Officials can't interfere with local Tennessee Pride festival under anti-drag law, judge rules

The Canadian Press
Fri, September 1, 2023



NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A federal judge ruled Friday that law enforcement officials can't use a Tennessee law that strictly limits drag shows to interfere with a local Pride festival this weekend, favoring event organizers who sued after a district attorney warned he intends to enforce the new statute even after another federal judge ruled it unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Ronnie Greer in Knoxville granted a temporary restraining order that prevents District Attorney Ryan Desmond and other local law enforcement officials from enforcing the state law or interfering with the Blount County Pride festival scheduled for Saturday. That includes no discouraging of third parties from hosting or modifying the event, including the venue of Maryville College, the judge wrote.

Earlier this year, a federal judge across the state in Memphis ruled Tennessee’s anti-drag show law was “unconstitutionally vague and substantially overbroad,” and encouraged “discriminatory enforcement.” The ruling was celebrated by LGBTQ+ advocates, but it quickly sparked questions because the court declared the decision only applied to Shelby County, where Memphis lies.

While some legal experts have speculated district attorneys across the state wouldn’t enforce a law a federal judge said violated the First Amendment, others, including state Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, were quick to point out the law remained in effect outside of Shelby County. Skrmetti's office is appealing the ruling applying to Shelby County.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee and other civil rights lawyers brought the lawsuit Wednesday on behalf of the organizers. Drag performer Flamy Grant, who was hired to perform at the event, is also a plaintiff.

Desmond sent a letter to Blount County Pride organizers this week announcing he planned to enforce the state’s anti-drag law.

“It is certainly possible that the event in question will not violate any of the criminal statutes,” Desmond wrote. “However if sufficient evidence is presented to this office that these referenced criminal statutes have been violated, our office will ethically and justly prosecute these cases in the interest of justice.”

The letter was addressed to the Pride organizers, as well as the county mayor, law enforcement groups and other public officials.

In Friday's court ruling, the judge wrote the Memphis federal judge's previous ruling was "well-written, scrupulously researched, and highly persuasive." He also wrote that "the record strongly, and maybe even conclusively, suggests that District Attorney Desmond issued his notice in response" to Flamy Grant's inclusion in the festival's entertainment plans.

“This ruling allows us to fully realize Blount Pride’s goal of creating a safe place for LGBTQ people to connect, celebrate, and share resources,” Blount Pride Board President Ari Baker said in a news release. "We appreciate the community support and look forward to celebrating with you all on Saturday.”

Amy Wilhite, spokesperson for the attorney general's office, said they expect the issues raised in the Blount County case to be “decisively resolved” by the state's appeal in the Shelby County case.

In a court filing responding to the lawsuit, Desmond wrote his letter did not threaten enforcement.

The judge responded that Desmond did warn would-be violators of the law about his authority and intention to prosecute them. Additionally, the judge wondered why the district attorney sent the notice to multiple local law enforcement officials “if, as he now claims, his notice is merely a paper tiger and nothing more.”

In conservative Tennessee, drag performances and LGBTQ+ rights have increasingly been targeted by the Republican-dominant General Assembly.

The Legislature’s GOP supermajority and Republican Gov. Bill Lee enacted the anti-drag show law in March. Many supporters said drag performances in their hometowns made it necessary to restrict them from taking place in public or where children could view them.

Notably, the word “drag” doesn’t appear in the new law. Instead, the statute changed the definition of adult cabaret in Tennessee to mean “adult-oriented performances that are harmful to minors.” Male or female impersonators are now classified as a form of adult cabaret, akin to strippers and topless, go-go, or exotic dancers.

The law banned adult cabaret performances on public property or anywhere minors might be present. Performers who break the law risk being charged with a misdemeanor or a felony for a repeat offense.

The ACLU of Tennessee has previously said drag shows do not inherently fall under the law’s narrow definitions, which include extreme sexual or violent content without artistic value. But the ACLU and other advocates for LGBTQ+ rights have feared that officials could use the law subjectively to censor drag artists.

Since the ruling affecting Shelby County, Lee has refused to weigh in on whether district attorneys should continue enforcing the law, saying he would defer to the attorney general.

The Blount County district attorney's office did not answer a phone call seeking comment on the decision.

Jonathan Mattise, The Associated Press

UCP ALBERTA COUNTRY

Four youths charged after foul-smelling substance released during Fort Macleod drag event


CBC
Fri, September 1, 2023 

The historic Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, Alta., where a noxious substance was released during a Pride event last weekend. (Justin Pennell/CBC - image credit)

Investigators have charged four youths in connection to the release of a foul-smelling substance at a drag event hosted at the historic Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, Alta.

RCMP say the youths have each been charged with one count of mischief under $5,000. They cannot be named due to the restrictions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Police said their investigation found that last Saturday four people threw fisher and marten lure oil in the town's 112-year-old theatre, "causing a very foul smell."

The incident occurred during a performance of Drag Out the Love — a show organizers said was created out of a need to host a safe space for LGBTQ people and allies in Fort Macleod, a town located about 170 kilometres south of Calgary.

