Column: That unbelievably racist ad during the Dodgers playoff? Ex-Trump aides were behind it


Michael Hiltzik
Mon, October 17, 2022

Former White House senior advisor Stephen Miller is connected to a racist TV commercial attacking President Biden and Democrats. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press)

As if Dodger fans didn't have enough to nauseate them during Saturday's playoff game against the San Diego Padres, the telecast featured an openly racist commercial blaming President Biden and other Democrats for illegal immigration.

Airing during the mid-fourth inning break of the game that eliminated the Dodgers from the post-season, the ad consisted of video images depicting a torrent of obviously Latino immigrants pouring over the border.

"This giant flood of illegal immigration is draining your paychecks, wrecking your schools, ruining your hospitals, threatening your family," stated the overwrought narrator, over the obligatory ominous soundtrack. "Mixed among the masses are drug dealers, sex traffickers and violent predators."



Vote to keep our borders, jails and bathrooms open. Vote progressive

Sarcastic billboard sponsored by right-wing Citizens for Sanity

Who's behind this commercial? The ad identifies its sponsor only as "Citizens for Sanity," but that last line should give you a further clue: It's an organization of several former Trump aides who spearheaded his administration's attacks on immigrants.

The ad's characterization of immigrants as criminals almost exactly echoes Trump's line during his announcement of his presidential campaign in 2015 about Mexican immigrants: "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists."

The leaders of Citizens for Sanity are associated with the America First Legal Foundation, which was founded by Stephen Miller, its president.

Notoriously, Miller was an architect of Trump's cruel and crude immigrant family separation policy, his Muslim ban and his shutdown of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which defers deportation for immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors by their parents and allows them to work, but requires regular renewals.

A whole page on the website of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, is devoted to Miller.

The immigration ad isn't Citizens for Sanity's only product during this election cycle. Another video blames "woke" politicians — specifically Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Vice President Kamala Harris — for fomenting a tide of urban violent crime, illustrated by a sequence of random videos of gunplay, shoplifting and street assaults.

Another video attacks transgender athletes with the tagline, "Tell Biden and his radical allies: No men in girls' sports."

The group has also erected billboards nationwide, including in California, with sarcastic, infantile glosses on Democratic policies: "Vote to keep our borders, jails and bathrooms open. Vote progressive"; "Demand Transportation Equity for Pansexuals NOW"; "Too much freedom is a bad thing. Get your IRS audit today." And so on.

The connections tying together Miller, the America First Legal Foundation, and Citizens for Sanity have been laid out by the nonprofit group Open Secrets, which tracks money in politics. A public document cited by OpenSecrets identifies the top executives of Citizens for Sanity as Gene Hamilton, Ian Prior and John Zadrozny.

Prior told OpenSecrets that his group has “no relationship with America First Legal Foundation.”

Is that so? Prior identifies himself on his own LinkedIn page as "Senior Advisor for America First Legal." Hamilton is vice president and general counsel of America First Legal. Zadrozny is identified on America First Legal's website as its deputy director for investigations.

All three have impeccable credentials as former Trump aides.

Prior was a Justice Department spokesman during the Trump administration. While working in the Trump administration, Hamilton wrote the memo that formally ended DACA, according to a deposition he gave that was cited by the New Yorker. Zadrozny worked at the State Department and the White House under Trump, according to emails published by the progressive organization Democracy Forward.

Citizens for Sanity didn't respond to my request for comment.

That brings us back to the playoff commercial. It isn't clear how widely the commercial has been aired, but it's not a California-only phenomenon — Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer caught that one and the urban violence commercial during Phillies playoff telecasts. Fox Sports didn't respond to my questions about the commercial schedule or whether the ad was reviewed by any standards department at Fox.

Citizens for Sanity has indicated that it will spend at least six figures promoting its messages.

If that's so, brace yourself for an outpouring of misleading and mendacious ads. The immigration commercial, for example, makes much of the arrest of an immigrant in connection with the rape of a 3-year-old child.

The ad asks, "Who is Joe Biden letting into our country?" The image associated with that point, however, refers to the case of Christopher Puente, which occurred in 2020.

According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Puente was deported in 2014, under the Obama administration, but managed to re-enter the country with false papers. At the time of the alleged sexual assault, he was at large after being arrested by the Chicago Police Department and then released despite a request by ICE to detain him, according to the agency.

There are several candidates for blame in that episode, but Biden is not among them.

As for where the money for the ad campaign is actually coming from, good luck finding out. Citizens for Sanity is a "dark money" group, meaning that it doesn't have to disclose its donors. Had the commercial been directed at a local political campaign or a California ballot initiative, its principal funders would have to be listed on the air. But it's a national ad, so its backers are anonymous.

The demonization of outsiders for political gain isn't new, of course. In 1934, when the writer and socialist Upton Sinclair ran for governor of California on a leftist platform, movie studios contributed to the campaign against him by producing newsreels depicting tramps and hobos surging over the state line to take advantage of the generous pensions Sinclair proposed for resident seniors; in that case, the images were stock footage from movies then in production.

And who can forget the Willie Horton affair, when George H.W. Bush's campaign aired a commercial aiming to blame Michael Dukakis, his Democratic opponent, for the rape and murder committed by a Black felon who was on a weekend furlough from prison.

That ad had all the same grand guignol elements as the Citizens for Sanity commercial — mainly racism and fear of crime — but it seems almost understated today compared with the turbocharged bigotry on view on your television screens today. Can anyone look at this product and say American politics are in a healthy condition?

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

US and Mexico call for international force to break gangs’ stranglehold on Haiti


Julian Borger in Washington

THE GUARDIAN
Mon, October 17, 2022 

Photograph: Ricardo Arduengo/Reuters

The US and Mexico have proposed the deployment of a multinational force in Haiti to help break the stranglehold of gangs over the distribution of fuel, water and other basic goods.

