It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Friday, August 13, 2021
Australian probe to put spotlight on sexual harassment at mining camps
Melanie Burton and Kate Lamb Thu, August 12, 2021 FILE PHOTO: A road leads to an open-cut mine in the area known as the Pilbara region located in the north-west of Western Australia
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia's mining industry is bracing for a government inquiry that is expected to shed light on sexual harassment in the country's mineral-rich west, as the sector struggles with a dire skills shortage and low female representation.
Conditions at Western Australia's mining camps have worsened sexual harassment, critics say, and the issue has prompted the industry to take a stand against a culture they say has to change.
Major miners including BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are among those expected to make submissions to the state government inquiry, which will make recommendations to West Australia's parliament in April 2022. Submissions close on Friday and become public next week.
Workers typically live at isolated "fly-in, fly-out" (FIFO) camps for a fortnight at a time in Western Australia's mining belt, the source of much of the country's economic prosperity.
Women make up roughly one in five FIFO workers and critics say recreation facilities have become hubs for drinking alcohol and created poor camp cultures that miners need to address.
"There are certain geographic and other issues that make FIFO camps a particular high risk area - part of that is the demographics that are on site," said Owen Whittle, a spokesperson for UnionsWA, which represents 30 workers groups and will make a submission to the inquiry.
Whittle says miners and contractors need to invest in site facilities and health and safety practices, particularly at smaller camps. He said sexual harassment needs to be seen as a systemic issue, rather than a series of unrelated incidents for the police to deal with.
"Often these (smaller) camps are poorly managed, the facilities are very poor. You might have little more than a wet mess and a rundown gym in terms of recreation facilities on site," he said, referring to mess facilities that serve alcohol.
"We need to put a duty on the camp operators and the miners and all the resource companies to...prevent harm in these workplaces."
In a 2020 report, the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into sexual harassment found that 74% of women in the mining industry had experienced some form of sexual harassment in the past five years, partly due to the gender imbalance.
CULTURAL ISSUES
A young woman formerly employed at one of Australia’s largest mining companies told Reuters that while her team was "welcoming, sensitive and conscious," that attitude was not always replicated underground.
"If you are a new employee and there are already about 8-10 male miners down there, you tend to sort of accept a few things here or there that you usually wouldn't," said the woman, who declined to be named. "Like swearing, or throwing the c-word around like it's nothing."
In her experience her male colleagues were largely respectful to her but she said when there is a group of them that "culture perpetuates."
Australia's three biggest miners, BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue, did not have an immediate response to requests for further comment but have previously spoken about measures they are taking to address the issues, including efforts to increase women in their workforces.
BHP has been targeting a 50-50 gender split by 2025. The percentage of women has risen to 26.5% up from 17.6% since mid-2016.
Rio is striving to increase the representation of women by 2 percentage points each year. It rose by 0.9% to 21.0% in the first half, hiring 1,270 women, 32% of all hires. It has also launched an initiative to address sexual harassment and help it retain women.
"As an industry, we must and can do more to ensure we have a diverse workforce that is reflective of our community and foster a workplace culture that truly embraces diversity and inclusiveness," Elizabeth Gaines, Fortescue Chief Executive, said last week.
At the mining industry's biggest annual conference in the outback town of Kalgoorlie last week, Gaines noted she had improved the event's gender diversity: women made up four out of 56 speakers, up from the three last year.
"It is clear that the industry still has some work to do in this regard," she said at the conference.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; Editing by Sam Holmes)
DeSantis’ Collateral Damage? Floridians and Conservatism Matt Lewis Fri, August 13, 2021 Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
Just as the GOP abandoned years of conservative dogma to become the party of porn, Putin, and protectionism, so too has its respect for local authority—once understood to be a foundational principle—become situational.
Take Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order banning local mask requirements and threatening to withhold the salaries of superintendents and school board members following the CDC’s new Delta variant guidance.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has similarly banned local mask mandates, which may be a lot of things but is not conservative.
For a proper explanation of how this flies in the face of conservatism, you only have to go back a few years ago, when then-Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan explained that “the [Catholic] principle of subsidiarity, which is really federalism” says the “government closest to the people governs best.” Ryan went on to say that this is how we can “advance the common good”—a term which has since been co-opted by the illiberal right to make the exact opposite argument—“by not having big government crowd out civic society, but by having enough space in our communities so that we can interact with each other, and take care of people who are down and out in our communities.”
First, there is the “knowledge problem” that economist F.A. Hayek warned about. Central planners, he argued, can’t possibly know everything, and the arrogant assumption that they do is a “fatal conceit.” What is more, by imposing one-size-fits-all solutions, central planners deprive us of diversity and experimentation.
There is an argument that a real free market would simply let individuals decide for themselves whether to wear a mask. But that argument doesn’t translate well when you add in a contagious virus that impacts other individuals, including children—the “live and let live” formulation we apply to other circumstances doesn’t fit when “live and let die” may be the closer analogy.
Let’s be honest, the stakes are high. While it is clear that children are less susceptible to COVID than adults, we are seeing numerous reports of kids getting sick and even dying from it. According to The Atlantic, “as the hypertransmissible Delta variant hammers the United States, the greatest hardships are being taken on by the unvaccinated, a population that includes some 50 million children younger than age 12.” It’s too soon to know whether the Delta variant is making kids sicker than other variants, but it’s understandable why some communities want to err on the side of caution.