The Empress Theatre has been closed after it was damaged while hosting a drag show on Saturday,

The Empress Theatre closed after it was damaged while hosting a drag show last Saturday. (Justin Pennell/CBC)

Investigators are still seeking information regarding a second incident they say was targeted at Pride events in the community later that same Saturday. That's when RCMP say they were notified of five male suspects burning a Pride flag in Centennial Park.

"The Alberta RCMP takes any crimes directed against a specific group very seriously, urges the public to report any potential hate incidents, and responds to all such reports," police said in a statement.

They say reporting hate incidents allows them to provide anyone needing support services to receive the help. They say it may also assist with related investigations and document repeat behaviours.

"Reporting also sends an important message that these acts will not be tolerated in our communities," RCMP said.

AVOIDING THE CHRISTIE MOMENT
DeSantis won't meet with Biden during president's trip to survey Idalia damage


Fri, September 1, 2023 



WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ' office said Friday that he's not going to meet with President Joe Biden when the Democrat flies to Florida this weekend to survey damage from Hurricane Idalia, suggesting that doing so could hinder disaster response.

“In these rural communities, and so soon after impact, the security preparations alone that would go into setting up such a meeting would shut down ongoing recovery efforts,” DeSantis spokesman Jeremy Redfern said in a statement.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning along Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 3 storm, causing widespread flooding and damage before moving north to drench Georgia and North Carolina. Biden is set to fly to Florida on Saturday to tour the damage personally.

But DeSantis preemptively heading off a meeting contradicts Biden himself, who, when asked after an event at the White House earlier Friday whether he would meet with DeSantis during his trip to Florida, replied, “Yes.”

It’s also a break from the recent past, since Biden and DeSantis met when the president toured Florida after Hurricane Ian hit the state last year, and following the Surfside condo collapse in Miami Beach in summer 2021. But DeSantis is now running for president, and he only left the Republican primary trail last week with Idalia barreling toward his state.

The politics of putting aside rivalries following natural disasters can be tricky. Another 2024 presidential candidate, former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, was widely criticized in GOP circles for embracing then-President Barack Obama during a tour of damage 2012's Hurricane Sandy did to his state. Christie was even asked about the incident last month, during the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee.

Both Biden and DeSantis at first suggested that helping storm victims would outweigh politics. But DeSantis' sentiments began to shift as the week wore on.

“There’s a time and a place to have political season,” the governor said before Idalia made landfall. “But then there’s a time and a place to say that this is something that’s life threatening, this is something that could potentially cost somebody their life, it could cost them their livelihood.”

By Friday, though, the governor was telling reporters of Biden, “one thing I did mention to him on the phone” was “it would be very disruptive to have the whole security apparatus that goes" with the president "because there are only so many ways to get into” many of the hardest hit areas.

That eventually prompted the statement saying DeSantis would shun a meeting.

Such sentiment is consistent with a governor building his White House bid around dismantling what he calls Democrats' “woke" policies. DeSantis also frequently draws applause at GOP rallies by declaring that it's time to send “Joe Biden back to his basement," a reference to the Democrat's Delaware home, where he spent much of his time during the early lockdowns of the coronavirus pandemic.

Still, Biden suggested earlier in the week that he and DeSantis were cooperating easily. While delivering pizzas to workers at the Washington headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the president said he'd spoken to DeSantis so frequently about Idalia that “there should be a direct dial” between the pair.

Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall pointed to the experiences after Ian and Surfside when telling reporters at the White House this week that Biden and DeSantis "are very collegial when we have the work to do together of helping Americans in need, citizens of Florida in need.”

And yet, the post-Idalia politics could be complicated for both sides.

The president announced his bid for reelection in April but has mostly refrained from campaigning, preferring instead to lead by governing. The White House is now seeking an additional $4 billion to address natural disasters as part of its supplemental funding request to Congress — bringing the total to $16 billion and illustrating that wildfires, flooding and hurricanes that have intensified during a period of climate change are imposing ever higher costs on U.S. taxpayers.

DeSantis, meanwhile, is facing questions about whether his campaign can survive for the long haul, even as he helps Florida navigate not just Idalia's damage, but also a shooting the previous week in which a white gunman killed three Black people at a convenience store in Jacksonville in a racist hate crime.

Four months before the first ballots are to be cast in Iowa’s caucuses, DeSantis still lags far behind former President Donald Trump, the Republican primary's dominant early front-runner. And he has cycled through repeated campaign leadership shakeups and reboots of his image in an attempt to refocus his message.

The super PAC supporting DeSantis' candidacy has halted its door-knocking operations in Nevada, which votes third on the Republican presidential primary calendar, and several states holding Super Tuesday primaries in March — a further sign of trouble.

__

Associated Press writer Brendan Farrington in Tallahassee, Florida, contributed to this report.

Will Weissert, The Associated Press


DeSantis voted against Sandy aid a decade ago. Now his state needs the help.

