It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, June 17, 2022
Mexico Hits Road Bumps En Route to Nationalizing its Energy Industry
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador wants energy independence. Not from possibly hostile foreign nations, but from multinational firms operating within his country's borders.
Now, his populist campaign to reclaim the oil-and-gas industry from private firms, has flipped the nation's energy paradigm on its head. The consequences: spiking energy costs, weak economic growth, a slowing transition to clean power, and a possible cessation from the global community.
Public Enemy Number One
Mexico's post-pandemic revival has been stuck in the mud. Its economy lags behind the US and Canada at levels not seen since the mid-1990s, and the International Monetary Fund estimates project Indonesia will overtake it as the world's 15th-biggest economy next year. Still, President Obrador is carrying out a crusade against multinational energy firms -- whom he alleges, mostly without evidence, illicitly paid their way into the Mexican market -- even as critics say it will only make matters worse.
Now, he's taking sharp action to return the power, literally, back to the government -- consequences be damned:
Last year, a new law went into effect forcing the national electric grid to prioritize electricity produced by the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) -- a study by the US government's National Renewable Energy Laboratory, however, claims this may raise Mexico's overall energy bill by over 50%, worth roughly $5.5 billion a year, and increase carbon emissions by 65%.
CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE
The Mexican government has also halted all new auctions for private oil-and-gas exploration, as well as investments into private electricity generation -- including wind and solar farms that could produce power at 33% of the CFE's average cost, according to reporting from The Wall Street Journal.
In sum, according to environmental groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council, the moves will likely prevent Mexico from achieving the carbon reduction goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreements.
Arbitration Nation: Private equity giant KKR says it will sue the government for $667 million in damages, after one of its fuel-importing terminals was seized and closed by Mexico's energy regulator last year. Talos Energy, a Houston-based firm, also says it is pursuing legal recourse after Mexico seized operating control of an oil field it discovered last year.
FEMICIDE Former Amazon Mexico CEO accused of paying hitmen to shoot dead his wife Shweta Sharma Sun, June 12, 2022 The murder of Abril Pérez Sagaón in November 2019 sparked massive outrage in the country (Screengrab/Nmas)
A former CEO of Amazon Mexico allegedly paid two hitmen $9,000 to gun down his estranged wife in 2019, one of the assassins testified in a court.
Juan Carlos García, who is on the run since the murder, has arrest warrants issued against him in 190 countries after he was accused of orchestrating the murder of his wife Abril Pérez Sagaón.
Pérez was shot in the head by a motorcyclist in Mexico City in front of two children in her car, days before a scheduled hearing for the divorce case, authorities said. His wife had filed for divorce after she accused him of trying to kill her in her sleep with a baseball bat and then beating her with it in January 2019. Following the attack, the graphic images of her face covered in blood went viral on social media, sparking outrage in the country.
Almost 10 months later, she was killed in cold blood on 25 November, the day marked by the UN as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, sparking massive outrage in the country as feminist groups carried out demonstrations and raised slogans.
One of the assassins who was hired to kill Pérez testified in a Mexico city court that Mr Garcia offered an extra $2500 to kill his wife before the hearing, reported El Pais.
He was taken into pre-trial detention for 10 months after his wife formally accused him of attempted femicide but a judge released him in November following a controversial order downgrading the charge to domestic violence. Judge Federico Mosco González raised questions over the intent of the alleged crime and said Mr Garcia would have killed her when she was sleeping if he wanted to do that.
Before the murder, she had a restraining order against Mr García and was fighting to get legal custody of her three children.
At the time of the murder, Pérez had returned to Mexico City from Nuevo Leon for a court-ordered mental evaluation in relation to the case.
She was travelling with her lawyer and children when a man walked up to the car that had stopped at the traffic light and shot her. She died later that night in the hospital.
Days after the murder, Mr García allegedly fled Mexico and entered the US, crossing into San Diego via Tijuana on foot, Mexican outlet La Jornada reported.
Mr García denied the charges and claimed his innocence in a letter he sent to Mexico City officials in 2019.
From Australia to the UK, here's how other countries have responded to mass shootings
Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY
The U.S. is in a class of its own when it comes to gun violence.
