LET'S BE HONEST; RODEO KILLS

Bull rider heralded as 'up-and-coming star' dies during weekend rodeo near Calgary

The Canadian Press
Tue, July 4, 2023 



CALGARY — A bull rider heralded as a promising star on the Indigenous rodeo circuit has died during a competition in southern Alberta.

Reg Fountain, emergency management director for the Stoney Nakoda Nation west of Calgary, says 19-year-old Seth Saulteaux died Sunday during a qualifier for the Indian National Finals Rodeo.

Fountain says Saulteaux suffered a traumatic injury to his head while bull riding and, although he was able to walk off from the arena, he collapsed and couldn't be revived by paramedics.

Fountain says Saulteaux had been wearing a helmet during the competition and followed other safety protocols.

He says Saulteaux was from the Maskwacis area south of Edmonton but had recently been living on the Tsuut’ina Nation near Calgary.

The Indian National Finals Rodeo, which sanctions rodeos in the United States and Canada, posted a message of condolence to Saulteax's family on Facebook, calling him "a dedicated bull rider" and "an up-and-coming star in the INFR circuit."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 4, 2023.

Anger as San Francisco drops case against officer who killed unarmed Black man: ‘Murder is decriminalised’

Josh Marcus
Mon, July 3, 2023 

Sean Moore, an unarmed Black San Francisco man shot by police in 2017, is seen illuminated in the beam of a flashlight standing on the steps of his home during a police call related to a noise complaint (San Francisco Police Department)

Family members and civil rights activists expressed anger at a decision by San Francisco prosecutors to drop charges against a police officer who shot and killed Sean Moore, an unarmed Black man gunned down on the front steps of his home during a call about noise complaint.

San Francisco district attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the decision to drop the manslaughter prosecution, which was filed in 2021 by her predecessor, on Sunday, saying her office “can not ethically prosecute this case in good faith.”

“The people of San Francisco elected me to restore accountability and enhance public safety; to faithfully follow the facts and the law and not bow to political pressure or pursue politically expedient prosecutions that are legally and ethically dubious,” she wrote in a statement. “As prosecutors, we have a sacred duty to try cases in good faith, to not abuse our power and ensure that the cases we bring forward are fair in order to maintain trust in the criminal justice system.”

Family members were baffled and hurt by the decision, which marks the third such case Ms Jenkins has dropped, leaving no more active prosecutions related to police killing people while on active duty.

“I’m very angry, I’m beyond angry,” Kenneth Blackmon, Moore’s brother, told Mission Local. “I’m in disbelief, to be honest with you.”

Anti-police violence activist Samuel Sinyangwe argued in a Twitter post on Monday the decision meant “murder is now fully decriminalized for police in the city of San Francisco.”

In January of 2017, San Francisco police officers Colin Patino and Kenneth Cha were called to Moore’s Oceanside house around 4am responding to a call that the man was violating a noise-related restraining order by banging on the walls of his home.

Police body camera video captured the incident, the first such officer-involved shooting recorded this way in city history.

Moore, who family members said was in the midst of a mental health crisis caused by bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, can be seen angrily telling officers to “get the f*** of my stairs” from behind a metal entry gate.

Officers continue to demand he exit the home, and eventually he does so, at which point they pepper sprayed the unarmed man and beat him with a baton. Moore then punched Patino, breaking his nose, and kicked Cha down a set of stairs, after which Cha shot Moore twice, hitting him in the leg and stomach.

A year after the violent encounter, charges against Moore were dropped. An appeals court found the officers hadn’t witnessed Moore violating the restraining order at issue, so they lacked probable cause to arrest him. As such, when they ignored his requests to leave, their “consensual encounter” became an unlawful detention.

In 2020, Moore died while serving time in prison on an unrelated matter, and an autopsy found the wounds from the shooting were partially responsible.

In 2021, San Francisco city supervisors voted to pay $3.25m to settle a federal excessive force lawsuit from Moore’s family related to the 2017 police encounter.

That same year, former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin filed charges against the officer involved in Moore’s shooting, the first time a city district attorney had ever charged a police officer with a crime related to a use-of-force death.

San Francisco police have among the worst records in California for disparate use of force on people of colour. Black people are 6.5 times more likely to be killed than white people by San Francisco officers, according to data analysis from Mapping Police Violence.

The sun has produced a record number of sunspots — and it could mean power outages, grounded flights, and beautiful auroras

Marianne Guenot
Tue, July 4, 2023 

The sun on June 30. Magnetic fluctuations on the sun's surface can be seen here. Sunspots are cooler than other parts of the sun's surface because they form in areas where our star's magnetic fields are strong.SDO/NASA

Scientists spotted a record 163 sunspots in June, twice as many as they had predicted.


There were more sunspots last month than there had been in any month in more than two decades.


The news comes as the sun nears a peak of activity that could produce grid-disrupting solar flares.

The sun had more sunspots in June than it had in any other month in more than 20 years, according to scientists.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said it recorded 163 sunspots last month, about twice as many as had been anticipated for the period.

The last time there were this many sunspots on the sun's surface was in September 2002, per NOAA.

Scientists are paying close attention to this number because it can help predict if powerful solar flares may cause problems for Earth.