Presenting a resolution at a special session of the UN security council on Monday, the US envoy to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called for “a limited carefully-scoped non-UN mission led by a partner country with the deep, necessary experience”.

The council session was brought forward from Friday, in view of the dire conditions, with the main port and fuel terminal blockaded by gangs, widespread famine and a cholera outbreak. As the session convened there were demonstrations across Haiti, calling for the resignation of the prime minister, Ariel Henry. Negotiations with opposition groups aimed at resolving the crisis have reached an impasse.

Related: ‘They have no fear and no mercy’: gang rule engulfs Haitian capital

Thomas-Greenfield said the aim of the force would be to “improve the security situation on the ground so that the delivery of desperately needed aid could reach those in need and address the ongoing cholera crisis.”

It would not be a blue-helmeted UN force but the US-Mexican resolution to be endorsed by the security council and granted authority to use force if necessary under Chapter VII of the UN charter. It was unclear whether the US was itself ready to send troops as part of the force, or would just supply funding and logistics support as Washington did with the Minustah UN peacekeeping mission.

Thomas-Greenfield said the US would “consider the most effective means to directly support, enable and resource it” and would “will rely on support from UN member states and this draft resolution explicitly asked for contributions of personnel, equipment, and other resources”.

China’s deputy ambassador, Geng Shuang, questioned whether a foreign force would be welcomed by the Haitian people or face resistance from opposition groups.

“At a time when the Haitian government lacks legitimacy and is unable to govern, will sending such a rapid action force to Haiti received the understanding, support and cooperation from the parties in Haiti, or will it face resistance or even trigger violent confrontation from the population?” Geng asked.

Dmitriy Polyanskiy, the deputy Russian permanent representative, also raised concerns that a foreign force would face popular resistance.

“Many opposition groups call for not allowing a foreign intervention and they are rightly referring to, to put it mildly, not a very successful experience with external interference in the affairs of the country,” Polyanskiy said.

The US and Mexico put forward a second resolution that would impose targeted sanctions on gang leaders like Jimmy Chérizier, a former police officer known as “Barbecue”, who leads a gang alliance called G9 and Family.

The gangs have sealed off a port at Port-au-Prince, including the country’s main fuel terminal. The UN has warned that nearly 5 million Haitians are facing acute hunger with 19,000 in catastrophic famine conditions.

On 7 October, the Haitian government appealed for the immediate deployment of an “international specialised force” to bolster the outgunned and outmanned Haitian police to allow for the distribution of fuel, water and other basic needs.

Related: ‘More bullets, more bloodshed’: Haiti aid groups warn against request for foreign forces

The security council session was considering options put forward by the UN secretary general, António Guterres, on how to respond, which include a multinational task force of police advisers, or a special force made up of special police units to carry out security operations in support of the Haiti police.

Other options include enhanced UN support to the Haitian police, bilateral police training programmes and greater efforts to stop the flow of arms to the gangs.

The US has deployed a coast guard cutter to patrol the Haitian coast, and together with Canada, delivered a long-delayed consignment of equipment to the Haitian police, including armoured vehicles, on Sunday.

Richard Gowan, UN director for the international crisis group said any force sent to Haiti would most likely be substantial US with some Canadian participation.

“At the end of the day, if a government of Haiti has requested this, if Mexico and Brazil say they want this, China can hardly block it,” Gowan said. “The Russians could use a veto to embarrass the US, but if Washington wants to send in a small force, it’s going to do that in the end. So Russia would probably just lose face by using its veto on an issue like this.”

Haiti calls for help at the UN as world mulls assistance
 

EDITH M. LEDERER and EVENS SANON
Mon, October 17, 2022 

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States and Mexico said Monday they are preparing a U.N. resolution that would authorize an international mission to help improve security in Haiti, whose government issued a “distress call” for the people of the crisis-wracked nation.

U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield made the announcement at an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council as thousands across Haiti organized protests demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The demonstrations came on the day the country commemorated the death of Jean-Jacques Dessalines, a slave who became the leader of the world’s first Black republic.

The U.S. ambassador said the proposed “non-U.N.” mission would be limited in time and scope and be led by “a partner country” that was not named “with the deep, necessary experience required for such an effort to be effective.” It would have a mandate to use military force if necessary.

She said the resolution being worked on is a “direct response” to a request on Oct. 7 by prime minister Henry and the Haitian Council of Ministers for international assistance to help restore security and alleviate the humanitarian crisis. It reflects one option in a letter from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the council on Oct. 9 that called for deployment of a rapid action force by one or several U.N. member states to help Haiti’s National Police.

Both Russia and China raised questions about sending a foreign armed force to Haiti.

Haiti has been gripped by inflation, causing rising food and fuel prices, and exacerbating protests that have brought society to the breaking point. Daily life in Haiti began to spin out of control last month just hours after the prime minister said fuel subsidies would be eliminated, causing prices to double. Gangs blocked the entrance to the Varreux fuel terminal, leading to a severe shortage of fuel at a time that rising prices have put food and fuel out of reach of many Haitians, clean water is scarce, and the country is trying to deal with a cholera outbreak.

Political instability in Latin America’s poorest country has simmered ever since last year’s still-unsolved assassination of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moïse, who had faced opposition protests calling for his resignation over corruption charges and claims that his five-year term had ended. Moïse had dissolved the majority of Parliament in January 2020 after failing to hold legislative elections in 2019 amid political gridlock.

Haiti's Foreign Minister Jean Victor Geneus said he came to the Security Council with a “distress call" from the Haitian people to tell the world they “are not living — they are suffering."

Haiti urgently needs “robust support" to help the police stem the humanitarian crisis, neutralize the the gangs, guarantee fuel distribution and facilitate a return to normal life, he said.

