#ABOLISHSCOTUS

Protesters gather at Supreme Court as draft overturning Roe vs. Wade leaks

CANADA CAN EXPECT MORE AMERICAN WOMEN VISITING FOR ABORTIONS

Supporters of legal abortion gather outside the US Supreme Court on the first day of their new term in Washington, DC., on Monday, October 4, 2021. Protesters gathered outside the high court again Monday night after a leaked opinion indicated the justices would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade.

File Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

May 2 (UPI) -- Protesters gathered outside of the Supreme Court on Monday night following a report of a leaked draft opinion signaling the high court intends to overturn abortion protections ensured in Roe vs. Wade.

Demonstrators gathered outside the court chanting "abortion is healthcare" and carrying signs in opposition of the leaked opinion.

In the opinion, drafted in February and reported by Politico on Monday night, Justice Samuel Alito was joined by at least four other justices in the decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade's holding of a federal constitutional right to abortion and Planned Parenthood vs. Casey, which largely maintained that right.

"We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled," Alito writes in the document. "It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people's elected representatives."

Politico said that it obtained a copy of the draft opinion from a person familiar with the court's proceedings in Dobbs vs. Jackson, a challenge to Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban. It was not immediately clear whether changes had been made to the draft since it circulated in February, as Politico noted it was not final while adding that opinions can often undergo multiple drafts and vote changes before a decision is revealed.

The opinion in the case is not expected to be published until late June.

Dafna Linzer, Politico's executive editor, wrote in an editor's note that "after an extensive review process, we are confident of the authenticity of the draft" as Politico noted that "no draft decision in the modern history of the court has been disclosed publicly while a case was still pending."

"This unprecedented view into the justices' deliberations is plainly news of great public interest," she wrote.

SCOTUSblog, an independent blog written by lawyers, law professors and students about the high court, condemned the leak.

"It's impossible to overstate the earthquake this will cause inside the Court, in terms of the destruction of trust among the Justices and staff," the site's Twitter account wrote. "This leak is the gravest, most unforgivable sin."

Planned Parenthood President and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson called the leaked decision "horrifying and unprecedented," adding that it "confirms our worst fears" that the Supreme Court would end the constitutional right to abortion in a statement Monday.

McGill Johnson added that Planned Parenthood had been preparing for a potential move by the high court to overturn Roe vs. Wade and is "built for the fight" but asserted that abortion remains legal in the meantime.

"Planned Parenthood health centers remain open, abortion is currently still legal and we will continue to fight like hell to protect the right to access safe, legal abortion," she said.

Lila Rose, founder and president of anti-abortion group Live Action, called for even further action to ensure that "every human being's right to life is legally protected from the moment of fertilization" in a statement emailed to UPI.

"Roe has been wrongly decided since the day it was issued. It's illogical and gravely unjust," said Rose. "A decision overruling Roe would be an important step in the right direction of acknowledging and protecting our fundamental right to life, but if this decision is issued, true justice has not yet been achieved."

The leak also prompted calls to action from members of Congress on Monday night.

"Congress must pass legislation that codifies Roe vs. Wade as the law of the land in this country NOW," Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., wrote on Twitter. "And if there aren't 60 votes in the Senate to do it, and there are not, we must end the filibuster to pass it with 50 votes."

Roe vs. Wade will be overturned, purported leaked Supreme Court draft suggests

LA Times
David G. Savage - 1h ago

The Supreme Court is ready to overturn Roe vs. Wade and allow states to outlaw abortion, according to purported draft opinion that was leaked to Politico.

It is highly unusual for the high court to overturn a landmark decision and equally extraordinary, or perhaps more so, for a draft opinion to leak out in advance of its final release

The Los Angeles Times could not authenticate the purported draft. Sometimes draft rulings can be revised in the final months as justices weigh in during the writing process.

According to Politico, Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a draft in February that says the abortion ruling was “egregiously wrong” and should be overturned completely.

Such an outcome would not be a surprise. Alito and Justice Clarence Thomas have made clear for years they thought Roe should be overturned. In recent years, they have been joined by three Trump appointees who agree with them: Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

During the oral argument in December, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. focused on the Mississippi law and its 15-week limit on abortion, which is at the heart of the current discussion.

Roberts argued that the court should decide that issue and stop there. The tenor of his argument suggested the five conservatives on his right were leaning toward overturning Roe entirely.

Typically justices take a tentative vote on an issue in their private conference, and the majority then begins work on a draft opinion.

