A year ago, an Iranian woman's death sparked hijab protests. Now businesses are a new battleground

Iranian women walk in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023. These days, with uncovered women a common sight on Tehran streets, authorities have begun raiding companies where women employees or customers have been seen without the headscarf or hijab. Iran's parliament is discussing a law that would increase punishments on uncovered women and the businesses they frequent. 

(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

NASSER KARIMI and JON GAMBRELL
Wed, August 9, 2023 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — For months, Iranian authorities did little to enforce the law on women covering their hair but now the country’s theocracy is pushing to make businesses the new battleground over the mandatory headscarf.

The effort comes ahead of the first anniversary of nationwide protests that erupted after the Sept. 16 death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of the country's morality police. A crackdown by security forces that followed saw more than 530 people killed and over 22,000 arrested.

These days, with uncovered women a common sight on Tehran streets, authorities have begun raiding companies where women employees or customers have been seen without the headscarf, or hijab. Iran's parliament is discussing a law that would increase punishments on uncovered women and the businesses they frequent.

The developments could foment new unrest as parliamentary elections loom next year and the country's economy struggles under the weight of international sanctions imposed over Iran's nuclear program.


“If I face penalties and punishment, I will wear the headscarf since I am in a ... prominent position,” said Parvaneh, a doctor who treated protesters injured during demonstrations last year. Like several other women who spoke to The Associated Press, she asked that only her first name be used for fear of reprisals.

“But the young people I treated during the protests will not pull back,” she added.

For observant Muslim women, the head covering is a sign of piety before God and modesty in front of men outside their families. In Iran, the hijab — and the all-encompassing black chador worn by some — has long been a political symbol as well, particularly after becoming mandatory in the years following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

After the death of Amini, who was picked up for her allegedly loose headscarf, police were hesitant to strictly enforce the Islamic dress code — possibly to avoid even wider demonstrations and displays of defiance. But in recent weeks, the tone has changed.

“I’m telling you that this lack of hijab will be definitely put an end to,“ hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi said Wednesday.

Authorities have started sending warning text messages to women seen without the veil in cars: around 1 million messages were sent. In time, some 2,000 cars were confiscated and over 4,000 women referred to prosecutors.

Next, security forces scoured social media for companies with images of uncovered women in the workplace. One of the offices of Digikala, a hugely popular digital retail websites with more than 40 million active monthly users, was closed. Also briefly shut were the online bookstore Taghcheh and insurance marketplace Azki.

The crackdown extended beyond the capital of Tehran. In the northern city of Lahaijan, local health officials ordered hospitals and clinics to stop providing services to uncovered woman. In Damavand, a town some 60 kilometers (40 miles) east of Tehran, prosecutors ordered the arrest of a bank manager and a teller over serving a woman not wearing the hijab.

Outdoor café seating is now banned in the northeastern city of Mashhad and hard-liners in Isfahan want to ban the mixed working of men and women in shops.

The entertainment industry is also being watched. Police have threatened to shut down film productions that have women without headscarves working behind cameras.

Judges also have also sentenced female celebrities convicted of not wearing the veil to work in morgues as a public service, in lieu of prison time. They also have to obtain a mental health certificate from a psychologist before they can go back to their regular jobs.

“Instead of addressing people’s legitimate grievances, the regime continues to obsess over the hijab and act as if its very survival depends on whether women dress modestly,” said Haleh Esfandiari, a fellow at the Washington-based Wilson Center and an Iranian-American dual national who was held by Tehran in 2007.

A new bill before Iran's parliament could make penalties for women even more serious. It calls for fines of up to 360 million Iranian rials ($720) and prison sentences for women without the headscarf. The draft legislation also calls for more strictly segregating the sexes in schools, parks, hospitals and other locations.

It also envisages fines on businesses with female staff and customers who do not wear the hijab with up to three months of their income, while offending celebrities can be banned from leaving the country and performing.

The bill would also empower intelligence agencies and the Basij — the all-volunteer force of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that has violently suppressed nationwide protests in the past — to confront women without hijabs.

Hard-liners have long demanded that the Basij enter the fight over the hijab, with some chanting at at Friday prayers in Tehran, “Guard, come to the street, put an end to hijab removal!”

“This is what Islam orders,” said Rahele Kargarnejad, 29, a firm supporter of wearing the hijab. Her two daughters, ages 9 and 11, wear the chador, she added.

But criticism of the proposed bill is already simmering.

Ezzeatollah Zarghami, a hard-line former Guard commander and the current minister for cultural heritage, warned that harsh sentences such as the mandatory morgue work “will cause more and significant problems instead of solving the hijab problem.”

Iran's Supreme Court overturned a court order impounding an uncovered woman's car for a year and revoking her license, setting a precedent.

Even if it passes, prominent lawyer Mahmoud Alizadeh Tabatabei described the draft law as meaningless since “the majority of women do not believe in it.”

