WHITE PANIC
Ammunition shelves bare as U.S. gun sales continue to soar

By MARTHA BELLISLEyesterday

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FILE - In this July 16, 2019, file photo, officers taking part in training load gun clips with ammunition at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission in Burien, Wash. The COVID-19 pandemic coupled with record sales of firearms have created a shortage of ammunition in the United States that has impacting competition and recreational shooters, hunters, people seeking personal protection and law enforcement agencies. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

SEATTLE (AP) — The COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with record sales of firearms, has fueled a shortage of ammunition in the United States that’s impacting law enforcement agencies, people seeking personal protection, recreational shooters and hunters -- and could deny new gun owners the practice they need to handle their weapons safely.

Manufacturers say they’re producing as much ammunition as they can, but many gun store shelves are empty and prices keep rising. Ammunition imports are way up, but at least one U.S. manufacturer is exporting ammo. All while the pandemic, social unrest and a rise in violent crime have prompted millions to buy guns for protection or to take up shooting for sport.

“We have had a number of firearms instructors cancel their registration to our courses because their agency was short on ammo or they were unable to find ammo to purchase,” said Jason Wuestenberg, executive director of the National Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors Association.

Doug Tangen, firearms instructor at the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission, the police academy for the state, said the academy also has had trouble obtaining ammo.

“A few months ago, we were at a point where our shelves were nearly empty of 9mm ammunition,” he said. In response, instructors took conservation steps like reducing the number of shots fired per drill, which got them through several months until fresh supplies arrived, Tangen said.

Officer Larry Hadfield, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said his department also has been affected by the shortage. “We have made efforts to conserve ammunition when possible,” he said.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, says more than 50 million people participate in shooting sports in the U.S. and estimates that 20 million guns were sold last year, with 8 million of those sales made by first-time buyers.

“When you talk about all these people buying guns, it really has an impact on people buying ammunition,” spokesman Mark Oliva said. ”If you look at 8.4 million gun buyers and they all want to buy one box with 50 rounds, that’s going to be 420 million rounds.”

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System database also documented an increase in sales: In 2010, there were 14.4 million background checks for gun purchases. That jumped to almost 39.7 million in 2020 and to 22.2 million just through June 2021 alone.

The actual number of guns sold could be much higher since multiple firearms can be linked to a single background check. No data is available for ammunition because sales are not regulated and no license is required to sell it.

As the pandemic raced across the country in early 2020, the resulting lockdown orders and cutbacks on police response sowed safety fears, creating an “overwhelming demand” for both guns and ammo, Oliva said. Factories continued to produce ammunition, but sales far exceeded the amount that could be shipped, he said.

“Where there is an increased sense of instability, fear and insecurity, more people will purchase guns,” said Ari Freilich of the Gifford Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

As supplies dwindled, Feilich said, some gun owners began stockpiling ammo.

“Early on in the pandemic, we saw people hoarding toilet paper, disinfectant, and now it’s ammo,” he said.

Wustenberg emphasized the danger in first-time gun buyers not being able to practice using their new weapons.

Going to the gun range entails more than trying to hit a target, he said. It’s where shooters learn fundamental skills like always pointing their guns in a safe direction and keeping their fingers off the trigger until they’re ready to fire.

“It’s that old adage: Just because you buy a guitar doesn’t mean you’re a guitar player,” Wustenberg said. “Some have the misconception of ‘I shot this target 5 yards away and did just fine so I’m OK if someone breaks into my house.’ You’ve got to go out and practice with it.”

The U.S. military is not affected by the shortage because the Army produces ammunition for all branches of the military at six sites across the country, according to Justine Barati, spokesperson for the U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command.

The U.S. shooting team, which won four medals at the Tokyo Olympics, also had the ammo needed to train thanks to a commitment from sponsors, but membership and junior programs have struggled, said Matt Suggs, chief executive officer for USA Shooting.

The U.S. Biathlon team, training for the 2022 Winter Olympics in February, also has been supplied with ammo from its sponsor, Lapua, made in Finland. But local clubs face shortages, said Max Cobb, president of U.S. Biathlon Association.

Jason Vanderbrink, a vice president at Vista Outdoor, which owns the Federal, CCI, Speer and Remington ammunition brands, said the companies are shipping ammo as fast as they can make it.

“I’m tired of reading the misinformation on the internet right now about us not trying to service the demand that we’re experiencing,” he said in a YouTube video produced for customers aimed at quashing speculation suggesting otherwise.

Imports of ammunition from Russia, South Korea, the European Union and others were up 225% over the past two years, according to an analysis by Panjiva Inc., which independently tracks global trade. But at least some U.S.-made ammo is heading out of the country.

Winchester has logged 107 shipments since January 2020, according to Panjiva. Most went to Australia to fulfill a contract Winchester secured with NIOA, the country’s largest small-arms supplier. Nigel Everingham, NIOA’s chief operating officer, said he could not disclose how much ammo Winchester is supplying.

A few shipments also went to Belgium and Israel.

Meanwhile, most of the ammunition pictured on the website for Champion’s Choice, a gun store in LaVergne, Tennessee, is listed as “out of stock.”

“We keep ammo on order but we’re not sure when it’s going to come available, “sales manager Kyle Hudgens said. “It does put us in a bad position with our customers. They’re asking what the deal is.”

And Bryan Lookabaugh at Renton Fish & Game’s skeet and trap range in Renton, Washington -- where shooters try to hit discs flying at 35 to 70 mph -- said the limited availability means fewer people show up for shooting practice and some couldn’t participate in a recent competition.

