PRISON NATION U$A

Black man wrongfully convicted of New Orleans rape at age 17 is exonerated decades later: "I'm just ready to live"


AUGUST 26, 2022 

A Black man wrongfully convicted as a teenager for a New Orleans rape more than 36 years ago was ordered freed Thursday after a judge threw out his conviction.

Sullivan Walter, now 53, used a handkerchief to wipe away tears as a state district judge formally vacated his conviction for a home-invasion rape. Judge Darryl Derbigny expressed anger that blood and semen evidence that could have cleared him never made it to to the jury.

"To say this was unconscionable is an understatement," Derbigny told Walter. Sullivan Walter, 53, left, holds a shirt near Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, La., with, left to right, his brothers Joseph Walter, and Byron Walter, Sr., and Innocence Project New Orleans legal director Richard Davis, just after his release on Thursday, Aug. 25, 2022.TRAVIS SPRADLING/THE ADVOCATE VIA AP

After appearing in court in New Orleans, Walter was driven to Elayn Hunt Correctional Center in St. Gabriel, where he was officially released.

"I'm just ready to live," Walter said Thursday evening, after he was released from prison, according to NOLA.com. "I just want to live an honest, free life."

District Attorney Jason Williams' office joined with defense attorneys working with Innocence Project New Orleans, a criminal justice advocacy group, to have the conviction vacated.

Walter was 17 when he was arrested in connection with the New Orleans rape. The rapist had entered the home of the victim, identified in the record as L.S., in May 1986, held a knife to her throat and threatened to harm her 8-year-old son, who slept through the incident.

Emily Maw, an attorney with Williams' office, outlined the problems in the case in court, noting there were reasons to believe the victim, the only witness, had mistakenly identified Walter.

"There were some red flags that the eyewitness testimony could well have been unreliable," Maw told Derbigny.

Those "red flags" had been spelled out in a joint filing by the defense and prosecutors ahead of Thursday's hearing.

"In this case, L.S. was being asked to make a cross-racial identification of someone who at all the times that she could observe him was either masked, in an unlit room at night, and/or threatening her not to look at him. In addition, L.S. was not shown a photo array containing Mr. Walter until over six weeks after the crime," the motion said.

More significantly, no evidence was presented about Walter's blood characteristics that did not match the semen collected from the victim after the rape.

The filing also recounts years of errors by Walter's previous attorneys, including failing to point out conflicting statements by a police officer who worked on the case and missteps during the appeal process regarding the blood and semen evidence.

When he was cleared Thursday, Walter had been serving a total sentence of 39 years - four for a burglary charge unrelated to the rape case, and 35 years for multiple charges in the rape case.

Attorneys said the victim in the rape is now deceased. Maw said in court that authorities had reached out to the victim's son, who was not present, and that he had expressed regret on behalf of his mother about the wrongful conviction.

Innocence Project New Orleans Legal Director Richard Davis said Walter's race was a factor in the wrongful conviction.

"The lawyers and law enforcement involved acted as if they believed that they could do what they chose to a Black teenager from a poor family and would never be scrutinized or held to account," Davis said in a written statement. "This is not just about individuals and their choices, but the systems that let them happen."

Walter's lockup marks the fifth longest of any juvenile in the U.S., NOLA.com reported, citing the National Registry of Exonerations.

Joe Lugon, the longest-serving juvenile in the U.S., was released from prison last year after serving nearly seven decades for crimes he committed when he was 15.

SELF REGULATION DOES NOT WORK

Editorial: Social media must self-police for violence to preserve its unique value
2022/08/26

Icons for social media apps on a smartphone. - Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Congressional Democrats are demanding that social media companies do a better job of policing threats against the FBI in the wake of the agency’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence for classified documents that he took from the White House. The issue presents a crucial test of those companies’ ability to weed out dangerous speech without trampling on the First Amendment.

If the companies don’t respond transparently to these demands and make a stronger effort than they are currently making to detoxify their sites, they risk losing the unique protections they enjoy under federal law. That, in turn, would put at risk even legitimate online discourse.

Social media has transformed America in many positive ways. But the same internet megaphones that spread useful information and empathy can also spread disinformation and violence. Russian trolls may well have helped swing the 2016 presidential election to Trump. Four years later, Trump himself, and his most virulent supporters, used social media to incite and coordinate the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection.

The court-sanctioned search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this month for documents the former president was refusing to return to the government wasn’t the illegitimate “raid” or “siege” that Trump made it out to be on social media. But some of Trump’s less stable fans out there — no doubt encouraged by the many elected Republicans who have obediently echoed Trump’s self-serving grievance — picked up that theme and ran with it.

On Twitter, Facebook, Trump’s Truth Social network and others, they’ve called for violence against FBI agents and even civil war. One Trump supporter who apparently posted such screeds tried to get into an FBI field office in Ohio with weapons and was later killed after a standoff with police. A Pennsylvania man was arrested after his posts declared “open season” on FBI agents.

The First Amendment protects even noxious speech — but not speech that directly foments violence. Social media companies, unlike newspapers and other traditional media, are generally protected from legal action when such speech appears on their sites. That protection, contained in Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, is a recognition that a site such as Twitter can’t realistically police every post for threats in the way a traditional newspaper can check every letter to the editor before publication.