What we are left with is a prudential public policy decision: what level of government should be making that call?
Second, humans inherently trust their friends and neighbors more than distant bureaucrats. “To be attached to the subdivision, to love the little platoon we belong to in society, is the first principle (the germ as it were) of public affections,” wrote Edmund Burke, who many consider to be the founder of conservatism. “It is the first link in the series by which we proceed towards a love to our country, and to mankind.”
If members of this first link believe wearing masks is the right thing to do to keep their children safe and alive, then who is DeSantis to tell them otherwise? Can someone 500 miles away in Tallahassee realistically decide what’s best for kids and parents in Miami? Why not allow diverse community leaders who live in the community to exercise autonomy and err on the side of safety?
To be sure, automatic deference to local rule runs into problems when that local government is discriminatory, reactionary, xenophobic, oppressive or corrupt. But requiring masks isn’t the same as Jim Crow, no matter what Marjorie Taylor Greene might say. Although there is much hand-wringing about the physical and psychological toll of wearing masks, the potential downside of allowing local authorities to mandate wearing them is discomfort; the potential downside of DeSantis’ order is sickness, an overloaded medical system and needless deaths.
As Republicans abandon conservative principles—that private businesses can make their own decisions and that a deference to local control is generally prudent—the question may be what lines are left to be crossed. In eschewing localism and conservatism, DeSantis is embracing populism.
DeSantis is a smart politician who’s transparently doing this to advance his own political career. He knows which way the wind is blowing in the GOP and he recognizes that masks have become a culture-war symbol—thus his attempt to double down on his anti-mask, tough-guy image. The only danger is that his bullying nature leaves conservatism, and Floridians, as collateral damage.
US Native American population jumps to largest size in modern history, census shows
Russell Contreras Fri, August 13, 2021,
The number of people who identify as Native American or Alaska Native alone grew by 27.1% to 3.7 million people over the last decade, according to the U.S. Census.
Why it matter: The spike in the number of people who solely identify as Native American or Alaska Native mirrors the steady rise of the population since 1890, when Indigenous people were nearly wiped out in the U.S.
The Native American population was reduced to fewer than 250,000 people before the 20th century, following decades of mass extermination, forced boarding schools and land theft.
But years of resistance and legal battles over tribal sovereignty and civil rights have allowed Indigenous populations to rebound to their largest size in modern U.S. history.
An additional 5.9 million people identified as Native American and Alaska Native and another race group in 2020, such as white or Black American.
Together, the Native American and Alaska Native alone or in-combination population comprised 9.7 million people in 2020. The combination population grew by 160% since 2010.
What they're saying: "The numbers really do reflect the diversity that we're seeing today in the real world and in Indian Country. So we're very pleased with it," said Yvette Roubideaux, a member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and vice president for research and director of the policy research center at the National Congress of American Indians.
"But again, we think it may also be an undercount, due to the privacy measures and other challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic."
Details: At 15.2% (111,575 people), Alaska had the largest percentage of its population identifying as solely Native American or Alaska Native.
New Mexico was second, with 10% of its population (212,241 people) identifying as solely Native American.
California has the largest population in total numbers, with 631,061 Indigenous people.
Yes, but: Tribal communities and Native Americans are spread out throughout congressional districts, making it difficult for Indigenous people to gain political power by electing Native Americans to Congress.
New voting restrictions in states like Arizona also could make it more difficult for Navajo Nation members to vote, diluting their power even more.
The Republican-dominated Kansas Legislature is poised to redraw a district currently held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation and one of two Native American women in Congress, that would oust her from office.
The Democratic-led New Mexico redistricting body could also redraw the district held by Republican U.S. Rep. Yvette Herrell, a member of the Cherokee Nation, that could also boot her from Congress.
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Don’t call us traitors: descendants of Cortés’s allies defend role in toppling Aztec empire
David Agren in Tlaxcala Fri, August 13, 2021
When people from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala travel to other parts of the country, they are sometimes insulted as traitors by their compatriots.
Tlaxcala is Mexico’s smallest state in size, but it played an outsized role in Mexico’s early history, not least when indigenous Tlaxcalans allied with Hernán Cortés’ tiny band of invaders to bring down the Aztec empire.
Now, as Mexico marks the 500th anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán on Friday, the role of the Tlaxcalans in the conquest is being reconsidered.
Many historians argue that without the participation of the Tlaxcalans and other indigenous soldiers, Tenochtitlán might never have fallen to the Spanish.
Tlaxcalans allied with Hernán Cortés to bring down the Aztec empire in 1520. Photograph: Unknown/Corbis
They are also revising the accusation of treachery, arguing that Tlaxcalans and other city states were in fact fighting a war of liberation against the oppressive Mexica (as the Aztecs were known).
“It wasn’t 600 to 800 Spaniards who conquered [Tenochtitlán]. It was thousands and thousands of Tlaxcalans, Huejotzingas or other peoples, who were under the Mexica yoke and wanted to liberate themselves,” archaeologist Eduardo Matos Moctezuma told Radio Formula.
“Cortés had 30,000 to 40,000 Mesoamericans fighting with him,” said Aurelio López Corral, an archaeologist in Tlaxcala. “He couldn’t have done it on his own.”
The conquest is a singular event in Mexican history, seen both as a moment of national trauma and the founding act of the nation – and it remains deeply controversial.