The U.S.'s rate of firearms homicides is 4.14 per 100,000 people, the highest among wealthy nations with a population of 10 million or more, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, a health research organization based at the University of Washington School of Medicine. Firearms homicide rates in the U.S. are 22 times greater than in the 27 countries that comprise the European Union, for example.
As of Friday there were 254 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit research group. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there were more than 45,000 firearm-related deaths in the U.S. in 2020, the most recent period for which data are available. That equates to about 124 people dying from a firearm-connected injury in the U.S. each day, according to the CDC.
After each new mass shooting incident in the U.S., there have been calls to change gun laws, which are far less restrictive compared to other developed nations. Most changes have been incremental at best and taken place at the state level. Other countries have been more successful at adopting new legislation following mass shootings.
Here are some of them:
Australia
Just weeks after a lone gunman in 1996 killed 35 people at a cafe in the tourist town of Port Arthur, Tasmania, Australian authorities – despite fierce opposition from the gun lobby – passed strict gun control legislation, including a ban on semi-automatic rifles and semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns.
As part of the reforms, thousands of unlicensed firearms were surrendered. All licensed gun owners were required to take a safety course. Some 650,000 firearms were confiscated and destroyed.
A 2011 study concluded Australia's policy saved lives. There were 13 mass shootings in Australia in the 18 years before the legislation was adopted, resulting in more than 100 deaths. There were no mass shootings for 14 years after the laws were passed. There have been few incidents in Australia since the laws were enacted.
In 1989 after 14 female college students studying engineering were killed in a Montreal classroom, Canada adopted legislation mandating background checks, safety courses and harsher penalties for some gun-related crimes.
And in 2020, after a gunman killed 22 people in Nova Scotia, Canada's government banned over 1,500 models of military-grade assault-style weapons. According to the Small Arms Survey, a Geneva-based research group, there are about 121 firearms for every 100 residents of the U.S. In Canada, the figure is 35 guns per 100 residents, according to the survey. There have been no mass shootings reported in Canada in 2022.
Firearms-related deaths in New Zealand are quite rare. However, on March 15, 2019, 50 people were killed in mass shootings at mosques in Christchurch, on New Zealand's South Island. Within days, the country's parliament moved to ban the sale of assault weapons.
Legislators also later voted to prohibit the circulation and use of most semi-automatic firearms and parts that convert firearms into semi-automatic firearms. Magazines over a certain capacity and some shotguns were also banned.
"When we saw something like that happen, everyone said never again, and so it was incumbent on us as politicians to respond to that," New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said during an appearance on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" on May 25. She was in the U.S. shortly after the Uvalde massacre.
"We have legitimate needs for guns in our country, for things like pest control and to protect our biodiversity – but you don’t need a military-style semi-automatic to do that," Ardern said.
One of Britain's deadliest mass shootings took place on March 13, 1996, when 16 children ages 5 and 6 were targeted, along with their teacher, by a former Scout leader in the Scottish town of Dunblane. In direct response to the incident, British lawmakers effectively banned private ownership of all handguns in mainland Britain, giving the country some of the strictest anti-gun legislation in the world. Authorities also introduced a firearm amnesty, resulting in the surrender of thousands of guns.
Members of the public are allowed to own rifles for sports and shotguns, provided they are licensed to do so. There have been no reported shootings in schools since. The U.K's firearms homicide rate is 0.04 per 100,000 people, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.
A police officer arranges bouquets of flowers in rows at a side entrance to Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, Scotland, on March 15, 1996. One of Britain's deadliest mass shootings took place at the school.
White House says it's cutting back funding for COVID tests. Why experts say Americans may pay the price this fall
Adrianna Rodriguez, USA TODAY
The White House is gearing up to make some “painful decisions” as COVID-19 funding is running out without relief from Congress.
The Biden administration said this week it will divert $10 billion in coronavirus relief from testing and other programs to maintain stockpiles of vaccines and treatments for Americans heading into the fall and winter.
“These are very, very difficult choices,” said Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, told reporters Thursday. “This is not where we should be in the pandemic.”