Without that protection, it’s unlikely such sites could continue to function. Which makes it all the more crucial that Twitter and the others beef up their screening efforts to remove threats of violence and to report them to law enforcement when appropriate. That’s the trade-off for their legal protection, and if they don’t earn it with responsible behavior, there are critics in Congress ready to take that protection away. With that in mind, it’s not only in the companies’ interest to cooperate in these inquiries but also in the broader interests of the social media-using public.

———

© St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Editorial: Biden is right to fortify DACA, but America needs a legislative solution

2022/08/26

Zoe Lofgren, D- Calif., left, join DACA recipients and other lawmakers at an event celebrating the 10th anniversary of DACA, at the U.S. Capitol on June 15, 2022, in Washington, D.C.. - Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images North America/TNS

There’s hardly been a more consequential law for immigration policy over the past several years than the Administrative Procedure Act, which has been used against both the Trump and Biden administrations to great effect by those charging that the federal government is making decisions capriciously.

Among the policies in the crosshairs has been Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the Obama-era executive program that since 2012 has offered hundreds of thousands of young people brought illegally into the country as children the opportunity to secure work authorization and be shielded from deportation.

In its more than 10 years of existence, DACA has been the subject of constant litigation and barely held on until, last July, Trump-appointed Texas federal Judge Andrew Hanen — quickly becoming a go-to hatchet man for conservatives hoping to nix Biden priorities — ruled it unconstitutional, allowing current enrollees to renew applications but blocking additional enrollments, and setting up the eventual termination of the policy.

Hanen decided that, when Obama’s Department of Homeland Security first issued the memo establishing DACA, it did so without observing proper rule-making procedures. Biden has now neutralized this argument by putting a new, formal federal rule reestablishing the DACA program through an extensive notice-and-comment period, crossing all the t’s and dotting all the i’s. Its structure is the exact same as the existing DACA policy, but it now has the much more solid backing of being part of the nation’s official regulatory framework.

This should help the program clear legal obstacles, but it’s not enough. The administration must be prepared to keep defending it all the way up to the Supreme Court while continuing to put pressure on lawmakers to finally codify a version of the DREAM Act into law, offering not just DACA’s temporary protections but a full path to citizenship for people for whom the United States is and will always be home, including for the many children who have arrived since the original supposed stopgap program went into effect. That’s the answer truest to our common values: treating hardworking, law-abiding immigrants as fellow Americans.

———

© New York Daily News

Commentary: To the people mad about Biden forgiving student loans: You’re wrong, get over yourselves

2022/08/26

President Joe Biden greets guests after disembarking from Marine One, returning to the White House from Rehoboth, Delaware, on the South Lawn of the White House on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022, in Washington, DC.

 - Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times/TNS

I attended an extremely poor, extremely diverse high school in Sacramento where we were constantly told that attending college was the only way to pull ourselves out of poverty and reach the middle class. But the only way to afford the ridiculous cost of even community college or a state school was via loans so predatory that they all but ensured we would never be able to pull ourselves out of debt.

President Joe Biden’s plan, announced Wednesday, is to cancel up to $20,000 of that debt (or at least $10,000 of it for most of us). That’s an incredible gift that will change millions of lives forever.

Now let’s cancel the rest of it.

Tuition long ago outstripped students’ ability to pay, with many schools adding amenities that have nothing to do with education. According to the Pew Research Center, the share of students taking out loans to finance their degrees rose from 49% to 69% between 1993 to 2012. Between 1993 and 2020, the average loan amount grew nearly three times over, surpassing $30,000.

Until very recently, I owed more than $35,000 in federal student loans I took out to attend California State University, Chico, even after 10 years of trying to pay them off. The only way I was able to pay off these loans was through the generational wealth gained through my family’s white privilege.

Before that unexpected windfall, after the untimely death of a relative, I too was stuck in the deepening pit of never-ending student loan payments, with a disastrous credit score and no way out. Paying off my student loans gave me the ability to start putting money in my savings account and ultimately buy a home.

That’s because student loan debt — approximately 90% of which is composed of federal loans, like mine — carries interest rates ranging from 4.99% to 7.54%. That’s regardless of work ethic or good or bad choices; student loans are a failing system that, in effect, makes upward mobility much harder.

I took out five years of federal loans. The first year I borrowed around $4,000, and had enough left over for all of my textbooks besides. By the time I was a 5th-year senior, the loans had ballooned to more than $7,000 and would barely cover CSU’s rising tuition.

I had to ask my parents for help with housing because nothing was left over. I left college with approximately $27,000 in loans, which became nearly $45,000 at one point, thanks to interest rates that insured I would likely never make a payment toward my principal amount.

At one point soon after graduation, I calculated that my interest rate was tacking on an additional $5 per day. That’s an additional $1,800 per year, during a time in my life when I was living paycheck to paycheck. I could hardly afford to pay the rent and buy groceries at the same time, much less pay back hundreds in loan repayments every month. The financial stress I was under was a major factor in ratcheting up the anxiety and depression I still struggle with.