Events to mark the anniversary have been met with tepid enthusiasm, as Mexico struggles with the coronavirus pandemic. A towering replica of the Templo Mayor – the Aztec civilization’s most sacred site – is being erected in Mexico City’s central Zócalo plaza.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has called on the Spanish Crown and the Vatican to apologize for their roles in the “so-called conquest”. Spain declined; Pope Francis apologized while visiting Bolivia in 2015.
In Tlaxcala, however, his role in the fall of the Aztec empire tends to be underplayed, said Yassir Zárate Méndez, who produced a documentary which challenged the official history’s treatment of Tlaxcala.
“He is not seen exactly as a villain, unlike in other places, but as someone who played a complicated role in history,” he said. “Cortés goes somewhat unnoticed and remains below the level of local figures.”
Those include Xicohténcatl the Younger, a Tlaxcalan prince who vehemently opposed aligning with the Spanish, and remains fondly remembered in the state.
At the time of the conquest, Tlaxcalans shared a cosmovision with the Mexica and spoke the same language – Nahuátl.
Mexico City prepares for the anniversary of the fall of the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán. Photograph: Carlos Ramírez/EPA
But, unlike the imperial Aztecs, Tlaxcala had a more collective form of leadership, and when Cortés arrived, some in the leadership saw an opportunity to topple an old enemy, said Zárate.
The region provided soldiers for invading the island city of Tenochtitlán and allowed him to regroup after he was forced to flee an Aztec counteroffensive. Cortés reputedly built the boats used for eventually invading the Aztec capital in Tlaxcala.
“It was a question of political survival,” Zárate said. “To save yourself, you had to turn to whatever allies were necessary.”
After the fall of Tenochtitlán, the Tlaxcalans benefited handsomely from their arrangement – and Spaniards married into the local nobility. Tlaxcala received special status in the Spanish colonial period with a form of self-rule. Its residents received the right to settle other parts of the colony.
But when Mexico won independence in the 1820s, that power was lost, and an evolving national mythology focused on the fall of the Mexica, casting Tlaxcalans as traitors.
The National Institute of History and Anthropology (INAH) hosted forums in Tlaxcala in 2019 – 500 years after Cortés arrived in the state – exploring the local role in the conquest. It drew enormous interest, according to organizers.
“There’s a nagging thorn in most Tlaxcalans’ minds [about the conquest] and a sort of anger because the adjective ‘traitor’ has been so strong,” Juan de la Rosa, INAH delegate in Tlaxcala, said in a 2019 interview. “But they have the need to have arguments that explains why they’re not traitors.”
Viewpoint: Why Twitter got it wrong in Nigeria
Fri, August 13, 2021 A woman in Nigeria looking at Twitter on a mobile phone - archive shot
In our series of letters from African writers, Nigerian journalist and novelist Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani considers Twitter's power and the Nigerian government's moves to curb it. Short presentational grey line
It has been two months since the Nigerian government banned Twitter after the tech giant deleted a post by President Muhammadu Buhari for violating its rules on abusive language.
Despite the global outrage that followed, including strong words of condemnation from top foreign diplomats in the country, the government remained adamant.
However, it announced on Wednesday that it was finalising an agreement with Twitter and the ban would be lifted in a few days or weeks.
Many Nigerians were angered by the Twitter ban
Much of the comment that followed at the time focused on the ban's negative impact on freedom of speech and the economy.
Many Nigerians use the platform to amplify their grievances against the government and to reach more customers for their businesses.
But Twitter's decision to delete President Buhari's post - in which he threatened violence against a separatist movement - was ill-advised. This has also become a point of debate in other parts of the world, including India.
The US-owned, private firm appeared to be interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign African state without enough background knowledge to understand the consequences of its actions. Neo-colonialism
At the time, Twitter said the post was in violation of its rules.
The company has the right to enforce its regulations, but Mr Buhari's post was an official communication from the Nigerian president to his people, tweeted from a government account.
The same message was also broadcast on other media platforms across the country.
Is it right that a private American firm has the power to edit, without permission, the official communication of a democratically elected president of an African country? It doesn't get any more neo-colonial than that. President Muhammadu Buhari, 78, has been in office since 2015
Nigerians have the right to be aware of their leader's plans and strategies, irrespective of how reckless his choice of words might be. They have a right to know even if he is planning something as heartless as unleashing violence on them.
Similarly, Nigerians have the right to respond to him as part of the interaction between the government and its citizens.
Mr Buhari's tweet threatened violence against the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) movement, which is seeking a breakaway state in south-eastern Nigeria, home to the Igbo people.
Ipob was outlawed in 2017 - the group fought the ban in court and lost. Amplifying divisions
While many Igbos believe they have been marginalised in many ways, such as being left out of key national leadership positions, the majority do not support Ipob's desire for secession.
Neither do they like its violent rhetoric against other ethnic groups - often referred to as wild animals by Ipob leader Nnamdi Kanu, who is facing treason charges.
In February, Facebook deactivated Mr Kanu's account for its hate speech, but he remained active on Twitter.
By deleting Mr Buhari's threats, Twitter was inadvertently taking sides with Ipob, and the group's supporters wasted no time in celebrating this assumed show of solidarity.
