Biden’s next climate hurdle: Enticing Americans to buy green






Homeowner Emily Kelly-Fischer, center, poses for a photo with David Richardson, left, and Rob Bayless of Elephant Energy outside her rowhouse where a heat pump is being installed Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in northwest Denver. 

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

CHRIS MEGERIAN, HANNAH FINGERHUT and MATTHEW DALY
Sun, January 22, 2023 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden persuaded Democrats in Congress to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change. Now comes another formidable task: enticing Americans to buy millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and more efficient appliances.

It’s a public relations challenge that could determine whether the country meets Biden’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Relying on tax credits and rebates made the climate legislation — it was approved in August with only Democratic votes — more politically palatable than regulations that force wholesale changes in polluting industries.

But it also means the administration’s battle against global warming will be waged “one household at a time,” said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, who works on energy issues at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely aligned with the White House.

“It is very incremental," she said. "So it requires a very sophisticated communications strategy.”

Biden acknowledged the hurdle during a recent Cabinet meeting as he talked about the incentives that are becoming available this year.

"Folks need to know how to take advantage of these benefits that we passed. That’s on all of us around the table here to make sure we get that message out clearly,” he said.

The White House says it is piecing together a plan to partner with state governments, contractors, retailers and social media influencers to get the word out. “Lowering utility bills is going to be a key driver,” said Josh Peck, a senior policy adviser on clean energy issues.

It's also collaborating with Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on ways to electrify homes and businesses, and companies like Airbnb, Redfin and Lyft. As part of the effort, Rewiring America created an online calculator that shows what credits or rebates homeowners might be eligible for, depending on their ZIP code and income.

Buying a heat pump or installing solar panels is “a major expense line and a major opportunity for savings,″ said Ari Matusiak, the group’s founder and CEO. “So it’s really important to make sure people are aware of the resources they have available and the benefits they can unlock in terms of bringing energy bill savings.″

But the White House faces an uphill battle.

Polling shows that while Americans support action to slow climate change, they are broadly unaware of the Inflation Reduction Act, the massive legislation that includes financial incentives to lower emissions, and skeptical of their own role in the climate crisis.

An AP-NORC poll released in September, one month after the law was signed, found that 61% of U.S. adults said they knew little to nothing about the legislation. And despite the multibillion-dollar investment in climate solutions, only a third said it would help climate change; about half said it wouldn’t make a difference.

The White House says it's not rattled by the results. The goal is to make sure consumers know the financial benefits of energy efficient products at the moment that they’re making key decisions on which products to buy, Peck said.

“One of the challenges here is trying to meet consumers where they are when they make decisions about these purchases," he said.

Majorities of U.S. adults said they are unlikely to install solar panels or buy an electric vehicle in the next three years, according to the AP-NORC poll. Among those, at least half said financial incentives would not make a difference in their decision.

Homeowners typically are reluctant to swap out furnaces or water heaters until they absolutely have to shell out the money for them.

"One day the heat won’t turn on and it’s negative 10 (degrees) outside and you say, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to get a furnace,’” said DR Richardson, co-founder of Elephant Energy, a Colorado company that helps homeowners install electric heat pumps and other appliances. “So the biggest challenge from our perspective, and from a climate perspective, is to get people to think ahead of time about how to replace these assets.”

Most homeowners don’t understand what equipment qualifies for a rebate or a tax credit — and even contractors are not always aware, Richardson said. While some heat pumps qualify for a full rebate, others do not or are only eligible for partial rebates.

“So it’s just a nightmare if you’re not used to working in building spreadsheets to analyze and understand all this stuff," he said.

Not all of the incentives are ready either. While people can get a tax break on the cost of an electric car, solar panels or heat pump, rebates for low- and middle-income Americans seeking to make their homes more energy efficient are not yet available. The Energy Department is still developing the system to distribute that money.

Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration, said she learned in her tenure that it’s critical for government to invest in the delivery of policies.

“Too often we as advocates and policymakers applaud when policy gets enacted and then stop paying attention,” she said. Instead, they need to design ways to target people directly to help them "understand the steps that they can take and the ways that the government is going to make it easy.”

The Energy Department has begun releasing information to states about their allotment of $9 billion to support household energy upgrades, including weatherizing homes and installing heat pumps.

And Biden, a self-described “car guy,” has been doing his part to promote electric vehicles, making appearances at the Detroit car show in September and on the TV series "Jay Leno’s Garage.''

Donnel Baird, founder and CEO of BlocPower, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company that partners with utilities, government agencies and building owners to improve energy efficiency, has worked with Lowe’s and other retailers to promote green appliances.

The idea, Baird said, is that “the checkout person says, ‘You know, you can get a tax credit if you don’t get that gas lawn mower and get a green one instead.'″ While such engagement may not have immediate results, Baird said he’s confident the tax credits and other benefits of the climate law will become better known.

“It took years for the ACA to get going,″ he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “I think the same thing could happen with this law.″

Dan Pfeiffer, a former top communications adviser to President Barack Obama, sees another lesson in the Affordable Care Act.

“The ACA got more popular the more that Republicans tried to repeal it," he said, suggesting that Biden take advantage of any Republican efforts to roll back to the Inflation Reduction Act to draw more attention to the law's benefits.

“I have no doubt the White House has thought of all of this," Pfeifer said. But the problem is that none of it is easy.”

He added: “The bulk of the work starts now."

ANTI-ABORTION LAWS ARE MISOGYNISTIC

New Mexico AG seeks to codify abortion rights, nullify bans

 New Mexico's top prosecutor on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in recent months in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state. Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged the high court to intervene against ordinances that he said overstep local government authority to regulate health care access, and violate the New Mexico Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process.

 (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MORGAN LEE
Mon, January 23, 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top prosecutor on Monday asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged the court to intervene against recent ordinances he said overstep local government authority to regulate health care access, and violate state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

At a news conference, Torrez said the ordinances are significant even in regions with no abortion clinics because they threaten to restrict access to reproductive health care in people's homes. More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery.

“This is not Texas. Our State Constitution does not allow cities, counties or private citizens to restrict women’s reproductive rights,” Torrez said in a statement. “Today’s action sends a strong message that my office will use every available tool to swiftly and decisively uphold individual liberties against unconstitutional overreach.”

