Russia Confirms Brittney Griner Prisoner Exchange Talks Are Happening

Stephanie Holland
Thu, August 11, 2022

Photo: Christian Petersen (Getty Images)

In the week since WNBA star Brittney Griner was found guilty on drug charges and sentenced to nine years in prison, it’s been theorized by journalists and pundits that prisoner exchange talks would get more serious now that Russia’s legal process has played out. It appears those opinions are true.

According to The Washington Post, the Russian government is now confirming that negotiations for a possible prisoner swap are happening. Talks were first authorized by President Joe Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin in April when they met in Geneva.

“Instructions were given to authorized structures to carry out negotiations,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechayev. “They are being conducted by competent authorities,”

As we previously reported at The Root, Secretary of State Antony Blinken confirmed that the United States made a “substantial offer” to exchange the two-time Olympic gold medalist and Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine who has been detained since 2018 on alleged spying charges, for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer currently serving 25 years in federal prison.

With two countries engaged in public saber-rattling and posturing, it was beginning to feel like no one was actually concerned about bringing Brittney home. Confirmation of talks means things are at least moving in the right direction.

Former UN Ambassador Bill Richardson recently told This Week host George Stephanopoulos that he’s “optimistic” about a possible two-for-two deal that would bring Griner and Whelan home.

“I think she’s going to be freed,” Richardson said. “I think she has the right strategy of contrition, a good legal team. There’s going to be a prisoner swap, though. And I think it will be two-for-two involving Paul Whelan. We can’t forget him. He’s an American Marine wrongfully detained, too.”

It’s important to note that when a deal does happen we won’t hear about it until the Phoenix Mercury center is on her way home or already on American soil. Despite how unexpectedly public these negotiations have been, it’s rare for us to find out when a deal has actually been made.

The scientific theory of why some Americans don't want Brittney Griner to come home from a Russian prison

Meredith Cash
Thu, August 11, 2022

Brittney Griner.

Alexander Zemlianichenko, Pool/AP Photo

The WNBA superstar Brittney Griner has been sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.

The US government has classified her as wrongfully detained and is working to negotiate her freedom.

Some Americans don't want her to return. A political scientist said two theories could explain why.

Some Americans are rooting against Brittney Griner's return home to the United States.

The WNBA superstar was arrested in February after customs agents at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport said they found vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. She was found guilty of drug smuggling in early August and sentenced to nine years in a Russian prison.

Griner was escorted out of the courtroom after receiving her verdict and sentence.

Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/Reuters

Given the timing of her detainment, the nature of her alleged offense, and the reputation of Russian courts, Griner is widely considered to be a political pawn that Moscow is using as leverage against the United States. As such, the State Department classified Griner as wrongfully detained in May.

Even despite the "strong signal that the US government does not believe that there is a legitimate case against her," as an expert previously told Insider, many of the two-time Olympic gold medalist's compatriots are opposed to the Biden administration's efforts to secure her freedom through negotiating a prisoner exchange with the Kremlin.

And there could be a scientific explanation to why they've sided with a foreign adversary instead of supporting their fellow American.

Griner competed for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics.

Charlie Neibergall/AP

Dani Gilbert, an expert on hostage taking and recovery and a Rosenwald Fellow in US Foreign Policy and International Security at Dartmouth College's John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, told Insider that her research suggests that "how someone came to be in need of assistance affects whether or not the public thinks that person should receive it."

This phenomenon, she said, is called the "deservingness heuristic."

Gilbert used poverty as an example for her explanation. People who believe that poor people are simply unlucky are the ones who are willing to support programs that provide assistance. But those who deem poor people lazy are less likely to support those same programs.

Her research, which she conducted along with a colleague at the University of California San Diego, suggests that that same theory applies to the public perception of hostages and wrongfully detained people. Griner is no exception.

Griner in her defendant's cage during her Russian drug-smuggling trial.

Dmitry Serebryakov/AP Photo

"The fact that the American public might be really focused on the alleged drug possession and the outlandish accusation of drug smuggling might make the American public less willing to pay attention to this case," Gilbert said, adding that the public may also be "less supportive of government efforts to bring her home."

She continued, "That's the kind of dynamic that might really be in play."

"It's unfortunately quite predictable that Americans respond this way," Gilbert added.

Gilbert further explained that personal characteristics could have an effect on the way the public regards Griner's situation: Though "gender tends to be less influential in how the American public and how the media care about, sympathize with, pay attention to Americans who are held hostage abroad" than some other factors, "race is a huge deal here."

Griner.Evgenia Novozhenina/Pool/Reuters

This concept is aptly called "the missing white woman syndrome," Gilbert said.

"A white girl or a white woman who is taken captive or arrested or something like that elicits tons of sympathy from the American public in a way that women and girls of color do not," she explained. Gilbert believed that the fact that Griner is Black "could be a huge part of the lack of attention to her case."

"And then there are other demographic characteristics, including the fact that she is openly gay, that she is gender nonconforming, not traditionally feminine — all of these work against public sympathy for someone in her position," Gilbert added.

