UK

VOTED TO END CHILD POVERTY

“A Disgrace” – unions & grassroots activists slam Starmer suspending the Seven

25th July 2024Leave a Commenton “A Disgrace” – unions & grassroots activists slam Starmer suspending the Seven

“This isn’t party management — it’s over the top diktat. The whip should be reinstated immediately.

Dave Ward, CWU General Secretary

By Bernie Torre, The Morning Star

Keir Starmer has been condemned by union leaders for suspending seven Labour MPs for voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, as independents including Jeremy Corbyn vowed to work with them to offer a “real alternative.”

Leaders of fire, education, civil service, bakeries and mail unions hit out at the Prime Minister’s “disgraceful” and “completely wrong” decision as they joined thousands backing a grassroots petition calling for their reinstatement.

Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell, ex-shadow business secretary Rebecca Long Bailey, Apsana Begum, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Zarah Sultana and Imran Hussain were kicked out of the Parliamentary Labour Party for six months for backing an SNP amendment calling for the cap to be scrapped on Tuesday night.

Ms Sultana, MP for Coventry South, suggested she was the victim of a “macho virility test” today.

“This isn’t a game … this is about people’s lives,” she added.

“I slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty that is affecting 4.3 million people in this country and it is the right thing to do and I am glad I did it.”

MP for Poplar and Limehouse Ms Begum said: “Labour’s own 11 affiliated unions support the scrapping of the two-child benefit cap; there’s popular support among the Labour Party membership to see the cap lifted.”

Ms Begum, who has been a victim of domestic abuse, added that it was “unacceptable” that Labour whips had offered her support on bills in that area if she voted with the government.

“It’s very heartbreaking to see such a draconian stand being taken by my party on the vote today which was not against the Labour Party plan or programme,” she said.

John McDonnell said: “The two-child cap on benefits was one of the cruellest policies of the Osborne era. The king’s speech amendment “was a plea to include this basic reform in the programme.”

He said Labour’s budget preparation “was under way quickly after the election; it is becoming increasingly apparent that the chancellor has left herself sufficient flexibility on estimates of growth and additional taxation measures to accommodate the measure.“

Former Labour leader Mr Corbyn and four other left independents signed a letter in solidarity to the seven MPs, saying the punishment was “beyond disgraceful” and “displays a shameful absence of moral leadership.”

Leading the calls for the MPs’ reinstatement, TUC president and Fire Brigades Union general secretary Matt Wrack said: “The UK is a rich country with ample resources for everyone to live a decent life.

“The seven MPs who voted to scrap the cap spoke for millions of trade union members and many Labour Party members. Keir Starmer must restore the whip to them immediately.”

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “It’s a shame that they haven’t agreed to get rid of the cap and I’m very proud of the MPs who have rebelled tonight.”

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “There is no more important issue in this country than that of child poverty.

“What is deeply disappointing is that issue is now being reduced to some ‘Labour factional war.’ Every person I know who has actually worked with children thinks the two-child benefit cap should go at the earliest opportunity.”

Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward said: “To see Labour suspending MPs who are fighting to end child poverty is completely wrong.

“This isn’t party management — it’s over the top diktat. The whip should be reinstated immediately.”

Public and Commercial Services general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Labour MPs should not be disciplined for fighting child poverty. Sign the petition to restore the whip.”

BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley added: “It’s disgraceful less than three weeks after telling the world ‘country before party’ that seven MPs have been suspended for taking that stance, we stand in solidarity with Apsana, Richard, Becky, John, Zarah and Ian and demand they have the whip reinstated.”

Labour national executive committee member Gemma Bolton added: “Keir Starmer and company still seem more obsessed with bashing the left than changing the country.”

The petition was initiated by the Labour Assembly Against Austerity and Arise — A Festival of Left Ideas.

Their spokesman Matt Willgress said: “These seven MPs were right to support a measure that would lift 300,000 children out of poverty — and would be a great start to undoing the social emergency caused by 14 years of failed Tory austerity.”

MPs voted 363 to 103 to reject the amendment after the Morning Star went to press on Tuesday night.

No Scottish Labour MPs joined the rebels despite their leader Anas Sarwar lobbying Sir Keir for the Tory-era cap, which restricts child welfare payments to the first two children born to most families, to be axed.

Today Sir Keir vowed to tackle child poverty “with the same vigour” as the last Labour government when challenged over his refusal to immediately axe the two-child benefit cap at his first Prime Minister’s Questions since entering No 10.

Defying the government over the King’s Speech “is a serious matter,” Downing Street said.

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• The petition can be signed here. Make sure to add your name in support of John McDonnell, Rebecca Long Bailey, Zarah Sultana, Richard Burgon, Apsana Begum, Ian Byrne and Imran Hussain.
• If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
• This article was originally published by The Morning Star on July 24th, 2024

'Shameful stuff': Labour suspends seven rebel MPs who voted to end two-child benefit cap

There were seven Labour MPs who had the whip removed after voting for an SNP motion to end the two-child limit on benefits. They say they were "taking a stand against child poverty"

ISABELLA MCRAE
24 Jul 2024

THE BIG ISSUE

Ending the two-child benefit cap was not included in the King's Speech.

 Image: Simon Dawson/ No 10 Downing Street/ Flickr

Labour MPs who voted to scrap the two-child benefit cap have said they were “putting country before party” by “taking a stand against child poverty”.

There were seven Labour MPs who rebelled against their party and voted for an SNP motion calling for an end to the two-child limit on benefits on Tuesday night (23 July).

