‘Isolation and political solution in the Middle East’ conference at the Labour University of Geneva

A conference in Geneva discussed the absolute isolation of Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution in the Middle East with a focus on Kurdistan and Palestine.


ANF
GENEVA
Sunday, 29 September 2024, 14:30

As the total isolation imposed on Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan enters its fourth year, the "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question" initiative launched by the friends of Kurds worldwide on 10 October 2023, continues with various events.

As part of the events to be held in October, a conference on Kurdistan, the situation of Kurdish women and isolation was held in Geneva on Saturday.

The conference ‘For a political solution in the Middle East: Palestine, Kurdistan - Intifada, Serhildan‘, organised by the Geneva Democratic Kurdish Community Centre (NCDK-Ge) and the Swiss Kurdish Women's Union (YJK-S), was held at the Amphitheatre of the Labour University of Geneva (Université ouvrière de Genève).


The conference, which was supported by the Communist Revolutionary Party (PCR) and the internationalist Serhildan (Uprising) Network, was attended by HDP MP Ayşe Acar Başaran, PCR representative Luc Rolli, activist Nadina from the Solidarity Committee for Rojava and a representative from the Solidarity Network for Palestine.

The conference started with a minute of silence in memory of the martyrs of the world revolution.

Ayşe Acar Başaran, who made the first speech at the conference, referred to the international conspiracy against Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan, which started on 9 October 1998, and made a presentation on the system of absolute isolation and torture that has been going on in İmralı High Security Prison, where Öcalan is held, for 25 years.

Ayşe Acar Başaran stated that the torture of isolation in İmralı under the supervision of international states has spread to the whole country. She said: “The occupation of Kurdistan and the genocidal attacks against the Kurdish people are continued today with attacks against Kurdish politics, Kurdish language, nature, women and children.”

Referring to the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign, which was launched globally by the friends of the Kurdish people on 10 October 2023 against all these attacks carried out on the basis of isolation, occupation and genocide, Ayşe Acar Başaran said, “At this stage, internationalist solidarity must be increased. Every support from the friends of the Kurdish people will make this campaign a success.”

The conference continued with a presentation by Luc Rolli, representative of the PCR (Communist Revolutionary Party).

Luc Rolli said that the capitalist system and especially NATO, which acts under the control of the USA, sends peoples to war in order to expand its sphere of influence.

Rolli stated that the genocidal attacks carried out by the Turkish and Israeli governments for decades are the Third World War waged by the capitalist powers against the peoples of the world and especially the Middle East.

Emphasising that the Rojava Revolution created by the Kurdish Freedom Struggle and the struggle of the Palestinian people have created a spirit of resistance against the capitalist system, Rolli added the following: “These struggles will secure the right to self-determination of the peoples in the Middle East and pave the way for democratic and social confederalism that will lead to the liberation of the peoples of the Middle East and the whole world.”

Luc Rolli's presentation was followed by the second part of the conference, where presentations were made by the activists of the Committee for Solidarity with Rojava and the Network for Solidarity with Palestine.

After the question and answer session, posters of Abdullah Öcalan were raised by the participants as part of the ‘Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, a Political Solution to the Kurdish Question’ campaign and the conference was concluded.

Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan initiative in Cologne

"We are launching a Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan," said TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn adding that they will hold a big event at the Cologne Dom Cathedral.


ANF
COLOGNE


TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn will hold a big event for Kurdish People's Leader Abdullah Öcalan in Cologne, tomorrow.

Performers, painters, theater actors and folk dance actors will participate in the event titled "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan". The event will be held in front of the Dom Cathedral between 1 and 5 pm.

Speaking to ANF, Hozan Şemdîn said: "Singers and musicians will attend the event with their own instruments. We will all wear national clothes. Our painters will exhibit their paintings. We invite all our people to this event."

Hozan Şemdîn also said that hundreds of TEV-ÇAND members from all branches of art will be present at the event.

During the four-hour program, songs about Abdullah Öcalan and Kurdistan will be sung, and the dance groups will perform folkloric dances. In addition, information will be given about the condition of Abdullah Öcalan.

'Culture and art campaign for Abdullah Öcalan's freedom'

TEV-ÇAND and Kevana Zêrîn published a joint written statement to present the event saying: "We support the Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan, Political Solution to the Kurdish Question campaign."

The statement also drew attention to 10 December, the day on which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted at the United Nations in 1948.

"The 75th anniversary of this declaration will be on 10 December 2023. The Turkish state accepted this declaration in 1949. However, the inalienable human rights of the Kurds have been systematically violated by the Turkish state every day for 75 years."

The statement also underlined that Abdullah Öcalan was the theorist and philosophical leader of the Kurdish Freedom Movement and that he had been kept under heavy isolation for 24 years. "The isolation imposed on Rêber Apo [Abdullah Öcalan] is essentially an isolation imposed on his political ideas and his proposal and work to have a successful peace process. Isolation is illegal and is a form of torture. In order to break the isolation, we are launching the 'Culture and Art Campaign for the Freedom of Abdullah Öcalan'."

The statement pointed out that Kurdish literature, history, music and art are denied and banned by the Turkish state and said: "This is cultural genocide. All kinds of oppressive violence are applied to the Kurdish people and unlimited assimilation policies are implemented. All of these are crimes. We reject this cultural genocide. We are fighting for it to end."

The joint statement ended as follows: "As Kurdistan artists, we do not accept the isolation imposed on Rêber Apo. We declare that we will participate with our art in the events organized to break the isolation and achieve Rêber Apo's physical freedom."

SYRIAN KURDISTAN

Autonomous Administration sets up crisis desk for Syrian returnees from Lebanon

The Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria set up a crisis desk for the safe resettlement of those returning from Lebanon due to Israeli attacks.


ANF
NEWS DESK
Sunday, 29 September 2024

According to the United Nations, more than 50,000 people have fled to Syria as a result of the ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Syrian media report much higher numbers. The Democratic Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) declared itself ready to accept Syrian returnees from Lebanon earlier this week. As the DAANES Department for Foreign Affairs announced today, a crisis management team has been formed for this purpose. Thousands of people have already arrived in the region.

Gulistan Eli, Deputy Co-Chair of the Foreign Relations Department of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES), delivered a statement of next steps at the border between the Autonomous Region and the Damascus-controlled area of Syria, saying that the crisis unit had been decided at an emergency meeting and comprised of representatives from the institutions responsible for hosting the refugees. The aim is to ensure the safe return of Syrians from Lebanon and to provide for their accommodation.