Health experts agree vaccines should be a priority, but testing remains a pillar of the nation's COVID-19 public health strategy. Without it, they say the U.S. will have a hard time managing surging cases expected in the fall and winter.
Dr. Michael Mina, a testing expert and chief medical officer of eMed, called the scenario a pandemic "Groundhog Day."
“We’re probably going to hit the fall and we’re going to see something very similar to what we saw last year,” he said. “Testing is one of the best tools that we have – especially self-testing – to enable friends and family to gather safely and keep society running during big waves.”
Officials say the reallocation may include cutting back on free at-home rapid tests, scaling back funding for research and development of new COVID-19 vaccines and limiting orders of personal protective equipment.
Reducing testing capability could make tests more expensive and harder to access, experts say. Without tests, people won’t know if they're infected with the coronavirus and will be more likely to spread it, leading to more cases.
“I can see where prioritizing vaccination is in line with the administration’s stance,” said Dr. Neil Sehgal, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. “But cases still really matter, and testing matters to detect cases early and try to limit spread.”
Americans vulnerable to severe disease need timely access to testing to be prescribed life-saving treatments, experts noted. Pfizer’s antiviral, Paxlovid, has been shown to be effective at keeping high-risk COVID-19 patients out of the hospital but it must be given within five days of symptoms.
Not having the ability to test means vulnerable people may miss their window for treatment, leading to more hospitalizations and deaths, said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of the Center for Health Security of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
As tests become more expensive and harder to find, health experts worry vulnerable communities and essential workers will be the first to suffer despite the administration's effort to increase equitable access.
“Only the most privileged among us would have access to preventative tools,” Sehgal said. “If you’re a front line or essential worker who has been in the thick of this since the pandemic started, it’s becoming more difficult to protect yourself.”
The Biden administration has been warning for months of the potential for rationing and other tough trade-offs if Congress doesn't act to provide additional funding. Lawmakers in March appeared near a deal for $10 billion of the $22.5 billion that President Joe Biden has requested, but negotiations broke down.
Officials said they had to act swiftly to secure vaccines before other nations locked in their place in line ahead of the U.S. But even after diverting funds, there still won’t be enough money to provide them to everyone, Jha said.
“Let me be clear: We do not have enough resources to make sure that every American who wants one of the next generation of vaccines will be able to get one,” he said. “But we needed to be at the negotiating table … and that’s why we pulled the funds.”
Experts agree that securing next-generation vaccines is important, especially after Moderna revealed data showing its new combination vaccine booster protects against the omicron variant better than its original booster dose.
But they expressed dismay that the U.S. has to choose between vital public health strategies to protect Americans.
“It’s really unfortunate and kind of shocking that we’re in this position,” Inglesby said. “It’s hard to fathom how we can be in this position two years into this.”
Sat, June 11, 2022
Contributing: Karen Weintraub, USA TODAY; Associated Press. Follow Adrianna Rodriguez on Twitter: @AdriannaUSAT.
Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.
America’s technology behemoths are worried about their foreign workers’ children.
In a letter to Alejandro Mayorkas, the US secretary of homeland security, a coalition of tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Twitter, has urged the government of that country to let the children of visa holders stay past the age of 21.
The idea that these children, having spent their entire lives in America, can’t continue staying on their dependent visas causes stress, anxiety, and depression in families. More importantly for tech companies, which hire most of the H-1B workers, it makes parents reconsider their decision to live and work in the US
“This uncertainty harms families and prevents our companies from attracting and retaining critical talent in the US,” the signatories wrote in their letter to Mayorkas. The children have to either leave the country or attempt to “re-enter the labyrinthine, high-stakes immigration system for a different visa where options are extremely limited.”
Immigrants and their American-bred children migrating to other parts of the world is particularly ominous for the US technology sector. Plugging America’s tech skills gap
“Many of these job vacancies are for highly-skilled positions, and US companies recruit foreign-born workers to fill in the worker shortages,” the letter stated. “These openings are especially critical given the pandemic as the US seeks to maintain its ‘world leader’ status in innovation and ingenuity.”