But the outcome is not set until all the justices have signed off, and it is not uncommon for the wording or votes in some cases to change in May or June.

In 2012, for example, it appeared there were five justices ready to strike down the Affordable Care Act, but the chief justice switched his vote and decided on a narrow way to uphold it.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Roe v. Wade: Supreme Court reportedly votes to repeal abortion law

A leaked draft opinion published by Politico suggests that a majority of Supreme Court justices have voted to overturn the ruling that legalized women's right to abortion in the US nearly fifty years ago.

Abortion has become a heated topic for controversy, with strong opinions 

on both sides of the spectrum

The US Supreme Court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade judgment behind closed doors, according to a draft majority opinion published by Politico news outlet.

Written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, the initial draft is his opinion and what he believes reflects the opinion of at least four other members of the top court.

It does not reflect comments or reactions from other members of the nine-member court.

In the reported draft opinion, Alito said he believes that "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start."

"It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives," the opinion reportedly adds.

What is the Roe v. Wade ruling?

Roe v. Wade is the landmark US Supreme Court judgment of 1973 that legalized women's right to abortion across the country.

It was once again upheld in a 1992 ruling, but has lately been challenged by several Republican-led state legislatures.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

rm/rt (AP, Reuters, AFP)

Roe v. Wade: 1973 case that enshrined US

 abortion rights

Mon, 2 May 2022

A US Supreme Court draft opinion leaked to the press on Monday suggests a majority of justices are ready to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade, shredding nearly 50 years of constitutional protections on abortion rights.

Here is how the original 1973 court case played out.

- Right to privacy -

On January 22, 1973, the court decided that the constitutional right to privacy applied to abortion.

Roe was "Jane Roe," a pseudonym for Norma McCorvey, a single mother pregnant for the third time, who wanted an abortion.

She sued the Dallas attorney general, Henry Wade, over a Texas law that made it a crime to terminate a pregnancy except in cases of rape or incest, or when the mother's life was in danger.

Filing a complaint alongside her was Texas doctor James Hallford, who argued the law's medical provision was vague, and that he was unable to reliably determine which of his patients fell into the allowed category.

The "Does," another couple, childless, also filed a companion complaint, saying that medical risks made it unsafe but not life-threatening for the wife to carry a pregnancy to term, and arguing they should be able to obtain a safe, legal abortion should she become pregnant.

The trifecta of complaints -- from a woman who wanted an abortion, a doctor who wanted to perform them and a non-pregnant woman who wanted the right if the need arose -- ultimately reached the nation's top court.

The court heard arguments twice, and then waited until after Republican president Richard Nixon's re-election, in November 1972.

- 'Sensitive and emotional' controversy -

Only the following January did it offer its historic seven-to-two decision -- overturning the Texas laws and setting a legal precedent that has had ramifications in all 50 states.

Justice Harry Blackmun, writing for the majority, said the court recognized the "sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires."

But he argued that the "right of privacy... is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy."

"A state criminal abortion statute of the current Texas type, that excepts from criminality only a lifesaving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to pregnancy stage and without recognition of the other interests involved, is violative of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment," the ruling read.

But the top court agreed with lower court rulings that the right to privacy with regard to pregnancy "is not absolute, and is subject to some limitations."

"At some point, the state interests as to protection of health, medical standards and prenatal life become dominant," Blackmun wrote.

The top court thus ruled partially against the doctor and the Does, but in favor of Jane Roe, who has since become a pro-life activist.

On the same day, the justices ruled in the separate "Doe v. Bolton" case, which authorized each state to add restrictions to abortion rights for later-term pregnancies.

The constitutional right to abortion was later confirmed in a number of decisions, including "Webster v. Reproductive Health Services" in 1989, "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" in 1992 and Stenberg v. Carhart" in 2000.

bur-caw/mtp

Google honors engineer, inventor Elijah McCoy with a new Doodle

Google is paying homage to Black Canadian-American engineer and inventor Elijah McCoy with a new Doodle.

 Image courtesy of Google


May 2 (UPI) -- Google is celebrating Black Canadian-American engineer and inventor Elijah McCoy, who made great strides in improving train efficiency, with a new Doodle.

Google's homepage features moving artwork of McCoy thinking with a pencil to his chin. A train also travels around him in a circle.

McCoy's parents escaped slavery in Kentucky through the Underground Railroad in 1837 and relocated to Canada. McCoy was born in Colchester, Ontario and grew up with a passion for mechanics and trains.