Gulistan Eli explained that refugees are received and registered by the crisis unit upon their arrival in North and East Syria. After their identities have been established, people who come from the region and can stay with their families can continue their journey. For refugees without this option, the DAANES will provide accommodation. The crisis unit will monitor the accommodation process.

Gulistan Eli called for support from the international community and the reopening of the Til Koçer (Al-Yarubiyah) border crossing for humanitarian aid. The border crossing with Iraq was closed in 2018 by decision of the UN Security Council at Russia's insistence. The DAANES representative called on the government in Damascus to facilitate access to the autonomous region for refugees.

1300 Syrians returning from Lebanon have reached Raqqa Canton.


ANF
RAQQA
Saturday, 28 September 2024

Thousands of Syrian citizens in Lebanon are returning to Syria due to the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

The Lebanese representation of the Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria established a committee on 24 September for Syrian refugees returning to the region.

Stating that 1,300 Syrian citizens have reached Raqqa Canton so far, Hesen El Xabûr, head of the Raqqa Canton Drivers Union, noted that more families returning from Lebanon will also arrive in the city.

The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, in coordination with the Social Affairs and Labour Council and the Relief Office, announced that a large number of buses have been arranged to bring refugees from Homs and Damascus to the region and that their names will be registered to provide the necessary assistance.

In addition, 3 Syrian families arrived from Lebanon to Girê Spî refugee camp in Ain Issa.

TURKIYE'S WAR ON KURDISTAN

Gündüz: We will shout our demands from Amed to the whole world

On 13 October, a large rally will take place in Amed as part of the campaign "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question". Despite the threat of repression, mobilization is in full swing.


ANF
AMED
Wednesday, 25 September 2024,

The situation in Turkey and in North Kurdistan in particular is becoming increasingly dramatic.

Isolation and repression have affected large parts of society and the rule of law and human rights can no longer even be spoken of. People are starving, and the environment is being destroyed.

For over 42 months there has been no sign of life from the Kurdish people's leader Abdullah Öcalan, who is kept in isolation on the prison island of Imrali. On 10 October 2023, the global campaign "Freedom for Abdullah Öcalan and a political solution to the Kurdish question" was launched.

On 13 October in Amed (Diyarbakir) there will be a rally under the slogan "We resist the plot and gather in Amed for freedom".

In an interview with ANF, the co-chair of the provincial association of the Democratic Regions Party (DBP), Mehmet Şirin Gündüz, spoke about the mobilization and the background of the action.

"Isolation has affected all areas of life"

Gündüz spoke about the consequences of isolation on Imrali, and said: "Today, isolation is intensifying not only on Imrali, but in all areas of life in Kurdistan. In the person of Mr. Öcalan, an entire people is isolated. The centuries-old policy of extermination and assimilation by the statist mentality is manifested in the special war against the Kurdish people. Therefore, we do not consider isolation to be a situation of one person or in a prison.

This isolation also lacks any legal basis. It is the result of a completely politicized, hostile attitude. Today, isolation is showing its effects everywhere in our region, everywhere in the Middle East. It is impossible to find another example in the world of such isolation conditions without any humanitarian and legal basis. Turkey is committing a crime with its isolation policy."

"The issue of isolation itself is being pushed off the agenda"

Establishing a causal link between the deep social crises, the economic crisis, ecological destruction, war and isolation, Gündüz continued: "People are now at the end of their strength. The solution to all these crises lies in the perspective that Mr. Öcalan can show people. Absolute incommunicado detention blocks the way to dialogue and solution.

The government is running away from the solution and is determined to drag the country into the abyss. It ignores the demands of society and only tries to keep itself alive. Raising the question of isolation is also being isolated. It is as if isolation is not an issue.

We will continue to shout loudly and point out whatever they ignore. The Turkish media ignores every action against isolation and therefore does not reflect this in society. In contrast, we continue our activities everywhere. We will not stop these actions until the AKP government puts isolation on the agenda and starts a dialogue process with Mr. Öcalan; until Mr. Öcalan's physical freedom is ensured."

"We will reach the world from Amed"

Gündüz called on the public to attend the rally planned for 13 October in Amed, and said: "We defend freedom against isolation, dialogue against isolation, a solution against isolation. There are hundreds of ill prisoners in the prisons. There are prisoners whose release is postponed even though they have served their sentences.

In view of the prison conditions, we demand that the gates of the prisons to freedom be opened to all sick prisoners. We demand the freedom of our friends who are being held hostage.

We demand that the ongoing isolation of Abdullah Öcalan be ended immediately. Our entire people are invited to our rally in Amed, where we will shout out these demands together. Our entire people should demand freedom and negotiation from Amed and raise their hands for peace. We will proclaim the demands of the Kurdish people of Amed to the entire world."

A Myanmar revolutionary battles an old enemy with new allies

Fighting has kept Saw Kaw from his family, but he sees a day when it and the country are united.

By Aye A. Mon with photos and video by Chan Aung for RFA Burmese
2024.09.29
Karen State, Myanmar

Cobra Column commander Saw Kaw plays his guitar in a secret camp in Myawaddy township, Karen state, Myanmar, July 12, 2024.
Chan Aung/RFA


This story is the fourth in a five-part series exploring the war in Myanmar and what might come if the fighting stops. Read this story in Burmese.

Tall, square-jawed and with a facial expression set to stern, Saw Kaw looks every bit the rebel commander that he is.




But as he sits in a secret camp of Myawaddy township in Kayin (Karen) state, strumming his guitar and singing songs he learned in church, it’s easy to wonder what shape the 37-year-old’s life might have taken had circumstances allowed.

As it was, Saw Kaw was born in a small village in eastern Myanmar and into one of the longest running insurgencies in the world. Almost ever since Burma gained independence from Great Britain in 1948, ethnic Karen forces from small villages in the mountainous areas near Thailand have battled successive military juntas for greater autonomy.

Among them was Saw Kaw’s father, who was a member of the Karen National Union, or KNU.

When Saw Kaw was seven, soldiers raided his village in search of his father, who wasn’t there at the time. Saw Kaw said they found and beat his uncles and an elderly grandfather instead, sending his mother, seven months pregnant at the time, fleeing into the surrounding jungle

.