Following the backlash from the government in June, a few of the Ipob leader's tweets were removed by Twitter. Some members of Nigeria's minority Igbo ethnic group have waged a long-running campaign for secession
Similarly thoughtless involvement by Twitter amplified the divisions that derailed Nigeria's #EndSars movement that oversaw protests against police brutality in October 2020.
Different groups were involved in planning and fundraising for the protests that began online and poured into the streets of cities across Nigeria for about two weeks.
But when Twitter verified the account of one group and not of others, it led to bitter mudslinging and the withdrawal of some groups from the movement.
The tech giant trod where even seasoned foreign diplomats and global bodies fear to go.
Many well-meaning outsiders have learned never to be too quick to meddle in the affairs of African countries, like Nigeria, where issues are often more complicated than meets the eye. They are increasingly embracing the trend of deferring responsibility to local organisations that better understand local dynamics.
Twitter's decision to set up a West Africa headquarters in Ghana is a good step in developing cultural competence.
"If it was authoritarian to ban Twitter, it was even more problematic for an American in Silicon Valley to poke their finger in the affairs of a sovereign state"", Source: Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani , Source description: Nigerian novelist, Image: Adaobi
The Nigerian government's conditions for lifting the ban include that Twitter must register its business in Nigeria and have a staff presence in the country.
Mr Buhari's administration has shown little respect for the rule of law and freedom of speech, with a number of journalists and activists locked up simply for criticising the government.
Banning Twitter completely is a barely concealed attempt by the government to stifle voices of criticism, and Nigerians have good reason to be worried.
But the power of Big Tech to make arbitrary decisions about who gets to say what, when and how, is equally troubling.
It raises questions about policing speech and censoring unpopular voices, amid the need for open public debate in a free democratic society.
If it was authoritarian for the Nigerian government to ban the use of Twitter, it was even more problematic for an American swivelling in a chair in Silicon Valley to poke their finger into the internal affairs of a sovereign African state.
UK defense secretary says that Trump's deal with the Taliban was 'rotten' and that the international community will likely 'pay the consequences'
Ryan Pickrell Fri, August 13, 2021,
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. REUTERS/Toby Melville
The UK defense secretary called Trump's deal with the Taliban "rotten."
He told Sky News that it was a "mistake" and that the international community may pay for it.
The Taliban has launched a massive offensive, seizing territory after territory in Afghanistan.
The UK defense secretary said this week that the deal between the Trump administration and the Taliban setting in motion the withdrawal of US and NATO forces from Afghanistan was "rotten," telling Sky News in a rare criticism that the international community would likely "pay the consequences."
"At the time of the Trump deal with, obviously, the Taliban, I felt that that was a mistake to have done it that way," said Ben Wallace, the UK secretary of state for defense. "That, we'll all, as an international community, probably pay the consequences of that."
"I think that deal that was done in Doha was a rotten deal," the secretary said. "It told a Taliban that wasn't winning that they were winning, and it undermined the government of Afghanistan, and now we're in this position where the Taliban have clearly the momentum across the country."
Wallace also expressed concerns Al Qaeda would return, saying that "failed states around the world lead to instability and lead to a security threat to us and our interests."
"I'm absolutely worried that failed states are breeding grounds for those type of people," he said. "Of course I'm worried. It's why I said I felt this was not the right time or decision to make, because, of course, Al Qaeda will probably come back."
In February 2020, the Trump administration negotiated a deal with the Taliban in Doha that was intended to encourage peace talks between the insurgents and the Afghan government while facilitating the withdrawal of US and NATO forces.
The Biden administration largely upheld that deal, moving forward with plans to withdraw US troops and end the two-decade war in Afghanistan, America's longest conflict.
President Joe Biden said in July that he had trust and confidence in the capability of the Afghan forces. "The likelihood there's going to be the Taliban overrunning everything and owning the whole country is highly unlikely," he said.
Taliban fighters patrol in the Afghan city of Ghazni, southwest of Kabul, on Friday.
AP Photo/Gulabuddin Amiri
The US withdrawal from Afghanistan was about 95% complete when the Taliban launched a nationwide offensive, seizing city after city. Some US intelligence assessments have suggested Afghanistan could fall in a matter of months, possibly even weeks.
A US State Department spokesperson, Ned Price, said on Wednesday that the Taliban were violating both the "letter and the spirit" of the Doha agreement, adding that rather than pursuing a "permanent and comprehensive ceasefire," all indications were that "the Taliban are instead pursuing a battlefield victory."
The US has been providing support to the Afghan forces through airstrikes, often targeting captured military equipment, but the messaging from the president and others in the Biden administration is that the Afghan government and military must take the initiative.
The US Defense Department announced on Thursday that in response to the deteriorating security situation in Afghanistan it is sending in 3,000 troops to help evacuate US civilian personnel in Kabul. An additional force of about 4,000 troops will be on standby in Kuwait.
The UK armed forces are also sending in hundreds of additional troops to support the evacuation of personnel from Afghanistan.
Former President Donald Trump said in a statement issued Thursday that he could have handled this situation better. He said that the the Taliban "understood that what they are doing now would not have been acceptable, adding that "it would have been a much different and much more successful withdrawal."
July was Earth's hottest month on record, NOAA says
Daniel Arkin
The world broke a major record last month — although it has little reason to brag about the milestone.
July was the hottest month ever recorded, according to data released Friday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — an “unenviable distinction” that could ratchet up anxiety about climate change.