The inventor moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, to become a mechanical engineer apprentice. McCoy then settled in Michigan but had trouble finding a job that matched his experience in 1866 due to racial discrimination in the U.S.

McCoy joined the Michigan Central Railroad are a fireman and oiler. He later invented the oil-drip cup, which helped oil steadily flow around a train's engine without having to stop the train every few miles.

McCoy then obtained his first patent titled Improvement in Lubricators for Steam Engines. The invention was later used to revolutionize oil-drilling, mining equipment and construction and factory tools.

The engineer held 57 patents in his lifetime including patents for a lawn sprinkler and ironing board. He later started the Elijah McCoy Manufacturing Company in 1920 and made lubrication devices that featured his name.

McCoy was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame located in Akron, Ohio in 2001 and has a dedicated exhibit in the Detroit Historical Museum.

German term 'Putinversteher' goes international

The German word used to describe Putin sympathizers now has its own English Wikipedia page. But what does "Putinversteher" mean and who does it refer to?

Former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder (Social Democrats) is seen

 as one of the most prominent Putinversteher WHEN PUTIN STILL HAD HAIR

If an entry in Wikipedia is considered some marker of acknowledgement in the present day, then the world should be on the lookout for the new English-language page dedicated to the German word "Putinversteher," which translates literally to "one who understands Putin."

The term combines the name of Russia's president Vladimir Putin with the German noun "Versteher," which means "understander."

With its own English-language Wikipedia page, the word joins other German terms that have come into use in the English language over recent years.

One prominent example is "Lügenpresse," a slur popular in the Nazi era that translates roughly to "lying press," used to discredit media reports that do not align with the user's ideology. In recent years, the term made a comeback under the far-right Alternative for Germany party and by Donald Trump supporters in the US.

'Lügenpresse' is a pejorative German term which has also come into use in

 the English language in recent years

When "Versteher" is added to the end of a word in German, it's typically done to indicate a mix of irony and flattery, as a recent Economist article points out. For example, a "Frauenversteher" (Women understander) typically describes a man who boasts excessively about his relations with women.

Likewise, a "Putinversteher" is often used to describe someone who expresses empathy for Russian president Putin.

The term, which was already in use following Russia's annexation of Crimea, typically has a negative connotation — and particularly since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. 

When Russia launched its attack on Ukraine, people who could be described as "Putinversteher" — including prominent German politicians and talk show pundits — would for example point out that NATO's eastward expansion should be understood as a real threat to Russia, or would compare the invasion of Ukraine to the United States' 2003 invasion of Iraq, which was another illegal war.

It's not to say that such "Putinversteher" (which is also the plural) support the current violence; but rather, as Wikipedia puts it, their attitude towards President Putin and the way he is leading Russia might involve some sort of "Yes, but you have to understand Putin's position."

Also widespread among "Putinversteher" is a strategy widely known as "whataboutism," or deflecting criticism of Russia by pointing to different abuses committed in the West.

'Putinversteher' across the political spectrum

The sentiment can be found across the political spectrum in Germany, and particularly among populist parties — though some politicians who were labeled as "Putinversteher" following the annexation of Crimea may have since backtracked or at least stopped stating their support publicly.  

Many far-right politicians were happy to showcase their ties to Putin before the war,

 including Marine Le Pen, here in 2017

Like many of Europe's far-right political parties, members of Germany's far-right party AfD have maintained close ties with Russia in recent years. Following the invasion of Ukraine, however, the party struggled to adopt a single position.

Former co-leader of Germany's Left Party, Sahra Wagenknecht, was also renowned for trying to justify Putin's actions: "Maybe we should just take Russia seriously and respect that it has security interests," she said for instance on a talk show in February, days before the invasion of Ukraine. 

English-language writers use it

Before the term obtained its Wikipedia entry, and before Russia's current war on Ukraine, the word "Putinversteher" was already used in various English-language articles.

In a January 2021 article published on Riddle — a political analysis website that focuses on Russia — political scientist and historian Dmitiri Stratievski looked into whether Armin Laschet, who served as the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (Chancellor Merkel's center-right party), should be seen as a "Merkelian Putinversteher" for his support of Germany's reliance on Russian gas.

Paul Gregory, a professor of Economics at Houston University who has a blog on Forbes, used the term in the title of an article in April 2014: "Empathizing With The Devil: How Germany's Putin-Verstehers Shield Russia." It details how a number of top-level German politicians have sided with Russia despite its government's poor human rights record and the annexation of Crimea.