“They will find out that the law is not enforceable,” Tabatabaei said.

Meanwhile, politicians known in Iran as reformists have seized on the hijab dispute as they seek to changes Iran's theocracy from within the system. Former President Mohammad Khatami, one of the country's most prominent reformists, has questioned whether enforcing the hijab was “wise and productive.”

With hard-liners dominating the parliament and elections coming up in March, the hijab could become a contested topic ahead of the polls.

But anti-hijab comments may not be enough as reformists have seen their popularity wane following the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal under then-President Hassan Rouhani, also considered a moderate.

On the streets, many Iranian women and girls still forgo the headscarf despite possible consequences.

“After hearing about the bill I made my decision — I will go to my school with the full hijab but I encourage my students to remove it whenever it is possible,” said Mojgan, a 37-year-old secondary school teacher.

“My students are already ahead of me on that,” she added.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

Boaters spot injured bird trying to swim to their boat. A pool noodle saves the day


Screen grab from Facebook

Brooke Baitinger
Wed, August 9, 2023

A group of people were out boating on a lake in British Columbia, Canada, when a peculiar sight caught their eye.

They noticed a “bald eagle bobbing in the water,” so they turned around to rescue it, Natalie Parent said on Facebook July 23.

The eagle flew off as they approached — which revealed another bird in the water where the eagle had been, Parent said.

“This poor Osprey was drowning,” she said. “He actually started to swim to the boat but couldn’t make it.”

So Parent’s husband Ed jumped into action to help the injured bird. Photos show the man swimming out to the bird with a pool noodle, scooping it into a towel and swimming back to the boat with it.

The bird didn’t struggle against him, Ed Parent told CBC’s Daybreak South.

“He knew he was being rescued, and he pulled up his wings,” he said. “He looked at me in the face. My face was inches away from his face — he could have pecked at me, and he didn’t. He just wanted to be rescued.”





Once they got the bird on the boat, they learned it had been injured — probably in a fight with the eagle over a fish, Natalie Parent told the news outlet.

The couple dropped the bird off with a local wildlife rescue organization, and said in the comments on the Facebook post that they expect it to make a full recovery so long as its wound doesn’t get infected.

The osprey is now recovering at BC Wildlife Park in Kamloops, CTV News reported. Tracy Reynolds, the organization’s care manager, told the outlet on Aug. 8 that the bird is “doing really, really well.”

Reynolds said the bird has “quite a lot of bruising” and needed stitches for a deep cut, the outlet reported. She said it’s unlikely the bird would have survived without care.

“So happy you were able to save that beautiful bird!” someone commented on Natalie Parent’s Facebook post.

HINDUTVA ATTACKS

Muslims flee Indian business hub after religious clashes, attacks


A police officer sits outside a mosque that was attacked by a mob, in Gurugram

Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal
Thu, August 10, 2023 
By Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal

GURUGRAM, India (Reuters) - Over 3,000 poor Muslims have fled a business hub outside New Delhi this month, fearing for their lives after Hindu-Muslim clashes and sporadic attacks targeting them, residents, police and a community group said.

Shops and shacks owned or run by Muslims and their houses in two large slum areas were padlocked when Reuters visited them more than a week after seven people were killed in clashes in Nuh and Gurugram districts in Haryana state, adjoining the Indian capital.

The violence began on July 31 after a Hindu religious procession, organised by groups ideologically aligned with the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was targeted and a mosque attacked in retaliation. Police quelled the unrest in 48 hours.

But minor attacks targeting Muslims have continued for days, scaring families who had moved to the new urban centre of Gurugram - where 250 of the Fortune 500 companies have offices - in search of a livelihood.

Stone-throwing, arson and vandalisation of two small Muslim shrines in the slum districts forced hundreds of Muslim families to abandon their single-room houses and seek shelter at a train station before heading out, witnesses said.

"Many of us spent the entire night on a railway platform because it was much safer there," Raufullah Javed, a tailor who fled to his home village in the eastern state of Bihar, told Reuters by phone.

The Gurugram president of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind (Council of Indian Muslim Theologians) Mufti Mohammed Salim estimated that more than 3,000 Muslims had left the district after the violence.

Four Muslim shopkeepers who also fled to their villages in eastern India said by phone that members of hardline Hindu groups had questioned them about their businesses and families.

"Some Hindu men came in a large group and started asking questions such as how much money I earn," said Shahid Sheikh, a barber who fled from Tigra village, home to over 1,200 Muslim families.

"Many Muslims decided it's best to leave for a while," said Sheikh, adding that some Hindu owners of shops rented out to Muslims wanted them to vacate.

Tensions between India's majority Hindus and minority Muslims have risen over issues such as the eating of beef and inter-faith marriages with Muslims saying they have been increasingly targeted by Hindu activists since Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP government took power in 2014.