“We have not had a full shipment in a year,” he said.

Duane Hendrix, the range master at the Seattle Police Athletic Association, a police and civilian gun range in Tukwila, Washington, said he now limits ammo sales to two boxes per customer.

“I’ve never seen anything like it before,” Hendrix said. “There’s stuff we can’t get, especially rifle ammo. If you don’t have ammo for your customers, there’s no point in having your doors open.”

THIRD WORLD USA

Families paying off rent, food, debts with child tax credit

By MICHAEL CASEY

AP

July 30, 2021


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In this July 28, 2021 photo, Christina Darling plays with her sons Kayden, 10, left, and Brennan, 4, at home in Nashua, N.H. Darling and her family have qualified for the expanded child tax credit, part of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. "Every step closer we get to a livable wage is beneficial. That is money that gets turned around and spent on the betterment of my kids and myself," said Darling, a housing resource coordinator who had been supplementing her $35,000-a-year salary with monthly visits to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter's food pantry. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

NASHUA, N.H. (AP) — Christina Darling finally replaced her 2006 Chevrolet Equinox after it broke down several times while picking her children up from day care. But the 31-year-old mother of two was struggling to keep up with the car payments.

Brianne Walker desperately wanted to take her three children and two siblings camping for the first time but wasn’t sure how she could pay for it. After all, she was behind on her rent, and day care and grocery costs were adding up.

Then, the two women from New Hampshire got a surprise in their bank accounts this month. They qualified for the expanded child tax credit, part of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Families on average are getting $423 this month; the Treasury Department estimates that 35.2 million families received payments in July.

“The additional money does help alleviate the pressure,” said Walker, 29, who took custody of her two siblings last year after her mother overdosed. The $800 credit will help make up for losses she incurred after quitting a kitchen design job to care for the five youngsters, ages 3 to 19.



Biden increased the amounts going to families and expanded it to include those whose income is so little they don’t owe taxes. The benefits begin to phase out at incomes of $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of household and $150,000 for married couples. Families with incomes up to $200,000 for individuals and $400,000 for married couples can still receive the previous $2,000 credit.

In the past, eligible families got a credit after filing their taxes — either as a lump sum payment or a credit against taxes owed. But now six months of payments are being advanced monthly through the end of the year. A recipient receives the second half when they file their taxes. The credit is $3,600 annually for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. Eligible families will receive $300 monthly for each child under 6 and $250 per older child.

Advocates argue the monthly payments make more sense for low-income families.

“One of the problems with the big check in a year, if your car broke six months before, that is a long time to wait,” said Michael Reinke, executive director of the Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter, which serves many families making less than $26,000 a year.

“When people have money over a consistent period of time, it’s easier to make sure it’s going to the expenses you really need,” he said. “Sometimes, if you get it all at once, it’s hard to budget.”

Robin McKinney, co-founder and CEO of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, a Baltimore nonprofit organization that helps low-income residents file taxes, said the credit is providing people money in their pockets now, when they need it most.

“We know right now that peoples’ hours are down or they’re still struggling to get back to the same level of income that they had before, and this will create some stability for those families to know that over the next six months that they’re going to be getting this payment,” McKinney said.

If all the money goes out, the expectation is that could significantly reduce poverty — with one study estimating it could cut child poverty by 45%. And it comes at a time when unemployment benefits are being phased out and the federal eviction moratorium is set to expire Saturday.

The payments are also a test case of sorts. Biden ultimately would like to make them permanent — and the impact they have could go a long way to shaping that debate later this year.



Brianne Epps of Jackson, Miss., 28, background, is a single mother with sons Micah Epps, 4, in front, and Nolan Epps, 11 months in her arms and daughters Laila Barnes, 6, second from left, and Kaylee Barnes, 8, center, outside her apartment complex in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, July 21, 2021. Epps earns $9 an hour working with infants and toddlers in a childcare center, but she has a bigger dream of operating a soul food catering business. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)


“It infuses money into the family home,” said Suzanne Torregano, director of Family Services at Kingsley House in New Orleans, who estimated that 85%-90% of the parents the group serves are getting the monthly payments.

Still, some advocates argue the money may never reach the neediest because their incomes are so low they aren’t required to file a tax return, they don’t have a fixed address or bank account, or don’t have the internet savvy to apply.

“What we are finding is that homeless families … while many of them are eligible for the tax credit, they have significant barriers to obtaining it,” said Larry Seamans, president of FamilyAid Boston, which serves 900 families daily.

“We have some counter-intuitive struggles of families who may be unfamiliar with tax forms, tax laws and the fact that by filing a tax return, you can actually get money to support your family,” Seamans said.

“Many families ... are not on the tax rolls. They now have to find sufficient documentation to prove that they are eligible.”

Families who do receive the credit are mostly spending it on rent, child care and groceries, as well as catching up on cellphone and other bills. For Darling, the $550 she gets will go to car payments, more fresh produce and a babysitter so she can attend Nashua Board of Education meetings. She is running for a seat on the board. Eventually, she hopes to put money aside to save for a home with a yard.

“Every step closer we get to a livable wage is beneficial. That is money that gets turned around and spent on the betterment of my kids and myself,” said Darling, a housing resource coordinator who had been supplementing her $35,000-a-year salary with monthly visits to the Nashua Soup Kitchen and Shelter’s food pantry.

McKinney, who is married with a 5-year-old son and qualifies for the tax credit, is getting $167 a month. She said it’s all going to help pay for child care, which costs $288 a week.