Thomas-Greenfield said the resolution authorizing the security mission is coupled with a resolution obtained by The Associated Press last week that would impose an arms embargo, asset freeze and travel ban on influential Haitian gang leader Jimmy Cherizier, nicknamed “Barbeque.” It also would target other Haitian individuals and groups who engage in actions that threaten the peace, security or stability of the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country, according to the text obtained Thursday by The Associated Press.

Some diplomats expressed hope for a vote on the sanctions resolution this week, but Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky said Moscow can't support quickly pushing through a sanctions resolution.

“In depth analysis and detailed negotiations" are required, he said, “to make sure that the measures are aimed at restoring government control and not be perceived as is frequently the case as a way of punishing the entire country and its people.""

The U.S. ambassador stressed that the United States is “keenly aware of the history of international intervention in Haiti, and specifically of concerns about the council authorizing a response that could lead to an open-ended peacekeeping role.”

The Security Council and the international community must seek “a different course” to respond to the security and dire humanitarian crises in Haiti, which require “targeted international assistance” that must be coupled with “support for political dialogue and backed by sustained international pressure on the actors supporting gang activity.”

Reflecting opposition to foreign interference in Haiti, Marco Duvivier, a 35-year-old auto parts store manager, who joined Monday’s protest in Port-au-Prince said: “The U.S. needs Haiti to make its own decisions and not interfere in Haiti’s business.”

“Life is not going to get better with an international force,” he said.

China's deputy U.N. Ambassador Geng Shuang noted prime minister Henry's call, but also the opposition by some political parties and groups to the presence of a foreign armed force in Haiti.

“At a time when the Haitian government lacks legitimacy and is unable to govern, will sending such a rapid action force to Haiti receive the understanding, support and cooperation from the parties in Haiti, or will it face resistance or even trigger violent confrontation from the population?," he asked. “These are things we need to consider ... and to treat with caution."

Since the gang led by “Barbeque" surrounded the fuel terminal, the distribution of more than 10 million gallons of gasoline and fuel and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site have been blocked.

Gas stations remain shuttered, hospitals have slashed services and businesses including banks and grocery stores have cut their hours as everyone across the country runs out of fuel.

The situation has worsened a recent cholera outbreak, with hundreds hospitalized and dozens dead amid a scarcity of potable water and other basic supplies.

Haiti’s last cholera outbreak was a result of U.N. peacekeepers from Nepal introducing the bacteria into the country’s largest river by sewage. Nearly 10,000 people died and more than 850,000 were sickened.

“We don’t need a foreign force. It’s not going to solve anything,” Jean Venel said.

Helen La Lime, the U.N. special envoy for Haiti, told the Security Council in a video briefing from the capital Port-au-Prince that “a humanitarian emergency is now at our doorstep" with disruptions to hospital operations and water supplies impacting the response to the cholera outbreak.

She said appeal by diplomats, the U.N. and others to establish a humanitarian corridor have gone unheeded, and insecurity is rife, with nearly a thousand kidnappings reported in 2022 and millions of children prevented from attending school.

___

Sanon reported from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Associated Press writer Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico contributed.

A member of the armed forces patrols the area where Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry attends a ceremony marking the death anniversary of revolutionary leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines at the National Pantheon Museum in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

WAIT, WHAT?!

Nigeria's Zamfara state orders media to close for covering political rally

Sun, October 16, 2022 
By Garba Muhammad

KADUNA, Nigeria (Reuters) - Zamfara state in northwestern Nigeria ordered five media outlets to close on Sunday after they covered a political rally for the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), which took place in violation of a state ban on political activities.

The order to close came after Governor Bello Muhammad, a member of the ruling All Progressives Congress, banned political activities, including meetings at individuals' homes, on October 13 due to the security situation in the state.

The ban includes campaigning for February 2023 presidential elections, which began nationwide last month.

Zamfara state, along with much of northwestern Nigeria, is battling armed groups of 'bandits' who have kidnapped thousands for ransom, killed hundreds and made many roads impassable and some farming impossible.

"Zamfara State Commissioner of Police has been directed to enforce full compliance and arrest of any staff of these media organizations... performing any duties in violation of the shut down," said a statement from the state security council released on Sunday.

The statement named five outlets, Pride FM Radio Gusau, NTA Gusau, Amji TV Gusau, Gamji TV Gusau and Alumma TV Gusau. It did not specify why they had been ordered "shut down", but state information commissioner Ibrahim Magaji Dosara told the BBC Hausa that it was because they covered PDP activities held in violation of the state government's order.

Zamfara's political activity ban came alongside other measures, including restricting movement in some local areas and shutting down several roads.

The statement directed security officials to "deal ruthlessly" with anyone found violating the orders.

(Reporting by Garba Muhammad in Kaduna, writing by Libby George, editing by Alexandra Hudson)

Unionized Workers Sue After Starbucks Accuses Them of ‘Kidnapping’

Decca Muldowney
Mon, October 17, 2022 

Michael M. Santiago/Getty

South Carolina Starbucks workers who were accused of “kidnapping” their boss during a protest have filed a lawsuit accusing the coffee giant of “defamation.” The unionized workers, part of a widespread effort to organize Starbucks stores, say the company “improperly weaponize[d] the legal process” by “falsely accusing them of crimes and seeking to have them arrested.”

The suit, filed on behalf of eight workers at a Starbucks in Anderson, South Carolina, concerns an incident from Aug 1. That day, workers at the store performed a “march on the boss,” a federally protected action in which workers present their boss with a series of demands related to working conditions.

“We are not going to move until some action is taken for our raise. No work is being done on the floor, and no customers are being served,” one worker told the store’s manager, Melissa Morris, in audio published by More Perfect Union on Twitter. Video of the incident was also released by the union, Starbucks Workers United.



The store manager, Morris, is shown on the video speaking to someone on the phone before asking workers if she can leave the store. “Yes,” worker Neil Tripathi replies.

