NORTHERN IRELAND

Government outlines terms of reference for independent probe into Omagh bombing


Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered the statutory inquiry into the Omagh bombing (Paul Mcerlane/PA)

By David Young and Jonathan McCambridge, 

PAToday 

An independent inquiry into the Omagh bombing will examine alleged security failings that led a High Court judge to conclude the outrage could plausibly have been prevented.

The UK Government has outlined its terms of reference for the independent probe, which will be chaired by Lord Turnbull.

The dissident republican bomb exploded in the Co Tyrone town on August 15 1998, killing 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins.

Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris ordered the statutory inquiry into the attack last year in response to a court judgment that directed the Government to establish some form of investigation.

It was a cruel atrocity carried out, not just on the people of Omagh, but on all those in Northern Ireland who supported the peace processChris Heaton-Harris, Northern Ireland Secretary

Michael Gallagher, whose son Aiden died in the Real IRA bombing, took the legal challenge that resulted in the Belfast High Court judge directing the state to act.

Mr Heaton-Harris outlined the terms of reference by way of a written parliamentary statement on Wednesday.

In his 2021 judgment, Mr Justice Horner directly recommended that the UK Government carry out an investigation into alleged security failings in the lead-up to the atrocity.

While having no jurisdiction to order the Irish government to act on the matter, the judge urged authorities there to establish their own probe in light of his findings.

A number of families of Omagh victims have repeatedly called for an inquiry to also be carried out into the bombing in the Republic of Ireland. Mr Heaton-Harris has also pressed the Irish government to act.

On a visit to Belfast on Wednesday, Ireland’s deputy premier, Micheal Martin, pledged to co-operate with the UK inquiry but said he did not think it made sense to have two inquiries into Omagh on both sides of the Irish border.



Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris outlined the terms of reference by way of a written parliamentary statement (PA)

The inquiry will be established under the Inquiries Act 2005 with full powers, including the power to compel the production of documents and to summon witnesses to give evidence on oath.

In his statement, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I want to first again express my deepest sympathy for all of those affected by the Omagh bombing in August 1998. It was a cruel atrocity carried out, not just on the people of Omagh, but on all those in Northern Ireland who supported the peace process.

“Following the announcement of the inquiry in February 2023, and the appointment of Lord Turnbull as chair in June 2023, I have now agreed with Lord Turnbull the terms of reference for the inquiry. These are focused on the four grounds identified by the Northern Ireland High Court as giving rise to plausible arguments that the bombing could have been prevented.

“With the terms of reference now agreed, the inquiry can press ahead with its work to comply with the judgment of the High Court, demonstrating the UK Government’s ongoing commitment to taking proper action on legacy-related matters.

“The inquiry chairman will now undertake a setting-up exercise to design the inquiry as he sees fit, and he will announce further detail about the inquiry in due course.”

The inquiry will examine the adequacy of the measures taken by UK state authorities, including the police, security forces and intelligence and security agencies, to disrupt dissident republicans who had been involved in attacks from December 1997 up to and including the Omagh bombing.

It will assess whether that approach changed following the Good Friday Agreement of April 1998.

The first thing to stress is that the inquiry is an entirely independent body

Lord Turnbull, inquiry chairman

It will also probe alleged intelligence-sharing failures between the UK and Irish authorities in the year-and-a-half leading up to the bombing.

It will further test an allegation made by former senior police officer Norman Baxter that detectives investigating previous dissident attacks were not given access to full intelligence information on suspects.

It will also examine claims around information allegedly passed to the security forces by a state agent known as Kevin Fulton in the months prior to the Omagh attack.

The inquiry will also look at intelligence said to have been obtained by the UK Government’s Communication Headquarters (GCHQ) from alleged vehicle and telephone monitoring of dissident republicans involved in the planning, preparation and conduct of the Omagh bombing and other earlier attacks.

The subsequent analysis and handling of the GCHQ intelligence by the state authorities will also be investigated.

The inquiry will also examine the extent and adequacy of steps taken by UK state authorities to track and analyse the mobile telephone usage by those suspected to be involved in dissident republican terror attacks before the Omagh bombing and whether that data may have aided efforts to disrupt the atrocity in Omagh.

Inquiry chair Lord Turnbull said he was confident the terms of reference would allow him to conduct a “thorough and robust investigation”.

“The first thing to stress is that the inquiry is an entirely independent body,” he said.

In our view, one inquiry is optimal, two separate inquiries to me doesn't make senseMicheal Martin, Ireland's deputy premier

“I and my team will decide which are the relevant and important issues to explore and which witnesses will be called. We will do so in a manner which is entirely free of influence from the Government, or any of the United Kingdom authorities and agencies.

“The inquiry is established under the provisions of the Inquiries Act of 2005 which means that I will have the power to require the production of documents and the attendance of witnesses. I shall make use of those powers to any extent necessary.”

Lord Turnbull said the voice of the victims would be heard.

“Whilst I have not yet defined the exact procedure the inquiry will follow, it is my intention to invite families and survivors to commemorative hearings in Omagh at some point this year, so I can hear directly from those most affected by the bombing,” he said.

“I recognise that for some, however, revisiting events of the past would be too traumatic and that they may have no wish to return to such a difficult time in their lives and the lives of their own loved ones. I will fully respect that view, and the inquiry will recognise your privacy if this is your wish.”

The first phase of the inquiry will involve gathering information and materials.

The second phase will be the evidential hearings and Lord Turnbull said he intended for those to be held in public and broadcast live, unless it was necessary in the public interest for reasons of national security that they are held in private.

The chairman acknowledged it could take some time before he was in a position to produce a final report and said he would consider whether to issue an interim report ahead of the inquiry’s conclusion.


Tanaiste Micheal Martin during a visit to Ulster University in Belfast (Niall Carson/PA)

Mr Heaton-Harris reiterated his call for the Irish government to set up its own inquiry.

“I urge the Irish Government to now explain what consideration it has given to the setting up of an investigation in Ireland to discharge its obligations under article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, in line with the clear direction of the High Court,” he said.

However, speaking during his visit to Ulster University in Belfast, Mr Martin questioned the merit of having two separate inquiries.

He also denied that his government had not done enough to pursue those responsible for Troubles crimes.

