The Prometheus League
Breaking News and Updates
- Abolition Of Work
- Ai
- Alt-right
- Alternative Medicine
- Antifa
- Artificial General Intelligence
- Artificial Intelligence
- Artificial Super Intelligence
- Ascension
- Astronomy
- Atheism
- Atheist
- Atlas Shrugged
- Automation
- Ayn Rand
- Bahamas
- Bankruptcy
- Basic Income Guarantee
- Big Tech
- Bitcoin
- Black Lives Matter
- Blackjack
- Boca Chica Texas
- Brexit
- Caribbean
- Casino
- Casino Affiliate
- Cbd Oil
- Censorship
- Cf
- Chess Engines
- Childfree
- Cloning
- Cloud Computing
- Conscious Evolution
- Corona Virus
- Cosmic Heaven
- Covid-19
- Cryonics
- Cryptocurrency
- Cyberpunk
- Darwinism
- Democrat
- Designer Babies
- DNA
- Donald Trump
- Eczema
- Elon Musk
- Entheogens
- Ethical Egoism
- Eugenic Concepts
- Eugenics
- Euthanasia
- Evolution
- Extropian
- Extropianism
- Extropy
- Fake News
- Federalism
- Federalist
- Fifth Amendment
- Fifth Amendment
- Financial Independence
- First Amendment
- Fiscal Freedom
- Food Supplements
- Fourth Amendment
- Fourth Amendment
- Free Speech
- Freedom
- Freedom of Speech
- Futurism
- Futurist
- Gambling
- Gene Medicine
- Genetic Engineering
- Genome
- Germ Warfare
- Golden Rule
- Government Oppression
- Hedonism
- High Seas
- History
- Hubble Telescope
- Human Genetic Engineering
- Human Genetics
- Human Immortality
- Human Longevity
- Illuminati
- Immortality
- Immortality Medicine
- Intentional Communities
- Jacinda Ardern
- Jitsi
- Jordan Peterson
- Las Vegas
- Liberal
- Libertarian
- Libertarianism
- Liberty
- Life Extension
- Macau
- Marie Byrd Land
- Mars
- Mars Colonization
- Mars Colony
- Memetics
- Micronations
- Mind Uploading
- Minerva Reefs
- Modern Satanism
- Moon Colonization
- Nanotech
- National Vanguard
- NATO
- Neo-eugenics
- Neurohacking
- Neurotechnology
- New Utopia
- New Zealand
- Nihilism
- Nootropics
- NSA
- Oceania
- Offshore
- Olympics
- Online Casino
- Online Gambling
- Pantheism
- Personal Empowerment
- Poker
- Political Correctness
- Politically Incorrect
- Polygamy
- Populism
- Post Human
- Post Humanism
- Posthuman
- Posthumanism
- Private Islands
- Progress
- Proud Boys
- Psoriasis
- Psychedelics
- Putin
- Quantum Computing
- Quantum Physics
- Rationalism
- Republican
- Resource Based Economy
- Robotics
- Rockall
- Ron Paul
- Roulette
- Russia
- Sealand
- Seasteading
- Second Amendment
- Second Amendment
- Seychelles
- Singularitarianism
- Singularity
- Socio-economic Collapse
- Space Exploration
- Space Station
- Space Travel
- Spacex
- Sports Betting
- Sportsbook
- Superintelligence
- Survivalism
- Talmud
- Technology
- Teilhard De Charden
- Terraforming Mars
- The Singularity
- Tms
- Tor Browser
- Trance
- Transhuman
- Transhuman News
- Transhumanism
- Transhumanist
- Transtopian
- Transtopianism
- Ukraine
- Uncategorized
- Vaping
- Victimless Crimes
- Virtual Reality
- Wage Slavery
- War On Drugs
- Waveland
- Ww3
- Yahoo
- Zeitgeist Movement
-
Prometheism
-
Forbidden Fruit
-
The Evolutionary Perspective
Daily Archives: January 9, 2021
Dont Let Them Pretend This Didnt Happen – The Atlantic
Posted: January 9, 2021 at 2:58 pm
David A. Graham: This is the cost of a failed impeachment
But already, the moment to act could be slipping away. After all, Congress certified Joe Biden as president-elect early this morning. Trump even issued a statementthrough aide Dan Scavino on Twitter, after the presidents own account was lockedpromising an orderly transition on January 20th. There are whispers of more resignations, but so far, few prominent officials have stepped down. (The most notable to do so are Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao; the first ladys chief of staff, Stephanie Grisham; and Mick Mulvaney, an envoy to Northern Ireland who formerly served as acting White House chief of staff.) Weve heard rumblings about the Twenty-Fifth Amendment before, and theyve never resulted in anything.