“Right now, it’s out-of-school time because it’s the summer, so people have to pay for camps and babysitting support so that the parents can go to work,” said McKinney, of Columbia, Maryland. “I know a lot of people who are like: ‘This money is coming at just the right time, because this summer is more expensive for me for child care.’”

Many families in higher-income brackets who receive less money are socking it away for things like a family trip, school supplies or Christmas gifts.

Carleigh Steele, who received several hundred dollars, said the money is giving her peace of mind a month after she moved into a house in Baltimore with the help of Habitat for Humanity.

“It’s sitting in my bank account for all the home-buying things that I need, and for the rainy day fund for my house — just to make sure that I can keep myself economically stable,” said Steele, who has a 6-year-old daughter.

Brianne Epps, a mother of four from Jackson, Mississippi, is using the money to pay bills but also to finance her dream of opening a soul food catering business. “It will help me, for one, to promote my catering business — to get that off the ground,” she said.

Molly Vigeant, of East Hartford, Connecticut, a 25-year-old single mother who works as a special needs paraprofessional in a high school, hopes to spend the money to repair or replace her car. But she’s had trouble accessing a portal aimed at helping applicants and hasn’t yet received anything.

“It doesn’t hurt yet,” she said of the delayed payment. “But, it’s a 20-year-old car with over 200,000 miles on it and I make 20 grand a year. A new one is not going to fall from the sky, when your debt-to-income ratio is garbage and you know you can’t finance a car.”

___

Associated Press writers Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland; Rebecca Santana in New Orleans; Emily Wagster Pettus in Jackson, Mississippi, and Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Connecticut, contributed to this report.

Families pay for rent, food with child tax credit

TRANSCRIPT

Brentwood, New Hampshire – 23 July 20211. Tracking shot of Brianne Walker, who is raising three children and including two siblings, interacting with her daughter at a day care center

STORYLINE:

Families are starting to spend money from the expanded child tax credit. 

Many say they are using the money to pay rent, supplement their grocery budget and for catching up on bills, including cellphone and car payments.

Beneficiaries include Brianne Walker, who is raising five children on her own – including two siblings in her legal custody.

She says she used her first check to make a late rent payment.

She also plans to take the children camping, hoping to create their first memorable experience of the summer season.

The 29-year-old Walker was forced to quit a home-designing job in Maine when she got custody of her siblings at the beginning of the pandemic.

She now works part time at a body shop because caring for five children on her own does not give her enough time or flexibility to take on a full-time job.

Still, she hopes to save some of the child tax credits for down payment for a family home that will eventually allow her to sleep in a bedroom, instead of her current sleeping arrangement in the living room.

President Joe Biden increased the amounts going to families and expanded it to include those whose income is so little that they don't owe taxes. 

The benefits begin to phase out at incomes of $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of household and $150,000 for married couples. Higher-income families with incomes up to $200,000 for individuals and $400,000 for married couples can still receive the previous $2,000 credit. 

SOUNDBITE (English) Brianne Walker, Raises Five Children:"About two weeks ago, I had received the initial Child Tax Credit payment. I received $250 for my 13-year-old brother, is that what it is, and then $300 for my 3-year-old daughter. That was immediately deposited into my bank account federally because that's who I claim on my taxes. It was great. I immediately paid my rent, which was late. So that covered for the remaining portion of my rent this month."3. Brianne Walker watchers her daughter and other children play at the day care center4. Brianne Walker interacts with her daughter at the entrance of the day care center

SOUNDBITE (English) Brianne Walker, Raises Five Children:"When they're gonna give me Child Tax Credits and they say this is for your children, it's going right back into the economy where my children reside. So it's it's going back into the daycare, it's going into the food, it's going to the grocery store. It's going into the camp trip that we're gonna take. We've never been real-tent camping. So my children are gonna go real-tent camping and that was, you know, at a state park."6. Brianne Walker interacts with her daughter in the playground of the day care center

SOUNDBITE (English) Brianne Walker, Raises Five Children:"So any time any extra money comes in, that covers my tax, my car payment as well to help me be able to get to and from work, to get me to and from daycare, to get my children to and from dentist appointments."8. Brianne Walker with her daughter at the entrance of the day care center

SOUNDBITE (English) Brianne Walker, Raises Five Children:"The Child Tax Credits, within the next few months, will be turned into savings. As long as everything continues to go well, the it will be turned into savings for the house so that we can put a down payment on the house – and that's something that's for my children, my entire family."10. Jennifer Briggs-Legere, director of A Place To Grow day care center, joins children searching for worms and other creatures in the play ground

SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Briggs-Legere, Director, A Place To Grow Child Care Center:"I think the child care tax credit, providing that on a month-to-month basis, provides those families that are struggling with the opportunity to be more successful in, you know, paying their bills and they're not feeling quite so like they're living on the edge as much as they had been. So it's really beneficial if you were on that poverty line or you were on that line of struggling."12. Jennifer Legere interacts with children in her child care center

 SOUNDBITE (English) Jennifer Briggs-Legere, Director, A Place To Grow Child Care Center:"About 20% of our client base receives child care scholarship. Rockingham County is one of the most expensive counties to live in in southern New Hampshire. So we see a split in what the needs economically are of our families. Those who are on child care scholarship really are benefiting from the monthly tax credit coming to them. Those funds are getting used primarily for child care based on what our parents are reporting, food on the table, money towards their rent and their mortgage. Rents are extremely high around here."14. Children returning to the child care center building from the playground

Bishop: Albany diocese covered up priest abuse for decades
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The longtime former head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany says the diocese covered up sexual abuse by priests for decades and protected clergy by sending them to private treatment instead of calling police.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Bishop Howard Hubbard, who ran the diocese in New York's Capital District from 1977 to 2014 and has himself been accused of sexual abuse, made the admission in a statement issued through his lawyer to the Albany Times-Union in response to questions from the newspaper.

