Sean Penn Documentary On Ukraine And Volodymyr Zelenskyy To Debut At Berlin Film Festival

Zac Ntim
Mon, January 23, 2023 


The Berlin Film Festival on Monday said that Sean Penn will debut the documentary he shot in Ukraine with Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Berlin next month.

The doc is titled Superpower and documents Ukraine and President Zelenskyy at the start of Russia’s invasion. Penn shares a co-director credit with Aaron Kaufman.

Introducing the doc, Berlin artistic director Carlo Chatrian said: “This is a documentary film done under very difficult circumstances, but it is also a film that tells the role of art and artists in difficult times.”

Chatrian added that the film features footage of Penn in Ukraine in November 2021, filming with Zelenskyy, as well as footage of the actor-filmmaker in the country’s capital Kyiv when Russia’s invasion began.

The festival also shared an image from the doc, which features Penn and Zelenskyy in discussion.

Reports about Penn’s activities in Ukraine made headlines late last year when the two-time Oscar winner was pictured at a press briefing held by the Ukrainian government in Kyiv. In a short video posted to social media accounts, Penn was also seen gifting one of his Oscar trophies to Zelenskyy.

“It’s just a symbolic silly thing, but if I know this is here then I’ll feel better and strong enough for the fights,” Penn told Zelenskyy in the video posted by the Ukrainian president. “When you win, bring it back to Malibu, because I’ll feel much better knowing there’s a piece of me here.”

Zelenskyy in return gave Penn the Order of Merit honor “for his sincere support and significant contribution to the popularization of Ukraine in the world.”

Penn previously visited Ukraine in November 2021 to research for the film. Penn eventually left Ukraine for safety reasons.

Superpower will screen as part of the Berlinale Special Gala series. The screening will be one of the headline events at Berlin, which this year falls on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion. The festival is hosting a selection of events to mark the anniversary and show support for Ukrainian filmmakers.

These events include a designated panel at Berlin’s European Film Market focused on financing options for Ukrainian audio-visual content. The EFM is also handing free market and festival accreditations to Ukrainian filmmakers. Around 50 Ukrainian industry professionals are set to travel to the festival.

The festival will also screen nine Ukrainian films across all its sections, including a new pic from Vitaly Mansky and Yevhen Titarenko titled Eastern Front, which debuts as part of the Encounters sidebar.

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Ukraine, Iran's quests for freedom to dominate Berlin Film Festival


News conference ahead of the 73rd Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin

Mon, January 23, 2023 

BERLIN (Reuters) - Sean Penn's documentary portrait of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, filmed as Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, will be among headliners at next month's Berlin Film Festival, where a life achievement award will go to Steven Spielberg.

Announcing the final film line-up on Monday, artistic director Carlo Chatrian said directors Penn and Aaron Kaufmann were already in Kyiv filming "Superpower" when Russian tanks rolled across Ukraine's border, opening Europe's largest conflict since World War Two.

"The Berlinale will take place exactly one year after," Chatrian said. "And maybe Berlin is more relevant than other places, because we are close to Ukraine, because Ukrainian people live in Berlin."

With its roots in the embattled enclave of West Berlin on the front lines of the Cold War, the Berlinale sees itself as an avowedly political festival, and Chatrian said the 73rd edition would highlight the fights for freedom in Ukraine and Iran, screening dozens of films from and about both countries.

Chatrian said the 18 films running in the competition were thematically linked by their preoccupation with melodrama and love, from Emily Atef's "Someday We'll Tell Each Other Everything" about the danger and violence of teenage love, to Giacomo Abbruzzese's Disco Boy, about a Belarusian who joins the French Foreign Legion.

"We don't do the selection with melodrama in mind," Chatrian said. "We select the films because they resonate with us."

The competition will also make space for animation with "Suzume" by Japan's Makoto Shinkai, described by Chatrian as the "poet of youth". Described as a journey through the Japanese archipelago, the film stands out for its bold colouring.

The Berlinale, at home in one of the world centres of queer culture, will continue to foreground the questions of gender and identity that have in recent years preoccupied its juries, this year headed by U.S. actress Kristen Stewart.

"Orlando, My Political Biography" by Paul B. Breciado will screen outside the main competition and describes Orlando writing a letter to Virginia Wolf, writer of the eponymous novel, to tell her that the gender-shifting character she created now exists in real life.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)

Construction for nation’s largest commercial offshore wind farm underway, but challenges loom

Steven Yablonski, Katie Byrne

FOX WEATHER
Sun, January 22, 2023 

HYANNIS, Mass. – Offshore wind industry experts say that wind could be the answer to minimize our carbon footprint, and here in the U.S., we’re seeing one of the country’s first offshore wind projects come to life off the coast of Massachusetts where the wind will be used as an emissions-free energy source.

Vineyard Wind is currently constructing the country’s largest commercial offshore wind project, and the goal is to use electricity produced by wind turbines to power homes starting in 2023.
"We’re about a year into onshore construction, and we’ve just begun offshore," said Andrew Doba, spokesperson for Vineyard Wind. "One spin of the turbine will power a home for 24 hours in the U.S."