As I wrote earlier this week, even before violence erupted, the Senates failure to convict Trump and remove him from office after his impeachment last year paved the way for the president to try to overturn the 2020 election. If the nation moves on without punishing Trump, he will have two more weeks to act with impunity.
Nothing indicates that Trump is chastened by yesterdays experience. He published both a video and a tweet yesterday in which he called on the mob to go home peacefully, but he did not condemn its actions, and he repeated the incitements that drove it to riot in the first place. Even his fauxconcession statement falls well short. Its mention of a first term leaves space for him to continue to contest the race, and besides, were past the point of an orderly transition. A Trump-incited violent insurrection swept through the Capitol less than 24 hours ago!
Meanwhile, the least scrupulous Trump allies, like Representatives Matt Gaetz and Mo Brooks, are already trying to shift the blame for the riot, claiming that it was the work of left-wing provocateurs. This is preposterousas the journalist Molly Ball points out, Trump literally summoned these people to DC, spoke at their event, offered to walk them over to the Capitol and then praised them afterward.
Others, like Senator Ted Cruz, are trying to split the baby. The attack at the Capitol was a despicable act of terrorism and a shocking assault on our democratic system, he said in a statement. The Department of Justice should vigorously prosecute everyone who was involved in these brazen acts of violence. If Cruz were serious, he might be calling for prosecution of the president and also himselfafter all, as the mob approached the Capitol, Cruz was inside offering frivolous objections to the certification, after weeks of spreading the false rumors that incited the crowd. Cruz is, as usual, not serious.
Yoni Appelbaum: Impeach Trump again
Democratic leaders are already flinching, too. Theres a clear course of action for Congress, as Representative Ilhan Omar understands: impeachment. Instead, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote a letter calling on Mike Pence to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendmenttrying to get someone else to deal with the problem using an unproven and dubious solution. (This places House Democratic leaders to the right of anti-Trump conservative commentators at publications such as National Review and The Bulwark.) The House has adjourned until after the inauguration.
Original post:
Dont Let Them Pretend This Didnt Happen - The Atlantic
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on Dont Let Them Pretend This Didnt Happen – The Atlantic
The Inciter-in-Chief – The New Yorker
Posted: at 2:58 pm
On March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln arrived at the East Portico of the Capitol to deliver his first Inaugural Address. The nation was collapsing, the Southern slave states seceding. Word of an assassination conspiracy forced Lincoln to travel to the event under military guard. The Capitol building itself, sheathed in scaffolding, provided an easy metaphor for an unfinished republic. The immense bronze sculpture known as the Statue of Freedom had not yet been placed on the dome. It was still being cast on the outskirts of Washington.
Lincoln posed a direct question to the riven union. Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, he said, with all its benefits, its memories and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? The South, in its drive to preserve chattel slavery, replied the following month, when Confederate batteries opened fire on Fort Sumter. Even as the Civil War death toll mounted, Lincoln ordered work to continue on the dome. If people see the Capitol going on, he said, it is a sign we intend the Union shall go on.
That was the first Republican President. The most recent one woke up last Wednesday in a rage, his powers receding, his psyche unravelling. Donald Trump had already lost the White House. Now, despite his best demagogic efforts in Georgia, he had failed to rescue the Senate for the Republican Party. Georgia would be represented by two Democrats: the Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, the first African-American and the first Jew, respectively, to be elected to the chamber by that states citizens.
At midday, Trump went to the Ellipse and spoke at a rally of maga supporters whom he had called on to help overturn the outcome of a free and fair election. From the podium, he said that the vote against him was a criminal enterprise. He told the crowd, If you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore. He raged on like a wounded beast for about an hour, thanking his supporters for their extraordinary love and urging them to march to the Capitol: Ill be there with you.