Emma Dumain
Thu, August 31, 2023 at 3:27 PM MDT·9 min read
107



John Raoux/AP Photo


Ron DeSantis had just been sworn in as a member of the House in 2013 when he voted against sending $9.7 billion in disaster relief to New York and New Jersey, two states still reeling from the damage of Hurricane Sandy.

"I sympathize with the victims,” the Florida Republican said at the time, but objected to what he called Congress’ “put it on the credit card mentality” when it came to government spending.

Now, a day after Hurricane Idalia pummeled Florida less than a year since Hurricane Ian’s destruction, DeSantis is not objecting to federal borrowing when it’ll help his disaster-stricken state. As Florida’s governor — and a 2024 White House contender — he is in regular contact with President Joe Biden as the state seeks dollars from Washington to rebuild from the storm wreckage, assist rescue efforts and aid displaced residents.

This is part of a tradition: Florida Republicans have a history of supporting government assistance for their state’s natural disasters while frequently rejecting broader packages designed to lessen the impact of these emergencies — torn between their constituents’ priorities and their party’s position on reining in the federal debt.

DeSantis' vote a decade ago was based on his opposition to the Sandy package's "additional pork spending," a spokesperson for his presidential campaign said Thursday. Florida GOP lawmakers in both chambers frequently release similar statements after voting against disaster money, citing the country’s sky-high deficit as the determining factor.

But one Florida Republican calls that position increasingly untenable in a state that so frequently finds itself at ground zero for catastrophic hurricanes, just one of the litany of disasters that scientists expect to become worse as the planet warms.

“It’s always understandable why people, in theory, would vote against federal aid when it doesn’t affect them,” said Carlos Curbelo, a former Miami-area GOP member of Congress. “But when you live in Florida, that position is unsustainable.”

DeSantis probably “regrets” taking that vote on Sandy, he added. “He is now in a position of requesting federal aid for hurricane relief for the second year in a row. And these are major asks. These are billions upon billions of dollars."

It's been almost 11 years since then-New York Republican Rep. Peter King dared his GOP colleagues to meet their "moral obligation" to help natural disaster-torn communities — a plea that 179 House Republicans, including DeSantis, ultimately rejected.

But DeSantis — as a Republican and a Floridian — is not unique in his relationship to federal disaster spending. The state's congressional delegation has a history of idiosyncratic voting patterns on legislation that would seek to respond to, or mitigate the impacts of, extreme weather events that are direct results of the worsening climate crisis.

Republicans from Florida have repeatedly voted to send federal disaster relief to their own state, at times vocally pushing for it.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), for instance, has said he will demand “an immediate vote” next week on a bill to refill the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s coffers.

“I will not allow Washington to continue playing games with disaster aid and the lives of those needing our help,” Scott said in a statement.

More broadly, Florida Republicans in Congress have for the last decade largely toed the party line on climate politics, refusing to support legislation that could be perceived as hostile to the oil and gas industry while embracing measures that would help their state in more immediate and tangible ways respond to climate change.

Curbelo predicts it will soon become harder for Florida Republicans to cherry-pick what they are willing to accept and sacrifice.

While Florida has always experienced dangerous hurricanes, he said, it has become especially vulnerable to violent storms, sea-level rise, coastal erosion and heat waves.


“The state is under a lot of stress in terms of insurance issues,” said Curbelo, who spent his two terms in Congress working to push his party to acknowledge the climate crisis.

“Markets are not forgiving; they expose risk and weakness. … With every storm, with every major flooding event, the pressure on Florida members to support a broad climate policy agenda is going to grow.”
Lost 'bipartisan tradition'

The fight over Sandy funding marked a shift in the debate over what responsibility members of Congress owe one another when faced with natural disasters.

As lawmakers were preparing to adjourn the 112th Congress in the first days of January 2013 after an extended legislative session to address the “fiscal cliff,” House GOP leaders abruptly canceled a vote on Sandy aid amid outcry from conservatives who didn’t want to spend more government money.

After King and other Republicans revolted — and shamed their leadership — a vote was convened swiftly upon reconvening for the 113th Congress on Jan. 15.

The relief bill was passed, 241-180. All but three Florida Republicans voted “no” on the grounds it spent too much money — also DeSantis’ argument at that time.

Jeremy Redfern, a DeSantis press secretary, told POLITICO’s E&E News that “we have no time for politics or pettiness” when asked if the governor wishes he had voted differently in 2013.

“As a member of Congress, DeSantis supported emergency disaster relief funding for Hurricane Sandy, but he did not support the additional pork spending that ended up in the final relief bill,” Bryan Griffin, press secretary for DeSantis’ presidential campaign, added in a separate statement. (Republicans at the time complained that the Sandy package continued to fund a depleted National Flood Insurance Program with money the government didn’t have.)

“As governor," Griffin said, "DeSantis will of course marshal all available resources (state and federal) to aid those in need during recovery."


Dan Weiss, a veteran climate advocate, observed that “Sandy was the turning point” in what came next for how congressional Republicans have since approached disaster relief funding votes.

