TWENTY YEARS LATER NO CHANGE
Amid US Pullout, Taliban Issue Threat to Afghan Journalists

News18
Wed., May 5, 2021


The Taliban on Wednesday issued a threat to Afghan journalists they accuse of siding with Afghanistan’s intelligence agency in Kabul, a warning that came amid a U.S. troop pullout and rising fears of more violence in the war-wrecked country.

In a statement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said those Afghan journalists who give one-sided news in support of Afghanistans intelligence” service and warned them to stop or face the consequences.

The U.S. and Britain responded, with their embassies in Kabul quickly condemning the Taliban threat just two days after World Press Freedom Day.

We strongly support Afghanistans independent media, tweeted Ross Wilson, the U.S. charg daffaires in Kabul. We condemn in the strongest possible terms the on-going violence and threats against the media, and the Talibans attempts to silence journalists.”

Afghanistan is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world to be a journalist. Since 2006, as many as 76 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan, according to the U.N. Education and Cultural Organization.

Last year alone at least 15 were killed, and earlier this year, three women employed by media outlets were killed in eastern Afghanistan. The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for some of the killings, including that of the three women. The majority of the targeted journalists have been women.

The government blames a resurgent Taliban who now control or hold sway over half the country for many of the targeted killings. The insurgents, meanwhile claim the Afghan intelligence service is carrying out these attacks so as to blame the Taliban.

Earlier this week, Amnesty International decried the spiraling violence against journalists in Afghanistan and the impunity of the culprits carrying out the attacks.

Nearly all the killings, invariably carried out by unidentified gunmen, have gone uninvestigated, Amnesty said. Dozens of others have been injured, while journalists routinely receive threats, intimidation and harassment because of their work. Faced with this dire situation and with multiple journalist hit lists in open circulation, many journalists are fleeing the country.

Also Wednesday, an Afghan open media advocacy group expressed concerns about statements reportedly made by the head of the intelligence agency, known as the National Directorate of Security or NDS, criticizing some outlets he accused of carrying insurgent propaganda.

The comments by the intel chief, Ahmad Zia Seraj, were tweeted by Arif Rahmani, a lawmaker from the central Ghazni province who attended a private meeting of lawmakers with the NDS chief.

Rahmani told The Associated Press that at the meeting, Seraj was asked by lawmakers about alleged pro-Taliban coverage by some media outlets. The NDS chief said in response that there would be severe legal consequences for outlets carrying terrorist propaganda,” according to Rahmani.

He did not name the outlets, Rahmani said. There was no immediate comment from the intelligence agency.

Last week, the remaining 2,500 to 3,500 American troops officially began leaving Afghanistan. They are expected to be out by Sept. 11 at the latest a deadline set by President Joe Biden.

The U.S. has openly also warned of battlefield gains for the Taliban and officials in Washington say Afghan government forces face an uncertain future against the insurgents as the withdrawal accelerates in the coming weeks

AMERICAN GRIFTERS

How Trump’s children are still costing taxpayers money

Gino Spocchia
Wed., May 5, 2021
The Independent

Children of former US president Donald Trump, with security(REUTERS)

The children of Donald Trump are continuing to cost US taxpayers hundreds of thousands a month for travel, a government watchdog group has found.

US Secret Service agents filed $140,000 (£100,000) in receipts for travelling with Eric, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr in February, according to the watchdog CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington).

The figure was for the first month after the former president’s departure from Washington DC, and does not refer to any Secret Service fees incurred at Trump businesses.

The real figure for taxpayers, according to CREW, could be far higher.

The findings follow a Freedom of Information Act request for the cost of extending Secret Service protection to the former president’s children for a further six months after the president left office.

US Secret Service agents spent $52,296.75 (£37,584) on travel and $88,678.39 (£63,731) on accommodation for escorting the Trumps on foreign and domestic trips in February, according to the filings.

It included security for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner for 10 days in Salt Lake City in January, straight after the inauguration of US president Joe Biden.

The trip cost $62,599.39 (£45,000) in accommodation for the security, and was followed by a trip to the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey, for which there were no receipts, and another vacation in Miami.

Eric and Lara Trump, in February, were at the Trump National Golf Club Westchester in New York, for which there were no receipts.

The couple also travelled into Queens, and to Miami, Lake Placid, and Palm Beach — the latter costing the Secret Service more than $10,000 (£7,186) in accommodation fees.

Donald Trump Jr., the eldest child of the former president, also spent time in New York City, Long Island, and Upstate New York.

CREW wrote of the findings that “If just one month of the Trump children’s extended Secret Service protection cost $140,000, then the full six months could cost taxpayers nearly $1 million.”

“Unfortunately, the records appear to not even be a complete accounting of the costs,” the watchdog continued, “since the Secret Service did not provide records of spending at Trump businesses, which is the most controversial aspect of the extended protection.”

The extended security for 13 members of the Trump family from January attracted criticism for the costs to American taxpayers.

Former presidents Barack Obama and George Bush extended Secret Service protection to their children, who were then-college aged, after departing office.

The Independent has approached the office of Mr Trump for comment.

Read More

Trump v Facebook ‒ live: Ex-president says ban upheld because ‘Radical Left Lunatics are afraid of the truth’

Trump slams Facebook, Twitter and Google as ‘disgrace and embarrassment’ to US

Trump allies react with fury at Facebook ruling: ‘It’s a sad day for America’

‘What a mess’: David Suzuki rates the planet's chances of survival




'Very grim world': Dr David Suzuki's prediction for the future

Canadian environmentalist and broadcaster, Dr David Suzuki, spoke with Yahoo News Australia about why humans are destroying nature and why he holds little hope for the future of our society. Interview by: Michael Dahlstrom

Michael Dahlstrom
·News and Video Producer
Wed., May 5, 2021

Our children’s lives will be dramatically changed by our impact of the natural world, according to world-renowned environmentalist and broadcaster Dr David Suzuki.

Speaking with Yahoo News Australia from his home in Canada, the 86-year-old says the outlook for our planet is “very grim” but humanity may survive in pockets.

With children unable to vote, he argues their parents and grandparents, no matter their political persuasion, have a responsibility to elect leaders who will act on climate change and species extinction to give the next generations the best opportunity.

“Our politics is so screwed up,” he said.