“There is no amnesty in the Republic and there never has been an amnesty given in the Republic,” he said in clear reference to the UK’s contentious legacy laws.

“The Gardai and the Director of Public Prosecutions are independent of government.

“No direction has ever been given to either not to pursue cases that arose from the Troubles and not to prosecute, those are the facts.

“In respect of in and around Omagh, people were convicted in the Republic and imprisoned.

“More broadly speaking, in terms of the inquiry, I haven’t seen the terms of reference, we have been seeking the terms of reference for quite some time so that we could then respond.

“We have made it very clear that we would be fully co-operative with any such inquiry.

I have always supported a public inquiry when it comes to Omagh

First Minister Michelle O'Neill

“In our view, one inquiry is optimal, two separate inquiries to me doesn’t make sense because there would be clear overlap and duplication and maybe crossing each other.

“We have mechanisms, we have changed the law in the Republic on a number of occasions to facilitate the provision of information that the Republic may have in respect of certain crimes.”

Mr Martin added: “Our view is, we’ll see the terms of reference and then we’ll work to ensure that we contribute to that inquiry.”

Stormont’s leaders were also asked about the probe on a visit to Limavady on Wednesday morning.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said: “I have always supported a public inquiry when it comes to Omagh.

“I think that is really important that we allow those families to get to the truth, that they get to the truth that they have been campaigning for many, many years.”

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said: “We have discussed with the Irish government issues related to legacy.

“The Taoiseach (Leo Varadkar) was in Northern Ireland just a couple of weeks ago and I took the opportunity to urge full co-operation and collaboration with all public inquiries and investigations.”

Past to Present: 100 Years Since the United States’ First Lethal Gas Execution, a Recently Renewed Practice

FIRST VICTIM OF STATE MURDER WAS A

CHINESE MIGRANT


Posted on Feb 08, 2024



Today, February 8, marks the 100-year anniversary of the first lethal gas execution in the United States, exactly two weeks after Alabama carried out the first execution using nitrogen gas.

On February 8, 1924, Nevada executed Gee Jon, a Chinese immigrant convicted of killing the owner of a laundromat, using cyanide gas. A fellow prisoner, Thomas Russell, was also scheduled to be executed the same day but was resentenced to life by the Board of Pardons and Parole the previous evening. The gas chamber, which was built by prisoners, was first tested on two kittens, who died within 15 seconds of the gas’ release. During the test, a small leak was identified and subsequently fixed so it would not pose any danger to witnesses, 30 of whom attended Mr. Gee’s execution. According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, four Carson City prison guards resigned two days prior to the execution to avoid taking part. Four physicians, at the request of the prison warden, were present for the execution and, from outside the gas chamber, determined that Mr. Gee had no signs of life after six minutes. Due to the level of gas present in the chamber, prison staff waited two and a half hours before opening the chamber; an autopsy was not permitted.

The execution, which was Nevada’s first execution since 1916, was widely reported as a success by Prison Warden D. S. Dickerson and supported by physicians as painless and humane. “The execution was a success, but the method of application is dangerous,” said Prison Warden Dickerson, who preferred another method, like firing squad, that was safer for witnesses and staff. When the body of Mr. Gee was removed from the gas chamber, one of the physicians present, medical reserve officer for the U.S. Army Maj D. A. Turner, claimed to be able to resuscitate him, though his request was denied; a month later, the Nevada State Journal reported that Dr. Turner repeated these claims when addressing the Reno Lions Club, adding that “Gee Jon died of cold and exposure.”

After the execution, reporter Arthur Brisbane wrote, “If government insists on killing it should kill as savages usually do, choking with a rope, cutting off the head, or in some other savage fashion. Science and scientists should not be disgraced in the operation.” His article, published in the Nevada State Journal, continued “While ‘civilization’ was killing” Mr. Gee, five others were electrocuted in Texas, resulting in one warden’s resignation and another stating: “‘Pulling the switch of an electric chair means nothing to me.’” Countering this apathy, Mr. Brisbane wrote, “It means something to civilization. Ten thousand years hence this will be spoken of as an age that used to hang, shoot, asphyxiate, kill with electricity, and then foolishly expect criminals, with the undeveloped mind of children, NOT to imitate a murderous example set by government itself.”

 


On January 25, 2024, Alabama executed Kenneth Eugene Smith using the experimental method of nitrogen hypoxia. Mr. Smith inhaled the nitrogen gas through a mask, rather than a gas chamber, and witnesses reported he initially “shook and writhed.” Witnesses were not allowed to take phones or watches with them and had to rely on a clock with no second hand, resulting in a complicated execution timeline. Although it took 32 minutes from the curtains being opened to Mr. Smith being declared dead, the execution was deemed a “success” by state officials.

Since 1976, there have been 12 lethal gas executions conducted by six states (Alabama (1), Arizona (2), California (2), Mississippi (4), Nevada (1), and North Carolina (2)). Mr. Smith’s execution was the first lethal gas execution since 1999. Execution witnesses of previous lethal gas executions have similarly observed signs of distress to lengthy executions. Attorney Jim Belanger wrote of his client Donald Harding’s 1992 execution in Arizona: “It took 10 minutes and 31 seconds for Don Harding to die. For at least eight of those minutes, he was writhing in agony.” Dan Morain, one of 18 journalists among a total of 48 official witnesses, described the 1992 execution of Robert Alton Harris as a “macabre and surreal scene” and concluded that he would never attend another execution. The international community has criticized past executions as they did with Mr. Smith’s: the German Justice Minister Herta Daeubler-Gmelin, called the 1999 execution of German national Walter LaGrande, which took 18 minutes, “barbaric.”

Currently two other states, Mississippi and Oklahoma, have authorized nitrogen hypoxia as an alternative execution method. The head of Oklahoma’s prison system, Steven Harpe, and his chief of staff, Justin Farris, have said they’re also exploring using the method as an option. But Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has stated that his opposition to switching to nitrogen gas. “I know exactly how it works. I know exactly what they’re doing. I don’t want to change a process that’s working,” he said. Legislation to introduce nitrogen hypoxia as an execution method is under review in the Nebraska and Ohio legislatures, both states that have allegedly had difficulty obtaining the chemicals required for lethal injection executions. Airgas, a private industrial gas distributor, has already announced its opposition to supplying nitrogen gas for executions.