Gregory cites former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who led the country from 1998 to 2005, as one of the most "egregious Putinverstehers."

An unknown artist hung a painting of Schröder hugging Putin at Berlin's East Side Gallery on April 2

Schröder, who masterminded the Nord Stream gas pipeline project together with Putin while he was still chancellor, later became head of the supervisory board at the Russian state energy company, Rosneft.

He is considered to be a personal friend of the Russian president.

Even as Russia invaded Ukraine, Schröder refrained from making comments that could incriminate the Russian regime, so much so that all employees in his office resigned.

In mid-March, Schröder even flew to Moscow and spoke with the Russian president in person.

But as new atrocities in the war in Ukraine are reported daily — such as reports of targeted killings of citizens and mass graves in Bucha — calls to sanction Schröder himself have been growing in Germany, and the arguments typically used by "Putinversteher" have definitely lost their credibility.

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

 GERMANY

Open letter about weapons deliveries to Ukraine draws criticism

The publication of an open letter to German Chancellor Scholz signed by leading cultural figures has triggered a fierce debate about the planned delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine — especially on social media.

Journalist and feminist Alice Schwarzer was one of the first signatories of the letter to Scholz

An open letter addressed to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, initially signed by 28 German cultural figures and published on April 29 on the website of feminist magazine Emma, is fueling discussion in the country. 

In it, prominent German signatories — including feminist and journalist Alice Schwarzer, writer Juli Zeh, singer Reinhard Mey, author Alexander Kluge and actor Lars Eidinger — made an urgent appeal to the chancellor not to supply more heavy weapons to Ukraine.

Unlike previous critics who have accused Scholz of being too indecisive on the issue, the signatories of the letter praise him for having "so far considered the risks so carefully" and for having done everything possible to prevent the war in Ukraine from escalating into a third world war.

The letter was published a day after the German Parliament's decision on April 28 to deliver heavy weapons to Ukraine, a vote which was approved with a large majority.

In the run-up, pressure on the government, both from the public and the Bundestag, had increased massively.

Canisters full of ballots over vote to supply heavy weapons to Ukraine on April 28, 2022

A battle of opinion on Twitter

Since the publication of the open letter, the debate about the planned arms deliveries has been gaining momentum — particularly in social media.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Germany Andriy Melnyk directly attacked Emma editor Alice Schwarzer on Twitter, calling her "celebrated feminism" a "facade" in the face of mass rapes of Ukrainian women by Russian soldiers and accusing her of cynicism.

Alice Schwarzer reacted no less sharply to Melnyk's criticism in an interview with the daily Die Welt : "This is naked demagogy and this ambassador is harming his country," Schwarzer said. "This is not the first time that the Ukrainian ambassador has said outrageous things."

Divided over decision

The open letter has also been criticized by politicians across the party spectrum. For example, Green Party politician Peter Heilrath asked on Twitter whether the letter's supporters would also have advised the fighters in the Warsaw ghetto to give up "in order to prevent unnecessary victims."

Konstantin Kuhle, deputy chairman of the Free Democrats parliamentary group in the Bundestag, called the position of the signatories "madness" on Twitter. His party colleague Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann wrote that the only possible compromise was the "full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity."

Bundestag member Sahra Wagenknecht, on the other hand, remains true to her Left party's pacifist line and shares the opinion of the initial signatories. On Twitter, Wagenknecht describes the letter as an "important call from artists and intellectuals," adding that even though the praise for Scholz is now outdated following the parliamentary decision to supply weapons, the letter's demands to prevent a third world war are "all the more urgent."

The German population is divided on the question of whether Germany should supply heavy weapons to Ukraine: 45% are in favor and just as many are against. That was the latest finding of a representative survey conducted by infratest dimap for ARD-DeutschlandTrend.

As of mid-day on May 2, more than 155,000 people had signed the open letter, posted as a petition on change.org, the worldwide platform for online activism.

This text was originally written in German.

Trump floated shooting protesters in legs: ex-defense secretary

FOR TRUMP THERE IS ONLY THE 2ND AMENDMENT

2022/5/2 
© Agence France-Presse

Donald Trump has faced accusations -- including from his own former Pentagon chief Mark Esper -- that he sought to use excessive force to push back protesters demonstrating outside the White House in 2020 when he was president

Washington (AFP) - Donald Trump vented fury at protesters outside the White House in 2020, saying "Can't you just shoot them?" according to then defense secretary Mark Esper in book excerpts released Monday.