BJP leaders say clashes between the two communities have broken out in the past as well and have been less frequent since they came to power.

The trouble in Gurugram, a city of over 1.5 million people formerly known as Gurgaon, has exposed multinationals such as Google, American Express, Dell, Samsung, Ernst & Young and Deloitte based there to risks of violence and disruption.

Haryana police said they had arrested over 200 men from both communities in connection with the violence and some Muslims who had fled had begun to trickle back.

Anil Vij, the interior minister of Haryana's BJP government, said he had received reports of some Muslims leaving but the situation is completely under control now.

"No one is asking them to leave and we are providing full security in all communally sensitive areas," he told Reuters.

(Reporting by Rupam Jain and Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh and Angus MacSwan)

India's Modi appeals for peace in Manipur, months after ethnic clashes erupted in the state

TO LITTLE TOO LATE TO CALL OFF HIS FOLLOWERS

 Dozens of houses lay vandalized and burnt during ethnic clashes and rioting in Sugnu, in Manipur, India, June 21, 2023. For three months, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been largely silent on ethnic violence that has killed over 150 people in the remote state in India’s northeast. That's sparked a no-confidence motion against his government in Parliament, where his party and allies hold a clear majority. 

(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)


KRUTIKA PATHI and ASHOK SHARMA
Thu, August 10, 2023 

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's Narendra Modi appealed for peace during a Parliament debate Thursday, after opposition lawmakers had called for a no-confidence vote, accusing the prime minister of staying silent as a northeastern state governed by his party convulsed in months of ethnic violence.

Modi raised the conflict in Manipur state some 90 minutes into his speech in response to the no-confidence motion — and only as opposition lawmakers staged a walk-out in frustration.

It was Modi's first statement about the violence in Manipur, where clashes since early May between two dominant ethnic groups have killed over 150 people and displaced more than 50,000. The opposition has slammed Modi's silence and moved the no-confidence motion to force him to address the conflict from the Parliament floor.

For an hour and a half, Modi did not mention the crisis but made repeated digs at the opposition. Many opposition lawmakers stood up and chanted “Manipur! Manipur!” before walking out in protest.


“The central and the state governments are working towards peace. I assure people of Manipur that peace will be restored soon,” Modi said. “The country is with you. We will sit together and find a solution to the current challenge to restore peace and put Manipur on the path of development.”

Last month, after a video surfaced showing an assault on two women being paraded naked and groped in the state, Modi condemned the incident but held back from addressing the overall conflict.

After the opposition walkout, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies easily defeated the no-confidence motion — an expected development as they control more than 360 seats in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the powerful lower house.

The opposition argued that the motion was meant to force Modi to address the Manipur violence in Parliament, which has been locked in an intense impasse for weeks over the crisis.

“We succeeded in ending Modi’s silence and made him speak in Parliament,” Gaurav Gogoi, a lawmaker from the opposition Congress Party, told reporters outside Parliament.

“Modi is running away from his responsibility to provide justice to the people of Manipur," he added. "He should visit the state.”

In his speech, Modi said the violence in Manipur was saddening. “Crimes against women are unacceptable and the central government as well as the state government will work to ensure the guilty are punished,” he added.

During three days of debate, opposition leaders accused Modi and his party of failing to quell the bloodshed for months despite a heavy army presence in Manipur and demanded he fire the state’s top elected official, who is from Modi’s party.

The conflict in Manipur erupted after the minority Christian Kukis protested a demand by mostly Hindu Meiteis for a special status that would let them buy land in the hills populated by Kukis and other tribal groups and get a share of government jobs.

Armed mobs torched homes and buildings, killed scores of civilians, looted weapons from police armories and drove tens of thousands from their homes.

On Wednesday, opposition leader Rahul Gandhi accused Modi's government of silencing people’s voices and creating a civil war-like situation.

In response, Home Minister Amit Shah defended the government’s handling of Manipur and said they were deeply concerned about the violence.

The government was working with both ethnic communities to bring peace, Shah said, but critics say it has shared little about plans on how to resolve the crisis.

Opinion

China and Russia have achieved naval success off Alaska – where the US Navy has no bases

Tom Sharpe
Tue, August 8, 2023

Most of the time it doesn't come to this - Russia Defence Ministry

Two days ago, eleven Russian and Chinese warships came together off the coast of Alaska in the largest gathering of its kind yet seen. The US Navy sent four destroyers in their direction as a response. All these ships have now dispersed, seemingly with no up-close interaction. There have been similar occurrences previously.

Not too long ago I commanded the Royal Navy’s standby warship tasked with responding to events such as this if they happened in UK waters (they did) and so I have been involved in similar occurrences.

Basically there are two reasons why navies gather and operate together like this, both simple – to influence (task one) and to prepare to fight (task two).


