the individuals who had been interviewed about the allegations “didn’t recall the details” and that it had been “difficult” to get information.

The South Bend-based group is a covenanted community, which means that members have entered a “covenant commitment” to live together – sometimes families and single members can live in a single household – and are expected to share portions of their income and regularly attend hours-long private prayer meetings, which can include exorcisms and speaking in tongues. The group has about 1,700 members, is mostly Catholic but is open to all Christians, and espouses conservative views on gender. It opposes same-sex marriage and only men can serve on its board of governors or as coordinators, who lead different branches of the community.

The Washington Post reported in 2020 that a People of Praise 2010 directory showed Barrett served as a “handmaid”, a female adviser to other female members. Barrett also served on the Trinity Schools board, whose members must belong to People of Praise, from 2015 to 2017, at a time when the schools effectively barred admission to children of same-sex parents and – according to the AP – “made it plain that openly gay and lesbian teachers weren’t welcome in the classroom”.

Doolittle did not respond to an emailed request for comment. People of Praise said in a statement: “The independent review by Quinn Emmanuel was concluded more than a year ago, and meetings regarding the review have taken place.”

The Guardian sought a comment from Amy Coney Barrett’s chambers through the supreme court press office, but did not receive a response.

In June 2021, four victims of alleged sexual or physical abuse in the People of Praise published an open letter in the South Bend Tribune calling for reforms within the faith group. The suggested reforms included public acknowledgment that there had been a “systemic failure to protect People of Praise children from abuse”, public naming of all individuals who have been “credibly accused of abuse” or “concealing abuse within People of Praise or its schools”, and placing an equal number of women in the highest leadership positions in the group, and giving them an “equal vote in all of the group’s decisions”. The letter noted that the Catholic church has publicly named individuals who have credibly been accused of abuse.

Barrett, who is Catholic, has never publicly been asked about her membership in People of Praise, which first came to light in a New York Times article in 2017, after Barrett, a former law professor at Notre Dame, was nominated by Donald Trump to serve as a judge on the US court of appeal for the seventh circuit. She was confirmed and then later, in 2020, was nominated and confirmed to serve on the supreme court after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Barrett has said that her religious convictions, including her previously stated views opposing Roe v Wade, had no bearing on her role as a judge and would not affect her impartiality.

The justice’s involvement in People of Praise became known publicly in 2017 only after one former member, Kevin Connolly, said he brought the story to the New York Times. He did so, he told the Guardian, because he believed it was important for the public to be aware of and understand her affiliation with the group. He was also one of the four authors of the open letter sent to the South Bend Tribune.

Connolly, who is the brother of the People of Praise’s chief spokesperson, Sean Connolly, told the Washington Post in 2021 that his father, who was then a member of People of Praise, was violent and once kicked him in the face when he was 10, leaving him with a black eye.

Connolly came forward, he said, after he heard of several other incidents of physical abuse among his friends growing up. Neither Connolly’s father nor his brother responded to the Post’s questions at the time the alleged abuse was reported in the Washington Post.

“Growing up in the People of Praise, I knew that they held beliefs that would be extremists to the vast majority of practicing Catholics, including on gay rights and women’s rights. I looked at the number of people living in those states covered by the seventh circuit court, and then projected those numbers over a lifetime appointment. It was well into the tens of millions. That’s when I brought the story to the New York Times in 2017. As a supreme court justice now, her extreme views may affect upwards of half a billion Americans in her lifetime,” he told the Guardian.

• In the US, call or text the Childhelp abuse hotline on 800-422-4453. In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331. In Australia, children, young adults, parents and teachers can contact the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Bravehearts on 1800 272 831, and adult survivors can contact Blue Knot Foundation on 1300 657 380. Other sources of help can be found at Child Helplines International