“In this case, first place is the worst place to be,” NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. “July is typically the world’s warmest month of the year, but July 2021 outdid itself as the hottest July and month ever recorded.”
He said the record “adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe.”
The combined land- and ocean-surface temperature around the world was 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 60.4 degrees, according to NOAA — making July the hottest month since record-keeping started 142 years ago.
The combined temperature last month was 0.02 of a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous record logged in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020, NOAA said.
In the Northern Hemisphere, the land-surface temperature was the highest ever recorded for July — 2.77 degrees Fahrenheit above average, blasting past the previous record set in 2012.
Asia saw its hottest July on record and Europe recorded its second hottest, NOAA added.
NOAA’s news release featured a collage of photos illustrating the dire effects of climate change, including floods, heat waves, drought, hurricanes and wildfires. The announcement comes as California faces off against the Dixie Fire — the second-largest blaze in the state’s history.
The news also arrives four days after the United Nations issued an alarming report about the urgent threat of climate change.
The effects of climate change are changing the planet in ways that are “unprecedented” in thousands of years — in some cases, hundreds of thousands of years — according to the report.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called the findings a "code red for humanity," saying that the "alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable."
US Student loans: Bipartisan bankruptcy reform bill proposes alternative to forgiveness hope or lifelong debt
While some progressive Democrats continue to push the president to cancel student loan debt, there's a bipartisan effort underway to overhaul the student loan system in another way: by making bankruptcy discharges more accessible for student debtors.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) announced a new bill called the "FRESH START Through Bankruptcy Act of 2021" last week to better enable borrowers to seek a student loan discharge in bankruptcy.
"Student loan debt follows you to your grave," Durbin stated. "Our bipartisan bill finally gives student borrowers — some who were misled into taking out costly loans by predatory for-profit colleges — a chance to get back on their feet when they have no other realistic path to repay their loans."
If passed, the bill would allow federal student loans to become eligible for discharge in bankruptcy proceedings 10 years after the borrower's first loan payment comes due. (Borrowers with loans less than 10 years old would have to go through the current process.)
A graduate jumps in the air in the fountain at Washington Square Park on May 19, 2021 in New York. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP)
Jason Iuliano, associate professor of law at the University of Utah and an expert on student loan bankruptcy law, told Yahoo Finance that the bill's 10-year waiting period was noteworthy.
"First, it would ensure that people who have struggled to repay their student loans for at least a decade can benefit from bankruptcy’s fresh start and get their lives back on track," Iuliano said. "And second, it would ensure that the student loan credit market continues to function."
The bill also proposes to increase "institutional accountability" by making colleges that receive federal loans from more than a third of their students "partially reimburse" the Department of Education (ED) if student loans are later discharged in bankruptcy or "if the colleges had consistently high default rates and low repayment rates."
"This is an excellent proposal that would help align schools’ incentives with their students’ incentives," Iuliano explained. "Instead of engaging in an ever-increasing tuition arms race, underperforming schools would be forced to cut tuition or improve employment prospects for their students."
Roughly 45 million Americans hold more than $1.7 trillion in federally-backed student loan debt
Student loan bankruptcy discharge
Discharging student loans through bankruptcy, while difficult, is not impossible.
That said, there was an era when it was a much easier process.
"Before 1976, student loans were treated like other types of unsecured debt bankruptcy. If you were facing financial ruin, you could get relief," Durbin explained. "But then Congress got the idea that student borrowers were running to bankruptcy court, right after graduation. This notion was based on more anecdote than data. Congress started passing laws to make it harder."
Over time, the bankruptcy code became more restrictive for all student debtors.
In most personal bankruptcy cases involving student debt, a judge now applies the Brunner test — a three-pronged test applied to student loan borrowers who filed adversary proceedings seeking to discharge educational debt — to determine if specific student loans caused a borrower to suffer undue hardship.
Source: Duke Law Journal/DECEMBER 2020/ "THE STUDENT LOAN BANKRUPTCY GAP" by JASON IULIANO
"Starting with the 1987 case called Brunner, courts have interpreted the phrase to set an impossibly high bar for relief," Durbin said. "To pass the Brunner test of undue hardship, you have to convince a bankruptcy judge that it’s hopeless that you’d ever repay, while the Department of Education or its guaranty agencies are on the other side arguing against you."
While Durbin went on to stress that "proving undue hardship is nearly impossible," Iuliano disagreed.
The impossibility of proving undue hardship specifically "is not the case," Iuliano said. Based on his research of bankruptcy cases, an estimated "60% of people who attempt to discharge their student loans in bankruptcy are successful."
"While I don't support cancellation of all student debt... I can't think of very many good reasons to keep students with massive amounts of debts as lifelong serfs of banks and lifelong serfs of universities by not allowing them to discharge a bankruptcy of their debt under appropriate circumstances," Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said during the hearing, adding that the bipartisan bill was "a very sensible approach."
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), a leading proponent of student loan cancellation, previously told Yahoo Finance that the U.S. bankruptcy system is "fundamentally wrong" on student debt discharges.
"I’ve been introducing student loan bankruptcy [bills] for a long time," Durbin said during the hearing. "This is the first time it’s been bipartisan. With this bill, we see a growing bipartisan consensus that the status quo isn’t working, and that we need student loan bankruptcy reform
One appealing aspect of the bill, according to Iuliano, is that the legislation addresses the fundamental issue of tuition inflation by making schools reimburse the federal government when students discharge their loans via bankruptcy.