Trump, of course, would not be there with them. Cincinnatus went home and watched the ensuing riot on television. One vacant-eyed insurrectionist had on a hoodie with Camp Auschwitz written across the chest; another wore what the Times fashion critic described as a sphagnum-covered ghillie suit. Then came the results of Trumps vile incitement: the broken windows and the assault on a pitifully small police force; the brandishing of the Confederate flag; the smug seizure of the Speakers office. A rioter scrawled Murder the Media on a door.
The insurrection lasted four hours. (As of Friday, there were five dead.) Once the Capitol was cleared, the solemn assurances that this is not who we are began. The attempt at self-soothing after such a traumatic event is understandable, but it is delusional. Was Charlottesville not who we are? Did more than seventy million people not vote for the Inciter-in-Chief? Surely, these events are part of who we are, part of the American picture. To ignore those parts, those features of our national landscape, is to fail to confront them.
Meanwhile, with less than two weeks left in Trumps Presidency, some of his most ardent supporters are undergoing a moral awakening. An instinct for self-preservation has taken hold. A few Cabinet members and White House officials have resigned. Former associates, once obsequious in their service to the President, have issued rueful denunciations. The editors of the Wall Street Journals editorial page determined that, while removal under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, as demanded by the Democratic congressional leadership, is unwise, the President should resign.
The millions of Americans who understood this Presidency from its first day as a national emergency, a threat to domestic and global security, can be excused for finding it curious that so many are now taking the exit ramp for the road to Damascus three years and fifty weeks later. How surprising can Trumps recent provocation be when for years he has served as an inspiration to bigots everywhere, to damaged souls plotting to mail pipe bombs to journalists and to kidnap the governor of Michigan?
This dawning of conscience is as bewitching as it is belated. The grandees of the G.O.P. always knew who Trump wasthey were among the earliest to confront his most salient qualities. During the 2016 campaign, Ted Cruz called Trump a pathological liar and a snivelling coward. Chris Christie described him as a carnival barker. Mitch McConnell remarked, with poetic understatement, that Trump doesnt know a lot about the issues. And Lindsey Graham warned, If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed. He added, And we will deserve it.
Trumps influences, conscious or not, include Father Coughlin, Joseph McCarthy, Roy Cohn, Newt Gingrich, the Tea Party, and more, but his reality-show wealth, his flair for social media, and an attunement to white identity politics made him a man for his time. And, when he won, nearly everyone in the Republican establishment capitulated and sought a place in the firmament of power: Cruz, Christie, McConnell, and Graham; Mike Pence, William Barr, Betsy DeVos, Elaine Chao, Rupert Murdoch, and so many others.
Part of the bargain was ideological: if Trump came through with tax cuts for the wealthy and for corporations, and appointed conservative judges, then the humblings could be absorbed. Graham would overlook the way Trump attacked the war record of his close friend John McCain, as long as he got to play golf with the President and be seen as an insider. Cruz would ignore the way Trump had implied that his father was somehow involved in the assassination of J.F.K., as long as he could count on Trumps support in his next campaign. And Pence, who hungered for the Presidency, apparently figured that he could survive the daily humiliations as the Presidents courtier, assuming that his reward would be Trumps blessing and his base voters. But, as Trumps New York business partners knew, contracts with him are vapor; the price of the ticket is neverfixed.
Donald Trump still has millions of supporters, but he is likely a spent force as a politician. The three-minute-long speech he gave on Thursday night, calling for an orderly transfer of power, was as sincere as a hostages gunpoint confession. He may yet be impeached again, two feet from the exit door. He could return as a TV blowhard for hire, but in the future his most prominent place in public life may well be in a courtroom.
In a disgraceful time, Joe Biden has acted with grace. He has been clear about the magnitude of whats ahead. The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy, of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law, he has said. But repairing the national fabric, as Lincoln put it, is only part of what awaits Biden. So many issuesthe climate catastrophe, the pandemic, the racial crisiswill not tolerate delay or merely symbolic change. The moment will not tolerate distractions. Donald Trump is just days from his eclipse. It cannot come soon enough.
Originally posted here:
The Inciter-in-Chief - The New Yorker
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on The Inciter-in-Chief – The New Yorker
Federal Court Blocks Executive Order That Banned Certain Diversity Training Topics – Lexology
Posted: at 2:58 pm
In a 34-page ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California blocked two key parts of President Donald Trumps Executive Order 13950 - Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping. The order, among other things, bars contractors from holding workplace training that inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or race and sex scapegoating. This prohibition has caused many federal contractors and grantees to stop their diversity training programs.