They were John McDonnell, Zarah Sultana, Richard Burgon, Ian Byrne, Apsana Begum, Imran Hussain and Rebecca Long-Bailey.

Scrap two-child benefit cap to end child poverty, Labour told: ‘Good intentions are not enough’

1.6 million children at risk of ‘losing their life chances’ because of ‘cruel’ two-child benefit cap

All have had their whip removed, meaning they will be suspended from Labour for six months and will sit as independent MPs.

MPs rejected the SNP amendment by 363 votes to 103, in one of the first major challenges for the new government.

Ahead of the vote, former shadow chancellor McDonnell said: “I don’t like voting for other parties’ amendments, but I’m following Keir Starmer’s example as he said put country before party.”

The two-child limit means that families claiming benefits such as universal credit or child tax credit who have a third child or subsequent children born after April 2017 are denied extra financial support. It works out at a loss of up to £3,500 per year in comparison to families whose kids were born sooner.

Charities estimate that scrapping the two-child benefit cap would lift 300,000 children out of poverty, and 700,000 children would be in less deep poverty.

In recent days, the Labour government has said it would “consider” scrapping the two-child limit on benefits and has set up a ministerial taskforce to look at ways to reduce child poverty in the UK.

Yet the government has so far refused to commit to ending the policy. Education secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is co-leader of the child poverty taskforce, said the government will “look at all levers in terms of how we can lift children out of poverty”, including the two-child limit.

Zarah Sultana, who had the Labour whip removed last night, said on Good Morning Britain: “In my constituency of Coventry South, 10,000 children live in poverty. That is one in three children.

“When I’m talking to parents, and teachers, and volunteering at the food bank, I am hearing these stories of kids going to bed hungry at night. They are going to bed on an empty stomach. They are returning to cold homes. They are missing out on experiences that every child should enjoy.

“There are all of these impacts on children beyond the immediate impacts. This is on their health, their wellbeing and even their life expectancy. So those are all the stories I need to know when I’m voting in this particular way. I got elected and I’m in the Labour Party. I joined when I was 17 years old because I care about equality and social justice.”


Almost half (45%) of families say they struggle to pay their rent or mortgage because of the two-child limit, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. A similar proportion (46%) struggle to manage childcare costs.

Sultana added: “For me, taking a stand against child poverty, which is one of the biggest scourges in the country which affects 4.3 million children, is something that I’m very proud to have stood my ground on.

“I think the two-child benefit cap, alongside 11 Labour-affiliated unions, the TUC which represents six million workers, Gordon Brown, the archbishop of Canterbury, even Keir Starmer in his 2020 leadership pitch, we all think that it should be scrapped and that’s what voted on yesterday.”

More than half (52%) of all households impacted by this policy are single parents, but within the general population just 16% of households are headed by a single parent. The majority of lone parents are women.

Imran Hussain, the MP for Bradford East, who had the Labour whip removed, said on social media that he is “disappointed to have had the whip suspended over this vote”.

“But it was important for me to stand up for my constituents who are amongst the worst affected by a policy that every organisation fighting child poverty has urged the government to scrap,” he added.

“The two-child limit is one of the biggest factors driving the soaring child poverty rate that sees almost half of all children in Bradford East living in homes that are unable to make ends meet.”

Around 440,000 families across the UK are impacted by the two-child benefit cap, official figures show. That is 1.6 million children denied support.

Ian Byrne, who is MP for Liverpool West Derby, referenced End Child Poverty Coalition figures which show that more than 43% of children in his constituency are living in poverty.

He posted: “Experts say that the best way to immediately impact this is to scrap the two-child cap. This is why this evening I voted for the Kings Speech amendment to scrap the cap. #RightToFood.”

Taj Ali, the co-editor of Tribune Magazine, said: “Ian Byrne is one of the hardest-working people I know. He’s been campaigning against child poverty in Liverpool and across the country for many many years. He’s one of seven Labour MPs to lose the whip tonight for voting against the two-child limit. Shameful stuff.”

Shockingly, 3,100 women had to declare that they had been the victim of rape last year in order to gain an exemption to this policy.

Richard Burgon, the Labour MP for Leeds East, said: “As an MP in an area where 45% of children live in poverty, one of the highest in the country, I simply believe that this strategy must include scrapping this measure. That’s something that many struggling families in my area have raised with me.

“Every child poverty expert says this is a key way of lifting children out of poverty and I encourage the new government to come forward with a plan on this, alongside its other initiatives, as so many other figures across the Labour Party and our wider trade union movement have called for.”

Unions which are affiliated with the Labour Party have called on the government to scrap the two-child benefit cap. Mick Whelan, the general secretary of Britain’s trade union for train drivers, Aslef said he gives his “full support to those who actually have a social conscience to end the two child cap”.

The general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), Daniel Kebede, agreed. He said: “I stand with all those MPs who voted to scrap the two-child benefit cap.”

Particularly, he stands with the Labour MPs who rebelled against their own party, he said. “Child poverty is a political choice not an economic one – and scrapping the cap would be the single most effective policy to alleviate such a crushing burden on children,” Kebede added.

Yet Emma Lewell-Buck, Labour MP for South Shields, who did not vote for the two-child limit to be scrapped, said: “None of the votes taking place tonight would have resulted in scrapped the cap. Continued efforts from those on the Labour government benches will.