It’s unclear how soon the New Mexico Supreme Court might take up the issue. Torrez said he hopes his petition will inspire a quick response within weeks or months.

The filing targets Roosevelt and Lea counties, and the cities of Hobbs and Clovis — in eastern New Mexico near Texas, a state where most abortion procedures are banned.

Clovis and Lea County officials declined to comment Monday, citing pending litigation.

Hobbs officials said they have been transparent with their legal analysis through numerous public meetings and have fulfilled public records requests. They deny claims the ordinance bans abortions in Hobbs.

“The ordinance anticipates an abortion clinic will establish a location in Hobbs and sets minimum requisites for obtaining a business license to operate,” the city's statement said.

In Roosevelt County, officials called the issue controversial and complex, saying they will respond through the process before the state Supreme Court.

Sentiments around abortion run deep in Roosevelt County, where commissioners adopted a resolution “in support of life” more than two years ago.

It states that “innocent human, including fetal life, must always be protected and that society must protect those who cannot protect themselves,” adding its residents would be encouraged to help those who are pregnant find health care.

Prosecutors say abortion ordinances approved in November by an all-male city council in Hobbs and in early January by Roosevelt County define “abortion clinic” in broad terms, encompassing any building beyond a hospital where an abortion is performed — or where an abortion-inducing drug is distributed or ingested.

Torrez warned Roosevelt County's abortion ordinance gives private citizens the power to sue anyone suspected of violating the ordinance and pursue damages of up to $100,000 per violation.

“The threat of ruinous liability under the law operates to chill New Mexicans from exercising their right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy and health care providers from providing lawful medical services,” the attorney general wrote to the state Supreme Court.

In 2021, the Democrat-led Legislature passed a measure to repeal a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures, ensuring access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she seeks legislation that would codify the right to an abortion statewide.

Lawmakers have already proposed measures to prohibit local government restrictions on abortion access — and call for more protections for doctors and patients.

In June, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order barring state cooperation with other states — including on any future arrest warrants — that might interfere with abortion access. The order also prohibits most New Mexico state employees from assisting other states in investigating or seeking sanctions against local abortion providers.

She also issued another executive order in August pledging $10 million to build a clinic for abortion and other pregnancy care in southern New Mexico.

The Clovis ordinance, approved in early January, is facing a petition challenge, but Mayor Mike Morris has said he thinks voters there would overwhelmingly favor keeping the ordinance if it were on the ballot.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said Monday that commissioners in his community heard hours of testimony and learned constituents were overwhelmingly in support of the ordinance.

“The City of Hobbs unequivocally supports women and women’s rights,” Cobbs said. "The future of our city, our county, and our state depends on the ability of us all to work together to find common ground — even on issues that stir emotion.”

In his filing, Torrez argues that the New Mexico Constitution provides broader protection of individual rights than the U.S. Constitution — and that the local ordinances violate New Mexicans' inherent rights, liberty and privacy.

He also argued that the action by the city and county commissioners amount to overreach by attempting to legislate on a matter of statewide importance.

The attorney general asked the court to suspend the local abortion ordinances while deliberations continue.

3M to cut 2,500 jobs as demand weakens, profit drops

Tue, January 24, 2023 

(Reuters) -3M Co said on Tuesday it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs after reporting a lower profit, as the U.S. industrial conglomerate faces a demand slowdown in its unit that sells products including notebooks, air purifiers and respirators.

The move comes as corporate America has seen a string of layoffs with companies trying to rein in costs amid fears of a potential economic downturn.

The diversified manufacturer said demand for its consumer-facing unit fell faster in December as weaker customer spending spilled into the holiday season, sending its shares down 4.7% to $116.79 in premarket trading.

3M expects adjusted sales growth to drop 6% to 2% this year due to declining disposable respirator sales and its exit from Russia.

"We expect macroeconomic challenges to persist in 2023," Chief Executive Mike Roman said.

A softer-than-expected consumer spending and a cut back from U.S. retailers amid inflationary pressures has eaten into the sales of 3M's consumer unit which generated about $5.30 billion in revenue in 2022.

"As demand weakened, we adjusted manufacturing output and controlled costs, which enabled us to improve inventory levels," Roman added.

The company was able to offset higher raw material and logistics costs by raising prices which helped it beat profit in the previous quarter.

Sales in the quarter fell 6% to $8.1 billion. Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $2.28 per share compared to $2.45 per share a year earlier.

Why Lula Accused Bolsonaro of 'Genocide' Against Brazil's Yanomami People

Mon, January 23, 2023 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva looks on as he visits the Yanomami Indigenous Health House, CASA Yanomami, in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil on Jan 21. Credit - Ricardo Stuckert—Handout/Reuters

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of committing “genocide” against the Indigenous Yanomami people of the Amazon.

Lula blamed the former President for enabling thousands of gold miners in a nationally-protected territory where mining is banned. As illegal mining flourished during Bolsonaro’s tenure, a humanitarian crisis emerged in the territory they call home that is roughly the size of Maine. The miners have been accused of poisoning rivers with mercury and wrecking forests; the Yanomami depend on both for food sources. Activists have also accused miners of death threats and sexual violence.

“More than a humanitarian crisis, what I saw in Roraima was a genocide. A premeditated crime against the Yanomami, committed by a government impervious to the suffering of the Brazilian people,” Lula tweeted on Sunday, a day after visiting a clinic for Yanomami patients in Boa Vista. He accused the previous government of disregard and neglect for encouraging the “invasion of 20,000 illegal miners.”

Close to 30,000 Yanonami people live in Brazil’s Indigenous territory that spans Brazil and Venezuela. They maintain a way of life based on fishing, hunting, and fruit gathering.

Lula also told reporters during his visit that he will eliminate illegal mining in Brazil but did not offer further details on policies or programs to achieve the goal.

A Yanomami man, right, stands near an illegal gold mine on Indigenous land in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in Roraima state, Brazil, in April 2016. Illegal miners continue to plague the area, sawing down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury in their lust for gold.

Bruno Kelly—Reuters

Brazil’s Minister of Justice and Public Security Flávio Dino said last week that federal police would investigate the possibility of genocide and other crimes against the Yanomami people.

The accusation of genocide is controversial but critics of Bolsonaro say abuses against the Yanomami reflect his broader policies towards the environment and Indigenous people.