Two days later, Morris filed a police report accusing the workers of kidnapping, telling cops they “would not let her leave until they got a raise” and that one worker “assaulted” her.

The Anderson County Sheriff’s office questioned workers about the incident, but no charges were filed. Nonetheless, Starbucks suspended 11 workers at the store. In a statement posted to its website, Starbucks said that the store manager “felt threatened and unsafe as the result of conduct by 11 store partners.”

They Asked for a Raise—Now They’re Accused of Kidnapping

Now, workers, including Tripathi, claim this statement defamed them by insinuating that they “had engaged in criminal activity.” The suit also suggests that Morris, the store manager, made a false police report “in apparent coordination with Starbucks upper management and its counsel.”

In a statement to The Daily Beast, Starbucks said they were reviewing the suit and “look forward to defending the company against the allegations made.” The company also denied retaliating against workers for union involvement.

“No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity—but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,” the company told The Daily Beast.

Starbucks has engaged high-powered union-busting law firm Littler Mendelsohn to help them fight a wave of organizing at stores across the country. The battle has been ugly, with Starbucks so far firing 129 workers involved in organizing, according to the union. A month after suspending workers at the Anderson store, Starbucks fired six of them permanently.

The union has filed 364 charges against the company with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging unfair practices.

But the suit filed by baristas from South Carolina is the first lawsuit filed by the campaign.

“These workers were called criminals by their manager and by this company, and it was completely unfounded,” said Casey Moore, a member of Starbucks Workers United’s communication committee, “These charges are just holding the company accountable for their actions in whatever way we can.”

Moore says Starbucks has been waging war against the union effort on multiple fronts, firing workers and breaking labor law. The kidnapping charge was just another example of these retaliatory actions, she says.

“It shows the company’s willingness or desire to crush our union in any way that they can,” Moore says.

Starbucks Workers Sue Company For Defamation Over ‘Kidnapping’ Allegation

Dave Jamieson
Mon, October 17, 2022 

A group of Starbucks workers in South Carolina have sued the company for defamation after a store manager accused them of assault and kidnapping during a workplace protest.

The lawsuit filed in South Carolina state court revolves around an Aug. 1 incident at an Anderson store where workers approached their supervisor and gave her a letter demanding higher wages ― a common tactic in labor organizing known as a “march on the boss.”

The manager later filed a police report alleging that the workers refused to let her leave the store until they got a pay hike, and that one of them assaulted her ― accusations the workers and their union denied. A spokesperson for the local sheriff’s office later told The State that “none of the allegations” from the manager were true.

Starbucks said in a statement Monday that it was reviewing the lawsuit.

“No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners,” the company said.

A TikTok video of a portion of the incident shows workers lined up around a table where the manager is seated on a cellphone. She gets up to leave and bumps a worker who’s in her path along the table. “Why are you pushing him?” a voice asks the manager. (It’s not clear whether the manager ever used the term “kidnapping,” or whether that was just the charge that fit her allegations.)

The eight workers who filed the lawsuit claim Starbucks injured their reputations by “falsely stating or insinuating that they had engaged in criminal assault and kidnapping and engaged in threatened conduct.”

They say they’ve suffered emotional distress as a result of the allegations.

@sbworkersunited

When workers stand up together, workers win. @Starbucks must end their union busting tactics now. #management#unionbusting#uniontok#marchontheboss#southcarolina♬ original sound - SBWorkersUnited

The workers named Starbucks as a co-defendant in the suit, saying the manager consulted with higher-ups on the filing of her report and took part in a “coordinated response.”

“[Her] statement to police was false ― no employee blocked the exit, and no employee assaulted her,” their complaint states.

Starbucks suspended the workers pending an investigation, and barred them from going on other Starbucks properties.

According to the lawsuit, an attorney for Starbucks contacted the workers’ union, Workers United, following the incident and accused one member of “abusive, belligerent, and menacing conduct.”

That worker, Aneil Tripathi, said Monday that “Starbucks knew exactly what they were doing when it smeared our reputation, painting us as criminals.”

“This case is about more than defamation,” Tripathi said. “It’s about highlighting the disgusting and outright abuse Starbucks will level at their own workers.”

The spat in South Carolina is part of a broader fight between the company and the union campaign, Starbucks Workers United. Workers at more than 200 Starbucks stores have unionized in a matter of months.

Starbucks has opposed the campaign all along, and union members have accused the company of retaliating against them through firings, suspensions and store closures.

The general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board has found merit in many of the workers’ claims, filing more than 20 complaints against the company alleging labor law violations. Those cases are now being litigated.

Starbucks sued for accusing unionized workers of assault, kidnapping


The sign of a Starbucks store is seen in New York

Mon, October 17, 2022 
By Daniel Wiessner

(Reuters) -Starbucks Corp was sued on Monday by eight employees at a unionized South Carolina store who said the company falsely accused them of criminal conduct after they demanded a raise from their manager.

The workers filed a lawsuit in South Carolina state court against Starbucks and the manager at the store in Anderson, a few miles from Clemson University. They claimed the manager urged police to charge them with assault and kidnapping after the workers pressed her for a raise in August.

The store's employees had voted 18-0 to unionize in June.

At least 240 other Starbucks in the United States have unionized over the past year, and the company has been accused of illegal labor practices at dozens of locations. Starbucks has denied wrongdoing.

Starbucks in a statement provided by a spokesperson said it was reviewing the lawsuit.

"No Starbucks partner has been or will be disciplined for supporting or engaging in lawful union activity — but interest in a union does not exempt partners from following policies and procedures that apply to all partners," the company said.

According to the complaint, the Anderson workers on Aug. 1 presented the manager with a letter calling for a raise. She then called a Starbucks district manager and falsely claimed the workers were preventing her from leaving the store, the plaintiffs claim.

The manager reported the incident to law enforcement two days later, prompting a weeks-long investigation that included police visiting some of the workers' homes, according to the lawsuit.