As a long-term solution to retain foreign talent—and thereby maintain America’s competitive edge—the tech firms also encouraged the Biden administration to pass a bipartisan America’s Children Act.
The bill will create a pathway to citizenship for these young “documented dreamers” by locking in their age to the date they file for a green card. This eliminates the concern of a green card being issued after they turn 21.
Wikipedia fights Russian order to remove Ukraine war information The Kremlin's Spasskaya Tower and St. Basil's Cathedral
are seen through the art object in Zaryadye park in Moscow
Mon, June 13, 2022
LONDON (Reuters) - The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision demanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war.
A Moscow court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million roubles ($88,000) for refusing to remove what it termed disinformation from Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the war including "The Russian Invasion of Ukraine", "War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine" and "Massacre in Bucha".
"This decision implies that well-sourced, verified knowledge on Wikipedia that is inconsistent with Russian government accounts constitutes disinformation," Stephen LaPorte, Associate General Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, said in a statement.
Wikipedia, which says it offers "the second draft of history", is one of the few remaining major fact-checked Russian-language sources of information for Russians after a crackdown on media in Moscow.
"The government is targeting information that is vital to people's lives in a time of crisis," LaPorte said. "We urge the court to reconsider in favor of everyone's rights to knowledge access and free expression."
The Moscow court argued that what it cast as the disinformation on Wikipedia posed a risk to public order in Russia and that the Foundation, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, was operating inside Russia.
The Foundation was prosecuted under a law about the failure to delete banned information. The case was brought by Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wikipedia.
The Wikipedia appeal, which was filed on June 6 with details released on Monday, argues that removing information is a violation of human rights. It said Russia had no jurisdiction over the Wikimedia Foundation, which was globally available in over 300 languages.
Wikipedia entries are written and edited by volunteers.
Narratives of the war, Europe's biggest ground invasion since World War Two, vary drastically -- and have become highly politicised with journalists in both Moscow and the West routinely accused of misreporting the war.
Ukraine says it is the victim of an unprovoked imperial-style land grab by Russia and that it will fight to the end to reclaim the territory that Russian forces have occupied. Kyiv has repeatedly asked the West for more help to fight Russia.
President Vladimir Putin and Russian officials do not use the words "war" or "invasion". They cast it a "special military operation" aimed at preventing the persecution of Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine.
Putin also says the conflict is a turning point in Russian history: a revolt by Moscow against the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union and pushed to enlarge the NATO military alliance.
Ukraine and its Western backers deny Moscow's claims that Russian speakers were persecuted. Kyiv says Russian forces have committed war crimes, including killings, torture and rape in places such as Bucha.
Russia says the alleged evidence of war crimes consists of carefully constructed fakes and that Ukraine and its Western backers have spread disinformation about Russian forces.
($1 = 57.0000 roubles)
(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
New Mexico, the most Hispanic state in the US, weighs benefits of language programs
Cedar Attanasio
Las Cruces Sun-News Lilianna Naizer-Baldwin,10, foreground center, raises her hand during her Spanish class at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Friday, May 27, 2022. Mary Baldwin, a psychology intern at UNM Hospital Health science Center, immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras when she was 10. Now her daughter Lilianna is the same age and, thanks to the dual-language program, she's fluent enough to cook banana-leaf-wrapped tamales with her Spanish-speaking grandmother. New Mexico is the only state in the country where the right to learn in Spanish is laid out the constitution.
ALBUQUERQUE - Jacqueline Powell and her fourth-grade classmates toiled over pencil and paper to write a letter in Spanish about what they did in class this year.
Powell explained the assignment in perfect Spanish before struggling to translate the words to end her sentence. The 10-year-old charter school student raised her forearms to her temples in a show of mental effort, making her large round glasses seesaw up and down.
That struggle, fought every week at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, has put her speaking ability far ahead of some of her high school peers. It has allowed her to speak in Spanish with her grandmother, who is from Chihuahua, Mexico, and she has fostered a secret language between her and her mom, whose husband and step children can't speak Spanish.
While dual-language programs are offered in thousands of schools across the U.S., New Mexico is the only state where the right to learn in Spanish is laid out in the constitution.