Susanna Hecht, director of the center for Brazilian studies at UCLA, notes it’s important to take into account Bolsonaro’s harmful rhetoric towards Indigenous people, including a statement from 1998 in which he said, “it’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.”

“You can have a genocidal policy that has the effect of destroying a population without necessarily… sticking them…into a gas chamber,” Hecht says.

Bolsonaro has argued that the Indigenous population is standing in the way of Brazilian development and that they are “not really” Brazilian, she adds. “So that creation of otherness basically creates the discursive framework that permits absolute brutality vis-a-vis these populations.”

Experts note that Bolsonaro starved state institutions meant to protect Indigenous people and the environment.

“That protection of Indigenous people and the environment was really just decimated under Bolsonaro,” says Amy Erica Smith, an associate professor of political science and expert on Brazilian politics at Iowa State University. “At the same time that he reduced authority and resources to these agencies to protect Indigenous people and the environment, he was also perceived as having… come down firmly on the side of illegal miners.”

“There was no regulatory state capacity or interest in controlling any of the illegal activity. Under the Bolsonaro regime, it was a free-for-all,” adds Hecht says.

Bolsonaro has denied responsibility and dismissed the accusation of genocide as a “left-wing farce,” according to The Guardian.

Read more: Lula’s Victory in the Brazil Elections Is a Win for the Planet

Public health advocates have been vocal in recent years about threats faced by the Yanomami community as a result of mining. A report “Yanomami Under Attack” by the São Paolo-based nonprofit Socio-Environmental Institute found that in the last four years of Bolsonaro’s government, the death of children who were aged five or younger jumped 29% compared to the previous government. The report also found that the region was responsible for half of Brazil’s malaria cases and that more than 3,000 children were malnourished. Images showing malnourished children recently surfaced in local news reports.

“The mining activity changes the soil, creating puddles which are favorable for the malaria mosquito, and other diseases as well. Many miners also bring diseases with them. It’s a sanitary and humanitarian crisis,” Estêvão Benfica, geographer and one of the Socio-Environmental Institute researchers, told the Associated Press.

The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, said the government’s priority is getting a handle on malaria, malnutrition, and other issues that the Yanomami people face. “Every 72 hours a child is dying from one of these illnesses, according to the information we’ve received,” she said.

Guajajar has called for the miners to be expelled within the next three months.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/brazil-declares-public-health-emergency.html

U.S. Treasury's Yellen says IRS needs to be 'completely redone'


Sun, January 22, 2023
By Andrea Shalal

LUSAKA, Zambia (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said rebuilding the Internal Revenue Service would be one of her top priorities in coming years, putting her squarely at odds with Republicans who have taken control of the House of Representatives.

Yellen told Reuters in an interview on her way to Zambia that she was thrilled that Congress had approved $80 billion in new funding to help the agency reduce a huge backlog of tax returns and better hunt down $600 billion in unpaid tax bills.

She said she decided to stay on as Treasury secretary in large part to oversee implementation of legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the IRS funding and passed on party lines last year.

Yellen lobbied hard for the extra funding to help the IRS deal with what she called massive problems, including a "huge backlog" in working through tax returns, and lack of personnel to carry out complicated audits of higher-earning taxpayers.

"I’m excited about legislation that’s passed and I want to make sure that it makes the difference it should make, and that includes the IRS," she said. "That agency needs to be completely redone, and it’s a big task."

Republicans sought unsuccessfully to slash tens of billions in IRS funding from the law.

The law also includes about $270 billion in tax credits for electric vehicles, home solar panels and other climate purchases that will be overseen by Treasury, which has made Yellen a pivotal climate figure in President Joe Biden's administration.

"I want to see that work progress. Maybe it’s not the sexiest kind of stuff in the world, but I think if you want to make a difference in the world, you have to have the follow-through," she said.

Yellen, 76, conceded that the split Congress reduced the chances of passing legislation to advance Biden's agenda, but said she still enjoyed the job.

Her decision to stay ended months of speculation that she would step aside mid-way through Biden's four-year term.

"This is probably the last job I’ll have," Yellen said. I’d much rather be doing this than sitting at home knitting sweaters, or whatever it is one does when one’s retired."

And yes, she learned to knit in college, and even knit a "lovely tennis sweater" for her husband, Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof.

One thing she is not looking forward to? Asked about the debate with Congress over raising the debt ceiling, Yellen simply puts her hand to her forehead and sighs.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese)

Here’s what you need to know about the GOP bill to abolish the tax code



Tobias Burns
Tue, January 24, 2023 

House conservatives are breathing new life into an old proposal to do away with income taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes and even the IRS itself in favor of a supersized sales tax that would account for nearly all government revenues.

Versions of the far-reaching plan have been around for decades, and with Democrats controlling both the White House and Senate, the proposal has little chance of making it into law. But frustration over the $80 billion funding boost for the IRS passed by Democrats last year has Republicans wanting to make bold statements about changing the tax code — including scrapping it altogether.

The Fair Tax Act introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and supported by 30 other Republicans would institute a massive 30 percent sales tax on all purchases in exchange for doing away with income, Social Security and Medicare taxes.

That means workers would get to keep the entirety of their paychecks without having to pay out anything to the government. But it also means that buying everything from groceries to automobiles would be hugely more expensive.

Critics of the proposal say it’s impractical and unfairly benefits the rich, while its proponents say it would provide a much-needed simplification of the U.S. tax code, the pages of which numbers in the tens of thousands.

Here are four major things to know about the GOP proposal:

The plan would increase the tax burden on the middle class

Having a sales tax as the only source of public revenue would put a higher tax burden on people making less money. That’s because those with lower incomes tend to spend more of what they make while richer people tend to save more of their incomes, investing in retirement accounts, securities and other types of assets.

“Let’s say you’re a family of four. You need at least $50,000 a year to live before you can save a dime. Under this proposal, every dollar of that income is going to be taxed. On the other hand, if you’re making $1 million a year and you’re saving a portion of that, not all of that income is going to end up being taxed as a sales tax,” Frank Clemente, director of tax advocacy organization Americans for Tax Fairness, said in an interview.

The advantage to higher earners is so pronounced that the legislation includes a “prebate,” a cash transfer program in which taxpayers get regular checks equal to the amount that people at the poverty level would owe in taxes.