The local sheriff's office ultimately concluded the workers had done nothing illegal, the plaintiffs said.

Starbucks released a statement on Aug. 8 saying the manager had felt unsafe and the workers were suspended with pay pending an investigation.

The plaintiffs in Monday's lawsuit said the statement falsely suggested they had threatened the manager and engaged in criminal conduct.

The workers accused Starbucks of defamation and abusing the legal process in violation of state law. They are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.

(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Josie Kao)

Moderna signs deal on variant-adapted COVID shots for world's poorest




Mon, October 17, 2022 

LONDON (Reuters) - Moderna Inc (MRNA.O) has agreed to provide its new variant-adapted COVID-19 vaccine to the global scheme aiming to deliver shots to the world's poorest people.

The biotech company and vaccine alliance GAVI will cancel their existing supply deal for vaccines based on the original coronavirus strain. Instead, Moderna will supply up to 100 million doses of its new, variant-adapted vaccines at its lowest available price from 2023.

GAVI leads the COVAX initiative alongside the World Health Organization and other global bodies. The scheme has delivered 1.79 billion doses of COVID vaccine to 146 countries, including nearly 186 million doses of Moderna's original shot.

While at first the initiative struggled for shots as wealthy countries snapped up limited supply, this year it has had a glut of the original vaccines, prompting negotiations to try to better align supply with demand.

Moderna's bivalent COVID vaccine, containing both the original coronavirus strain and the BA.1 Omicron variant, has had approval from regulators worldwide.

GAVI chief executive Seth Berkley said the new agreement was a "critical step for equitable access" to allow lower income countries to use the modified vaccines as they see fit.

Many wealthier countries have started using the vaccine in booster campaigns.

Negotiations with other vaccine manufacturers to adjust supply agreements are going on, GAVI said.

(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by David Goodman, Robert Birsel)

Assailants apologize to ex-Japanese soldier over harassment


Former Japan Ground Self-Defense Force member Rina Gonoi speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Gonoi, who claims she sexually assaulted while serving in Japan's army, said Monday she accepted an apology in person from four servicemen each over their past wrongdoings they admitted to in a Defense Ministry investigation that began when she came forward two months ago. (Kyodo News via AP) 

MARI YAMAGUCHI
Mon, October 17, 2022 at 9:23 AM·3 min read

TOKYO (AP) — A former Japanese soldier who suffered sexual harassment while serving in the army said Monday she has accepted apologies from four servicemen in a groundbreaking case that prompted a Defense Ministry-wide investigation into growing reports of assaults in the military.

Rina Gonoi told reporters that the four assailants, who were her superiors in the army, met with her separately and apologized for the pain that caused her to give up her military career. She said some admitted that they had sexually harassed other female soldiers as well.

The four men told her they planned to resign from the army to take responsibility, she said. They gave her handwritten letters of apology which she read in a televised news conference. The assailants did not attend and she did not disclose their names or ranks, saying that their families also were victims and she didn’t want them to suffer.

When the men met with her, "I was a bit scared, but I kept up my spirit and stood face-to-face with them, because accepting an apology in person was one of my goals after seeing the truth being denied,” she said.

Gonoi filed a sexual harassment case with the Defense Ministry last year, saying she had suffered multiple assaults by male colleagues. In one incident, several senior male colleagues pressed the lower part of their bodies against her in a dorm at a training ground in August 2021, forcing her to spread her legs, as more than 10 other male colleagues watched and laughed, but none tried to stop them, she said.

She said the investigation into her case was improperly conducted and local prosecutors dropped it in May. A month later, she quit the army and disclosed her allegations on social media.

Gonoi submitted a petition signed by more than 100,000 people to the Defense Ministry in August seeking a reinvestigation of her allegations by a third party.

She also said that she had received information about dozens of other servicemembers who had been harassed while on duty, as well as from parents who were worried about the safety of their daughters in the military.

In a rare admission of sexual harassment in the military, army chief Yoshihide Yoshida apologized to Gonoi in September.

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada also ordered a ministry-wide investigation into sexual assault following her allegations.

The ministry said complaints of various types of harassment have increased nearly 10-fold over the past five years.

It sent investigators to the regional army division overseeing the unit where Gonoi served. They found more victims in other cases, and are expected to issue their final report within weeks.

In a country where gender inequality remains high, sexual harassment is often disregarded and the #MeToo movement has been slow to catch on. But Japanese women have slowly begun to speak up, though many still suffer silently.

Gonoi said she went public because she wanted to help others who cannot raise their voices, and is happy to help the Defense Ministry create an environment in which there is less harassment and victims don't need to quit their careers.

Despite the men’s apologies, “the scars I have suffered will stay with me the rest of my life,” she said. “Now I want to regain my own life, not as a victim, but as someone who can make other people smile and who can do something for others.”

Scholz overrides allies, keeps 3 German nuke plants running


 

 The nuclear power plant (NPP) Isar 2 is pictured in Essenbach, Germany, March 3, 2022. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered ministers Monday Oct. 17, 2022, to prepare to keep all of the country's three remaining nuclear plants running until mid-April, putting his foot down on an issue that had threatened to split his three-party government. 

Armin Weigel/dpa via AP, File


FRANK JORDANS
Mon, October 17, 2022 

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz ordered ministers Monday to prepare to keep all of the country's three remaining nuclear plants running until mid-April, putting his foot down on an issue that had threatened to split his three-party government.

The decision comes as Germany tries to prevent a possible energy crunch due to cuts in fuel supplies from Russia over the war in Ukraine.

Scholz’s office said he announced the decision in a letter to the Cabinet, an unusual move reflecting the deep divisions that had riven his junior coalition partners on the issue in recent weeks.