Task one, Naval Influence, covers a vast range of activities that take place around the clock around the world and often unseen. Activities range from patrol vessels visiting ports in the Indo-Pacific, to frigates escorting Russian warships as they transit the Channel, to signalling the Argentinians that a nuclear-powered attack submarine is on its way, to sitting an aircraft carrier off someone’s coast. There are many others but ‘we have this and we’re not afraid to use it’ is the gist of it, a messaging activity that navies spend a lot of their time on.

In this recent instance, the Chinese and Russian message to friend and foe alike was, ‘we can operate together, far from home and with impunity’.

Is that provocative in itself? Not really, and besides, it’s the same message the Royal Navy’s carrier strike group gave during its 2021 deployment to the Indo-Pacific, and the same message US warships send all the time.

Task two is more interesting – preparing for what happens when task one fails. Operating warships together is much harder than Hollywood would have you believe and needs constant practice. Gathering in one place in formation for a photo is one thing: learning how to fight together is something else entirely.

The network required to make ships capable of fighting together extends well beyond the platforms themselves. Intelligence systems, logistics, communications, orders, rules of engagement, all require a high degree of commonality and understanding to work. Nato ships have an advantage here as by and large they all operate using the same rule books but even then it can take days to get everyone on the same communications circuits and operating from the same picture. The first week of the multinational maritime exercise held off Scotland twice a year is called the Integration Phase for a reason – and these are countries that operate warships together all the time.

If you do work with someone where these things don’t mesh as easily, things get complicated quickly. In 2007, HMS Ark Royal sailed from Portsmouth in company with two Chinese naval vessels; the guided missile destroyer Guangzhou and the supply ship Weishanhu. The aim was to conduct a search and rescue exercise. In the end, a formation photo is just about all we could manage. Totally different languages, doctrines and communications systems.

This latest meeting of the Chinese and Russian navies delivered both tasks. My assessment is 80/20 in favour of Influence – here we are talking about it, we have been influenced by the deployment. It will take a lot more practice for China and Russia to be able to fight together, but it’s a start.

The other thing this deployment has done is highlight the strategic importance of Alaska, this vast state purchased by the US from the Russians in 1867 for 7.2 million dollars and only 50 miles from Russian territory even today.

Alaska gives the US its foothold in the High North, a part of the world where conflict at some point feels inevitable despite Nato’s increasing strength there: every Arctic nation except Russia will soon be in Nato. It’s rich in oil and gas and 29 per cent of Alaska is covered by glaciers. The Aleutian Islands, stretching some 1200 miles out to the west, are home to the Cobra Dane radar station, the US’s first line of defence against ballistic missile attack. Though Alaska’s population density is such that if it was Manhattan there would be just 16 people there, it is nonetheless one of the most populated places in the High North. Alaska matters.

The Aleutian islands are relevant here as the Chinese-Russian gathering took place near them rather than mainland Alaska. Legally, the implications are the same: as a practical matter they are not. If the Isles of Scilly stretched halfway across the Atlantic, our response to Russian warships operating there would be different to them anchoring in the Moray Firth.

But what is the right response? The US Navy sent four destroyers this time – which has been met with general approval. The decision to send a single coastguard cutter last September to intercept seven Russian and Chinese warships was not. The appropriate level of response is a hard one as it entirely depends on your philosophical stance. In 2016, conversations in the British Ministry of Defence around the Russian carrier Kuznetsov heading home through the Channel ranged from ‘let it go – don’t stoke their propaganda machine’ to ‘let’s get everything out of the door and give them a show of strength’.

Where you personally sit on this continuum will determine what you think is the right response. Often these philosophical debates resolve themselves when they meet the cold reality of available resources. In this case, the US Navy having four destroyers available for short notice retasking is impressive. Also, it’s not all about navy vs navy – having the intelligence, surveillance apparatus and aircraft in place to detect and track ships and then message to say you are doing both, is just as important.

That the Russians and Chinese are increasing the regularity of these meet-ups is of note when one considers their strategic relationship more generally. Eyes are inevitably drawn to Taiwan when talk of conflict with China comes up but what does any of this mean in the High North or the Middle East, which offers scope for some disagreement between the two in recent months? Will this cooperation alter their discussions about Ukraine? As ever with joint exercises, conversations reach much deeper than just the ships.

And when these questions are answered, will the US military change its posture in Alaska? There are nine US bases there but none belong to the Navy or Marines. The USN has two icebreakers, Russia has fifty-four. Should USN surface combatants operate there more often? Any such move will mean resources inevitably have to be taken from elsewhere, but to me this sort of practical discussion is more interesting than breathless talk of incursions and invasions.

Surface warships meeting and operating with allies is as old as navies, as is exercising one’s legal right to operate on the High Seas. Such deployments influence friends and deter adversaries, and then affords precious opportunities to learn how to fight together if that fails.

