Nationalist minister tests Slovak culture, LGBT limits

Simkovicova has slammed “LGBT+ ideology” for causing Europe to “die out”.

ByAFP
December 12, 2024

Slovak Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has sparked protests by sacking the heads of top cultural institutions - Copyright South Korean Presidential Office/AFP Handout
Sara CINCUROVA

Slovakia’s Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova has sparked uproar by dismissing several heads of major cultural institutions and halting projects steered by LGBT+ associations under the pretext of promoting “Slovak culture”.

Protesters at a Bratislava rally Thursday will take aim at Simkovicova, who has been a controversial figure since taking office in October 2023.

“The culture of the Slovaks should be Slovak — Slovak and none else,” the 53-year-old minister nominated by the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS) said in one early speech.

Simkovicova has slammed “LGBT+ ideology” for causing Europe to “die out”.

Her views have appealed to Prime Minister Robert Fico from the centrist Smer party, whose objections to liberal values echo Viktor Orban, the prime minister of neighbouring Hungary.

Fico has called Simkovicova “a pleasant surprise” who is capable of resisting pressure from critics.

Simkovicova, is a former TV anchor working notably for the Slovan TV channel, known for spreading conspiracy theories, xenophobia and pro-Russian views.

– “Pure destruction” –

Slovak National Gallery director Alexandra Kusa lost her job in August in what opponents said was part of Simkovicova’s purge.

“Culture ministry staff accompanied by a lawyer showed up in my office one day with a bunch of flowers and a notice,” she told AFP.

Kusa, who has been reduced to the post of exhibition curator, said the ministry had launched a derogatory campaign against her.

She says she was punished for backing Matej Drlicka, the National Theatre director, who had been sacked a day earlier.

The head of the country’s heritage institute was dismissed this week.

“We are not compatible with the ministry. Their idea of culture is completely different from ours,” Kusa said.

She accuses the ministry of launching “an era of bullying and intimidation”.

“It’s pure destruction and demonstration of power. It’s terrible.”

The ministry did not respond to AFP’s request to comment.

Simkovicova also targets public media. In June, she pushed through a controversial law reforming the state-run RTVS broadcaster into a new company, STVR, which is under her control.

Analyst Pavol Hardos told AFP that wielding political influence over cultural institutions was nothing new in Slovakia.

“This is something we experienced in the 1990s during the illiberal regime of Vladimir Meciar, when there were ideological tests and tests… of who is a good nationalist, a good Slovak, and who isn’t,” he said.



– Protests and petitions –



What is new, though, is the government’s “commitment to purge cultural institutions from anyone who is in any way perceived as potentially a political enemy”, Hardos said.

Open-minded and liberal people are “being targeted as a potential troublemaker, and people who are often enough real experts in their areas are being sidelined or thrown out of these institutions,” he added.

Hardos said that while it was premature to talk about “an illiberal regime”, Fico is walking in Orban’s footsteps, though his motivation is revenge rather than ideology.

The government is also targeting LGBT+ rights organisations.

Early this year, Simkovicova said they would not get “a cent” from her ministry. She has recently made good on her promise by curbing public subsidies.

“This concerns any project with links to LGBT+,” said Martin Macko, head of the Iniciativa Inakost NGO.

He said attacks on the minority were growing, as were the number of people being treated by the NGO’s therapists.

The situation has incited protests among artists, cultural institution staff and the public, who turn their backs on directors named by Simkovicova or read protest statements on theatre stages.

Large rallies were held in the summer, mobilising tens of thousands of people.

Two petitions written by artists have solicited 400,000 signatures in the EU member country of 5.4 million people.

In the Slovak parliament, the opposition initiated a vote to dismiss Simkovicova, but the attempt fell through.

“No culture ministry employee prevents anyone from being creative or expressing themselves,” Simkovicova told the press.

Fears for the future as drug deaths among young Finns soar

By AFP
December 12, 2024

The number of drug deaths has been rising in Finland since 2015 - Copyright South Korean Presidential Office/AFP Handout

Anna KORKMAN

At a popular meeting spot for substance abusers near central Helsinki, even the addicts warn that Finland has a spiralling drug problem, particularly among young people.

The situation had reached “a whole new level”, one man in his early 30s, who introduced himself only as Stefano, told AFP.

Government statistics lay bare the extent of the problem: a record 310 drug-related deaths in 2023, reflecting an upward trend since 2015.

Ninety-one deaths were of people under the age of 25, the highest ever in that age group and almost double that of the previous 12 months.

Only three other EU countries — Slovakia, Austria and Luxembourg — fared worse for drugs deaths of under-25s in 2022, according to the bloc’s drugs agency.

But Finland has the unenviable record of its users dying about 10 years younger than the average age for addicts in the bloc of about 40.

“The situation has become unbearable,” said Annuska Dal Maso, head of outreach work at the A-Clinic Foundation in Helsinki, which helps substance abusers.

Now, she and others worry about the expected arrival of harder drugs like the powerful opioid Fentanyl — and the system’s ability to cope.

Buprenorphine, another opioid used as a painkiller as well as to treat addiction, has already been the most abused drug in Finland in the last 25 years, alongside amphetamines.

Both are often mixed with alcohol or other drugs, said Pirkko Kriikku, a forensic toxicologist at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL).