“It used to be extremely bipartisan, like so many other things involving money,” he said. “Peter King came from the bipartisan tradition of providing disaster relief to states based on need.”

Florida Republicans have, by and large, gone on to support sending money to avert weather catastrophes, but typically only if their own state was included — and only as stand-alone propositions, not as part of larger spending packages.

The state’s House GOP delegation, for example, unanimously supported an $81 billion disaster aid package in December 2017 to help Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and California rebuild after a series of natural disasters that year, including Hurricanes Irma, Harvey and Maria.

But the delegation split in February 2018, when that disaster money was folded into a larger government spending bill then-President Donald Trump eventually signed into law.

At that point, five Florida Republicans in the House voted against the bill while 11 supported it, siding with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and then-Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the other chamber.

In 2019, all but two Florida Republicans in the House backed legislation that would, among other things, mitigate the damage done to their state from Hurricane Michael. In the Senate, Rubio and Scott, who had by then unseated Nelson, voted “yes,” too.

Then came Hurricane Ian in 2022. Congress included language in the bill allowing FEMA to tap $19 billion to respond to a slew of natural disasters, including Ian. Every Florida Republican in the House voted against it. Scott opposed it in the Senate; Rubio didn’t vote.
Looming 'political liability'

Florida Republicans have rallied around other policies to protect their state’s specific environmental interests.

They have continued a time-honored tradition of joining with Democrats to oppose oil drilling in their state’s portion of the Gulf of Mexico, an activity some of them argue could hamper activities at nearby military bases and which all of them see as a risk to the peace, health and safety of Florida communities. But they've also criticized the Biden administration's efforts to limit the practice in other states.

GOP members of the Florida congressional delegation have also typically supported major federal investments to restore the Everglades, the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States.

At the same time, they have not fought back against specific development and mining projects in the area that the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida conservation groups say could threaten endangered species and fragile ecosystems.

Ultimately, said League of Conservation Voters vice president of political affairs Craig Auster, these positions won’t make a difference if Congress isn’t supporting policies to drive down greenhouse gas emissions.

“We’re not going to protect Florida coastal communities, and we’re not going to protect the Everglades, if we aren’t addressing climate change,” Auster said, “because climate change is the biggest threat to both of those things.”


There have been some occasions since 2013 when Florida Republicans in Congress engaged with Democrats on legislation that would have made targeted, long-lasting contributions to disaster preparedness and resiliency.

In 2019, the House passed the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act,” which would have required that all post-disaster rebuilding projects funded by certain federal dollars comply with the newest construction codes, which account for the realities of climate change — elevating buildings and designing structures to withstand intense winds, for instance.

The measure advanced in a 290-118 vote, with five of the 71 Republicans favoring it hailing from the Florida delegation. But it has since languished after the Senate failed to take it up.

Yet in the fall of 2013, the Obama administration got little GOP buy-in when it established the Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience to advise on how the federal government could respond to the needs of communities at the forefront of the climate crisis.

Supporters had hoped Republicans would get involved, but not a single GOP federal or statewide elected official joined — not even then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Weiss noted, “even though his state suffered extensive damage due to Superstorm Sandy.”

Auster, the League of Conservation Voters vice president, sided with Curbelo: For Florida Republicans, and DeSantis, it’s going to become harder to stay on the sidelines.

“It’s all well and good to say, ‘the government shouldn't be fighting climate change,’ until your big insurance companies are going to stop providing insurance for unsafe places, and if people can’t get help when their homes are destroyed, and when people are losing their lives to wildfires and floods and hurricanes,” Auster said.

Reporters Ariel Wittenberg and Robin Bravender contributed to this report.

WAR CRIME
Exclusive-U.S. to send its first depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine -sources
BAN DEPLETED URANIUM WEAPONS

Fri, September 1, 2023
By Mike Stone

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Biden administration will for the first time send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to a document seen by Reuters and separately confirmed by two U.S. officials.

The rounds, which could help destroy Russian tanks, are part of a new military aid package for Ukraine set to be unveiled in the next week. The munitions can be fired from U.S. Abrams tanks that, according to a person familiar with the matter, are expected be delivered to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

One of the officials said that the coming aid package will be worth between $240 million and $375 million depending on what is included.

The value and contents of the package were still being finalized, the officials said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Although Britain sent depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine earlier this year, this would be the first U.S. shipment of the ammunition and will likely stir controversy. It follows an earlier decision by the Biden administration to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite concerns over the dangers such weapons pose to civilians.

The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects.

A by-product of uranium enrichment, depleted uranium is used for ammunition because its extreme density gives rounds the ability to easily penetrate armor plating and self-ignite in a searing cloud of dust and metal.

While depleted uranium is radioactive, it is considerably less so than naturally occurring uranium, although particles can linger for a considerable time.

The United States used depleted uranium munitions in massive quantities in the 1990 and 2003 Gulf Wars and the NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia in 1999.