My assessment is that Russia and China still have a way to go in this regard. More interesting will be to track what this means to their political relationship and what it means to US operating posture in that part of the world.

Tom Sharpe is a former Royal Navy officer. He commanded an anti-submarine frigate on operations in the Greenland-Iceland-UK Gap, involving live contact with Russian ships and submarines

A Ukrainian making gear for the war says his cheap tech wouldn't work against the US or China, but 'we're fighting the Russians'


Sinéad Baker
Thu, August 10, 2023 

A Russian howitzer fires toward Ukrainian positions at an undisclosed location.Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP

A Ukrainian producer of cheaper headsets for troops said they wouldn't work against China or the US.

"But it doesn't need to. We're fighting the Russians," he said.

The company is part of an incubator that includes 100s of projects making military tech for Ukraine.

A Ukrainian creating technology for soldiers to use on the front lines said devices that wouldn't work against the US or China work just fine against Russia's forces.

Misha Rudominski, the cofounder of Himera Tech, which makes jam-resistant radio handsets, told Bloomberg that his technology "wouldn't defeat US or Chinese electronic warfare systems, but it doesn't need to. We're fighting the Russians."

Himera Tech's headsets make use of readily available chips rather than military-grade ones, which makes them cheaper but less secure.

"We wanted to build a solution that is just good enough," Rudominski said.

Since its invasion, Russia's military has had to resort to using old technology and weapons. This includes decades-old tanks and aged missiles, as well as newer tanks fitted out with older and less sophisticated systems.

Russian troops have also been recorded using civilian phones rather than more secure means of communication.

Ukraine, meanwhile, has benefited from more advanced weapons sent to it by its Western allies.

But in the background, Ukrainians have also started to make or modify their own military equipment.

Himera Tech is part of a Ukrainian government incubator that has hundreds of projects making military technology.

Bloomberg reported that other projects in the incubator, called Brave 1, include a company making power banks from discarded e-cigarettes that can charge drones and night-vision gear, and one making robots that can carry supplies and evacuate wounded troops.

Another is making a web-based test to find warning signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, Bloomberg reported.

Ukrainians are also busy producing cheap, 3D-printed bombs that are already in use on the battlefield.

Himera Tech started working on its headsets after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, trying to make more affordable models for Ukraine's military to use.

According to Rudominski, there are now about 600 of its headsets in use on the front lines, after the first units came off the production line in April. By the end of the year, they expect to be making between 2,000 and 3,000 units a month.

The company also wants to partner with the Ukrainian defense ministry to increase its monthly output to 10,000 units.

It's part of a larger trend that could aid Ukraine's war efforts.

"Our task is to develop military technologies in Ukraine," Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's minister for digital transformation, told Bloomberg.

Read the original article on Business Insider

WHITE SUPREMACY U$A

Survey: Nearly 40% of Republicans believe racial equality efforts have gone 'too far'

Sixty years after the March on Washington, a new survey offers fresh insight into Americans' views of progress on racial equality.

Marquise Francis
·National Reporter
Thu, August 10, 2023 

A Republican voter, left, and cvil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP; AFP via Getty Images)

Sixty years after civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. gave his monumental “I Have a Dream” speech at the March on Washington advocating for racial equality for all Americans, particularly Black Americans, a new Pew Research survey found that more than one in three Republicans say these efforts have gone “too far.”

The report — based on a survey of 5,073 U.S. adults and conducted April 10-16 online — analyzed Americans' views of progress on racial equality six decades removed from the height of the civil rights movement. Its findings revealed that 37% of Republicans say efforts to ensure equality for all, regardless of race and ethnicity, have gone too far.

In contrast, just 24% of Republicans say these efforts have not gone far enough. Most Democrats, or 78%, agree, compared to just 6% of Democrats who say that efforts have gone too far

“There’s no consensus among Americans on how much progress the country has made in ensuring racial equality in the last 60 years,” Juliana Horowitz, the report’s author, told Yahoo News, noting that views “vary considerably” by race, ethnicity and political affiliation.

Republican and Democratic supporters protest as US President Donald Trump visits the Trump National Golf Club on September 5, 2020, in Sterling, Virginia. 

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

‘Democrats and Republicans see the world differently’

Overall, about half of Americans, or 52%, say there’s been a great deal or a fair amount of progress in the last sixty years, while 33% say there’s been some progress and 15% say there hasn’t been much or any progress at all.

For many people, the survey results validate a sense of stagnation they had felt in recent years, particularly in the aftermath of the 2020 murder of George Floyd, where for months millions of people and corporations pledged to combat racial justice. Last month, several leaders of local Black Lives Matter chapters expressed doubt about whether real progress has occurred for Black Americans since 2020.

The results of this Pew survey come just weeks after a Yahoo News/YouGov poll revealed that the majority of Donald Trump voters believe that racism against white Americans has become a bigger problem than racism against Black Americans. More specifically, 62% of Trump voters say that racism against Black Americans is a problem today — while 73% say that racism against white Americans is a problem.