SOURCES

JULIE CARR SMYTH, Could Ohio be the next state to use nitro­gen gas in exe­cu­tions? A new method would end a 5‑year halt, Associated Press, January 30, 2024; 

SEAN MURPHY, Oklahoma gov­er­nor says he’s not inter­est­ed in chang­ing from lethal injec­tion to nitro­gen exe­cu­tions, 

Associated Press, January 30, 2024, Randy Dotinga, Execution by gas has a bru­tal 100-year his­to­ry. Now it’s back., 

The Washington Post, January 24, 2024; Arthur Brisbane, Today they killed Gee Jon, 

Nevada State Journal, February 9, 1924; Gee Jon is Declared Victim of Cold Exposure Instead of Gas, Nevada State Journal, March 7, 1924; Could Have Revived Gee Jon Doctor Says, 

Reno Gazette Journal, March 6, 1924; Chinese Slayer Pays Penalty for Mina Crime When Poison Spray is Released at Prison, 

Reno Gazette Journal, February 8, 1924; Gee Jon Nods, Dies In Vapor, Nevada State Journal, February 9, 1924

NASA opposes lithium mining at tabletop flat Nevada desert site used to calibrate satellites


In this undated photo provided by NASA, a satellite captures the Railroad Valley (RRV), a dry lakebed in Nevada, for conducting ground-based calibration of Earth-observing satellite instruments. At the request of NASA, U.S. land managers have withdrawn about 36 square miles of federal land otherwise open to mineral exploration and mining at the site 250 miles northeast of Las Vegas. Nevada Republican Rep. Mark Amodei has introduced legislation that would rescind the land withdrawal and potentially reopen it to mining. (NASA via AP) 

SCOTT SONNER
Thu, June 22, 2023 

RENO, Nev. (AP) — Environmentalists, ranchers and others have fought for years against lithium mining ventures in Nevada. Yet opposition to mining one particular desert tract for the silvery white metal used in electric car batteries is coming from unusual quarters: space.

An ancient Nevada lakebed beckons as a vast source of the coveted metal needed to produce cleaner electric energy and fight global warming. But NASA says the same site — flat as a tabletop and undisturbed like none other in the Western Hemisphere — is indispensable for calibrating the razor-sharp measurements of hundreds of satellites orbiting overhead.

At the space agency's request, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has agreed to withdraw 36 square miles (92 square kilometers) of the eastern Nevada terrain from its inventory of federal lands open to potential mineral exploration and mining.

NASA says the long, flat piece of land above the untapped lithium deposit in Nevada's Railroad Valley has been used for nearly three decades to get measurements just right to keep satellites and their applications functioning properly.

“No other location in the United States is suitable for this purpose,” the Bureau of Land Management concluded in April after receiving NASA's input on the tract 250 miles (400 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas.

The bureau has spent nearly three years fighting mining challenges of all sorts from environmentalists, tribal leaders, ranchers and others who want to overturn approval of a huge lithium mine in the works in northwest Nevada near the Oregon line.

In December, the bureau initiated a review of plans for another lithium mine conservationists oppose near the California line where an endangered desert wildflower grows, about 230 miles (370 kilometers) southeast of Reno.

In Railroad Valley, satellite calculations are critical to gathering information beamed from space with widespread applications from weather forecasting to national security, agricultural outlooks and natural disasters, according to NASA, which said the satellites “provide vital and often time-critical information touching every aspect of life on Earth."

That increasingly includes certifying measurements related to climate change.

Thus the Nevada desert paradox, critics say. While lithium is the main ingredient in batteries for electric vehicles key to reducing greenhouse gases, in this case the metal is buried beneath land NASA says must remain undisturbed to certify the accuracy of satellites monitoring Earth's warming atmosphere.

“As our nation becomes ever more impacted by an evolving and changing environment, it is critical to have reliable and accurate data and imagery of our planet,” said Mark Moneza of Planet Labs, a San Francisco-based satellite imaging company that has relied on NASA's site to calibrate more than 250 of its satellites since 2016.

A Nevada congressman introduced legislation earlier this month seeking to revoke the bureau’s decision to withdraw the land from potential mining use. Republican Rep. Mark Amodei told a House subcommittee last week that the decision underscores the “hypocrisy” of President Joe Biden's administration.

“It is supposedly a goal of the Biden Administration to boost the development of renewable energy technology and reduce carbon in our atmosphere,” Amodei said. “Yet they support blocking a project to develop the lithium necessary for their clean energy objectives.”

The Carson City, Nevada, company holding most of the mining claims, 3 Proton Lithium Inc., had not submitted any formal project plans in 2021 when NASA requested the land withdrawal. But the firm claimed to have done extensive research in anticipation of future plans to extract the brine-based lithium resource it said is one of the 10 largest deposits in the world.

Chairman Kevin Moore said the tract's withdrawal likely will prevent his energy company from pumping the “super brine” from about one-third of its claims there, including the deepest, richest deposits holding about 60% of the site's value. He joined Amodei in testifying last week before the House Resources Subcommittee on Mining and Mineral Resources.

“This project is a vital part of transitioning to a green economy, creating good-paying American jobs, combating climate change, ending America’s over-reliance on foreign adversaries and securing a domestic supply chain for critical and rare earth minerals,” Moore said.

Other opponents of BLM's move include James Ingraffia, founder of the energy exploration company Lithium Arrow LLC. He told the bureau in earlier public comments that by establishing obstacles to Railroad Valley lithium mining, it was undermining efforts to combat climate change.

“Essentially, your actions are boiling down to, ‘There’s a problem that we want to keep worrying about but NOT allow to be solved,' " he said. "It’s self-contradictory.”

3 Proton Lithium insists its brine pumping operations would cause little if any disturbance to the land's surface. But NASA doesn't believe the risk is worthwhile.

The area's unchanged nature has allowed NASA to establish a long record of images of the undisturbed topography to assist precise measurement of distances using the travel time of radio signals and assure “absolute radiometric calibration” of sensors on board satellites.

“Activities that stand to disrupt the surface integrity of Railroad Valley would risk making the site unusable," Jeremy Eggers, a spokesman for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told The Associated Press.

"The ultimate decision was to protect Railroad Valley, which in turn protects the critical scientific data that multiple economic sectors rely on,” he said in an email Thursday.