Esper wrote that he sat in the Oval Office with "the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington" over the police killing of a Black man.

"Can't you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?" Trump is quoted as saying in a preview of Esper's memoir seen by the Axios news website.

The protests, which were marked by violence as protesters clashed with security forces, were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police.

Esper's account appeared to confirm previous reports of Trump arguing that the military should intervene to quell the spiraling civil unrest.

An earlier book by journalist Michael Bender quoted sources saying the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, argued with Trump against using the military as the president demanded a stronger response.

Bender had quoted Trump as saying "shoot them in the leg -- or maybe the foot... but be hard on them!"

US Park Police and National Guard troops deployed tear gas and flash bangs to clear protesters outside the White House.

Esper publicly stated at the time that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act, a rarely-used 200-year-old law which permits troops to be actively deployed within the United States.

His stance reportedly enraged Trump, and he was sacked in November 2020.

Axios said Esper's book, which will be released on May 10, had been vetted by the Pentagon and reviewed by generals and cabinet members.

It quotes Esper describing a "surreal" atmosphere in Trump's inner circle, with the idea of troops opening fire on Americans "weighing heavily in the air."

"I had to figure out a way to walk Trump back without creating the mess I was trying to avoid," he wrote in the memoir called "A Sacred Oath."

Union loses bid to organize second New York City Amazon facility



Workers at a sorting facility in Staten Island, New York, rejected a unionization bid by the Amazon Labor Union. 

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

May 2 (UPI) -- An upstart labor union that successfully organized an Amazon.com facility in New York City last month has failed to repeat that win at another nearby workplace, U.S. officials announced Monday.

Workers at the LDJ5 Amazon sorting facility in Staten Island voted against the Amazon Labor Union's proposal 618-380, according to a count conducted by the National Labor Relations Board's Brooklyn office.

The result after a week-long voting period was a setback for the newly established ALU, which on April 1 pulled off a historic win at the much larger JFK8 Staten Island fulfillment center -- the first unionization of an Amazon warehouse in the United States.

The online retailing giant said it is "glad that our team at LDJ5 were able to have their voices heard" in a statement issued to CNN. "We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees."

"The count has finished. The election has concluded without the union being recognized at LDJ5 -- sortation center on Staten Island," the ALU said in a Twitter post. "The organizing will continue at this facility and beyond. The fight has just begun."

The failed bid came despite a push by such notable pro-union lawmakers as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who attended a rally at the facility before the start of voting.

Both took aim at Amazon co-founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos, who is fighting to have the results of the JFK8 election overturned.

"I don't know how, when you're worth $170 billion, you are spending money trying to break a union, so that workers can have decent wages, decent working conditions, decent healthcare, decent housing," Sanders said, adding, "How much money does Bezos and the other billionaires need?"

Amazon's case challenging the first vote has been handed off from the NLRB's Brooklyn office to the regional office in Phoenix after the company requested a transfer.

Amazon complained in its challenge that the New York office engaged in unfair behavior during the election, calling into question its "neutral stance."

New York Amazon workers deal setback to union drive

2022/5/2 
© Agence France-Presse

Workers hoping to unionize a second Amazon facility in Staten Island came up short, according to election results

New York (AFP) - Workers at an Amazon facility in New York have roundly voted against unionization -- dealing a setback to a burgeoning organized labor movement one month after a landmark win at a nearby warehouse.

Sixty-two percent of workers at the Staten Island facility opposed the union push, with 618 employees voting no and 380 in support, according to results released Monday by US officials.

The election at the LDJ5 warehouse followed on the heels of an upset April 1 win by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) at the much larger JFK8 Staten Island company site -- which established the first American union at the retail colossus.

Last month's win stood as one of the biggest recent victories by US organized labor, winning plaudits from President Joe Biden and other leading unions, some of which visited Staten Island ahead of the second vote.

But the ALU acknowledged its latest setback at Amazon -- the second biggest private employer in the United States after Walmart.

"The count has finished. The election has concluded without the union being recognized," the ALU said on Twitter. "The organizing will continue at this facility and beyond. The fight has just begun."

Backers of the union drive said Amazon was well prepared for the latest vote, and had aggressively campaigned to quash momentum from the earlier victory.

Further complicating their efforts, union leaders were not as well known as at JFK8, where the ALU's president Christian Smalls had previously worked.

Smalls launched the drive after being fired in March 2020 for organizing a protest for personal protective equipment during New York's first major Covid-19 outbreak.