The environmentalist Greens, led by Economy and Energy Minister Robert Habeck, had argued that only two nuclear plants in southern Germany — Isar 2 and Neckarwestheim 2 — should be able to keep operating beyond the scheduled shutdown on Dec. 31 to ease possible power shortages over the winter.


Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the pro-business Free Democrats had suggested all three — including the Emsland reactor in the northwest — should stay online, even beyond April if necessary. Some Free Democrats had even called for three other nuclear plants that were shut down last year to be powered up again in the face of high energy prices and possible blackouts.

Successive German governments have committed to ending the country's use of nuclear power by the end of the year as part of its transition to safe, renewable energy.

But the war in Ukraine, which has resulted in a sharp cut in natural gas supplies from Russia to Europe, prompted Germany to reactivate old coal and oil-fired power plants. Climate activists such as Sweden's Greta Thunberg, and others, have argued that it's a mistake for Germany to switch off its existing nuclear plants if that means burning more planet-heating coal.

Experts say the nuclear power plants are mainly needed to maintain grid stability at times of high electricity demand — including from neighboring France, whose own nuclear reactors have faced a series of problems this year.

In addition to temporarily extending the lifetime of Germany's nuclear plants, Scholz said his Social Democrat-led government will propose “ambitious" legislation to increase energy efficiency, enshrining in law a plan to end coal use in western Germany by 2030 and building new power plants that can burn hydrogen.

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Follow all AP stories on the impact of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

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Follow all AP stories on climate change issues at https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.

U$A
What does HB 1775 mean for educators' free speech? Lawyers offer perspectives


Robert L. Kerr
Mon, October 17, 2022 


The approach to Free Speech Week (Oct. 17-23) this year has felt like Oklahoma teachers are living through a textbook example of what First Amendment law calls a “chilling effect.”

That has been one of the Supreme Court’s cornerstones of vigilance against overly broad government restrictions on expression for some 70 years — “because First Amendment freedoms need breathing space to survive,” as the court has emphasized, and Chief Justice John Roberts invoked in a major ruling just last year.

Since Oklahoma’s 2021 enactment of House Bill 1775, recent news-media accounts, and one conversation after another among teachers, have dramatized its chilling effect in terms of fear and confusion as to what can be legally addressed in the classroom.

Should educators be so fearful? Based on purported violations of HB 1775 already leading to harsh penalties by the state against two larger school districts and to threatened revocation of a teacher’s state teaching certificate by a candidate for state schools superintendent, the answer would seem to be yes.

So in the spirit of Free Speech Week, I sought the perspectives of three of Oklahoma’s very best First Amendment lawyers on HB 1775.

Most basically, on its face, the new law can be read as doing two things. First, it bans state higher-education institutions from requiring students to take diversity training or imposing “any orientation or requirement that presents any form of race or sex stereotyping or a bias on the basis of race or sex.” Second, it forbids K-12 teachers from requiring or making part of a course any of eight banned “concepts” related to race and sex.

Although the law has not been tested in court, a plain reading of it suggests that it doesn’t, for example, make it illegal for any student to ever feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race or sex” from a lecture or assignment — as some media accounts have suggested and many teachers seem to believe, based on the language of one of the most-discussed concepts.

Rather, the text of the law bans requiring or making it part of a course that students should feel such things. However, trusting that all administrators and politicians will interpret that part of the law in exactly that way — and all other parts reasonably and consistently — understandably makes many educators nervous.

“Colleagues across campus have expressed concern to me about what they can teach now,” said Joe Thai, who teaches First Amendment and constitutional law at the OU College of Law, and has served as lead counsel in successful free speech litigation. “I tell them, I don’t think it prevents the teaching of topics related to race or gender, such as teaching that there has been structural racism, sex discrimination, or other relevant historical facts on the subject.”

“The provision people misread the most [concerning students feeling discomfort, etc., on account of their race or sex] doesn’t turn on the subjective feeling of students. It turns on teaching that people ought to feel those things. So I would argue that a teacher can even pose the question as to whether we should feel discomfort or anguish because of relevant historical realities.”

His confidence derives partly from his strong doubts that “HB 1775’s eight banned concepts in Section B (applicable to ‘a school district, a charter school or a virtual school’) could be reasonably or successfully argued to apply to Section A’s diversity-training prohibitions (applicable to ‘an institution of higher education’).”

“It would run counter to the text and structure of the law to apply the prohibitions in one section to the institutions in the other,” he said.

But college educators may still wonder whether opportunistic politicians might seek to apply the broad language from the ban on higher-education requiring diversity training to classes not primarily devoted to that subject. Given the law’s ban on “any form of mandatory gender or sexual diversity training or counseling,” could a politician seeking headlines — regardless any formal legal actions — demand penalties for, say, university-required history courses whose topics necessarily involve discussions of past race or sex stereotyping, bias, etc.

Thai doubts the courts would uphold reading the law’s ban on higher-education requiring diversity training in that way. Nevertheless, such concerns represent another example of how a law arguably as overly broad and vague as HB 1775 can potentially chill legitimate expression protected by the First Amendment.

Rick Tepker, recently retired as the first Floyd & Irma Calvert Chair of Law and Liberty at OU Law, where he taught First Amendment and constitutional law and argued successfully before the U.S. Supreme Court, similarly is no fan of HB 1775. He observes that “the drafters seem intent on being slippery, with strategies of censorship by intimidation.”

Tepker advised, “Teachers need to develop defensible teaching strategies to resist. There must be more attention to the influence of race and gender in our history and civic life. We must not insist our teachers go backwards ― backwards to days when the Tulsa Race Riot could not be discussed; backwards to a ‘Gone with the Wind’ perspective on the Civil War and its impact on the American heritage; backwards to a storybook view of the nation.”