The courts Dec. 22, 2020, ruling is the most recent development in the controversy surrounding the order, which has been marred by legal challenges nearly since its inception. A month after the Trump administration issued the order, the NAACP filed a federal class action suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging the orders constitutionality. Just three days later, a group of nonprofit community organizations and consultants serving the LGBTQ+ community filed a similar federal complaint in the Northern District of California. It is the latter challenge that led to the nationwide injunction.
As the court states in its order, the plaintiffs in the California suit provide advocacy and training to health care providers, local government agencies, local businesses, and their own employees about systemic bias, racism, anti-LGBT bias, white privilege, implicit bias, and intersectionality. They allege the order constitutes unlawful censorship under the First Amendment, because it requires them to either significantly curtail their diversity trainings or forfeit their federal funding. The plaintiffs also argue the order violates the Fifth Amendments due process clause. They claim the order is so vague, it fails to offer sufficient notice of the types of speech it prohibits. Judge Beth Labson Freeman found that the plaintiffs made a preliminary showing of unconstitutionality and granted the motion to stop the order.
The injunction prevents the enforcement of the orders Sections 4 and 5 pursuant to both the free speech clause of the First Amendment and the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment. No other sections were affected by the ruling.
Section 4 requires that all government contracts entered into on or after Nov. 21, 2020, include a clause affirming that the [t]he contractor shall not use any workplace training that inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or any form of race or sex scapegoating. The order cautions that a failure to comply with this provision could lead to contracts being canceled, terminated, or suspended in whole or in part and warns that any contractor violating its mandate may be declared ineligible for further Government contracts. Section 5 requires agency heads to review grant programs to determine which grants may be conditioned on the recipients certification that federal funds will not be used to promote concepts that the order characterizes as divisive.
The future of the order remains unclear. The courts preliminary injunction is temporary, not permanent. But its anticipated that President-elect Joe Bidens administration will repeal the order upon his taking office, preventing enforcement of the order before Sections 4 and 5 become effective. As noted in a prior eLABORate, however, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs takes the position that it may immediately investigate claims of sex and race stereotyping pursuant to its existing authority under Executive Order 11246.
See the original post here:
Federal Court Blocks Executive Order That Banned Certain Diversity Training Topics - Lexology
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on Federal Court Blocks Executive Order That Banned Certain Diversity Training Topics – Lexology
The President Is a Danger to the Nation. Remove Him from Office. – The Bulwark
Posted: at 2:58 pm
What we have seen on January 6, 2021 is the logical conclusion of the last four years of this man encouraging hatred and attacking our institutionsand the last two months of him feeding his followers with outrageous, unfounded lies in an attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
Trump brought this crowd to Washington. Trump encouraged them to be wild. Trump ordered them to march on the Capitol. His encouragement of violence and anarchy cant be ignored.
Especially because he has another 14 days in office.
There are two methods of removing a president from power, one temporary, one permanent. Either will solve our present problem.
The permanent solutionand the preferable oneis impeachment. It is preferable because its unquestionably appropriate and opens the door to disqualifying Trump from running for president again. (Barring someone from future office requires a majority vote in the Senate, but that vote can only happen after the Senate has voted by a two-thirds majority to convict and remove the impeached president.)
Podcast January 08 2021
On today's Bulwark Podcast, Tim Miller joins Charlie Sykes to discuss insurrection week, a potential second impeachment,...
But impeachment has problems. First, you need a majority in the House and a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove Trump. There would be no problem getting a majority vote in the House. And given the current state of affairs, its possible that even Trumps supporters in the Senate now realize that the president is too irrational, too out-of-control, and too dangerous to leave in office until January 20.
But even if impeachment were politically possible, there are logistical problems. First, Congress is in the middle of counting electoral votes. Congress isnt legally allowed to take up any other business until this task is completed. Moreover, neither the House nor the Senate is able to meet in the Capitol at the moment and though there are reports that they hope to meet again in the Capitol tonight, its not clear that the protests are over. And if anything would spark a new attack, it would be the start of formal impeachment proceedings. This isnt to say that Congress should yield to the mob. Its merely a recognition that pursuing impeachment immediately might be difficult.