"At the end of the day, this is a marathon not a sprint," Smalls told reporters. "We all know there are going to be wins and losses, we're going to fight another day."
More wins needed

On the other side of the fight, Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the company was "glad that our team at LDJ5 were able to have their voices heard."

"We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees."

Since its launch in the 1990s, Amazon has fiercely fought to remain union-free, seeking to maintain its direct line to workers and boosting pay and benefits during the pandemic when "essential workers" in logistics kept the economy going.

Eric Milner, an attorney representing the ALU, called Monday's result "disappointing" but said it reflected the effects of "illegal conduct" on Amazon's part in patterns of disciplining workers and otherwise working to "chill" union activity.

Analyzing the result, Patricia Campos-Medina, co-director of the Worker Institute at Cornell University, said Smalls' experience as an employee gave him "credibility" with workers -- but that he had lacked time to build credibility at the second facility.

She said it will be pivotal for the union to "keep winning" to put pressure on Amazon to negotiate, drawing on backing from the Teamsters and other established unions.

"They already expressed willingness to support ALU, logistically and legally," Campos-Medina said.

"What now needs to happen is actually all these unions who were planning to organize Amazon, they actually now need to do it. It has to be a multifaceted organizing effort of the corporation, it cannot just be one by one."

For now, Amazon is challenging the ALU's April victory, saying representatives of the labor group intimidated workers and that US officials with the National Labor Relations Board were biased against the company.

A hearing on the Amazon complaints is set for May 23 in Phoenix.

The ALU has rejected the Amazon complaints as groundless, arguing the company is using stalling tactics to avoid negotiations on a contract.

Opinion: The tug-of-war over press freedom

Authoritarian regimes are united in tactics to suppress freedom of the press — but journalists banding together to circumvent these efforts offer hope, writes exiled journalist Can Dündar.

May 3 marks Press Freedom Day

The Berlin office where I now work resembles a political thermometer for the world. When I came here six years ago, fellow journalists heard a wealth of censorship stories from Turkey.

The young political cartoonist who had escaped from Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's regime in Egypt drew our attention to the military oppression in Cairo. In the fallout from the Nagorno-Karabakh crisis, our colleagues from Baku knocked on the door. Once the biggest newspaper in Hungary was closed down, we welcomed its editor-in-chief and compared notes.

As you might imagine, my neighbor these days is a pacifist Russian journalist. 

Can Dündar is an exiled Turkish journalist living in Germany

We had all been forced to leave our homelands because of our ideas and the reports we had filed. We were all determined to carry on working in exile. Us 'old hands,' those of us who had been here longer, told the newcomers what we learned about establishing media in exile.

Our dialogues revealed the woeful state of the freedom of the press: "Which report got you arrested?" "How long were you inside for?" "How did you manage to get out?" and "Do you think you'll ever go back?"

Next, we debated how to scale those towering walls of censorship so we could be heard back home; which alternative ways would help us reach our readers with our banned articles; and how to shake off the intelligence agents dogging our footsteps. 

Even the sight of an office filled with journalists from different countries is enough to flag up where freedoms are wounded. Just as we teach one another how to fight against censorship, autocrats across the world appear to copy from one another, too. They resort to similar methods to tighten their grip on power: First, slash the means of communication to silence the spoken and the written word. It is much easier to rule masses rendered deaf and mute, after all. 

A further change that happened in this period is a less welcome kind of communication: attacks on the press — hitherto assumed to be "a totalitarian habit specific to the darker corners of the world" — spread to the West, that bastion of freedom of expression, which had been a natural right until then.

In Washington, then-US President Donald Trump hurled abuse at the press and banned critical journalists from White House briefings. In London, whistleblower Julian Assange was arrested. And, in Paris, journalists taking photos or videos of yellow-vest protests were dragged to the ground.

Just like COVID-19, censorship was spreading like wildfire over borders, regions and regimes. Our Western colleagues used to ask us, "What can we do for you?" Suddenly, we were all asking one another, "What can we do together?"

And we realized that there was an awful lot we could do together. Escalating repression triggered not only a massive displacement of journalists, but also an opportunity: media in exile operating from Western capitals had exposed to European eyes those oppressive regimes —  and paved the way for international cooperation within media.

Given the global nature of the attack on freedom of thought, the response also needed to be global. Thus spread news reporting beyond borders.

Dictators may gang up so they can develop tactics to suppress opposition and freedom of the press; but now, we all collaborate in order to reveal their secret bank accounts, dirty war tricks, and nasty tactics such as tapping opponents' telephones or poisoning rivals. 