Griner's beliefs may also play a role in her perceived deservingness of spending nine years in a Russian penal colony. Though she's not particularly political — having cast her first vote during the 2020 presidential election — she's received serious criticism for her views on the national anthem.

Griner on the bench as the Phoenix Mercury competed in the 2021 WNBA Finals.

Rick Scuteri/AP Photo

"I honestly feel we should not play the National Anthem during our season. I think we should take that much of a stand," Griner told the Arizona Republic in July 2020, when many athletes knelt or stayed off the court when the anthem played in order to protest police brutality and honor Black Americans who were killed by police, including George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

"I don't mean that in any disrespect to our country," she added. "My dad was in Vietnam and a law officer for 30 years. I wanted to be a cop before basketball. I do have pride for my country."

Still, some see Griner as unpatriotic. Gilbert mentioned Facebook comments she saw that basically said, "If you hate the United States so much, how does it feel now?"

Griner behind bars.

Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool/Reuters

"I think that feeds in, in a way, to the whole deservingness thing," Gilbert said. "People decide in their minds, if someone protests or has a particular political persuasion, that that suddenly means that they're not worthy of government assistance."

"What we should really be focused on is the fact that she was wrongfully detained and is sitting in Russian prison in illegitimate arrest," she added. "And that any American in that situation deserves help to come home."

Democrats, Republicans sponsor bill to give thousands of Afghans path to citizenship


Asylum seekers from Afghanistan enter the U.S. at El Chaparral port of entry, in Tijuana


Tue, August 9, 2022 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in both houses of U.S. Congress to establish a path to American citizenship for thousands of Afghan evacuees admitted to the United States on temporary immigration status, the sponsors announced on Tuesday.

The bill also would expand eligibility for Special Immigration Visas (SIVs) beyond Afghans who worked for the U.S. government to those who fought alongside U.S. forces as commandoes and air force personnel, and to women who served in special counterterrorism teams.

Identical versions of the bill were introduced days before the first anniversary of the final U.S. troop withdrawal and the chaotic evacuation operation that ended America's longest war and saw the Taliban overrun Kabul.

"We must keep our commitment to provide safe, legal refuge to those who willingly put their lives on the line to support the U.S. mission in Afghanistan," Democratic Representative Earl Blumenauer, co-sponsor of the House bill with Republican Peter Meijer, said in a statement.

Three minority Republicans, including Senator Lindsey Graham, joined three majority Democrats in introducing an identical version of the Afghanistan Adjustment Act in the thinly divided Senate, enhancing its chances of passage.

Even so, a congressional aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the measure likely will face "resistance" from anti-immigration Republicans.

Many of the 76,000 Afghans flown out in last year's evacuation operation entered the United States on humanitarian parole, a temporary immigration status that typically only lasts up to two years.

The legislation would allow those evacuees to apply for permanent legal status if they submit to additional background checks.

Generally, those Afghans only can gain permanent legal status in the United States by applying for asylum or through SIVs, programs beset by major backlogs.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Sam Holmes)

A Year Later, Afghan Refugees Remain in Legal Limbo as Vets Continue Evacuating Allies Left Behind



Rebecca Kheel
Tue, August 9, 2022

 
d States during the chaotic American military evacuation after the Taliban overran Kabul remain in a legal limbo nearly a year later, unsure whether they will be able to remain in their new country when their temporary immigration status expires soon.

Meanwhile, as the one-year anniversary of the withdrawal approaches, veterans groups have not let up efforts to get out the estimated 78,000 Afghans who aided the 20-year effort but were left behind when the last U.S. troops departed.

A bipartisan, bicameral group of lawmakers is taking initial steps to fix the immigration status of those who did make it out ahead of the U.S. withdrawal, introducing bills in the House and Senate this week to allow the Afghan refugees to permanently stay in the United States.

Supporters are hopeful the bill will become law, but the clock is ticking on both the legislative calendar and the Afghans' immigration status, with the August recess meaning a fix likely can't come in time for Afghans already in the U.S. before some see their legal status expire. The bill also contains several provisions meant to ease ongoing relocations.

"We're hopeful that passing this bill won't be as hard as passing the PACT Act," said Shawn VanDiver, a Navy veteran and president of the #AfghanEvac Coalition, referring to a veterans benefits bill that passed Congress last week after veterans camped outside the U.S. Capitol, protesting for several days straight. "It shouldn't take veterans standing watch in the hot sun to great physical detriment to get people to take action."

Monday will mark the one-year anniversary of Kabul falling to the Taliban, swiftly reversing many of the efforts of the longest war in U.S. history. The Taliban's victory set off a scramble among U.S. officials to evacuate as many vulnerable Afghans as possible before the Biden administration's self-imposed withdrawal deadline of Aug. 31, 2021.

Throngs of Afghans desperate to get onto a U.S. military flight swarmed the Kabul airport, leading to chaotic and heartbreaking scenes, including Afghans who had clung to the side of an American C-17 Globemaster III plummeting to their deaths as the aircraft ascended into the sky. Amid the chaos of the evacuation, the Afghan branch of ISIS carried out a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. troops.