Fourth grade Spanish/English dual language class student Jaqueline Powell, 10, writes her assignment in Spanish at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Monday, May 23, 2022.
Dual language programs like the one at the New Mexico International School are championed by Hispanic parents who want their children to cultivate cultural roots. They are also seen by education experts as the best way for English learners to excel in K-12 schools.
The question for lawmakers in the nation's most heavily Hispanic state is why New Mexico's dual-language programs aren't being used by the students who most need them.
Legislative analysts are expected in the coming weeks to release a report that will highlight challenges facing dual language and other multicultural programs. It will include a look at decades-old trends such as a lack of oversight by education officials, declining participation, and a reduction in the number of multicultural programs, said Legislative Finance Committee spokesman Jon Courtney.
The report also will acknowledge the lack of information about how well language programs are doing after two years without comprehensive academic testing due to the pandemic.
The number of dual language immersion programs has increased from 126 before the pandemic to 132 last year.
Spanish teacher Titi Martin-Borregon teaches Fourth grade Spanish/English dual language class students at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Monday, May 23, 2022.
State officials are supposed to assess the programs every three years. But the New Mexico Public Education Department has done only one in-person visit and evaluated only one school over the past three years, said department spokeswoman Judy Robinson.
The department has started a series of forums for parents around the Hispanic Education Act, a state law that informs multicultural programs.
While there isn't a consensus among educators as to how to best teach young children languages, a New Mexico court found in 2018 that well-run dual-language programs are the "gold standard" for English learners.
The alternative, more popular in Arizona, is to separate children out for remedial instruction.
In New Mexico, English learners make up a larger share of dual language program participants. They comprise 63% of participants in the current school year, up from 53% last year.
At the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, around half of students are Hispanic, like Jacqueline, and reflective of the city's population.
"Many of their parents are trying to reclaim the language," school principal Todd Knouse said. Spanish teacher Titi Martin-Borregon teaches Fourth grade Spanish/English dual language class students at the New Mexico International School in Albuquerque, N.M., on Monday, May 23, 2022.
English-speaking parents say they have an easier time learning about the benefits of dual-language programs and jumping through the hoops to get into charter schools. The schools are free but don't provide bussing.
"It's almost like a privilege type of experience to get your kid into these programs because it does take a lot of research. Tracking down the programs, the distance of how long you're willing to drive, the (admission) lottery," said Mary Baldwin, 34, whose daughter attends the Albuquerque school.
"And then there's so much shame that gets placed on the Spanish language or the culture itself," she said. "Some families might not be aware that being bilingual is a huge strength not just culturally but also professionally."
Baldwin immigrated to the U.S. from Honduras when she was 10. Her daughter is the same age now and is fluent enough to cook banana-leaf-wrapped tamales with her Spanish-speaking grandmother as a result of the dual-language program.
Fans of New Mexico's programs say they elevate Spanish-speakers' skills and give them confidence in an environment where everyone is equal as they learn a new language. The programs also increase fluency and literacy in their home language.
"It's generally beneficial to have two languages," said Stephen Mandrgoc, a University of New Mexico historian who has studied bilingual programs in the southwest and oversees Spanish colonial heritage programs.
Albuquerque, NM on Monday, May 23, 2022. The group at the New Mexico International School, a charter school, alternates every other week between a Spanish-only homeroom and an English-only one.
When it comes to languages spoken by New Mexico's Native American tribes and pueblos, there are some state laws that protect student rights. Still, only two dual language programs are offered in Native American languages — both in Diné, the language of the Navajo people. Some tribes like Jemez Pueblo face a more pressing existential threat to their language because of a small population and cultural taboos that limit the creation of language materials. Other tribes like Santa Clara Pueblo say underinvestment is a problem. New Mexico officials have appropriated millions of dollars to support curriculum projects, but much of the funds go unspent. Advocates say one problem is the time in which grants must be spent, from less than a year to sometimes as short as a month before it reverts back to the state.
Cedar Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-covered issues. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.