An illustration shows seven-year-old Saw Kaw watching soldiers — who were looking for his father, a resistance fighter — torturing his relatives. (Rebel Pepper/RFA)

For safety reasons, he said the family has remained fractured ever since, constantly on guard that the military or their supporters could use one to get to another.

“Hello, Mom, how are you,” Saw Kaw sings, playing one of his favorite songs. “I miss you so much. Please pardon me as I cannot come back to you.”

A long struggle

The Karen are among the largest minority groups in Myanmar, which is thought to have more than 130 different ethnicities with various relationships with the Burman majority that has held the reins of power in the country.

The complicated ethnic make-up is seen as a barrier to lasting peace. In-roads other armies have made against junta forces to the north and west don’t necessarily indicate the country can emerge from its complicated civil war whole.

But the KNU has committed itself to the idea of a federation in which it and other groups have a high degree of authority over their own affairs but participate in a larger, national government. They are allied with the National Unity Government, a group of exiled former government officials helping to fund resistance movements and build a lasting peace should the military collapse.

Cobra Column commander Saw Kaw stands on Asia Road, near the site of what was formerly the Myanmar junta's Battalion 356, July 12, 2024. (Chan Aung/RFA)

As a military commander, Saw Kaw doesn’t have time to weigh all the possible political dynamics. But the force he controls – Cobra Column – is an unusual joint effort of seasoned fighters from ethnic armies and young, largely Burman revolutionaries who no longer wish to be governed by the junta. It is an NUG force, not a KNU one.

"I cannot precisely predict when this significant event will conclude, but I firmly believe that this war must come to an end,” he said. “It is not solely an arm revolution; the entire populace is involved.”

In the shared tragedy, he hopes a lasting cohesion can be formed.

READ MORE IN THIS SERIES

A new generation in Myanmar risks their lives for change

Love and struggle: A new generation in Myanmar’s civil war

For Burmese journalist, an uneasy safety in Thailand

A coup, then civil war

Many of the Karen are Christian due to a history of missionaries operating in the area during colonial rule, and Saw Kaw learned to play the guitar in his church. Whatever early musical aptitude he demonstrated didn’t much matter. He always knew what his future held – fighting for his people. After attending college in Thailand he returned home to join the Karen National Liberation Army, or KNLA.

His life has seen peace, however. In 2015, the KNU and the Myanmar military negotiated a ceasefire in the capital of Naypyidaw. Saw Kaw was part of the delegation.

In this Sept. 9, 2015, photo, Myanmar President Thein Sein greets representatives of armed ethnic groups at the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) meeting in Naypyidaw. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

By then, Myanmar’s military leaders began to open the country up to the world after decades of isolation. The agreement fell apart, though, in 2021 when Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing led a coup that pushed out the civilian government of the National League for Democracy, claiming election irregularities that it has yet to prove.

Some of the NLD members fled to Lay Kay Kaw, a town established with the help of the Japanese as a refuge for Karen displaced in the region’s long-simmering conflict.

The city, which was known as a “peace town” symbolizing the new detente between the military and rebel forces, became instead a locus where People’s Defense Forces (PDFs) sought training from people like Saw Kaw.

“With deep sympathy, I don't want anyone else to suffer as we have,” he said in an interview from his camp, not far from the front line where rebels are trying to hold off a large collection of government troops.

“If people in other places experienced what’s happening in this country, they wouldn’t be able to endure it. It’s truly unbearable.”

Cobra Column commander Saw Kaw near the front line in Myawaddy district, Karen state, May 8, 2023. (Courtesy of Saw Kaw)

Hunting former NLD members, the military attacked Lay Kay Kaw in December 2021, triggering a return of hostilities with the KNU and its armed units. Fighting escalated throughout 2022 and 2023, spreading to towns and villages in the Myawaddy, Kawkareik and Kyainseikgyi districts.

Initially, Saw Kaw said the fledgling PDF units tried to hold off the onslaught with old Tumi guns, flintlock rifles used against the British more than half a century ago.

Members of Cobra Column in KNU’s Brigade 6 area ride a truck in an undated photo. (Cobra Column)

Now his battle-hardened troops are armed with heavy weaponry and drones to scout enemy positions. They’ve fought military battalions with between 100 and 300 soldiers in strategic places around Myawaddy, including battles in strategic areas like Hpalugyi, Let Khet mountain and Thingan Nyi Naung.

And they’ve scored a number of victories.

Battlefield successes and a desire for peace

Saw Kaw speaks with pride of time when his troops shot down a helicopter carrying a key military strategist and a battalion commander, narrating the scene like a sports analyst.

"After setting up the heavy weapons and drones, the helicopter approached directly,” he said. “First, the sniper took a shot, followed by firing from the .50-caliber machine gun.

A junta helicopter Cobra Column shot down at a site that was previously the Myanmar junta's Battalion 356, July 12, 2024. (Chan Aung/RFA)

“Then, it was time for the heavy weapons. We had to target their landing spot, so we were ready with heavy weapons and drones. I am not sure if it was the sniper or the .50-caliber shot that hit, but the helicopter went down.”

The commander and the strategist were both killed.

More significantly, Cobra Column helped to capture the military’s Battalion 356, taking about 300 soldiers prisoner.

Now the Cobra Column is trying to fend off the junta’s Aung Zeya operation, a massive effort begun last spring to fully control Myawaddy and its surrounding areas, from the foot of the Dawna mountain range to the west. The outcome may help determine when the conflict, which has killed thousands and displaced tens of thousands, concludes.

Cobra Column Captain Saw Kaw, left, and Major Da Baw pose for a portrait near the former location of Myanmar junta’s Battalion 356, July 12, 2024. (Chan Aung/RFA)

Saw Kaw and fellow fighter Da Baw and their troops are trying to prevent the military column from advancing.

The fighting has kept Saw Kaw away from his wife and two young daughters for their safety, another example of history repeating itself. He hopes the battle will be over soon.

"Then, I no longer wish to be a soldier,” he said. “Since my youth, I've been trapped in this vicious cycle, and now I aspire to improve underdeveloped areas.

“I want to see people living freely and happily.”

Edited by Jim Snyder

OPINION: Ukrainian Americans Face Critical Choice in November Presidential Election

US foreign policy toward Ukraine lies in the balance as Americans prepare to go to the polls.

By Michael Buryk
September 29, 2024

Kyiv Post.