By the time the last American forces departed just before midnight of the withdrawal deadline, more than 76,000 Afghans had been evacuated. Still, the majority of Afghans who worked as interpreters or otherwise helped the U.S. military and are eligible for what's called Special Immigrant Visas, or SIVs, were left behind, with advocates estimating that number was around 78,000 people plus family members.

Work on extracting the Afghans left behind continues. While declining to discuss specific numbers on the record, VanDiver, who meets with State Department officials weekly, said relocations of Afghans are ongoing. He said he's satisfied with the relocation process that's been put in place, but still said more could be done.

"More and faster, that's the best way I can describe it," he said. "I want to see a lot more relocations and a lot faster."

Matt Zeller, co-founder of No One Left Behind, an SIV support organization, said he fears many of those left behind have already been killed, based on anecdotal reports and preliminary results from a survey conducted by two organizations he works with, the Association of Wartime Allies and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

"Just yesterday, an interpreter that I've been trying to get out since the evac -- poor guy who was on the freakin' airfield the night Kabul fell … he texted me just yesterday morning at 11 o'clock in the morning our time to tell me that a friend of his, a former interpreter, had been killed by the Taliban," Zeller said Monday.

Of the Afghans who made it to the United States last August, most were brought under a temporary immigration status known as humanitarian parole, which allows people otherwise ineligible to enter the United States to come into the country temporarily for emergency humanitarian reasons.

Parole does not provide a pathway to apply for legal permanent resident status, more casually known as green cards. Some Afghan refugees were given two years of protection to stay in the United States, but some were given only one -- meaning they have weeks until they technically won't be in the United States legally anymore.

The Afghan Adjustment Act, which was introduced in the House on Tuesday and the Senate on Sunday, would create a streamlined process for the evacuated Afghans to get green cards. The Department of Homeland Security would also have to establish new vetting procedures for the Afghans seeking green cards.

Supporters of the bill have likened it to similar measures passed after other U.S. conflicts, such as for Vietnamese and other South Asian refugees after the fall of Saigon.

"We must keep our commitment to provide safe, legal refuge to those who willingly put their lives on the line to support the U.S. mission in Afghanistan," Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., the lead sponsor of the House bill, said in a statement. "Congress has provided a legal adjustment process for previous wartime evacuations and humanitarian crises and should do so once again, without delay."

The bill also seeks to fix issues with the SIV program, such as the requirement that interviews be conducted at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which no longer exists. Instead, the bill would establish a new State Department office to conduct interviews for visa applicants and carry out other duties that would have otherwise been the responsibility of the embassy. It also creates an "Interagency Task Force on Afghan Ally Strategy" to develop a plan to support SIV and refugee applicants.

The bill would also extend special immigrant status to certain former Afghan troops, including former members of the Afghanistan National Army Special Operations Command, the Afghan Air Force, the Special Mission Wing of Afghanistan and the Female Tactical Teams of Afghanistan.

"Giving them that statutory requirement will make sure that, no matter what happens in politics, that these folks get to realize the American Dream that they've earned," VanDiver said.

The introduction of the stand-alone bills is the most public progress made on the issue since May, when the Biden administration requested Congress include an Afghan Adjustment Act in a Ukraine aid bill. The proposal was left out of that bill amid objections from Republicans.

Supporters of the Afghan Adjustment Act have specifically blamed Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for not signing off on including it in the Ukraine bill. A spokesperson for Grassley did not respond to Military.com's request for comment Tuesday.

Grassley has previously expressed concern about vetting of the Afghan refugees, saying in a statement Friday that Congress "should not even begin to consider proposals related to sweeping immigration status changes for evacuees, such as an Afghan Adjustment Act, until the Biden administration, at the very least, guarantees the integrity of and fully responds to long-standing congressional oversight requests regarding the vetting and evacuee resettlement process."

Supporters of the bill are hopeful for its chances now that it has bipartisan co-sponsors. The House bill is co-sponsored by Reps. Peter Meijer, R-Mich.; House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.; Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.; Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.; Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa; Jason Crow, D-Colo.; Fred Upton, R-Mich.; and Scott Peters, D-Calif. The Senate bill was introduced by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.

But even with bipartisan support, the bill still faces hurdles, including a legislative calendar truncated by election season and with several priorities competing for floor time. Passing the measure before the end of this Congress in January could be done by attaching the measure to a must-pass bill such as one to fund the government when the fiscal year ends Sept. 30, but that is still after some Afghans' immigration status is set to expire at the end of August.

"This is not a matter of immigration. This is a national security issue," Zeller said. "This is down to, are we going to be able to have allies in the future going forward and future wars? Because allies, quite frankly, equals fewer American deaths."

-- Rebecca Kheel can be reached at rebecca.kheel@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @reporterkheel.

Related: 10 Months Later, Afghan Refugees Labor to Build New Lives in US

University professors are afraid. Florida’s crackdown on ‘woke’ academia is already working | Editorial


Pedro Portal/pportal@miamiherald.com

Miami Herald Editorial Board
Wed, August 10, 2022 

Florida’s recent crackdown on academic freedom at public universities and colleges already is having its apparent intended effect — professors are muzzling themselves.