‘Lifesaving’: US family flees Texas to transgender 'refuge' Minnesota

Issued on: 28/04/2023 

03:16

‘Lifesaving’: US family flees Texas to transgender 'refuge' Minnesota 

(2023) © AFP / France 24

Video by: Juliette MONTILLY

Jasper, 16, relocated from Texas to Minnesota with their parents to escape from the alarming increase in bills targeting transgender youth. "I feel like this is much, much safer," says Mary, the mother of Jasper. Like them, many US families with transgender children are fleeing to this northern state bordering Canada. Minnesota recently passed a "trans refuge" law that would guarantee legal protection for trans people coming from elsewhere to access medical care.

Washington, Minnesota protect access to abortion, gender-affirming care

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed five bills on Thursday from the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle to protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care. 

Image courtesy of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee/Release


April 27 (UPI) -- The Democratic governors of Washington and Minnesota on Thursday signed legislation to protect access to abortion and gender-affirming care in their states as their Republican counterparts the nation over seek to restrict and ban the medical procedures.

The move comes as both medical treatments have come under attack by Republican-led states, resulting in more than a dozen to ban abortion following last summer's U.S. Supreme Court decision to repeal federal protections for the procedure.

More than 15 states have also banned gender-affirming care for minors, according to the Movement Advancement Project, despite most major medical associations supporting such treatment while calling on politicians to leave medical decisions to patients and their doctors.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed House Bill 1469 to prohibit compliance with out-of-state subpoenas related to abortion and gender-affirming-care services and abortion- and gender-affirming care-related extradition requests as well as prevent cooperation with related out-of-state investigations while protecting providers in-state from harassment.

RELATED Polling reveals views on abortion vary by age, race, geography

He also signed House Bill 1340, which protects healthcare providers from disciplinary actions, and the so-called My Health, My Data Act, which state Democrats call a "historic and first-in-the-nation solution" to protect the personal health information collected by websites, smartphone apps and health tracking devices, with intent to protect those who visit the state for abortion or gender-affirming care.

Senate Bill 5242, which increases access to abortion care by eliminating cost-sharing abortions, and Senate Bill 5768, which protects access to abortion-inducting medication mifepristone amid Republican-led litigation to end its use, were also signed Thursday.

"The right of choice is an issue of freedom," Inslee said in a statement. "Healthcare must remain the providence of individual Washingtonians. These laws will keep the tentacles of oppressive and overreaching states out of Washington."

RELATED Justice Department challenges Tennessee's law banning youth transgender care

The signings were met with cheers from the American Civil Liberties Union of Washington, which described the state as demonstrating that it's a leader in protecting and improving access to both reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare.

"These bills are important steps toward defending and expanding abortion and gender-affirming care access, here and through their example, across the country," Leah Rutman, healthcare and liberty policy counsel at the ACLU of Washington, said in a statement.

In Minnesota, Gov. Tim Walz signed a pair of bills that protect people traveling from out-of-state for abortion and gender-affirming care with a third measure signed to ban conversion therapy, making the Midwestern state the 21st to do so, according to the Movement Advancement Project.

RELATED Missouri judge delays emergency rule restricting gender-affirming healthcare

"In Minnesota, we're protecting rights -- not taking them away," he tweeted.

State Rep. Leigh Rinke, Minnesota's first transgender lawmaker, called Thursday "an amazing, celebratory day in the movement for a more just future."

 

Cosmetic to critical: Blue states help trans health coverage

By CLAIRE RUSH

April 26, 2023

Blue states bolster trans health coverage

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — For most of her life in New Mexico, Christina Wood felt like she had to hide her identity as a transgender woman. So six years ago she moved to Oregon, where she had readier access to the gender-affirming health care she needed to live as her authentic self.

Once there, Wood, 49, was able to receive certain surgeries that helped her transition, but electrolysis, or permanent hair removal, wasn’t fully covered under the state’s Medicaid plan for low-income residents. Paying out-of-pocket ate up nearly half her monthly income, but it was critical for Wood’s mental health.

“Having this facial hair or this body hair, it doesn’t make me feel feminine. I still look in the mirror and I see that masculine person,” she said. “It’s stressful. It causes anxiety and PTSD when you’re having to live in this body that you don’t feel like you should be in.”

Christina Wood shaves before work in her home. (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

That is likely about to change. Oregon lawmakers are expected to pass a bill that would further expand insurance coverage for gender-affirming care to include things like facial hair removal and Adam’s apple reduction surgery, procedures currently considered cosmetic by insurers but seen as critical to the mental health of transitioning women.

The wide-ranging bill is part of a wave of legislation this year in Democratic-led states intended to carve out safe havens amid a conservative movement that seeks to ban or limit gender-affirming care elsewhere, eliminate some rights and protections for transgender people and even bar discussion of their existence in settings such as classrooms.

RELATED COVERAGE

:– For transgender kids, a frantic rush for treatment amid bans

– Michigan adds LGBTQ protections to anti-discrimination law

More than a half-dozen states, from New Jersey to Vermont to Colorado, have passed or are considering bills or executive orders around transgender health care, civil rights and other legal protections. In Michigan, for example, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last month signed a bill outlawing discrimination on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation for the first time in her state.

“Trans people are just being used as a political punching bag,” said Rose Saxe, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s LGBT and HIV Project. “Denying this health care doesn’t make them not trans. It just makes their lives much harder.”

Gender-affirming care includes a wide range of social and medical interventions, such as hormone treatments, counseling, puberty blockers and surgery.

Oregon’s bill would bar insurers and the state’s Medicaid plan from defining procedures like electrolysis as cosmetic when they are prescribed as medically necessary for treating gender dysphoria. It also would shield providers and patients from lawsuits originating in states where such procedures are restricted.

“We’re actually very committed to accessibility of coverage. Because you can say something is legal, but if it’s not truly affordable or accessible, that is not a full promise,” said Democratic state Rep. Andrea Valderrama, the bill’s chief sponsor.

Access to procedures such as electrolysis is also necessary as a matter of public safety, said Blair Stenvick, communications manager for the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Basic Rights Oregon.

“Facial hair can be a trigger for harassment,” Stenvick said, and being able to present as a woman “helps folks to not get targeted and identified as a trans person and then attacked.”