Both sets of data — from Trump voters and self-identified Republicans, overlapping but not identical cohorts — in comparison to Democrats offer insight into how political affiliations shape Americans’ view on issues regarding race.

Between 200,000 and 500,000 demonstrators participate in the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Aug. 28, 1963. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“The idea that there’s partisan polarization in terms of viewpoint is just a general fact of life,” Andra Gillespie, an Emory University political science professor, told Yahoo News. “Democrats and Republicans see the world differently.”

“We also cannot ignore the demographic realities of what the Democratic and Republican coalitions look like, with the Democratic coalition having a disproportionate share of people of color and [a] disproportionate share of Black folks,” she added.
The racial climate in 1963

In 1963, the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation, life for African Americans was bleak: high levels of Black unemployment, little to no economic mobility and the disenfranchisement in every facet of American life was pervasive throughout the country, especially the South. It was this lack of progress that led to frequent boycotts and mass demonstrations.

King's speech at the March on Washington galvanized supporters of desegregation and prompted the Civil Rights Act of 1964. ( AFP via Getty Images)

As King and other Black leaders stood before the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., in front of upwards of 250,000 people, advocating for equitable economic and civil rights for Black Americans, the country was in the midst of the largest civil rights movement it had seen at the time. When Dr. King took the podium on Aug. 28, 1963 and gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, it ultimately served as a rallying cry for Black Americans to press on despite the daily hardships of Jim Crow, a racial caste system in which African Americans were relegated to second-class citizens.

Sixty years later, some believe that, while total progress has not been achieved, the considerable steps forward for Black Americans cannot be understated.

“We would be remiss to deny progress,” Gillespie said. “There has been progress that has been made. On the other hand, it has been uneven.”

“The problem is the problem of narrative,” she added. “We Americans like a nice neat story that we can tie up with a bow. This isn't that story and it's never been that story. The story has actually always been jagged.”

THEY ARE BACK

Male employees seem to really hate it when their companies advertise abortion access—but it makes the job applications roll in

Irina Ivanova
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Getty Images


For a moment last summer, after the Supreme Court ended a federally guaranteed right to abortion by overturning Roe v. Wade, corporate America seemingly leapt to fill the gap.

Hundreds of companies — including household names like Apple, Amazon, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Match Group, Uber, Tesla and Zillow — pledged they would pay for workers to access abortion care if their states denied it in announcements that drew fierce criticism from conservatives.

How did many of these same workers feel about that? Research released Tuesday indicates they were just as polarized as politicians.

Companies that publicly announced an abortion benefit saw a rise in interest from potential applicants, but they also made some existing male workers unhappy, as evidenced by poor ratings of their management.

“The polarization that we currently see, particularly on this topic, is clearly seeping into our jobs,” said Svenja Gudell, chief economist at Indeed Hiring Lab and one of the study’s authors. “You don’t think of yourself as clocking in and out of work anymore; you want to bring your whole self to work,” she added.

The study—conducted by Indeed, the University of Southern California, the University of Maryland, and IZA Institute of Labor Economics—examined 317 companies, 2.5 million postings with wage information, and 6.5 million company reviews, comparing data before and after the Dobbs ruling on June 24 of last year.

Companies that declared their support for reproductive rights saw an 8% increase in clicks on their job postings compared with companies that said nothing, the research found. That’s similar to the increase generated by bumping up advertised pay by 12%, according to Indeed.

The increase was especially pronounced for job postings in female-dominated industries in states that restricted abortion, as well as for jobs located in Democratic-leaning states. Perhaps aware of public reactions, companies became less likely to announce support for abortion access the more workers they had in abortion-restricting states.

“Companies use this to message out into the world something about their workplace, their ideology, their culture and the values they hold,” Gudell said.
Male workers rewarded for their bad attitudes

But that message also generated a backlash: poor reviews from a small group of male workers. Companies that had announced support for abortion care saw an 8% drop in reviews of senior management, compared with companies that stayed silent. The effect was concentrated in male-dominated jobs, such as software engineers, and in high-paying fields.

Companies sought to compensate for this by actually raising pay an average of 4% where management ratings had declined, with firms that saw the biggest attitude problems raising pay the most, Indeed found.

Why the poor rating from male workers? Indeed cites a list of possible reasons, including “cultural beliefs, political views or preferences for businesses not to take a political stance.”

There’s also the likelihood that male employees are less likely than female ones to directly use a reproductive health care benefit, and may feel resentful that others might be getting a generous benefit they can’t use. (The average worth of an abortion-care benefit was pegged at $4,500, based on Indeed’s analysis of corporate announcements.)

