Canadian Housing Correction Accelerates, Prices Seen Falling 25%


Ari Altstedter
Thu, August 11, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Canadian homes could lose as much as a quarter of their value as market declines set off by rapidly rising interest rates play out much faster than anticipated, according to Desjardins Securities Inc.

After hitting a peak in February, average home prices in Canada are now expected to fall as much as 25% by the end of next year, economists Randall Bartlett, Helene Begin and Marc Desormeaux said in a report Thursday, with both the declines so far and the rate hikes driving them already out-pacing previous forecasts.

An unprecedented boom over the course of the pandemic drove Canadian home values to record levels, but they’ve reversed just as fast since the Bank of Canada began raising interest rates in March to prevent the broader economy from overheating. While the declines so far have been sharpest in markets with the biggest pandemic run-ups, mainly Toronto and the communities around it, signs are emerging that the weakness is now spreading across the country too.

Royal Bank of Canada has predicted this will be the biggest real-estate correction Canada has seen in at least 40 years. National sales and price data for July are due next week, with Toronto already reporting a 3.9% decline in its home-price index on the month -- capping its worst four-month drop since 2005.

Nevertheless, because the increases the previous two years were so dramatic, average prices should still end 2023 higher than they were before the pandemic, according to the Desjardins economists.

“Canada’s housing market is correcting quickly, and faster than we anticipated,” Bartlett, the firm’s senior director of Canadian economics, and his colleagues said. “While we don’t want to diminish the difficulties some Canadians are facing, this adjustment is helping to bring some sanity back to Canadian real estate. Many markets are returning to balance, and affordability is on track to gradually improve as prices fall.”

Several killed as Somaliland protesters clash with police

Thu, August 11, 2022 

Several people were killed and dozens wounded on Thursday after police opened fire on anti-government demonstrators in several towns in the breakaway Somali region of Somaliland, opposition party members and witnesses said.

Hundreds of people took to the streets in the capital Hargeisa and the cities of Burao and Erigavo after negotiations between the government and opposition parties broke down, with the latter accusing the authorities of seeking to delay a presidential election due in November.

Protesters carried placards saying "Hold the election on 13th November 2022" and chanting anti-government slogans.

"Peace can only prevail in Somaliland with the provision of fair and free elections, let those who defend democracy prevail," Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, the leader of the main opposition Waddani party, told a crowd in Hargeisa.

One protest organiser, Ahmed Ismail, told AFP that three people including a woman were killed in Hargeisa, and 34 others admitted to hospital.

"Several people including one of the security guards of our party leader were killed, we are still investigating the overall fatalities which can be higher," a Waddani member told AFP, requesting anonymity.

One person died in Erigavo during clashes between the protesters and police, eyewitness Abdullahi Mohamud said.

"The police tried to stop the demonstrators from reaching the main intersection of Erigavo town but the determined protesters overran their blockades," he said.

"We will not stop these demonstrations... until the president (Muse Bihi Abdi) announces he is ready for the election," said Heybe Adan, one of the protesters.

- 'Atrocities' -

In a press conference late Thursday, Waddani leader Abdullahi accused the government of committing "atrocities" against the protesters.

"This was a peaceful demonstration and we have led people who carried only placards and whistles, but the government has committed violations by using excessive power, live bullets, tear gas," he said.

The unrest has sparked worry among some Western nations, with the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Denmark and others releasing a joint statement expressing concern about "reports of public disorder and the excessive use of force" during Thursday's protests.

"We call upon all sides to ensure that both the demonstrations and police response are peaceful and follow the rule of law," the statement said, urging all parties to hold talks and "reach consensus on a roadmap for elections."

The poll is scheduled for November 13, but the opposition has voiced concern that the government is dragging its feet over preparations.

The government's decision to register new political parties ahead of the election also angered Waddani and the opposition Justice and Welfare party (UCID) over fears it will dilute support for them.

The former British protectorate declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but the move has not been recognised by the international community, leaving the Horn of Africa region of about four million people poor and isolated.

Somaliland has however remained relatively stable while Somalia has been wracked by decades of civil war, political violence and an Islamist insurgency.

nur/amu/kjm

Iowa motorist accused of hitting abortion rights protester

Wed, August 10, 2022 

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — An Iowa man faces two criminal charges accusing him of driving his vehicle through a group of abortion rights protestors in Cedar Rapids in June and striking a woman before driving away, court documents posted online Wednesday said.

David Alan Huston, 53, of Swisher, is charged with assault with a dangerous weapon — a vehicle — and leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, according to the court documents.

There is no evidence to indicate the crash was politically motivated, Black Hawk County Attorney Brian Williams said in a statement. He said there also is no evidence that any protestors acted aggressively.