“There will be an Autumn Budget soon and I know myself and other colleagues will be working constructively with the government to make scrapping the cap part of it.”

Torsten Bell, the Labour MP for Swansea West who was previously the chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, said: “People are rightly impatient to see progress, but the government has to be allowed to develop and bring forward that crucial strategy. Reducing child poverty means bringing together not just social security policy, but labour market, housing and many other important areas.”

Bell has previously called on the government to drop the two-child limit through his work at the Resolution Foundation, but he voted with the government last night.

“My case for optimism is that history tells us Labour governments do focus on child poverty and do deliver real change. I worked with Gordon Brown as child tax credits were rolled out and transformed lives – over half a million children were taken out of poverty.

“Plus you can already see how policies of this Labour government will make a difference. Too many low earners not getting the hours work they want is a big feature of low income Britain today, and banning exploitative zero hour contracts will make their incomes more secure.

“As an aside, you don’t often see big changes to social security outside of fiscal events because decisions have to be made in the round (underpinned by fiscal forecasts). I spent long enough as an HMT civil servant to know the alternative is chaos. We’ve had quite enough of that.”

Cop29 host Azerbaijan seeks $1bn from fossil fuel producers for climate fund

Fiona Harvey Environment editor

THE GUARDIAN
Sat, 20 July 2024 

An oil rig in the Caspian Sea near Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2017. The country is hosting the Cop29 UN summit this November.Photograph: Grigory Dukor/Reuters


Fossil-fuel producing countries and companies are being asked to pay into a new international fund to help poor countries cope with the effects of the climate crisis.

The climate investment fund is being set up by the Azerbaijan government, host country of the Cop29 UN climate summit in November.

The Climate Finance Action Fund will take financial contributions from fossil-fuel-producing countries and companies and use the money to invest in projects in the developing world that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help build resilience to the impacts of extreme weather.


Yalchin Rafiyev, the chief negotiator for the Cop29 presidency, said: “Traditional funding methods have proven to be inadequate to the challenges of the climate crisis, so we have decided on a different approach. The fund will be capitalised with contributions from fossil-fuel countries and companies and will catalyse the private sector. Any developing country will be eligible [to receive money from] the fund.”

But contributions to the fund will be voluntary and no mechanism is proposed to force the countries and companies most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions to pay into it.

This falls well short of the levy on fossil fuels that some campaigners have been calling for. Bronwen Tucker, the public finance lead at the campaign group Oil Change International, said: “This is a dangerous distraction from the strong new climate finance goal and national plans that Cop29 must ensure for a fair, full and fast fossil fuel phase-out.”

However, setting up the fund at Cop29 does represent a first attempt within the UN climate negotiations to link fossil fuel-producing countries and industries, which produce the bulk of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, with a responsibility to help poor countries pay for the consequences they face from the climate crisis.

Harjeet Singh, the global engagement director at the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, said: “While the announcement of a new fund for developing countries echoes the longstanding demands for holding the fossil fuel industry accountable, it must not serve as a free pass for continued extraction of gas, oil and coal.

“The fossil fuel industry has caused the climate crisis and must be adequately penalised to pay for the transition and climate damages.”

Azerbaijan is seeking at least $1bn from at least 10 countries and big companies to capitalise the fund. The fund will be headquartered in Baku, the Azerbaijan capital, and its overseeing board will be made up of representatives from the contributors, and will be independent of existing multilateral development banks, including the World Bank.

Tucker said: “Polluters must pay for their climate crimes on the scale of trillions, not with a $1bn voluntary fund that gives Big Oil decision-making powers. Fossil fuel interests have knowingly and systematically blocked, delayed and undermined necessary climate solutions and shouldn’t have a seat at the table.”

Azerbaijan has not yet been specific about its own contribution to the fund, though it has pledged to make one. No other countries have yet signed up.

The fund will not invest in any fossil fuels, including gas. Any profits generated by the fund, for instance by investing in renewable energy, will be ploughed back into the fund, so there will be no opportunity for profit-taking by private sector investors and governments.

Bob Ward, a policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, warned: “The Climate Finance Action Fund could be regarded as climate-washing if it is intended to alleviate the pressure to phase out oil, coal and gas.”

Azerbaijan also made a series of other announcements on its presidency, including reiterating its wish for Cop29 to be a “peace Cop”, with the potential for requesting warring in November.

Simon Stiell, the UN climate chief, who has been visiting his home in Grenada where the houses of relatives were severely damaged by Hurricane Beryl, called on all countries to produce stronger plans to cut emissions, and to assist the poor countries worst hit by the climate crisis.

“The significance of this process [the Cop, or conference of the parties under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change] is that it is humanity’s best hope of solving the climate crisis, achieving decarbonisation and building climate resilience,” he said. “This process does deliver results, as we have seen.”

UN chief urges wealthy countries to beat fossil fuel ‘addiction’ amid expansions

Oliver Milman in New York
Thu, 25 July 2024 


António Guterres said the world’s wealthiest countries need to scrap fossil fuel subsidies.

Photograph: Brandon Bell/Getty Images

The world’s wealthiest countries are “signing away our future” by leading a “flood” of expansion in fossil fuel activity that threatens worsening heatwaves and other climate impacts that imperil billions of people, the head of the United Nations has warned.

António Guterres, secretary general of the UN, on Thursday called on countries to “fight the disease” of the world’s “addiction” to coal, oil and gas, warning that tumbling heat records this week must spur rich nations to lead the way in phasing out fossil fuels.