A 2017 study by Prudential Financial Inc. found that 55% of student loan debtors say their debt prevents or forces them to delay saving for emergencies, 42% said they have delayed buying a home because of it and 40% said their debt prevents or forces them to delay retirement savings. At least a fifth of respondents said they have delayed getting married or having children because of their student loan debt.

I recognize how incredibly lucky I am to have had my student loans paid off, but it is the perfect symbol of what it means to be a middle-class (and often white) college student: My family paid them off for me. Without that assistance, I would never have been able to do that, and would still be drowning in debt and tanking both my credit score and my mental health.

And even though I would have benefited from Biden’s plan, I still want my classmates and others — more than 43 million Americans — to have their loans forgiven.

None of us “did it the right way” — we simply won at a rigged game.

At the least, we must release students and their families from interest rates so high that they make it impossible to ever pay off the initial amount.

____

ABOUT THE WRITER
Robin Epley is an opinion writer for The Sacramento Bee

UK

Protesters gather outside Ofgem HQ calling for ‘payment strike’ on energy bills

Pa Reporter
Fri, August 26, 2022 

People protest outside the Ofgem HQ in Canary Wharf (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

Around 100 protesters gathered outside Ofgem headquarters in London on Friday urging consumers to withhold payment for “astronomical” energy price hikes they could not afford.

Members of the crowd shouted “enough is enough” and held banners reading “Freeze profits, not people” on the street in Canary Wharf in London.

On Friday, Ofgem confirmed an 80.06% rise in the energy price cap, sending the average household’s yearly bill from £1,971 to £3,549 from October.

The demonstration was promoted by Don’t Pay UK, a grassroots movement describing its aim as “building a mass non-payment strike of energy bills starting on October 1”.

A woman holds a banner during a protest outside the Ofgem HQ (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

Tracy Baldwin, 52, said deaths caused in part by the price hike were inevitable and would be “nothing short of corporate manslaughter”

Ms Baldwin, a carer from Yorkshire, said: “The price hikes are astronomical. There’s going to be deaths from the vulnerable, the disabled, the elderly.

“Ofgem are not doing anything to tackle the problem. When people start to die it’s going to be nothing short of corporate manslaughter.”

Teacher Jamie Grey called for “hitting them where it hurts, withdrawing our financial support for a barbaric regime of energy companies that have put profit before people”.

The 34-year-old, from Tower Hamlets, said she teaches children who are already living below the poverty line whose families would be unable to stay warm this winter.

The demonstration was promoted by Don’t Pay UK (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

She added that Ofgem “don’t care about us at all” and said vulnerable people would die over the coming months as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

“Ofgem don’t care about us. All we have is each other – historically we know mass non-payment and mass movements do work,” Ms Grey said.

Protester Tony Cisse said: “People are going to be driven into poverty. The people being asked to absorb the price rises are the people at the bottom.”

Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley said the regulator had to make “difficult trade-offs” setting the new price cap.

He warned costs would come back to customers in the long run if companies were to fail.

Speaking to Channel 4 News, Mr Brearley said: “The price cap was designed to do one thing, and that was to make sure that unfair profits aren’t charged by those companies that buy and sell energy. And, right now, those profits in that market are 0%.

(PA Graphics) (PA Graphics)

“What it can’t do is it can’t say, given the cost of the energy, that we can force companies to get from customers less than it costs to buy the energy that they need, because otherwise they simply can’t buy the energy for those customers.”

He added: “So, we have had to make some difficult trade-offs and we have had to make some difficult choices.”

A former vice president of BP said the latest cap should be suspended and called for taxes to be increased on oil producers if they are not facing “real costs”.

Nick Butler, who worked for the company for 30 years, said he did not think the Ofgem cap should have been announced with no “modification or mitigation”.

He told BBC Scotland’s The Seven he believed some energy companies were “milking the system” and that those who could not prove they faced real supply costs should see a tax hike.

“(Some) people, I think, are milking the system and that’s why I absolutely believe this has got to be made a transparent market, and the good companies will welcome that transparency because it will restore an element of the trust that has been lost,” Mr Butler said.

UK nearly doubles energy price cap in cost-of-living crisis 

AFP 2022-08-26       

Britain announced on Friday a vast 80 percent hike in electricity and gas bills, in a dramatic worsening of the cost-of-living crisis before winter as the UK awaits a new leader.

Regulator Ofgem said its energy price cap, which sets prices for consumers who are not on a fixed deal with their supplier, will in October increase to an average 3,549 pounds (US$4,197) per year from the current 1,971 pounds, blaming soaring wholesale gas costs after the Ukraine-Russia conflict.

"The increase (in the cap) reflects the continued rise in global wholesale gas prices, which began to surge as the world unlocked from the COVID-19 pandemic and have been driven still higher to record levels by Russia slowly switching off gas supplies to Europe," Ofgem said in a statement.

The news sparked an outcry from charities who said families faced one of the "bleakest Christmases" for years, with UK inflation already in double-digits and forecast to strike 13 percent in the coming months due to runaway energy bills.

The near-doubling in the cap will likely tip millions into fuel poverty, forced to choose between heating or eating, according to anti-poverty experts.

Britain is already suffering from its highest inflation rate since 1982 and is predicted to enter recession later this year.