“Children don’t vote, future generations don’t vote, rivers, oceans, air, they don’t vote and yet we’re making decisions that effect these things in a profound way.”

‘What a mess’: David Suzuki rates the planet's chances of survival (yahoo.com)

Dr David Suzuki says we must urgently tackle climate change and biodiversity loss for the sake of our children. Source: Getty / Michael Dahlstrom

Dr Suzuki has written 43 books on the environment, and became a household name via his long-running Canadian TV program, The Nature of Things.

Dismayed that nations have not pulled together to solve the Covid-19 crisis, Dr Suzuki believes it will be “pretty hard” to get them to “act as one” to save the planet.

"Tackling climate change and biodiversity loss must come before the human constructs of politics and economics, because it is an “issue of survival”.

“We were a great experiment, an amazing creature, and the only reason I am sad about where we’re at now is that I have grandchildren,” he said.

“They are the joy of my life and it grieves me what a mess we’re leaving for them.”
'What the hell is going on' Australia?

A frequent visitor to Australia, Dr Suzuki remains perplexed that our nation has continued to prioritise fossil fuels rather than renewable energy.

During his first visit in 1989, he was amazed by the sunlight, later describing it as the "richest resource of energy" of any country on the planet.

Having maintained home in Port Douglas, near the Great Barrier Reef, the Canadian has seen firsthand the impact which climate change has had on Australia.

Australia's ongoing embrace of coal rather than solar energy has perplexed Dr Suzuki. Source: Getty

“You’ve got the richest resource of energy of any country on the planet — it’s called sunlight — and yet you’re still stuck on coal and oil, I mean what the hell is going on?

“It’s only because of economics.”
Economics the 'driving force' of destruction

Western economic thinking’s failure to put value on nature is the “driving force to our destructiveness”, Dr Suzuki argues.

He points to a review presented in February by economist Professor Partha Dasgupta, commissioned by the UK Treasury, which found our prosperity has come at the expense of ecosystems which provide clean air, food and water.


Dr Suzuki urges voters to put environment first for their chilidren

Contrasting with this is the traditional thinking of Indigenous people across the world, including the Haida in British Columbia, who Dr Suzuki says acknowledge a gratitude to the environment and admit that they have a responsibility to nature during ceremony.

“One of the big problems we face today… is this whole notion of freedom and ‘my individual rights - it’s as if freedom comes with no responsibility. ” he said.

“Any Indigenous person will tell you, yes we may have to kill an animal, or pull this plant out of the soil and use it, but we give thanks to it and we’re concerned that their kind will continue on."

THE HUNTER GATHERERS 

VS 

AGRICULTURAL CIVILIZATION THESIS 

OF ANARCHIST PRIMITIVISM

Dr Suzuki pinpoints where 'destructive behaviour' began

After a lifetime examining humankind’s destruction of the environment Dr Suzuki says he finally understands the “root cause of our destructiveness”.

He believes it has come late in our existence, as nomadic hunter gatherers understood the “complex web of relationships” with air, water, animals and plants for thousands of years.

While farmers later understood this relationship, he argues embracing agriculture was our first major step away from living with nature.

Industrialisation led humans to believe they were no longer bound by natural laws, Dr Suzuki said. Source: Getty

Further separation, he says, came with the rise of Judeo-Christian ideas which saw nature as something to be used by mankind and this thinking was later accelerated by industrialisation.

“With the industrial revolution this really begins our shift when we think we’re no longer bound by natural laws,” he said.

“We can build a vehicle that will travel faster than the speed of sound, with telescopes and microscopes, and big machines we can now do what no other animal ever did.

“I mean we can escape gravity for god sakes, we can live in outer space or under the ocean.

“So this completes then the notion that we are so special, the only limitation to human progress is our imagination.”

Legacy of our civilisation is grim without major change

Despite having tried to takeover Earth, Dr Suzuki believes humans are incapable of managing our own affairs, let alone the problems affecting the planet.

Poverty, inequity and the environment are all interlinked and solutions must be found for all in order to achieve a sustainable world, he argues.

Biodiversity loss and extinction is a key concern of Dr Suzuki's. Source: Getty

Fixing these issues comes with a major challenge, it puts established power at risk, but humankind has shown in the past that it can rapidly develop technologies when the will is there, such as during World War II and the space race.

"We've got to beat climate change, because if we don't, the alternative is horrifying," he said.

"We've got no choice."
Drive that sent man to moon must be embraced to beat climate change

As many countries around the world put their post Covid-19 economic recovery plans in place, Dr Suzuki wants people to remember that life before the pandemic was not "normal days".

If we go back to business as ususal, Dr Suzuki believes our society’s short existence on this planet will have little to show for itself.

“They say, if in the future geologists or palaeontologists start looking at the layer record to see the Anthropocene, the period that we’re in now, the primary things they would find in that very thin layer of our time would be plastic, radioactive isotopes, cement and chicken bones,” he said.

“The legacy of our civilisation.”

Grassy Narrows First Nation asserts sovereignty to pass Anishinaabe law on alcohol use


Wed., May 5, 2021

Sgt. Joe Gervais, centre, the detachment commander for Treaty Three Police Service in Grassy Narrows, and two staff at the checkpoint outside the Ontario First Nation monitor how much alcohol individuals are bringing into the community. (Submitted by Sgt. Joe Gervais - image credit

A traditional Anishinaabe law on alcohol possession came into effect this week in Grassy Narrows in northwestern Ontario, a clear departure from provisions under the federal Indian Act that prohibit alcohol on First Nations across Canada.

The move asserts the inherent jurisdiction and sovereignty of Grassy Narrows, a Treaty 3 First Nation about 90 kilometres north of Kenora, and will help the community address the social problems caused by alcohol, according to Chief Randy Fobister.

"Before settlers came to this part of the world, the land, the country, there was a justice system already in place and laws that were practised, and used and had consequences. We need to go back to those roots and give them a chance to flourish."

The new law, Alcohol Inagonigaawin, combines a mainstream and traditional justice process to deal with people who bring excessive amounts of alcohol onto the First Nation, and will be enforced by the Treaty Three Police Service (T3PS).