He questioned how “Oklahoma’s so-called leaders expect teachers to discuss the book and upcoming movie ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.' The murky words of HB 1775 offer little real leadership. So, teachers must prepare for undue political influence. The appearance of ideological indoctrination must be avoided. Illiberal liberalism is hard to defend. Sponsoring debate and discussion is better than inculcation of a new ideologically dictated set of ‘truths.’ ”

Bob Nelon, a nationally known media and First Amendment lawyer in Oklahoma City, sees considerable grounds for arguing teachers’ free-speech rights in relation to HB 1775. In response to my inquiry, he briefed a nine-page analysis in which he concludes the statute is unconstitutional.

Invoking language from the Supreme Court, Nelon emphasized, “If educated professionals do not clearly understand what they are permitted and not permitted to teach — and thus ‘steer far wider of the unlawful zone’ — then the statute is unconstitutionally vague and overbroad, it interferes with the teacher’s academic freedom, and it impedes the ‘wide exposure to that robust exchange of ideas which discovers truth out of a multitude of tongues, rather than through any kind of authoritative selection.’ ”

His basis for that argument included analysis of case law regarding academic freedom and regulation of the speech of government employees, contrasting HB 1775 with the Oklahoma Academic Standards through which the Oklahoma State Department of Education prescribes the curriculum for K-12 public school students, but preserves “teachers’ academic freedom to instruct using words and methodologies they believe appropriate and best suited to convey the history, historical context, and sociopolitical issues students should learn consistent with the OAS.”

“All of this is to say it appears that HB 1775 unduly constrains teachers from addressing, discussing, or providing context for much of the history of our country — a history that contains many events that, in retrospect, make us uncomfortable, but about which we need to know and be able to discuss openly,” Nelon said.

Robert L. Kerr teaches Media Law and Media History at the University of Oklahoma. More information on Free Speech Week: (https://www.freespeechweek.org/)

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Guest column: What does Oklahoma HB 1775 mean for free speech?

Religious polarization in India seeping into US diaspora





Kuhu Singh, left, and Kuljeet Kaur, right, gather at the Minneapolis house of two other members of the “India Coalition” group on Sunday, Oct. 9, 2022. Singh, who calls herself “culturally Hindu,” and Kaur, who’s Sikh, both worry that religious tensions in India are spreading to Indian diaspora communities like theirs in Minnesota. 

(AP Photo/Giovanna Dell’Orto)


DEEPA BHARATH and MARIAM FAM
Sun, October 16, 2022 at 6:31 AM·7 min read

In Edison, New Jersey, a bulldozer, which has become a symbol of oppression of India’s Muslim minority, rolled down the street during a parade marking that country's Independence Day. At an event in Anaheim, California, a shouting match erupted between people celebrating the holiday and those who showed up to protest violence against Muslims in India.

Indian Americans from diverse faith backgrounds have peacefully co-existed stateside for several decades. But these recent events in the U.S. — and violent confrontations between some Hindus and Muslims last month in Leicester, England — have heightened concerns that stark political and religious polarization in India is seeping into diaspora communities.

In India, Hindu nationalism has surged under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party, which rose to power in 2014 and won a landslide election in 2019. The ruling party has faced fierce criticism over rising attacks against Muslims in recent years, from the Muslim community and other religious minorities as well as some Hindus who say Modi's silence emboldens right-wing groups and threatens national unity.

Hindu nationalism has split the Indian expatriate community just as Donald Trump’s presidency polarized the U.S., said Varun Soni, dean of religious life at the University of Southern California. It has about 2,000 students from India, among the highest in the country.


Soni has not seen these tensions surface yet on campus. But he said USC received blowback for being one of more than 50 U.S. universities that co-sponsored an online conference called “Dismantling Global Hindutva.”

The 2021 event aimed to spread awareness of Hindutva, Sanskrit for the essence of being Hindu, a political ideology that claims India as a predominantly Hindu nation plus some minority faiths with roots in the country such as Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism. Critics say that excludes other minority religious groups such as Muslims and Christians. Hindutva is different from Hinduism, an ancient religion practiced by about 1 billion people worldwide that emphasizes the oneness and divine nature of all creation.

Soni said it's important that universities remain places where "we are able to talk about issues that are grounded in facts in a civil manner,” But, as USC's head chaplain, Soni worries how polarization over Hindu nationalism will affect students' spiritual health.

“If someone is being attacked for their identity, ridiculed or scapegoated because they are Hindu or Muslim, I'm most concerned about their well-being — not about who is right or wrong," he said.

Anantanand Rambachan, a retired college religion professor and a practicing Hindu who was born in Trinidad and Tobago to a family of Indian origin, said his opposition to Hindu nationalism and association with groups against the ideology sparked complaints from some at a Minnesota temple where he has taught religion classes. He said opposing Hindu nationalism sometimes results in charges of being “anti-Hindu,” or “anti-India,” labels that he rejects.

On the other hand, many Hindu Americans feel vilified and targeted for their views, said Samir Kalra, managing director of the Hindu American Foundation in Washington, D.C.

"The space to freely express themselves is shrinking for Hindus,” he said, adding that even agreeing with the Indian government's policies unrelated to religion can result in being branded a Hindu nationalist.

Pushpita Prasad, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Hindus of North America, said her group has been counseling young Hindu Americans who have lost friends because they refuse “to take sides on these battles emanating from India.”

“If they don’t take sides or don’t have an opinion, it’s automatically assumed that they are Hindu nationalist," she said. "Their country of origin and their religion is held against them.”

Both organizations opposed the Dismantling Global Hindutva conference criticizing it as “Hinduphobic” and failing to present diverse perspectives. Conference supporters say they reject equating calling out Hindutva with being anti-Hindu.

Some Hindu Americans like 25-year-old Sravya Tadepalli, believe it's their duty to speak up. Tadepalli, a Massachusetts resident who is a board member of Hindus for Human Rights, said her activism against Hindu nationalism is informed by her faith.