"We know the massive impact this price cap increase will have on households across Britain and the difficult decisions consumers will now have to make," added Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley on Friday.

"I talk to customers regularly and I know that today's news will be very worrying for many."

'Zombie' government

Britain's rampant cost-of-living has dominated the race to succeed Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with political opponents accusing him of leading a zombie government as inflation escalates.

Both front-runner Liz Truss and rival leadership contender Rishi Sunak are grappling with how to address the crisis.

Gas comprises a major part of Britain's energy mix, with tens of millions of homes relying on gas-powered boilers for their heating.

Household and business consumers, energy suppliers and opposition politicians are clamoring for urgent government action to do more to avoid putting the most vulnerable in desperate situations.

The University of York has estimated 58 percent of UK households are at risk of fuel poverty by next year.

The crisis is forecast to worsen from next January, when average bills could top 5,000 pounds according to some projections as Ofgem updates the cap every three months, rather than the previous norm of twice a year.

The leader of the main opposition Labour party, Keir Starmer, has called for a freeze in energy bills at the current cap level.

Outgoing premier Johnson has vowed to leave major fiscal decisions to his successor, who will be announced on September 5 following a summer-long leadership contest.

Good Law Project to sue Ofgem over price

 cap failure

“The announcement today will devastate families. Just who and what is Ofgem for? Do not be fooled. This is a choice. And the choice they’ve made is to let low-income consumers and small businesses bear the brunt of this crisis."

by Joe Mellor
2022-08-26




Legal campaign group Good Law Project, Fuel Poverty Action, and the Highlands and Islands Affordable Homes Warmth Group have announced they are planning to sue the energy regulator Ofgem, over its failure to mitigate the impact of rising energy bills on consumers.

This is likely to be the first legal action of its kind over the energy bills crisis, and others may join the action – including vulnerable individuals disproportionately impacted by Ofgem’s actions.

As you can see Martin Lewis is beyond angry about this decision to hike energy prices.

Watch



In response to Ofgem’s announcement today that it is raising the price cap to an eye-watering £3,549, Jo Maugham, Director of Good Law Project said:

“The announcement today will devastate families. Just who and what is Ofgem for? Do not be fooled. This is a choice. And the choice they’ve made is to let low-income consumers and small businesses bear the brunt of this crisis.

“We believe Ofgem can – and should do more. We intend to put the question before the High Court, and will ask for a fast-tracked timeline to reflect the urgency of this crisis”.

Poverty

The Ofgem announcement will push millions of people into poverty this winter and the average household bill up by £1,578 – an 80 per cent increase from the current cap.

GLP will ask the High Court to ensure the regulator upholds its legal duties to, among other things, carry out an impact assessment before confirming the price cap increase, including assessing the disproportionate impact on elderly people, children and people with disabilities.

Good Law Project argues that Ofgem has the power to do more to protect vulnerable people and believes before raising the cap, Ofgem is legally required to:Provide evidence it has carried out a proper impact assessment
Consider appropriate mitigation measures for the most vulnerable, including a lower social tariff.

In July, the campaign group wrote to Ofgem, expressing concern about its decision-making. We asked it to provide proof of its impact assessments. It failed to produce any such evidence. Last week GLP put the regulator on notice of formal legal action if it failed to uphold its duties. A formal response to the letter is expected today, but today’s announcement provides no indication that an impact assessment has been carried out.

Related: Watch: Energy price cap to rise more than 80% from Oct – Martin Lewis’ emotional response is chilling

Energy price cap increase: ‘Alarmed’ charities urge government to ‘act now’


26 Aug 2022


Charities have called for urgent government action after Ofgem announced today that the typical household energy bill will increase to £3,549 ( $4,193.14 US Dollar ) a year from 1 October.

The cap set by the government energy regulator, which limits how much providers can charge customers in England, Scotland and Wales, is set to rise by 80% from it's current level of £1,971 for the average household.

Amid a cost-of-living crisis, charities said the government must step in to prevent millions of people from being pushed into poverty.

Sector bodies also warned that charities themselves are being hit by increased energy bills, while demand for their services is set to increase.
Turn2us: ‘Not acceptable to consign more than a quarter of us into poverty’

Thomas Lawson, chief executive of national poverty charity Turn2us, said: “Today’s meteoric rise in the energy cap will cripple those of us in the UK already struggling to stay afloat. This is no longer a choice between heating and eating, but not being able to afford either. This is as big an emergency as the impact of Covid and needs a similarly confident government response.

“As one of the wealthiest economies, it’s simply not acceptable to consign more than a quarter of us into poverty.”

The charity is calling on government to introduce a cap on energy costs and increase the value of Universal Credit and legacy benefits by a minimum of £25 a week, saying “the government must act now”

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: This ‘will plunge many into destitution’

Katie Schmuecker, principal policy adviser at the JRF, said: “It is simply unthinkable that the price rises announced today can go ahead without further government intervention on a significant scale. To force the burden of rising wholesale energy prices onto households will plunge many into destitution.”

She added: “People are already being pushed into heart-breaking situations, disconnecting themselves from energy, skipping showers and going without food so their children can eat. And this is before we’ve even hit the big price rise and colder weather. Households are crying out for certainty and security.”