The more sunspots scientists see on the sun, the more likely the sun is to release powerful space weather, such as solar flares that could trigger radio blackouts, ground flights, and cause power grid disruptions. These solar flares could also reveal stunning auroras.

Why sunspots are being tracked so closely

An image of the sun on May 23 shows a sunspot four time the size of Earth.SDO/NASA

Sunspots are cooler than other parts of the sun's surface because they form in areas where our star's magnetic fields are strong.

The more sunspots are on the surface, the more scientists know that the magnetic activity is disrupted at the surface of the sun.

And the more the the magnetic fields are disrupted, the more likely they are to cause a sudden explosion of energy known as a solar flare, according to NASA.

Because we're seeing more sunspots than expected, we're likely to see a much stronger solar maximum than had been anticipated.
A solar maximum is on its way

The sun follows a solar cycle, whereby its activity grows and wanes approximately every 11 years. Our star is currently in the phase of the cycle where its activity is revving up towards a solar maximum.

Scientists keep a close eye on our star because as it gets more active, it's more likely to send charged particles to Earth that can mess with our infrastructure.

While our Earth's magnetic field protects us from most space weather, charged particle breaking through that barrier can cause minor disruptions like radio blackouts.

These mostly go unnoticed, but can temporarily ground flights as the Federal Aviation Administration won't allow planes to fly without both radio and satellite communications.

Experts are most concerned that this peak of activity could bring a solar storm so powerful it could knock our crucial infrastructure like power grids.

This solar cycle has already provided some spectacular space weather. This year, a powerful solar flare caused widespread radio blackouts in North America, Central America, and South America, and an unexpected solar storm caused auroras so bright they were spotted as far south as Arizona.

Auroras seen in Riverton, on March 24, 2023.NWS Riverton

A false sense of security

Experts had forecast that this solar maximum would be fairly mild, peaking at 115 sunspots per month.

Solar physicist Keith Strong shared on Twitter a forecast from the Royal Observatory of Belgium suggesting the sun could peak at just under 200 monthly sunspots. That would be higher than the last solar maximum, which peaked at 146 monthly sunspots in 2014.

Experts previously told Insider this could be an issue. With each decade, we become more dependent on electrical infrastructure, according to Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics and the University of Reading.

The latest solar cycle was particularly quiet and may have lulled us into a false sense of security, he added.

"It was the smallest we'd had for about a hundred years," Owens said, adding, "The danger of going from a small cycle to a slightly bigger one is that you then realize where all the vulnerabilities are."

Still, if the sun peaks at 200 sunspots, it will be far from the biggest solar maximum on record. Solar cycle 19 peaked at 359 sunspots in October 1957, per NOAA.

Move over, Danielle Smith: What Canadians should know about New Brunswick's Blaine Higgs


Noah Fry, PhD Candidate, Political Science, McMaster University

THE CONVERSATION
Tue, July 4, 2023 

New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs speaks to the media outside Government House in Fredericton, N.B., following a cabinet shuffle in June 2023.

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray

Though he lacks Alberta Premier Danielle Smith’s showmanship, New Brunswick’s Blaine Higgs has a hard-line conservative record to make right-wing ideologues giddy.

Unlike some of its previous initiatives, the New Brunswick government’s Policy 713 — an education directive on sexual orientation and gender identity — has put Higgs on the national radar.

Using the language of “parental rights,” the policy now requires parental consent for any name and pronoun changes for students under 16. It also removes language protecting gender identity in sports.

Read more: New Brunswick’s LGBTQ+ safe schools debate makes false opponents of parents and teachers

In response to the changes, six members of the 29-member Conservative caucus voiced their frustrations, including four cabinet members. Since then, two ministers have resigned while others have been shuffled out of caucus.
Grievance conservatism

But this parental rights advocacy is only the latest in a series of right-wing policies in New Brunswick.

Despite relatively low popular vote support in the past two provincial elections, Higgs has unapologetically governed from the right since 2018.

Some of his actions are conventional. Higgs lowered taxes for top income earners, ran surpluses and minimized increases to education and health care. He has a contentious relationship with labour and has criticized workers for a weak work ethic.

However, Higgs has gone further than his Conservative counterparts in the region. In doing so, he has burned many bridges.

His relationship with the health-care sector is fraught. Emergency rooms have overflowed at times with residents dying in waiting rooms.

When it was reported a woman was unable to get access to a rape kit, Higgs blamed the nurses for “showing a lack of compassion.” He has also limited abortion access within the province.

Higgs has an equally contentious relationship with Indigenous Peoples. In 2021, New Brunswick directed government employees to halt territorial acknowledgements because the province is involved in a series of legal actions and land claims initiated by First Nations.

Read more: New Brunswick ban on land acknowledgements is a death blow to nation-to-nation relationships

The province also tore up tax-sharing agreements with the Wolastoqey Nation, which Higgs argued were “unfair.”

Higgs, left, and New Brunswick Aboriginal Affairs Minister Arlene Dunn, right, speak with Chief Alan Polchies Jr. of St. Mary’s First Nation after raising flags as part of National Indigenous Peoples Day in Fredericton, N.B., in June 2021. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Stephen MacGillivray

Proudly unilingual

Higgs’s relationship with New Brunswick’s Acadian francophone population may be his worst. He once ran for the leadership of the Confederation of Regions party — an anglophone-rights party.