“Buprenorphine is the one that is causing the highest number of deaths in Finland,” she said.



– Poor treatment –



The increase in availability of drugs, poor treatment possibilities and youth mental health issues are behind the increase in deaths, THL’s chief physician Margareeta Hakkinen said.

“Young people in Finland are generally doing better than before, but for the young people who are not doing well the situation is getting worse and they may turn to drugs.”

Finns’ attitudes towards drugs have changed in recent decades. According to THL, only six percent had tried cannabis in 1992 but in 2022 the number had leapt to 29 percent.

Drugs can now be ordered “just as easily as you can order clothes”, Hakkinen said, including on encrypted messaging sites such as Telegram.

But, she added, only an estimated 30 percent of opioid abusers get treatment.

“People are shuffled from one clinic to the next where they often have to queue for weeks before getting help instead of being treated in one place,” Hakkinen said.

She noted that two decades ago, Finland was ahead of the curve when it came to drug harm reduction “but now we are lagging behind other countries”.



– ‘Just a matter of time’ –



To tackle the problem, the government has earmarked almost 11 million euros ($11.6 million) from next year to prevent drug-related deaths among young people.

Another 7.5 million euros is to be spent helping young people with substance abuse and violence problems.

THL has meanwhile called for drug consumption rooms — supervised facilities providing safer conditions for people taking drugs — to be legalised.

It also wants easier and earlier access to treatment and measures to reduce the stigma around drug addiction.

Drug consumption rooms have yet to win political support, despite a 50,000-signature petition to the right-wing government calling for them to at least be trialled.

“I’m really worried because we are not prepared if a hard opioid hits our streets,” said Dal Maso, who submitted the petition.

“Fentanyl is already a problem in Estonia and it’s really just a matter of time before this hits Finland,” she said, referring to the neighbouring country.

Fears about Fentanyl are well founded as heavier drugs have found their way to Finland, including a synthetic psychoactive drug called Flakka, or alpha-PVP, which can cause severe paranoia and hallucinations.

“It’s awful to see what state people end up,” said Osku, who has a long history of addiction. “You lose everything that is dear. It takes everything you love.”

Israel condemned by media groups over Gaza journalist ‘massacre’


By AFP
December 12, 2024

The biggest toll of journalists killed on duty was in Gaza - Copyright AFP Omar AL-QATTAA
Paul RICARD

Israel has been accused of carrying out a “massacre” of journalists in Gaza in two separate reports from media freedom organisations this week that analysed the deaths of reporters worldwide this year.

According to calculations from Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) published on Thursday, the Israeli army killed 18 journalists as they were working this year —- 16 in Gaza and two in Lebanon — around a third of the total worldwide of 54.

“Palestine is the most dangerous country for journalists, recording a higher death toll than any other country over the past five years,” RSF said in its annual report, which covers data up to December 1.

The organisation has filed four complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes committed against journalists by the Israeli army”.

It said that in total “more than 145” journalists had been killed by the Israeli army in Gaza since the start of the war there in October 2023, with 35 of them working at the time of their deaths.

RSF described the number of killings as “an unprecedented massacre”.

With foreign reporters prevented from entering the territory and local reporters being deliberately targeted, Gaza was “a place where journalism itself is threatened with extinction”, RSF said.

In a separate report published Tuesday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) said that 104 journalists were killed worldwide in 2024, with more than half of them in Gaza.

The IFJ and RSF figures vary because of different methodologies used to calculate the tolls, but the IFJ used similar language to condemn Israel’s military.

“The war in Gaza and Lebanon once again highlights the massacre suffered by Palestinian (55), Lebanese (6) and Syrian (1) media professionals, representing 60 percent of all journalists killed in 2024,” the IFJ said.

Israel denies that it intentionally harms journalists, but admits that some have been killed in air strikes on military targets.

“We don’t accept these figures. We don’t believe they are correct,” Israeli government spokesman David Mercer told a press conference on Wednesday.

“We know that probably most journalists inside Gaza are operating under the auspices of Hamas, and until Hamas is destroyed, they will not be allowed to report freely,” he said.

In some cases, Israel has accused reporters of being “terror operatives”, such as when it killed a Gaza-based Al Jazeera staff journalist and freelancer in January — allegations condemned by the Qatari news network.

Al Jazeera, which has been banned in Israel, says the Israeli military has been deliberately targeting its staff since the start of the war because of the channel’s coverage.



– ‘Under review’ –



In Lebanon, the two deaths counted this year by RSF were caused by a October 25 Israeli strike on a tourism complex in the southern town of Hasbaya where more than a dozen journalists working for Lebanese and Arab media outlets were sleeping.

Human Rights Watch condemned it as “apparent war crime”. The Israeli army said it had targeted Hezbollah militants but said the strike was “under review”.

No results have been published from a review promised over the killing of a Reuters journalist and the wounding of six other reporters, including two AFP staff in Lebanon in October 2023, the Committee to Protect Journalists highlighted on the one-year anniversary of the attack.

An investigation by AFP and Reuters over that incident concluded that the journalists, who were all wearing helmets and bulletproof vests marked “Press” in an area without obvious militant activity, were targeted by Israeli tank fire.