The Times Union reported Hubbard's statement on Saturday.

“When an allegation of sexual misconduct against a priest was received in the 1970s and 1980s, the common practice in the Albany diocese and elsewhere was to remove the priest from ministry temporarily and send him for counseling and treatment,” Hubbard said.

“Only when a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist determined the priest was capable of returning to ministry without reoffending did we consider placing the priest back in ministry," he added. "The professional advice we received was well-intended but flawed, and I deeply regret that we followed it.”

About 300 lawsuits have been filed against the Albany diocese under a state law that allows people until Aug. 14 to sue over sexual abuse they say they endured as children, sometimes decades ago.

In the past, the 82-year-old Hubbard has denied allegations that he sexually abused minors. In an August 2019 statement, he said: “I have never sexually abused anyone in my life. I have trust in the canonical and civil legal processes and believe my name will be cleared in due course.”

Responding to allegations in lawsuits that he ignored, disregarded or covered up abuse by others, Hubbard told the Times Union in his statement that he was a leader on church efforts to prevent abuse, including support for background checks and compensation for victims.

Hubbard's statement was not sanctioned by the diocese, the newspaper reported.

The Associated Press

‘This is a travesty’: Albertans protest COVID-19 rule rollback for second day

For the second day in a row, hundreds of Albertans protested the provincial government's plan to lift mandatory COVID-19 isolation rules, scale back contact tracing and limit testing.© Michael King/Global News Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician based in Calgary, speaks at a rally on Saturday, July 31, 2021.

Kaylen Small 

GLOBAL NEWS

JULY 31,2021

Rallies were held in Edmonton and Calgary on Saturday.

Read more: Albertans protest ending mandatory COVID-19 isolation, masking and testing changes

The restrictions rollback was announced on Wednesday.

Effective July 29, close contacts will no longer be notified of exposure by contact tracers nor will they be legally required to isolate. Asymptomatic testing is "no longer recommended," the government said.

Read more: Alberta to adjust COVID-19 masking, isolation, testing rules over next month

On Aug. 16, infected individuals won't need to isolate. Isolation hotels will close as quarantine supports end. Provincial mandatory masking orders will be lifted but face coverings in some acute care facilities might be required.

Wednesday's announcement by Alberta's chief medical officer of health, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, came as the province recorded 194 cases of COVID-19 — the highest daily case count since early June.
Edmonton

In Alberta's capital city, approximately 250 people went to the legislature to protest on Saturday.

“We’re going to keep saying the same thing until the government listens,” said Dr. Tehseen Ladha, assistant professor at the University of Alberta in the faculty of medicine.

“This time with community organization and public protest, it really is owned by everyone who’s there. I think that’s really the message. There have been so many decisions by the provincial government that people have been upset, angry, anxious about. This [rally] is the culmination of everything.”

Ladha cited the Alberta Medical Association as one of several provincial and federal medical organizations that have been criticizing the government's decision. The Canadian Paediatric Society and the Edmonton Zone Medical Association have sent formal letters.

Read more: Alberta Medical Association head concerned over province lifting COVID-19 protocols

Alda Ngo said she went to Saturday’s event because of concerns for her seven-year-old son.

“He’s not vaccinated, and I just want to keep him safe,” she said. “I understand that we need to move on but I feel like it’s a bit premature.”

When asked about COVID-19 policies for the government and staffers, the province told Global News its policies are “aligned with direction and guidance from the chief medical officer of health and in accordance with OHS.”

Video: Alberta physician talks about COVID-19 restrictions being lifted on Canada Day (Global News)

“Just under half of government workers are currently working remotely, and the vast majority will return to their workplaces in a phased approach starting next week and continuing until Sept. 7,” a statement read.

“Employees are free to continue to use face masks in the workplace as a personal choice, even if they are not required."

Read more: 65% of eligible Albertans fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but active cases rising

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees' vice-president, Susan Slade, said in a statement to Global News that the union is aware some members are "uneasy with the wholesale lifting of all restrictions and want to assure them that their union will do everything in our power to ensure they are safe at work."

"It is the employer's legal responsibility to make sure their workers are safe at work, and the union will address any member's concerns when they do not feel safe," Slade said.
Calgary

With signs in hand, about 200 people turned out at McDougall Centre.

Read more: Alberta taking ‘risky gamble’ by ending COVID isolation: Canadian Paediatric Society

Dr. Joe Vipond, an emergency room physician based in Calgary, is calling for Hinshaw's resignation.

"It's quite evident now that public health is not actually putting in policies to protect the health of the public. I think this is a travesty, and I think she should resign," he said to applause.

"Pretty much every other doctor I know went into medicine for the explicit purpose of helping people. I can't believe we have somebody who went into the practice of medicine for the specific purpose of protecting community health — the health of entire populations — and is putting that entire population at risk. I don't know what to say, people. That's crazy."

Read more: Amid pushback, Alberta health minister defends plan to ease COVID-19 isolation, masking, testing rules

Brett Boyden, a spokesperson for Health Minister Tyler Shandro, said in an emailed statement to Global News on Saturday: "Dr. Hinshaw’s recommendations are informed by science, not politics. Attempts to sully her reputation by the leader of the Opposition and others are repugnant. Dr. Hinshaw deserves to be commended for her efforts to lead Alberta out of the pandemic and has the full support of Alberta’s government."