The result is a smaller tax burden for the highest and lowest earners and a bigger one for people in the middle.

A 2006 study by the House Small Business Committee on a similar proposal found that the tax burden for people making more than $200,000 and less than $15,000 a year would go down, while the burden for people making something in between would go up.

Moreover, the largest drop in overall tax liability would happen for the top 20 percent of earners, whose share of the federal tax burden would fall from 84.2 percent down to 65.1 percent. People in the middle of the earning spectrum would see their share rise from 3.8 percent to 10.5 percent.

“Basically, a big challenge with the Fair Tax is … you end up with higher taxes paid by incomes on the low and middle parts of the income scale under consumption taxes than higher earners,” policy analyst Garrett Watson of the Tax Foundation said in an interview.

The IRS would cease to exist in its current form

Supporters of the bill are cheering on the fact that it would drastically curtail the role of the IRS in collecting taxes. Instead, it would be the responsibility of state governments to collect the sales tax and then remit it to the Treasury.

Republicans have long railed against the IRS, attacks that have ramped up in the wake of the $80 billion funding boost for the agency passed by Democrats as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will upgrade the agency’s budget from roughly $12 billion a year to $20 billion. Most of the new money is going to additional enforcement measures, such as audits.

“This administration tried to hire 87,000 new IRS agents,” Carter, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in an interview with The Hill. “I think that brought attention to the fact that Democrats want control. They want to have control over you and your paycheck, and this takes that control away from them.”

The Georgia Republican said he’s been hearing that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) intends to bring the Fair Tax Act to the House floor for a vote as part of the deal with more conservative Republicans that eventually allowed McCarthy to win the Speakership after numerous rounds of voting.

“I’ve been hearing that this was part of the negotiations, that it would be brought to the floor for a vote,” he said, qualifying that McCarthy “made no promises to me, and I don’t know that he made promises to anyone.”

While the IRS would be sidelined, if not altogether scrapped, under Carter’s proposal, the bill would still require tax enforcement and compliance, as well as the costs that come along with it.

“If we optimistically assume that the Fair Tax brings in roughly the same amount of revenue (as a share of the economy) as the current tax code, annual collection fees per year for states would approach $10 billion. By comparison, the IRS spent about $13 billion per year over the last decade,” John Buhl, an analyst with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, wrote in an analysis of the measure.

Some conservatives are worried about the message the bill sends

The Fair Tax Act is just one of many bills now being considered in the Republican-led House that have little chance of getting President Biden’s signature but are designed to send a message to voters about Republican priorities.

Despite sharing in the frustration about Democrats’ IRS funding, some Republican strategists are worried that the Fair Tax proposal is sending a message that runs counter to traditional conservative stances on taxation.

Specifically, they’re worried that the change resembles a European-style value-added tax and that the bill’s prebate cash transfer program could lay the groundwork for a universal basic income.

“This creates a universal basic income, and luckily the left has not figured this out yet,” low-tax advocate Grover Norquist said in an interview. “Everybody gets a check, and so you’ve got the basis for the modern definition of European socialism, which is that everybody gets a basic income and work is an option.”

They also worry that the sticker shock of a 30 percent sales tax encountered by voters on a daily basis will overshadow the discussion of canceling an annually levied income tax.

“The ads you can run are that so-and-so wants to add a 30 percent sales tax on top of [prices], which will be devastating to middle-income people. That’s a pretty rough ad,” Norquist said.

He also criticized the bill on the grounds that it would sap the life savings of retirees, who would have had their incomes taxed as they accumulated savings only to find in retirement that their spending was now being heavily taxed.

“There is no perfect system, and I understand that,” Carter said in response. “But at the same time, this is as close to perfect as we’re going to get because this gives people the opportunity to control their own paychecks.”

The bill would represent an enormous change to the tax system

Doing away with income and payroll taxes in favor of a large and pervasive sales tax would be a fundamental shift in the way the American tax system works and would likely have unforeseen economic consequences.

Some of those may be positive. Getting rid of income taxes would likely make it harder for rich tax cheats to stow their money in places where the IRS can’t find it. Instead, that dark money would be automatically taxed every time it was used to make a purchase.

Other knock-on effects might be more problematic, such as the effect of a large sales tax on consumption and spending patterns that have already been altered by the pandemic and the ensuing period of increased inflation.

“Having that high of a rate would actually change behaviors in ways that proponents aren’t really thinking about. It’s going to change behavior in ways that you wouldn’t see if you spread out the burden differently,” Buhl, of the Tax Policy Center, said.

“The proponents of the bill are saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to abolish the IRS.’ But I look at it more as they’re actually just outsourcing tax enforcement and compliance to the state level, and so it’s not going to go away,” he said.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.

Norway detains former top Wagner Group member seeking asylum

Mon, January 23, 2023

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — A former high-ranking member of the Russian private military contractor Wagner Group seeking asylum in Norway is in custody on suspicion of entering the Scandinavian country illegally, authorities said Monday.

Russian Andrey Medvedev “has been arrested under the Immigration Act and it is being assessed whether he should be produced for detention,” Jon Andreas Johansen of Norwegian immigration police told The Associated Press. Norway's VG newspaper said detaining him isn't intended as a a punishment, but a security measure.

Medvedev, who says he fears for his life if he returns to Russia, is believed to have illegally entered Norway after crossing the country’s 198 kilometer-long (123-mile) border with Russia earlier this month.

Vladimir Osechkin of the Russian dissident group Gulagu.net, which helped Medvedev flee Russia, said he had been in protective custody in a safe house and was moved without explanation to a secured immigration facility.

Medvedev's Norwegian lawyer, Brynjulf Risnes, insisted on broadcaster NRK that his client is not suspected of any offense and that he's unaccustomed to Norway's new, stricter security measures for him.

“Significant security measures have been introduced. Medvedev has problems adapting to them,” Risnes told NRK.

In a video posted by Gulagu, Medvedev said he came under Russian gunfire before crossing into the Scandinavian country. Norwegian police said they were notified by Russian border guards about tracks in the snow indicating that someone may have crossed illegally.

Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, which takes part in the investigation of war crimes in Ukraine said it's questioning Medvedev who "has the status of a witness.” Osechkin said the former fighter spoke to investigators on Friday.