“I must call out the flood of fossil fuel expansion we are seeing in some of the world’s wealthiest countries,” Guterres said in a speech in New York. “In signing such a surge of new oil and gas licenses, they are signing away our future. The leadership of those with the greatest capabilities and capacities is essential. Countries must phase out fossil fuels – fast and fairly.”

Related: Canada is proposing to lead on climate – but it’s doubling down on oil

The remarks come a day after the Guardian revealed how a surge in fresh oil and gas exploration in 2024 threatens to unleash nearly 12bn tonnes of planet-heating gases, around the annual emissions of China, over the lifetime of the new drilling projects. Wealthy countries, such as the US and the UK, with a low economic dependence on fossil fuels have led this charge, handing out a record 825 oil and gas licenses last year.

Guterres said the world’s wealthiest countries need to scrap fossil fuel subsidies, end new coal projects and support developing, vulnerable countries from climate impacts such as heatwaves, flooding and droughts. “Leaders across the board must wake up and step up,” the secretary general said.

The mounting toll of the climate crisis has been brought into focus this week, with the record for the highest daily average global temperature falling on Sunday, and then again on Monday. The world has experienced 13 consecutive months of record heat, with this year expected to beat the annual temperature record, set just in 2023.

Already this summer, severe heatwaves have swept the US, Europe and Japan, while at least 1,300 people died making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

The UN on Thursday released a new report calling for countries to do more to protect people from extreme heat, pointing to data showing that about 489,000 people died each year from 2000 to 2019 from heat-related deaths, nearly half of them in Asia and a third occurring in Europe. New data from the International Labour Organization shows that more than 70% of the global workforce, approximately 2.4 billion people, are now at risk from extreme heat.

Guterres urged governments to increase access to low-carbon cooling, redesign cities to cope with extreme heat, protect vulnerable people – such as outdoor workers, pregnant women, children and elderly and disabled people – and build up early-warning systems to prepare for deadly heatwaves.

“Extreme heat amplifies inequality, inflames food insecurity and pushes people further into poverty,” he said. “If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.”

Related: ‘This used to be a beautiful place’: how the US became the world’s biggest fossil fuel state

Guterres added: “To tackle all these symptoms, we need to fight the disease. The disease is the madness of incinerating our only home. The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction.”

Wealthy countries have roundly defended their climate credentials, although there is a growing recognition that expanding oil and gas production is incompatible with a scenario in which the world manages to limit dangerous global heating.

Energy security, as well as the imperative to deal with the climate crisis, demands countries like the UK “get off fossil fuels”, Ed Miliband, the UK’s secretary of state for energy security and net zero, told the BBC on Thursday.

“You look around the world, this is the new logic that developing countries, developed countries are recognizing,” he said. “Unless we drive for clean energy we are exposed – we are going to end that exposure.”

SCOTLAND

New funding for Aberdeenshire carbon capture and storage facility

22 JUL 2024 


First Minister John Swinney will visit the site of an innovative carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility in Aberdeenshire today where he will unveil new Scottish Government funding for the project.

The Acorn project, based in St Fergus, would take captured CO2 emissions from industrial processes across the country and store it safely under the North Sea.

The Scottish Cluster brings together Acorn, National Gas’s SCO₂T Connect Project - a pipeline scheme which links the Central Belt with North East Scotland - and a variety of industrial, power, hydrogen, bioenergy and waste-to-energy businesses.

The First Minister will meet representatives of the project and undertake a short tour of the site, before meeting staff and apprentices.

While in Aberdeenshire the First Minister will also meet business leaders and members of the Scottish seafood sector at a roundtable discussion in Peterhead.

Speaking ahead of his visit to the North East, the First Minister said: “Carbon capture and storage will play a huge role in Scotland’s net zero future. The Scottish Government is wholly committed to supporting the Acorn Project, which will take advantage of our access to vast CO2 storage potential and our opportunities to repurpose existing oil and gas infrastructure.

“Scotland’s energy transition presents one of the greatest economic and social opportunities of our time. This landmark project will help to support a just transition for oil and gas workers in the North East and across the country, by drawing upon their world-leading skills and expertise to create many good, green jobs in the coming years.


“The North East is also a powerhouse of Scotland’s world-class seafood processing sector, which contributes massively to our economy. According to recent figures, the region alone is home to more than 3,379 full time equivalent jobs. The Scottish Government will continue to engage and work closely with the sector, and communities, to ensure that Scotland’s fishing industry, the wider seafood sector, and our marine environment can thrive sustainably.”

SEE

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for CCS 

Harris gets another poll showing a tightening race against Trump

The vice president is performing better than President Joe Biden did a month ago.


The Times poll adds another data point to an emerging trend since President Joe Biden exited the race: Vice President Kamala Harris is showing early signs of closing the gap. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO


By JARED MITOVICH
07/25/2024 

POLITICO US

Vice President Kamala Harris is neck-and-neck with former President Donald Trump after she replaced President Joe Biden as the likely Democratic nominee, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll published Thursday.

Among likely voters, Trump is at 48 percent to Harris’ 47 percent in a head-to-head matchup — narrowing the race to a virtual tie after Trump led Biden by six points when the Times polled the race in June. When third party candidates and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are included, Harris draws 44 percent of likely voters to Trump’s 43 percent, with Kennedy slumping to five percent.

The Times poll adds another data point to an emerging trend since Biden exited the race: Harris is showing early signs of closing the gap. And the poll found that both candidates benefit in different ways — Harris from a rise in popularity and major gains among several demographic groups, and Trump from a combination of continued strength with his base and his highest favorability ratings of the election.