Op-Ed: Can intermarriage spare California from America's identity politics? Justin Gest Sun, June 12, 2022, (Richard Bailey / Getty Images)
The boundaries of Americans' partisan identities now predominantly overlap with the boundaries of our personal identities. As a result, American politics are now profoundly connected to questions of “who we are” and, not surprisingly, intransigent.
In researching the politics of six of the world’s “majority minority” societies — where one or more racial or religious minority groups have come to outnumber the majority group over time — I noted tribalized politics that can resemble our own. And I’ve found that whether their diverse communities coexist or conflict has a lot to do with the choices of governments and influential leaders.
While the same is true in the U.S., there is something individuals can do (which no fearmongering politician can stop) to fight the toxic division shredding America’s social fabric: Build relationships with people different from you.
Relationships and marriages between people from different racial or religious communities blur the boundaries that otherwise separate diverse societies and foil political campaigns and policies that aim to divide. When multiethnic or multi-religious populations mix and intermarry, they are less likely to vilify opponents, making it more likely that partisan fault lines will shift away from racial and religious identities to other sources of affinity — such as policy preferences. Legally, California pioneered the idea of intermarriage in the United States. In Perez vs. Sharp, the California Supreme Court struck down state laws that prohibited marriages between white people and racial minorities. The 1948 decision, which ruled that the discriminatory laws violated constitutional requirements of due process and equal protection, preceded the U.S. Supreme Court's legalization of interracial marriage in Loving vs. Virginia by 19 years. According to the Pew Research Center's most recent review of U.S. Census Bureau data, nearly half of the U.S. metropolitan areas with the most intermarriages are in California.
At the time of the Loving decision, about 3% of U.S. marriages were between people who identify with different races or ethnic groups. By 2015, the rate increased to 17% of American newlyweds. In the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 22% of newlyweds intermarried, as well as 28% in San Diego, 29% in Stockton, and 30% in the Santa Barbara and Santa Maria region.
According to Pew, 5 out of 6 American interracial marriages today involve one partner who identifies as white. The most common racial or ethnic pairings among these newlywed couples is one Hispanic and one white spouse (42%) and one white and one Asian spouse (15%). White/Black newlyweds make up 11% of intermarriages.
Despite the growth of intergroup marriages and people who identify as mixed-race, the extent of intergroup contact in the U.S. is still small. New research from Ipsos Public Affairs shows that 57% of Americans have not even shared a meal with someone of a different race in the last year. Only 14% of Americans report that they have shared meals with at least one person from every major U.S. racial group in the last year.
Across the world’s wealthiest democracies, Americans most frequently report the strongest conflict between people who support opposing political parties and between people of different racial backgrounds. Fifty-point gaps separate Democratic and Republican public opinion on questions about the character of various groups such as immigrants, Muslims and Black people. Only when these gaps shrink will politicians be more likely to focus on wedge issues not grounded in racial or religious differences. But people who at least share some meals with racial or partisan outgroups are more likely to believe that Americans can reconcile their differences.
However, even the experiences of the multiracial children of interracial marriages are, well, mixed.
On the one hand, multiracial people’s social position between the white American majority and minority groups defies binary characterizations of the nation. Multiracial people believe their heritage has made them more open to other cultures, and psychologists find that immersion in multiracial communities reduces white people’s propensity to generalize about race. There is also evidence that white people find news about mixed-race marriage and multiracialism far less threatening than narratives about the nation’s demographic change to a majority minority society.
On the other hand, multiracial Americans still face substantial discrimination and they are often pressured to identify with one group or another. They may have their sense of identity or belonging ignored by people with whom they co-identify, or be doubted by strangers.
Despite its extraordinary diversity, California’s politics remain subject to the same racial boundaries that vex the rest of the United States. One reason why may be that the state’s diversity is concentrated in major cities and still separated by neighborhood-level segregation. Another reason is that Californians, despite their independent streak, are not shielded from the national discourse that reinforces the significance of racial differences.
If California is to transcend American identity politics, we must redefine or push aside the social boundaries that currently divide us.
Progress will come when more Americans come to see this nation in the way multiracial people see themselves — as indivisible.
Justin Gest is an associate professor at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. He is the author, most recently, of “Majority Minority.”