US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (R) and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky speak to the press before a private meeting, in the Vice President's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus on September 26, 2024 in Washington, DC. 

Drew ANGERER / AFP


The recent visit of President Volodymyr Zelensky to the US was in stark contrast to previous trips when he was hailed as a hero in the US Congress. Almost three years into Russia’s full-scaleinvasion of Ukraine, the relative unanimity of Republicans and Democrats on the question of aid for Ukraine in 2022 has melted away into sharp attacks by Republican leaders.

This week, House Speaker Mike Johnson suggested that Zelensky’s visit to a munitions plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania,was a political move favoring the Democrats. And Mr. Johnson proposed that Ambassador of Ukraine to the US Oksana Makarova should be fired for arranging this visit.

Meanwhile, Presidential candidate Donald Trump and his Vice-Presidential running mate JD Vance have offered their own plan to end the war that includes Ukraine giving up their territories currently occupied by Russia and taking a pledge not to join NATO.

What has happened to the Republican Party of Ronald Reagan? When I headed up the Republican Heritage Groups Federation of the State of New Jersey in the later 1970s, the Republican Party openly supported the “Captive Nations” that were shackled to the Soviet Union. Now in the 21st century when Ukraine has chosen to be an integral part of the West, the Republican Party has been hijacked by a bunch of Know Nothings who believe it is not in America’s best interest to help any country outside the US.

In Savannah, Georgia, on Sept. 24, Mr. Trump praised Russia’s military record in past conflicts and suggested that Ukraine should have made concessions to prevent the February 2022 invasion. He implied that there would have been no Russian invasion of Ukraine if he had been president at the time. He insists that the US needs to “get out” of any involvement in this conflict but has offered no specific details on how to resolve it.

Ukrainian American voters are by their nature very conservative. For many years, Republican candidates had a strong appeal for them. But now they must realize that the Republican Party today does not respect their interests in Ukraine. Ukrainians are fighting for their very existence as a nation. Russia is taking every opportunity to destroy innocent people, homes, hospitals and infrastructure as well as cultural sites and institutions to obliterate any memory of Ukraine as an independent nation.

The foreign policy toward Ukraine of the Administration of US President Joe Biden has not been without its flaws. It took far too long to arm Ukraine, and major delays continue in the military supply chain. And the use of US long-range missiles to strike deeper inside Russia is still restricted. While the EU has undertaken a major role in helping Ukraine in its military struggle with Russia, the US is still its important global partner.

Democratic Presidential candidate Kamala Harris in her recent meeting with President Zelensky at the White House said that if she becomes president she would “ensure Ukraine prevails in this war.” Ms. Harris suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin “could end the war tomorrow.” And she said that anyone who would have Ukraine trade territory for peace (like Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance) supported “proposals of surrender.”

The choice for Ukrainian Americans in the November Presidential election is clear. Today’s Republican Party offers no hope for Ukraine to win in its struggle against an imperialist Russia.

Appeasement and concessions will be the fate of Ukraine if Republicans win in the November presidential election. Make no mistake about it. This is a struggle for Ukraine’s ultimate survival as an independent nation.

Mike Buryk had a 40-year career in advertising and publishing. Today, he is a writer, speaker and podcaster on topics related to Ukraine. His articles and twice monthly podcast appear in The Ukrainian Weekly newspaper published in the US. He is a former member of the Republican Party in the US.

The views expressed are the author’s and not necessarily of Kyiv Post.

Canada parliamentary watchdog finds intelligence agency hiring practice violates privacy

Ishrat Chahal | National Law U. Delhi, IN

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024 

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) of Canada announced that the Communications Security Establishment’s (CSE) use of polygraphs for security screening during the hiring process likely breaches the privacy rights of prospective employees.

Although the CSE claims that its method of assessment is consistent with the Privacy Act, the NSIRA found that it “falls short of these requirements.” For one, it is necessary under Section 4 of the Privacy Act that any personal information collected be related “directly to an operating program or activity of the institution.” The NSIRA found that the CSE had been wrongfully using polygraph results to decide whether a candidate should be hired, rather than for the limited purpose of assessing a candidate’s loyalty towards the nation.

The NSIRA also found that Section 7 of the Privacy Act had not been complied with, which requires that the use of an individual’s personal information be restricted to the express purpose for which it was collected. In addition, the NSIRA was concerned that the hiring practice may violate applicant’s privacy rights under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The polygraph assessment is intended to assess an “individual’s criminality and/ or loyalty to Canada”, as employment at the CSE would involve exposure to sensitive information of national importance. The NSIRA has urged the government to either get rid of, or modify the assessment so that it is in line with constitutional standards.

Though the polygraph evaluation is used by the CSE, security clearances in the Canadian federal government are mandated by the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). The polygraph assessment standard was implemented by the Standard on Security Screening which was set by the TBS in 2014.

Concerns over the viability of the polygraph assessment were also flagged in the review, wherein the potential flaws of the test were pointed out.

The investigation and review of the CSE’s practices fall within a parliamentary mandate granted to the NSIRA by Sections 8(1)(a) and 8(1)(b) of the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency Act. This law mandates that the body is to “review any activity carried out by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service or the Communications Security Establishment” and “review any activity carried out by a department that relates to national security or intelligence.”

The CSE is Canada’s digital intelligence agency, responsible for foreign signals intelligence and the protection of government data and information.

France’s new government pledges hardline stance on migration as it cozies up to far right

THE LEFT WON THE ELECTION BUT ARE NOT IN POWER???!!!

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, shakes hands with then-European Union chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020. (Ludovic Marin/Pool Photo via AP, File) 

By Diane Jeantet and Sylvie Corbet - Associated Press - Sunday, September 29, 2024


PARIS — France’s new government is set to take a hardline approach to migration issues as key officials have pledged to significantly reduce the number of people entering and staying illegally in the country.

After calling for snap legislative elections in June, President Emmanuel Macron appointed Prime Minister Michel Barnier, a veteran conservative from The Republicans party, hoping the Brexit negotiator would work with the divided legislature to end the political turmoil that has upended French politics in recent months.


The Barnier government - dominated by conservatives and centrists- does not have a majority in parliament and efforts to pass any new legislation are bound to be fought, and potentially blocked. The National Assembly is now split between three major political blocs: the left-wing New Popular Front leftist coalition, Macron’s centrist allies - who made a deal with the conservatives - and the far-right National Rally party, the largest single party in the new assembly.