Research has demonstrated that abortion access, while painted as a cultural issue, is a huge boost for women’s economic participation. Being able to end an unwanted pregnancy raises women’s pay and makes them more likely to complete college, while reducing the number of children who live in poverty. By comparison, women who seek and are denied abortion are more likely to fall into debt and file for bankruptcy.

For Gudell, the research is an indication that corporate pledges can’t make up for a lack of public policy.

“These benefits that companies offer should not be a substitute for actually having either state or federally mandated access to healthcare,” she said, noting that the higher-paid jobs that offered these benefits employed the people least likely to need financial help when seeking abortion care. “We can already see the issues this will cause.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Struggling Chinese graduates return to hometowns as job market sags

Ella Cao, Ryan Woo
Wed, August 9, 2023 

Graduation ceremony at Central China Normal University in Wuhan

BEIJING (Reuters) -A growing number of Chinese graduates are abandoning the bright lights of the country's mega-cities, with state media reporting almost half are returning to their hometowns within six months of graduation amid a sagging job market.

Feeling the pinch of rising housing costs and a slowing economy, the jobless graduates are forfeiting cities that have traditionally provided a stepping stone to middle-class wealth. To save money, some have even resorted to sharing a bed with a stranger.

China's youth jobless rate jumped to a record 21.3% in June as offers during the traditional job-hunting season proved limited as the economy struggled and regulatory clamp-downs left the property, tech and education sectors bruised.

In June, a statistics bureau official said that more than 6 million young people were unemployed.

Some 47% of graduates returned home within six months of graduation in 2022, up from 43% in 2018, state-run China News Service reported on Tuesday, citing a private sector survey.

The numbers varied by region, with 59% of graduates in the well-developed east heading home. That compared to 44% in the west and just 24% in the northeast rust belt.

Also pushing the young to return home were soaring rents. Among China's biggest first-tier cities, rents in Beijing climbed 5% from December to June followed by 2.8% gains in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

'SEEKING BEDMATES'

Not everyone is giving up.

After sending 10 copies of her resume to financial companies each month, Joyce Zhang, a 2022 graduate with a masters degree in financial engineering, said she had still not found a job in Beijing but was not going home yet.

"I've considered going back to Inner Mongolia to work, as the financial sector is not doing good recently. But I guess I still want to give it a try," Zhang told Reuters.

Zhang's parents are paying her monthly rent of 2,600 yuan ($361) for a 12-square-metre (129-square-foot) room with a shared kitchen and bathroom.

Policymakers have rolled out measures to support youth seeking work and rental housing, with some more creative than others.

A district in Hangzhou in eastern Zhejiang province offers free rent for eligible people in a nursing home, as long as they spend 10 hours or more a month with the elderly and pay a 300 yuan management fee.

To keep costs down as they stay longer in hope of finding a job, some young mega-city drifters even share their beds with strangers. On China's Instagram-like Xiaohongshu and WeChat groups, "seeking bedmates" posts have become more common.

One such post was looking for a roommate to share one bed in a room "with a huge balcony" in Beijing. The rental fee: 750 yuan ($104) per month.

($1 = 7.2004 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Ella Cao and Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Conor Humphries)

RIP
B.C. firefighters honour fallen colleague Zak Muise at memorial and on frontline

The Canadian Press
Wed, August 9, 2023



PENTICTON, B.C. — Firefighters on British Columbia's northern wildfire frontline wore black bandanas Wednesday while others carrying helmets and axes marched in Penticton during a memorial procession to honour colleague Zak Muise.

Muise, 25, died late last month fighting the massive Donnie Creek wildfire in B.C.'s northeast.

First responders, including municipal and forest firefighters, police, paramedics and others formed a procession at the Okanagan city's Skaha Lake Park, followed by an outdoor public memorial for Muise, who grew up in Ontario and was the youngest of six siblings.

Andrew Bird, training officer at the Penticton Fire Department, took part in the honour guard.

Bird said Muise's parents marched in the procession and were presented with a folded Canadian flag.

"We're all here looking out for each other. It was an honour to be there for him and Zak's family," Bird said.

Bird said firefighters from California, Washington state and across the Okanagan took part in the march. He said Muise's firefighting gear was carried during the procession.

Muise is the fourth firefighter to die in recent weeks during what is on track to be Canada's worst forest fire season on record.

The Muise family said the outpouring of support and the memorial have meant a lot as they grieve their loss.

"We are devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of our son, brother and friend," Muise's sister Allison Tackaberry said. "Zak loved life and loved what he was doing. He will be missed by all who knew him."

A celebration of life for Muise will be held Aug. 20 in Simcoe, Ont.

"We are so grateful for the time we had with him," the family said in an obituary. "We are so grateful for all first responders. Our hearts go out to all the families of fallen firefighters, first responders and those left who are still fighting."

Those wanting to make an expression of sympathy can consider a donation to the Canadian Critical Incident Stress Foundation, which provides organizational and family support, education and training for first responders, veterans and their families coping with loss, the family said.