“If that is the fundamental principle of Hinduism, that God is in everyone, that everyone is divine, then I think we have a moral obligation as Hindus to speak out for the equality of all human beings,” she said. “If any human is being treated less than or as having their rights infringed upon, then it is our duty to work to correct that.”

Tadepalli said her organization also works to correct misinformation on social media that travels across continents fueling hate and polarization.

Tensions in India hit a high in June after police in the city of Udaipur arrested two Muslim men accused of slitting a Hindu tailor's throat and posting a video of it on social media. The slain man, 48-year-old Kanhaiya Lal, had reportedly shared an online post supporting a governing party official who was suspended for making offensive remarks against the Prophet Muhammad.

Hindu nationalist groups have attacked minority groups, particularly Muslims, over issues related to everything from food or wearing head scarves to interfaith marriage. Muslims' homes have also been demolished using heavy machinery in some states, in what critics call a growing pattern of “bulldozer justice.”

Such reports have Muslim Americans afraid for the safety of family members in India. Shakeel Syed, executive director of the South Asian Network, a social justice organization based in Artesia, California, said he regularly hears from his sisters and senses a “pervasive fear, not knowing what tomorrow is going to be like.”

Syed grew up in the Indian city of Hyderabad in the 1960s and 1970s in “a more pluralistic, inclusive culture.”

“My Hindu friends would come to our Eid celebrations and we would go to their Diwali celebrations,” he said. “When my family went on summer vacation, we would leave our house keys with our Hindu neighbor, and they would do the same when they had to leave town.”

Syed believes violence against Muslims has now been mainstreamed in India. He has heard from girls in his family who are considering taking off their hijabs or headscarves out of fear.

In the U.S., he sees his Hindu friends reluctant to engage publicly in a dialogue because they fear retaliation.

“A conversation is still happening, but it’s happening in pockets behind closed doors with people who are like-minded,” he said. “It’s certainly not happening between people who have opposing views.”

Rajiv Varma, a Houston-based Hindu activist, holds a diametrically opposite view. Tensions between Hindus and Muslims in the West, he said, are not a reflection of events in India but rather stem from a deliberate attempt by “religious and ideological groups that are waging a war against Hindus.”

Varma believes India is “a Hindu country” and the term “Hindu nationalism” merely refers to love for one’s country and religion. He views India as a country ravaged by conquerors and colonists, and Hindus as a religious group that does not seek to convert or colonize.

“We have a right to recover our civilization,” he said.

Rasheed Ahmed, co-founder and executive director of the Washington D.C.-based Indian American Muslim Council, said he is saddened “to see even educated Hindu Americans not taking Hindu nationalism seriously." He believes Hindu Americans must make “a fundamental decision about how India and Hinduism should be seen in the U.S. and the world over.”

“The decision about whether to take Hinduism back from whoever hijacked it, is theirs.”

Zafar Siddiqui, a Minnesota resident, is hoping to "reverse some of this mistrust, polarization” and build understanding through education, personal connections and interfaith assemblies. Siddiqui, a Muslim, has helped bring together a group of Minnesotans of Indian origin — including Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians and atheists — who meet for monthly potlucks.

“When people sit down, say, over lunch or dinner or over coffee, and have a direct dialogue, instead of listening to all these leaders and spreading all this hate, it changes a lot of things,” Siddiqui said.

But during one recent gathering, some argued over a draft proposal to at some point seek dialogue with people who hold different views. Those who disagreed explained that they didn’t support reaching out to Hindu nationalists and feared harassment.

Siddiqui said that for now, future plans include focusing on education and interfaith events spotlighting India's different traditions and religions.

“Just to keep silent is not an option,” Siddiqui said. “We needed a platform to bring people together who believe in peaceful co-existence of all communities.”

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Giovanna Dell'Orto in Minneapolis contributed to this report.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for HINDUISM IS FASCISM 

In Neom, Western executives have found their LIV golf league



Samanth Subramanian
October 10, 2022

It’s a pet project of the Saudi Arabian government, and therefore presumably of Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince. It’s obscenely well-funded, and is flinging purses of wealth to anyone who comes on board. It’s also controversial: a maverick enterprise, intent on doing its own thing, consequences be damned.

We could be talking about the LIV golf league, which is backed by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund. Or we could be talking about Neom, the multi-billion dollar city being built in the desert in northwestern part of the country.

On Tuesday (Oct. 11), the Wall Street Journal reported that Saudi Arabia is pursuing Western c-suite executives with million-dollar salaries to work on Neom and other real-estate projects. Average basic pay alone is $1.1 million, not counting bonuses, and income taxes are non-existent. In response, a number of people have signed on, including executives formerly at GE, Cisco, Amazon, and the German energy company RWE.
Should Western executives be working for Neom?

When well-known golfers agreed to play in the LIV league, which launched its first season earlier this year, they had to contend with criticisms of selling out. Repeatedly, they were asked about human rights in the Saudi kingdom, and whether they were taking part in a giant “sportswashing” exercise. A chasm opened up between LIV and the PGA Tour, which banned golfers participating in the Saudi-backed league.

No similar dynamic is playing out in the corporate world, though. It’s as if golfers are expected to forgo big paychecks in the pursuit of some nobler ideal, while executives are expected to be in it for the money and nothing else. But given what we know of Neom and MBS, perhaps executives should be asked some difficult questions as well.

In early October, a Saudi court sentenced three men to death because they resisted the displacement of their tribe from the area where Neom is meant to emerge. The government is, in fact, relying heavily on evictions to clear the region, according to Al Qst, a human rights organization working on Saudi Arabia. Additionally, while Neom itself is touted to be a green city, its construction will be funded by Saudi oil revenues.

Executives shouldn’t be let off easy. If Phil Mickelson, who hits a ball towards a hole, had to respond to a letter from the families of 9/11 victims, CXOs can certainly be asked why they’re actively participating in greenwashing the kingdom.