A global network of journalists grows by the day. The struggle to defend the freedom of the press and the freedom of information expands across the globe in defiance of growing repression and censorship. 

It may well be this tug-of-war that will determine the future of the world.

Can Dündar is a Turkish journalist and writer. He stepped down from his post in Turkey as the editor-in-chief of the daily Cumhuriyet in 2016, after he was jailed for three months and survived an assassination attempt. He was sentenced to 27 years' imprisonment in absentia due to his report on the Turkish Intelligence Service's involvement in Syria. Now living in Germany, he writes for Die Zeit and The Washington Post. He founded Özgürüz ("WeAreFree") Radio and #Özgürüz Publishing House while in exile. He has written 40 books.

Mexican tourist train raises fears for subterranean treasures




A tourist swims in a sinkhole known as cenote near the construction site of a new Mexican railroad that activists fear will cause irreparable environmental damage

 (AFP/Pedro PARDO)


Yussel Gonzalez
Mon, May 2, 2022

Bulldozers sit idle next to tree stumps along the disputed route of a new Mexican tourist train. Beneath the jungle, environmentalists warn that a magical labyrinth of underground rivers and caves is also under threat.

The rail link under construction between popular Caribbean beach resorts and archeological ruins is at the center of a legal battle between authorities and activists.

Last month a judge suspended work on part of the roughly 1,500-kilometer (950 mile) long Mayan Train -- a flagship project of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

Opponents fear that a section between the resorts of Playa del Carmen and Tulum will cause irreparable damage to a subterranean network of caves, rivers and freshwater sinkholes known as cenotes connected to the Caribbean Sea.

"It's suicide," said Tania Ramirez, a 42-year-old activist and cave expert.

"It's like cutting your wrists," she told AFP.

Often filled with stunning emerald or turquoise waters illuminated by a shaft of light from above, cenotes are a major attraction for tourists visiting the Riviera Maya in the Yucatan Peninsula.

The sinkholes number in the thousands in the lush Mayan jungle and are connected to a giant aquifer that is a source of drinking water for local communities.

The most recently discovered cave holds archaeological remains, said Ramirez, who believes that Maya indigenous people once kept food there.

"You can find a cave at every step," she said.

While authorities often insist the caves are not on the planned line but rather next to it, in reality everything is connected, Ramirez added.

Activists describe the area in southeastern Mexico as "gruyere cheese" 

because of all the holes 

- 'Gruyere cheese' -

Activists describe the area below ground as "gruyere cheese" because of all the holes.

"It's a hollow area that wouldn't support the weight of a train," said Vicente Fito, a 48-year-old diver who ventures into the subterranean world almost daily.

The line "is going to go through places where everything is like that, with or without water, but hollow."

The original plan for the disputed section was for an overpass over a highway, but the route was modified at the start of the year to go through jungle at ground level.

Lopez Obrador, who hopes to inaugurate the railroad at the end of 2023, said the reason was that the land is firmer in the jungle further inland with fewer cenotes and rivers.

The original route also upset the hotel industry due to the congestion caused by construction work in the urban area.

In April, a court in the southeastern state of Yucatan ordered the suspension of work on the disputed section -- one of several being built by the military -- pending resolution of an injunction sought by activists.

The judge cited a lack of environmental impact studies -- grounds that the government plans to challenge in upcoming hearings.

NEOLIBERAL AMLO

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is betting that the train will help economic development in one of the country's most impoverished regions 

(AFP/Pedro PARDO)

- 'Imposters' -

"The train's not going to affect cenotes. It's not going to affect underwater rivers. That's an invention," Lopez Obrador said.

He alleged that environmentalists had been infiltrated by "impostors" and that some non-governmental organizations were financed by hotel owners and the United States.

Lopez Obrador said that the government had reforested almost 500,000 hectares in the region.

Mexico's president is betting that the $10 billion train project will help economic development in one of the country's most impoverished regions.

Lenin Betancourt, president of the Riviera Maya Business Coordinating Council, sees the railroad as an opportunity to reduce poverty that has worsened in the resort cities of Cancun and Tulum despite the benefits of tourism.

"We need to create this type and scale of project," he said, while also calling for the smallest possible environmental impact.

Tourism represents almost nine percent of Mexico's economy.

Otto Von Bertrab, a caver and activist, believes the only answer is to revert to the original route with a train over the highway carrying tourists and workers to hotels and towns along the way.