U.S. Supreme Court takes no action on Bayer bid to nix weedkiller suits
Mon, June 13, 2022 By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday took no action on Bayer AG's bid to dismiss legal claims by customers who contend its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer as the German company seeks to avoid potentially billions of dollars in damages.
The case was not mentioned on a list issued by the court on Monday as it decided on whether to hear pending appeals, raising at least the possibility that the justices are considering hearing it. Bayer has asked the justices to take up its appeal of a lower court decision that upheld $25 million in damages awarded to California resident Edwin Hardeman, a Roundup user who blamed his cancer on the pharmaceutical and chemical giant's glyphosate-based weedkillers.
The Supreme Court's decision on whether to take up the appeal is being closely watched as Bayer maneuvers to limit its legal liability in thousands of cases.
U.S. President Joe Biden's administration in May urged the court not to hear the Bayer appeal, reversing the government's position previously taken under former President Donald Trump.
Bayer has lost three trials in which Roundup users have been awarded tens of millions of dollars in each. Bayer has pinned hopes for relief on the conservative-majority Supreme Court, which has a reputation for being pro-business. Bayer has won three trials, including one last week.
Bayer has asked the Supreme Court to review the verdict in Hardeman's case, which was upheld by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in May 2021. Hardeman had regularly used Roundup for 26 years at his home in northern California before being diagnosed with a form of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Bayer has said it should not be penalized for marketing a product deemed safe by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and on which the EPA would not allow a cancer warning to be printed.
(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)
Attention, Florida Girl Scouts: This is no time to be kind, considerate of others | Frank Cerabino
Frank Cerabino, Palm Beach Post Amelia Denney, 5, carries boxes of this year's Girl Scout Cookies in West Palm Beach.
SOUTH OF SOUTHERN PHOTOGRAPHER
The Girl Scouts in Florida have no idea what danger they’re in.
“June is Pride Month and that means more than just a rainbow,” the Girl Scouts of Southeast Florida Facebook page announced. “It’s a celebration of the history, culture, and contributions of LGBTQIA+ people and their communities.”
Oh, the poor innocents.
“Your troop can learn about inclusivity, share what pride means to them, and read stories from people within the community.”
I guess they haven’t haven’t been paying attention to Gov. Ron DeSantis’ relentless effort to legislate hate and misinformation while silencing reason and compassion whenever they make an unauthorized appearance.
Inclusivity and gay pride have been officially redefined as pedophile “grooming.” It’s now branded as part of the sinister gay agenda that must be banished.
Books those same Girl Scouts might read about people being proud to be gay are being removed from their school bookshelves this summer.
So the Girl Scouts offering rainbow-flagged gay pride patches with red hearts on them is so, well, … 2017 of them.
Oh, the poor little lambs. And that’s just the half of it. The local Girl Scouts group is also promoting the “Juneteenth Freedom Day” patches to observe Black history.
Black history? Sound the alarm! Black history is on the naughty list in Florida.
Remember, we can’t be talking about the struggle to achieve social justice in this country because “social justice is closely aligned to Critical Race Theory,” as the state has recently warned.
The Scouts obviously have no idea that Florida has become a safe space for white pride, which has been turned into laws that redefine woeful chapters in American history as “subjective indoctrination that pushes collective guilt.”
But here’s how the Girl Scouts put it:
“Juneteenth occurs on June 19 every year and is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States! Your troop can learn about the holiday together, attend or host a celebration, support black-owned businesses, and talk about the importance of diversity in our country.”
I guess they also haven’t gotten the memo that diversity has been vilified under the state’s Stop WOKE (Wrong to Our Kids and Employers) Act, as a problematic form of discrimination against white workers and students.
“We believe an important component of freedom in the state of Florida is the freedom from having oppressive ideologies opposed upon you without your consent,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis, on the other hand, relishes taking punitive action on anybody who challenges his own oppressive ideologies.
Even Disney not safe from DeSantis
For example, When Disney World announced it could not support Florida's so-called “Don’t Say Gay” legislation, a hateful bill crafted to make gay teenagers feel ashamed about their sexual orientation, DeSantis punished the Florida business for not obeying his wishes.