Medvedev, who has been on the run since he defected from the Wagner Group, has reportedly told Gulagu.net that he is ready to tell everything he knows about the shady paramilitary group and its owner Yevgeny Prigozhin, a millionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev said he left the Wagner Group after his contract was extended beyond the July-November timeline without his consent. He said he's willing to testify about any war crimes he witnessed and denied participating in any.

The Wagner Group, which has spearheaded attacks against Ukrainian forces, includes a large number of convicts recruited from Russian prisons. The group has has become increasingly influential in Africa.

Russian Wagner boss acknowledges comparison with Rasputin


Wagner private military group centre opens in St Petersburg

Sun, January 22, 2023

(Reuters) - Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin responded to comparisons between himself and the monk Rasputin who treated the son of the last tsar for haemophilia, saying on Sunday his job was not to staunch bleeding but to spill the blood of Russia's enemies.

The Financial Times newspaper said at the weekend that Prigozhin had growing influence on the Kremlin and likened him to Orthodox monk Grigory Rasputin, who had considerable influence on the wife of Russia's last tsar, Nikolai II.

Prigozhin acknowledged only last September that he had founded the Wagner group, which has played a major role in the Russian military's attempts to capture territory in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

"I am not very familiar with the history of Rasputin, but as far as I know, an important quality of Rasputin is that he staunched the blood flow of the young prince with incantations," Prigozhin's press service quoted him as saying, referring to the article.

"Unfortunately, I do not staunch blood flow. I bleed the enemies of our motherland. And not by incantations, but by direct contact with them."

Wagner has been deployed in a number of African countries, generally to combat insurgents. In recent months, Prigozhin has been seen in online videos trying to lure inmates from Russian prisons to join its ranks in Ukraine.

The Financial Times was not the first to compare his role to that of the monk in the Russian imperial court - a Russian journalist made the comparison last year.

The newspaper said that Prigozhin, like Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, another active supporter of Russia's war, "has positioned himself as a searing critic of military, bureaucratic and business elites who are supposedly failing Putin with their half-hearted, incompetent approach to the war".

Prigozhin said the comparisons were "absolutely clear" and he saw his role as bringing wayward Westerners back into line.

"When children engage in mischief, they try to draw the attention of their father with all sorts of unexpected tricks," he wrote. "All Americans have to do therefore is to come to dad, ask for forgiveness and continue to behave normally."

Rasputin was assassinated in 1916 by a group of Russian noblemen who feared his growing influence on the tsarist family.

(Reporting by Maria Starkova and Ron Popeski; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Offshore Oil And Gas Is Back, Baby



Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 23, 2023

At last week’s World Economic Forum gathering in Davos, several speakers had harsh words for the oil and gas industry, including UN head Antonio Guterres and the IEA’s chief Fatih Birol. Their message was clear: we need to stop producing oil and gas to solve the climate problem.

While this was happening, however, the world continued to need energy, and oil and gas continued to be the optimal form of energy for most of the things we need energy for. So, with demand forecast—including by the IEA—to surge this year above the growth rate of supply, new drilling is flourishing. Especially offshore.

In December last year, Oilprice reported that the stocks of offshore drilling contractors such as Transocean, Valaris, and Noble Corp were skyrocketing amid robust demand for their services, with day rates for drilling rigs surging as well.

Now, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that rates could top $500,000 per day, up from about $400,000 at the moment, with offshore drilling picking up everywhere as demand shows no signs it is about to start declining, no matter what apocalyptic visions climate speakers try to paint.

“Over the past year and a half, everyone started drilling again offshore, and they want to use the most efficient rigs and all of a sudden, bam!” Noble Corp chief executive Robert Eifler told the Wall Street Journal. “After eight years we basically have full utilization of the high-end drillship fleet.”

A roundup of the biggest deals signed in the offshore drilling industry last year reinforces the perception of a strong revival. The biggest deal was QatarEnergy’s contract with McDermott for expanding the production capacity at the North Field, which McDermott said is one of the largest single deals in its history.

Qatar was also involved in the second-largest offshore deal for 2022, with Italy’s Saipem, again for the North Field, which is understandable as the Qatari government plans to boost the country’s LNG production capacity from 77 million tons annually to 110 million tons. That means there will be a lot of work for offshore drilling contractors.

Adnoc is also boosting its production capacity with the help of Schlumberger and Halliburton, which got two contracts with the Emirati major last year worth some $4 billion. The same is true for Aramco, which has announced plans to increase its oil production capacity by 1 million barrels daily to a total of 13 million. According to Evercore, most of Saudi Arabia’s—and the UAE’s—new capacity will come from offshore developments.

Norway is also eyeing strong expansion of its oil and gas drilling, all of which takes place offshore, despite previous government pledges for a gradual reduction in oil and gas production and a shift towards renewable energy. Earlier this month, Norway’s petroleum ministry awarded 47 new exploration licenses to 25 companies.

Offshore drilling is booming in Brazil, Guyana, and Suriname as well, per the Wall Street Journal. Brazil’s Petrobras said it will boost spending between 2023 and 2027, with most of the money going into exploration and production. Guyana is enjoying the results of a string of offshore discoveries that have boosted the tiny nation’s oil exports by 164 percent in 2022, with revenues hitting $1.1 billion. Suriname is seemingly on Guyana’s path to oil riches, although it is meeting some challenges.

Analyst expectations about the offshore drilling market appear to be upbeat. Oil prices are higher than they were in 2019, oil demand is strong, and offshore drilling contractors are turning a nice profit. Deepwater drilling is particularly attractive since that’s where most of the world’s untapped oil resources are.

According to data from Westwood Global Energy Group, some 90 percent of the world’s offshore rigs were contracted to work or were already working as of last December. That’s up from about 60 percent five years earlier, the WSJ noted in its report.

This surge in demand for offshore drilling, especially in deep waters, has also revived demand for drillships that were put offline during the pandemic and the industry downturn it caused. Drillships cost about $100 million to put back online, and owners are demanding most of the money upfront.

And their clients are paying it: the WSJ notes a deal between Valaris and Equinor for a drillship that was sent to drill in the deep waters offshore Brazil. Of the total value of the deal—$327 million—$86 million was paid upfront, including for the reactivation of the vessel.