The new prime minister will outline his priorities in a general policy speech scheduled for Tuesday at the National Assembly.

In recent televised interviews, Barnier criticized French borders as “sieves” and expressed concern that “migratory flows” were “not under control.” He promised to “limit immigration,” citing measures taken by neighboring countries like Germany, which expanded controls at all land borders earlier this month.

Critics have denounced Barnier’s government immigration stance as strongly influenced by the National Rally’s proposals, as its survival depends on the party’s goodwill.

Far-right and left-wing lawmakers can force the whole government to resign on condition they agree on a no-confidence vote.

Marine Le Pen, the National Rally’s leading figure, said she would not seek to bring down the new government for now, waiting to see its initial “acts.” In a recent interview with La Tribune-Dimanche newspaper, she said: “It’s undeniable that Michel Barnier seems to have, on migration, the same assessment as ours.”

Barnier’s hardline approach is reflected in the appointment of Bruno Retailleau, a fellow conservative known for his tough rhetoric on migrants, as the interior minister.

Retailleau shared this week his intention to reign in immigration. He said he would seek to “reform” France’s state medical assistance that covers health care expenses for undocumented migrants. He has argued for years that it should be strictly limited to minimum emergency care.

Eight former health ministers from the left, center and right signed a column in French newspaper Le Monde to call on the government to maintain the state medical assistance, saying limiting it would put France’s healthcare system “under increased pressure” because it would lead “to taking care of people later” when their condition is “more serious” and “more expensive.”


Retailleau also said he would try to toughen up random border controls, bring back a law that sanctioned with fines or prison sentences those caught entering French territory illegally, and seek deals with North African nations such as Morocco so that those countries retain migrants before they even set foot in France.

Yann Manzi, who started working alongside migrants during the 2015 migration crisis when well over 1 million people swept into Europe, most fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, denounced France’s long-coming shift to the right.


Manzi’s nonprofit, Utopia 56, currently runs a temporary shelter in Paris’ suburbs and coordinates hundreds of voluntary workers daily in different French regions.

He said that decades ago when France’s National Rally was still on the fringes, it came up with the rhetoric that welcoming migrants would dramatically increase the number of foreigners coming into the country and wreak havoc in French society. This has slowly but steadily spread to other parties, including the left, Manzi said.

The nonprofit founder believes migrants have been met with increasingly harsh conditions in France and the rest of Europe.

“The message sent to those seeking to come to the country is very clear: ‘We no longer welcome you’,” said Manzi.

Some proposals to stem migration could prove difficult to implement as they need to go through the already divided parliament while others, such as sanctioning migrants who have entered France illegally, appear to go against European rulings.

Barnier, suggested while campaigning, in vain, to be his party’s presidential candidate in 2022 that France should find ways to bypass rulings from the Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights.

Still, the prime minister and Retailleau argue they can still take action without passing new legislation, such as decrees and instructions to national and local administrations in charge of implementing migration policies.

Retailleau said he would convene next week a meeting with prefects of regions the most impacted by migrant issues to “tell them to deport more” and “regularize less.”

Critics say France’s hardline shift on migration has long been in the works.

Macron’s former centrist governments passed since 2017 several bills meant to tighten immigration controls and accelerate asylum procedures. The latest immigration bill, adopted in January this year, intended to strengthen France’s ability to deport foreigners considered undesirable.

Conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, in office from 2007 to 2012, also emphasized a more stringent immigration policy as he sought to siphon off voters from the far right.

In 2023, France received about 145,000 new asylum requests, up from 115,000 in 2022, according to statistics from the interior ministry. This is the highest number of applications recorded since 2016. France ranks third in the European Union behind Germany and Spain, which recorded over 351,000 and 160,000 applications.

Le Pen Trial Could Sink French Presidential Hopes in '2027

By Mark Swanson | NEWSMAX

 Sunday, 29 September 2024 

The trial against National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen in France begins Monday, the result of which could doom her 2027 presidential aspirations if she’s found guilty, Politico reported Sunday.

Le Pen, her party and 26 others — including members of the European Parliament — are facing allegations of embezzling Parliament funds to pad the work of assistants to conduct party business instead of European Union matters from 2004 to 2016, according to the report.

“The European Parliament’s lawyers believe that, in this case, the Parliament has suffered both financial and reputational damage,” the Parliament’s press service said in a statement to Politico.

Le Pen is facing 10 years in prison and a five-year ban on running for public office should she be found guilty. A ban would knock her out from running in the 2027 presidential election, a race for which she’s polling at 40% in the first round, according to Politico. Le Pen earned 23% in the 2022 election and subsequently lost the run-off to Emmanuel Macron.

Le Pen’s father, National Rally founder Jean-Marie Le Pen, is also on trial, though at 96 and declining health, will not attend the trial.

Should Marine Le Pen be found guilty, party succession would likely land with Jordan Bardella, the National Rally’s current president, who is not on trial.

“In politics, many can’t bear the thought of being replaced. For me, it’s a relief — not that I think I’ll be convicted,” Le Pen said earlier this year, adding that Bardella, 29, had the “status and confidence” to take over, according to the report.

Mark Swanson ✉

Exxon Mobil says advanced recycling is the answer to plastic waste. But is it really?

Tony Briscoe - Los Angeles Times (TNS)


LOS ANGELES — When California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed suit against Exxon Mobil and accused the oil giant of misleading the public about the effectiveness of plastic recycling, many of the allegations surrounded the company’s marketing of a process called “advanced recycling.”

In recent years — as longstanding efforts to recycle plastics have faltered — Exxon Mobil has touted advanced recycling as a groundbreaking technology that will turn the tide on the plastic crisis. Company officials and petrochemical trade organizations have used the phrase in radio spots, TV interviews and a variety of marketing material online. In a 2021 blog post, Exxon Mobil president of product solutions Karen McKee painted a particularly promising picture.

“Imagine your discarded yogurt containers being transformed into medical equipment for your next doctor’s appointment, and then into the dashboard of your next fuel-efficient car.”

But despite its seemingly eco-friendly name, the attorney general’s lawsuit denounced advanced recycling as a “public relations stunt” that largely involves superheating plastics to convert them into fuel. At Exxon Mobil’s only “advanced recycling” facility in Baytown, Texas, only 8% of plastic is remade into new material, while the remaining 92% is processed into fuel that is later burned.