"Schools are... selling a product for a price, and that price needs to match what these students get out of it," said Cornyn, one of the co-sponsors. "That's why the second part of the [bill] creates a limited risk-sharing framework for schools but enough students default on their loans, and fail to continue to repay them."
Coryn added that some schools have "taken advantage of the American taxpayer for too long, and the students are the ones harmed by their excess, so I'm glad to see this bill introduced today."
—
Pelosi's softness on canceling student debt has 80 progressive organizations 'disappointed'
Ayelet Sheffey Thu, August 12, 2021 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer speak outside the White House on January 9. AP Photo/Susan Walsh
Nancy Pelosi recently said Biden does not have the authority to cancel $50,000 in student debt.
80 organizations responded to her comments in a letter explaining why Biden does have that authority.
Pelosi's comments contrasted Schumer's views, who has been a leader in urging debt cancellation.
Last month, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi broke with many of her Democratic colleagues when she told reporters that President Joe Biden does not have the power to cancel student debt.
"People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness. He does not," Pelosi said. "He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power."
In saying so, Pelosi undercut the hopes of many progressives for massive student-debt cancellation, especially Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who have made that the core of their argument that Biden should cancel $50,000 per person. Progressive organizations are angry - 80 of them, at least.
The Student Debt Crisis, which advocates for student debt cancellation, led labor unions, civil rights groups, and more in writing a letter to Pelosi pushing back on her comments. They cited the Higher Education Act as the authority Biden has to cancel student debt, adding that the authority both President Donald Trump and Biden used to extend the pause on student-loan payments during the pandemic is the same authority that can be used for widescale debt cancellation.
"In addition, we were disappointed to hear you raise broader concerns about debt cancellation," the letter said to Pelosi. "Student debt cancellation doesn't simply aid the 44 million federal student loan borrowers who would benefit from this critical relief. It also benefits their families and neighborhoods. Indeed, all of America would benefit."
The letter cited a study from the Roosevelt Institute that analyzed Warren and Chuck's Schumer's $50,000 in student-debt cancellation proposal, in which it found the cancellation would be progressive, rather than regressive, meaning low-income borrowers would benefit more.
The racial impact of student-debt cancellation would also be significant, the letter said. Insider reported in April that 36 civil rights organizations released civil-rights principles detailing the benefits that student-debt cancellation would have on Black borrowers. The organizations, including the NAACP, wrote that Black borrowers typically owe 50% more student debt than white borrowers, and four years later, Black borrowers owe 100% more.
While Pelosi initially told reporters that student debt cancellation has to be "an act of Congress," a member of her staff later clarified her comments, saying that the speaker would support Biden "using any authority he believes he has to address the crisis of student debt in our country."
Still, Pelosi's comments came as a shock given that her counterpart in the Senate, Schumer, has been a leader on student-debt cancellation efforts. The Intercept reported last week that Pelosi's comments came after a memo circulated from Democratic megadonors Steven and Mary Swig - who gave maximum contributions to Pelosi - claiming that Biden cancelling debt is illegal.
But progressives are remaining consistent with their messaging that Biden can legally cancel $50,000 in student debt immediately by signing an executive order.
"The president has the power to cancel $50,000 in student loan debt right now," Warren told previously Insider. "Sen. Schumer and I are going to continue to push for this, but Biden doesn't need any authorization from Congress. He needs to pick up the pen and do it himself."
US Workers see mixed success with lawsuits over early termination of unemployment benefits
Unemployed workers in Missouri are suing their governor for ending federal unemployment programs early, becoming part of a movement that has cropped up in ten other states where similar lawsuits have met mixed success.
Missouri Jobs with Justice — a grassroots coalition representing jobless residents — claimed that Gov. Mike Parson's decision to opt out of the programs on June 12 — three months before the federal expiration on September 6 — violated state law and caused workers financial uncertainty and distress.
“The Governor’s action directly violated Missouri law, which requires the state to cooperate with the federal government to maximize support for struggling families,” Caitlyn Adams, executive director of Missouri Jobs with Justice, said in a statement on Thursday. “Today, we seek to restore the benefits that were unjustly taken from families and to fight for an economy where all Missouri families are valued and supported
The latest lawsuit comes as lawsuits in Arkansas, Indiana, Maryland, and Oklahoma have been successful — in some cases, at least temporarily — while those in Louisiana, Ohio, and West Virginia have been denied by judges.
Last week, Oklahoma County District Judge Anthony Bonner ordered the reinstatement of the additional $300 in weekly unemployment benefits, granting a preliminary injunction until a final decision by the state’s Supreme Court is reached.
“Oklahoma shall notify the U.S. Department of Labor immediately to reinstate and administer the federal unemployment benefit programs,” Bonner wrote in a letter to attorneys, the Oklahoman reported.
A lawsuit in West Virginia is the latest to be denied. Kanawha County Circuit Judge Maryclaire Akers this week denied the request for a temporary restraining order in connection with Gov. Jim Justice's decision to terminate the federal unemployment programs early.
“I think it’s clear that injunctive relief here is not appropriate because the benefits have stopped,” Akers told the court, West Virginia MetroNews reported. “There’s no question, even from the pleadings, that your clients have been harmed here… but under the law, we have to proceed with the correct procedure.”