RSF only records journalist deaths in its report if they have been “proven to be directly related to their professional activity”.

Following the 16 deaths in Gaza, the deadliest countries for journalists in 2024 were Pakistan with seven deaths, followed by Bangladesh and Mexico with five each.

In 2023, the number of journalists killed worldwide stood at 45 in the same January-December period.

UPDATED

South Korea: People’s power on verge of victory as President Yoon set to be impeached

By Won Youngsu

13 December, 2024

President Yoon Suk-yeol broke his silence on December 12, delivering a speech to the nation in which he claimed his declaration of martial law on December 3 was simply a warning to the opposition and not intended as a revolt. Unsurprisingly, his ridiculous excuses backfired, with the leader of his People Power Party (PPP), Han Dong-hoon, criticising the speech as a confession of treason.

Yoon is completely isolated and his support base is rapidly collapsing. A new poll shows only 11% of respondents supporting Yoon, while 85% disapprove of his presidency. Despite this tremendous opposition, Yoon is refusing to resign and the pro-Yoon PPP faction of reactionary hardliners is clinging onto its anti-impeachment position.

Yoon, however, will almost certainly be impeached on December 14, when parliament sits again to vote on the matter. The PPP hardliners are committing political suicide by sticking with Yoon, and will surely be judged by the people as co-coup conspirators.

Further PPP turmoil

The PPP was forced to replace former parliamentary leader Choo Kyung-ho on December 12, following his resignation. Choo had been behind efforts to prevent Yoon’s impeachment at any cost. The pro-Han faction was unable to win the contest, with Kweon Seong-dong elected as the new parliamentary leader. Nevertheless, more PPP MPs are coming out in support of impeachment.

With seven PPP MPs having now publicly stated their support, parliament is just one vote away from obtaining the required two-thirds majority for impeachment (200 out of 300 votes). It is expected that when the opposition Democratic Party moves another impeachment motion in parliament on December 14, at least 10 PPP MPs will break ranks and join the opposition, given the anger and pressure they have been facing from constituents.

Yoon’s destiny is sealed

It is also expected that another million-strong mobilisation will coincide with the vote in parliament. December 14 will surely be Yoon’s final day in office.

Earlier this week, former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyeon was detained and several army commanders suspended. Two police officials are set to be imprisoned for their role in Yoon’s self-coup. Yoon will likely follow the same path once impeached.

Yoon has clearly shown himself to be an enemy of South Korea’s democracy. But in spite of the surprise, shock and anxiety that his self-coup provoked, it appears that another candlelight revolution will triumph to save democracy — a further demonstration that genuine people’s power exists in the streets, not parliament.

Second martial law impeachment vote looms for S. Korean president

By AFP
December 13, 2024

Yoon's imposition of martial law plunged South Korea's vibrant and combative democracy into some of its worst political turmoil in years - Copyright AFP ANTHONY WALLACE
Hieun SHIN and Hailey JO

South Korea’s opposition leader warned his ruling party colleagues on Friday that “history will remember” if they do not back the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, with just over 24 hours until a vote to remove him from office.

Yoon’s short-lived imposition of South Korea’s first martial law in over four decades plunged the country’s vibrant and combative democracy into some of its worst political turmoil in years.

An attempt to remove him from office last Saturday failed when lawmakers from the ruling People Power Party (PPP) boycotted the impeachment motion.

But after a week of back-door politicking and a mounting investigation into Yoon and his inner circle, analysts now say the main opposition Democratic Party may have better luck with its second attempt.

Saturday’s impeachment vote will take place around 5:00 pm (0800 GMT), with Yoon charged with “insurrectionary acts undermining the constitutional order” for his martial law bid.

Two hundred votes are needed for it to pass, meaning opposition lawmakers must convince eight ruling party colleagues to defect.

On Friday, the leader of the Democratic Party, Lee Jae-myung, implored the PPP to support the president’s removal from office.

“What the lawmakers must protect is neither Yoon nor the ruling People Power Party but the lives of the people wailing out in the freezing streets,” Lee said.

“Please join in supporting the impeachment vote tomorrow. History will remember and record your choice.”

Two ruling party lawmakers supported the motion last week.

And as of Friday noon, seven ruling party lawmakers have pledged to support impeachment — leaving the vote on a knife edge.

But members of the opposition are confident they will get the votes.

Lawmaker Kim Min-seok said Friday he was “99 percent” sure the impeachment will pass.



– Ball with the court –



Should it pass, Yoon will be suspended from office while South Korea’s Constitutional Court deliberates.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo will step in as the interim president during that time.

The court will then have 180 days to rule on Yoon’s future. If it backs his removal, Yoon will become the second president in South Korean history to be impeached.

There is also precedent for the court to block impeachment: in 2004, then-President Roh Moo-hyun was removed by parliament for alleged election law violations and incompetence.

But the Constitutional Court later reinstated him.

The court also currently only has six judges, meaning their decision would need to be unanimous.

And should the vote fail, Yoon can still face “legal responsibility” for the martial law bid, Kim Hyun-jung, a researcher at the Korea University Institute of Law, told AFP.

“This is clearly an act of insurrection,” she said.

“Even if the impeachment motion does not pass, the President’s legal responsibilities under the Criminal Code… cannot be avoided.”