JRF research has found that almost half, 47%, of those on low incomes who are not in receipt of means-tested benefits are already going without one essential item or food, one third are in food insecurity and more than one fifth can’t afford to keep their home warm.

Groundwork: ‘We are alarmed at the volume of requests for help’

Graham Duxbury, Groundwork UK’s chief executive, said: “As a charity that supports people living in fuel poverty, we are alarmed at the volume of requests for help that are coming through.

“Energy companies, charities and independent experts all agree that the measures in place are not enough. As well as more emergency financial support and a long-term commitment to improving the energy efficiency of our homes we also need more – and better coordinated – advice.”

So far this year, Groundwork’s Green Doctors in Yorkshire have given out almost twice as many emergency fuel vouchers as in the whole of 2021-22. They have seen a 25% increase in fuel debt support requests and a 46% increase in people having mental health issues associated with stress from money issues.

The organisation said funding on some programmes has almost all been allocated, with four months left of the year, “before the cold weather begins and people start relying on their heating to stay warm and well”.

Centre for Ageing Better: ‘Already around 10,000 people die a year because their homes are too cold’

Carole Easton, Ageing Better’s chief executive, said: “Millions now face a long, cold and dangerous winter. Already around 10,000 people die a year because their homes are too cold. There is a clear and present danger that this number will rise significantly this winter without drastic measures.”

She said “immediate financial support is necessary” and “we also need government to take proactive and sustainable steps”.

Easton added: “UK homes are among the least energy efficient in Western Europe and the financial support government currently provides to homeowners to do something about this is insufficient. Four in five homes that are the coldest and are occupied by households on below-average incomes don’t even qualify for government support.”

Trussell Trust: ‘We have already seen a 50% increase in need at food banks’

Polly Jones, head of policy and research at the Trussell Trust, said the charity is “deeply concerned” that this “will be disastrous for people on the lowest incomes and will leave many with no option but to use a food bank”.

“In recent months, we have already seen a 50% increase in need at food banks compared to before the pandemic,” she said.

The charity is calling on the government to take immediate action and have joined together with 70 organisations to call for at least doubling the additional support offered to people on the lowest incomes.

“Furthermore, the government should provide better, long-term funding for local crisis support, so local authorities can provide much needed support directly in our communities. Only then will we be able to end the need for food banks in the future,” she added.

Family Fund: ‘The outlook is very grave’

Cheryl Ward, chief executive at Family Fund, said: “We know that current severe inflationary pressures are affecting millions of people across the land, but for families caring for disabled and seriously ill children, who have even greater costs, the outlook is very grave. The choices between putting food on the table, paying for energy or clothing and sensory equipment are stark”.

“We very much welcome this latest £150 payment from government,” said Ward, “but we know from the increasing calls we are now getting from our families, facing spiralling costs on every front, that more support will be needed. We are therefore, along with other charities, asking ministers to consider urgently how future support can be given.”

Pro Bono Economics: ‘Charity incomes are already feeling the squeeze on donations’

Nicole Sykes, policy and communications director at PBE, said: “Without further action, the new energy price cap leaves charities and many of the millions they support facing a dire financial situation heading into winter. Many of those who require support from charities are especially exposed to rising energy costs, particularly disabled people with conditions made worse by cold or needing energy to run lifesaving equipment.

“Charity incomes are already feeling the squeeze on donations as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. This hike in the energy price cap will only step up demand for charity services, while increasing charities’ own costs - particularly in older buildings with less insulation, and facilities offering energy intensive services like hydrotherapy.

“It is vital that the new prime minister acts fast with a package of support to hold back a wave of hardship, debt and destitution. But we also need a longer-term strategy for growth and economic security, to build up our national resilience to future shocks.”

NPC: ‘Destitute people can’t wait, it’s time to get on and give’

Dan Corry, chief executive at NPC, said: “Today's announcement confirms our worst fears. As we have been saying for some time, this cost-of-living crisis is going to be as big a threat to livelihoods and well-being as Covid-19 and a great deal worse for those at lower income levels. Many more people need help, yet charities will find it harder to support them as energy prices and soaring inflation increase their own costs and erode the value of their reserves and pre-pledged donations.

“Charities will undoubtedly strain every sinew not to let down the people they work with. But they need help.

“Of course, the government should do more and show the same courage it did during the pandemic with the furlough scheme and the Universal Credit uplift. But, as we said in our recent report on confronting this crisis, philanthropists and grantmakers also need to do everything in their power to help charities, and they should be doing it now. Destitute people can’t wait, it’s time to get on and give.”

‘Political persecution’: Julian Assange files further appeal against extradition to US

Latika Bourke

Aug 27 2022

Julian Assange has filed his next bid to appeal against his extradition to the United States.

If granted, Assange will seek to raise sensational media reports that the CIA plotted to kidnap and even kill the Australian during his time holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange spent seven years at the diplomatic residence in London to avoid being extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault and rape.

Assange’s Ecuadorian hosts ended up kicking out the Australian in April 2019, handing him over to Scotland Yard.

He has been incarcerated in British jails ever since, for skipping bail to avoid the Swedish extradition and as the US requested his extradition to face charges relating to the WikiLeaks cables that he published more than a decade ago.