Higgs does not speak French and has made little effort to learn it, and has depicted himself as a “target” for being unilingual.

Higgs started his premiership in 2018 by loosening bilingual hiring requirements for paramedic positions, paving the way for unilingual workers in designated anglophone areas.

Recently, the government attempted to “innovate” French immersion by establishing one program with reduced French content. Conservatives argued that French immersion was two-tiered and disadvantaged English Prime students who receive mostly English instruction.

After tremendous pushback from parents and teachers, which Higgs referred to as “a shouting session,” the government walked back its plans.

The policy nonetheless led to the resignation of Education Minister Dominic Cardy. In a widely circulated letter, Cardy called out Higgs for his “micromanagement.”

Some argue Higgs moved to the centre during the province’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. But his early support for vaccinations and lockdown measures didn’t reflect his subsequent efforts. New Brunswick re-opened early and stopped reporting weekly case numbers.

Dominic Cardy, New Brunswick’s education minister at the time, releases the province’s back to school plan in August 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. He later resigned over tensions with Higgs. 

THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Bissett

Will Higgs win again?

With reports of a leadership review and tensions within his party, an early election is possible.

Though some pollsters report Higgs is either tied with the New Brunswick Liberals or trailing them, he still has a pathway to victory.

Higgs won in 2018 and 2020 by capitalizing on New Brunswick’s linguistic divide. Losing francophone ridings by massive pluralities doesn’t matter because he carried the more plentiful, mostly anglophone ridings.

Academics have observed New Brunswick’s political behaviour tends to follow a diagonal line drawn from Moncton to Grand Falls. Historically, Liberal-Conservative divisions have matched this alignment.

New Brunswick 2020 election results with dividing line. Modified map originally from Elections NB. Elections New Brunswick

This began to change in the 1970s, but has re-emerged as a political strategy. Higgs knows the game and has won twice by playing it.

Higgs practises grievance politics that is as divisive as it is successful. His calculations involve mobilizing a coalition big enough to win but small enough to remain ideologically pure.

He does this through picking issues that, while unpopular broadly, motivate voters within his coalition. Policy 713 is an example: the frustrated voters who cast ballots solely as a form of protest to this issue are few and far between, and unlikely to vote Conservative anyway.

This game is not Higgs’s invention — it’s the new Canadian conservatism. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and Alberta’s Danielle Smith use the same strategy. Both have platforms that voice suspicions of government, evident during their campaigns for “freedom” during COVID-19 protocols.

Yet Higgs is a more serious threat. He pursues a hard-right agenda without scrutiny. He has imposed his agenda on a centrist province with barely any national media attention.

To his credit, Higgs does not hide who he is. He is open with media and speaks his mind. Canadians — not just New Brunswickers — would be wise to listen.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

It was written by: Noah Fry, McMaster University.

Read more:


Politicians believe voters to be more conservative than they really are


Will Danielle Smith veer back to the right and towards Alberta separatism?

Noah Fry is supported in part by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

NB Policy 713: LGBT school policy change causes political turmoil in Canada

Nadine Yousif - BBC News, Toronto
Mon, July 3, 2023 

New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs has faced calls to resign after forging ahead with controversial changes to an LGBT school policy

A controversial policy change that bars teachers from using a student's preferred pronouns without parental permission will soon go into effect in New Brunswick despite pushback. It has caused political turmoil in the Canadian province.

In May, under Premier Blaine Higgs, New Brunswick announced that a policy to create a safe space for students who identify as LGBT in schools will be amended, with the changes coming into effect on 1 July.

The amendments to the Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity policy - also known as Policy 713 - removed explicit mention of allowing students to participate in extracurricular activities, including sports teams, that reflect their gender identity.

More controversially, the changes - as explained by the province's education minister Bill Hogan - also forbid teachers from using the chosen preferred names and pronouns of a student under the age of 16 without the consent of their parents.

In cases where it is not possible to get parental permission, the policy states that a student should be sent to a social worker or a psychologist to develop a plan on how to approach their parents.

Mr Higgs and his right-leaning Progressive Conservative government updated the policy without a legislative vote, due to what they said were "hundreds of complaints from parents and teachers".

The government has been criticised for not providing evidence of these complaints, and the changes have since created a firestorm in the small province of less than a million people.

Two New Brunswick ministers quit in protest, while two others were pushed out by Mr Higgs for not supporting his plan. The premier now faces a growing threat of being ousted from office, as dissidents from his own party have called for a leadership review citing "a pattern of autocratic" governing.

Even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau weighed in, igniting a debate on the issue at the federal level.

At a Pride event earlier in June, Mr Trudeau said that "trans kids in New Brunswick are being told they don't have the right to be their true self, that they need to ask permission".

"Trans kids need to feel safe, not targeted by politicians," he said.

In response, federal Conservative opposition leader Pierre Poilievre told Mr Trudeau to "butt out" of New Brunswick politics.