– ‘So angry’ –



Yoon has remained unapologetic and defiant as the fallout from his disastrous martial law has deepened.

In a televised address, he vowed on Thursday to fight “until the very last minute” and doubled down on unsubstantiated claims the opposition was in league with the country’s communist foes.

Thousands have taken to the streets of Seoul since Yoon’s martial law declaration to demand his resignation and jailing.

Yoon’s approval rating — never very high — has plummeted to 11 percent, according to a Gallup Korea poll released Friday.

The same poll showed 75 percent now support his impeachment.

Protesters run the gamut of South Korean society — from K-pop fans waving glowsticks to retirees and blue-collar workers.

“Impeachment is a must and we must fight relentlessly,” Kim Sung-tae, a 52-year-old worker at a company that makes car parts, told AFP.

“We’re fighting for the restoration of democracy.”

Teacher Kim Hwan-ii agreed.

“I’m so angry that we all have to pay the price for electing this president.”

K-pop, carols, free food at South Korea impeachment protests

ByAFP
December 12, 2024

Demonstrators from a labour group take part in a protest calling for the ouster of South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol outside City Hall in Seoul - Copyright AFP ANTHONY WALLACE

Waving colourful glow sticks, singing parody songs and sporting elaborate outfits, demonstrators in Seoul this week calling for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s departure have highlighted South Korea’s unique and creative protest culture.

From mutual aid efforts to ensure protesters stay well fed to old-school exercise routines, AFP takes a look at what has been popular at the anti-Yoon protests:



– K-pop soundtrack –



From Seoul’s main square to the National Assembly building in the heart of the city, protests have sprung up across the South Korean capital after Yoon briefly suspended civilian rule last week.

Some rallies have resembled a dance party, with K-pop tunes blasting as participants leap around joyfully, waving colourful glow sticks and LED candles.

When the hit song “Whiplash” by K-pop girl group aespa filled the air at a demonstration three days after Yoon declared martial law, young protesters shouted while jumping: “Impeach, impeach, impeach Yoon Suk Yeol!” and “Resign, resign, resign Yoon Suk Yeol!” in tune to the music.

On Thursday night last week, the 2007 song “Into the New World” by K-pop group Girls’ Generation was sung by protesters holding lit candles in front of the National Assembly.

The upbeat debut single from the popular girl group speaks about a hopeful future and moving away from sad times.

The track gained significant traction from 2016 to 2017 among young women protesting conservative then-president Park Geun-hye, who was ultimately impeached over a corruption scandal.

“The current protest reflects the emergence of a new generation,” Kang Won-taek, political science professor at Seoul National University, told AFP on Thursday.

“When you consider K-pop culture, elements like light sticks and fandom have emerged recently, blending into this protest culture,” he said.

“It seems connected to the enjoyment and participatory aspect of these gatherings.”



– Carols, school memories –



An impeachment-themed Christmas carol by singer Baek Ja — a slightly tweaked version of the well-known “Feliz Navidad” — also went viral last week.

“Christmas is merry when Yoon Suk Yeol resigns,” the song’s lyrics go.

Last Wednesday night, in front of the National Assembly building, protesters carrying signs that said “Arrest (Yoon) immediately” and “Impeach”, waved lit candles and cellphones as the singer performed the song.

South Koreans also have cranked up nostalgic soundtracks.

The government introduced exercise classes in schools in the late 1970s, so many South Koreans who were at school in the 1980s and 1990s fondly remember the routines: simple, rhythmic movements set to upbeat music.

Since last week, protesters have performed the exercises to the familiar tune while chanting: “Arrest Yoon Suk Yeol.”

Many held glow sticks and wore padded jackets and hats to stave off the cold weather.



– Food for hungry protesters –



Some have taken to the internet to share spots where protesters can get something to eat or a hot drink — prepaid for by fellow Koreans supportive of their cause.

“I thought it was unbelievable that martial law was declared in a democratic country in 2024,” Yoon Iseo, who paid for 40 rolls of the rice and seaweed snack kimbap at a restaurant near the parliament, told AFP.

“As I reside in a provincial area and face health issues, it was difficult for me to attend the impeachment rally at the National Assembly in person,” Yoon said.

“I simply wanted to express my gratitude, even in a small way.”

Prison will not silence me, Iran’s Mohammadi says


ByAFP
December 12, 2024


Iran's Narges Mohammadi won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for her fight for women's rights - Copyright Fondation Narges Mohammadi/AFP/File -

Narges Mohammadi, the Iranian 2023 Nobel Peace Prize laureate on temporary medical leave from prison, said in a video call released Thursday that she would never let prison silence her.

The 52-year-old has been jailed repeatedly over the past 25 years, most recently since November 2021, for past convictions relating to her advocacy against the obligatory hijab for women and capital punishment in Iran.

“I know I can accomplish much more outside prison walls, but I will not allow imprisonment to silence me. Never!” Mohammadi said in a video call with the Nobel committee on Sunday, her first time speaking with them since winning the prize.

The Nobel committee shared the video with AFP on Thursday, where Mohammadi can be seen without a veil, speaking joyfully in English and Farsi.

“Commitment to women’s rights, human rights and freedom cannot be confined by any prison wall,” she said, adding that “advocating for human rights and women’s rights is not a crime.”