There will be 62 turbines spaced about a mile apart that will produce power for about 400,000 homes. The turbines will be constructed about 15 miles south of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts.

Underwater cables will bring that energy from the turbines to Covell’s Beach in Barnstable, Massachusetts.

RENEWABLE ENERGY PRODUCTION EXPECTED TO JUMP SHARPLY, DEFYING EXPECTATIONS

"This is where our offshore cables make landfall and ultimately travel six-plus miles to the grid," Doba said.

FOX Weather multimedia journalist Katie Byrne got a tour of the grid, also known as the onshore substation for Vineyard Wind in Hyannis, Massachusetts, about six miles away.

Doba said the wind speeds and shallow waters make Cape Cod an ideal spot to generate wind energy.

"The area where we’re building is called the Saudi Arabia of wind," Doba said. "You’ve got very high wind speeds which make it really attractive for projects like this."

CONCERNING REPORT SHOWS CRITICALLY ENDANGERED NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE POPULATION CONTINUES TO DECLINE

Not everyone is on board with the project, however.

A group called ACK Residents Against Turbines is worried a power plant in the water there could threaten one of the world’s most endangered large whale species – the North Atlantic Right Whale.

"These whales are thriving here right now," president and founder of the group Vallorie Oliver said. "For whatever reason, they’re here. They’re here, calving. They’re foraging. This is where their food source is."

Oliver was born and raised on Nantucket.

DOZENS OF SICK AND INJURED WHALES ADDED TO ONGOING NORTH ATLANTIC MORTALITY EVENT

"Anybody who probably lives up and down, well, Cape Cod, every day you get some sort of notification," she said, "’There are whales spotted here. There are whales spotted there. Stay away from them.’"

Their group has filed a federal lawsuit in hopes of putting the project on pause.

"What we’re saying in the lawsuit is you’re not looking at the U.S. government’s endangered species laws and environmental protection laws carefully enough, and you need to look at them beyond just this first Vineyard Wind One project," Amy Disibio said. "You really need to look at it in aggregate because the Vineyard Wind One project will be the first of a bunch that are occurring right in this area."

According to NOAA Fisheries, the coast of New England is a critical habitat for the North Atlantic Right Whale, and there are less than 400 of them left.

WATCH: NEW JERSEY FISHERMEN HAVE A WHALE OF A TALE TO TELL AFTER NEARLY STRUCK BY MASSIVE HUMPBACKS

"What will creating a power plant in the middle of the ocean do to marine life, in particular to the North Atlantic Right Whale?" Disibio asked. "But what will it do to the entire food chain?"

Vineyard Wind said it’s taking precautions when it comes to the North Atlantic Right Whales.

"So, we’re working with Charles River Analytics," Doba said. "They’re providing tech on board to help us avoid the endangered species. It’s one of many things we’re doing. We’re also working with the University of New Hampshire on acoustic monitoring. And all the vessels have protected species observers on board."

A judge in Boston is expected to hear the case in January.

Afghanistan: Freezing weather kills at least 124 people


Lyse Doucet - Chief international correspondent, Kabul

BBC
Tue, January 24, 2023

Afghanistan is enduring its harshest winter in years

At least 124 people died in freezing temperatures in Afghanistan in the past fortnight, Taliban officials say.

About 70,000 livestock had also perished in what is the coldest winter in a decade, a State Ministry for Disaster Management spokesman said.

Many aid agencies suspended operations in recent weeks after the Taliban banned Afghan women from working for non-governmental organisations.

A Taliban minister said despite the deaths, the edict would not be changed.

Acting Minister of Disaster Management Mullah Mohammad Abbas Akhund told the BBC that many areas of Afghanistan were now completely cut off by snow; military helicopters had been sent to the rescue, but they couldn't land in the most mountainous regions.

The acting minister said the forecast for the next 10 days indicated temperatures would warm. But he was still worried about a rising death toll - of Afghans, and their livestock.

"Most of the people who lost their lives to the cold were shepherds or people living in rural areas. They didn't have access to healthcare," Mullah Akhund said.

"We're concerned about those who are still living in the mountain regions. Most of the roads which pass through the mountains have been closed due to snow. Cars have got stuck there and passengers have died in the freezing temperatures."

Workers kept this Kabul road open, but many mountain areas are cut off by snow

Winters are always harsh here in Afghanistan but this is the worst weather in a decade.

And this year's relief operations are hampered by last month's Taliban government edict barring Afghan women from working in aid agencies.

But Mullah Akhund was categorical. This edict could not be lifted - the international community, he insisted, had to accept Afghanistan's Islamic culture.

"Men are already working with us in the rescue effort and there is no need for women to work with us. The men from every family are already participating in relief efforts, so there's no need for women," he told the BBC.

Aid officials, including the United Nations, are urgently trying to find ways to work around this ban.