"The prime minister has no business in decisions that should rest with provinces and parents," Mr Poilievre said.
What is Policy 713? And why was it changed?

Initially passed in 2020 after a decade of consultations, Policy 713 in its original form asked for parental consent in order to formally change students' names or pronouns, but made it mandatory to use a student's preferred name if it is not possible to get permission from a parent.

It also allowed students to participate on sporting teams and use washrooms consistent with their gender identity.

Nicki Lyons-MacFarlane, who volunteers with LGBT youth in the city of Fredericton, said the policy has benefited many such students in the province.

"Students have been validated and affirmed by this policy," they told the BBC. "If anything, it has saved lives."

They added that in light of the changes, students now fear being mis-gendered or outed to their families.

Mr Higgs' government said the changes to the policy are about "ensuring parents also feel respected". In a recent interview with the CBC, the premier, who has been in office since 2018, said he has seen "a tremendous amount of outpouring support" for his stance.

Prime Minister Trudeau criticised the policy change.

But the changes have been the subject of fierce opposition from parts of the public in New Brunswick.

Several local protests have been held, and school psychologists and social workers have filed grievances with the government.

The province's child and youth advocate, Kelly Lamrock, has called the new policy "shoddy and inadvertently discriminatory".

Donald Wright, a professor of political science at the University of New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 came as a surprise for some, and have been the topic of conversation for many in the province. But Mr Wright added the premier is known for supporting "wedge issues" that are typically divisive.

"He believes that enough New Brunswickers will support him on this," he said.

The move, however, has proven to be a remarkable political gamble for the premier, Mr Wright said.

"He has lost a quarter of his cabinet," he said. "That is not insignificant."

Hadeel Ibrahim, a reporter who has covered the issue for CBC in New Brunswick, said the changes to Policy 713 were the final straw for those who have previously opposed Mr Higgs' other policies and his style of governance.

"Some people are saying there is a de-emphasis on the 'progressive' part of 'Progressive Conservative', because they believe he is going too far to the right," Ms Ibrahim said.
The rest of Canada weighs in

The debate over the policy in New Brunswick quickly spread beyond the province's borders.

LGBT advocates in other parts of Canada have raised concern Mr Higgs' move is a sign of "American-style politics" on gender identity seeping into Canadian society. Laws restricting and regulating the lives of transgender youth are part of a rising trend in the US, with numerous states passing laws that relate to transgender people.

If US firms 'go woke', do they really go broke?

The Canadian Civil Liberties Association, a national civil rights group, has threatened the premier with a lawsuit, arguing the changes to Policy 713 are "unlawful and unconstitutional".

But there has also been some support. Action4Canada, a conservative Christian group based in British Columbia, touted it as a "heroic decision" and a test case.

"Premier Higgs and (Education) Minister Bill Hogan have courageously and unapologetically taken the first steps, in Canada, towards protecting children from going down a path of destruction," the group said in a statement.

The debate comes at the heels of other controversies on LGBT issues and schools that have taken place across the country. Earlier in June, a Catholic school board in the Toronto area voted against flying the Pride flag outside its main offices, prompting a student walk-out in protest.

A poll commissioned by Canadian think-tank Second Street of 1,523 people in early May - before New Brunswick's policy changes were announced - suggested that 57% of Canadians believe parents have a right to be informed by a school if a child wants to change their gender identity.

"I don't think it is too surprising that parents want to know what their kids are up to in school," said think-tank president Colin Craig of the results.

Ms Ibrahim said that no official polling has been done on the policy change in New Brunswick. As a result, it has been difficult to discern just how much local support the premier has on this issue.

As the amended policy comes into effect on Saturday, some teachers in New Brunswick have already stated that they will not follow it.

A handful of school boards have said they will develop their own policies that will allow teachers to use a students' chosen name and pronouns informally, regardless of parental consent or age.

Given the political and public reaction, Mr Wright at the University of New Brunswick said there appears to be more support for Policy 713 in its original form than the amendments.

And with his future as leader now on the line, Mr Wright said the premier may have "misplayed his cards".

Hungary Braces for Teacher Exodus After ‘Vengeance’ Law Approved

Zoltan Simon
Tue, July 4, 2023 


(Bloomberg) -- Hungary braced for a wave of teacher resignations after Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s legislators approved a new law that educators see as a crackdown following years of anti-government protests.

The parliament in Budapest, where members of Orban’s party hold a two-thirds majority, approved the so-called status law — stripping teachers of protections granted to public employees, raising the number of weekly hours of required teaching and limiting educators’ autonomy. It also allows the government to relocate teachers.

Dubbed the “vengeance law” by its critics, the legislation steps up pressure on teachers and threatens to push staffing in the education sector to critical levels. More than 5,000 teachers have pledged to quit if the new regulations come into effect, according to a tally on website aHang.

“The law is all about trying to paper over the shortage of teachers,” said Bence Toth, a biology and chemistry teacher at a primary school in Budapest who joined a protest in a steady drizzle outside the parliament building in Budapest. “It’s also about retribution for our strikes.”

Orban has moved to rein in schools as part of his more than decade-old power consolidation, which has seen him extend his sway over the media, courts, culture, education and large swaths of the economy.