“I should be free to continue my work,” she said, denouncing Iran’s “silent killing of political prisoners”.

“The Islamic Republic is seeking opportunities to silence any opposing voices in the country,” Mohammadi said.

But “even if they manage to silence me… it wouldn’t change anything for the Islamic Republic,” she said.

“The people of Iran have risen up… have been protesting.

“The people of Iran don’t want the Islamic Republic and the Islamic Republic knows that,” she said.

After Mohammadi won last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, her two children collected the award on her behalf.

She was released from prison on December 4 for three weeks on medical grounds, after undergoing bone surgery.

Her supporters have called this inadequate and pressed for her unconditional and permanent release.

'Crushing blow to the labor agenda' as Manchin, Sinema block Biden nominee

Brett Wilkins, 

Common Dreams
December 12, 2024 

Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema Photos via Facebook

In a move likely fraught with major implications for worker rights during the impending second administration of Republican President-elect Donald Trump, Democratic-turned-Independent U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema on Wednesday blocked Democrat Lauren McFerran's bid for a second term on the National Labor Relations Board.

With every Republican senator except Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas voting against President Joe Biden's nomination of McFerran for a new five-year term, the fate of the woman who has led the agency since 2021 was up to Manchin and Sinema—who, as More Perfect Union founder and executive director Faiz Shakir put it on social media, "consistently spoiled the story of 'what could have been'" by years of fighting to thwart their own former party's agenda.

Sinema struck first, her "no" vote on McFerran grinding the confirmation tally to a 49-49 tie. Manchin, who showed up later, cast the decisive vote, negating speculation that Vice President Kamala Harris, the Senate president who lost the presidential contest to Trump last month, would break the stalemate.

"It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee—with a proven track record of protecting worker rights—did not have the votes," lamented Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Chris Jackson, a former Democratic Lawrence County, Tennessee commissioner and longtime labor advocate, called Manchin and Sinema's votes "a crushing blow to the labor agenda."

"By casting decisive NO votes against President Biden's NLRB nominee, they've guaranteed Democrats will lose control of the national labor board until at least 2026," Jackson said. "Their votes effectively hand Donald Trump the keys to the board the moment he takes office again. This is a betrayal of working families—and a gift to corporate interests, which is par for the course for these two."

Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA union, said on social media that while "Manchin and Sinema are responsible for killing voting rights, worker rights, women's rights, LGBTQ rights, childcare, vision, and dental for seniors, and an economy built for the people," the two obstructionist senators "are not the story."

"Don't bury the lede," implored Nelson. "The entire GOP has relentlessly fought against anything good for the vast majority of the people of this country. The GOP shows once again their total disdain for their constituents."



"But they better watch what they do in implementing their plans to make it worse," she warned. "These laws are set up to mostly protect corporations and getting rid of the last pathetic bits of worker rights under the law will simply lead to more disruption and CHAOS."

Trump's first term saw relentless attacks on workers' rights. Critics fear a second Trump administration—whose officials and agenda are steeped in the anti-worker Project 2025—will roll back gains achieved under Biden and work to weaken the right to organize, water down workplace health and safety rules, and strip overtime pay, to name but a handful of GOP wish-list items.



The latest votes by Manchin and Sinema—who are both leaving Congress after this term—sparked widespread outrage among workers' rights defenders on social media, with one account on X, formerly known as Twitter, posting: "Manchin is geriatric and Sinema has a long fruitful career ahead of her in a consulting firm that advocates child slave labor, but at least they kicked the working class in the teeth one last time. Nothing to do now but hope there's a hell."

‘Marxist’ agenda: Hegseth says gay troops ‘erode standards’ in ‘social engineering’ push

December 12, 2024 

Pete Hegseth (Reuters)

Pete Hegseth, President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial pick to oversee the Department of Defense and its 3.4 million military and civilian personnel, has a long history of anti-LGBTQ statements. According to multiple reports, Hegseth has opposed gay service members, labeling them a threat to military standards and a part of a “Marxist” agenda promoting “social engineering.”

“At least when it was an ‘Army of One,’ they were, you know, tough looking, go get ‘em army – but you’re right, that was the subtle shifting toward an individual ad campaign,” Hegseth told far-right podcaster Ben Shapiro, CNN reports. “Now you just have the absurdity of ‘I have two mommies and I’m so proud to show them that I can wear the uniform too.’ So they, it’s just like everything else the Marxists and the leftists have done. At first it was camouflaged nicely and now they’re just, they’re just open about it.”

Hegseth, now a former Fox News weekend co-host under fire for alleged sexual assault, alcohol abuse, an affinity for Christian nationalism, and mismanagement of two veterans' charities, has repeatedly denigrated gays and lesbians, and expressed opposition to LGBTQ Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, and women serving in the military — especially in combat roles.

"In his 2024 book 'The War on Warriors' and in subsequent media promotions this year. Hegseth described both the original 'don’t ask, don’t tell' (DADT) policy and its repeal in 2011 as a 'gateway' and a 'camouflage' for broader cultural changes that he claims have undermined military cohesion and effectiveness," CNN reports.