GOOD LUCK WITH THAT
UN aid chief seeking to reverse ban on Afghan women workers

EDITH M. LEDERER
Mon, January 23, 2023

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. humanitarian chief and leaders of two major international aid organizations are in Afghanistan following last week’s visit by a delegation led by the U.N.’s highest-ranking woman with the same aim – reversing the Taliban’s crackdown on women and girls including its ban on Afghan women working for national and global humanitarian organizations.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths was in the Afghan capital Monday along with Janti Soeripto, CEO of Save The Children US, and Sofia Sprechmann Sineiro, the secretary general of Care International as well as Omar Abdi, the deputy executive director of UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency.

Dujarric said last month’s Taliban ban on Afghan women working for non-governmental organizations has put some aid programs on hold and is “sowing fears that the already dire humanitarian situation in Afghanistan will get even worse.”

Some 28 million Afghans are in need of food, medicine and other humanitarian aid, “a 350% hike in just five years,” according to the latest report released Monday on the Humanitarian Needs Overview for Afghanistan, Dujarric said.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said last Friday that the delegation headed by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed found that some Taliban officials were more open to restoring women’s rights but others were clearly opposed.

“The key thing is to reconcile the (Taliban) officials that they’ve met who’ve been more helpful with those who have not,” Haq said.

Mohammed, a former Nigerian Cabinet minister and a Muslim who is the U.N.’s highest-ranking woman, was joined on the trip by Sima Bahous, executive director of UN Women which promotes gender equality and women’s rights, and Assistant Secretary General for political affairs Khaled Khiari.

The U.N. team met with the Taliban in the capital of Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, but the U.N. did not release the names of any of the Taliban officials. The meetings focused on the restrictive measures the Taliban have imposed on women and girls since they took power in August 2021, during the final weeks of the U.S. and NATO forces’ pullout after 20 years of war.

Griffiths is expected to focus especially on reversing the December ban on Afghan women working for NGOs. The U.N. has stressed that Afghan women are crucial to delivering humanitarian help to civilians, the majority of them women and children.

U.N. aid chief raises women's rights concerns with Taliban in Afghan capital

Cash aid for displaced people in Kabul

Mon, January 23, 2023 at 9:26 AM MST·2 min read

KABUL (Reuters) -The United Nations' aid chief visited Kabul on Monday and raised concerns over women's education and work with the Taliban administration's acting minister of foreign affairs, an Afghan ministry statement said.

The Taliban-run administration last month ordered NGOs not to allow most female employees to work, prompting many aid agencies to partially suspend operations in the midst of a humanitarian crisis unfolding during a bitterly cold winter.

U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths raised the issue of women's education and work and how this affected the U.N.'s operations, according to a ministry of foreign affairs statement.

Speaking generally about Griffiths's visit to Afghanistan, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Griffiths would engage the Taliban administration "with the same message that we've been delivering since the beginning on the need to to rollback the policies that were put in place" on women.

He said Griffiths would "underscore the message that humanitarian aid cannot be delivered without women."

Griffiths's travel follows a visit to Afghanistan last week by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, who expressed alarm to Taliban officials in Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar over the administration's orders restricting women from work and education.

Acting Afghan Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi said he asked Griffiths to share with the international community the Taliban administration's "achievements and opportunities" like a general amnesty for former opponents, "instead of complaints and shortcomings."

The foreign ministry statement said Griffiths had acknowledged security had improved in the country, which had seen decades of fighting before the Taliban took over as foreign troops withdrew in 2021.

No foreign government has formally recognised the Taliban administration since it seized power, with some diplomats saying it must change course on women's rights. Many countries have expressed major concerns over most girls and women over the age of 12 being stopped from attending school or university.

Enforcement of sanctions and a cut in development aid have contributed to the country falling into an economic crisis which has left more than half the population dependent on humanitarian aid, aimed at meeting urgent needs.

(Reporting by Mohammad Yunus Yawar and Charlotte Greenfield, additional reporting by Michelle Nichols, editing by Deepa Babington)

AFGHAN WOMEN NEED TO CREATE 

THEIR OWN SELF DEFENSE UNITS

FOOD NOT FUEL

U.S. raises 'grave concerns' over Mexico's anti-GMO farm policies




Mon, January 23, 2023 
By Kanishka Singh and Tom Polansek

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. farm and trade officials raised "grave concerns" over Mexico's agricultural biotechnology policies in meetings with their Mexican counterparts on Monday, as lingering disagreements threaten decades of booming corn trade between the neighbors.

Washington's concerns center on the Mexican president's push to ban so-called biotech corn, or varieties developed with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), from entering Mexico if it is destined for human consumption. The United States accounts for most of Mexican corn imports.

"We made it clear today that if this issue is not resolved, we will consider all options, including taking formal steps to enforce our rights under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)," the office of U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Katherine Tai said in a statement on Monday.

"Mexico's proposed approach, which is not grounded in science, still threatens to disrupt billions of dollars in bilateral agricultural trade, cause serious economic harm to U.S. farmers and Mexican livestock producers, and stifle important innovations needed to help producers respond to pressing climate and food security challenges," it added.

U.S. officials traveled to Mexico to discuss Mexico's approach to agricultural biotech products.

Mexico's agriculture ministry declined to comment, while the country's economy ministry, which handles trade, did not immediately provide comment.

The countries have been at loggerheads over a decree issued by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in 2020 that sought to phase out imports of genetically modified corn and the herbicide glyphosate by 2024.