Otherwise, "this president's legacy is going to be one of destruction," he said.

yug/dr/mdl

Amazon will reimburse employees who travel for abortion care and other medical procedures

Alex Woodward
Mon, May 2, 2022


Amazon has joined several other large corporations that will reimburse US employees’ travel costs for non-threatening medical treatments, including abortion care, following a wave of state-level legislation to restrict access or criminalise abortion across the US.

The nation’s second-largest employer and biggest online retailer will cover up to $4,000 for healthcare travel if treatments are not available within a 100-mile range of the employee’s home, according to the company’s announcement, first reported by Reuters.

Amazon joins companies like Apple, Citigroup and Yelp in providing for travel expenses for abortion care, as Republican state legislators file a wave of anti-abortion legislation and begin dramatically reducing access ahead of the US Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that could upend decades of precedent protecting abortion rights.

“In response to changes in reproductive health-care laws in certain states in the US, beginning in 2022 we provide travel benefits to facilitate access to adequate resources,” according to a message from Citigroup to its investors following a Texas law banning abortion after six weeks of pregnancy.

Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt also has signed a bill into law blocking abortion at six weeks. He also has signed a bill making abortion care a felony, punishable up to 10 years in prison.

Several other state officials have also moved to criminalise or effectively ban abortion in their states, and at least 26 states are likely to ban the procedure entirely if the Supreme Court overturns precedent from from the 1973 ruling in Roe v Wade that establishes constitutional protections for abortion care.

Amazon also announced that it is cutting employee’s paid medical leave for Covid-19 and replacing paid sick days for five days of excused unpaid leave, CNBC reported.

The corporate giant – where alleged failures to protect employees from Covid-19 sparked widespread worker backlash and a union campaign – had initially offered up to two weeks of paid sick leave for employees quarantining because of Covid-19. That leave was reduced to one week, or up to 40 hours, at the beginning of the year.

Amazon also will scale back notifications of confirmed infections in the workplace and end vaccination incentives, CNBC reported.

“The sustained easing of the pandemic, ongoing availability of Covid-19 vaccines and treatments, and updated guidance from public health authorities, all signal we can continue to safely adjust to our pre-COVID policies,” according to the notice reviewed by the network.

Covid-19 infections are rising in most of the US, with roughly 55,000 new daily cases in a seven-day average.

News of the company’s latest medical policies comes as results from a closely watched union election at a second Staten Island warehouse were revealed on 2 May, with the union campaign losing by a vote of 618 to 380 in a facility with roughly 1,600 workers.

The outcome of that election follows a surprising victory from the upstart Amazon Labor Union at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island and international momentum towards unionising other facilities.

US megadrought reveals 1980s body in lake, with more to come: police


Lake and reservoir beds usually under water are being exposed across the western US as a historic drought takes its toll on water supplies

 (AFP/JUSTIN SULLIVAN)

Mon, May 2, 2022,

A worsening drought has revealed a four-decade-old body dumped in a US lake, police said Monday, warning that falling water levels would lead to the uncovering of more corpses.

Boaters on Lake Mead near Las Vegas discovered a corroded barrel with its sinister contents during a weekend pleasure trip.

Detectives probing the mystery say the contents of the container point to its having been in the huge reservoir since the 1980s.

"It's going to be a very difficult case" to solve, Las Vegas Metro police officer Ray Spencer told the local 8newsnow.com, without giving details about what was inside the barrel.

"I would say there is a very good chance as the water level drops that we are going to find additional human remains."

Nearby Las Vegas has historically been a hive of mob-related villainy, with Mafiosi commonly believed to dispose of the bodies of their enemies in deep water.

A historic drought that is gripping much of the western United States is putting a strain on water sources, with reservoirs and lakes dropping to unprecedently low levels.

Lake Mead, which is fed by the Colorado River after it has passed through the Grand Canyon, is the largest manmade reservoir in the United States.

It was created in the 1930s with the construction of the Hoover Dam and supplies drinking water to 25 million people.

But its current level, at just 1,055 feet (321 meters), is its lowest since 1937.

Water authorities last month said intake valves -- the pipes that take water to be cleaned for human use -- were now visible, a worrying indicator of the health of the reservoir.

Scientists say the decades-long megadrought in the western US is being exacerbated by human-made global warming.

The unchecked burning of fossil fuels has caused our planet to warm, changing weather patterns and sparking violent storms in some areas while others bake in painful droughts.

hg/amz/mdl