Chief Randy Fobister of Grassy Narrows says the traditional Anishinaabe law governing alcohol possession that came into effect this week will provide 'a pathway for the First Nation to address the social problems caused by alcohol.'FreeGrassy.net

Drafted by Grassy Narrows leadership, the law was unanimously supported by a council of elders. A community feast was held April 29 to bring it into effect, in accordance with Anishinaabeg protocols.

T3PS Chief Kai Liu said he believes "this may be the first time an inherent Anishinaabe law is enforced by a police service in Ontario."

Several leaders and lawyers hope the law will serve as a model for other First Nations in the region, to revitalize traditional laws and address the challenges of enforcing band council bylaws created under the Indian Act.

Law's focus is on community health

Fobister said the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the social problems caused by alcohol, prompting the First Nation band council to pass its own law.

"Excessive drinking is a grave threat during the pandemic. Drinking parties are the primary cause for the spread of COVID-19 in our community," he said in a news release.

Under the Alcohol Inagonigaawin, alcohol possession is limited to one of these amounts:


750 millilitres of wine.


A 12-pack of beer.


26 ounces of liquor spirits.

Anyone found with excessive amounts could be charged by T3PS officers and given two options.

Chief Kai Liu of the Treaty Three Police Service says enforcement of the Alcohol Inagonigaawin is different from the mainstream approach of an officer simply issuing a ticket and moving on to the next call.(Submitted by Kai Liu)More

Fobister said the preferred option would be for the individual to go before a community justice panel, and a circle would be held before it issues a ruling.

"It could be a fine, writing an apology letter, maybe having to do research on the negative aspects of alcohol and why it brought them there," he said. "Those are the next steps we need to fine tune."

Liu added, "This is very much from a health perspective of supporting that individual and helping them come back from their dependency on alcohol."

The second option would be to treat the charge like a criminal offence — with a private prosecutor in the Ontario Court of Justice, where a justice of the peace who recognizes traditional Anishinaabe law would hear the case.

Enforcing alcohol regulations a treaty promise

The Alcohol Inagonigaawin puts Grassy Narrows in the driver's seat in terms of how it will regulate alcohol possession, moving forward on a treaty promise and steering away from Indian Act provisions.

The Treaty Three Police Service, which serves 23 First Nations across the 142,000 square kilometres of Grand Council Treaty 3 territory, says it supports the sovereignty and inherent rights of First Nations to self-govern.(Treaty Three Police Services)More

As part of negotiations that led to the Treaty 3 signing in 1873, a government representative promised First Nations leaders that alcohol would be prohibited throughout the 55,000 square miles [142,000 square kilometres] covered under the agreement, according to a treaty research report.

Two years later, Chief Charles Pierrot of Grassy Narrows met with government negotiator Alexander Morris to complain about the implementation of Treaty 3, including that alcohol continued to be found in the territory.

According to the treaty research report, Morris acknowledged the government had not hired constables to enforce the alcohol law.

Today, regulating alcohol use remains a problem faced by First Nations, says Sara Mainville, a partner at Otlhuis Kleer Townshend (OKT) Law, and a member and former chief of Couchiching First Nation.

Section 85 of the Indian Act outlines the kind of alcohol and sales laws First Nations can create, but a majority of a band's membership must agree to any bylaws during a special meeting.

Sara Mainville, with the Otlhuis Kleer Townshend law firm, says the Canadian government must provide funding to police services and First Nations to support the implementation and enforcement of inherent Anishinaabe laws.(CBC)More

Even if a First Nation passes a bylaw, said Mainville, the resources needed for enforcement are scarce.

T3PS and other police services in Indigenous communities — like the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service [NAPS] — are "under-resourced," she said.

The NAPS, which serves 34 First Nations across northern Ontario, and the Lac Seul First Nations Police Services confirmed they can't always enforce band bylaws because of limited resources.

In a statement, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said while it can enforce band bylaws, it must "determine whether there are any reasons or legal barriers that could inhibit the ability of police to do so."

Enforcing law properly 'a sign' of reconciliation

Mainville said the Alcohol Inagonigaawin is significant because Grassy Narrows created the law based on its own inherent sovereignty, as opposed to the Indian Act. As well, it laid the groundwork to have it recognized by a police service and the court system, and put the necessary resources in place to enforce it.

"We talk about reconciliation, and seeing inherent jurisdiction being properly put in place and enforced in Canada is really a sign of that reconciliation," she said.

"But I doubt that other police forces have those resources in place, and I think Canada should really look at that enforceability of inherent jurisdiction."

These types of practical issues must be addressed if Canada is serious about implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, emphasized Mainville.

MONTANA ALBERTA BLACKFEET TRIBES
US tribe shares vaccine with relatives, neighbours in Canada

Wed., May 5, 2021,



BABB, Mont. — On a cloudy spring day, hundreds lined up in their cars on the Canadian side of the border crossing that separates Alberta and Montana. They had driven for hours and camped out in their vehicles in hopes of receiving the season’s hottest commodity — a COVID-19 vaccine — from a Native American tribe that was giving out its excess doses.

The Blackfeet tribe in northern Montana provided about 1,000 surplus vaccines last month to its First Nations relatives and others from across the border, in an illustration of the disparity in speed at which the United States and Canada are distributing doses. While more than 30% of adults in the U.S. are fully vaccinated, in Canada that figure is about 3%.

Among those who received the vaccine at the Piegan-Carway border crossing were Sherry Cross Child and Shane Little Bear, of Stand Off, about 30 miles (50 kilometres ) north of the border.

They recited a prayer in the Blackfoot language before nurses began administering shots, with Chief Mountain — sacred to the Blackfoot people — rising in the distance. The prayer was dedicated to people seeking refuge from the virus, Cross Child said.

Cross Child and her husband have family and friends in Montana but have not been able to visit them since the border closed last spring to all but essential travel.

“It’s been stressful because we had some deaths in the family, and they couldn’t come,” she said. “Just for the support – they rely on us, and we rely on them. It’s been tough.”

More than 95% of the Blackfeet reservation's roughly 10,000 residents who are eligible for the vaccine are fully immunized, after the state prioritized Native American communities — among the most vulnerable U.S. populations — in the early stages of its vaccination campaign.

The tribe received vaccine allotments both from the Montana health department and the federal Indian Health Service, leaving some doses unused. With an expiration date fast approaching, it turned to other nations in the Blackfoot Confederacy, which includes the Blackfeet and three tribes in southern Alberta that share a language and culture.