In a story published Tuesday, the Miami Herald spoke to eight professors from four public universities across the state about their concerns about new laws dealing with discussions about race and gender, tenure and “intellectual diversity.”

Two of those professors did not want to be identified. They feared retribution.

Wouldn’t you?

The state government that passed a law to punish one the state’s most powerful and popular corporations — Disney — for being too “woke” wouldn’t think twice before crushing professors for speaking out of term. Since Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republicans like to invoke the dangers of communism so much, we’ll use this tired old line: This is the stuff right out of Fidel Castro’s playbook.

Comparisons to dictators should be used sparingly. But Florida leaders defy reason when they profess to fight for “intellectual diversity” while instilling fear into faculty and inserting the state into classrooms.

Last year, lawmakers passed legislation that requires universities and state colleges to “annually assess the intellectual freedom and viewpoint diversity at that institution” through a survey created by DeSantis-appointed state bureaucrats. One must wonder what his administration will do with the survey results — and we doubt universities won’t pay the price if they are deemed too liberal. The state will compile and publish that information starting on Sept. 1. The new law also allows students to secretly record professors for use in a criminal or civil proceeding.

The point of House Bill 233 is to prevent universities from shielding students from “ideas and opinions that they may find uncomfortable, unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive.” That sounds great on paper. But what “diverse” points of views will professors be forced to entertain? As a University of Florida computer science professor explained to the Herald, could a geography instructor be challenged by a student who believes the Earth is flat?

This new law is only one piece in efforts to reshape education according to an ideological mold. House Bill 7 will regulate classroom instructions on race and gender. Universities risk losing funding, for example, over lessons that may be construed as telling college students they bear responsibility and “must feel guilt, anguish or other forms of psychological distress because of actions committed in the past by other members of the same race, color, sex or national origin.” DeSantis dubbed the law the “Stop WOKE Act,” but it might be best described as the “Snowflake act.”

Another law DeSantis signed in April will make it harder for professors to retain tenure — the job security designed to ensure academic freedom and protect them from retaliation by government officials. Every five years, tenured faculty will have to go through a review by their university’s board of trustees, which could part ways with them. Guess who appoints most of those trustees? Republicans and the governor.

On its face, holding tenured professors accountable and having performance metrics isn’t a bad idea. It’s the timing of this law that raises suspicion that it won’t be used to ensure the best and brightest are teaching but, rather, to cleanse higher education from outspoken faculty.

“It’s all about trying to make these institutions more in line with what the state’s priorities are and, frankly, the priorities of the parents throughout the state of Florida,” DeSantis said when he signed Senate Bill 7044.

How presumptuous of the governor to speak on behalf of all Florida parents. Hard-working families want their children to get a good education, and there’s little to no evidence that colleges are indoctrination camps for the left.

It is DeSantis and his sycophants in the Legislature who have made it a priority to compel educators to toe their partisan ideology. In the process, they risk the reputation of Florida’s university system, one that the state has spent decades and millions of dollars cultivating.

Corporations Pay More, Middle Class Pays Less Under Dem Climate Bill: Analysis


GraphicStock

Michael Rainey
Wed, August 10, 2022 at 5:03 PM·2 min read

The Inflation Reduction Act, which is expected to pass the House later this week before heading to President Joe Biden’s desk to be signed into law, will increase taxes on U.S. corporations while reducing the tax burden on middle-class households, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation.

All told, corporations will pay nearly $296 billion more in taxes over 10 years due to provisions in Democrats’ bill, which is primarily focused on an array of efforts to mitigate climate change. About 75% of that total, or $223 billion, will come from a new 15% minimum income tax on U.S. companies that earn at least $1 billion annually. Most of the rest will come from a new 1% tax on stock buybacks.

High-income households will also pay a bit more due to indirect effects related to stock ownership in large firms, JCT said. Households earning more than $500,000 per year are projected to see their taxes increase by about 1%, even though the legislation does not contain any direct rate increase on households.

On the other hand, households earning less than $100,000 per year will see a new reduction in their aggregate tax burden through 2025, due in large part to an extension of Obamacare subsidies. The bill also includes tax breaks on the purchase of electric vehicles, but otherwise has no direct effect on tax rates.

Corporate tax revenues reduced: The corporate tax provisions were modified at the last minute in the Senate in order to win the support of Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), reducing the amount of revenue the bill is expected to bring in. Sinema effectively killed a provision that would have tightened the carried-interest tax loophole, which allows private equity investors to pay a lower tax rate on some of their investment income, reducing overall revenue produced by the legislation by $14 billion. Sinema also successfully lobbied to narrow the new 15% minimum corporate income tax to reduce its effect on manufacturers.