Sandra Presley (L) interviews for a job as a hotel front desk staff member with a human resources manager during a Zislis Group job fair at The Brew Hall on June 23, 2021 in Torrance, California. (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
In all, 26 states have cut off the extra $300 in weekly benefits before the federal expiration, while 22 have also canceled the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program for workers who don’t normally qualify for regular unemployment insurance and the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation (PEUC) program that provides extra weeks of benefits.
More than 4 million workers are affected by the cuts in those states, losing a total of $22.5 billion in potential benefits, according to estimates by the Century Foundation. Nearly 3 in 5 workers affected by the early expirations have been left with no benefits at all.
So far, lawsuits have been filed in 11 of the 26 states.
“The lawsuits that were filed by what I might call unemployment experts — people that were attorneys for the poor — those lawsuits have generally prevailed," Andrew Stettner, an unemployment insurance expert and senior fellow at the Century Foundation, previously told Yahoo Money. "Whereas the ones so far that were filed by attorneys that were just general attorneys or general employment lawyers and private practice, those have not prevailed."
Wagner: Gaddafi's son faces arrest over Russian mercenaries
Nader Ibrahim - BBC News Arabic Thu, August 12, 2021, In this article Saif al-Islam Gaddafi Engineer and politician Saif al-Islam Gaddafi
Prosecutors in Libya have issued an arrest warrant for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, over suspected ties to Russian mercenaries.
A BBC World Service investigation has revealed links between the shadowy Wagner group's activities in Libya and war crimes committed against Libyan citizens.
Russian fighters first appeared in Libya in 2019 when they joined the forces of a rebel general, Khalifa Haftar, in attacking the UN-backed government in the capital Tripoli. The conflict ended in a ceasefire in October 2020.
The Wagner group was first identified in 2014 when it was backing pro-Russian separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Since then, it has been involved in regions including Syria, Mozambique, Sudan, and the Central African Republic.
The order for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi's arrest was circulated internally to Libyan security bodies by prosecutor Mohammed Gharouda on 5 August, but was only made public after the BBC's investigation was broadcast. Who is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi?
Gaddafi has long been suspected of having connections to Russia.
Before the 2011 uprising, he was believed by some to represent the hope for gradual reform in Libya, which had been ruled by his father Muammar since 1969.
A fluent English speaker who studied at the prestigious London School of Economics, he was long seen as one of the most influential people in the country, and a likely successor to his father.
However, once anti-government protests broke out in Libya in early 2011, Gaddafi joined the state's bloody crackdown on protesters.
The rest of his family were eventually killed or fled the country. Gaddafi, meanwhile, was captured by rebels in late 2011 and taken to the city of Zintan, to the south-west of Tripoli. He was freed by the militia holding him six years later. Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, pictured after his capture in 2011, was held in Zintan for six years
During his detention, he was sentenced to death in absentia by a court in Tripoli over the killing of protesters in 2011.
He is also wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity committed during the crackdown.
Although he has not been seen in public in years, Gaddafi gave an interview to the New York Times in July, in which he spoke of his plans to return to politics.
According to sources in Tripoli, he is likely to still be hiding in Zintan. Seif and Russia
During the making of the BBC documentary into the Wagner group's operations in Libya, the BBC met Libyan intelligence officials who spoke of Gaddafi's strong links with Moscow and described him as "Russia's favourite candidate to rule Libya".
The intelligence officers had been investigating Maxim Shugaley, a Russian citizen who was arrested in Tripoli in May 2019 on charges of espionage.
He was accused of working for Yevgeny Prigozhin, a rich businessman close to President Vladimir Putin, as part of an election meddling campaign designed to establish Gaddafi as the ruler of Libya during Gen Haftar's offensive against the capital.
Mr Shugaley, and his Arabic translator who was arrested alongside him, were released in late 2020.
According to reports, Mr Shugaley had personally met Gaddafi during his time in Libya. Russia has even produced two films on Mr Shugaley's arrest, which have been published on YouTube and portray Gaddafi as "the saviour of Libya'' and Mr Shugaley as a "Russian hero".
One Libyan intelligence officer told the BBC: "If Russia had its way, we would have had Saif [al-Islam] Gaddafi giving his victory speech in Tripoli's famous Martyrs' Square." Map of Libya
Libya - a decade of turmoil
Downfall of Gaddafi in 2011: Col Muammar Gaddafi's more than four decades of rule end in an Arab Spring uprising. He tries to flee but is captured and killed
The country splinters: After 2014, major competing factions emerge in the east and west
Ceasefire in October 2020: Then in early 2021 a new unity government is chosen and sworn in, to take the nation to elections in December. Foreign fighters and mercenaries were supposed to have left, but thousands remain
ECOCIDE
A Spirit pilot and flight attendant describe flying empty planes around the country and being stranded for days last week amid the airline's meltdown: 'It was like being lost in space'
Hannah Towey Thu, August 12, 2021 An aerial view shows Spirit Airlines jets parked at McCarran International Airport Ethan Miller/Getty Images
One pilot said Spirit's cancellations came down to the airline's inadequate infrastructure.
Flight attendants were left stranded away from base for multiple days, one Spirit worker said.
Some workers reportedly drove food to airports and let stranded employees stay in their homes.
Spirit Airlines canceled over 2,000 flights last week due to a poorly timed combination of bad weather, system outages, and staffing issues.
The epic meltdown caused some pilots to fly empty planes across the country while flight attendants were left stranded for days, according to two Spirit staffers.