Between Biden’s numbers in June and now, Harris has taken a 2 percentage-point lead over Trump among independent voters, flipping the former president’s previous 10 percentage point advantage She’s opened up a 14 percentage-point lead with women, a 21 percentage point lead with 18-29 year-old voters, a 24 percentage point lead with Hispanic voters, and 53 percentage point lead with Black voters — all double-digit increases over Biden’s numbers last month. Trump polls better than Harris among white, male and older voters.

Trump, meanwhile, appears to be benefiting from a more conventional dynamic: the convention bump, when candidates sometimes perform better in the polls after they accept the nomination at their party’s convention. Last week’s RNC was particularly unifying for Republicans, with the party rallying around the former president after he survived an assassination attempt.

Forty-seven percent of likely voters now hold a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Trump, gaining 9 percentage points since June and a record high in Times/Siena polls. At the same time, 45 percent of likely voters hold a “very unfavorable” view of him, up 6 percentage points from last month.

By comparison, 46 percent of voters hold a favorable view of Harris, rising from 36 percent when this question was last asked by the Times in February and higher than Biden’s. The president, who praised Harris and explained his decision to step aside in a somber Oval Office address on Wednesday, has seen an uptick in his favorability rating and job approval. Nearly 9 in 10 likely voters approve of Biden’s withdrawal, and 81 percent of Democrats and Democrat-leaning voters think the party should nominate Harris as its candidate.

The New York Times/Siena College poll was conducted July 22-24, surveying 1,142 likely voters with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.

Kamala Harris Finds Ally In Ripple CEO Amid Crypto Backlash

Christian Encila by Christian Encila

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wants United States Vice President Kamala Harris to be straightforward on crypto regulation. His comments follow a growing discussion concerning the administration’s digital currency policy and the VP’s withdrawal from Bitcoin Conference 2024.

Many crypto market fans hoped Harris will attend the meeting. They thought it showed her softening on digital currency. David Bailey, the CEO of the world’s biggest Bitcoin conference, disclosed that Harris has decided not to speak at the event.

Kamala Harris Under The Lens

In assessing presidential candidates, Garlinghouse has advocated a break from political bias. His comment followed the observations of Policy Director Justin Slaughter of Paradigm on the possible influence of US Vice President Kamala Harris should she run for president.

Arguing that tribalism and political prejudice have hampered the growth of the crypto sector, Garlinghouse supports a focus on policy ideas instead of political ties.

The remarks of Garlinghouse capture the increasing attitude of crypto leaders who believe that political forces have dominated important policy debates.

“We have to evaluate candidates based on their policy pledges rather than only their party lines,” Garlinghouse said.

This point of view underscores the continuous discussion within the sector on how to negotiate the difficult political terrain that has been, of late, become more intertwined with cryptocurrency.

The Potential Impact Of Harris: A Two-Edged Sword

Slaughter’s most recent X post attracted notice for the major changes Kamala Harris would bring about should she be elected president.

Slaughter claims that Harris is ready to completely replace important national security positions, maybe firing present Biden’s political advisers. This suggested “reformat” has sparked questions over how it would affect US policy on important matters including regulation on Bitcoin and crypto as a whole.

Garlinghouse’s reply to Slaughter’s evaluation exposes both hope and caution. Though he is concerned about Harris’s inclination towards a discourse like that of anti-crypto Senator Elizabeth Warren, he also notes Harris’ broad understanding of Silicon Valley.

Total crypto market cap currently at $2.2 trillion. Chart: TradingView

This understanding could help to solve the legal obstacles the crypto sector encounters, Garlinghouse said.

Voters On Cryptocurrencies: A Changing Tide

Interestingly, many crypto aficionados have turned to Republican nominee Donald Trump as President Joe Biden’s government, headed by SEC Chair Gary Gensler, comes under fire for strict enforcement policies.

Voters who feel excluded by present rules have found resonance in Trump’s pledges of favorable measures for the crypto industry.

Related Reading: Bitcoin Is The Top Choice For Criminal Activity, Europol Report Shows

The effect on crypto voters is yet unknown as Harris’s candidature develops. The industry is totally focused on any legislative changes that would either encourage or discourage innovation.

Meanwhile, billionaire Mark Cuban thought Kamala Harris may take a more business-friendly approach to bitcoin and AI. Although not verified, Harris’s advisors say she may be more sympathetic to these enterprises than her prior policies.

All things considered, Garlinghouse’s support of a policy-oriented approach mirrors a larger movement among the crypto community for more complex political assessments. The argument on how best to help the sector among changing political environments develops as the US presidential election draws near.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

Kamala Harris to appear on “Drag Race All Stars” season finale

"You betta vote!"

By Daniel Villarreal

LGBTQ NATION

Thursday, July 25, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris on the set of "RuPaul's Drag Race"

Photo: X video screengrab

Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime LGBTQ+ ally, will appear Friday on the season finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9 to encourage viewers to vote.

“Each day we are seeing our rights and freedoms under attack, including the right of everyone to be who they are, love who they love, openly and with pride,” Harris says in her appearance. “So, as we fight back against these attacks, let’s all remember, no one is alone. We are all in this together, and your vote is your power. So please make sure your voice is heard this November and register to vote at vote.gov.”

RELATED:

Call Me Mother: 4 drag queens discuss the love they have for their drag daughters

Drag queens sometimes mentor fledgling performers to become truly dazzling entertainers.