Video: Calgary E.R. doctor fears kids will pay for Alberta’s plan to drop most COVID-19 restrictions

Vipond feels unsafe in these dark times.

"I've never even heard at any time in Canadian history where a jurisdiction has decided to put its entire population at risk from a deadly disease that can also cause long-term disability," he told the crowd.

Now, we won't be able to monitor our numbers, and the disease is going to infect anyone who is susceptible, like the unvaccinated or those under 12, he explained.

"I call on the attorney general of Canada to reach out to our premier and say that you are not allowed to violate the charter rights of 4.5 million Albertans," Vipond said, citing the right to life, liberty and security.

"As far as travel restrictions, I can't speak for other provinces, but I wouldn't want — especially when we get deep into the fourth wave with the Delta variant and possibly new variants — I would not want Albertans to be in their province, and I would not be travelling here."

Read more: Canada’s top doctors say Alberta’s COVID-19 plan could have ripple effects across the country

Parent Natasha Brubaker, whose child is considered high risk for the virus, said she was horrified by the rule changes. She said the government is choosing to put people at risk "by reducing reasonable protections."

"Our children are, by definition, vulnerable. They have no option to protect themselves beyond these health measures and the decisions made by the adults they are counting on to care for them," she said.

"I'm not suggesting a lockdown or reducing store capacity or closing restaurants. I am asking for reasonable steps to be taken to protect them and to prevent illness, deaths and possibly having to close our schools again."

– With files from Morgan Black

"Not a coincidence:" Indigenous leaders praise historic election victories by women

© Provided by The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — It's no coincidence that a wave of Indigenous women have won leadership roles previously held only by men, say leaders and advocates.

They argue it's a sign of the times that Mandy Gull-Masty was elected the first female Grand Chief of the Cree Nation in northern Quebec this week, after Kahsennehawe Sky-Deer and RoseAnne Archibald became the first women voted in to lead the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and the Assembly of First Nations, respectively.

"The communities are asking for change and how do you get that change? Well, women come forward with a different perspective," said Lynne Groulx, CEO of the Native Women's Association of Canada.


"Communities are pushing, they want change. They're in crisis. We know that we have matriarchal societies, women were involved in leadership roles before."

Groulx said the crisis includes the legacy of residential schools and the lack of clean drinking water on reserves.

While Groulx said that winning elections takes sacrifices -- and that women face sexism and other systemic barriers, sometimes within their own communities -- she expects more Indigenous women to come forward and stand for election.

Gull-Masty, who won 64 per cent of the vote in a run-off election held Thursday, said breaking the glass ceiling in her nation was "absolute pleasure," but that other Cree women helped pave the way.

"There have been many influential women, they may not have held an official title, but they've played important roles in developing who we are," she said in an interview Friday.

Gull-Masty, who was elected deputy chief in 2017, said she focused on connecting with as many people as possible as she campaigned across the 300,000-square-kilometre territory of Eeyou Istchee.

Now, she said, her first priority is returning to those communities to meet with local leadership, youth councils and elders.

"I wanted our youth to really feel engaged in this process, so that whatever election comes up next, they feel that they can participate and they understand the governance and the Cree Nation."

For Gull-Masty, incorporating Cree values and Cree traditions into the nation's decision-making process is major priority, adding that protecting the Cree language, culture and land are a big part of that.

She said she also wants to create opportunities for young people who leave the community to pursue higher education to return, particularly to start businesses.

"This was my path, I had to leave my community to go to college and university and when I came home, it was a big challenge to reintegrate into my community and find employment," she said.

In Kahnawake, south of Montreal, Sky-Deer said she's pleased to see other women being elected.

She feels it's important to move back towards traditional forms of governance, which include having women in positions of power. Traditionally, she noted, clan mothers selected chiefs.

She said she wants to meet with other women who have recently won Indigenous elections and hopes that there will be opportunities for them to work together.

"That to me is inspiring and if women can band together and show a different way of doing things, I think that's where some changes will come," she said in an interview Saturday.

Michèle Audette, who was appointed to the Senate on Thursday, said the election wins -- and the appointment of Governor General Mary Simon, the first Indigenous person in the role -- come after years of effort.

"It's more than a coincidence, it's the hard work of our ancestors and the people and allies that walk with us," Audette said in an interview Saturday.

Audette, a former commissioner of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, said the victories send a positive message to young women and girls.

"The message that it's sending is that no matter which part of this huge Turtle Island you're from, there is no limit, you can achieve a dream" she said. "For me it's showing that we're amazing, we're capable and we can do it."

While Indigenous women are finding success in a wide variety of fields, as scientists, business owners and fishing boat captains, she said the political victories are important because of their high profile.

Gull-Masty, meanwhile, said she's happy to be a role model.

"When I was a young girl, not too long ago, there were not very many female role models. Now I'm pleased to be part of a group that's going to create a space for young girls to look up to women in leadership," Gull-Masty said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 31, 2021.

———

This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

Jacob Serebrin, The Canadian Press

COVID 666

Michigan GOP candidate predicts 'end times' after claim vaccines include 'aborted baby tissue'

Bob Brigham
July 31, 2021

Screengrabs.

Michigan Republican Mellisa Carone was ridiculed by "Saturday Night Live" in February for being gullible enough to believe Donald Trump's debunked conspiracy theories about election fraud

Now Carone, who has formed a committee to run for the Michigan legislature, is pushing a conspiracy theory that vaccines are a sign of biblical apocalypse.