FRANK AUGSTEIN/AP
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters from a balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London back in 2017.

’s extradition has been ordered by the British courts and in June was signed off on by Home Secretary Priti Patel.

Assange’s perfected grounds of appeal filed to the High Court of Justice Administrative Court name the US government and Patel as respondents.

The appeal will challenge the 2021 decision of District Judge Vanessa Baraitser who said that Assange could be extradited to the US but barred it on mental health grounds, agreeing that he could self-harm if sent to face trial.

The US government successfully appealed the bar by providing assurances about the prison conditions in which Assange would be kept while he awaits any trial.

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AP
Supporters of Julian Assange protest outside the Home Office in London in July 1, calling for his release from prison and to mark his 51st birthday. The decade-long legal saga was sparked by his website WikiLeaks’ publication of classified US documents.

But this next appeal by Assange will argue that he is being prosecuted for his political opinions, which, if accepted, would be in breach of the Extradition Act, which states that if it appears that an extradition is sought for the purpose of prosecuting or punishing a person on account of their political opinions then their extradition should barred.

Assange will also argue that Patel erred in signing off on his extradition claiming it breached section 4 of the US-UK extradition act which says extradition must not be sought by either side for political offences.

Assange is charged with violating the Espionage Act when he coached Chelsea Manning how to hack into databases to steal hundreds of thousands of cables which WikiLeaks published in full, after initially publishing selected contents of the cables in partnership with mainstream media outlets.

The appeal marks a shift in his legal defence which had relied more heavily on his physical and mental health.

MATT DUNHAM/AP
Buildings are reflected in the window as Julian Assange was taken from court in 2019, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago.

This claim was originally accepted by Baraitser but overturned on appeal.

Since then, YahooNews! has reported allegations that the Trump Administration floated ways to extract Assange from the US embassy, with the view of kidnapping or even killing him.

Assange’s wife Stella said High Court judges would now determine whether Assange will be granted an appeal hearing.

“Since the last ruling, overwhelming evidence has emerged proving that the US prosecution against my husband is a criminal abuse,” she said in a statement.

MATT DUNHAM/AP
In March, Stella Moris posed for the media and for supporters as she arrived to marry her partner Julian Assange in a small service to be held inside the high-security Belmarsh Prison, in south east London. Assange has been held at Belmarsh since 2019, when he was arrested for skipping bail during a separate legal battle. Before that, he spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden.

“The High Court judges will now decide whether Julian is given the opportunity to put the case against the US before open court, and in full, at the appeal,” Stella Assange said.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has previously said he believes Assange should be freed but since winning the May election has declined to outline what entreaties he has made to US President Joe Biden, saying he would not do diplomacy via a “loud hailer”.

READ MORE:
* British judge approves extradition of Julian Assange to US, sent to UK government for decision
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Swimmer bitten by shark off coast of Britain – first time in 175 years

Several species of shark visit the waters off Cornwall every year, including blue sharks, porbeagle sharks and basking sharks.

 by Joe Mellor
2022-08-03 


A swimmer has been bitten by a shark while snorkelling off the coast of Britain – the first attack of its kind in 175 YEARS.

The victim sustained a leg injury when they were attacked in a rare case off the Cornish coast near Penzance.

The incident took place last Thursday (28/6) and is potentially the first unprovoked shark attack in British waters since 1847.

Extremely rare

Blue Shark Snorkel Trips, the company that organised the tour, said such incidents were “extremely rare” and they were “in continued talks with shark experts” as to what happened.

“As we know, these things can happen when we choose to interact with wild animals in their own environment,” the company said in a statement on its Facebook page.

“The last thing we want is to let speculation drive the media into a world of bad press for the sharks, under no fault of their own.

“We immediately enacted our emergency response plan, with first aid being carried out on the person involved.

“Following advice and assessment from the coastguard, the person walked off the boat and received further treatment ashore.”

The firm also shared a statement from the victim, who said: “Despite how the trip ended, it was amazing to see such majestic creatures in the wild and I don’t for a second want this freak event to tarnish the reputation of an already persecuted species.

“Wanted to thank everyone for their amazing actions. What was a very scary incident was made so much easier by the kindness and calmness of the people around me.”
Surfer

In 2017 surfer Rich Thomson was apparently bitten on the thumb by a smooth hound – a relative of sharks.

Several species of shark visit the waters off Cornwall every year, including blue sharks, porbeagle sharks and basking sharks.

None of these species are considered dangerous, though there have been a total of four fatal blue shark attacks worldwide since records began.

The last recorded unprovoked ‘attack’ was at Felixtowe when a windsurfer’s board was bitten by a shark in 2016.

Despite this, the windsufer sustained no injures and shark bites tend to only happen when provoked during fishing or other activities.

A spokesperson for HM Coastguard said: “HM Coastguard sent Penzance Coastguard Rescue Team to meet a snorkeler who suffered a suspected shark bite.

“The coastguard was notified just before 12.30pm on Thursday (July 28). It is believed the swimmer suffered a leg injury.

“The coastguard team met the casualty at Penzance harbour to assist with passing them into the care of the ambulance service.”