Studies before and after the repeal of DADT have proven LGBTQ service members serving openly do not diminish unit cohesion or impair military readiness. "The repeal of DADT has had no overall negative impact on military readiness or its component dimensions, including cohesion, recruitment, retention, assaults, harassment or morale," a Palm Center report found one year after DADT repeal.

As MeidasTouch News reported Wednesday, Hegseth has "argued that allowing women and openly gay and lesbian individuals to serve undermines the readiness and effectiveness of the armed forces. He dismissed these inclusivity efforts as 'social engineering' aimed at satisfying political agendas rather than improving national security. In his words, the changes were about achieving symbolic milestones, such as having a female Navy SEAL, rather than maintaining operational excellence."

Hegseth lamented on Fox News' "Red Eye" in 2015 that America has a "military right now that is more interested in social engineering led by this president than they are in war fighting, So, as a result, through Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and women in the military and these standards, they’re going to inevitably start to erode standards because they want that one female special operator, that one female Green Beret, that one female Army Ranger, that one female Navy Seal, so they can put them on a recruiting poster and feel good about themselves and has nothing to do with national security."

“So it started, you know, we saw it under Clinton with the tinkering of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ and the reasons for those changes,” Hegseth said in November on a podcast promoting his book, also according to CNN. “And I talked to some of the people involved in when that was changed, but it really happened, started to accelerate under Obama.”

And yet, when asked on Wednesday by CNN if he still holds that repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" was a mistake, Hegseth grew silent and did not answer, ignoring the reporter (video below).

Hegseth has a long, documented history of anti-LGBTQ and anti-women statements and positions.

"The dumbest phrase on planet Earth in the military is our diversity is our strength," Hegseth said on a podcast this year, ABC News reported last month.

"There aren't enough lesbians in San Francisco to staff the 82nd Airborne like you need, you need the boys in Kentucky and Texas and North Carolina and Wisconsin," Hegseth also said earlier this year, ABC noted. On a separate podcast, he "said that transgender soldiers are 'not deployable' because they are 'reliant on chemicals' and suggested that women should not serve in certain combat roles."

"Everything about men and women serving together makes the situation more complicated, and complication in combat means casualties are worse," Hegseth also said, ABC added. He also argued "that men are 'more capable' in combat roles because of biological factors."

Hegseth, under fire, this week claimed he supports women in the military, but did not specifically state he supports women in combat roles.

“I strive to defend the pillars of Western civilization against the distractions of diversity,” Hegseth wrote in 2002 as publisher of The Princeton Tory, the university's conservative student magazine, The New Yorker reported last month.

"In the same year that Hegseth was defending the West against diversity, he and the other editors of the Tory opined that the New York Times’ decision to publish announcements of same-sex marriages had opened the floodgates to incest and bestiality: 'At what point does the paper deem a ‘relationship’ unfit for publication? What if we ‘loved’ our sister and wanted to marry her? Or maybe two women at the same time? A 13-year-old? The family dog?'”

And in a 2002 publisher's note at The Tory, Talking Points Memo reported, Hegseth "declared that he was 'not encouraged' by the 'educational principles … guiding our generation.' Among other things, he cited the 'encouragement and support' for 'homosexuality.'"

"In pieces for the Tory," TPM continued, "Hegseth and the team he oversaw railed against efforts to promote diversity on campus and what they described as the immoral 'homosexual lifestyle.'"

The New Yorker also reports that during Hegseth's tenure, The Tory wrote: “boys can wear bras and girls can wear ties until we’re blue in the face, but it won’t change the reality that the homosexual lifestyle is abnormal and immoral.”


"Hegseth and The Tory's editor also wrote: “Overwhelming majorities of Americans agree with the notion that homosexuality and heterosexuality are not moral equivalents.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

 

The climate cost of Trump’s tariffs

Tik Root,

 Grist
December 12, 2024 

Shortly after he was elected, Donald Trump announced an economic gambit that was aggressive even by his standards. He vowed that, on the first day of his second term, he would slap 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico, and boost those already placed on Chinese products by another 10 percent.

The move set off a frenzy of pushback. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau even flew to the president-elect’s Florida resort to make his case. Economists say the potential levies threaten to upend global trade — including on green technologies, many of which are manufactured in China. The moves would cause price spikes for everything from electric vehicles and heat pumps to solar panels

“Typically, with tariffs, we’ve seen [companies] pass them along to the consumer,” said Corey Cantor, electric vehicles analyst at Bloomberg NEF. Ansgar Baums, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan foreign policy think-tank Stimson Center, said retaliatory moves from the three targeted countries would only make things worse. “It will drive up consumer costs and hurt those who cannot afford it.”

Trump acknowledges that possibility. But he has argued that tariffs are necessary to force Canada and Mexico to crack down on drugs, particularly fentanyl, and migrants crossing the border into the U.S.

It’s not the first time Trump has turned to tariffs as a foreign policy tool. In 2018 and 2019, he imposed them on a litany of goods, from steel and aluminum to photovoltaic solar panels and washing machines. While the Biden administration eased some of those duties, it kept many in place, especially those targeting China, and recently raised tariffs on Chinese items including electric vehicles, solar cells, and electrical vehicle batteries. Experts say these efforts have done little more than raise prices.