The Twenty-fifth Amendment, however, requires no complicated or lengthy procedures. It allows the temporary removal of the president when the vice president and a majority of the cabinet determine that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.
This is much simpler to accomplish, but more constitutionally fraught. This language obviously covers physical incapacitythe president cant discharge his duties while he is in a comabut it is broad enough to cover other incapacities as well. There is certainly a case to be madeespecially after Trumps bizarre speech supposedly de-escalating the situationthat the presidents fixed delusion regarding the election and his belief that he is the legitimate president-elect constitute a mental incapacity that renders him incapable of discharging the duties of his office.
For one obvious example, it has already rendered him incapable of properly protecting Washington D.C. and the Capitol building.
Under the Twenty-fifth Amendment, the president can contest his removal but Congress has up to 21 days to decide whether the presidents powers should be reinstated. We only need to get through the next 14 days. So a declaration by Pence and a majority of the cabinet would be enough to get us through the current crisis.
Under normal conditions, removing the president under the Twenty-fifth Amendment would be a grave step. But these are not normal conditions.
And while it is a grave step, its also a necessary one. Trump has demonstrated himself to be irrational, unfit, and dangerous to the republic. There is now no question that he is a political nihilist who does not care about the Republican party, the government he heads, or the nation he has sworn to protect.
If he is allowed to wield the power of the presidency for the next two weeks, there is no guarantee that he will not inflict even more damage on the country.
Even Vice President Pence and the members of Trumps cabinet must see that now.
Something must be done.
The rest is here:
The President Is a Danger to the Nation. Remove Him from Office. - The Bulwark
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on The President Is a Danger to the Nation. Remove Him from Office. – The Bulwark
These Texas Congressmen Fought off the Mob. Then They Voted With Trump. – Texas Monthly
Posted: at 2:58 pm
Pat Fallon was sworn in Sunday as a freshman member of Congress. On Wednesday, the Republican found himself ripping a tall wooden pole topped with a white hand sanitizer dispenser from the House floor and transforming the modern totem of pandemic precaution into a weapon. A frenzied mob of Donald Trump supporters had breached the Capitol and were approaching one of the most sacred spaces of American democracy. Fallon, who represents a northeast Texas district, estimated that some two hundred members of Congresswell more than were supposed to be gathered in close proximity at any one time under COVID restrictionswere on the House floor or nearby when the rioters tried to break in.
We hear the mob and we dont know if its 20 people or 250,000, Fallon recounted hours later. We just hear it at the center doors of the chamber where the president would walk in when you have a State of the Union. They were just being pounded on, pounded on.
Fallon is big and athletic. He played wide receiver for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish on their 1988 national championship team. In 2015, he completed the World Marathon Challengeseven marathons in seven days on seven continents. As many representatives were led in small groups to secure locations, he and three other Texas Republican freshmenTony Gonzales, who serves a district stretching from San Antonio to El Paso; Ronny Jackson, who represents a portion of the Panhandle; and former sheriff Troy Nehls, who hails from Fort Bend Countyagreed they would stay put on the floor to help the outmanned police. All had military backgrounds. Fallon had served in the Air Force. Gonzales is a Navy veteran, whom Trump endorsed in a closely fought GOP primary ultimately decided by fewer than fifty votes. Jackson is a retired rear admiral who was President Trumps personal physician. Nehls retired as a major in the Army reserve. They were joined by Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican in his fifth term. I just met him then, Fallon said. He said, Im going to be the last one to leave.
Amid thedin of the mounting siege, Fallon recalled what Notre Dame center Tim Grunhard would say to pump up his teammates before every home game: This is our house! And were going to protect it! Fallons adrenaline coursing, he screamed it.
The congressmen moved furniture to barricade the door. Fallon said Jackson just missed getting hit by a projectile that pierced the glass in the door as police cried out, Rounds fired! Shots fired! It was just surreal. We are going to get into a brawl on the House floor with a mob, Fallon said.
From left, representatives Troy Nehls, Tony Gonzales, Ronny Jackson, and Pat Fallon (in light blue) are joined by other freshman Republican members of the Texas delegation on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, on January 4, 2021.
Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP
Just hours before, Fallon had expected to be on the floor voting against certifying the electoral college votes for Biden, along with many Republicans in Congress who had signaled they would make a last-ditch effort to reverse the presidents November defeat. But they didnt have the votes. At his late-morning Save America rally held near the White House Wednesday morning, Trump lamented that Vice President Pence could not be counted on to save the day and incited what would become the siege and lockdown of the Capitol. Fallon, Nehls, Jackson, and Mullin, but not Gonzales, would be among the great majority of House Republicans who late Wednesday night and in the wee hours of Thursday morning, after the insurrection had been subdued, would vote to object to certifying either the Arizona or Pennsylvania Biden electors. They would vote the way the mob wanted, but, predictably, without success.
Austin Democrat Lloyd Doggett watched the afternoons mayhem outside the Capitol from his office on the third floor of the Rayburn House Office Building directly across the street, with the splendid view of a member entering his ninth term. It was just truly shocking, Doggett said late Wednesday afternoon, still under lockdown in his office. The nearest to Washington like this was when I was here for9/11, Doggett said. Its just such far-reaching damage to our country and to our position in the world.
After order was restored, Sylvia Garcia, a Democratic congresswoman from Houston who was among the managers of the House impeachment of Trump, which failed in the Senate, tweeted that Pence and the Cabinet ought to invoke the Twenty-fifth Amendment and immediately remove Trump from office and protect our country.
Returning to business, the Senate and House worked through the night to confirm Bidens victory,though most House Republicans139 in allvoted in favor of the challenges to either the Arizona or Pennsylvania electors, or both.
Fallon does not blame the president for the days indelibly terrible turn of events, instead pinning the breach on just a few, very few, bad apples. He believes the rioters should have trusted their elected representatives. Thats what were hired to do, Fallon said. This is a representative Republic. Were hired to fight for the people from our district.
And in his first three days as a member of Congress, Fallon, who lives in the well-named boomtown of Prosper, straddling Denton and Collin counties, said his office was flooded with hundreds of calls, all with the same message. Literally every call we got was they wanted us to object, Fallon said. And thats what their new representative did.
Chip Roy, who just won a second term representing a Central Texas district, seemed to rebuke his Texas colleagues. He won a standing ovation from Democrats when he spoke on the floor Wednesday night to explain why he was voting against rejecting any of the duly chosen Biden electors.
Today, the peoples House was attacked, which is an attack on the Republic itself. There is no excuse for it. A woman died. And people need to go to jail, said Roy, a former chief of staff for Senator Ted Cruz, who led the failed effort to block approval of the Biden electors. And the president should never have spun up certain Americans to believe something that simply cannot be.
See more here:
These Texas Congressmen Fought off the Mob. Then They Voted With Trump. - Texas Monthly
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on These Texas Congressmen Fought off the Mob. Then They Voted With Trump. – Texas Monthly
Court Enjoins Trump Executive Order On Divisive Concepts In Workplace Trainings – JD Supra
Posted: at 2:58 pm
A federal judge issued a nationwide injunction on Dec. 22 to block enforcement of an executive order that would have effectively prohibited workplace trainings on implicit bias by federal contractors, federal agencies and the military.
President Trump said in Executive Order 13950 that it was issued to combat so-called offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating. The EO cited alleged concerns of a pervasive and malign ideology rooted in the pernicious and false belief that America is an irredeemably racist and sexist country.
Specifically, the EO forbids promoting a list of divisive concepts in workplace diversity trainings conducted by the U.S. Uniformed Services, federal agencies and federal contractors.
In a court challenge, a coalition of nonprofits and consultants argued that the EO would frustrate their efforts to train employees about systemic bias, racism, anti-LGBTQ bias, white privilege, implicit bias and intersectionality.
The suit alleges that the EO would require the plaintiffs to either censor or cease the trainings that are fundamental to their mission of breaking down barriers that underserved communities face or risk losing federal funding in the form of contracts and grants. The suit also alleged that the EO is so vague that it fails to provide notice of what speech is actually subject to penalty.
In a 34-page order, U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman of the Northern District of California issued aninjunction that blocks the key provisions targeted by the plaintiffs.
The EO consists of 10 sections. Section 4 would require that all government contracts include certain express provisions providing that during the performance of the contract, [t]he contractor shall not use any workplace training that inculcates in its employees any form of race or sex stereotyping or any form of race or sex scapegoating. A violation of Section 4 could result in the cancelation, termination, suspension, in whole or in part, of federal contracts.