So, despite increasingly loud calls for what effectively amounts to shutting down the oil and gas industry, the real world is demanding more oil and gas, and the industry is delivering. From the shores of Brazil to the North Sea and the Persian Gulf, drilling contractors are putting up rigs to pump more oil and gas from underneath the seabed. Analysts are calling it a supercycle.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

Oil and gas companies moving into Permian Basin in $100M string of deals, as region expands

Adrian Hedden, Carlsbad Current-Argus
Tue, January 24, 2023

An oil and gas producer based on the Texas side of the Permian Basin looked to capitalize on growth in the New Mexico portion of the region, looking to buy lands in the southeast corner of the state.

Permian Resources Corporation announced an agreement that will see it purchase about 4,000 leasehold acres and 3,300 royalty acres, mostly in Lea County for $98 million.

The lands were estimated to produce about 1,100 barrels of oil equivalent per day, at 73 percent oil, according to a company announcement.

The price reflected about $8,000 per leasehold acre and $7,000 per royalty acre, the release read, including operated and non-operated assets the company said it could include in future trading.

James Walter, co-chief executive officer at Permian Resources said the move was part of a broader effort by the company to manage its portfolio and shift its footprint to areas of the basin expected to bring higher production and revenue returns.

He said the deal included 45 operated locations and was expected to generate about $100 million in net cash proceeds.

More:Pro-oil candidates lost out in New Mexico's 2022 election, as environment took center stage

The company also planned to divest in oil and gas properties on the Texas side of the basin in Reeves County, Texas, along the New Mexico border.

About 3,500 net leasehold acres were planned for sale for $60 million with about 1,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day at 44 percent oil, representing “the substantial majority,” the announcement read, of the company’s Texas assets.

Permian Resources also said it sold about 300 acres of non-operated leaseholds in Eddy County, at about $35,000 per acre and expected that deal to total about $10 million in proceeds.

More:Oil company goes to court with Intrepid Potash over freshwater sales in Permian Basin

“At Permian Resources, we believe our focus on portfolio management will continue to drive value for our shareholders,” Walter said in a statement.

International companies also showed interest recently in the Permian Basin, as Swiss international energy company Vitol’s U.S. upstream company VPX Energy Partners announced it plan to acquire Delaware Basin Resources (DBR), and its associated extraction and water infrastructure.

The sale included 35,000 net leasehold acres, and 46,000 surface acres in Reeves and Pecos counties in Texas within the Permian’s western Delaware sub-basin, with the company reporting production of about 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

More: Eddy County oil and gas collections near $10 million despite drop in oil prices

VPX CEO Gene Shepherd said the acquisition will allow the company to target the southern region of one of the most productive oil plays in the U.S.

“The opportunity to go back to work in the southern Delaware Basin, combined with the opportunity to do so with the DBR asset base and team is very exciting,” Sheperd said. “With Vitol’s unique market insights, expertise and funding capabilities, we expect this transaction will serve as the foundation for growing a highly profitable US lower 48 focused upstream business over the next decade.”

Ben Marshall, Vitol head of Americas said the deal would help position the company to take advantage of the U.S. and Permian Basin’s growing role in supply fossil fuels to the rest of the world.

More:Federal oil and gas reforms debated by New Mexico environmental, industry groups

“We are pleased to announce the addition of DBR and its related businesses to our US upstream portfolio,” he said. “As we have said before, we are eager to continue growing our position in the US Lower 48 as we anticipate US oil to remain an important source of supply to global energy balances.”

The region’s oil production was expected to see more growth in the next month, as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecast the Permian would produce about 5.65 barrels of oil a day (bpd)in February, growing by 30,000 bpd from January.

The basin was also expected to increase natural gas production next month, rising by 466 million cubic feet per day in February to a total of 21.7 billion cubic feet per day, making the region the second-largest gas-producing basin in the U.S., according to the EIA report.

Adrian Hedden can be reached at achedden@currentargus.com or @AdrianHedden on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: Oil and gas companies moving into Permian Basin in $100M string of deals

HINDUTVA CENSORSHIP & REPRESSION 

Indian university warns students not to screen BBC documentary on Modi

PM Modi waves to his supporters as he arrives to cast his vote, in Ahmedabad

Tue, January 24, 2023

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A top Indian university has threatened strict disciplinary action if its students' union carries out plans on Tuesday to screen a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the move might disturb peace and harmony on campus.

Modi's government has dismissed the documentary, which questioned his leadership during deadly riots in his home state of Gujarat in 2002, as "propaganda", blocked its airing and also barred sharing of any clips via social media in India.

Modi was chief minister of the western state during the violence that killed more than 2,000 people, most of them Muslims.

The students' union of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, long seen as a bastion of left-wing politics, said on Twitter it would screen the documentary, "India: The Modi Question", at a cafeteria at 9 p.m. (1530 GMT).

On its website, the university administration said it had not given permission for the showing.

"This is to emphasise that such an unauthorised activity may disturb peace and harmony of the university campus," it added.

"The concerned students/individuals are firmly advised to cancel the proposed programme immediately, failing which a strict disciplinary action may be initiated as per the university rules."

On Twitter, the union president, Aishe Ghosh, had asked students to attend the screening of the documentary, describing it as having been "'banned' by an 'elected government' of the largest 'democracy'".

Asked by Reuters if the union planned to go ahead with the screening, Ghosh responded, "Yes, we are."

She declined to comment on the university's threat of disciplinary action, however.

Police are closely watching the situation, said a Delhi police officer monitoring the area around JNU. But police in the capital declined to make any official comment.

The documentary is also set to be screened at some campuses in the Communist-ruled southern state of Kerala.

India's home ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the government's plans if the film is shown at JNU and in Kerala.

The 2002 Gujarat violence erupted after a train carrying Hindu pilgrims caught fire, killing 59. Crowds later rampaged through Muslim neighbourhoods. In 2017, 11 men were jailed for life for setting the train ablaze.

Modi has denied accusations that he did not do enough to stop the riots and was exonerated in 2012 following an inquiry overseen by the Supreme Court. Another petition questioning his exoneration was dismissed last year.

Last week, the BBC said the documentary was "rigorously researched" and involved a "wide range" of voices and opinions, including responses from people in Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.

The BBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the threat of disciplinary action.