Bonta’s lawsuit seeks a court order to prohibit the company from describing the practice as “advanced recycling,” arguing the vast majority of plastic is destroyed. Many environmental advocates and policy experts lauded the legal action as a major step toward ending greenwashing by Exxon Mobil — the world’s largest producer of single-use plastic polymer.

“There’s nothing ‘advanced’ about it,” said Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics. “It’s a deception. It’s been a deception for half a century. If they were going to be able to recycle plastic polymer back into virgin resin, they would have done it already. But they are using the same technology we’ve had since the Industrial Revolution. It’s a coke oven, a blast furnace.”

As more research has emerged on the limitations of plastics recycling, the revelations have shaken the public’s confidence about what to put in their blue, curbside recycling bins.

“The public perception of what’s recyclable with respect to plastic doesn’t match reality,” said Daniel Coffee, a UCLA researcher who studied plastic waste in Los Angeles County. “Recycling, for so long, was thought of as this perfectly crafted solution to single-use plastics. And the clearest answer as to why, is that the public was told so. They were told so, in large part, by an industry-backed misinformation campaign.”

Advanced recycling, which is also called chemical recycling, is an umbrella term that typically involves heating or dissolving plastic waste to create fuel, chemicals and waxes — a fraction of which can be used to remake plastic. The most common techniques yield only 1% to 14% of the plastic waste, according to a 2023 study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Exxon Mobil has largely used reclaimed plastic for fuel production while ramping up its virgin plastic production, according to Bonta.


“You’re essentially drawing oil up, turning it into plastic, and then having to burn more oil to turn that plastic back into oil, which you then burn,” Coffee said.

Bonta alleges Exxon Mobil has had a patent for this technology since 1978, and the company is falsely rebranding it as “new” and “advanced.” The practice was tested in the 1990s, but did not continue beyond the trial phase. It recently reemerged after the company learned that the term “advanced recycling” resonated with members of the public at a time of increasing concern over increasing amounts of plastic waste.

In December 2022, it announced the start of an advanced recycling program. In a 2023 interview with a Houston television station, an Exxon Mobil representative touted the Baytown facility.

“When [customers] buy a plastic product off the shelf, they want to know that it’s sustainable,” the Exxon Mobil employee said. “This is a huge game change for the industry — but I would say society in general.”

In response to Bonta’s lawsuit, Exxon Mobil said its Baytown facility has processed 60 million pounds of plastic into “usable raw materials” that otherwise would go to landfills. Experts say that figure pales in comparison with the company’s 31.9 billion-pound annual production capacity.

Nationwide, the Baytown plant is one of about five facilities that break plastics down by exposing them to high heat, according to the Last Beach Cleanup, a nonprofit working on plastic pollution.

California has adopted some of the nation’s most strict laws to reduce single-use plastics. Perhaps the most consequential, SB 54, requires the state to sell 25% less single-use plastic packaging and foodware. It also prohibits waste incineration and similar practices from being counted as recycling.

Because most plastics cannot be recycled, state officials have struggled to figure out how to dispose of this material. California had previously exported much of its plastic waste to China. But China has banned the import of most foreign plastics, nearly eliminating the market for used plastic.

In 2021, about 5.4 million tons of plastic waste was taken to California landfills, according to the latest state disposal data. That same year, more than 625,000 tons of trash was sent to so-called “transformation” facilities, where waste is incinerated, or burned in the absence of oxygen (a process called pyrolysis).

California does not track data on how much of this incinerated waste was plastic, according to CalRecycle, the state agency that oversees waste management. The state also doesn’t keep detailed information on how much plastic waste is exported to other states and how they process it.

“California’s vision for a waste-free future is focused on reducing waste, reuse, and intentionally designing products that flow back into the system for efficient collection and remanufacturing into new products,” said Maria West, a spokesperson for CalRecycle.


If the state is earnest in its pledge to eliminate waste, environmental advocates say the state needs to phase out single-use plastics.

“You can’t do anything with plastic but landfill it or burn it,” said Williams. “You can try to repurpose it, but you’ll never compete with virgin stock. And even then, you have to shred it, make it into pellets and feed it into a blast furnace. How is that good for the climate? How is that better than coal?”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it?

Jon King, Michigan Advance
September 29, 2024 

Students (Shutterstock)

This is the second part of a discussion with Josh Cowen, a professor of education policy at Michigan State University about his new book “The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers.” Part one of the interview was published on Thursday.

The effort to get school vouchers approved nationwide has a long and varied history, but Cowen’s book posits that it is essentially a Christian Nationalist attempt at undermining public education as we know it.

Cowen, whose career as an education researcher in the early 2000s began with the expectation that vouchers, which allow public tax dollars for education to be spent for private school tuition, would ultimately benefit students. However, the reality that Cowen documents in the book turned out to be almost the exact opposite.

Starting in the immediate aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision which ordered an end to segregated public education, and ending with the rise of the conservative Moms for Liberty – a vocal opponent of LGBTQ+ rights – and Project 2025, an authoritarian blueprint offering detailed plans to broadly enhance executive authority during a second Trump term, Cowen describes the arc of the voucher movement as never being far removed from bigotry and intolerance, whether it be against Blacks or the LGBTQ+ community.

More importantly, however, Cowen describes in detail the academic framework, whether through universities or conservative-funded think tanks, that provides intellectual cover for the movement.
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What follows is the second part of the conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity. Advance questions are in bold, and Cowen’s responses are in regular type.

——————————

Obviously, what happens in November will say a lot about the future of this movement. In your book, you talk about how, in a certain sense, the Trump presidency saved this movement. It came along and revived it when it needed it most. The scores (from school voucher programs) were in. They were down. The statistics were not adding up, and now it’s given it this political boost. Where does it go from here?


Kevin Roberts, the head of the Heritage Foundation throughout Project 2025 was asked “What happens if you guys lose?” and he sort of said, “Well, there’s going to be a Project 2028 then. We’re going to keep going.” I’m not a political strategist. I don’t know that I can tie the future of this thing entirely to the election, but I both agree and acknowledge in the book that what Trump did and the reason it does depend in the short run on what happens in November is it takes something incredibly distracting, and I would argue controversial and sensational or sensationalized, to distract from the magnitude of the voucher-induced (testing) declines over the last decade. How many articles have you seen or maybe written yourself on COVID learning loss? We’re talking about something that is severe for reasons that I think researchers understand, but when you have vouchers in a state, it’s not as talked about. I just can’t imagine in a world of George W. Bush, for example, who signed the first federal voucher system into law. If that thing had just consistently rolled out the negative results that happened a decade after Bush left office, it’s really hard to imagine a world that would be found acceptable, until you walk into the world Trump made where these voucher results are coming out at the same time as Charlottesville, as George Floyd, all of these incredibly sensational moments in American politics. And then you have election denial.