"Rest easy brother," Big Cat Wildfire, the B.C. company Muise worked for as a wildland firefighter, posted on social media.

RCMP said Muise, from Waterford, Ont., died on July 28 when his heavy-duty ATV rolled over a steep drop on a gravel road in a remote area about 150 kilometres north of Fort St. John.

Last month, 19-year-old Devyn Gale died fighting a wildfire near her home in Revelstoke, B.C.; Adam Yeadon, 25, died fighting a wildfire near his Fort Liard, N.W.T. home; and Alberta resident Ryan Gould, 41, died near Haig Lake, 140 kilometres northeast of Peace River, Alta., when his helicopter crashed while fighting another fire.

B.C. Premier David Eby said in a statement following Muise's death: “I am devastated to learn that we have lost another wildfire fighter. My heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of this front-line hero. On behalf of all British Columbians, we grieve this terrible news with you."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 9, 2023.

Dirk Meissner, The Canadian Press

Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve, A Hidden Gem West Of The Hills

SWAN HILLS, ALBERTA
Local Journalism Initiative
Wed, August 9, 2023

Nestled within the loftiest expanse of the Swan Hills uplands, the Goose Mountain Ecological Reserve (GMER) is a hidden gem of the local area. Encompassing a substantial 1,246.48 hectares, this ecological reserve stands as a sanctuary, shielded from the intrusion of motor vehicles, specimen collection, and expeditions that might disrupt the delicate local vegetation.

Rising an impressive 600 meters above the encircling lowlands, the area is characterized by broad plateaus that quickly transition to steeply sloping hills. The prevailing vegetative tapestry is that of a coniferous woodland made up of balsam and subalpine fir hybrids, Engelmann and white spruce hybrids, and lodgepole pine with tall clusters of alder and willow flourishing on dampened slopes.

Designated an ecologi­cal reserve means that the area is protected. No overnight camping or open fires are allowed, and the use of motorized vehicles is not permitted.

Ecological reserves contain rare and fragile landscapes, plants, animals and geological features. Their primary intent is the strict preservation of natural ecosystems, habitats, features and associated biodiver­sity. These reserves serve as outdoor laboratories and classrooms for scien­tific studies related to the natural environment, and as such, ecological re­serves are only open to the public for low-impact activities such as photog­raphy and wildlife view­ing

Roughly 43.5 km northwest of the Town of Swan Hills, the GMER is accessible by Goose Tower Road. According to the Town of Swan Hills website, “The Goose Tower Road is a privately owned oilfield road that is subject to weather. The main soil base is clay shale with moisture that quickly turns into greasy mud.” The write-up then aptly suggests that people planning to visit the GMER use a four-wheel-vehicle, monitor the weather, and notify another party of their plans in case they run into difficulty. The passage ends with the warning, “The weather changes quickly and drastically in this area and the roads quickly become impassable.”

Please take these warnings about the road seriously. My wife, Tara, and I drove to the GMER this past weekend, and Goose Tower Road is not for the faint of heart as it approaches the Reserve. In the final 10 km or so, there was a spot where the southern half of the road had partially washed out; someone had lodged about three large branches upright into a hole in the road to mark it for other motorists. There were roughly four areas between this spot and the Reserve where the road became extremely muddy; our truck nearly didn’t make it through the second muddy area, and then we did become stuck in the third. Luckily, we were able to work our way out. We made a point to get out of the vehicle and survey each muddy area on foot before proceeding on the return trip and were able to avoid further issues.

The trip to the GMER made for an incredible drive and a fun adventure. We saw some beautiful flowers along the way and witnessed stunning views of the surrounding landscape through breaks in the treeline along the road. While we came across indications that bears had recently been in the area, including tracks and some very fresh scat, we did not actually see any bears on this outing.

If you would like to visit the GMER, please heed the warnings about Goose Tower Road. Pick a time when the weather has been dry for at least a few days, ensure that you take a sturdy four-wheel-drive vehicle, notify someone of your plans and when they should expect you to return, and take your time to proceed cautiously. Prepare for a hike through the bush in bear country and take precautions to keep yourself safe (make noise as you go, carry bear spray, avoid heading out between dusk and dawn, etc.). And bring a cell phone; we found that we generally had at least one bar of reception throughout the trip. Sturdy footwear and clothing are also recommended; a tank top and flip-flops won’t quite cut it for this type of outing.

Remember, nature is for all to enjoy, leave the site as you found it; don’t pick or dig up the plants, shrubs or trees, and please don’t litter.

Be sure to have fun and stay safe!

Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/1e0daf0fb81e43f5bdb63831a53b2a14

Swan Hills and Slave Point Formations StoryMap 

The Swan Hills Formation carbonate platform and reef complex is located in the subsurface in the west-central plains of Alberta, and is named after a series of ...