To make up for the lost revenues, lawmakers added a provision that will limit the size of losses claimed by the owners

Florida's 'Don't Say Gay' law fuels anti-LGBTQ hate online

Yesterday 

Research that analyzed social media posts finds that hateful references to gays, lesbians and other LGBTQ people surged online after Florida passed a law that bars instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

References to pedophiles and “ grooming ” rose by more than 400 percent in the month after Florida's “Don't Say Gay” measure was approved, according to a report released Wednesday by the Human Rights Campaign, one of the nation's largest LGBTQ advocacy groups, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a nonprofit group that tracks online extremism.

The measure, passed by the Florida Legislature on March 8 and signed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on March 28, says school teachers cannot discuss gender identity or sexual orientation with their young students. Supporters have said decisions about talking about sexual orientation should be left to parents, not teachers.

Critics have said the law sends a hateful message about LGBTQ people.

The researchers who compiled the report found that the 500 most-viewed tweets that mentioned “grooming” were viewed more than 72 million times between January and July.


Influential conservatives drove much of the increase, the researchers found, through their own posts or by liking or forwarding posts from others. They include U.S. Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., and DeSantis' press secretary, Christina Pushaw, who was criticized for a social media post in March that compared criticism of the bill to pedophilia itself.

“If you’re against the Anti-Grooming Bill, you are probably a groomer or at least you don’t denounce the grooming,” Pushaw tweeted.

In response to questions about the report, Pushaw said the Human Rights Campaign and other critics of Florida's new law are the ones linking it to LGBTQ people.

“There are groomers of all sexual orientations and gender identities. My tweets did not mention LGBTQ people at all,” she wrote in an emailed statement.

The authors of the report warn that the increased anti-LGBTQ rhetoric is inciting hatred that could lead to violence. They say social media platforms must do more to enforce their own policies on hate speech. Researchers said they reported 100 of the most hateful tweets they saw to Twitter. Only one was removed.

“Online hate and lies reflect and reinforce offline violence and hate," said Imran Ahmed, CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate. “The normalization of anti-LGBTQ+ narratives in digital spaces puts LGBTQ+ people in danger.”

Messages left with Twitter, Boebert and Greene were not immediately returned.

David Klepper, The Associated Press

Kindergartner in Louisiana allegedly forced out of school because her parents are a same-sex couple

Antonio Planas - Yesterday 

A married same-sex couple in Louisiana was allegedly told their newly adopted daughter could not attend kindergarten at a religious school because of their “lifestyle choices.”

Emily and Jennie Parker said they learned on Saturday they needed to find a new school for their 5-year-old daughter, Zoey, because their marriage didn’t adhere to the teachings at the Bible Baptist Academy in DeQuincy, they told NBC News Wednesday during a phone interview.

“Because of our lifestyle choices, we wouldn’t be a good fit for the school,” Jennie Parker, 31, said they were told during a meeting with a pastor and the school’s director.

Emily Parker, 28, said during the meeting only two days before the school year was set to begin, the pastor told her Bible Baptist Academy was a religious-based institution that taught more than just academics. She says he told her marriage is between a man and a woman only and that is what was taught at the school.

Zoey attended pre-school at the school last year and had many friends there and loved her teachers, the couple said.

No one with the Bible Baptist Academy was immediately reached on Wednesday. According to a statement posted on the school’s website:

“At BBA, we are committed to instructing and living in accordance with the teachings of Scripture. We believe that the Bible teaches that every life has value and that there is dignity in all of us because we have been created in the image of God. The Bible also teaches us to love everyone with the love of God despite their personal choices. We strive to teach this to the students who attend. We encourage them to show love and compassion to everyone,” the school said. “As a Baptist academy, we are also committed to provide an environment that is consistent with the beliefs that we hold. We want our students to not only know our beliefs, but we want them to see them as well. Regarding personal relationships, we hold that those relationships, whether in dating or in marriage, should be between a man and a woman.”

The school also said in the statement, “There are times where our commitment to upholding our Christian values will not line up with the values of other people. This should not be interpreted that we have any hatred or malice toward them.”

Emily Parker, who is Zoey’s biological aunt, adopted the 5-year-old on Aug. 3 after Zoey’s father died at 22 following an accident at his job in September 2020, she said.

The Parkers have been married since 2016.

When they were told why their daughter could not attend school at the Bible Baptist Academy, Emily Parker said she was insulted and slightly embarrassed.

“We’ve never been confronted so bluntly about our relationship,” she said. “Our love, our marriage, has always felt natural. Our families have always made us feel like we are two people who love each other. This was a big slap in the face.”

She added that as a private school, school administrators can apparently determine who can go there. However, “They don’t get to discriminate quietly,” Emily Parker said.

The couple said in hindsight, they are glad their daughter is not being taught at the Bible Baptist Academy.

Since the weekend meeting with school officials, the couple said public and private schools have reached out to them.

Jennie Parker said their treatment has not shaken their faith in Christianity. In fact, the opposite occurred.

“There are good Christians out there. The whole community of DeQuincy has showed us what it is to be a good Christian and to not preach hate like this,” she said. “They are the reason why we kept faith.”

Zoey was enrolled this week in the Hamilton Christian School in Lake Charles, her parents said.

This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.