You have kind of 30% or 40% of the American public just refusing to acknowledge what happened on January 6th and that Trump even lost in 2020. And so then when you put it in terms of J6 or election denial, and the reason I do it in the book is because they share some of the same organizations. But if you just think about it culturally, you compare negative school voucher results to something like that. I think negative school voucher results, however dreadful, begin to look a little technical and a little…

As if data doesn’t matter anymore?


Exactly. I say this not to be flippant or snarky, but what’s the point of debating data and evidence with folks who just say, “Trump won in 2020, Trump won.” It did not happen. And so you really are in a world where we’re even debating what reality is and it sounds a little farfetched, but this is really the world we’re in.

And it took that to offset and to give fuel and energy to the voucher push. In a real practical sense too, it’s important to remember that the Supreme Court plays a very big role in this, and Trump did appoint three Supreme Court justices who really have paved the way in the judiciary for vouchers in just the same way they they paved the way for for a rollback to Roe vs. Wade, the same week actually. So, there’s the kind of the cultural political moment Trump made, and then there’s just a very hard cold reality that three Supreme Court justices were added to the judiciary under Trump. And in a 6-3 vote, they crossed a bridge that the original court, 5-4 in 2002, was unwilling to cross, which is that now vouchers can pay for religious education per se and not just be used as payment to providers of a type of service.

Michigan doesn’t have vouchers, but I don’t know how many different private organizations the state partners with to deliver a service as a vendor. And what the court said in 2002 was that private schools are not necessarily exempt from that type of relationship just because they’re schools. You just can’t use it for indoctrination or proselytizing. But that’s basically exactly what today’s version of the court in 2002 said could happen. So there’s the cultural political stuff Trump made, and then there’s just the very cold hard reality that the justices also have really paved the way over the last 4 years.


But even with this disdain toward data, it can’t be denied that learning losses from voucher systems are far greater than COVID learning loss, correct? Groups like Moms for Liberty, in a sense, were born out of the idea of student learning loss due to COVID restrictions.

Exactly, and when Betsy DeVos was an elected official, she had to comment on this. It’s a lot different when you’re back in Ada, Michigan, and you can just tweet out something. But she’s on record. They couldn’t just ignore it. At the national level, they all understand these things existed, which is why the strategy pivoted to more culture war stuff while blaming kind of the old bugaboo of government regulation. While charter schools are really a different thing, if the charter transparency push in Michigan ever gets back off the ground, you’re going to hear this from the charter groups themselves about overregulation. “It’s going to have a chilling effect on our schools to have the state asking us how the dollars are being spent.” This is just the theory of action that the DeVos folks came up with to explain away the negative results. But what’s important for our conversation is that they didn’t deny the results existed. They couldn’t. Some of them were too stark and too well publicized.

(Note: A request for comment was made to Betsy Devos through the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, but was not returned.)


You mentioned charter schools, which are public schools, although as you said, they’re a different animal than a voucher system. But they do represent another option for parents to make in terms of traditional public schools. So, where does parent choice fit in? Where should it fit in, in your mind?

Well, if you talk to Heritage or one of these guys, they’ll call me a school choice critic, which I emphatically reject. There are many of us that support certain types of charter schools. In Michigan one in four Michigan kids goes to school in a school of choice either through schools of choice, our inter-district choice system or charter schools themselves. There are 150,000 Michigan kids in charter schools today. I have some real reservations or problems with the way our charter school sector is structured, which is mostly run by for-profit managers. It concerns the teacher protections that are in those environments, teacher pay, and things. But the evidence in favor of some charter schools in other states is undeniable, and nothing like that positive evidence for charter schools really exists in the voucher research literature. And conversely, nothing like the negative voucher results exists in the charter school literature. They’re not only structurally different. The evidence based behind them is different too, but sometimes you do get these things lumped together because, in my view, the voucher folks are just trying to piggyback off of successful charter schools.

Even in our state here today, you’ll see (charter and voucher advocates say) “Michigan kids deserve more school choice.” I wrote a piece on this a couple of years ago in the Detroit News where I said we have choice, there’s a lot of choice. All they want is private school tuition covered. And you see some of the ancillary debates right now. Our universal school meals program in the state; there have been a couple of different reports on private schools in our state wanting to cash in on that too. And so I think it’s important that the nuance behind some types of choices is really important to this conversation because as you point out, charter schools are public schools. And not only that, but there’s just a substantially far greater sort of research base behind them. However, what there isn’t is a restriction in choice.

The book brings it full circle, starting with Brown v Board, ending with Moms for Liberty and Project 2025, and seeing this cycle. What do you hope to see happen from here?

I mean, at the end of the day, what I hope to see happen is an understanding that this is not really about fundamentally improving education outcomes for the vast majority of people. This is a separatist movement in American education, trying to take dollars to separate, isolate out into cordoned off spaces based on what they call religious values. I would say it’s Christian nationalism. I think others would would say so too.

I think at some point when this moment has passed in American politics, I would hope that there is a renewed effort to make improvements in public schools. There needs to be reinvestment. There needs to be a rethinking of some of the structure, some of the design, some of the curriculum. You know, there’s debates in our state about literacy. I strongly support new efforts to improve dyslexia education in our state, which does set me apart from some of the public school groups.


We have to have honest conversations about where public schools need to improve, but where those conversations can’t go, in my view, is toward a direction where the solution is taxpayer funding for this religious separatist movement in American education, where we’re just going to give people who are giving up on public schools community investment money to go learn in church schools. That’s not the answer. Folks can go learn in church schools if they want to, but if we’re at a point where we’re sending taxpayer dollars for that, I think it’s a fundamentally different vision of what American education is.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions info@michiganadvance.com. 

The road to change goes through rural America — if Democrats would only travel it

D. Earl Stephens
September 29, 2024 

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - JUNE 06: Dolly Parton speaks onstage during Kicking Off CMA Fest: A Special Conversation With Dolly Parton Hosted By Rachel Smith at Music City Center on June 06, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Terry Wyatt/WireImage)


Crime is down in America. The stock market is up.