“The idea was to get to our brothers and sisters that live in Canada,” said Robert DesRosier, emergency services manager for the Blackfeet tribe. “And then the question came up – what if a nontribal member wants a vaccine? Well, this is about saving lives. We’re not going to turn anybody away.”

The tribe distributed the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines over four days in late April at the remote Piegan Port of Entry, amid a backdrop of rolling grasslands to the east and Glacier National Park's snow-covered peaks to the west.

As news of the effort spread in Canada, first by word of mouth, then through social platforms and media reports, people travelled from farther away. Some drove five hours from the city of Edmonton.

The effort was particularly timely as Alberta sees a surge in new cases of the respiratory virus, with a caseload record reached this month.

Bonnie Healy, Blackfoot Confederacy health administrator, said she was glad the vaccination effort reached both First Nations and other communities in the province.

“We have family members that live in those areas,” she said. “If we can get these places safe, then it’s safe for our children to go to school there. It’s safe for our elders to go shopping in their stores.”

Canadians who got the vaccines were not allowed to linger in the U.S. They returned home with letters from health officials exempting them from the mandatory 14-day quarantine imposed on all those entering the country.

The tribe’s initiative is one of a few partnerships that have cropped up between communities in the U.S. and Canada, where residents might otherwise have to wait weeks or months for a shot.

Canada has lagged in vaccinating its population because it lacks the ability to manufacture the vaccine and like many countries has had to rely on the global supply chain for the lifesaving shots. Although Canada’s economy is tightly interconnected with the U.S., Washington hasn’t allowed the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses made in America to be exported until very recently, and Canada has had to turn to Europe and Asia.

But vaccinations have ramped up in recent months, and the Canadian government expects to receive at least 10 million vaccines this month and millions more in June. First Nations have been prioritized from the start.

In the meantime, Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has offered COVID-19 vaccines to residents of Stewart, British Columbia, with hopes it could lead the Canadian government to ease restrictions between that town and the Alaska border community of Hyder, a couple of miles away. In North Dakota, Gov. Doug Burgum and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister unveiled a plan last month to administer vaccinations to Manitoba-based truck drivers transporting goods to and from the U.S.

On the Montana side of the border, vaccine recipients were often emotional, shedding tears, shouting words of gratitude through car windows as they drove away, and handing the nurses gifts such as chocolate and clothing. Some shared stories about what the vaccine meant to them – the possibility of safely caring for vulnerable loved ones, reuniting with grandparents or travelling again.

Recipients included 17-year-olds who are low on the country’s priority list and parents who camped out with their young children in the backseat.

Maxwell Stein, 25, who plays the horn with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, arrived at the border crossing at 6 p.m. Wednesday and spent the night in his car, finally reaching the front of the line around 10 a.m. Thursday.

“It wasn’t awesome, but you do what you need to to get a vaccine,” he said. He predicted that if he had waited in Canada, he’d likely get his first dose sometime in late June, and it would be months before he would be fully vaccinated.

The Canadian government has recommended extending the interval between the two doses of the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines from around three weeks to four months, with the goal of quickly inoculating more people amid the shortage. Some who attended the Blackfeet clinics had already gotten their first shot in Canada. More than 34% of Canada’s population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, but around 3% have received both doses recommended by the drug manufacturers to reach full immunity. Canadian officials say partial immunity is better than none.

“With vaccines, I think it’s really important to get the correct dosage in the right time period, so your body builds up the full resistance,” Stein said.

When Stein heard about the vaccine clinic on the border, he didn’t hesitate about the long drive, particularly as a professional musician who has a lot of free time with many concerts cancelled .

“Really, I have no excuse. If I had to drive 10 hours to get the Pfizer or Moderna, I probably would have done it,” he said.

___

Samuels is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Iris Samuels, The Associated Press

Young Indian Women Are Using Instagram To Tell The World How Bad Things Are


Minreet Kaur
Wed., May 5, 2021

“I am feeling anxious,” 30-year-old Mankiran Dhillon, who lives with her parents in Delhi, tells Refinery29. “Nobody was ready for this. Our country had a year to prepare and did nothing but hold huge rallies, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that we are on our own.”

The rallies Mankiran refers to are part of India’s current state elections. They’ve been allowed to go ahead (with many people attending unmasked) despite the coronavirus crisis. Some people say they’ve contributed to the second wave currently devastating the country. Medical experts have condemned it as “complacent”.

As India experiences a surge in COVID-19 cases due to the spread of a double mutant variant which appears to be more virulent, people are dying daily due to lack of oxygen supplies. Every day the number of cases is rising, with over 20 million now recorded. The country has seen more than 300,000 new cases a day for nearly two weeks straight and the death toll currently stands at 222,000. It’s the worst outbreak of coronavirus in the world. Meanwhile, hospitals are running out of oxygen. On Twitter, the BBC’s India editor, Vikas Pandley, is sharing story after story of hospitals where the supply is down to just a few hours left.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.Update your settings here to see it.

Delhi alone, where Mankiran is, reported more than 20,000 new infections and 407 deaths on Sunday last week. Mankiran has been using her Instagram to share stories about the coronavirus crisis in India as it unfolds. “COVID is on our doorstep,” she says, “I can’t step out of the house.” All of her neighbours are infected. One of them has been taken to hospital needing urgent treatment. She doesn’t know how they are.

Amid the chaos and uncertainty, social media has become a lifeline, Mankiran says. Instagram and WhatsApp have become a way of connecting with people, both those who are seeking help and those who can offer support. A support group, mainly consisting of young women like her, has been formed.

As part of that group, Mankiran has been creating daily SOS posts on her Instagram for those who are in urgent need of a bed, oxygen supply or medicine. This will tag in reliable sources and help the reach to go further. A shareable spreadsheet of contacts and resources has also been created. All the resources are verified first as there are some scams developing where oxygen cylinder prices are being tripled by those looking to cash in on the crisis.

It is heartening for me, a British Indian journalist based in the UK but with family living in Delhi, to see Mankiran’s efforts. But I can’t help feeling anxious. I am scared to click on the next news story, worried of the horror of how many deaths there will be when I refresh the page. I’ve stopped sleeping: phone calls with family members combined with the images I am being WhatsApped are making it impossible to switch off. Because of what I know happened in the UK last year, I fear that the situation will get worse before it gets better.