The U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says that studies in former Yugoslavia, Kuwait, Iraq and Lebanon "indicated that the existence of depleted uranium residues dispersed in the environment does not pose a radiological hazard to the population of the affected regions."

Still, the radioactive material could add to Ukraine's massive post-war clean-up challenge. Parts of the country are already strewn with unexploded ordnance from cluster bombs and other munitions and hundreds of thousands of anti-personnel mines.

The Wall Street Journal reported in mid-June the U.S. was considering sending depleted uranium rounds to Ukraine.

Recent weapons aid packages for Ukraine have included artillery, air defense missiles and ground vehicles as Ukraine's counteroffensive grinds on. Reuters was unable to determine what else the package contained besides the depleted uranium rounds.

Funding authorization for the aid package comes through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which authorizes the president to transfer articles and services from U.S. stocks without congressional approval during an emergency. The material will come from U.S. excess inventory.

The security assistance for Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022 has been more than $43 billion.

(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Don Durfee and Rosalba O'Brien)

Reuters.com

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/what-are-depleted-uranium-weapons-what-are-risks-2023-03-23

Explainer: What are depleted uranium weapons - Reuters 

Mar 24, 2023 ... The United States, Britain, Russia, China, France and Pakistan produce uranium weapons, which are not classified as nuclear weapons, according ...

En.wikipedia.org

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Coalition_to_Ban_Uranium_Weapons

International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons - Wikipedi 

ICBUW has prepared a draft Convention for a ban on depleted uranium weapons. ... ICBUW's Draft Convention contains a general and comprehensive prohibition of the ...

Disarmament.unoda.org

https://disarmament.unoda.org/convarms/depleted-uranium

Depleted Uranium - UNODA 

It is the substance left over when most of the highly radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or for nuclear weapons. DU possesses ...

Europarl.europa.eu

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/presse/pr_info/2008/EN/03A-DV-PRESSE_IPR(2008)05-21(29595)_EN.pdf

Parliament calls for a global ban on depleted uranium weapon... 

In a resolution adopted on depleted uranium (DU) weapons, the House calls for a moratorium on their use, increased pressure for an international treaty to ...

Ipb.org

https://www.ipb.org/depleted-uranium

Depleted Uranium – IPB - International Peace Bureau 

To this date, there is no treaty regulating DU weapons. The treaties on biological and chemical weapons as well as the 1925 Geneva Gas Protocol are not relevant ...

Abc.net.au

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-02/us-to-send-depleted-uranium-munitions-to-ukraine/102807388

The US is sending controversial depleted uranium munitions .... 

9 hours ago ... The weapons use depleted uranium to attack military tanks but have long been opposed by anti-war campaigners who say they create a ...

Cnduk.org

https://cnduk.org/resources/depleted-uranium

Depleted Uranium - - Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament 

Although no sole treaty explicitly banning the use of DU is yet in force, it is clear that using DU weapons runs counter to the basic rules and principles ...

Counterpunch.org

https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/04/19/its-time-to-ban-depleted-uranium-weapons

It's Time to Ban Depleted Uranium Weapons - CounterPunch... 

Apr 19, 2023 ... Yet, no treaty regulating — let alone banning — DU weapons exists. DU is used in weaponry because, due to its high molecular weight, it easily ...

Bbc.com

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65051330

Depleted uranium shells: Why are they used and are they harm... 

Mar 23, 2023 ... Are depleted uranium weapons legal? ... The UK MoD insists that the depleted uranium shells it is sending to Ukraine are not prohibited by any ...

Spain opens case against soccer chief for World Cup kiss. Luis Rubiales breaks week-long silence

The Canadian Press
Fri, September 1, 2023 



MADRID (AP) — Spain's government began a move to oust suspended soccer chief Luis Rubiales, who ended a week of silence on Friday by insisting he was the victim of a smear campaign.

Rubiales has come in for a storm of criticism and calls for his resignation for his behavior during and after Spain's recent Women’s World Cup triumph in Sydney. He kissed player Jenni Hermoso on the lips without consent and grabbed his crotch in a lewd victory gesture.

On Friday, a Spanish government legal panel handling sports issues opened a formal case against Rubiales — president of the Spanish Football Federation and a vice president of UEFA — over his conduct that was televised globally, making him a national embarrassment.

Spain is hoping to remove him independently of a FIFA process that has already suspended him provisionally. The government panel will decide if Rubiales abused his authority by kissing Hermoso or damaged the image and reputation of Spain at a sporting event, as the government claims. He could be banned from office for two years.

“When the eyes of the world were played on our players, his acts caused damage to our sport and our country that is difficult to repair,” said Miquel Iceta, Spain’s acting minister of culture and sport.

Following the decision by the panel, Rubiales made his first public statement since refusing to step down a week ago and claiming he was a victim of a “witch hunt” by “false feminists.”

“I committed some evident mistakes, for which I sincerely repent,” Rubiales said on Friday. He insisted the kiss with Hermoso was “mutual, consensual and occurred in a moment of euphoria” — a characterization that the player firmly denies.