Harris will deliver her message surrounded by longtime Drag Race judge Michelle Visage, choreographer Jamal Sims, gay singer Lance Bass, comedienne Leslie Jones, and gay actor Cheyenne Jackson. Bass, Jones, and Jackson have all served as guest judges in past seasons of Drag Race.

Her appearance was filmed last month, according to the Deadline, before President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Harris for his replacement.



The eight drag queens competing in All Stars 9 kicked off their show’s season in May by visiting Washington D.C. and visiting a local gay bar with lesbian White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. There, the group discussed the role drag activism plays in a political climate that opposes gender nonconformity. Some of the queens called drag an empowering form of visibility that can help combat close-mindedness.

The queens — dressed in red, white, and blue — posed for promotional photographs at the National Mall in front of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool with the Washington Memorial obelisk in the background.

Earlier this year, former contestants of RuPaul’s Drag Race started Drag PAC, a first-ever drag queen-led political action committee that seeks to “protect LGBTQ+ rights through democratic action in 2024.”

The founding members are Alaska, Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Peppermint, and Monét X Change. The performers said they were compelled to form the PAC because of the many anti-LGBTQ+ bills that have been introduced in the past years, including legislation aimed at restricting drag shows.

Republicans are quietly pushing to defund transgender healthcare - and not just for minors


For a year and a half, GOP lawmakers have been stealthily adding amendements to government appropriations bills, which are key to funding major government departments, to ban any federal money being used for gender transition procedures. This will dramatically curtail trans people’s access to medical care — just like the Hyde Amendment restricted abortion access, write Io Dodds and Eric Garcia.

3 days ago

THE INDEPENDENT

Trans rights protesters gather outside the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City, March 2022 (Spenser Heaps/The Deseret News via AP)

Hundreds of thousands of transgender people could lose access to medical treatment or be forced to detransition under a little-known Republican effort to defund trans healthcare for both adults and children.

Since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives last January, GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill have quietly added a wave of amendments to "must-pass" government funding bills that would ban federal money from being used for gender transition procedures such as hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery.


These riders vary widely in their scope and effect. Some target government health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. Others would revoke insurance coverage for transgender government employees. Still others would bar federal funding for any institution that "promotes transgenderism".

Taken together, though, they would drastically curtail trans people’s access to medical care that advocates routinely describe as critical to their flourishing – much as the 1977 Hyde Amendment restricted abortion access in the wake of Roe v Wade.

"I remember a time when my own medical transition was the only thing going right in my life, and to have it taken away from me would have been existential at least," says Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)’s LGBTQ and HIV Project. "This healthcare saved my life and the lives of trans people I know and love."

To be clear, GOP lawmakers aren’t seeking to limit these procedures for everyone. The proposed restrictions would only apply when they are done as part of a medical transition, and not when they are given to cisgender (or non-trans) people to treat other conditions.

And while such riders currently have little hope of passing a Democratic Senate and presidency, they are a preview of what could happen if the GOP wins back power this November — and Republican lawmakers tell The Independent that is exactly the plan.

"Certainly, I’d be hopeful that they would go through [if Trump wins] – that we would stop taxpayers’ dollars being used for things that taxpayers in Montana don’t support," said Montana Republican Matt Rosendale, who authored a House amendment banning US military personnel and their families from receiving transition care through their Pentagon health insurance.

That change will affect a lot of service members. Trans people are two to five times more likely to serve in the US military than cis people, and the military is widely believed to be the country’s biggest employer of trans people.

Independent senator Joe Manchin, who bizarrely claimed not to know whether he’d voted to restrict trans healthcare, talks with reporters on July 11, 2024

(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr)

Asked by The Independent whether he was concerned about interrupting people’s healthcare, Rosendale said: "I don’t think that taxpayers’ dollars should be used for surgeries that change the physical appearance."


Indeed, last week the Republican National Committee officially made cutting off taxpayer funding for all "sex change surgeries" part of its 2024 policy platform.

Other legislators were more diffident. "Yeah? So?" said Maryland Republican Andy Harris, a medical doctor on the House appropriations committee who backed several anti-trans amendments, when buttonholed by The Independent on the Capitol steps on Thursday before Congress left for recess.

Pressed on why he supported those amendments, he said: "Because there should be no special rights."

Meanwhile, West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, who recently left the Democratic Party to become an independent, bizarrely claimed to be unaware that he had voted for a similar pair of amendments – only for his office to reverse course within 24 hours and say he did support them.

Trans people and their allies, however, do not feel so blasé.

"Losing this crucial access to gender affirming care would be devastating to our community," says Ash Orr of Advocates for Transgender Equality (A4TE), a Washington DC non-profit.

"It is not hyperbole that passing federal legislation to ban transgender healthcare, just like with abortions, would lead to unnecessary deaths."

How routine funding bills have become a battleground

There is a broad consensus among medical researchers that gender transition is effective, and frequently necessary, in treating gender dysphoria. What exactly that involves is different from person to person.

The most common treatment is hormone replacement therapy (HRT), which masculinizes or feminizes the body over a span of months and years. Many trans people also find that it brings about a holistic improvement in their wellbeing and self-esteem. Though relatively cheap, it must be taken continuously throughout one’s life, and stopping it will reverse some (though not all) of its effects.