“The mental impact that this will leave on our generation is immeasurable,” Mankiran tells me when I share my own feelings. “I know of kids who are barely teenagers and have lost both their parents. They should be enjoying college, spending time with friends and thinking about their futures. But they are dealing with a crisis that nobody in the world prepared them for.”

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.Update your settings here to see it.

For me, the pain of witnessing what is happening in India is one thing. But the pain of feeling that the rest of the world – particularly the UK with its huge vaccination programme, which you could argue is hoarding supplies – has turned a blind eye is heartbreaking. The ease with which some people in Britain look the other way is particularly sad when I consider the colonial connection between my two countries. The British Raj was the direct rule of India by the British Crown from 1858 to 1947. Sometimes I feel like people pick and choose which bits of history to remember. It’s heartbreaking and I feel the pain of the people in India.

When I talk to my family, they echo Mankiran’s words. “COVID is on our doorstep,” they say repeatedly. It has impressed upon me that, even though the UK government’s response to COVID was far from optimum, we are lucky to have a trustworthy healthcare system and that we are (hopefully) nearly through the worst of the pandemic. India has not even reached the peak of this second wave yet.

This second wave seems to have caught India off guard. But based on what other countries have experienced, surely it wasn’t a surprise? That’s why India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing calls to resign. There is a petition and a hashtag has been doing the rounds on Facebook. Modi is a controversial figure. Last week, his government ordered US social media companies to block posts criticising their handling of the COVID-19 surge. These allegations of censorship in the world’s largest democracy are serious. Government officials, however, have responded by saying that people are using social media to create panic in Indian society.

When we speak on the phone or over WhatsApp, my own family tells me repeatedly that “this mess was avoidable”. They want to know why the government didn’t prepare for a second wave or put the country into lockdown. They feel that Modi’s government has been more focused on winning elections at all costs and that COVID was not taken seriously by the leader of the country.

Like Mankiran, 24-year-old Dimple Purohit, a former investment banker from Bangalore, is trying to do what she can through her Instagram.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.Update your settings here to see it.

Dimple is creating posts about the sociopolitical aspect of India’s current crisis. She wants to cut through the noise and disinformation and she feels the world needs to know about what’s going on. “I am posting on my Instagram all day every day with updates,” she tells Refinery29. “I know there is a lot of false information so I want to help by giving as much accurate information as I can.”

Since the second wave hit India, Dimple has been working on finding, verifying and amplifying the available resources. She says that social media is a way of connecting people who are in need across different states and cities in the country.

“This should have been the government’s responsibility,” she sighs. “There is also a lot of chaos and to help reduce this, I have been helping different organisations and groups that are created for COVID relief with as many volunteers as they need. This includes everything from raising funds to running ambulance services. I’ve also been coming up with strategies to better organise and streamline the process of helping people.”

“We know that the government isn’t coming to save us,” she adds. “We cannot blindly keep up the hopes even after losing countless lives, so the citizens and volunteers are creating a better system for ourselves.”

TikTok is currently banned in India. That’s why Mankiran and Dimple are using Instagram.

Due to the rising death toll, there are huge queues and a waiting time of at least 24 hours outside crematoriums. Dimple explains: “Everywhere you turn, there are mass cremations happening. We can smell death in the air we’re breathing. The official numbers do not even begin to do justice to the real number of people losing their lives. People are literally begging for oxygen.”

Dimple cannot get over the fact that these deaths were avoidable. “We were not prepared,” she told me. “There was one whole year and the government didn’t think it was important enough to prepare for something this big. At a time when you expect the government’s focus to be on directing all resources to saving its people, its focus was party politics. At a time when people were dying in large numbers, it not only allowed but promoted these huge, super-spreader religious gatherings. And they still aren’t doing anything to prevent all these deaths.”

When it comes to attempts to censor what Indian people have to say on social media, Dimple says: “I think the common emotion that we all are feeling is of being helpless, silenced, suffocated.” She adds that some people are scared to post anything online, even if it’s just asking for help.

This is a rational fear. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is governed by Modi’s ruling BJP party, anyone who puts out an SOS or “help” call for oxygen has been told that they could face criminal charges and even jail. Such calls, the state’s leaders have said, are “rumours” and “propaganda”. Only last week, a man was arrested for putting out what police officers said was a “false tweet” SOS call because his grandfather was dying. Critics say the move reflects a general erosion of civil liberties and freedom of speech in India which has occurred over the past few years.

“The fact that the government isn’t helping is enraging enough in itself,” Dimple tells me, “but the added social media censorship means that people are being kept from helping one another. The government still wants to paint a happy picture at an international level and will go to any length to keep their people in distress if the truth risks ruining that.”

Young women like Dimple and Mankiran are leading support. They won’t let the government off the hook or allow the world to look away. Twenty-eight-year-old Rasna Bhasin, a brand consultant and content creator from New Delhi, has stopped using her Instagram page to promote her work and made it into a COVID support page. She has 94.1k followers.

This content is not available due to your privacy preferences.Update your settings here to see it.

Rasna’s focus is helping people to find affordable and reliable oxygen. “I am supporting those in different states of India where it is extremely bad,” she told Refinery29. “People are standing in queues. People are standing in queues trying to get oxygen which is being marketed illegally and it’s now more expensive than any other commodity.”

“It started with four of us friends,” she explains, “then it was 10 and now there are 18 of us all helping to find oxygen for hospitals. We find leads and verify them to make sure they are legitimate before posting about them.”

India’s health systems are stretched to their limit, collapsing before our eyes. The entire country is suffering.

“It’s heart-wrenching to see so many losing their loved ones to COVID,” Rasna concluded. “As a Sikh, I believe selfless service can help and I believe this virus can be fought. But I have also lost people to the virus, my friends have lost loved ones. It’s making me feel numb inside.”

Rasna and team have been named the Seva Sisters. This is a reference to a religious group which does outreach work to combat inequality. Working around the clock, Rasna is joining forces with people from all walks of life; they have set up a fundraiser to help source oxygen supplies and offer guides on how to manage COVID at home, how to manage an oxygen meter and how people can help from wherever they are.

I am sad about what is happening in India and that sadness is compounded by the fact that Indian people are being pressured into not speaking out about what is going on. It shouldn’t be down to individuals and charities to do the work of government but seeing young women turn their Instagrams into such a powerful resource gives me hope.