“The consensus on the first round of Trump tariffs is that [they] generally did not improve American productivity,” said Alex Muresianu, a senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a right-leaning think tank. The nonprofit calculated that, in the long run, Trump’s first round of tariffs will hurt gross domestic product and cost the United States some 142,000 jobs. Baums was even more blunt about their impact: “They were a big failure. They didn’t achieve much.”


The recently threatened tariffs would ratchet prices even higher on things like solar panels, but are also much more far reaching because of their broad application to North American trading partners. One sweeping impact would be on gasoline prices because, although the U.S. is world’s largest oil producer, older domestic refineries can only process the type of heavier crude that comes from Canada. GasBuddy projects that tariffs could add 35 to 75 cents to a gallon of gas.

Automakers will also be hard hit, as $97 billion in parts and some four million vehicles come from Canada and, especially, Mexico. That’s where some of the more affordable electric vehicles, such as Ford’s Mustang Mach-E and the Chevrolet Equinox, are manufactured. Wolfe Research said that “given the magnitude, we’d expect most investors to assume Trump ultimately does not follow through with these threats” but that, if they were put in place, tariffs would add $3,000 to the price of the average car, regardless of whether it’s powered by gasoline or a battery.

Cantor, at Bloomberg NEF, says adding even a few thousand dollars to the price can drastically expand or contract the potential market of buyers for a vehicle. For example, about 70 percent of consumers consider a $35,000 car, a number that jumps to about 87 percent when a car is $30,000.

“People adjust their behavior,” he said. That could further harm an EV sector that will also likely be reeling from Trump’s rollback of federal tax-credits for electrified vehicles.

Baums doesn’t believe that more tariffs will meaningfully shift industries to the US and the Trump administration “underestimates” how complicated that process would be. Others say some relocation could occur. Michelle Davis, director and head of global solar for research firm Wood Mackenzie, wrote that the levies “would undoubtedly increase domestic manufacturing activity to meet market needs.” But even then, she adds, that “this would result in a more expensive market for domestic buyers.”

In addition to prices, Muresianu also worries that the type of protectionism that Trump favors could stymie innovation. He points to the U.S. shipbuilding industry as an example: it once supplied most of the world’s ships but, in large part due to policies meant to shield domestic shipyards from competition, American vessels have since become drastically more expensive than those made overseas and now account for less than 1 percent of the global total. Tariffs could impose similar stagnancy on other U.S. industries, Muresianu says.

Baums’ concerns are more existential. Trump, he says, is geo-politicizing issues like climate change in ways that will ultimately make it more difficult to share technology, lower costs, and combat greenhouse gas emissions. He would like countries to instead come together and agree that some industries — including cleantech — are too important to put at the center of a trade war.

“The planet is burning,” said Baums. “If there’s anything we should try to cooperate on, it’s stuff that makes a clean transition happen.”

'There's a revolution coming': Silicon Valley reportedly plans to 'shock the bureaucracy'

Erik De La Garza
December 11, 2024

RAW STORY

Washington is bracing for a major Pentagon overhaul as tech billionaires wait in the wings for President-elect Donald Trump to take office.

And it’s full speed ahead from there in typical Silicon Valley form with billionaire executives preparing to revamp the country’s largest federal agency, Politico reported.

Trump has already offered the number-two Pentagon job to billionaire investor Stephen Feinberg, and others in the startup world are being considered for other Pentagon positions, according to the report.

“A lot of us are hoping there’s a revolution coming…where we hold the bureaucracy accountable, where we shock the bureaucracy,” entrepreneur Joe Lonsdale, founder of software company Palantir, said at a recent defense forum, according to Politico.

If they’re successful, the report added, “the long-frustrated kings of the Valley who bristle at the doddering pace of Pentagon decision-making could force real change in the building — and benefit themselves while trying.”

Tasks on the table for the tech execs include “building weapons faster, fixing a broken shipbuilding system and matching China’s tech prowess,” Politico reported.

Like Trump pal Elon Musk, owner of Tesla and SpaceX, the executives already named to Pentagon posts, or who are in the running, “all have investments and stakes in multiple companies working with the Pentagon and will need to determine how they detangle a web of potential conflicts of interest,” the report said.

But, it pointed out that significant changes to the inner workings of the Pentagon “won’t come at the commercial tech industry’s breakneck pace.”

“This is especially true of a sprawling bureaucracy built on institutional practice,” according to the report, which added that many generals and other Pentagon leaders are “cautious about moving too fast to alter weapons.”

The report said that several billionaires favor replacing the F-35 fighter jet and Abrams tank with drones, but noted that "such a move would upend tens of billions of dollars in contracts not only in the U.S., but with dozens of close allies.

'A massive scam': Millions of dollars in fraud found at ‘New Jersey’s worst nursing home’

Dana Difilippo,

 New Jersey Monitor
December 12, 2024 

A nurse holds an elderly woman's hand. (Shutterstock)

The owner and operators of a South Jersey nursing home pocketed millions of dollars in Medicaid money while its 110 residents lived in a dirty, understaffed facility, a scheme that went unnoticed for years by the state agencies tasked with oversight, the state Comptroller’s Office has found.

Acting state Comptroller Kevin D. Walsh said Thursday that his Medicaid fraud team first began looking into South Jersey Extended Care, a for-profit nursing home in Bridgeton, because it was the state’s worst, having received more one-star ratings than any of New Jersey’s roughly 350 nursing homes.