Some trans people also get surgeries to alleviate their dysphoria, such as genital reconstruction, breast removal and augmentation, or orchiectomy (ie, testicle removal). These are more permanent, but far more expensive, and often have a long recovery period.

Such procedures aren’t exclusive to trans people. Cis women take HRT to mitigate side effects of menopause, or even acne; children receive puberty blockers to prevent premature sexual development; and intersex people undergo genital reconstructive surgery, frequently without their consent in early childhood.

Menopause can wreck havoc on hormones, so many cis women take HRT to better control their symptoms (Getty Images)

Those instances, however, are not what GOP lawmakers are taking aim at. Their objection is to taxpayer funding of gender transition specifically, and the centerpiece of their efforts is a highly bureaucratic but incredibly consequential process known as appropriations.

Every year, Congress must pass 12 spending bills to keep the government open by "appropriating" money from the US treasury. Each bill funds a different cluster of federal agencies, such as the State Department or the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Traditionally this process has been relatively non-partisan. However, the must-pass nature of these bills creates an opportunity for members to force the spotlight onto their pet issues, proposing amendments that would get little traction in a standalone vote. Republicans have made gender-affirming care one of those issues.

Last year seven out of 12 appropriations bills were amended in the House to restrict trans healthcare, according to a report by the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – part of a raft of anti-LGBT+ additions ranging from bans on flying Pride flags above federal properties and blocking the enforcement of non-discrimination laws.

This year similar riders were stealthily attached to bills appropriating funds for the Department of Homeland Security, the State Department, the Department of Defence (DoD), and HHS.

That last bill is particularly important because it funds Medicare, which provides health insurance to around 65m older and disabled people, and Medicaid, which does the same for roughly 85m on low incomes.

In June, House Republicans amended this year’s iteration of the annual National Defence Authorization Act (NDAA) to revoke coverage for trans healthcare under the Pentagon’s sprawling Tricare health insurance program, which serves around 9.6m current and former service members and dependents. The Senate version of the NDAA was also amended to ban the DoD from paying for trans surgeries.

All this legislation dovetails an ongoing nationwide campaign to ban transition healthcare for under-18s and impose criminal sanctions on doctors who perform it, at both the local and federal level.

"These anti-trans riders don’t just target healthcare for trans youth, but adults of any age," says Orr. "[That] indicates what we already knew: the battle over our bodily autonomy does not come from a concern for the safety of adolescents, but from opposition to self-determination and bodily autonomy."

'Losing this healthcare is an existential threat'

How would such laws actually impact trans life in America?

According to the Williams Institute, an LGBT+ research non-profit based in Los Angeles, there were around 164,000 trans adults enrolled in Medicaid plans that covered transition care as of 2022.

The 2015 US US Transgender Survey (USTS) also found that around 7.8 per cent of trans adults had health insurance through Medicare, Tricare, another military scheme, or the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, as well as up to 0.9 per cent insured by the Indian Health Service. With an estimated US transgender population of 1.6m, that would amount to roughly another 125,000 to 141,000 people.

Not every person counted in these numbers would necessarily seek medical transition. On the other hand, they do not include the unknown number of trans people who bought federally-subsidized coverage through a health insurance marketplace – which could also be affected by some riders, according to A4TE – or who work for the federal government and get insurance from their employer.

Many individual hospitals and health systems across the country also receive federal aid. While in theory they could ring-fence this money to keep it away from transition care, some might simply stop offering such procedures – just as several major hospitals in red states have already done for minors.

For some affected trans people, this would mean a scramble to find some other way of getting medical care, potentially at considerable personal or financial cost. For others it would mean treatments being delayed or blocked entirely.

Those denied surgery might have to live with bodily features that make them miserable, while those compelled to stop HRT would undergo an involuntary medical transition – or even, if they no longer had the ability to produce their own hormones, a forced menopause.

Swimmer Schuyler Bailar as a NYC Pride Grand Marshal during the 2022 parade 

(Getty Images)

"Gender-affirming care serves as the foundation for the lives that trans people lead," Branstetter says. "It gives us the freedom to be ourselves and to build our own futures...
"If you deny that to them, or you pull it away, that leaves them with very little hope and very little ability to continue to move through the world. And that’s one reason why we have this notoriously high suicide rate."

Dr Jack Turban, director of the University of California San Francisco’s gender psychiatry program, and the author of Free to Be: Understanding Kids & Gender Identity, likewise says that denying transition care would cause "a substantial adverse public mental health impact."

That damage, Branstetter argues, would compound the deep discrimination that trans people already face in housing, employment, and other areas of life. As with the Hyde Amendment, it would also fall disproportionately on trans people of color and those in poverty, who are more likely to be on Medicaid and have fewer resources to pursue alternatives.

These bills aren’t happening in isolation. In addition to the GOP’s broad-spectrum war against trans rights and healthcare, the Heritage Foundation – an influential hyperconservative think tank – has proposed sweeping efforts to push trans people out of public life as part of its ambitious ‘Project 2025’ manifesto.

Hence, if next year’s session of Congress opens with Republicans in control of all three branches of government, both Branstetter and Turban fear that withholding taxpayer dollars will only be the beginning.


"Anti-trans politicians have been working to identify more and more creative ways to restrict access to care for transgender patients," says Turban.

"I don’t think there’s any reason to think that will stop, and this next election will have a dramatic impact on transgender Americans and their ability to access gender-affirming medical care."