Mexico decided to postpone its ban of GMO corn purchases from the United States until 2025, a decision deemed satisfactory by the U.S. government, Mexican Agriculture Minister Victor Villalobos said last month.

Mexico is one of the biggest buyers of U.S. corn with American farmers sending about 17 million tonnes of mostly GMO yellow corn to Mexico annually, the majority of which is used for animal feed. Mexican officials have said they will keep importing GM corn for animal feed.

U.S. officials are "making it crystal clear" that Mexico must abide by its USMCA commitments and this "is a significant development and good news for corn growers," said Tom Haag, president of the National Corn Growers Association.

Biotech industry group BIO said it appreciated U.S. efforts to get Mexico to "maintain a science-based risk regulatory system," according to statement from Beth Ellikidis, vice president for agriculture and environment.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Additional reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Mexico City; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Biden’s next climate hurdle: Enticing Americans to buy green






Homeowner Emily Kelly-Fischer, center, poses for a photo with David Richardson, left, and Rob Bayless of Elephant Energy outside her rowhouse where a heat pump is being installed Friday, Jan. 20, 2023, in northwest Denver. 

(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

CHRIS MEGERIAN, HANNAH FINGERHUT and MATTHEW DALY
Sun, January 22, 2023 

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden persuaded Democrats in Congress to provide hundreds of billions of dollars to fight climate change. Now comes another formidable task: enticing Americans to buy millions of electric cars, heat pumps, solar panels and more efficient appliances.

It’s a public relations challenge that could determine whether the country meets Biden’s ambitious goal to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030.

Relying on tax credits and rebates made the climate legislation — it was approved in August with only Democratic votes — more politically palatable than regulations that force wholesale changes in polluting industries.

But it also means the administration’s battle against global warming will be waged “one household at a time,” said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, who works on energy issues at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank closely aligned with the White House.

“It is very incremental," she said. "So it requires a very sophisticated communications strategy.”

Biden acknowledged the hurdle during a recent Cabinet meeting as he talked about the incentives that are becoming available this year.

"Folks need to know how to take advantage of these benefits that we passed. That’s on all of us around the table here to make sure we get that message out clearly,” he said.

The White House says it is piecing together a plan to partner with state governments, contractors, retailers and social media influencers to get the word out. “Lowering utility bills is going to be a key driver,” said Josh Peck, a senior policy adviser on clean energy issues.

It's also collaborating with Rewiring America, a nonprofit focused on ways to electrify homes and businesses, and companies like Airbnb, Redfin and Lyft. As part of the effort, Rewiring America created an online calculator that shows what credits or rebates homeowners might be eligible for, depending on their ZIP code and income.

Buying a heat pump or installing solar panels is “a major expense line and a major opportunity for savings,″ said Ari Matusiak, the group’s founder and CEO. “So it’s really important to make sure people are aware of the resources they have available and the benefits they can unlock in terms of bringing energy bill savings.″

But the White House faces an uphill battle.

Polling shows that while Americans support action to slow climate change, they are broadly unaware of the Inflation Reduction Act, the massive legislation that includes financial incentives to lower emissions, and skeptical of their own role in the climate crisis.

An AP-NORC poll released in September, one month after the law was signed, found that 61% of U.S. adults said they knew little to nothing about the legislation. And despite the multibillion-dollar investment in climate solutions, only a third said it would help climate change; about half said it wouldn’t make a difference.

The White House says it's not rattled by the results. The goal is to make sure consumers know the financial benefits of energy efficient products at the moment that they’re making key decisions on which products to buy, Peck said.

“One of the challenges here is trying to meet consumers where they are when they make decisions about these purchases," he said.

Majorities of U.S. adults said they are unlikely to install solar panels or buy an electric vehicle in the next three years, according to the AP-NORC poll. Among those, at least half said financial incentives would not make a difference in their decision.

Homeowners typically are reluctant to swap out furnaces or water heaters until they absolutely have to shell out the money for them.

"One day the heat won’t turn on and it’s negative 10 (degrees) outside and you say, ‘Oh crap, I’ve got to get a furnace,’” said DR Richardson, co-founder of Elephant Energy, a Colorado company that helps homeowners install electric heat pumps and other appliances. “So the biggest challenge from our perspective, and from a climate perspective, is to get people to think ahead of time about how to replace these assets.”

Most homeowners don’t understand what equipment qualifies for a rebate or a tax credit — and even contractors are not always aware, Richardson said. While some heat pumps qualify for a full rebate, others do not or are only eligible for partial rebates.

“So it’s just a nightmare if you’re not used to working in building spreadsheets to analyze and understand all this stuff," he said.

Not all of the incentives are ready either. While people can get a tax break on the cost of an electric car, solar panels or heat pump, rebates for low- and middle-income Americans seeking to make their homes more energy efficient are not yet available. The Energy Department is still developing the system to distribute that money.

Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council in the Obama administration, said she learned in her tenure that it’s critical for government to invest in the delivery of policies.

“Too often we as advocates and policymakers applaud when policy gets enacted and then stop paying attention,” she said. Instead, they need to design ways to target people directly to help them "understand the steps that they can take and the ways that the government is going to make it easy.”