"If you can't track and see in the IT system where your crew members are, then how are you going to schedule to move them anywhere?" one flight attendant, who was stranded in a major Northeastern city for four days, told Insider.
"It was like being lost in space," she said.
One pilot said Spirit's operational issues came down to the airline's lack of investment in infrastructure, which he said is evidenced by staffing shortages, antiquated phone lines, and crashing computer systems.
"They're trying to run an airline of 167 airplanes on an infrastructure that was designed for 50," he said.
Both employees requested anonymity to speak freely about the situation, though their identities and employment were verified by Insider.
According to the pilot, some Spirit crew members flew more than the flight time maximum outlined within their employment contracts. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) mandates that pilots must have at least 8 hours of rest within a 24-hour period. However, most airlines have stricter policies due to union negotiations.
He said that during Spirit's irregular operations, some pilots had the option to waive those contractual limitations in order to prevent additional flight cancellations and delays.
"Most pilots I've talked to have been waiving as much as they can in order to keep flight from canceling and airplanes moving," he told Insider.
A spokesperson for the pilots' union said they can't substantiate the claim that crew members had flown beyond their contractual time maximums since they don't have access to the airline's scheduling software.
Spirit did not respond to Insider's request for comment for this article.
When crew member's flights did become canceled, many staffers became stranded in airport hotels. This was in part due to a technical crash that impacted Spirit's crew scheduling system.
The flight attendant told Insider that approximately 30 Spirit employees including herself were stranded outside of base for multiple days. One employee drove over an hour to deliver the crew food while local flight attendants opened up their homes for workers to stay the night, she said.
The pilot told Insider that when he was assigned to fly a plane to Boston, two flight attendants were missing, causing the flight to be canceled. A few minutes later, he walked by six flight attendants eating dinner in an airport restaurant who told him they were stranded with nowhere to go. They had been contacting the company all day and received little guidance on what to do next.
Then, the pilot flew the empty plane to Boston.
"From my standpoint as a human being, I walked through that gate area and I saw people there with their kids, they're leaving their beach vacation - they have sunburns and their little kids and their luggage and their strollers and their snacks," the pilot said.
"It's 10 o'clock at night and we're canceling a flight because we're missing two flight attendants. Not because the engine fell off the airplane, not because somebody got sick, but because Spirit mismanaged their staff for that flight."
Last week, Spirit CEO Ted Christie apologized for the cancellations on CNBC and said that he promises to fix the airline's staffing and scheduling issues. On Wednesday, only 1% of Spirit's flights were canceled, down from last week's high of 60%.
"There's definitely some angry people," Christie told CNBC last Thursday. "Right now, all I can say is we're very sorry for what happened."
Israel to approve West Bank settlement, Palestinian building
JOSEF FEDERMAN Wed, August 11, 2021
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's new government is set to grant its first major approval of West Bank settlement construction, but will also include a rare authorization of construction for Palestinian areas as well in the upcoming announcement, according to an Israeli security official.
The mixed messages appear to be aimed at bolstering the Palestinian Authority while also trying to blunt international opposition to Israeli settlement construction on occupied lands.
The official said that Israel next week is expected to formally authorize the construction of some 1,000 homes for Palestinians.
The bulk of those homes will be near Jenin, a city in the northern West Bank, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity pending formal approval.
The construction is to take place in “Area C,” the parts of the occupied West Bank placed under full Israeli control under past peace accords. Palestinians in those areas have long said it is virtually impossible to get construction permits from Israeli authorities.
At the same time, Israel plans to authorize construction of 2,000 new settlement homes next week, the official said.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the three areas.
The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlements illegal and obstacles to peace. Israel has also come under heavy international criticism for stifling Palestinian development in Area C.
Israel's new coalition government includes a number of hardline parties that support the settlements, and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett himself is a former leader of the settlement movement.
But Israel has come under American pressure to improve conditions for the Palestinians and to shore up the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, which administers semi-autonomous areas in the West Bank.
The announcement came as CIA Director William Burns was in Israel for talks with top officials. There was no immediate U.S. or Palestinian reaction.
Palestinian dies a week after being shot by Israeli forces
Wed, August 11, 2021,
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) — A Palestinian man succumbed Wednesday to a gunshot wound suffered during clashes with Israeli forces last week in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian health officials said.
Dia al-Din Sabarini, 25, was shot in the stomach Aug. 3 during a raid by Israeli security forces in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA reported, citing the health ministry.
Sabarini was hospitalized in critical condition and died of his wounds Wednesday. Five other Palestinians were shot by Israeli troops during the incident.
In a statement, the Israeli army said troops operating in Jenin came under attack from gunfire, explosives, firebombs and rocks before soldiers returned fire at the attackers. The military reported that no soldiers were injured, but that their armored vehicles were damaged by gunfire.
Last month, Israeli troops opened fire on a car in the southern West Bank town of Beit Ummar, killing a 12-year-old as he and his family were driving. The killing sparked two days of protests in which another Palestinian was killed in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
Two other Palestinians were shot and killed in recent weeks near the West Bank town of Beita, which has seen repeated clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinian protesters over the establishment of a nearby settlement outpost.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war and has established dozens of settlements where nearly 500,000 settlers reside. The Palestinians want the West Bank as part of their future state and view the settlements as a major obstacle to resolving the conflict.