Here are some ways that you can help India as it grapples with the world’s worst coronavirus outbreak:

UNICEF is rushing urgently needed equipment like oxygen concentrators, PPE kits, hygiene supplies and diagnostic testing systems to India. Click here to donate.

The Migrant Workers Solidarity Network was established last year after several migrant workers walked hundreds of miles back home in India after the sudden lockdown. Migrant workers continue to struggle during the current lockdown and are rushing to get back home once again. Click here to donate.

The Indian Red Cross Society is accepting donations from across the world for COVID relief. Canada pledged 10 million dollars to the Indian Red Cross Society to help fight COVID in India. Apart from financial donations, you can also donate ventilators, masks, sanitiser bottles, gloves and dry ration at their state branches, if you live in India. Some state branches are also providing pick-up and drop facilities to those wishing to donate blood. Click here to donate.

UK-based nonprofit Khalsa Aid has previously helped the Yazidi community in Afghanistan, earthquake-stricken Nepal and Indian farmers during the farmers’ protests. Now they are gathering funds to supply oxygen concentrators to India. Click here to donate.

In collaboration with the SaveLife Foundation, Breathe India is raising funds for oxygen concentrators in India’s capital, New Delhi. Click here to donate.

US WAR CRIMINAL CONFESSES TO TORTURE MURDER

Eddie Gallagher says he and other Navy SEALs used a dying enemy fighter for medical practice with no intention of saving him


Ryan Pickrell

INSIDER
Wed., May 5, 2021

Navy Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was acquitted of murder on July 2, 2019. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

Eddie Gallagher said he and other SEALs practiced medical procedures on a prisoner of war.

"We killed that guy. Our intention was to kill him. Everybody was on board," he said on a podcast.


He said that what had appeared to be life-saving actions were really just live practice.


Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who was found not guilty of murder in a high-profile war-crimes trial nearly two years ago, said in a podcast that aired Tuesday that he and his team practiced various medical procedures on an enemy combatant until he died, with no intention of saving him.

Gallagher was charged with killing a severely wounded Islamic State prisoner in Iraq in 2017 by stabbing him to death, but he was acquitted in 2019. He was, however, convicted of posing for a photograph with the enemy fighter's corpse and demoted.

After the trial, President Donald Trump restored Gallagher's rank and personally intervened when the Navy attempted to take away Gallagher's SEAL trident.

Gallagher recently told Dan Taberski, host of the podcast "The Line," that "the grain of truth in the whole thing is that that ISIS fighter was killed by us and that nobody at that time had a problem with it."

"We killed that guy. Our intention was to kill him. Everybody was on board," he said.

"He was going to die regardless. We weren't taking any prisoners. That wasn't our job," Gallagher said, adding that "everyone was like, let's just do medical treatments on him until he's gone."

Gallagher in an undated photo released on May 24, 2019. Andrea Gallagher via Reuters

The former chief petty officer, who served as the senior enlisted leader of his SEAL platoon and a medic, argued that he did not stab the enemy fighter to death, as some former members of his team have alleged.

Instead, he said, "that dude died from all the medical treatments that were done, and there's plenty of medical treatments that were done to him."

Citing records, Navy Times reported in 2019 that after 20 minutes of treatment, the prisoner's body "ended up inexplicably spangled with medical devices," including a trachea tube, chest tubes, and a sternal intraosseous infusion.

During the podcast interview, Gallagher said that he cut an emergency airway in the ISIS fighter's throat and inserted a breathing tube "just for practice." He added that he "was practicing to see how fast I could do one."

"Everybody knew what was going on," Gallagher said. "That's the only truthful thing to this whole process," he continued. "And then the rest of it just is, like, a bunch of contorted lies to, like, pin that whole scenario on me."

Though his defense team did not openly argue this narrative during Gallagher's trial, the focus instead being on disproving the prosecution's narrative, it appeared in a motion filed by the defense.

The motion, obtained by Navy Times, said that when the 17-year-old ISIS fighter was brought in, "he was at or near death."

The defense argued that Gallagher had "initially attempted to save his life" but that once it was clear he could not be saved, the platoon's medic started "using the newly dead or nearly dead ISIS fighter as a training aid to practice performing medical procedures."

Gallagher's statements appear to build on that information and potentially fill in some gaps about what occurred.

Gallagher's defense attorney, Tim Parlatore, told Insider that what the former Navy SEAL described in the podcast, which he accused of some "selective editing" for the purpose of sensationalism, was "what truly happened."

He explained that assertions that Gallagher attempted to save the life of the enemy fighter, who had been critically wounded in an airstrike, referred to the initial medical assessment Gallagher conducted, not necessarily all of the latter treatments. Once it was determined that saving his life was an impossibility, the decision was made to use the fighter as a training aid.

Parlatore also argued that such practices are not uncommon, calling it beneficial training.

Gallagher walks out of military court in San Diego on July 2, 2019. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

While the American Medical Association says that "medical training sometimes involves practicing procedures on newly deceased patients," a 2002 article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine argued that "current ethical norms do not support the practice of using newly and nearly dead patients for training in invasive medical procedures absent prior consent."

Parlatore said that although such actions may be ethically questionable, practicing medical procedures on a dying person beyond saving is not illegal. He argued that the cause of death in this case was the airstrike, telling Insider that the medical procedures practiced on the fighter did not do anything to hasten his demise.

Speaking to Military.com about the podcast, Parlatore said that Gallagher's 'inartful" statements have been misinterpreted and that the Navy SEALs "did not intend to kill an unarmed prisoner using medical treatment." He added that some of the medical procedures may have even prolonged the prisoner's life.

During the trial, Parlatore argued that the case "isn't about murder" but "about mutiny." The defense argued that disgruntled members of Gallagher's platoon had seized the opportunity and made up a story about what had happened to get rid of him.

In various interviews, some of Gallagher's former platoon members described him as "toxic" and "freaking evil," with Petty Officer 1st Class Corey Scott saying, "You could tell he was perfectly OK with killing anybody that was moving."

Scott testified under immunity that while Gallagher had stabbed the young ISIS fighter, it was he who had actually killed him by covering the breathing tube and asphyxiating him as some sort of mercy killing. Questions have been raised about the veracity of these statements.