The Energy Department has begun releasing information to states about their allotment of $9 billion to support household energy upgrades, including weatherizing homes and installing heat pumps.

And Biden, a self-described “car guy,” has been doing his part to promote electric vehicles, making appearances at the Detroit car show in September and on the TV series "Jay Leno’s Garage.''

Donnel Baird, founder and CEO of BlocPower, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based company that partners with utilities, government agencies and building owners to improve energy efficiency, has worked with Lowe’s and other retailers to promote green appliances.

The idea, Baird said, is that “the checkout person says, ‘You know, you can get a tax credit if you don’t get that gas lawn mower and get a green one instead.'″ While such engagement may not have immediate results, Baird said he’s confident the tax credits and other benefits of the climate law will become better known.

“It took years for the ACA to get going,″ he said, referring to the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. “I think the same thing could happen with this law.″

Dan Pfeiffer, a former top communications adviser to President Barack Obama, sees another lesson in the Affordable Care Act.

“The ACA got more popular the more that Republicans tried to repeal it," he said, suggesting that Biden take advantage of any Republican efforts to roll back to the Inflation Reduction Act to draw more attention to the law's benefits.

“I have no doubt the White House has thought of all of this," Pfeifer said. But the problem is that none of it is easy.”

He added: “The bulk of the work starts now."

ANTI-ABORTION LAWS ARE MISOGYNISTIC

New Mexico AG seeks to codify abortion rights, nullify bans

 New Mexico's top prosecutor on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in recent months in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state. Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged the high court to intervene against ordinances that he said overstep local government authority to regulate health care access, and violate the New Mexico Constitution's guarantees of equal protection and due process.

 (AP Photo/Morgan Lee, File)

SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and MORGAN LEE
Mon, January 23, 2023

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico’s top prosecutor on Monday asked the state Supreme Court to nullify abortion ordinances that local elected officials have passed in conservative reaches of the Democratic-led state.

Attorney General Raúl Torrez urged the court to intervene against recent ordinances he said overstep local government authority to regulate health care access, and violate state constitutional guarantees of equal protection and due process.

At a news conference, Torrez said the ordinances are significant even in regions with no abortion clinics because they threaten to restrict access to reproductive health care in people's homes. More than half of U.S. abortions are now done with pills rather than surgery.

“This is not Texas. Our State Constitution does not allow cities, counties or private citizens to restrict women’s reproductive rights,” Torrez said in a statement. “Today’s action sends a strong message that my office will use every available tool to swiftly and decisively uphold individual liberties against unconstitutional overreach.”

It’s unclear how soon the New Mexico Supreme Court might take up the issue. Torrez said he hopes his petition will inspire a quick response within weeks or months.

The filing targets Roosevelt and Lea counties, and the cities of Hobbs and Clovis — in eastern New Mexico near Texas, a state where most abortion procedures are banned.

Clovis and Lea County officials declined to comment Monday, citing pending litigation.

Hobbs officials said they have been transparent with their legal analysis through numerous public meetings and have fulfilled public records requests. They deny claims the ordinance bans abortions in Hobbs.

“The ordinance anticipates an abortion clinic will establish a location in Hobbs and sets minimum requisites for obtaining a business license to operate,” the city's statement said.

In Roosevelt County, officials called the issue controversial and complex, saying they will respond through the process before the state Supreme Court.

Sentiments around abortion run deep in Roosevelt County, where commissioners adopted a resolution “in support of life” more than two years ago.

It states that “innocent human, including fetal life, must always be protected and that society must protect those who cannot protect themselves,” adding its residents would be encouraged to help those who are pregnant find health care.

Prosecutors say abortion ordinances approved in November by an all-male city council in Hobbs and in early January by Roosevelt County define “abortion clinic” in broad terms, encompassing any building beyond a hospital where an abortion is performed — or where an abortion-inducing drug is distributed or ingested.

Torrez warned Roosevelt County's abortion ordinance gives private citizens the power to sue anyone suspected of violating the ordinance and pursue damages of up to $100,000 per violation.

“The threat of ruinous liability under the law operates to chill New Mexicans from exercising their right to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy and health care providers from providing lawful medical services,” the attorney general wrote to the state Supreme Court.

In 2021, the Democrat-led Legislature passed a measure to repeal a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures, ensuring access to abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June.

Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said she seeks legislation that would codify the right to an abortion statewide.

Lawmakers have already proposed measures to prohibit local government restrictions on abortion access — and call for more protections for doctors and patients.

In June, Lujan Grisham signed an executive order barring state cooperation with other states — including on any future arrest warrants — that might interfere with abortion access. The order also prohibits most New Mexico state employees from assisting other states in investigating or seeking sanctions against local abortion providers.

She also issued another executive order in August pledging $10 million to build a clinic for abortion and other pregnancy care in southern New Mexico.

The Clovis ordinance, approved in early January, is facing a petition challenge, but Mayor Mike Morris has said he thinks voters there would overwhelmingly favor keeping the ordinance if it were on the ballot.