The bill has sparked fervent debate, with hundreds of people submitting written testimony both for and against it and an emotionally charged public hearing at the Capitol in Salem last month that went on for several hours. The Democratic-controlled House is expected to vote on the bill Monday over Republican opposition before it heads to the Senate, which is also dominated by Democrats.

Oregon’s measure mirrors a nationwide trend in Democratic-led states.

Shield protections similar to what is being proposed in Oregon have been enacted this year in Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and New Mexico, and other bills are awaiting the signatures of Govs. Jay Inslee in Washington and Tim Walz in Minnesota. California, Massachusetts and Connecticut passed their own measures last year. They largely bar authorities from complying with subpoenas, arrest warrants or extradition requests from states that have banned gender-affirming treatments.

Meanwhile a measure passed last month by lawmakers in Maryland would expand the list of procedures covered by Medicaid, and Democratic Gov. Wes Moore has said he plans to sign it.

And lawmakers in Nevada’s Democratic-held Legislature are also pushing to expand gender-affirming health care and develop policies regarding the treatment of transgender prisoners, among other things.

The series of bills face an uncertain fate under Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has shied away from the anti-transgender rhetoric and policy proposals that fellow GOP officeholders and candidates across the country have embraced. Lawmakers have just over a month to vote on them before the legislative session ends in June. But regardless of their outcome, an open debate over transgender health care protections in the important swing state promises to further heighten national attention on the issue.

“They know that this is not a political stunt,” state Sen. Melanie Scheible, the bill’s sponsor and member of Nevada’s newly formed LGBTQ+ Caucus, said of the governor’s office. “I’m not trying to give them a bill to veto just so I can complain about it later.”

Some opponents of gender-affirming health care say they’re concerned that young people may undergo certain physical transition procedures that are irreversible or transition socially in settings such as schools without their parents’ knowledge.

Christina Wood applies makeup and gets ready before going to work in her home in Salem, Ore.

 (AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Advocates for gender-affirming health procedures counter that they can be, literally, a matter of life or death.

Kevin Wang, medical director for the LGBTQI+ Program at Swedish Health Services in Seattle, said such care alleviates the depression, anxiety and self-harm seen in patients with gender dysphoria. Studies show that transgender people, particularly youth, consider and attempt suicide at higher rates than the general population.

“These are not aesthetic procedures,” Wang said. “Accessing these services can be absolutely life-saving because we’re preventing future harm.”

Some legal experts, however, warn that laws that protect gender-affirming care but lack strong enforcement mechanisms or funding to investigate violations may not result in meaningful change.

For example, Oregon already bars insurance companies from discrimination on the basis of gender identity. And the state agency overseeing health insurance rules already requires companies to cover procedures deemed medically necessary by a doctor to treat gender dysphoria and bars them from defining them as cosmetic.

But insurers have rarely faced major consequences for violations, said Ezra Young, a civil rights attorney and visiting assistant professor of law at Cornell Law School.

“Where’s the task force that’s going to enforce the law?” Young said. “Where are the lawyers that are going to do this? Where is the funding to educate insurance adjusters that they can’t do this?”

“If you’re leaving it to relatively poor transgender people to litigate a case in court … that’s not a meaningful remedy.”

Christina Wood stands on the porch of her home in Salem, Ore. 

(AP Photo/Amanda Loman)

Christina Wood, the transplant to Oregon, said she was lucky to have had the resources and ability to move to a state where she could more easily complete her transition, compared with other states that have fewer protections.

“It’s scary to live in this world right now. But ... I’m not going to back down, and I’m going to advocate for people in my situation,” Wood said.

“I never had a voice when I was younger. Christopher never had a voice. Christina has a voice. And so that’s what I plan to do.”

___

Associated Press writers Gabe Stern in Carson City, Nevada, Joey Cappellitti in Lansing, Michigan, and Brian Witte in Baltimore contributed to this report.

___

Rush and Stern are corps members for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Why Trump as Jesus Christ makes perfect sense to US evangelists

Hamid Dabashi
18 April 2023 

A growing movement analogising the 45th president with the martyred son of God taps into Christian fundamentalist convictions about a divine US dispensation

Murals of Jesus and former US President Donald Trump on a building owned by a commissioner in Fulton County, Pennsylvania, US, 6 December 2022 (Reuters)

“Jesus was arrested and murdered by the Roman government. There have been many people throughout history that have been arrested and persecuted by radical corrupt governments and it’s beginning today in New York City.”

So said Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, sharing her heartfelt theological concerns over the arraignment of former US President Donald Trump earlier this month in New York.

Episcopal Bishop Reginald T Jackson, who oversees more than 500 churches in Greene’s home state of Georgia, did not care for the analogy and considered it “blasphemous and disgusting”, but Greene had countless other Americans supporting her sentiments.

Trump was arraigned in Manhattan because of allegations of corruption based on hush money he reportedly paid a porn star to keep her relationship with him secret so as not to damage his reputation as he was running for office.

Those allegations do not seem to bother his evangelical base, devoted as it is to the former US president's image as a devout Christian, to the extent that the sanctity of the figure of Christ is affixed to him. The roots and manifestations of this peculiar version of evangelical theology are extremely important for any understanding of American politics.

Soon after the Iranian revolution of 1977-1979, I began collecting evidence of the visual iconography of the revolution in whatever form and shape I could find.

My colleague, Peter Chelkowski, later joined me and together we wrote a book, Staging a Revolution: The Art of Persuasion in the Islamic Republic of Iran (1999), in which we offered a detailed interpretation of the visual iconography of the revolution.

A central theme in that iconography was of course the Shia martyrology that identified Ayatollah Khomeini and a whole generation of the victims of the Iran-Iraq war with Shia holy men.

Trump as Jesus Christ

Reminiscent of that Islamic martyrology we documented four decades ago in Iran, the patently Christian art now gathering momentum around the cultic figure of Trump is something quite serious. It would be a mistake to dismiss it with the usual arrogance of the liberal corporate media, which has generated much anger among the millions of people who consider themselves besieged and beleaguered “white Christian Americans”.

Yes, there are profound elements of white supremacy and racism in this Trump cult. But not all of this diehard Christian piety can be explained away thus.