 

Elon Musk's trans daughter Vivian Wilson slams his anti-LGBTQ+ comments as 'ketamine-fueled haze'

THREADS @VIVLLAINOUS; CRISTIANO BARNI/SHUTTERSTOCK
"I look pretty good for a dead bitch," Wilson, a transgender woman, said of her biological father's claims that gender-affirming care "killed" her.

ELON MUSK IS A SERIAL MONOGAMIST

RYAN ADAMCZESKI
JULY 25 2024 
ADVOCATE


Vivian Wilson is fact-checking own father after billionaire Elon Musk made bigoted comments about her gender.

The billionaire recently attacked gender-affirming care in an interview with conspiracy theorist Jordan Peterson for conservative platform the Daily Wire, claiming that the life-saving treatment "killed" his daughter while repeatedly misgendering her.

Musk said that when his daughter wanted to begin transitioning, he “was essentially tricked into signing documents" before he "had really any understanding of what was going on." He said that doctors told him his daughter "might commit suicide" if she was prevented from receiving care.

"I lost my son. They call it ‘deadnaming’ for a reason," Musk said. "The reason it’s called ‘deadnaming’ is because, your son is dead. So my son is dead, killed by the woke mind virus.”


Wilson has since responded to Musk's assertions on Threads, the rival to his platform Twitter/X, saying that her biological father's claims are so blatantly false that she's "just started to find it funny at this point." "

"Calling me dead on a podcast with JORDAN PETERSON of all people while basically admitting you have zero reading comprehension by saying you were “tricked” into signing documents that you read over multiple times is basically a parody of itself," she wrote. "Like it’s honestly camp-"

"I look pretty good for a dead bitch," she added.

Wilson then debunked some of Musk's other assertions about her, among them several homophobic stereotypes about her youth, including that she was a fan of musical theatre (she wasn't) and picking out clothes for Musk to wear (she didn't). Musk also claimed that Wilson was "born slightly autistic."

"This entire thing is completely made up and there’s a reason for this. He doesn’t know what I was like as a child because he quite simply wasn’t there, and in the little time that he was I was relentlessly harassed for my femininity and queerness," Wilson wrote. "Obviously he can’t say that, so I’ve been reduced to a happy little stereotype f*g-ing along to use at his discretion. I think that says a lot about how he views queer people and children in general."

Wilson, 20, is one of six children (five living) Musk had with his first wife, model Justine Wilson. She filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April, 2022 to legally change her name and gender, citing the reason as "Gender identity and the fact that I no longer live with or wish to be related to my biological father in any way, shape or form."

Wilson then shot back at her father's claims that she is "not a girl," telling Musk to "go touch some fucking grass."

"As for if I’m not a woman… sure, Jan. Whatever you say. I’m legally recognized as a woman in the state of California and I don’t concern myself with the opinions of those who are below me," she wrote. "Obviously Elon can’t say the same because in a ketamine-fueled haze, he’s desperate for attention and validation from an army of degenerate red-pilled incels and pick-mes who are quick to give it to him."

A US security firm was tricked into hiring a North Korean hacker who installed malware

He was uncovered before any damage could be done

By Rob Thubron July 25, 2024 

Serving tech enthusiasts for over 25 years.
TechSpot means tech analysis and advice you can trust.


WHAT JUST HAPPENED? In a warning that highlights the lengths cybercriminals will go to infiltrate systems, a US security training company has revealed it was tricked into hiring a North Korean hacker as a software engineer. The firm only discovered what happened when he loaded the company-provided computer with malware.

KnowBe4 creates customized security awareness programs for companies, developed to teach employees about hacking dangers. An example is testing susceptibility to phishing attacks by sending employees fake emails to see if anyone falls for the ruse.

In a recent post, CEO and founder Stu Sjouwerman told a cautionary tale, though he emphasized that no company data was lost, compromised, or exfiltrated, and there was no breach.

It started when KnowBe4 posted a job for a software engineer for its internal IT AI team. After HR conducted four video interviews with a candidate on separate occasions, confirmed the individual matched the photo on their application, checked their background, and performed other pre-hiring checks, the person in question was hired to work remotely.

What the company didn't know was that the new hire was using a valid but stolen US-based ID and stock photo, which had been altered using AI, to convince KnowBe4 that they were a legitimate candidate. You can see the original stock photo (left) and the AI-enhanced one below.

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The interviewers believed the person they interviewed looked enough like the faked photo to be convincing.


All seemed normal, until last week when the employee, referred to only as XXXX, was sent his company-supplied Mac workstation. The moment it was received, it immediately started to load malware.


KnowBe4's SOC team contacted XXXX to inquire about the detection and its possible cause. He claimed that he was following steps on his router guide to troubleshoot a speed issue and that it may have caused a compromise.


XXXX then performed actions to manipulate session history files, transfer potentially harmful files, and execute unauthorized software. He used a Raspberry Pi to download the malware. The company tried to get him on video call but he said he was unavailable and later became unresponsive. His device was contained about 25 minutes after the suspicious activities were detected.


Analysis suggests that XXXX may be an Insider Threat/Nation State Actor. The information was shared with cybersecurity firm Mandiant and the FBI. It was determined that XXXX was a fake IT worker from North Korea.


KnowBe4 said the work Mac was shipped to an address "that is basically an 'IT mule laptop farm," which XXXX accessed via VPN. He also worked night shift so it appeared he was working US daytime.


There have been warnings of North Koreans using stolen identities to secure remote US jobs. Their wages are used to fund North Korea's illegal programs, and the positions enable access to sensitive information and the opportunity to breach systems/install malware.