He got the state Legislature to dissolve the private tax district Disney has had in Florida since its inception, and accused the company — which has donated more than $100,000 to his campaign — of becoming an unwholesome business in the state.
“It took a look under the hood to see what Disney has become to truly understand their inappropriate influence,” DeSantis told supporters in a fundraising letter.
Imagine that. And if you think that because you're Girl Scouts you are safe from DeSantis’ petty vindictiveness, think again.
Here’s just a sampling of his vindictive scorecard for the last couple weeks.
The horrific May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, prompted a national outcry for sensible gun regulations. In Uvalde, an 18-year old purchased an AR-15 and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and then used this weapon of war to kill 19 elementary school children and two teachers. Some of the bodies were mutilated so badly that they had to be identified by their clothing.
All over America, organizations called for new laws that would ban the sale of AR-15s to teenagers, enact red flag laws, and limit the size of magazines on firearms.
Two days after the shooting, the Tampa Bay Rays and the New York Yankees jointly decided to drop their game coverage on Twitter that night, and instead “offer facts about the impact of gun violence.”
The teams pointed out that 4,500 veterans die of gun suicides every year, and that guns were the leading cause of death for children in 2020.
“Everyday, more than 110 Americans are killed with guns, and more than 200 are shot and injured,” the Rays site tweeted.
The baseball team announced it was donating $50,000 to Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit that lobbies for gun safety regulations.
A week later, DeSantis retaliated against the Rays by vetoing legislation that provided $35 million for a new spring training facility for the team in Florida. DeSantis later linked the veto to the team’s gun-violence message, explaining that it is “inappropriate to subsidize political activism of a private corporation.”
The real problem is that the Tampa Bay Rays had offered a counternarrative on guns that didn’t conform to DeSantis’ own views. He had been promising fewer gun regulations, telling Florida gun owners he planned to support legislation that would allow them to carry firearms publicly without permits.
DeSantis said this past week that any gun control legislation would just “kneecap the rights of law-abiding citizens.”
"With all due respect to these leftists, they just want to come after your Second Amendment rights," DeSantis said.
With all due respect to reality: The teenage shooters in both Uvalde and Buffalo, N.Y., where 10 people were killed, were both law-abiding citizens who purchased their firearms legally. And in other news, the Second Amendment does not prohibit gun regulation or grant an unfettered constitutional right to unlimited firepower.
The Rays repeated unassailable facts about gun violence, and for that, they were punished by Florida’s governor.
Special Olympics faces play or pay in Florida
Next, DeSantis went after the Special Olympics. That’s right, Girl Scouts. Pay attention. If he’ll go after the Special Olympics, well, you’re basically antifa.
The 2022 Special Olympics USA Games held in Orlando this month included a vaccine requirement for participants.
We can’t have COVID-19 vaccine requirements in Florida, because DeSantis appointed an anti-vaxxer for a state surgeon general, and the governor’s own turn away from vaccinations, which has led to thousands of unnecessary deaths in Florida, has to be sublimated to his “free Florida” campaign strategy.
So that meant threatening the Special Olympics with a $27.5 million fine if it kept its vaccination requirement for the Florida event.
“We’ve never seen something wielded like this vaccine to try to marginalize disfavored people,” DeSantis said. “And a lot of these special Olympians have also had COVID by now.”
The Special Olympics caved at the last minute, eliminating its vaccine requirement.
“We don’t want to fight,” the group said in a statement. “We want to play.”
I hope you’re paying attention, Girl Scouts. You may be next.
Girl Scouts need to take Florida precautions
So here’s my suggestion. Get rid of those patches that celebrate gay pride and acknowledge our country’s mistreatment of its Black citizens.
I’m sure the NRA can get you some AR-15 patches for the girls to wear, and there must be some Confederate soldier gravesites you can visit to earn a White Lives Matter merit badge.
And have you thought about including free samples of hydroxychloroquine to hand out with Thin Mints on your next cookie drive?
I’m worried about you, Girl Scouts. There’s a dangerous bully on the loose in Florida, and I don’t want you to be his next victim. Frank Cerabino is a columnist at the Palm BeachPost, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network.