He added he participated in FIFA’s investigation as well as the federation’s own internal probe.

“During all this time I have suffered an unprecedented lynching by news outlets and politicians that has completely marginalized me. Not just in Spain but internationally,” he said in his statement published on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The decision by the panel, however, to consider Rubiales' acts as allegedly “serious” as opposed to “very serious” dealt a setback to the government. If they had been deemed “very serious" charges, the government could have moved to declare him suspended from office until the panel rules on his case.

Iceta said that while the government cannot directly suspend Rubiales while awaiting the outcome of his case before the panel, as was its intention, it will ask the legal panel to consider suspending him provisionally anyway.

FIFA has already suspended Rubiales for 90 days while it carries out its disciplinary case, so the Spanish decision will have little immediate effect. The panel decision does put more pressure on Rubiales as his few original supporters try to distance themselves from him.

Spain men’s coach Luis de la Fuente, who applauded Rubiales' diatribe against feminism last week, apologized on Friday for having clapped, saying, “I made a human error. It was inexcusable.”

In a statement last Saturday, Hermoso said she considered herself the victim of abuse of power and accused the federation of trying to pressure her into supporting Rubiales.

The federation initially hit back by saying she was lying and it would take legal action against her. But following the FIFA suspension, the federation on Monday urged Rubiales to step down.

On Tuesday, the federation suspended Rubiales’ wages and ordered him to return the federation car, his laptop and mobile phone.

Rubiales has been left with virtually no supporters. His mother staged a brief hunger strike in a church in southern Spain, demanding justice for her son and calling on Hermoso to rectify her stance.

Meanwhile, support for Hermoso from Spanish and international officials, athletes and celebrities was overwhelming.

On Friday, the president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, Alejandro Blanco, said he urged Rubiales “to say sorry, explain what he did and then, without doubt, consider resigning.”

On Thursday, Spain women's star Aitana Bonmatí was voted best player of the year and used her acceptance speech at the UEFA awards ceremony to voice support for Hermoso.

“As a society, we cannot allow the abuse of power in a working environment or disrespect,” Bonmatí said on stage in Monte Carlo. “To all women who are suffering the same thing as Jenni, we’re with you.”

Earlier in the week, the United Nations Human Rights office said in a social media message, “We join Spain’s Jenni Hermoso and all those working to end abuse and sexism in sport. Make this a turning point.”

There is no time limit for the legal panel to make a ruling in the case.

What happens when you give 50 homeless people $7,500 each? A B.C. study found out

The Canadian Press
Fri, September 1, 2023



VANCOUVER — There's a stark contrast between public perception and the reality of how homeless people spend money, says a researcher who gave 50 homeless people in British Columbia $7,500 each to do with as they wished.

Instead of blowing the windfall on "temptation goods", such as alcohol, drugs or cigarettes, they spent it on rent, clothing and food, the study led by University of British Columbia researcher Jiaying Zhao found.

The handout even generated a net saving of almost $800 per recipient, taking into account the costs that would have been involved in providing shelter accommodation.

"The goal is to do something about the homelessness crisis here in Canada, and specifically Vancouver because the current approaches are failing," said Zhao, who is working with policymakers on the problem. "I think this study provides very strong evidence in favour of a basic-income policy."

Researchers tracked the spending of the recipients for a year after they received the cash. They also followed a control group of 65 homeless people who did not get the handout.

The study, recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found recipients spent 99 fewer days homeless, and spent 55 more days in stable housing. They also retained $1,160 more savings.

Zhao, an associate professor of psychology at UBC, said in an interview Wednesday that the researchers "found a range of surprising positive benefits of a cash transfer."

Spending on "temptation goods" was no different between the recipients and the control group. However, the study did not include people with severe substance or alcohol use or mental health symptoms. Other criteria required participants to have been homeless for less than two years.

Participants were recruited from 22 homeless shelters across the B.C. Lower Mainland.

The study said that by reducing time in shelters, the cash transfer was "cost-effective."

It said the societal cost of a shelter stay in Vancouver was about $93 per night, and the fewer nights in shelters resulted in "societal cost savings" of $8,277 per recipient.

That represented a net saving of $777 compared to the cost of the handout.

"Alternatively, freed-up shelter beds can be reallocated, so the benefits can trickle down by helping others avoid sleeping on the street," the study noted.

Zhao said the study was funded by a grant from the federal government and by private donors and foundations she declined to identify.

The researchers also conducted an online survey of about 1,100 U.S. residents to understand public perceptions of homeless people's spending.

Vancouverites were not recruited because researchers were seeking a "representative voice" in North America, and Zhao said "people in Vancouver are more progressive than an average person in North America."

Survey respondents predicted that recipients of an unconditional $7,500 cash transfer would spend 81 per cent more on goods like alcohol, drugs and tobacco if they were homeless than if they were housed.

Zhao said most also predicted homeless people would spend $300 on such goods a month, while the study found those individuals only spent about $100 per month on such goods.