(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Additional reporting by Shivam Patel and Rupam Jain; Editing by Robert Birsel and Clarence Fernandez)

Indian students fight to screen banned BBC Modi documentary as censorship row grows


Indian students fight to screen banned BBC Modi documentary as censorship row grows

Maroosha Muzaffar
Tue, January 24, 2023 at 6:06 AM MST·6 min read

Student groups across India are silently protesting the government ban on a two-part BBC documentary series that examines prime minister Narendra Modi’s relationship with Muslims, the country’s largest minority group.

Despite the threat of disciplinary action by varsity authorities, student bodies are readying to screen the documentary that was blocked and labelled a “propaganda piece” by the Indian government.

Students from the University of Hyderabad screened the first part of the documentary titled India: The Modi Question on Sunday inside its campus, leading to authorities launching a crackdown against them.

The series investigates Mr Modi’s role in the 2002 riots in Gujarat, his home state of which he was the chief minister at the time, which led to the death of more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims.


Authorities of the University of Hyderabad, also known as the Hyderabad Central University (HCU), have sought a report from the student group that screened the controversial documentary, allegedly without permission.

It was screened by a group of students under the banner “Fraternity Movement – HCU unit”.

After the BBC released the documentary in the UK, the Indian government was quick to use emergency powers to block its broadcast. The series was not aired in India but has been circulating on Twitter and YouTube and file-sharing websites.

The government issued orders to both platforms to block any content related to the BBC series using emergency powers under the country’s information and technology law.

India’s foreign ministry has alleged the documentary has “bias, [a] lack of objectivity, and frankly a continuing colonial mindset”.

Kanchan Gupta, an adviser to the government, said on his Twitter handle on Saturday: “Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has issued directions for blocking multiple @YouTube videos of the first episode of @BBCWorld ’s hateful propaganda ‘India: The Modi Question’. Orders were also issued to @Twitter for blocking over 50 tweets with links to these YT videos.”

HCU’s officials, meanwhile, claimed they had no knowledge of the screening. They came to know a student group screened the documentary only after members from the student wing of Mr Modi’s ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, called ABVP, complained.

A silent rebellion has emerged in many colleges and universities, whose students are angry at the government’s attempts to “block” the reach of the documentary, which features claims that Mr Modi was “directly responsible” for the 2002 Gujarat riots.

In the leftist stronghold of Kerala in southern India, it was reported that student and youth outfits decided to screen the series on campuses and public places.

The left-wing Students Federation of India said it would screen the documentary on college campuses. At the Kannur University campus, a screening was scheduled for Tuesday.

Another youth group, the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), declared on Twitter that it would screen the documentary in the state as well. Local media reported that a screening would be organised at state capital Thiruvananthapuram by a local DYFI committee.

Shafi Parambil, a state lawmaker and member of the opposition Congress party as well as the president of its state student wing, said for Mr Modi, “historical facts are always on the enemy side. The days of genocide cannot be covered up using power”.


In national capital Delhi, the students union of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) released a poster announcing the screening of the documentary at its office.

This led to JNU authorities warning of “strict disciplinary action” in case the event was not cancelled.

Reuters quoted union president Aishe Ghosh as saying the screening would go ahead. Ms Ghosh, however, declined to comment on the threat of disciplinary action.


University authorities in an advisory on Monday alleged the student union did not take permission for the event and said a screening could “disturb peace and harmony”.

Police are reportedly monitoring the area around JNU, which has been in the spotlight over the past years for student clashes.

Mr Modi has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the course of the religious riots, but many allegations have continued to follow him even after he became prime minister in 2014 and secured a landslide second term in 2019.

India’s Supreme Court also gave a clean chit to Mr Modi and 62 other senior government officials by dismissing a plea challenging the findings of a Special Investigation Team report on the riots.


Given the controversy over the documentary, the BBC defended its production, saying it was “committed to highlighting important issues from around the world” and that the Indian government was offered a right to reply but declined.

In a statement, the British broadcaster said the documentary “examines the tensions between India’s Hindu majority and Muslim minority and explores the politics of Mr Modi in relation to those tensions”.

It said the series was “rigorously researched” and “a wide range of voices, witnesses and experts were approached, and we have featured a range of opinions, including responses from people in the BJP.”


Asaduddin Owaisi, an MP from Hyderabad city and a vocal critic of the Modi government, attacked the latter’s decision to ban the two-part documentary.

He asked the government to instead ban an upcoming film titled Gandhi Godse: Ek Yudh, which is due to release on India’s Republic Day on 26 January. This film has come under fire from several quarters for glorifying Nathuram Godse, who assassinated Mahatma Gandhi.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/india-blocks-youtube-videos-and-twitter.html

NON-STATE KILLERS OF PALESTINIANS

Extreme Israeli group takes root in US with fundraising bid



 Israeli Jewish extremist Amiram Ben-Uliel arrives in court in Lod, Israel, Monday, May 18, 2020, where he was convicted in a 2015 arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents in the West Bank. An Israeli group raising funds for Jewish radicals convicted in some of the country’s most notorious hate crimes, Including Ben-Uliel, is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans, according to an investigation by the AP and non-profit Israeli investigative platform Shomrim. That is a sign that Israel’s far right is gaining a new foothold in the United States.

 (Avshalom Sassoni/Pool Photo via AP, File)

URI BLAU of Shomrim and TIA GOLDENBERG of The Associated Press
Mon, January 23, 2023 

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli group raising funds for Jewish extremists convicted in some of the country’s most notorious hate crimes is collecting tax-exempt donations from Americans, according to findings by The Associated Press and the Israeli investigative platform Shomrim.

The records in the case suggest that Israel’s far right is gaining a new foothold in the United States.

The amount of money raised through a U.S. nonprofit is not known. But the AP and Shomrim have documented the money trail from New Jersey to imprisoned Israeli radicals who include Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassin and people convicted in deadly attacks on Palestinians.

This overseas fundraising arrangement has made it easier for the Israeli group, Shlom Asiraich, to collect money from Americans, who can make their contributions through the U.S. nonprofit with a credit card and claim a tax deduction.

Many Israeli causes, from hospitals to universities to charities, raise money through U.S.-based arms. But having the strategy adopted by a group assisting Jewish radicals raises legal and moral questions.

It also comes against the backdrop of a new, far-right government in Israel led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where ultranationalists and extremist lawmakers have gained unprecedented power.