Boris Johnson turns into The Joker in new artwork

“The Joker became an obvious match-up. He’s not the charming cheeky lad. It’s a ploy he uses.”

 by Jack Peat


Boris Johnson morphs into The Joker in a new artwork.

The Prime Minister has been sketched, in ballpoint pen, in a tie and jacket and with his trademark, bouffant hairstyle.

But James Mylne, 38, has depicted him in the guise of arch villain The Joker.

The artist told the PA news agency: “He’s always been a bit of a joker. But for a while, at the beginning, for the first couple of years it was all a bit innocent, a bit charming.

“But there’s more beneath the surface.”

“The Joker became an obvious match-up. He’s not the charming cheeky lad. It’s a ploy he uses.”

“The blond hair proved difficult”

Mylne finished the work, expected to sell for between £2,000 and £6,000, less than a fortnight ago.

The 50 by 50cm piece took “almost 70 hours” and the artist uses spray paints to add colour, backgrounds and additions.

Because he uses biro, one mistake can mean having to start the whole piece again.

“I’ve got quite good at minimising risk. I always start with the hard bits. The blond hair proved difficult,” he said.

Mylne, whose portraits are often mistaken for photographic prints, said of his work: “It appeals to a different type of art buyer, collectors who are interested in what art should be about, being culturally relevant.”

He has also created a portrait of Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro with the flames of the Amazon pouring from his eyes, as fires continue to rage in the rainforest.

And he previously depicted Donald Trump with tears in the style of the US flag falling from his eyes.

A Decade Of Shady Business

The artist said: “Ballpoint pens are everywhere. Scattered over desks at work or school, on counters at your post office or bank, and under your sofa.

“No-one owns them really, ubiquitous, disposable, and pretty much free.

“The simple engineering and design behind them is so efficient and durable that they haven’t needed a design change in decades.”

The works will go on display in Mylne’s new solo exhibition A Decade Of Shady Business, marking 10 years of his “ballpoint art”.

UK

Watch: ‘Stand together, fight together, win together’ – rousing video on postal worker strike

Communication Workers Union general secretary Dave Ward said 115,000 members were striking over pay amid ‘rocketing’ inflation and energy bills.

by Joe Mellor
2022-08-26 


Credit:PA

The leader of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) declared Friday’s industrial action as “the biggest strike in the UK since 2009”, as he said more than 115,000 postal workers were out protesting over pay.

It comes as a video by Peter Stefanovic has gone viral supporting the postal workers.

CWU general secretary Dave Ward says his members voted in favour of the strike by 97.6% in a ballot, after management “imposed” a 2% pay rise on employees but “rewarded themselves with record bonuses”.

Friday’s strike will be followed by further stoppages on Wednesday August 31, Thursday September 8 and Friday September 9.

Scores of CWU members, including Mr Ward and a person in a Postman Pat costume, were rallying at a picket line in Whitechapel, east London, on Friday.

They banged drums, waved flags and clutched placards outside the Royal Mail Whitechapel Delivery Office, as passing drivers beeped their horns in apparent support.

Enough is enough

One man shouted “enough is enough, millions for the bosses, pennies for the workers”.

Members also chanted “Thompson out” – a reference to Royal Mail’s CEO, Simon Thompson – to the beat of drums.

CWU boss Mr Ward told the PA news agency: “This is the biggest strike in the UK since 2009, and we have got over 115,000 members who are out on strike today after delivering a massive ‘yes’ vote.

“And it’s over pay, and our members just lost total confidence in the actions of the company, the board, and they’ve lost faith in the leadership and people will understand that when they see the way that the company have conducted themselves.

“The company made record profits last year: £758 million. They gave away over £400 million to shareholders, they rewarded themselves with huge record bonuses for achieving their financial targets and then imposed a 2% pay increase on postal workers.

“Against the background of rocketing inflation, rocketing energy bills, it’s simply not acceptable.

Pillars of our society

“Postal workers in the UK are one of the last remaining pillars of our society.

“We are going to fight hard to get our members the pay deal that they deserve.”

He added: “In regard to the Labour Party, what we want is full support from them in this dispute, it’s a just cause.”

On Thursday, a Royal Mail spokesperson said: “Tomorrow’s CWU strike thrusts Royal Mail into the most uncertain time of its 500-year history.

“It is putting jobs at risk and making pay rises less affordable. We are losing £1 million a day.

“We must change to fix the situation and protect high quality jobs.

“We want to protect well-paid, permanent jobs long-term and retain our place as the industry leader on pay, terms and conditions. That is in the best interests of Royal Mail and all its employees.

“We apologise to our customers, and the public for the inconvenience the CWU’s strike action will cause.

“We have offered to meet the CWU numerous times in recent weeks, but they declined each invitation, preferring to spend their time on the political agenda of the UK trade union movement.

“We remain ready to talk with the CWU to try and avert damaging industrial action and prevent significant inconvenience for customers.”

Watch

Related: Mick Lynch delivers masterclass is dealing with

 ‘biased media’ as strikes continue

 

Royal Mail workers begin four-day strike as 115,000 walk out

Further strike dates have been set on August 31, and September 8 and 9

Postal workers from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) on the picket line at the Royal Mail Whitechapel Delivery Office in east London / PA

By Bill McLoughlin
3 hours ago

Royal Mail workers have begun a four-day strike over a pay dispute with the company.