"This is an experimental vaccine that has aborted baby tissue in it," Carone falsely claimed.

"This right here, this is solid evidence we are definitely in the end times," she said. "It is the end of times, it's in the Bible. This, this has something to do with, I believe, the mark of the beast. I do."

Watch:

British vegans having a row over COVID vaccine 'jab' rules — and the issue could come to America

Ray Hartmann
July 31, 2021

The conspiracy originally took root in the United States but has spread to Europe Joseph Prezioso AF

Vegans who object on ethical grounds to receiving COVID-19 vaccines in the United Kingdom have raised the issue loudly enough that it has recently garnered coverage from several top media outlets there.

The issue is whether British employment law would shield employees from being forced to take a "jab" over their objections -- possibly linked to animal testing of vaccines --

ACTUALLY ITS ABOUT THE USE OF ANIMAL MATERIALS IN THE VACCINES

 that mirror the views of those taking exception on religious grounds. It could affect American companies in that country and possibly those in the U.S. if the issue is raised here.

Here's how the U.K. Evening Standard framed the issue:

"Vegans would be exempt from compulsory workplace Covid vaccinations and employers risk legal action if they insist workers are double-jabbed, experts say.

An estimated half a million Britons who do not consume animal products would not have to adhere to so-called "jabs for jobs" rules under employment laws, it has been claimed.

Big firms, including Netflix and Google, have already told many US staff they must be vaccinated before returning to work and Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said on Thursday that the rule was "smart policy."

"While the UK Government has introduced legislation stating care home staff must be jabbed. The Covid vaccine does not contain animal products, but all medications currently go through animal testing. Ethical veganism was ruled to be a protected characteristic at a tribunal last year.
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"A spokesman for Lewis Silkin, a law firm, told the Telegraph: 'Some ethical vegans may disagree with vaccinations on the basis that they will inevitably have been tested on animals. Ethical veganism has previously been found to amount to a belief, capable of being protected.'"

"The protections mean that vegans and people in other categories, including some religious groups as well as those with certain disabilities or medical conditions, could mount a claim of constructive dismissal if forced to get the jab.

"It comes as the Government faces challenges over making the jab mandatory and the introduction of "vaccine passports", which it has been claimed could help prevent further lockdowns."
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The issue has not yet been as high profile in the U.S., but with an increasing trend of companies requiring employees to become vaccinated to return to work, similar issues related to religious objectors -- and possibly groups such as vegans -- could surface soon.

Here's how the issue was summarized by the Prinz Law Firm in Chicago:

"Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, individuals have the right to be free from discrimination on the basis of religion. As part of their religious beliefs, many individuals object to vaccines. Employers are required to accommodate religious observances and practices, unless doing so imposes an undue hardship on the business.
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"Religion" is very broadly defined and encompasses not only organized religions, but also informal beliefs. "Religion" under the law can also encompass non-theistic and moral beliefs.

In Chenzira v. Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, 2012 U.S. Dist. Lexis 182139 (S.D. Ohio, 2012), the court recognized that veganism, in some circumstances, may constitute a sincerely held religious belief. That court exempted an employee from a flu shot requirement.

Once an employer determines that a true religious exemption exists, the employer must make an accommodation for the employee. Such accommodations may include reducing a mask requirement, modifying work duties to comply with social distancing, adjusting an employee's schedule, or allowing an employee work from home."

'Seditious conspiracy': Trump critics stunned after Mark Meadows mentions 'cabinet' meetings at Bedminster

Tom Boggioni
July 31, 2021

Mark Meadows. (Photo by Gage Skidmore)

An appearance on Friday night on Newsmax by Donald Trump's last White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, set off a flurry of angry comments by critics of the former president after Meadows said they are holding "cabinet" meetings at the Trump National Golf Club.

Repeating "cabinet members" multiple times while speaking with Newsmax host Steve Cortes, Meadows added, "Well, we met with several of our cabinet members tonight, we actually had a follow-up member, meeting with some of our cabinet members, and as we were looking at that, we were looking at what does come next. I'm not authorized to speak on behalf of the president, but I can tell you this Steve, we wouldn't be meeting tonight if we weren't making plans to move forward in a real way, with president Trump at the head of that ticket."

Twitter commenters were quick to question what they are discussing with others wondering if they realize the Trump administration was ousted in last November's presidential election.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

'You carry it all your life': What it's like coming out as transgender in your seventies

Uma Ahmed

Aug 01 2021

NEW ZEALAND

Late 2019, Jean Smale privately started to transition from male to female at the age of 73.

These days Jean Smale can look at herself in the mirror without discomfort at who stares back at her.

The name ‘Pamala’ had been picked out for Jean before her birth, as her mother was absolutely sure she was having a girl. However, on April 14, 1946, when Jean arrived in south Waikato, it was in the wrong body, she says.

In late 2019, Jean privately started to transition from male to female at the age of 73.

As she sits happily in her Southland home, all dressed up, her nails freshly painted pink, she tells the story of her life.

“I didn’t just get up one morning and decide I wanted to be a girl. It’s been... you carry it with you all your life. You have it in your heart and in your head, it’s right there all the time.”

Growing up in the 1940s and 1950s was tough, especially for those who were different.

“You just couldn’t go out and say ‘oh mum, look I feel like I should be a girl’ because mum probably would have picked up the kindling and given you a hiding to start with.

“And if the police had caught you, well you would have been put in jail... if you were caught wearing women’s clothes, well that would put you in an institution,” she explained.