Hobbs Mayor Sam Cobb said Monday that commissioners in his community heard hours of testimony and learned constituents were overwhelmingly in support of the ordinance.

“The City of Hobbs unequivocally supports women and women’s rights,” Cobbs said. "The future of our city, our county, and our state depends on the ability of us all to work together to find common ground — even on issues that stir emotion.”

In his filing, Torrez argues that the New Mexico Constitution provides broader protection of individual rights than the U.S. Constitution — and that the local ordinances violate New Mexicans' inherent rights, liberty and privacy.

He also argued that the action by the city and county commissioners amount to overreach by attempting to legislate on a matter of statewide importance.

The attorney general asked the court to suspend the local abortion ordinances while deliberations continue.

3M to cut 2,500 jobs as demand weakens, profit drops

Tue, January 24, 2023 

(Reuters) -3M Co said on Tuesday it would cut 2,500 manufacturing jobs after reporting a lower profit, as the U.S. industrial conglomerate faces a demand slowdown in its unit that sells products including notebooks, air purifiers and respirators.

The move comes as corporate America has seen a string of layoffs with companies trying to rein in costs amid fears of a potential economic downturn.

The diversified manufacturer said demand for its consumer-facing unit fell faster in December as weaker customer spending spilled into the holiday season, sending its shares down 4.7% to $116.79 in premarket trading.

3M expects adjusted sales growth to drop 6% to 2% this year due to declining disposable respirator sales and its exit from Russia.

"We expect macroeconomic challenges to persist in 2023," Chief Executive Mike Roman said.

A softer-than-expected consumer spending and a cut back from U.S. retailers amid inflationary pressures has eaten into the sales of 3M's consumer unit which generated about $5.30 billion in revenue in 2022.

"As demand weakened, we adjusted manufacturing output and controlled costs, which enabled us to improve inventory levels," Roman added.

The company was able to offset higher raw material and logistics costs by raising prices which helped it beat profit in the previous quarter.

Sales in the quarter fell 6% to $8.1 billion. Excluding items, the company reported a profit of $2.28 per share compared to $2.45 per share a year earlier.

Why Lula Accused Bolsonaro of 'Genocide' Against Brazil's Yanomami People

Mon, January 23, 2023 

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva looks on as he visits the Yanomami Indigenous Health House, CASA Yanomami, in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil on Jan 21. Credit - Ricardo Stuckert—Handout/Reuters

Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has accused his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, of committing “genocide” against the Indigenous Yanomami people of the Amazon.

Lula blamed the former President for enabling thousands of gold miners in a nationally-protected territory where mining is banned. As illegal mining flourished during Bolsonaro’s tenure, a humanitarian crisis emerged in the territory they call home that is roughly the size of Maine. The miners have been accused of poisoning rivers with mercury and wrecking forests; the Yanomami depend on both for food sources. Activists have also accused miners of death threats and sexual violence.

“More than a humanitarian crisis, what I saw in Roraima was a genocide. A premeditated crime against the Yanomami, committed by a government impervious to the suffering of the Brazilian people,” Lula tweeted on Sunday, a day after visiting a clinic for Yanomami patients in Boa Vista. He accused the previous government of disregard and neglect for encouraging the “invasion of 20,000 illegal miners.”

Close to 30,000 Yanonami people live in Brazil’s Indigenous territory that spans Brazil and Venezuela. They maintain a way of life based on fishing, hunting, and fruit gathering.

Lula also told reporters during his visit that he will eliminate illegal mining in Brazil but did not offer further details on policies or programs to achieve the goal.

A Yanomami man, right, stands near an illegal gold mine on Indigenous land in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, in Roraima state, Brazil, in April 2016. Illegal miners continue to plague the area, sawing down trees and poisoning rivers with mercury in their lust for gold.

Bruno Kelly—Reuters

Brazil’s Minister of Justice and Public Security Flávio Dino said last week that federal police would investigate the possibility of genocide and other crimes against the Yanomami people.

The accusation of genocide is controversial but critics of Bolsonaro say abuses against the Yanomami reflect his broader policies towards the environment and Indigenous people.

Susanna Hecht, director of the center for Brazilian studies at UCLA, notes it’s important to take into account Bolsonaro’s harmful rhetoric towards Indigenous people, including a statement from 1998 in which he said, “it’s a shame that the Brazilian cavalry hasn’t been as efficient as the Americans, who exterminated the Indians.”

“You can have a genocidal policy that has the effect of destroying a population without necessarily… sticking them…into a gas chamber,” Hecht says.

Bolsonaro has argued that the Indigenous population is standing in the way of Brazilian development and that they are “not really” Brazilian, she adds. “So that creation of otherness basically creates the discursive framework that permits absolute brutality vis-a-vis these populations.”

Experts note that Bolsonaro starved state institutions meant to protect Indigenous people and the environment.

“That protection of Indigenous people and the environment was really just decimated under Bolsonaro,” says Amy Erica Smith, an associate professor of political science and expert on Brazilian politics at Iowa State University. “At the same time that he reduced authority and resources to these agencies to protect Indigenous people and the environment, he was also perceived as having… come down firmly on the side of illegal miners.”