On Friday, some 115,000 are expected to stage a walkout, which will last throughout the weekened, with Royal Mail warning that letters will not be delievred, and parcels will be delayed.

Amid the cost of living crisis, workers from the Communication Workers Union (CWU) have called for a pay rise which is more in line with the current rate of inflation, which stands at 10.1 per cent.

Workers for the CWU have reportedly rejected a prior offer of 5.5 per cent after prolonged talks and have set further strike dates on August 31, and September 8 and 9.

“We can’t keep on living in a country where bosses rake in billions in profit while their employees are forced to use food banks.

“When Royal Mail bosses are raking in £758m in profit and shareholders pocketing in excess of £400m, our members won’t accept pleas of poverty from the company,” CWU general secretary Dave Ward said.

Although services will be severely disrupted, Royal Mail says it will attempt to deliver as many Special Delivery and Tracked 24-hour parcels as possible. Medical prescriptions will also be prioritised.

According to Royal Mail’s latest figures, its operating profit was prejected at £416million in March.

With inflation set to rise to 13 per cent later this year, and the energy price cap hitting £3,549 in October, Mr Ward added: “There can be no doubt that postal workers are completely united in their determination to secure the dignified, proper pay rise they deserve.”

In response, a Royal Mail spokesperson said the business must be able to update its working practices and not ignore technological advancements.

“While our competitors work seven days a week, delivering until 10pm to meet customer demand, the CWU want to work fewer hours, six days a week, starting and finishing earlier,” they added.

“The CWU’s vision for Royal Mail would create a vicious spiral of falling volumes, higher prices, bigger losses, and fewer jobs.”

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Royal Mail workers to walk out over pay in ‘summer’s biggest strike’

The brain actually ‘beats’… just like the heart, say scientists.

And its tiny movements - less than the width of a human hair - have been caught on film for the first time.

 by Joe Mellor
in News, Science

The brain actually ‘beats’… just like the heart, say scientists.

And its tiny movements – less than the width of a human hair – have been caught on film for the first time.

The breakthrough could lead to better ways of spotting concussions and other brain injuries before they become life threatening.

It also offers hope of developing cycling and motorbike crash helmets that provide better protection.

The US team used a revolutionary imaging technique to capture and magnify the movement of the brain every time the heart beats – in real time.

They say it is a promising and long awaited diagnostic tool for a host of brain disorders that will improve and hasten treatment.

These include weakened blood vessels in the brain called aneurysms that can trigger potentially fatal haemorrhages.

Understanding how the brain moves – at rest and upon impact – has been crucial to shedding light on them, but technology to clearly see it has lagged behind.

Co lead author Professor Mehmet Kurt, a biomechanical engineer at Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, said: “It is proof of concept.

“We wanted to see if we could amplify the tiny movements of the brain with every heartbeat and capture that movement as it naturally occurs – so without introducing noise.

“That is important when you are trying to do what we are trying to do – detect abnormal motions in the brain to diagnose and monitor disorders.”

The brain moves minutely with each heartbeat – on the order of ten to 150 micrometres which is less than the width of a single human hair.

The movements are so small standard MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) brain scans are unable to film them in detail.

The new technique reported in Magnetic Resonance in Medicine is called phase-based amplified MRI and was originally developed while the researchers were based at the University of Stanford, California.

In the past two years they have fine tuned the method to show it can be used for diagnostic benefit.

In experiments they attached a pulsometer that monitors heart rate to the wrists of healthy subjects and coordinated the timing of the beat with images of the brain, stitching the slices together to create a smooth movement.

An algorithm, tailored to the piston-like motions of blood and spinal fluid coursing through the brain, then intelligently magnifies the brain’s motion to a more visible scale while keeping potential noise subdued.

The resulting video images, reconstructed slice by slice, retain the spatial characteristics of an MRI.

The skull and all anatomical features are displayed at actual scale. But the pulse-driven motion is amplified significantly as they animate.



Co lead senior author Dr Samantha Holdsworth, a medical physicist who is now at the University of Auckland, explained: “You can actually capture the whole head ‘nodding’ in the scanner due to the force of the blood pumping into the brain every time the heart beats.”

The researchers found the technique provided few errors and good visibility, particularly in areas of the brain that move most. These included the mid brain and spinal cord, which helps relay sensory information.

It also spots movement in areas resistant to motion such as the frontal cortex which is important for planning, reasoning and judgement.

The team applied the technique on two subjects, a control and a patient with Chiari malformation I.

The condition, present at birth, can cause many symptoms, including headaches or stiffness in the neck, due to malformations at the base of the skull and upper spinal area.

Unlike the control, video images of the patient showed significantly abnormal brain movement in at least two locations.

The researchers will continue to use the technology in clinical settings involving larger numbers of patients with known medical diagnoses of various conditions such as concussion, aneurysm and structural brain abnormalities.

Prof Kurt, who is also known for his work on concussions, added: “Better visualisation and understanding of the biomechanical properties of the brain could lead to earlier detection and monitoring of brain disorders.

“It could also help with prevention, as it could lead to the design of better helmets.”