They soon uncovered evidence of “a massive scam, perpetrated for years,” Walsh said.


Investigators found that Michael Konig — who had been barred from operating nursing homes in Connecticut and Massachusetts because of serious violations — and his brother-in-law Steven Krausman ran the home, while its supposed owner, Konig’s cousin Mordechay “Mark” Weisz, was just a straw owner.

They discovered that the home took in $35.6 million in Medicaid funds from April 2018 to March 2023, but paid $38.9 million over that period to health care management businesses Konig and Krausman owned or controlled. The duo charged the home inflated prices while essentially acting as both customer and vendor — an arrangement that “ensured that the customer never complained,” investigators wrote in their report.

Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh (Dana DiFilippo | New Jersey Monitor)
 
State and federal laws require nursing homes, as a way to avoid self-dealing and fraud, to disclose transactions with vendors that are related parties and cap related-party costs at actual cost or fair market value, whichever is lower. Konig and Krausman did neither, Walsh said.

“These individuals were able to amass a fortune by pretending to be independent parties. In reality, they operated as one unit, providing terrible care to the sick, the elderly, and the poor, so they could make big profits,” Walsh said in a statement.

Konig’s Broadway Health Care Management took in $10 million over two years to provide nursing and other services to the home, according to the report. Yet investigators found the home had perpetual staff shortages and unqualified people in key positions — the director of social work wasn’t a licensed social worker, while the director of nursing was a licensed practical nurse whose license had been suspended after her arrest on charges of forging prescriptions.

The home often failed to meet minimum health and safety standards required by Medicaid, investigators found. Inspection reports documented filthy conditions, late medications, and residents’ medical needs that went unmet.

The three men drove the home to the brink of bankruptcy, draining it of cash, investigators found.

The problems went beyond Bridgeton. Konig and Krausman contracted with nine other New Jersey nursing homes — in Trenton, Union, Manahawkin, Perth Amboy, Teaneck, Cape May Court House, Toms River, and Maple Shade — and charged them inflated prices too, profiting $45.5 million in the process, investigators found.


Geriscript Supplies, which Konig controlled, was contracted to provide medical supplies to all 10 nursing homes. But the company spent just $3.6 million on medical supplies — and meanwhile it paid $6 million on consulting and management fees to another Konig business and $800,000 to a religious charity Konig controlled, the report says.

Krausman and Konig’s businesses received $253 million from the 10 nursing homes over the five years investigators examined — 76% of the total Medicaid funds the homes received, investigators found.

Their scheme went unchecked even though the men racked up penalties in other probes, according to the report:


A federal judge ordered a staffing agency owned by Konig to pay $636,000 in back wages after the U.S. Department of Labor found it failed to pay overtime to at least 150 workers at 10 nursing homes in New Jersey.The Federal Trade Commission determined an internet company owned by Konig, Krausman, and a third person lied to consumers about rebates. The commission barred the trio from similar schemes and they agreed to pay the FTC $600,000.In the mid-1990s, officials in Massachusetts and Connecticut barred Konig from owning nursing homes after learning of alleged sexual and physical abuse of residents and other severe deficiencies at facilities he owned or operated in those states.Konig lost a building he owned after he racked up more than 9,000 housing code violations in Brooklyn and filed for bankruptcy, according to the New York Daily News, which called him the “landlord from hell.”

Walsh said his office, with the approval of the state attorney general’s office, suspended the three men, the nursing home in Bridgeton, Sterling Manor Nursing Center in Maple Shade (which Weisz also owns), and 11 others from New Jersey’s Medicaid program and is coordinating with state agencies to ensure residents get care.

“These notices of suspension to South Jersey Extended Care and Sterling Manor Nursing Center and 11 other related individuals and entities will allow the State to take necessary steps to address the problems, and most importantly, protect the nursing home residents and get them the care they need,” Attorney General Matt Platkin said in a statement.


Walsh said he also might try to recover overpayments and seek civil fines and administrative sanctions.

The New Jersey Monitor couldn’t reach the men for comment. But their attorneys told the Comptroller’s Office that the men were not related parties, the Bridgeton home now has a two-star rating, and their profits “were within acceptable profit margins.” They accused the office of failing to understand licensing requirements, financial documents, and applicable laws.

They also offered hundreds of pages of exhibits, “many of which undercut their own arguments, were internally inconsistent, or differed in significant ways from documents previously provided to OSC and other state and federal oversight bodies,” according to the report.


“OSC stands by its findings,” the report says.

Walsh made several recommendations to legislators, as well as the departments of health and human services, to tighten oversight of nursing homes.

This is the second time Walsh has sounded the alarm on New Jersey’s worst nursing homes. He issued a report in March 2023 that identified Weisz and Krausman as the owners or operators of several of the state’s lowest-rated nursing homes.

Walsh’s investigation remains ongoing, he added.


“Our report lays bare in great detail how unscrupulous nursing home operators are able to exploit weaknesses in the system and fleece the Medicaid program,” Walsh said. “We owe it to nursing home residents, and taxpayers, to take this moment seriously, to learn from this investigation, and to ensure this can’t happen again.”