There is genuine pain and evident hurt, some of it economic, some of it emotional, mixed with a sense of anomie and alienation. Some people who identify as white, Christian and conservative feel that their country, their culture and their religion are all under attack by coloured people, non-Christian people, radical liberals and the left. They are trying to “get their country back”.

Trump and the myth of American democracy

Read More »

People like Trump bank on such feelings and exploit them to their political advantage. Visionary but defeated statesmen such as Bernie Sanders were aware of such facts and sought to address them. But the dominant ideologues of the Democratic Party, represented by Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, were entirely complicit in their root causes and unable to address them.

It was only quite recently that a sizable industry of Christian iconography surrounding the figure of Trump emerged. Identification of Trump with the figure of Christ as he is perceived in the evangelical imagination is a key component of this political iconography.

“Since late 2020,” according to Snopes, a US fact-checking website, “a rather curious and controversial image has been floating around the internet. It's an image of a painting that shows former US President Donald Trump crucified like Jesus, with an American flag serving as the loin cloth worn by Jesus in most artistic depictions of the crucifixion.”

The iconography is complete with the figure of the former speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, piercing Trump's side with a spear while, Mary-like, Melania Trump sits at his feet, crying.

Trump has a history of comparing himself to Jesus Christ. “Someone said to me the other day,” he said back in 2020, “‘You’re the most famous person in the world by far’. I said, ‘No, I’m not’… they said, ‘Who’s more famous?’ I said: ‘Jesus Christ.'”

Connecting with his evangelical base and abusing their faith, while fulfilling his insatiable thirst for fame and fortune, are the common staples of Trump's political parlance.

Evangelical imperialism

The Christian Zionism embedded in this ideology has not been lost on either Trump or, of course, on Israeli propagandists. Trump has declared himself "the king of Israel" or "the chosen one", while his followers have not shied away from calling him “the second coming of God”.

When Trump moved the US embassy to occupied Jerusalem, the Israelis were ecstatic, actively comparing him to Cyrus the Great and minting a coin in his honour. According to Associated Press, “the Mikdash Educational Centre said the 'Temple Coin' features Trump alongside King Cyrus, who 2,500 years ago allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem from their exile in Babylon.”

Woman with a painting of Jesus wearing a 'Make America Great Again' baseball cap at a rally for Donald Trump in New York City, October 25 2020 (AFP)

The full dimensions of Evangelical imperialism gathering momentum around the mythic figure of Trump, however, goes far beyond the delusional attempts of Israelis to hang to any straw in their futile attempt to steal the entirety of Palestine.

In this figure of Trump as Christ, we are facing a Christian nationalism of much deeper and bolder proportions - the evidence of an imperial imagination that connects US warmongering around the globe with the Christian zeal of the conquistadors at the time of Christopher Columbus.

It is the Holy Roman Empire that this political theology fathoms, with Trump as the figure of not Just Christ but, in fact, Charlemagne.

That missionary zeal has now found a widely popular artist to give it artistic panache.
Lucrative market

“Conservative artist Jon McNaughton doesn't care about the haters, he just wants to paint Trump and Jesus.” That is the title of a piece detailing how Christian pop artist McNaughton has emerged at the centre of this renewed burst of Christology around the figure of Trump.

McNaughton is a Utah-based political artist devoted to a conservative and Christian perspective - and in the persona of Trump he has found his deepest inspirations. It is evidently a lucrative market, too.

A key aspect of this hugely popular art is that it goes viral on the internet. Central to its popularity is the mixing of biblical and American histories to forge a mythic space where Americans feel connected to a divine dispensation - and thus their proverbial sense of “exceptionalism” is theologically reasserted.

There is a deeply rooted Christian Republic, with its imperial imagination bursting to come out from within the American political culture

McNaughton's most recent painting, we learn, titled "Crossing the Swamp", went viral for its recasting of Emanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" with members of the Trump administration.

We learn that the "painting depicts Trump as Washington, while paddling through a swamp outside the US Capitol building surrounded by National Security Adviser John Bolton holding a hunting rifle a la Elmer Fudd, Vice President Mike Pence holding the American flag, and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson apparently paddling in the wrong direction”.

The politics of this art form is self-evident, with Trump and his MAGA diehards the last remaining bastions in the battle to save America from powerful liberal establishment forces.

But what McNaughton is doing is far more than a contemporary political act. He is actively reimagining American history in unabashedly evangelical, white supremacist and racist images.

There is a deeply rooted Christian republic, with its imperial imagination bursting to come out from within the American political culture - with a potent antisemitism and now Islamophobia as its key manifestations.

When he wrote his now classic book, American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century (2006), Kevin Phillips was fully aware of this fact and had seen the George W Bush presidency as the epitome of it.

Almost two decades later, the prospect of a rank charlatan taking hold of this deep-rooted, blindfolded evangelical vision of the world in the US is ever stronger.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in the City of New York, where he teaches Comparative Literature, World Cinema, and Postcolonial Theory. His latest books include The Future of Two Illusions: Islam after the West (2022); The Last Muslim Intellectual: The Life and Legacy of Jalal Al-e Ahmad (2021); Reversing the Colonial Gaze: Persian Travelers Abroad (2020), and The Emperor is Naked: On the Inevitable Demise of the Nation-State (2020). His books and essays have been translated into many languages.

Christian nationalist and pro-Trump pastor insists 'believers' should 'be the ones writing the laws'

Maya Boddie, Alternet
April 22, 2023

Twitter

Sean Feucht, a proud MAGA preacher, expressed his bold and controversial Christian nationalist views during an appearance earlier this week at a church led by former President Donald Trump supporter, Jackson Lahmeyer, Rolling Stone reports.

Per Rolling Stone, Lahmeyer is not only the pastor of Sheridan Church, but also the founder of Pastors for Trump.

During his speech, Feucht, who "once prayed over Trump in the Oval Office," insisted church and state should not be separate by saying, "America should be governed according to biblical law for the benefit of believers, as a way to prepare for the second coming of Christ," according to Rolling Stone.

"It's all part of The King coming back," Feucht said to the congregation. "That's what we're practicing for," he said, adding, "That's why we get called 'Christian nationalists.'"
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Rolling Stone reports:

Feucht is currently on a fifty-state worship tour to bring his now-open brand of Christian nationalism to every state capitol in the land. That tour has the backing of Turning Point USA, the far-right political shop headed by Charlie Kirk. Its initiative TPUSAFaith has partnered with Fuecht's Let Us Worship project to stage the Kingdom to the Capitol tour. TPUSAFaith's website tells visitors: 'TOGETHER WE CAN RESTORE AMERICA’S BIBLICAL VALUES.'