Remote worker's blistering rant at Microsoft Teams being a 'narc' is something to behold

Working remotely has been widely embraced since the pandemic, but it does have its challenges.

 Credit: TikTok/@justapersondoinstuff

Jeff Parsons - Yesterday 

Metro

One of which is – at least for one worker – managing the demands of Microsoft Teams from home.

TikTok user @justapersondoinstuff, vented her frustration at the app for a full minute. In a post captioned ‘Daily rage post’, she branded Teams a ‘narc’ and a ‘snitch’.

‘I don’t have many problems. F****** Microsoft is 100% of them,’ she complains.

The main problem seems to come from the fact Microsoft Teams will automatically switch your status from ‘Available’ to ‘Away’ when you lock your computer or it enters idle or sleep mode.

There is a way to set your Teams status to always available, but nobody appears to have made that clear.

Described as the ‘worst part of working in the corporate world’, she pleads to just be able to ‘set my thing as “Available” for the next two hours because I’m here. I’m literally right here.’

Aside from having to be at her computer all the time, the TikToker says Microsoft Teams makes it difficult to find documents.

Her comments may have resonated with others as the video picked up over 45,000 views with many leaving similar grievances in the comments.

Warning: bad language

Despite these inevitable technical hiccups, it seems more people than ever want the option to work remotely.

The proportion of job searches on Indeed by candidates looking for remote work has risen tenfold since before the pandemic, with the UK seeing one of the biggest rise in vacancies offering remote work out of all countries.


A lot of remote workers will be familiar with Microsoft Teams (Credit: Microsoft 365)

One in ten job adverts now offer remote working options – nearly four times more than did so pre-Covid.

Just make sure you’re happy with Microsoft Teams before you attend the (virtual) job interview.

PEACENOW!

WATCH: Israeli soldier, Palestinian kids' dance battle goes TikTok viral

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF - Yesterday 

A dance-off between Israeli soldier and Palestinian children went viral on TikTok after being posted on Tuesday.

© (photo credit: Screenshot/TikTok)Screenshot of the viral TikTok Video featuring a dance battle between and Israeli soldier and Palestinians.

The video entitled "The Israeli/Palestinian conflict in 2022" shows two Palestinian children in a field outside of Jenin dancing, and an IDF soldier returning the moves to the music of Simple Plan's I'm Just a Kid.

"At the beginning of June, we were reinforcing the Jenin area, and in the area of the [security] fence that separates between Israel and Judea and Samaria while I was at my post, we saw from a distance Arabs approaching the fence, seeing us looking back at them," IDF reservist Yal Hadok, a 21-year-old Kfar Sabah resident who immigrated from France, told N12. "Suddenly, I turned back and saw two kids starting to dance behind me, so I danced back."



Hadok uploaded the video in response to Operation Breaking Dawn, which ended in a ceasefire on Sunday.

Related video: ‘Israel’s terrorism in Gaza’: Pak PM, Imran Khan & Taliban slam IDF airstrikes on Palestinians View on Watch

"It's important to show that we're human beings and don't hate each other. I don't believe that the nations on both sides want war," Hadok told N12.

The dancing soldier told N12 that he didn't expect the video to gain such popularity. By Wednesday, the video racked up over 271,000 views and was liked almost 50,000 times.

"If this doesn't solve the conflict, what will?"TikTok comment
Responses to TikTok video

"If this doesn't solve the conflict, what will?" asked one Israeli commenter.

"This was so wholesome," said another commenter.

Others noted that some of the dances were from the video game Fortnite, in which game avatars can "emote" dances during gameplay. Some said that Fortnite could bring world peace.

Hadok told N12 that "It was heartwarming to see the reactions. I'm a very positive person and hope that someday there will be peace in the world."

Ontario class action settlement reclassifies volunteers as employees, setting new precedent

Farrah Merali - 

More than four years after the launch of a class action lawsuit against a company that ran student travel excursions, an Ontario court has approved a settlement between the organization and former trip leaders who argued they were not paid as employees.

The suit alleged trip leaders with travel firm S-Trip were classified as volunteers while leading student trips, but in reality were doing the work of employees.

The firm's Toronto-based parent company — I Love Travel — has now agreed to a $450,000 settlement and to reclassify staff on future trips as employees rather than volunteers.

"I was very relieved, very happy for it … just knowing that something can be changed that is going to impact others and not just myself," said D'Andra Montaque, the lead plaintiff on the case who led a student trip to Cuba in 2017.

The settlement was approved by an Ontario Superior Court judge on June 27, 2022, according to court documents.

The case is a victory for Montaque and other former trip leaders who are now eligible to be compensated for the work they did. As the first class action litigation of its kind in Canada, the case has the potential to impact employment law moving forward, the judge who presided over the litigation said.

Some experts say we can expect to hear more cases like this and the settlement is a sign that the courts are adapting to the new realities of some workplaces.

'It takes a lot of courage'

The class action suit followed a 2017 CBC Toronto investigative story about the company's labour practices that detailed how college-age students and recent graduates were explicitly told to expect 14-hour workdays, yet signed a contract that designated them a volunteer.