KAVINDA HERATH/STUFF
Jean Smale has been loving experimenting with different shades of pinks since she came out. Before, in fear of being found out, she stuck to greys. “I’m wearing colours, I’ve got jerseys and things like that, that are all bright colours and what have you ... which I would never have done before.”

It was because of these fears, Jean always stayed silent.

Jean’s parents have long passed away, and she does not think they ever had an inkling that she felt she was in the wrong body.

When asked what their reactions would be if they saw her today, Jean said: “I think they’d be horrified. Um yeah, I don’t think they’d understand at all.”

So, during the years she carried on with her life and tried to do “blokey things” because she looked like one and that was what was expected of her, she said.

“You didn’t talk about these things, they were all kept behind, you know, the closed doors.”

She never felt like she fitted in and there were a few things especially that made her feel uncomfortable, such as using the men’s urinals: “It just embarrassed me. I always did and for many years I’d just gone to the nearest cubicle I could find,” she recalls.

Jean always felt an affinity with females.


KAVINDA HERATH/STUFF
“I decided that for people to take me seriously, I should dress appropriately, so I probably over-dress a little bit maybe, but I like doing that.”

“People don’t realise what transgender actually is. We’re actually the people that are stuck in the middle. So, you have boys here, and you have girls there, and we’re stuck here in the middle. So, we’re a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. And it doesn’t matter which way you’re coming from, whether you’re a boy going to a girl or a girl going to a boy.”

She never felt comfortable in any of the clothes she wore and would simply resort to admiring from afar.

“It was just a longing, every time I saw adverts for women’s clothes and stuff like that, I would look at them and... you wouldn’t be able to say anything.

“In your mind you’d be saying ‘that’s a nice dress, I'd like to be able to wear that’. And you see girls getting their earrings or their ears pierced, their hair-dos and things like that, and you’d long for that sort of thing, but you just weren’t allowed to say anything.”

At age 17, Jean met 15-year-old Tina and fell in love. The couple married on November 23, 1968, and had a marriage of 50 years.

Jean and Tina went through many phases in their marriage. They moved various times, changed jobs, faced financial difficulties, and had problems with conceiving.

They went on to adopt two children in 1971 and 1973 before Tina gave birth to their youngest child in 1983.

Sometime in the 1980s, the family was living in the Bay of Plenty. Their two oldest children had left home and only the youngest was left in the coop. Tina had decided to become a nurse at that time and would be off for training sessions out of town. On occasion, she would be away for whole weeks at a time.

Jean would hold the fort while Tina was away. After the youngest would be off to school in the morning, Jean would have the house all to herself.

“And so I had these clothes and I just used to cross-dress... I’d come home from the cowshed and do the wee girl’s hair and... I would take her off to school, and I’d dress up and spend the day doing housework and spending my time dressed up,” Jean reveals.

Eventually, Jean confided in a good friend about what she had been up to while Tina was away, and she convinced Jean to tell Tina.

When Jean told Tina, her wife accepted her truth.

“She just knew that I had female feelings, and we just left it at that,” Jean said.

So, there was never really any discussions about Jean transitioning, probably because of the societal climate they were in.

“Because once you’ve got a family you don’t want to hurt them.”

Tina arranged an appointment with a hospital psychologist for Jean. The psychologist suggested Jean try and work at a female-oriented industry.

KAVINDA HERATH/STUFF
Jean Smale: “I have always hated mirrors. I would hate having to sit in front of a mirror while I had my hair cut. I didn’t like to look in the mirror because I couldn’t see the person I wanted to see in there.”

Tina was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and Jean stayed with her until her death in 2019.

“We were co-dependent right from the very beginning,” she explains.

Jean felt lost afterward and decided to “run away” soon after Tina’s death.

She stocked up with extra fuel and headed north.

“As I was going along, I had this picture of Cape Reinga in my head and I didn’t know why.”

On her way, a stranger saw she was in distress, and they prayed together.

That night she realised why Cape Reinga had got stuck in her head: “My wife’s spirit. Because Māori legend has it that when a person dies, their spirit leaves from Cape Reinga, and so I thought right, that’s what I’m supposed to do.”

She held a ceremony with a kaumātua to farewell Tina’s spirit, and had a long cry afterwards. She stayed away for two months and when she returned to Southland, she was ready to transition.

Jean met up with a psychologist who told her there was nothing

 wrong with who she was, and put her in touch with Chroma, the LGBTQIA+ initiative for Southland.

KAVINDA HERATH/STUFF
Jean’s reasons for hiding her secret: “Because once you’ve got a family you don’t want to hurt them.”

“They’ve kind of become my family a bit. Because they’re all lovely caring people,” she says.

After that, she started to wear whatever caught her fancy, but in private. In September last year, after visiting a doctor regarding the future of her transition, she was ready to present herself to everyone.

“I just decided if I was going to do this, I had to go the whole hog, and so I’ve just put myself out in the community.

“I made it my job that I should go and train the village,” she says.

Jean has been pleasantly surprised with people's reactions, especially the women in her life who have taken her in, she says.

“People have got used to me, so I’m quite happy to go to town now.”

If there is one gripe Jean has with people’s reactions, it is that some people seem to think she decided to become a woman overnight because it is 2021, and she is trying to be “in” with the times.

“They think that I’m just dressing up to have an exciting feeling from wearing women’s clothes, but that’s not the case. I feel really comfortable; I feel like I belong in them,” she says.

Meeting the rainbow community, she has realised she was not the only one who tried to hurt herself during the years because she was ashamed of her own body.