The government has touted the status law as ensuring a steady increase in teacher wages, even as it has linked much of it to the receipt of European Union funds, which are mostly blocked due to corruption and rule-of-law concerns. The cabinet would only relocate teachers in “extraordinary cases,” Cabinet Minister Gergely Gulyas told reporters on June 22.

Hungarian primary education teachers with 15 years of experience earn the second-lowest wage among the 38 member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to 2021 data, the latest available. Only Slovak teachers fare worse.

That’s prompted teachers to hold demonstrations, some of which coincided with a general election campaign last year that was initially seen as a major test of Orban’s rule. After another landslide victory, one of Orban’s first moves was to transfer oversight of education to the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for law enforcement.

The government has since limited the right of teachers to strike, prompting a wave of civil disobedience protests that has been met with the firing of some educators. An earlier draft of the status law would have allowed authorities to review the personal electronic devices of teachers, which was later dropped from the legislation.

King’s Scottish coronation: Protesters object to blackout screens hiding ‘revolting peasants’

Story by Chris Green • 

Anti-monarchy protesters have complained they are being kept “out of view” behind large blackout screens during a service to mark the coronation of King Charles in Edinburgh.

The demonstration, organised by anti-monarchy group Republic, began early on Wednesday with people gathering from 10am at the Lawnmarket, opposite St Giles’ Cathedral where the ceremony is due to be held this afternoon.

Determined to make their voices heard, the protesters joined together for chants of “Not my King” and waved signs reading: “Only the tourists are cheering” and “Who voted for this?”

Kevin Quinn, 60, from Edinburgh, who has believed in abolishing the monarchy for most of his life, said the screens had been erected “to keep the revolting peasants out of view”.

He said he was demonstrating “to protest the idea of a hereditary monarchy and the inherited privilege that goes with that”.

He added: “It’s an antiquated form of government. Nobody would allow me to fly a plane on the basis that my father’s a pilot, so the same thing should apply to the head of state. They should be elected. I think the time has come for the country to face up to it.”

Lara Celini, 49, also from the Scottish capital, described the show of pageantry as “upsetting and obscene” at a time when many people are struggling to pay the bills.

“I think the monarchy is a broken institution, it’s undemocratic, and I like to see power as close to the people as possible. It doesn’t fit well in a modern and contemporary world – we can do so much better,” she said.

“We’ve got people that are hungry, we’ve got a cost of living crisis, we’ve got a climate crisis. It just seems completely wrong.

“It’s about time that we abolished the monarchy and let them [the Royal Family] get on with their lives, and perhaps lead more normal and happy lives as well.”

Related video: Procession for King Charles' 'Scottish coronation' booed by anti-monarchy crowd (Metro)

Duration 0:33 View on Watch

MetroKing Charles booed and heckled en route to collect jewels from Scotland

2:25

Lorraine Smith, 58, also from Edinburgh, said she wanted to live “in a fairer, more equitable society” with “proper democratic accountability” rather than “some medieval throwback”.

She said the death of Queen Elizabeth II last year and her succession by King Charles III had led to more people openly questioning whether the monarchy should continue.

“The Queen had such an emotive hold on people, that to say anything against the monarchy as an institution was taken as a slight to her, and people were very upset about that,” she said.

“That doesn’t hold any more, so I think there’s probably more of an opportunity to say what a lot of us have been saying for a long time. This is not about personalities, this is about the institution and what it represents and what it says about our country that we don’t like.”



The blackout screens annoyed some anti-monarchist protesters (Photo: Reuters)© Provided by The i

Unsurprisingly, those lining the Royal Mile ahead of the royal procession to St Giles’ held polar opposite views, with some draped in Union Jacks or waving flags.

James Taylor, 38, who had travelled to Scotland from his home in Derbyshire for the occasion, estimated that he has been to between 50 and 60 royal events in his lifetime, including the coronation in London in May.



While some gathered to protest, others wanted to show their support for King Charles (Photo: PA)© Provided by The i

“I’ve always been interested in the Royal Family, I wanted to be able to see the King and it’s a momentous occasion that he’s going to be here to receive the Honours of Scotland. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it,” he said.

“I think Charles seems to be settling into the role of King very successfully, there seems to be no fewer people turning out wanting to see him. We just need to give him the opportunity to grow into the role.”

He added that anti-monarchy protests receive “a disproportionate amount of attention” when you compare the “relatively small amount of people” who take part compared to those turning out to show their support.



Well wishers on the Royal Mile had a great view ahead of the National Service of Thanksgiving and Dedication to the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla (Photo: Chris Jackson/Reuters)© Provided by The i

Isabel McBride, 66, had travelled from Fife to catch a glimpse of the King, having never attended a royal event before in her life. “I just wanted to come and show my support,” she said. “It’s a new era, and he needs support.”

Her view of the anti-monarchy protests is simple: “Why are they here? If I didn’t like something I wouldn’t come and waste my day on it.”

Anne Connolly, 65, from South Shields, also had a differing view of the fenced off area for the demonstration outside the cathedral. “They’ve given the protesters the best spot here, the best view. It isn’t fair.”

Police Scotland were approached for comment.