Montaque told CBC Toronto in 2018 her only payment for more than a week of work was an honorarium of $150; more than half was used to pay for her S-Trip uniform.

"I knew that I wasn't alone in my experience, and I wanted to see if I could do something that would help others feel like they can also take that step forward in similar situations that may arise," Montaque said this week.

"It's a really great feeling."

According to Montaque's lawyer, Joshua Mandryk with Goldblatt Partners LLP in Toronto, there are 1,170 class members on record. A notice will go out to them; anyone who led a trip between June 3, 2014, and Oct. 23, 2020, will be eligible to file a claim for compensation.

The amount of money trip leaders will be entitled to depends on a number of factors, including how many former staff put in a claim for compensation and how many trips they took. Mandryk said it's estimated that the compensation should cover the equivalent of eight hours of work a day for each trip a claimant took.

As a labour lawyer, Mandryk said he handles many of these types of cases, but what stands out about this one is that the company actually agreed to change its policies.

"I thought it was really significant and a really positive development to be able to get a class action settlement that actually results in people being reclassified on a go forward basis."

Mandryk believes the case will send a message to workers and employers that there is recourse for employment misclassifications. He acknowledged it's not always easy for workers to push back.


© Laura Pedersen/CBC News

Joshua Mandryk with Goldblatt Partners LLP is one of the lawyers who worked on the class action suit representing D'Andra Montaque.

"It takes a lot of courage. And that's especially the case like in D'Andra's situation, where she was a young worker, she was just starting her career off just finishing school when this class action was launched in 2018," said Mandryk.

"To come forward in those circumstances and to achieve what she was able to achieve — we're just tremendously proud of what's happened here."

CBC News reached out to I Love Travel for comment on the settlement but did not receive a response.

First in Canada

In the settlement approval, the Ontario Superior Court judge noted the case was a "novel one" and the result was "somewhat groundbreaking."

"This is the first volunteer misclassification class action in Canada, and will have a significant impact on employment law going forward," wrote Justice Edward Morgan.

The executive director of the Workers' Action Centre told CBC Toronto it welcomes the settlement decision.

"I think what's really important for people to remember is that you cannot sign away your rights," said Deena Ladd.

"You can still get support. You can still challenge those working conditions."

Ladd said they're hearing about more and more worker misclassification cases — in particular, cases around workers being classified as independent contractors rather than employees.

"Employers are trying to shed their responsibility to be an employer," said Ladd.

Sunira Chaudhri, a partner at the employment law firm Workly who was not involved in the litigation, believes the settlement sends a clear message.

"This is a warning. This is a shot being made at employers that are trying to engage or take advantage of this vehicle of hiring interns or volunteers at no pay," said Chaudri.

The lawyer called the decision "a breath of fresh air" because you don't often see cases like these involving volunteers and young people challenging their employer.

"This might be the future of where employment law is going in some respects … because employment is beginning to look a lot different these days. Whether you are an intern, whether you're a gig worker, work is work," said Chaudhri.

"And the legal system is clearly catching up with how to provide remedies to workers who may not be in traditional employment relationships."

It’s our duty to protect Great Lakes: groups remain united against Line 5 pipeline


Efforts to protect the Great Lakes from a Line 5 oil spill disaster are first and foremost about the water. Opponents of Enbridge’s pipeline shared the latest news on the battle over the future of the 69-year-old pipeline in a live webinar July 28. Despite Enbridge’s best legal, political and media efforts, people in the Great Lakes continue to unite around water, said Liz Kirkwood, executive director of FLOW (For Love of Water). “It’s in our DNA. We instinctively know that they are part of our common heritage to enjoy and protect, and to pass on to our children and grandchildren.”

Whitney Gravelle is president of the executive council of the Bay Mills Indian Community. Tribal nations have very distinct political and legal status in their relationship with the United States government, she explained. They are independent, sovereign nations and are treated as such under the United States constitution. The 1836 Treaty of Washington covers a vast area including 14 million acres of land and 13 million acres of water and provides the continued right of signatory tribes to fish, hunt and gather in the area affected by Line 5, but there is also a cultural component of treaty rights, tied to the creation story and the Straits of Mackinac, said Ms. Gravelle.

The Straits are a sacred place, a vital place to the continued existence of North America, which points to a duty to preserve and protect the Straits of Mackinac and the Great Lakes.

Zach Welcker, legal director for Flow, finds hope in the alignment of the Michigan tribes against Line 5 and Enbridge’s proposed tunnel under the Straits but acknowledged, “It’s a tough battle to go up against a well-financed corporation like Enbridge that has pretty much unlimited resources.”

Legal battles are currently occurring on two fronts. There is litigation underway seeking to shut down the existing pipeline as well as administrative proceedings associated with the proposed tunnel project. Litigation has been ongoing since 2019, when Wisconsin’s Bad River Band filed suit in U.S. federal court to force Enbridge to remove the portion of Line 5 that crosses its reservation. Enbridge in turn claimed entitlement to occupy, based on an easement granted by the state of Michigan that expired in 2013. Enbridge’s director of operations, Midwest region was quoted as saying, “We are currently operating in trespass as they spelled out in their lawsuit.”