“There was no regulatory state capacity or interest in controlling any of the illegal activity. Under the Bolsonaro regime, it was a free-for-all,” adds Hecht says.

Bolsonaro has denied responsibility and dismissed the accusation of genocide as a “left-wing farce,” according to The Guardian.

Read more: Lula’s Victory in the Brazil Elections Is a Win for the Planet

Public health advocates have been vocal in recent years about threats faced by the Yanomami community as a result of mining. A report “Yanomami Under Attack” by the São Paolo-based nonprofit Socio-Environmental Institute found that in the last four years of Bolsonaro’s government, the death of children who were aged five or younger jumped 29% compared to the previous government. The report also found that the region was responsible for half of Brazil’s malaria cases and that more than 3,000 children were malnourished. Images showing malnourished children recently surfaced in local news reports.

“The mining activity changes the soil, creating puddles which are favorable for the malaria mosquito, and other diseases as well. Many miners also bring diseases with them. It’s a sanitary and humanitarian crisis,” Estêvão Benfica, geographer and one of the Socio-Environmental Institute researchers, told the Associated Press.

The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, said the government’s priority is getting a handle on malaria, malnutrition, and other issues that the Yanomami people face. “Every 72 hours a child is dying from one of these illnesses, according to the information we’ve received,” she said.

Guajajar has called for the miners to be expelled within the next three months.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/01/brazil-declares-public-health-emergency.html

U.S. Treasury's Yellen says IRS needs to be 'completely redone'


Sun, January 22, 2023
By Andrea Shalal

LUSAKA, Zambia (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Sunday said rebuilding the Internal Revenue Service would be one of her top priorities in coming years, putting her squarely at odds with Republicans who have taken control of the House of Representatives.

Yellen told Reuters in an interview on her way to Zambia that she was thrilled that Congress had approved $80 billion in new funding to help the agency reduce a huge backlog of tax returns and better hunt down $600 billion in unpaid tax bills.

She said she decided to stay on as Treasury secretary in large part to oversee implementation of legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act, which included the IRS funding and passed on party lines last year.

Yellen lobbied hard for the extra funding to help the IRS deal with what she called massive problems, including a "huge backlog" in working through tax returns, and lack of personnel to carry out complicated audits of higher-earning taxpayers.

"I’m excited about legislation that’s passed and I want to make sure that it makes the difference it should make, and that includes the IRS," she said. "That agency needs to be completely redone, and it’s a big task."

Republicans sought unsuccessfully to slash tens of billions in IRS funding from the law.

The law also includes about $270 billion in tax credits for electric vehicles, home solar panels and other climate purchases that will be overseen by Treasury, which has made Yellen a pivotal climate figure in President Joe Biden's administration.

"I want to see that work progress. Maybe it’s not the sexiest kind of stuff in the world, but I think if you want to make a difference in the world, you have to have the follow-through," she said.

Yellen, 76, conceded that the split Congress reduced the chances of passing legislation to advance Biden's agenda, but said she still enjoyed the job.

Her decision to stay ended months of speculation that she would step aside mid-way through Biden's four-year term.

"This is probably the last job I’ll have," Yellen said. I’d much rather be doing this than sitting at home knitting sweaters, or whatever it is one does when one’s retired."

And yes, she learned to knit in college, and even knit a "lovely tennis sweater" for her husband, Nobel Prize-winning economist George Akerlof.

One thing she is not looking forward to? Asked about the debate with Congress over raising the debt ceiling, Yellen simply puts her hand to her forehead and sighs.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Chris Reese)

Here’s what you need to know about the GOP bill to abolish the tax code



Tobias Burns
Tue, January 24, 2023 

House conservatives are breathing new life into an old proposal to do away with income taxes, payroll taxes, estate taxes and even the IRS itself in favor of a supersized sales tax that would account for nearly all government revenues.

Versions of the far-reaching plan have been around for decades, and with Democrats controlling both the White House and Senate, the proposal has little chance of making it into law. But frustration over the $80 billion funding boost for the IRS passed by Democrats last year has Republicans wanting to make bold statements about changing the tax code — including scrapping it altogether.

The Fair Tax Act introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) and supported by 30 other Republicans would institute a massive 30 percent sales tax on all purchases in exchange for doing away with income, Social Security and Medicare taxes.

That means workers would get to keep the entirety of their paychecks without having to pay out anything to the government. But it also means that buying everything from groceries to automobiles would be hugely more expensive.

Critics of the proposal say it’s impractical and unfairly benefits the rich, while its proponents say it would provide a much-needed simplification of the U.S. tax code, the pages of which numbers in the tens of thousands.

Here are four major things to know about the GOP proposal:

The plan would increase the tax burden on the middle class

Having a sales tax as the only source of public revenue would put a higher tax burden on people making less money. That’s because those with lower incomes tend to spend more of what they make while richer people tend to save more of their incomes, investing in retirement accounts, securities and other types of assets.