Experts predicted America was racing towards a "looming hunger cliff." They were right, data shows

Story by Ashlie D. Stevens • TODAY

Receipts in shopping cartGetty Images/Tiina & Geir© Provided by Salon

Back in March, as expanded pandemic-era Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits expired, food insecurity experts were concerned that the United States was racing towards a looming "hunger cliff." Now, it seems that their predictions were correct, according to new data from the Census Bureau.

As the Alliance to End Hunger wrote in a June 30 email, "26.5 million Americans reported food insecurity as of June 19, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey — the most thus far in 2023 and the highest number since December 2020."

Related
US is racing toward a looming "hunger cliff," food insecurity experts warn

During the pandemic, SNAP benefits were essentially supercharged as Americans faced furloughs, unemployment and widespread supply chain disruptions which had already thrown the grocery-buying experience into disarray. In a surge that was categorized as an "unprecedented expansion" by the New York Times' Jason DeParle, more than six million people enrolled for food stamps during the first three months of the pandemic.

While SNAP benefits typically vary based on a recipient's income, during the temporary congressional expansion, recipients were offered the maximum aid available for their household size. However, those benefits were cut months early as part of a bipartisan compromise surrounding a program to provide grocery benefits to replace school meals for low-income children. At the time, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute, reported that the average SNAP recipient would receive at least $90 less per month.

"Some households, who under regular SNAP rules receive low benefits because they have somewhat higher, but still modest incomes, will see reductions of $250 a month or more," the Center reported. "The average person will receive about $90 a month less in SNAP benefits."

In a March statement to Salon Food, Eric Mitchell, the executive director of the Alliance to End Hunger, wrote that there is never a good time to make it harder for people to buy food, but ending benefits now comes at a particularly bad time.


"With inflation and food prices still near record levels, it is still far too expensive for many Americans across the country to put food on the table," Mitchell said. "Without these extra dollars, millions of people will be at risk of hunger."

He continued, writing that the expanded benefits were a "lifesaver for many individuals and families as jobs disappeared and the economy grinded to a halt."

Want more great food writing and recipes? Subscribe to Salon Food's newsletter, The Bite.

In the ensuing months, the SNAP program has undergone some permanent changes, the most notable being that the age bracket for people who must meet work requirements in order to participate in the program was expanded. As Salon Food reported in June, this was one of several concessions made by Democrats as part of a deal to raise the debt ceiling — which the country needed to do later this year to avoid a default crisis.

Prior to the pandemic, people younger than 50 who met certain requirements had to volunteer, work or receive job training for 80 hours a month in order to receive regular assistance. Now, as part of the new budget cuts package, recipients are required to work until the age of 55. According to The Center for Public Integrity, the new stipulations also make it harder for states to waive those work rules in states

Yet after weeks of debate, the new budget cuts package now raises the age of recipients required to work to 55 and, according to The Center for Public Integrity, makes it harder for states to waive work rules in areas with high unemployment. Notable exceptions include if someone is experiencing homelessness, is a military veteran or if they are a youth aged 18 to 24 who has aged out of the foster care system.

Currently, there are also two bills under review that would prevent current SNAP recipients from buying "junk food" — classified as "soft drinks, candy, ice cream, [and] prepared desserts such as cakes, pies, cookies or similar products" — with their benefits.

Several hunger experts have raised concern at both developments, especially in light of the newest food insecurity numbers.. According to the Center on Budget Policies and Priorities, the expansion of working age would "take food assistance away from large numbers of people, including many who have serious barriers to employment as well as others who are working or should be exempt but are caught up in red tape."

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from the Agriculture Department told Spectrum News that further monitoring of what SNAP recipients purchase with their benefits "would increase program costs and complexity and undermine the dignity of millions of Americans by assuming that low-income Americans are unable to make decisions that are best for themselves and their families."

Gap Between Canada’s Rich and Poor Is Widening at Record Pace

Randy Thanthong-Knight
Tue, July 4, 2023

(Bloomberg) -- Inflation, higher interest rates and declining real estate values are worsening wealth inequality in Canada, with younger households bearing the brunt of the financial pain.

The richest 20% of households controlled 67.8% of net worth in the country in the first quarter, while the bottom groups accounted for 2.7%, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday in Ottawa.

That difference of 65.1 percentage points was 1.1 points higher than the same period a year earlier. It’s the fastest increase in records dating back to 2010, although the wealth gap is still slightly narrower than in 2020.

The widening wealth gap is a challenge for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose government has pledged to reduce inequality only to see it expand by a rapid rise in house prices during the pandemic. It also highlights a consequence of the Bank of Canada’s aggressive increases to interests rates to combat inflation, which are squeezing the country’s indebted households.

The least wealthy were affected more by recent economic pressures, seeing their net worth drop by 13.8%, more than triple the rate of decrease for the wealthiest.

The gap in the share of disposable income between households in the top and bottom 40% reached 44.7 percentage points, up 0.2 percentage points from a year ago.

The decline in net worth for all households was due almost entirely to real estate, with the average value falling by 8.6% from a year ago. The least wealthy group saw their mortgage debt rise at a much faster rate than the overall value of their property holdings.