"That's an unfortunate, pervasive belief held by many people, so we wanted to actually examine or look at this bias," she said.

Zhao said her team found public perception can be challenged through effective messaging and policy changes.

"I'm working with politicians and policymakers in Canada on bills like this," she said, referring to Bill S-233 that is currently before the Senate and aims to create a national framework for a guaranteed basic income to cover essential living expenses for people in Canada over age 17.

She said researchers are now replicating the study with a larger sample of people, and expanding it to other cities in Canada and the U.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 1, 2023.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press

SOUTH AFRICA

Deadly blaze in Joburg prompts debate over 'hijacked' buildings




AFP
Fri, 1 September 2023

Search dogs looked for bodies on Friday in a Johannesburg building that went up in flames killing dozens and forcing South Africa to confront an illegal housing "crisis".

At least 74 people including 12 children died as fire ripped through the five-storey building in the early hours on Thursday.

Authorities asked relatives to go to a morgue in Soweto to identify the victims, as the search continued at the site.

The fire has reopened a debate about so-called hijacked buildings -- old disused blocks that have fallen under the control of criminal syndicates who collect rent from squatters.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was "a wake-up call for us to begin to address the situation of housing in the inner cities" as he visited the site late on Thursday.

The building, located in an economically depressed, crime-ridden area, was owned by the municipality and listed as a heritage site.

During the apartheid era, black South Africans would go there for papers allowing them to access white areas for work.

City authorities said it was last used as a shelter for abused women but was "invaded and hijacked" towards the end of the past decade.

Police raided the building in 2019, arresting 140 foreign nationals.

But in a country struggling with massive crime rates, little changed.

Johannesburg city manager Floyd Brink told reporters on Thursday that police had opened a case following the raid but "no update" was immediately available.

About 200 families were thought to be living at the premises at the time of the fire, he said.

Authorities estimated that more than "80 shacks" were set up inside.

- 'Catastrophe waiting to happen' -

The case is not isolated.

Illegal occupation of abandoned buildings in downtown Johannesburg, which slumped into decay and decline in the 1990s, is widespread.

After years of sanctions during the 1980s, the advent of democracy in 1994 saw many white-owned businesses move out to security-fenced suburbs.

Entire blocks were left empty. Hotels simply bricked over their doors without even bothering to auction off the contents.

"Many of these abandoned buildings are controlled by gangs who rent out the space," said Mervyn Cirota, a provincial councillor in Johannesburg's Gauteng province from the opposition Democratic Alliance party.

"This leads to overcrowding, there are no toilets, no electricity and no water," he said, describing the fire as a "catastrophe waiting to happen".

"Measures need to be put in place urgently to ensure that we do not have another disaster like this one."

- 'Urgent solutions' -

More than 60 people were injured in what was one of the deadliest fires worldwide in recent years.

Bodies were discovered piled up at a security gate that was closed, preventing people from escaping the blaze, an official said.

Residents told AFP each of the five floors had a gate that was kept locked at night to keep out police and possible intruders.

It was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.

House fires are relatively common in South Africa, plagued by chronic power outages, where poverty and homelessness are widespread.

Authorities said candles used for lighting inside the structure or stoves and other heating devices were a likely cause.

"All metropolitan municipalities must urgently find solutions to the hijacked building crisis in major cities," said lawmaker China Dodovu, chairman of a parliamentary committee on human settlements.

South Africa, with the continent's most industrialised economy, attracts millions of migrants, many undocumented, from other African nations.

Most of those living at the building were foreigners, one resident said.

ub/kjm

Iceland resumes fin whale hunting to dismay of animal welfare groups 

euronews 1 day ago 

 Public opinion in Iceland does not indicate mass support for renewed hunting of endangered species using methods often described as exceptionally cruel.

Iceland resumes whale hunting under stricter conditions 

• FRANCE 24 English 

 Sep 1, 2023 

Iceland's government is set to resume hunting fin whales after a two-month pause but with guidelines in place aimed at killing the animals as quickly as possible to reduce suffering. A global moratorium on whaling has been in place since 1986 but the controversial practice continues in Iceland, Norway and Japan. FRANCE 24's Vedika Bahl explains. *Warning: Some images in this report may be distressing to viewers.

 

 Iceland suspends whale hunt on animal welfare concerns 

• FRANCE 24 English

 Jun 22, 2023 

Iceland's government has said it is suspending this year's whale hunt until the end of August due to animal welfare concerns, likely bringing the controversial practice to a historic end. It follows a a government-commissioned report that concluded the hunt does not comply with Iceland's Animal Welfare Act

US pro-Israel groups in bitter feud over Netanyahu’s far-right government

Chris McGreal in New York
Fri, 1 September 2023 

Photograph: Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images

A public feud has broken out between the US’s leading pro-Israel lobby groups over who represents the true interests of the Jewish state in Washington under the most rightwing government in its history.

The hardline American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has called its smaller and more liberal rival, J Street, a “grave threat” to Israel’s security and accused it of endorsing the country’s “most virulent critics” in Congress.