A summary judgement is expected later this month, with a trial scheduled for October if needed.

That easement in the Bad River Band case is itself the subject of litigation. Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel and Governor Gretchen Whitmer have both asked the court to declare the easement void and revocable, and to issue a permanent injunction for an orderly shutdown. Enbridge responded by filing cross-motions to dismiss, and to have the matter remanded to federal court. The matters remain before the courts.

Enbridge has sought authority from Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) under Act 16 to construct and operate its tunnel project. The threshold issue here is the lack of public trust authorization to occupy the Straits’ bottom lands, said Mr. Welcker. FLOW believes it would be premature for MPSC to make a decision without the state’s authorization to occupy the land.

Under Act 16, Enbridge must demonstrate public need for the project, that the route is reasonable, and the proposed tunnel would meet or exceed safety and engineering standards. On July 7, an MPSC order sent the matter back to the courts for further consideration of pipeline routing and safety and engineering concerns.

Mr. Weckler said it’s good that MPSC is taking a serious look at those concerns, but when looking only at the existing pipeline, there’s no focus on the tunnel’s impacts relative to climate change or new risk. “It’s not so good in that it suggests MPSC is going to look at the risk of the proposed tunnel project relative to the risk of the existing pipeline instead of relative to the risk of there not being a pipeline to begin with, which would potentially make it easier for Enbridge to diminish impacts or for MPSC to conclude the impacts aren’t quite as great as they will be,” Mr. Welcker said.

MPSC failed to comment on the issue of authorization to occupy the Strait bottom lands or concerns related to Michigan’s Environmental Protection Act (MEPA). The hearing will likely resume in April 2023.

Enbridge is spending a lot of advertising dollars to garner support for its project, said Sean McBearty, campaign coordinator for Oil and Gas Don’t Mix, and legislative and policy director at Michigan Clean Water Action. In 2021, the corporation spent $78 million on television and digital ads in Michigan alone, in an effort to stall the “inevitable fate of Line 5 to shut down,” he said. “The longer they stall the longer they can make profits pumping oil through this outdated and dangerous pipeline.”

If Line 5 is ordered to shut down, it would be the first time a pipeline is shut down for environmental reasons, which would be precedent setting and could have implications for other oil and gas pipeline infrastructure projects.

With it being an election year in the U.S., there are political implications for Line 5 as well. Republican candidates in Michigan have said they would drop any ongoing attempt to force the shutdown of Line 5 and most would use the power of government to hasten the process of building Enbridge’s tunnel.

Canada also continues its support for Enbridge, invoking the 1977 Transit Pipeline Treaty (see ‘Canada intervenes in favour of Enbridge Inc’s Line 5 pipeline’ in The Manitoulin Expositor, October 13, 2021); however, Canada has taken an overly broad understanding of the treaty, Mr. McBearty said. The treaty has never been invoked so there is no precedent on its interpretation, but the fourth article of the treaty is all about how relevant government authorities, like states and provinces, are able to regulate the transport of hydrocarbons in order to protect the environment. “The state is not saying to Canada, you can’t move hydrocarbons across the border through Michigan. Michigan is saying you can’t do it through this ancient, dangerous pipeline.”

How dangerous can it be? Ms. Gravelle used the example of a recent mechanical oil spill by Algoma Steel in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario into the St. Mary’s River that went undetected for several hours. Bay Mills was not made aware of the spill until 1 pm or 2 pm and immediately deployed booms and began monitoring the area and weather conditions. “At that point it had actually traversed quite an expansive area before it could be fully addressed,” she said.

Due to the nature of the substance, it was allowed to naturally dissipate, Ms. Gravelle said. “They left it alone, saying it will degrade over a week or two in time.”

What was equally frustrating, she said, is that Bay Mills received notification from NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) regarding potential long-term aquatic impacts from the spill. “There was a report that says there could be long-term aquatic impacts but we don’t know what those are.”

People were advised to stay out of the water for several weeks but questions remain. Should fish from that area be consumed? It’s something they’re still trying to figure out, Ms. Gravelle said.

That was just a small spill, estimated at 2,300 to 5,000 gallons of mechanical oil. “That’s nothing compared to what will happen to Line 5 whether in water or on land, especially given that the dual pipelines site at the bottom of the water in the Straits of Mackinac,” she said. “For us to even have detection on the surface level, it has to travel through all of that water before we even detect it.”

It’s extremely important that people remain engaged, said Ms. Gravelle. “I truly believe that if we stay united in our purpose of why we’re involved in this fight, which is really about protecting the Great Lakes, protecting the water, protecting lifeways, then that message will continue to ring true no matter who you speak with. When I bring anyone to the Great Lakes and we’re standing on the shore of Lake Superior or Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, to be surrounded by the beauty and the power that exists in these places is more than enough to remind people of why we also need to respect these things and protect them.”

Lori Thompson, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Manitoulin Expositor