The tour kicked off in Washington, D.C., last month, with a prayer service in the Capitol rotunda, surreptitiously organized by Boehbert.

Additionally, during his appearance, the right-wing evangelical leader performed "an imaginary dialogue" before the Sheridan Church audience, mocking "secular critics," asking, "You want The Kingdom to be the government?"

He then answered himself: "Yes!"

Feucht continued, "You want God to come on over and take over the government?"


Again, he replied, "Yes!"

The MAGA minister then proclaimed — referring to Christian nationalists like himself — "We want God to be in control of everything! We want believers to be the ones writing the laws! Yes! Guilty as charged."

Rolling Stone reports:

After this story was first published, Lahmeyer sent an email to supporters titled, 'The Rolling Stone Is After Me, Sheridan.Church & Sean Feucht… AGAIN!' In the body of the email, Lahmeyer characterized this article as part of 'the constant attack' waged against 'authentic Christianity' in America. He called on the faithful 'to engage to preserve our Christian Nation' by acting to 'make sure that President Trump is elected for a third time in 2024' — a reference to the baseless conspiracy theory that Trump won the 2020 election. Lahmeyer insisted that ex-'President Trump has proven to be a friend of the Church in America.'

According to The Christian Post, Feucht has vocalized his opposition to COVID-19 vaccinations and precautions, saying he was "'shocked with the number of pastors and other leaders who complied with the mandates' after government officials restricted or banned public gatherings and worship services in cities across California and around the country."

The Christian Post reports:

Feucht then started a 'Let Us Worship' petition to keep churches open amid the pandemic. After the petition garnered more than 100,000 signatures, Feucht held his first open worship at the Golden Gate Bridge in July 2020.

'Part of his soul' and DNA: How Irish is Joe Biden?

Updated / Friday, 14 Apr 2023 

A young Joe Biden, second from the right, with his family (Credit: Joe Biden Campaign)

By Jackie Fox

Joe Biden was born into a proud Irish American Catholic family in the blue-collar city of Scranton Pennsylvania - a state his ancestors settled and met in.

While the president has pronounced Ireland "part of his soul", it is also part of his DNA.

A young Joe Biden (Credit: Joe Biden Campaign)

"My Grandpa Finnegan would also say… 'Remember, Joey, the best drop of blood in you is Irish,' he quipped during an address at the Windsor Bar in Dundalk on Wednesday evening.

But this is not just about the wise words of Grandpa Finnegan, the facts and historical figures are there to back it up.

Joe Biden Family Tree (Irish Family History Centre)

His strongest ties appear to be with Mayo but there are also links to Louth, Galway and Donegal.

Ten of his 16 great-great-grandparents were from the Emerald Isle.

While nine of them were born in Ireland, the tenth was the daughter of Galway immigrants. Mary Ward was born en route to the United States and would, years later, marry a Galway man.

Map of Galway showing the area Mr Biden's ancestors originated from

"To paraphrase the Duke of Wellington - just because you're born in a stable, it doesn't make you a horse. So, we claim her as being Irish," said Fiona Fitzsimons, Director of the Irish Family History Centre, who along with Helen Moss were commissioned by Joe Biden when he was vice president to delve deeper into his family's roots.

Fiona Fitzsimons said the president stands out not just because of his strong Irish links but because of the "extraordinary" fact that all his ancestors are considered "famine Irish" – meaning they arrived in the US between 1848 and 1861.
Fiona Fitzsimons with Mr Biden in 2016 when she presented him and his family with details about his Irish roots



"Normally when you get that deep rooted Irishness, you might find somebody coming in, in the early 20th century… But this is what's extraordinary … is that all of these are famine Irish," said Ms Fitzsimons.

Four of his ten great-grandparents are from Mayo - the Stantons, the Arthurs, the Basquilles and (probably the most well-known) the Blewitts.

His third great-grandfather Edward Blewitt took the five-week journey across the ocean to the United States and set up his family in Pennsylvania.

Before he took the 'coffin ship' across the Atlantic to begin a new life in America, Mr Blewitt worked for the ordnance survey office - walking about the land and helping making maps in the mid-1800s

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Passenger List to the US which includes Edward Blewitt's name (Irish Family History Centre)

According to Fiona Fitzsimons, a fascinating part of the Blewitt story is that it appears Edward and his brother James were educated in a hedge school.

"Yet somehow, [the brothers] picked up enough higher maths to be able to parlay that into a surveyors job," said Fiona.

She said Edward Blewitt's drive and "entrepreneurial" side would lead to a successful life for him and his family in the United States. His grandson would go on to become a very early Irish Catholic member of the senate in Pennsylvania.

Decades later his grandson's daughter, Geraldine C Blewitt would marry Ambrose J Finnegan - another second-generation Irish person. This branch of the family tree stems from Co Louth.

Marriage of John Finnegan and Mary Kearney (Irish Family History Centre)

The Finnegans and the Kearneys, his third-great grandparents, lived right out by the sea on the Cooley Peninsula.

"The Kearneys being very industrious, they collected the seaweed off the beach. Part of their agreement with the landlord was that they could have some of the seaweed… but on the side they were selling the off product of the seaweed to the other farmers in the area," said Kayleigh Bealin, Research Manager with the Irish Family History Centre.

Not surprisingly the side hustle, when discovered, left the landlord unimpressed.

Owen Finnegan and his family left for the United States in 1849, opening a business as a shoemaker in Seneca Falls New York.

His son James would be the one to relocate to Pennsylvania along with his wife Catherine Roche and their six children - one them Ambrose J Finnegan, or Joe Biden's grandfather, who would marry Geraldine C Blewitt.

While the focus of this presidential visit to Ireland has been about Mr Biden's lineage in Co Mayo and Co Louth, there are more Irish branches to his family tree.

Joe Biden also has connections to Donegal. His great-great grandmother, Catherine Scanlon was from Co Donegal but grew up in the United States after her father, Anthony Scanlon brought his family to the US around 1848 when she was around 10 years old.
Anthony Scanlon Seamans Ticket 1845 (Credit: Irish Family History Centre)

"We believe Anthony Scanlon was originally from Co Mayo… he was a coastguard," said Ms Fitzsimons.