J Street has responded by portraying Aipac as a front for Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist coalition, while accusing it of failing to support unprecedented Israeli public protests against an undemocratic power grab by the government.

The vitriolic dispute reflects a deepening divide among American Jews about what it is to be pro-Israel. But it also comes as Aipac’s once-unchallenged influence in Washington has been diminished by its unwavering backing for Netanyahu over the past decade or more, including siding with the Israeli leader against President Barack Obama, and by growing support for the Palestinian cause within the Democratic party as Israel further entrenches its occupation.

Aipac’s standing was also damaged when, for the first time in its history, it broke with its claim to be bipartisan last year and began directly funding political campaigns against critics of Israeli government policies. It was accused of being “morally bankrupt” for endorsing Republican members of Congress who tried to block President Biden’s presidential election victory.

At the heart of the dispute is Aipac’s position that support for Israel means virtually unquestioned backing for whatever government is in power. J Street argues that support for Israel requires standing for the country’s broader interests, including an end to occupation, even when that is in opposition to the policies of a particular administration in Jerusalem.

As the two lobby groups prepare to face off by pouring millions of dollars into backing rival candidates in next year’s congressional elections, Aipac sent its donors a letter attacking J Street’s policies such as imposing conditions on the US’s $3.8bn a year in military aid to Israel to prevent it being used to annex Palestinian territory, expand Jewish settlements or other actions to entrench occupation. J Street endorsed the Democratic congresswoman Betty McCollum’s 2021 bill to place similar conditions on US aid.

“Today, one of the gravest threats to American support for Israel’s security comes from an organization that outrageously calls itself pro-Israel,” Aipac said in the letter.

“J Street’s efforts fracture the bipartisan consensus for Israel and give its radical opponents in Congress a veneer of legitimacy from an allegedly ‘pro-Israel’ group. This is a clear and present threat to American support for the Jewish state.”

J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, fired back in a series of tweets.

“Sadly, over time, Aipac has embraced an increasingly distorted vision of what it means to be ‘pro-Israel’ – one more aligned with the goals of the Netanyahu government and the American right than with the Jewish, democratic values of most Jewish Americans (+ Israelis themselves),” he wrote.

“There’s no room for genuine concern over eroding democracy, endless settlements, racist rhetoric and the growing toll of maintaining a permanent, unjust, undemocratic occupation.”

Aipac’s attack in part reflects a growing concern within the Israeli government that demands by J Street and others for the US government to take a stronger stand to end the occupation will gain wider traction in Washington.

The dispute has spilled over to Israel itself.

The liberal Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz two weeks ago described Aipac as “the pro-Netanyahu, anti-Israel lobby” and accused the group of flying in 24 Democratic members of Congress “so that Netanyahu could mollify them with lies”.

“Effectively, the organization has become an operational wing of Netanyahu’s far-right government, one that peddles a false image of a liberal Israel in the United States and sells illusions to members of Congress,” it said.

The leaders of Israel’s pro-democracy movement, which has led months of mass protests against the government’s moves to weaken the power of the judiciary, accused Aipac of blocking the visiting Democratic members of Congress from meeting the protesters.

“It is about time Aipac realizes that there are no longer any buyers for the fake picture of Israel it’s trying to sell,” said the authors, who included the former deputy head of Israel’s national security council and former officials in the prime minister’s office.

“Aipac is trying to offer an alternative reality and is effectively turning from a pro-Israel organization to one that promotes the anti-democratic overhaul and the de facto annexation of the West Bank, led by Netanyahu and aided by the most extreme, racist and violent elements of the Israeli far right.”

'Persistent' bears force 160 firefighters to pull out of B.C. Interior camp

The Canadian Press
Thu, August 31, 2023 



GOLD BRIDGE, B.C. — About 160 firefighters battling a blaze in British Columbia's Interior have pulled out of their camp after they were subjected to what the BC Wildfire Service calls "persistent bear activity."

The service says the bears threatened the safety of personnel "within and around" the camp near Gold Bridge, about 100 kilometres west of Lillooet, B.C., prompting the decision to move everyone Wednesday evening.

Nic Kokolski, an information officer with the service, says the animals had been moving around tents and other camp infrastructure.

Kokolski says no one has been injured and no animals have been harmed, but conservation authorities felt it would be safest if the firefighters left the area.

A social media post by the wildfire service says its personnel are being hosted at T'it'q'et First Nation and Lillooet municipal facilities for the time being.

It says conservation officers have been "assessing and advising" on plans to safely return crews as they battle the Downton Lake wildfire.

Scavenging bears have been a problem in other B.C. wildfire zones, with authorities in the Shuswap region in the Interior collecting refuse and refrigerators in hopes of keeping the animals at bay.

The Downton Lake fire has scorched 95 square kilometres of land and prompted evacuation orders and alerts.

The wildfire service says the fire's activity remains low after rain fell in the area.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 31, 2023.

The Canadian Press