According to Shlom Asiraich’s promotional pamphlets, its beneficiaries include Yigal Amir, who assassinated Rabin in 1995; Amiram Ben-Uliel, convicted in the 2015 murder of a Palestinian baby and his parents in an arson attack; and Yosef Chaim Ben David, convicted of abducting and killing a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in Jerusalem in 2014. The group also assists an extremist ultra-Orthodox man who fatally stabbed a 16-year-old Israeli girl at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade in 2015.

Shlom Asiraich, or “The Well-Being of Your Prisoners,” has been raising money in Israel since at least 2018, and officially registered as a nonprofit in 2020 by a group mostly consisting of Israelis from hard-line settlements in the West Bank. At least five of the group’s seven founders have themselves been questioned by Israeli authorities for crimes related to their activities against Palestinians. Some have been arrested and charged.

Recipients of its largesse have hailed the group for coming through in difficult times.

“You have no idea how much you help us,” the family of Ben-Uliel, who is serving three life sentences, wrote in a hand-written letter posted to the group’s Facebook page.

Being a relatively new organization, Shlom Asiraich’s official filing to Israel’s nonprofit registry provides little data and does not indicate how much money it has raised. But in its promotional flyers, recently broadcast by Israeli Channel 13 news, the organization indicated it has raised 150,000 shekels (about $43,000).

Israeli nonprofits have long sought funding abroad, with the U.S. a major source. According to figures published by Noga Zivan, a consultant for nonprofits in Israel, between 2018 to 2020 Jewish-American organizations alone donated $2 billion to Israel each year.

Israeli right-wing groups have long raised funds in the U.S. But Dvir Kariv, a former official in the department of Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet that deals with Jewish violence, said it is unusual for extremist Jews such as the ones who run Shlom Asiraich to do so.

He said the group appears to have taken a cue from other far-right Israeli groups, particularly Kach, an anti-Arab racist group that was once banned as a terror organization in the U.S. but which Kariv said was adept at raising money there decades ago.

Itamar Ben-Gvir, a senior Cabinet minister in Israel’s new far-right government, is a disciple of Kach's founder, Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was once barred from Israeli politics.

It is not clear when Shlom Asiraich began working with the New Jersey-based World of Tzedaka, a nonprofit that says it works “to enable any individual or organization to raise money for their specific cause.”

Donors in the U.S. can enter the Shlom Asiraich site and click on a link that takes them to a donation page hosted by World of Tzedaka. They can also donate directly from World of Tzedaka’s site.

According to an instructional video on the World of Tzedaka site, fundraisers must list a rabbi as a reference and receive approval from a Lakewood religious committee. World of Tzedaka charges $28 a month and a 3% processing fee for transferring funds to an Israeli bank account, the site says.

World of Tzedaka supports other charitable ventures, most of them focused on assisting Jewish families in distress, according to its website.

Ellen Aprill, an expert on tax and charities at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said convicted criminals and their families could be considered in need and qualify as a permissible charitable purpose.

While supporting someone convicted of acts of terrorism could be seen as encouraging criminal activity, that would need to be proven, she said.

Marcus Owens, a lawyer who ran the IRS’s nonprofit unit in the 1990s, took a tougher stance.

“The U.S. Department of Justice views assistance to the families of terrorists as a form of material support for terrorism,” he said.

In order to become a tax-exempt group recognized by the IRS, an organization must operate exclusively for charitable, religious or educational purposes.

Repeated attempts to reach representatives of Shlom Asiraich were unsuccessful. A person who answered the group’s phone number hung up on an AP reporter. Moshe Orbach, whose address in the hard-line West Bank settlement of Yitzhar is listed as the group’s headquarters, declined through a lawyer to be interviewed.

A World of Tzedaka representative hung up when asked for comment.

The IRS refused to answer questions about the group, saying “federal law prohibits the IRS from commenting.”

According to documents obtained by the AP, Shlom Asiraich was registered as a nonprofit with Israeli authorities by Chanamel Dorfman, an attorney and a top aide to Ben-Gvir, Israel’s new national security minister.

Dorfman is also listed as the group’s “lawyer/legal adviser” on Guidestar, the official nonprofit registry’s site.

In a text message, Dorfman denied ever having been the group’s legal adviser and did not respond to additional questions. Dorfman recently told the conservative daily Israel Hayom he was simply acting as a lawyer and that “if I knew that this is what this organization does, I wouldn’t have registered it.”

In October, on the eve of the Jewish New Year, Shlom Asiraich tweeted a photo of snacks it provided to Jewish suspects under house arrest, and to families of Israelis convicted or charged with crimes against Palestinians. A note accompanying the wine and other goods the nonprofit provided called the men “beloved heroes.”

“Stay strong and remain loyal to the people of Israel and to the holy Torah and don’t stop being happy!” the note read.

___

This article was published in partnership with Shomrim, The Center for Media and Democracy in Israel.

___

This story has been corrected to show the year of Rabin's assassination was 1995, not 2005.

Turkey condemns Quran protest in the Netherlands


Tue, January 24, 2023

ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s foreign ministry said Tuesday it summoned the Dutch ambassador following a demonstration targeting Islam’s holy book, days after a similar protest in Sweden tensed relations.

Edwin Wagensveld, Dutch leader of the far-right Pegida movement in the Netherlands, on Sunday tore pages out of a copy of the Quran near the Dutch parliament and stomped on the pages. Police looked on but did not intervene.

“It is about freedom of expression and I think that should be possible in the Netherlands,” Wagensveld said in a video posted on the site of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

The Turkish foreign ministry said in its statement that it condemned the “vile attack,” which it said was proof of Islamophobia, discrimination and xenophobia in Europe. The ministry told the Dutch ambassador they expected concrete precautions to prevent and not permit similar demonstrations in the future, and that authorities take action against Wagensveld.

“It is about freedom of expression and I think that should be possible in the Netherlands,” Wagensveld said in a video posted on the site of Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

Relations between Turkey and the Netherlands were shattered in 2017 when Dutch authorities barred Turkish officials from campaigning for a referendum among the Turkish diaspora there. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan upped the ante by comparing the Dutch to Nazis, and ambassadors were withdrawn.

On Saturday, a far-right anti-Islam activist burned the Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm. Turkey strongly condemned the act and Sweden for allowing the demonstration, with Erdogan declaring Sweden shouldn’t expect Turkey’s support for its NATO bid.