The US Navy has not responded to Insider's request for comment on Gallagher's latest remarks. When Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby was asked about Gallagher's remarks on Wednesday, he stated: "I'm not sure I'm going to dignify those comments with a response."

Read the original article on Business Insider

WW3.0

Photos of tanks and armored vehicles in the Himalayas show that China and India's next border showdown could be much deadlier

What is clear is that both sides are far more mechanized, capable, and lethal than they were in 1962.


Benjamin Brimelow
Wed., May 5, 2021,

An Indian tourist rides on a horse back at the Pangong Lake high up in Ladakh region of India, June 17, 2016. AP Photo/Manish Swarup

India and China have both invested in their armored forces since the 1962 war on their disputed border in the Himalayas.

The armor that both sides fielded during another recent period of heightened tension on that border show that a future war could be more destructive.

Two months ago, the Indian and Chinese militaries pulled back their forces stationed around Pangong Lake, on their disputed border in the western Himalaya mountains.

The pullback, described as a "disengagement" by India's Defense Ministry, was meant to be a first step to ease tensions on the disputed border - swaths of which have been heavily militarized since 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers died in a medieval-style brawl in the nearby Galwan River Valley almost a year ago.

An Indian Army photo purportedly showing Chinese troops dismantling their bunkers at Pangong Tso region, in Ladakh along the India-China border, February 15, 2021. Indian Army via AP

The Indian Army released photos, videos, and aerial images of the pullback, showing Chinese troops dismantling bunkers, removing tents, and evacuating the area.

The most interesting images, though, were the ones that showed the large number of tanks and armored vehicles. Indian media reported that China alone withdrew 200 tanks from the area.

The sheer sizes of the armored forces indicates that both sides were quite serious about their military buildups, and that the next violent incident on the border could escalate into something far more deadly.
Armor in the Himalayas

Military trucks carrying supplies toward forward areas in the Ladakh region, near Pangong Lake, September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

In general, large-scale armor deployments in mountainous and high-altitude regions are rare, especially in the Himalayas.

The low air pressure, freezing conditions, and rough terrain make operating and maintaining such vehicles difficult and often lead to losses from wear and tear or mechanical failure.

Tanks and armored vehicles have to be restarted for up to 30 minutes every two or three hours to prevent them from freezing, according to one retired Indian general.

That operational challenge is believed to have been a significant factor in both countries' decisions to pull back their armor from Pangong Tso.

Indian and Chinese army officers meet in the Pangong Lake region of Ladakh as both countries pull back front-line troops from disputed portions of their border, February 10, 2021. Indian Army via AP

"These operational issues simply cannot be ignored either by Beijing or Delhi for a variety of operational reasons that are common to both forces," a high-ranking Indian Army officer told The Wire.

That is also the reason armor - and aircraft, for that matter - played a very limited role in the month-long war India and China fought in the region in 1962. During that war, India airlifted six AMX-13 light tanks to an area just south of Pangong Tso, but the feat was extremely difficult, and there were no large-scale tank battles.

The 1962 war itself was an embarrassment for India, which had over 8,000 soldiers killed, wounded, captured, or missing and lost the territory Aksai Chin to China. China lost 722 soldiers killed and 1,697 wounded.
Modern tank forces

India's Arjun Mark II main battle tank during a demonstration on a beach on the coast south of Chennai, April 12, 2018. Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images

Both India and China set about building up their militaries after the 1962 war.

Today, India's tank force is made up primarily of three models. Two of them, the T-72 "Ajeya" and T-90 "Bhishma" main battle tanks (MBTs), are built in India using Russian designs. The third, the Arjun, is of Indian design.

The Russian tanks, designed to operate in the cold, make up most of India's fleet of about 4,000 tanks. The Arjun has had a troubled rollout, and only 124 are in service.

China's People's Liberation Army, or PLA, maintains a large number of legacy models from the Cold War, like the Type 59, Type 69, and Type 80/88 tanks, but China's tank force is centered on three modern models: the Type 96 and Type 99 MBTs, and the new Type 15.

While the Type 96 and Type 99 are MBTs, the Type 15 is one of the few light tanks developed this century.

China's Type 99 (ZTZ-99) tank during an event at the 2017 Army Games in Russia, July 29, 2017. Sergei Bobylev\TASS via Getty Images

The Type 96 and Type 99 weigh about 42 tons and 54 tons, respectively, and are armed with 125 mm guns, whereas the Type 15 weighs just 35 tons and has a 105 mm gun.

By comparison, India's T-72, T-90, and Arjun tanks weigh about 41 tons, 46 tons, and 68 tons, respectively. The T-72 and T-90 are armed with 125 mm guns and the Arjun with a 120 mm.

Despite being smaller and under-gunned, the Type 15 is far more capable in the mountainous terrain of the Himalayas than its Indian counterparts.

The Type 15 is just one of the PLA's numerous new weapon systems designed with mountain operations in mind, and China has shown it off in a number of live-fire drills in Tibet.

Both the PLA's Xinjiang and Tibet military commands have received Type 15s. They have also been deployed to the Sino-Indian border, as have India's T-72 and T-90s.
At the 'roof of the world'

Tanks pull back from the banks of Pangong Lake region, in Ladakh along the India-China border, February 10, 2021. Indian Army via AP

The images and a video released by the Indian military appear to indicate that the pullout around Pangong Tso was a coordinated event in which tanks were purposely shown to withdraw one at a time.

Indian T-72 and BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) can be seen on the Indian side of the border, as can a number of small fighting positions and foxholes.

The Chinese armored force that can be seen is more diverse. A few of the tanks appear to be legacy models, likely Type 80/88s. There also appear to be several modern models, most likely Type 96s or Type 99As.

Another image shows at least 12 Chinese ZBD-04 IFVs and three other armored vehicles, possibly tracked variants of the HQ-17 short-range surface-to-air-missile system, Type 09 self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery units, or a combination of both.

It's unclear if the tanks and IFVs were always deployed so close to one another or if they were only brought forward for verification during the disengagement.

What is clear is that both sides are far more mechanized, capable, and lethal than they were in 1962.

The pullback from Pangong Tso has not been followed by additional pullbacks in other contested areas, as was originally hoped. Recent reporting suggests some Indian officials may regret pulling back from a strategically important area with little to show for it.