Debt-to-income ratios for younger and core working-age groups were also at record highs, and well above pre-pandemic rates. The ratio for the youngest households reached 207.5%, up 13.4 percentage points from a year ago. For those aged 35 to 44 years, the ratio jumped 16.6 percentage points to 275.8%.

Younger households have recently increased their share of Canada’s total population, accounting for 47.3% of all growth since the third quarter of 2021, due primarily to high levels of immigration.

“Persistently high interest rates and inflation are likely to continue to strain households’ ability to make ends meet without going further into debt, especially vulnerable groups, such as those with the lowest income, the least wealth and those of younger age groups,” the statistics agency said.

--With assistance from Erik Hertzberg.

Opinion: When ‘free speech’ becomes a bully’s free pass

Opinion Yesterday 

Editor’s Note: Kara Alaimo, PhD, an associate professor of communication at Fairleigh Dickinson University, writes about issues affecting women and social media. Her book “Over the Influence: Why Social Media Is Toxic for Women and Girls — And How We Can Take It Back” will be published by Alcove Press in 2024. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. 

Read more opinion on CNN.

An inside look at the Supreme Court's swerve to the right

Duration 12:03  View on Watch

Last week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that makes it harder to hold people responsible for harassment. The court reversed the conviction of a man for stalking and inflicting “emotional distress” on singer Coles Whalen, finding that online harassment is protected by the First Amendment unless the perpetrator disregards a “substantial risk that his communications would be viewed as threatening violence.”


Kara Alaimo - Courtesy Kara Alaimo© Provided by CNN

While the court may claim to be defending free speech by ruling that the threats were protected by the First Amendment, the decision is likely to have the opposite effect — it will censor and silence the victims of harassment.

Getting the balance right between free speech and protecting people from abuse is tricky, in court and beyond.

An example of how important it is to get it right occurred at the University of Chicago, where lecturer Rebecca Journey postponed teaching her course “The Problem of Whiteness” after a male student at the school, Daniel Schmidt, organized an online campaign targeting her.

Schmidt posted Journey’s photo and email address along with the claim that “anti-white hatred is now mainstream academic inquiry.” Afterward, Journey was deluged with hate emails, including one which said, “blow your head clean off.” Journey postponed the class, which Schmidt described on Twitter as a “huge victory.” When it was offered in March, the university had to hold it in an undisclosed location and implement additional security protocols.

So it’s clearly urgent for institutions to strike the right balance in protecting the free speech of critics without allowing them to chill the free speech of those with whom they disagree.

There are stark differences between the Supreme Court’s opining about the government’s ability to criminally prosecute people for harassment and a university, particularly a private one, making decisions when it comes to protecting its scholars or regulating student conduct. One does not directly affect or change the other; rather, both speak to a broader social problem that can’t be brushed away and forgotten by an appeal to the First Amendment: Too often, protecting free speech feels like a one-way street.

Schmidt’s actions here are neither comparable to those perpetrated in the case heard by the court nor should they be prosecutable, but the court’s opinion falls at a moment when universities (even private ones) are increasingly — and understandably — concerned about how the political climate outside their walls can impact policy choices they make.

The Supreme Court may have been trying to protect free speech by instituting a higher standard for someone to be punished for online harassment, but its recent ruling will do the reverse. It sends a symbolic message that protecting freedom of speech requires tolerating lower-level harassment speech, which often intimidates speakers into silencing themselves. So whose speech remains free? In my forthcoming book, I find that when women and girls are victims of online harassment, they often respond by censoring what they post and shuttering their social media accounts.

When that logic gets extended to campus life, what these kinds of so-called free speech policies really do is protect the speech of bullies, while inhibiting the ability of their victims to participate freely in public discourse without fear.

That’s why private institutions need policies that provide more protection than that offered by the court. The University of Chicago’s declaration of free speech principles, often referred to as the Chicago statement, has been used as a model for other schools. (This statement far predates the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, but it seems fair to say that proponents of the statement might see affirmation in how the court came down.)

Free speech is crucial to academic discourse, but something is wrong with a statement of “free speech” that allows courses to be censored due to online harassment of their instructors.

According to The New York Times, the University of Chicago dismissed a complaint made by Journey about Schmidt’s behavior. The university said privacy concerns precluded it from discussing the case but that it has policies against student “harassment, threats or other misconduct.” Schmidt, for his part, said he didn’t encourage anyone to harass Journey. But Journey pointed out that, because the university didn’t punish Schmidt, “there’s no deterrent effect.” She’s exactly right.

If the University of Chicago and other schools allow these kinds of campaigns against instructors, some professors — especially those without tenure — will avoid discussing critical topics such as race out of fear for their personal security and their careers.

The potential consequences of such threats were recently driven home when a professor and two students were stabbed in a class on gender at the University of Waterloo in Canada in an incident that police say was motivated by hate.

In my book, I argue that many of these kinds of real-world acts of violence are happening because the abuse against women that is tolerated online is reshaping our society’s views of appropriate behavior.

The Supreme Court’s newly declared permissiveness toward online harassment is only likely to embolden more of it. This makes it all the more critical for universities to try to play a role in teaching people how to engage in respectful debates.