Huston did not immediately return messages Wednesday seeking comment on the charges, and online court records did not yet list an attorney for him.

A group organized by Indivisible Iowa and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa were protesting in front of the federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids to support abortion access after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that make abortion legal nationwide.

Iowa law bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. The state Supreme Court in June cleared the way for stricter limits when it reversed an earlier court decision that found the Iowa Constitution guaranteed the right to abortion. The Republican governor has promised to work through the courts to revive a six-week ban that was previously blocked.

Video of the June 24 crash shows protesters were crossing a street when a large pickup drove through the group, even as other vehicles waited for them to cross, Williams said in a statement. Protesters tried to to stop the pickup by blocking its path, resulting in one woman being struck. Court documents do not indicate the extent of her injuries.

Huston “then left the scene without any attempt to exchange information,” court documents say.

The crash happened in Linn County, but prosecutors asked a judge to shift the case to Black Hawk County due to a potential conflict of interest.

 Billionaire Mark Cuban Takes Surprise Stance on Controversial New Tax

The entrepreneur Mark Cuban just took a stand in a debate that's hotly controversial in business circles and Congress.

BY LUC OLINGA


No subject is more controversial in economic circles right now than taxes. Tensions heighten even more when the specific subject is a new tax aimed at businesses.

Simply put, the business community hates taxes.

No surprise, then, that last week, when the U.S. Senate agreed to a 1% tax on share buybacks as a way to partly finance President Joe Biden's climate and health-care bill, the proposed measure prompted a lot of debate. Opinion on the benefits and disadvantages of buybacks is sharply split.

The House is expected to vote on the bill this week.

Enter Mark Cuban, one of the most listened-to and admired entrepreneurs.

The "Shark Tank" star has never made a secret of his aversion to share buybacks. He says buybacks "are not good for most employees of the companies that do" them.

Cuban reiterated his dislike of share buybacks in a lengthy exchange, consisting of multiple tweets on Twitter, with Norbert J. Michel, vice president and director of the Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives at the libertarian think tank Cato Institute.
Buybacks Reward Holders Who Want to Sell

"A little-appreciated fact is that most repurchased shares either go to employees, who later sell to investors, or are acquired to reduce equity dilution after employees have sold stock," Michel tweeted on Aug. 10. Michel commented on a Wall Street Journal column titled "The Virtues of Stock Buybacks."

"Why not just buy back shares from those employees and eliminate their pricing risk when they sell?" Cuban commented.

"They could do both (compensate with shares and buy shares from them later?)?" Michel responded.

"But they rarely buy those shares directly from employees," Cuban argued. "And employees can't time their sales to the announcement. So the emps who can least afford the risk and may be the least financially literate, own all pricing risk when they are able to or need to sell."

Share buybacks, also called stock repurchases, are one of the ways in which a company shares its financial successes with shareholders.

In a buyback, as the name suggests, a company buys its own shares in the market. Such moves reduce the company's shares outstanding and increase the proportionate stakes of the shareholders. They are also seen as a way for the company to invest in itself.

Cuban says share buybacks reward shareholders who want to sell all or part of their holdings. He calls buybacks "the epitome of financial engineering."
'I Would Have Made the Tax 2%'

"Buybacks, IMHO [in my humble opinion], are everything wrong with what companies do. It's a response to pressure from big investors, to CSuite who want to engineer EPS [earnings per share], to try to goose the stock, to hit bonuses," the billionaire blasted out.

He says that "there are no good taxes," but he seems to think that the new tax can be justified and he explains why: "[When] Congress sees financial engineering, and it's to the exclusion of a significant number of stakeholders, of all the bad taxes, taxing buybacks rockets to the top of the list."

He added:

"If it were my call, I would have created an exemption to the tax that said if all employees receive shares at an equal ratio to their W2 + Kx pay, then no tax," Cuban argued.

"But we know few CEOs would accept that," he said.

He suggests that Congress should've doubled the announced tax on share buybacks.

"So I would have made the tax 2% 🙂" the billionaire said.

"I think a tax on buybacks is a good idea, actually," Cuban repeated in a phone interview with CNBC on Aug. 11. "I don't have a problem with that at all. In fact, I think it's a good idea."

The proposed stock-buyback tax would take effect in 2023. That, some analysts say, could spur a buyback frenzy for the rest of 2022, which could boost the markets.

In 2021, S&P 500 share repurchases totaled $883 billion, 73% more than the $511 billion distributed as dividends, according to some estimates. Unlike dividends, share buybacks lift earnings per share by reducing share counts. They also allow investors to defer or avoid paying taxes. 

 

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.