Inflation is down in America. The U.S. economy is up — the envy of the free world, in fact.

Unemployment is down in America. Wages are up.

Democrats want to protect women’s rights. Republicans want to attack them.

Democrats want clean air and water. Republicans believe these things are optional.

Democrats once-in-a-lifetime infrastructure bill is finally fixing our roads, bridges and information highway. Republicans are coasting along, taking credit for its success despite voting repeatedly against it.

Democrats lowered the prices of prescription drugs and voted to increase veterans’ benefits. Republicans fought hard against those things.

Democrats joined Republicans in enacting the strongest border protection bill in American history … so Republicans smacked themselves on their rock-hard foreheads and decided they were against that, too.

I reckon I could go on for 20 minutes carrying on like this, but that would only serve to drive you away from boredom at a time we have never needed each other more, my friends. You know how much good Democrats have done for America, so let me sharpen my point but quick and tell you that sadly, tens of millions of other Americans don’t.


Too damn many people in this country live in information silos where facts float straight up and disappear into all that hot air.

Thanks in large part to the most dangerous, anti-American propaganda machine in United States history, too many of our fellow citizens receive the filth that passes for news in their homes through the rusty sewer pipe of Fox “News.”

The real fact is, none of this stink we find ourselves in these days would be possible without this endless, 24/7 stream of right-wing slop. Rupert Murdoch’s gang of irresponsible on-air blowhards have poisoned an entire generation of adults with their terrible lies and blatantly racist gaslighting. Worse, Murdoch and his family knows full well their station’s future lies with dealing their dope to our children, so we can expect more of the same for decades.


Our attention-starved corporate media hasn’t been much better, catastrophically failing to honestly report on the most significant story in more than 160 years: The Republicans’ relentless attack on America, and our ability to choose who represents us with our sacred vote. Democracy is hanging by a thread, and you’re lucky if you hear about that at all from our meandering press, which is far more interested in keeping things close.

There’s a horse race to run, and billions of dollars to stuff in their overflowing pockets.

Instead of framing the stakes and sounding the alarms at a blast about the anti-Democratic fires that are burning through the countryside, our halls of Congress and right up to our nation’s highest court, they write stories asking why more people just aren’t much worried about it.


Instead of reporting that the economy is actually chugging along at pretty brisk pace, they’ll run cheap, reactionary nonsense that seriously asks out loud why more people just don’t seem to know it ...

One political party answers to a two-bit phony, a felon and an America-attacking woman-abuser, who is telling us he will finish America off for good if God forbid he is elected.

The other party answers to the people.


What-in-the-hell is so damn hard about reporting that as the fact it most certainly is?

With five weeks and change left until D-Day in November, I say Democrats need to do everything they can to take their message everywhere. And if that sounds too obvious and overly intuitive, then ask yourself why they’re not.

Understand, I’m not bagging them here, and actually think they are running many strong races across the board, but I also think they need to stop conceding to all this silliness from what passes for the national media in this country, and go hard into every town, city, and suburb across this country — whether they are tucked into Wisconsin or West Virginia; North Carolina or South Carolina; or Michigan or Montana.


We need to visit them where they live and tell them all the good things America and her Democrats have been doing for them, while they’ve been tuning out the truth and into the dark places like Fox.

“Things are actually pretty good in this country, dude. Here’s why …”

Imagine Harris/Walz campaign stops in Iowa or Missouri ... Arkansas and Alabama. A couple of those states have voted Democratic in national elections semi-recently, and they could stand to hear the truth. Democratic policies are inclusive, not exclusive. They would play well in Red America, even if much of Red America doesn’t know it.


Do I expect Harris to carry any of these states in November? No I don’t, but I’d sure like them to hear what she had to say to them. I bet they’d like her. One thing all these damn polls have showed consistently is that the more people see and hear from our vice president, the more they’d support her.

There’s minds to be changed, folks, and you do that by giving them the real thing.

And what about the blue dots on the ground in these states who have been working their tails off outside the shine of the spotlight to protect America? They are in every state in our country doing the good and important work. Our next president could do real wonders by showing up in these places and showing out. The seeds have been planted by these Democratic activists in rural America, who are making real differences in their communities by running hard in local races, and doing important things like protecting women’s rights and our environment.


They might not be in one of these exclusive battleground states, but they are fighting every bit as hard.

I say give ‘em a hug from on high. Show ‘em the love they have earned. Plant the seeds … watch an orchard grow.

I bet even the clueless national media would sniff out a good story in all that …


[sigh]

I’ll stop right here for a second, pull off to the side of this column, and concede I am doing some heavy-duty dreaming right now. Politics is a machine, and the information I’m spitting out right now just won’t compute with but 38 days to the election. There’s never enough time or dollars when you’re running hard to save America.

So let’s end this weekend walk on some middle ground, shall we?

On Thursday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee announced it will be throwing millions of dollars into the Senate races in Florida and Texas. This isn’t the wild expansion of the electoral map I was talking about above, but it does portend strength, and tells you Democrats think they have a real shot in these two states.

I don’t know much about Democrat Colin Allred in Texas, but we all know plenty about Ted Cruz, who is a completely terrible man, and has polluted our Senate long enough.

Former Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner once had this to say about Cruz: “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life than Ted Cruz."

Cruz can be beat, and the Democratic Machine is laying money on it.

In Florida, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell is giving the revolting Rick Scott a run for all his family money in that Senate race. I do know something about her. Our paths crossed a few times during her time as Congresswoman in the Sunshine State.

She is whip-smart, a tireless worker, and has inroads to the Latino community in Florida. I am predicting right here and now that she will beat Scott, who is almost as unlikeable as Cruz.

If nothing else, Democrats have put Republicans on notice by making them defend their weak positions in states that only a few months ago seemed like a sure thing for them.

It looks like that will be the end of the Democrats’ expansion this election cycle, and maybe the American way right now is through those battleground states. But our future depends on expanding the map.

The party that can do that will be that future.

I’m not wrong about this, my friends ...


D. Earl Stephens is the author of “Toxic Tales: A Caustic Collection of Donald J. Trump’s Very Important Letters” and finished up a 30-year career in journalism as the Managing Editor of Stars and Stripes. You can find all his work here.