But behavior like that of Schmidt does the opposite: It bullies people into silence. That’s why schools shouldn’t allow students to wage personal campaigns to intimidate their teachers.

Similarly, on my own course syllabi, I state that students cannot record or quote from class sessions without written permission. This ensures that students feel comfortable expressing their views — or talking through arguments they haven’t fully formed — without fear that they’ll be quoted by their classmates online and come under the same kind of attack as Journey. All universities should ensure that their faculty members are free to institute such policies, or consider blanket policies to this effect.

The Supreme Court and University of Chicago seem to be blind to the way that tolerating harassment often reduces the free expression of the victims of such abuse. But now that the court has weakened protections against harassment, it’s up to private universities to lead the way and institute policies that ensure all of us — not just bullies — feel free to debate our views.

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How to find CBC journalism if Canadian news disappears from Facebook, Instagram and Google

Story by Brodie Fenlon • July 5,2023

We use this editor's blog to explain our journalism and what's happening at CBC News. You can find more blogs here.

On Monday, I got a personal preview of what a future without Canadian news on social media and search engines looks like.

I had pulled up the CBC News Instagram account on my phone. With more than 662,000 followers, our main news account offers a daily assortment of posts, video journalism, explainers and robust conversation in the comments. It reaches a younger audience that is important to us and, based on the activity we see there, just as interested in independent, fact-based journalism as any other age group we serve.

As I opened the Instagram app, I caught a momentary glimpse of recent stories we had published to the social media platform, which is owned by Meta, the company also behind Facebook. The top posts included a video documenting how a group of high school students had built a wheelchair-friendly lawn mower and donated it to a man in Windsor, Ont., and a story post on the largest-ever high school graduating class at the only school in Pikangikum First Nation. Each had thousands of likes.

And then it all disappeared.

The screen flashed white.

Gone were more than 6,700 posts from over several years, thousands of likes, comments and thumbnails, replaced with a message that reads, "People in Canada can't see this content. In response to Canadian government legislation, news content can't be viewed in Canada."

A screengrab from the Instagram app displays a message explaining that people in Canada cannot see news content in response to the federal government's legislation. (Brodie Fenlon/CBC )© Provided by cbc.ca

A "learn more" link took me to a page that explained, "You can no longer see content from any news outlet accounts, even if you previously followed them or search for them. You can no longer share or view news links on Instagram via stories or Profile Bio links, including news links from any news outlet accounts."

This Instagram lockout of CBC News content on Monday wasn't universal, but we did hear from other people who had the same experience as I did and were wondering what was happening. I suspect I'm among the up to five per cent of Canadian users Meta has indicated will be barred from accessing news content in ongoing tests that began last month.

A glimpse of what's to come

It's a glimpse of what we can expect in the future if Facebook's parent company and Google make good on threats to eliminate Canadian news from their platforms in retaliation for Bill C-18, the federal Online News Act that will force these platforms to strike financial agreements with news media outlets for "fair compensation" — still undefined — when news content appears there.

In Google's case, the California-based company says it will eliminate news links for Canadians from its search, news and discover products when the law comes into effect, expected in December. As the world's largest search engine, the elimination of Canadian news from Google would have a significant impact on users and news publishers alike.

The Instagram lockout I experienced this week suggests Meta may block everything produced by Canadian news organizations and posted on their platforms — not just news links, but original content made specifically for Instagram, such as photos and video.

So why is this happening?

Critics, including Meta and Google, say Bill C-18 is unfair, unworkable and amounts to a tax on links, with no recognition of the traffic or "free marketing" the tech companies provide to news publishers.

The Canadian government and supporting news organizations insist the legislation will ensure fair compensation from "tech giants" that they say built social media audiences on the backs of their content, then siphoned away the majority of digital ad revenue they count on to do journalism.

(For the record, CBC/Radio-Canada's corporate position is that the Online News Act will help level the playing field and contribute to a healthy news ecosystem in Canada "at a time when 80 per cent of digital ad revenue goes to Facebook and Google," said spokesperson Leon Mar.)

Some industry watchers see the tech companies making an aggressive stand in Canada as an international shot across the bow — a warning to other jurisdictions that are considering similar initiatives, following a previous standoff with Australia's government.

This is very much an active story CBC News is covering — even as the public broadcaster is among the players affected by the new law and any industry response to it. Our journalists will continue to cover the story as we do any other that has direct implications for CBC/Radio-Canada: with accuracy, balance, fairness and impartiality.

How to find CBC News coverage

Nonetheless, we know large numbers of Canadians rely on Google and Meta to discover our news coverage. If those sources suddenly cut off access to our news, as Meta did for some Instagram users this week, then we want to ensure Canadians know where to go to find our journalism elsewhere.

Here's a list of other sources of CBC News, followed by a local news directory maintained by CBC/Radio-Canada, which allows you to search for other news providers in your community.

You can also search CBC/Radio-Canada's local news directory for private news outlets in your community. Find names and direct links here.

Wide access to independent fact-based journalism is a pillar of any healthy democracy and we aim to be anywhere people are looking for news.

If third-party platforms independently decide to get out of the news business, for whatever reason, rest assured we will help you find our journalism and make it as easily accessible to you as possible.