Despite the difficult conditions in a region known as the "roof of the world," flare ups along the border are still a real possibility.

With so much heavy hardware present, future fighting in the area could be much deadlier than before.

Read the original article on Business Insi

Oldest human burial discovered in Africa sheds light on 78,000-year-old burial practices

Doyle Rice, USA TODAY 

Scientists uncovered evidence of an ancient human burial in Africa that changes what we know about social behaviors in Homo sapiens, according to a new study.

© Fernando Fueyo An artist interprets the burial of a 3-year-old child in Africa about 78,000 years ago.

The discovery offers insight into how people from 78,000 years ago treated their dead.

A child, about 3 years old, seems to have been carefully arranged in a deliberately excavated pit, then covered by sediment scooped up from the cave floor, the journal Nature reported Wednesday.

The arrangement of surviving bone fragments indicates that the body was placed on its side with legs drawn up to its chest, the study found.

These features – along with evidence that the body was rapidly covered and decomposed – indicate that the burial was intentional.

"We could infer this child ... was really put there in a specific position with a pillow under his head," said study co-author María Martinón-Torres, director at the National Research Center on Human Evolution in Burgos, Spain, CNN reported.

"This respect, this care, this tenderness – putting a child lying in an almost sleeping position: I really think it's one of most important – the earliest evidence in Africa – of humans living in the physical and the symbolic world," Martinón-Torres said in a news briefing.

The site of the burial is in modern-day Panga ya Saidi, in Kenya, north of Mombasa.

Though there are no signs of offerings or ochre, both common at more recent burial sites, the treatment given the child suggests a complex ritual that probably required the participation of many members of the child's community.

This evidence suggests that the mortuary behaviors of humans in Africa differed from those of Neanderthals and early humans in Eurasia, who commonly buried their dead in residential sites.

"As soon as we first visited Panga ya Saidi, we knew that it was special," said Nicole Boivin, principal investigator of the project and director of the department of archaeology at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany. "The site is truly one of a kind.

"Repeated seasons of excavation at Panga ya Saidi have now helped to establish it as a key type site for the East African coast, with an extraordinary 78,000-year record of early human cultural, technological and symbolic activities," she said.

In addition to providing insights into the evolution of humans in Africa, the study highlights regional diversity in the evolution of our species, Nature said.

“It’s incredibly rare that we gain access to such a snapshot of a moment in time, especially one so very ancient,” Boivin told The Guardian. “The burial takes us back to a very sad moment … one that despite the vast time separating us, we can understand as humans.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oldest human burial discovered in Africa sheds light on 78,000-year-old burial practices

Ford: It's about time male politicians in Alberta recognize the value of universal daycare

Author of the article:Catherine Ford
Publishing date:May 05, 2021 • 

Premier Jason Kenney would contribute greatly to the province's well-being if he accepts universal daycare, writes Catherine Ford. PHOTO BY CHRIS SCHWARZ/GOVERNMENT OF ALBERTA

Child care is fundamental to Canada’s economy. Such a statement of the obvious should not have to be written. But could someone please tell Alberta Premier Jason Kenney that fact?

Maybe, just maybe, a middle-aged (he’s 52) single man without children would naturally be unaware of the advantages of having licensed daycare for other people’s children. Yeah, right. (Cue the sarcasm.

He apparently wasn’t paying any attention to what has been revealed during this pandemic, that being a working mother isn’t for the faint of heart or skint of wallet. My friend, whose daughter has two children and a full-time job, says the cost of childcare in Calgary — and likely across this country with the exception of Quebec — can be more than monthly mortgage payments.

I’d have a lot more respect for any man and, in particular, for any male politician, who recognizes the importance of early childhood education and supports a universal concept. Like universal health care, it doesn’t start in kindergarten, it starts with the first words said to a baby and continues throughout childhood, just the same as health care. That’s why warehousing the very young in unlicensed and unregulated care homes is not satisfactory. At the moment, though, that’s sometimes the only choice available to working mothers.

It’s strange that experience doesn’t seem to count. I remember the on-site daycare at the Calgary Herald and what a benefit it was to employees with children. (Truth be told, it was also a boon to the rest of us whose daily jobs were lightened and heartened by the sight and sounds of small children playing outside our office windows.)

A made-in-Ottawa plan, outlined in the recent budget might not be the ideal way to start, but it would be a start. To roll out $10-a-day childcare within five years — at an estimated cost of $30 billion — will take compromise and compliance on the part of the provinces. Kenney had already dismissed what he refers to as “institutional” care, suggesting it would only serve the urban elite and unionized workplaces.

Curiously, I am assuming the premier actually supports the “institution” of schools where children are sent most weekdays during the school year, whether they wish to go or not.

Further, Kenney has already hinted he believes the federal government is leaving too many families out of the equation: “rural families, shift workers and many Indigenous people,” he said. And what about people who choose to stay home with their children, don’t they deserve equal consideration, some cash maybe? In a word: No. If you make that choice, if you can afford to live on one income, good for you. But the plan is not to provide for the well-off middle class, but to provide support for those who cannot make that decision.

Scalded cats have already weighed in on the gaps and problems. But I side with one of the Famous Five, Nellie McClung, on this: “Never explain, never retract, never apologize. Just get the thing done and let them howl.”

My interest in the subject is simple: I am an elderly woman who has never raised children, but I know the success of the adult rests on the success of childhood. I‘m a curious and vocal adult because, among other advantages, my parents sent me to the Calgary Montessori School at age four.

In other words, I have no skin in this game and neither does the premier — but the care of children should not be just a family’s decision, but the collective force of society. We can’t afford, literally, to allow marginalized and disadvantaged children to be left out and down in our economy. Their success starts with affordable, equitable childcare.

The suggestion that cash in hand so parents can spend it on whatever version of childcare they can find is beyond stupid. It reminds me of nothing less than the outrageous Alberta Prosperity program when then-premier Ralph Klein decided to waste about $1.4 billion of an estimated $8.5-billion surplus by sending out $400 cheques to every Albertan, including children. Imagine if he had decided to use that money to support universal early childhood education. But that’s not the populist’s way; that’s not the right-of-centre way. It didn’t save Klein’s job and Kenney’s popularity is heading down the same rabbit hole.

Catherine Ford is a regular columnist for the Calgary Herald.