“Let’s say you’re a family of four. You need at least $50,000 a year to live before you can save a dime. Under this proposal, every dollar of that income is going to be taxed. On the other hand, if you’re making $1 million a year and you’re saving a portion of that, not all of that income is going to end up being taxed as a sales tax,” Frank Clemente, director of tax advocacy organization Americans for Tax Fairness, said in an interview.

The advantage to higher earners is so pronounced that the legislation includes a “prebate,” a cash transfer program in which taxpayers get regular checks equal to the amount that people at the poverty level would owe in taxes.

The result is a smaller tax burden for the highest and lowest earners and a bigger one for people in the middle.

A 2006 study by the House Small Business Committee on a similar proposal found that the tax burden for people making more than $200,000 and less than $15,000 a year would go down, while the burden for people making something in between would go up.

Moreover, the largest drop in overall tax liability would happen for the top 20 percent of earners, whose share of the federal tax burden would fall from 84.2 percent down to 65.1 percent. People in the middle of the earning spectrum would see their share rise from 3.8 percent to 10.5 percent.

“Basically, a big challenge with the Fair Tax is … you end up with higher taxes paid by incomes on the low and middle parts of the income scale under consumption taxes than higher earners,” policy analyst Garrett Watson of the Tax Foundation said in an interview.

The IRS would cease to exist in its current form

Supporters of the bill are cheering on the fact that it would drastically curtail the role of the IRS in collecting taxes. Instead, it would be the responsibility of state governments to collect the sales tax and then remit it to the Treasury.

Republicans have long railed against the IRS, attacks that have ramped up in the wake of the $80 billion funding boost for the agency passed by Democrats as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, which will upgrade the agency’s budget from roughly $12 billion a year to $20 billion. Most of the new money is going to additional enforcement measures, such as audits.

“This administration tried to hire 87,000 new IRS agents,” Carter, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in an interview with The Hill. “I think that brought attention to the fact that Democrats want control. They want to have control over you and your paycheck, and this takes that control away from them.”

The Georgia Republican said he’s been hearing that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) intends to bring the Fair Tax Act to the House floor for a vote as part of the deal with more conservative Republicans that eventually allowed McCarthy to win the Speakership after numerous rounds of voting.

“I’ve been hearing that this was part of the negotiations, that it would be brought to the floor for a vote,” he said, qualifying that McCarthy “made no promises to me, and I don’t know that he made promises to anyone.”

While the IRS would be sidelined, if not altogether scrapped, under Carter’s proposal, the bill would still require tax enforcement and compliance, as well as the costs that come along with it.

“If we optimistically assume that the Fair Tax brings in roughly the same amount of revenue (as a share of the economy) as the current tax code, annual collection fees per year for states would approach $10 billion. By comparison, the IRS spent about $13 billion per year over the last decade,” John Buhl, an analyst with the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center in Washington, wrote in an analysis of the measure.

Some conservatives are worried about the message the bill sends

The Fair Tax Act is just one of many bills now being considered in the Republican-led House that have little chance of getting President Biden’s signature but are designed to send a message to voters about Republican priorities.

Despite sharing in the frustration about Democrats’ IRS funding, some Republican strategists are worried that the Fair Tax proposal is sending a message that runs counter to traditional conservative stances on taxation.

Specifically, they’re worried that the change resembles a European-style value-added tax and that the bill’s prebate cash transfer program could lay the groundwork for a universal basic income.

“This creates a universal basic income, and luckily the left has not figured this out yet,” low-tax advocate Grover Norquist said in an interview. “Everybody gets a check, and so you’ve got the basis for the modern definition of European socialism, which is that everybody gets a basic income and work is an option.”

They also worry that the sticker shock of a 30 percent sales tax encountered by voters on a daily basis will overshadow the discussion of canceling an annually levied income tax.

“The ads you can run are that so-and-so wants to add a 30 percent sales tax on top of [prices], which will be devastating to middle-income people. That’s a pretty rough ad,” Norquist said.

He also criticized the bill on the grounds that it would sap the life savings of retirees, who would have had their incomes taxed as they accumulated savings only to find in retirement that their spending was now being heavily taxed.

“There is no perfect system, and I understand that,” Carter said in response. “But at the same time, this is as close to perfect as we’re going to get because this gives people the opportunity to control their own paychecks.”

The bill would represent an enormous change to the tax system

Doing away with income and payroll taxes in favor of a large and pervasive sales tax would be a fundamental shift in the way the American tax system works and would likely have unforeseen economic consequences.

Some of those may be positive. Getting rid of income taxes would likely make it harder for rich tax cheats to stow their money in places where the IRS can’t find it. Instead, that dark money would be automatically taxed every time it was used to make a purchase.

Other knock-on effects might be more problematic, such as the effect of a large sales tax on consumption and spending patterns that have already been altered by the pandemic and the ensuing period of increased inflation.

“Having that high of a rate would actually change behaviors in ways that proponents aren’t really thinking about. It’s going to change behavior in ways that you wouldn’t see if you spread out the burden differently,” Buhl, of the Tax Policy Center, said.

“The proponents of the bill are saying, ‘Hey, we’re going to abolish the IRS.’ But I look at it more as they’re actually just outsourcing tax enforcement and compliance to the state level, and so it’s not going to go away,” he said.

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