In the 1800s, coastguards were an emerging profession and were first recruited as revenue enforcers – hired to prevent smuggling of wine, brandy, whiskey, and tea. Later in the 1840s/1850s they were moved into saving lives.
A Coast Guard Cottage in Mayo (Credit: The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage)

"Anthony Scanlon was posted at different times around the coast, and his children appear to have been born in Donegal. We think probably Ballyshannon. We have Anthony Scanlon there in the 1830s, but unfortunately the parish registers don't start early enough for us to find baptisms," said Fiona Fitzsimons.
Donegal coast (Credit: The National Library)

From stories passed down through generations and more connections revealed over time, Ireland has always been a huge part of Joe Biden's life.

Many of the president's ancestors left an Ireland ravaged by famine - a tough reality that Joe Biden laments as he makes this historic visit.

"It feels like home. I know why my ancestors and many of your relatives left during the famine and - but, you know, when you're here, you wonder why anyone would ever want to leave."

‘Sneering, arrogant and disrespectful’ – British press criticise Joe Biden as Americans lap up Irish ‘homecoming’

People awaiting the arrival of US President Joe Biden in Dundalk, Co Louth, on Wednesday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

Seoirse Mulgrew
April 13 2023

US President Joe Biden’s historic trip to Ireland has provoked a strong response from the British press.

Mr Biden’s visit will mark the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.


Leo Varadkar rejects claims that Joe Biden is anti-British

His trip has been described by US media as “part homecoming, part diplomacy and part politics”.

CNN said Mr Biden’s trip follows in the footsteps of JFK’s visit to Ireland five months before his assassination in 1963.

Reporter Kevin Liptak said that Kennedy told aides after his visit to Ireland that it “was the best four days of my life”.

The Washington Post said the visit will afford Mr Biden the opportunity to “dive into the Irish ancestry of which he is immensely proud and speaks about often”.

The New York Times in a news piece said Joe Biden is about to receive the “warmest of welcomes”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has also described it as an opportunity "to welcome a son of Ireland home, to welcome home a great Irish-American president".

However, Mr Biden’s trip to Ireland has not been met with the same warmth by some publications in Britain.

Foreign policy analyst Nile Gardiner said Mr Biden has “gravely insulted Britain” in his opinion piece for the Telegraph.

Mr Gardiner, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher, said President Biden’s “insulting decision to prioritise Ireland over the UK on his visit to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement should have come as no surprise”.

He also criticised Biden for not attending the coronation of King Charles in May.

No US president has ever attended the coronation of the British monarch.

Mr Gardiner described Mr Biden’s approach towards Britain, which he labelled “traditionally America’s closest friend and ally”, as “sneering, arrogant and disrespectful”.

He added that President Biden is putting “two fingers up to the monarchy, Great Britain and its illustrious history” and that “he is no friend of the British people”.

Political cartoons were also illustrated to express dissatisfaction with Biden’s visit.

Mr Biden has also been criticised by senior DUP figures, with MP Sammy Wilson claiming the president “has got a record of being pro-republican, anti-unionist, anti-British”, while former first minister Arlene Foster has said he “hates the UK”.

Speaking to GB News, Ms Foster said: “I just think the fact he’s coming here won’t put any pressure on the DUP, quite the reverse actually.”

However, following Biden’s speech at Ulster University, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson told the media the President’s words were “measured” and welcomed Mr Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland.

But Mr Donaldson said the President’s remarks do not “change the political dynamic in Northern Ireland”.

GB News’ Dan Wootton described Biden as an “anti-British President” and said he has a “deep hatred of the United Kingdom”.

The suggestion that Mr Biden was anti-British was rejected by Amanda Sloat, senior director for Europe at the US National Security Council.

She said: “It’s simply untrue – the fact that the president is going to be engaging for the third time in three months, and then again next month and then again in June, with the prime minister of the UK shows how close our co-operation is with the UK.

“President Biden obviously is a very proud Irish-American, he is proud of those Irish roots, but he is also a strong supporter of our bilateral partnership with the UK.”

White House strikes Joe Biden's 'Black and Tans' rugby gaffe from official record

US President Joe Biden delivered a keynote speech in Belfast marking the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (Aaron Chown/PA)

Allan Preston
13 April, 2023 

THE White House has officially acknowledged a gaffe by the US President Joe Biden after he went off-script in Dundalk by accidentally praising the former Irish Rugby international Rob Kearney for beating the 'All Black and Tans'.

Having managed to smoothly navigate the tricky political environment in Northern Ireland, Mr Biden had been enjoying time tracing his family roots in Co Louth with a tour of Carlingford Castle followed by a visit to The Windsor Bar.

The official transcript posted on the White House website has now officially corrected the slip-up, while also noting the President quickly laughed his mistake off.

The official Whitehouse transcript.

During his speech, Mr Biden told patrons that Kearney was “a hell of a rugby player, and beat the All Black and Tans”.

Mr Biden seemed to instantly realise the slip-up, where he confused the New Zealand rugby team with the Black and Tans, a group of former British soldiers who fought in the First World War and were drafted in to support the Royal Irish Constabulary during the Irish War of Independence.

With a reputation for brutality, their nickname came from the appearance of their improvised uniforms.

The force became notorious for the massacre of 14 people and wounding 60 others at a Gaelic football match at Dublin’s Croke Park in 1920.

Rob Kearney.

It wasn't long before the unusual moment went viral on Twitter, with one person joking: "Who had 'Rob Kearney being complimented by Joe Biden for beating the Black and Tans' on their bingo card?"

Others photo shopped images of Kearney beside archive pictures of Black and Tans while some noted the absurdity of how he made the comments in a pub called 'The Windsor' on the week of the Good Friday Agreement anniversary.

Today, Mr Biden's state visit continues with an address in the Irish parliament and a series of official engagements in Dublin.

He is also due to meet the Irish President Michael D Higgins at his official residence in Phoenix Park followed by a meeting with the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar at Farmleigh House, where he will be invited to watch a sports demonstration by young Gaelic games players.

The day's itinerary will conclude with a banquet in his honor at Dublin Castle hosted by Mr Varadkar.