Her psychiatrist informed her it was not unusual for transgender people to try and hurt themselves.

Things such as this are why Jean believes it is important to educate those around her and “train the village” as she likes to call it, to make it easier for others like her.

Jean is grateful that times have changed due to the younger generation being more accepting and open-minded.

She admits it has been hard for her children to accept her transition, but says they are starting to understand she did not make her decision on a whim.

“I was a good person before, and I’m still a good person," she says. “I’m just in a different package.”

READ MORE:
* 13 Reasons Why's Tommy Dorfman comes out as transgender
* Weighing up the emotional side of transgender sporting debate
* Shame, secrecy and medical distrust: What it's like to be intersex in Aotearoa

Bacon May Disappear From San Francisco Bay Area Breakfast Menus

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF/AP) 
July 31, 2021 

Thanks to a reworked menu and long hours, Jeannie Kim managed to keep her San Francisco restaurant alive during the coronavirus pandemic.

That makes it all the more frustrating that she fears her breakfast-focused diner could be ruined within months by new rules that could make one of her top menu items — bacon — hard to get in California.

“Our number one seller is bacon, eggs and hash browns,” said Kim, who for 15 years has run SAMS American Eatery on the city’s busy Market Street. “It could be devastating for us.”

At the beginning of next year, California will begin enforcing Proposition 12 approved overwhelmingly by voters in 2018 that requires more space for breeding pigs, egg-laying chickens and veal calves.

National veal and egg producers are optimistic they can meet the new standards, but only 4% of hog operations now comply with the new rules.

Unless the courts intervene or the state temporarily allows non-compliant meat to be sold in the state, California will lose almost all of its pork supply, much of which comes from Iowa, and pork producers will face higher costs to regain a key market.

Animal welfare organizations for years have been pushing for more humane treatment of farm animals but the California rules could be a rare case of consumers clearly paying a price for their beliefs.

With little time left to build new facilities, inseminate sows and process the offspring by January, it’s hard to see how the pork industry can adequately supply California, which consumes roughly 15% of all pork produced in the country.

“We are very concerned about the potential supply impacts and therefore cost increases,” said Matt Sutton, the public policy director for the California Restaurant Association.

California’s restaurants and groceries use about 255 million pounds of pork a month, but its farms produce only 45 million pounds, according to Rabobank, a global food and agriculture financial services company.

The National Pork Producers Council has asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture for federal aid to help pay for retrofitting hog facilities around the nation to fill the gap. Hog farmers said they haven’t complied because of the cost and because California hasn’t yet issued formal regulations on how the new standards will be administered and enforced.

Barry Goodwin, an economist at North Carolina State University, estimated the extra costs at 15% more per animal for a farm with 1,000 breeding pigs.

If half the pork supply was suddenly lost in California, bacon prices would jump 60%, meaning a $6 package would rise to about $9.60, according to a study by the Hatamiya Group, a consulting firm hired by opponents of the state proposition.

At one typical hog farm in Iowa, sows are kept in open-air crates measuring 14-square-feet when they join a herd and then for a week as part of the insemination process before moving to larger, roughly 20-square foot group pens with other hogs. Both are less than the 24 square feet required by the California law to give breeding pigs enough room to turn around and to extend their limbs. Other operations keep sows in the crates nearly all of the time so also wouldn’t be in compliance.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture said that although the detailed regulations aren’t finished, the key rules about space have been known for years.

“It is important to note that the law itself cannot be changed by regulations and the law has been in place since the Farm Animal Confinement Proposition (Prop 12) passed by a wide margin in 2018,” the agency said in response to questions from the AP.

The pork industry has filed lawsuits but so far courts have supported the California law. The National Pork Producers Council and a coalition of California restaurants and business groups have asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to delay the new requirements. The council also is holding out hope that meat already in the supply chain could be sold, potentially delaying shortages.

Josh Balk, who leads farm animal protection efforts at the Humane Society of the United States, said the pork industry should accept the overwhelming view of Californians who want animals treated more humanely.

“Why are pork producers constantly trying to overturn laws relating to cruelty to animals?” Balk asked. “It says something about the pork industry when it seems its business operandi is to lose at the ballot when they try to defend the practices and then when animal cruelty laws are passed, to try to overturn them.”

In Iowa, which raises about one-third of the nation’s hogs, farmer Dwight Mogler estimates the changes would cost him $3 million and allow room for 250 pigs in a space that now holds 300.

To afford the expense, Mogler said, he’d need to earn an extra $20 per pig and so far, processors are offering far less.

“The question to us is, if we do these changes, what is the next change going to be in the rules two years, three years, five years ahead?” Mogler asked.

The California rules also create a challenge for slaughterhouses, which now may send different cuts of a single hog to locations around the nation and to other countries. Processors will need to design new systems to track California-compliant hogs and separate those premium cuts from standard pork that can serve the rest of the country.

At least initially, analysts predict that even as California pork prices soar, customers elsewhere in the country will see little difference. Eventually, California’s new rules could become a national standard because processors can’t afford to ignore the market in such a large state.

Kim, the San Francisco restaurant owner, said she survived the pandemic by paring back her menu, driving hundreds of miles herself through the Bay Area to deliver food and reducing staff.

Kim, who is Korean-American, said she’s especially worried for small restaurants whose customers can’t afford big price increases and that specialize in Asian and Hispanic dishes that typically include pork.

“You know, I work and live with a lot of Asian and Hispanic populations in the city and their diet consists of pork. Pork is huge,” Kim said. “It’s almost like bread and butter.”