Section 5 directed the heads of all federal agencies to review their respective grant programs and identify programs for which the agency may, as a condition of receiving such a grant, require the recipient to certify that it will not use federal funds to promote certain divisive concepts.
Initially, the plaintiffs asked for a nationwide injunction against the EO in its entirety, but they later narrowed their request to an injunction limited to Section 4 and Section 5.
Judge Freemans nationwide preliminary injunction prohibits the federal government from implementing or enforcing Sections 4 and 5 of the EO against any federal grant recipient or federal contractor. The court found that requiring federal grantees to certify that they will not use grant funds to promote concepts the Government considers divisive, even where the grant program is wholly unrelated to such concepts, violates the grantees free speech rights.
The judge also found that the EO was so vague that it was impossible for plaintiffs to determine what conduct is prohibited. She noted that the ambiguity regarding the conduct prohibited by Sections 4 and 5 was only exacerbated by the FAQsissued by the Department of Labors Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, which failed to narrow prohibited action. Such ambiguity further violated the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, Judge Freeman found.
The Department of Justice has yet to announce whether it will appeal the injunction, and a new administration will take office at noon on January 20, 2021. While the incoming administration is widely expected to rescind the EO, this ruling was highly anticipated and celebrated by diversity and inclusion professionals, social justice organizations and employers in many different industries. This is particularly noteworthy given the number of employers that have publicly committed to enhance their diversity and inclusion efforts in light of the racial unrest that has unfolded nationally throughout 2020.
It remains important for employers, particularly federal contractors and federal grant recipients, to stay informed of developments in this area as they augment and modify their diversity and inclusion efforts in 2021 and beyond. We will continue to monitor this case and provide any updates on any future developments regarding this Executive Order.
[View source.]
Read the rest here:
Court Enjoins Trump Executive Order On Divisive Concepts In Workplace Trainings - JD Supra
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on Court Enjoins Trump Executive Order On Divisive Concepts In Workplace Trainings – JD Supra
COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE TRUST INC : Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Financial Statements and Exhibits (form 8-K) – marketscreener.com
Posted: at 2:58 pm
Item 5.02 Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors;Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers.(e) On November 2, 2020, the Board of Directors (the "Board") of CommunityHealthcare Trust Incorporated (the "Company"), at the recommendation of thecompensation committee of the Board (the "Committee"), authorized and approvedthe Fifth Amendment (the "Wallace Fifth Amendment") to the Employment Agreementby and between the Company and Timothy G. Wallace (the "Wallace EmploymentAgreement"), the Second Amendment (the "Dupuy Second Amendment") to theEmployment Agreement by and between the Company and David H. Dupuy (the "DupuyEmployment Agreement"), and the Second Amendment (the "Stach Second Amendment")to the Amended and Restated Employment Agreement by and between the Company andLeigh Ann Stach (the "Stach Employment Agreement"). These amendments to eachrespective employment agreements were executed on January 4, 2021 and wereeffective as of January 1, 2021.Wallace Employment AgreementThe principal change in the Wallace Employment Agreement resulting from theWallace Fifth Amendment is to increase the base salary paid by the Company toTimothy G. Wallace for his employment as President and Chief Executive Officer("Wallace Base Salary"). In 2020, the Wallace Base Salary was $645,000.00. TheWallace Fifth Amendment increases the Wallace Base Salary to $750,000.00 for2021, which is an $105,000.00 increase from 2020.The foregoing descriptions of the Wallace Fifth Amendment to the WallaceEmployment Agreement are qualified in their entirety by reference to theoriginal Wallace Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.6 to theRegistration Statement on Form S-11 of the Company filed with the Securities andExchange Commission (the "SEC") on April 2, 2015, the first amendment to theWallace Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.1 to the CurrentReport on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 18, 2017, the second amendmentto the Wallace Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.1 to theCurrent Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 2, 2018, the thirdamendment to the Wallace Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.1to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 3, 2019, thefourth amendment to the Wallace Employment Agreement, which is included asExhibit 10.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 3,2020, and the Wallace Fifth Amendment, which is included as Exhibit 10.1 to thisCurrent Report on Form 8-K, and are incorporated by reference into this Item.The foregoing description of the Wallace Fifth Amendment does not purport to becomplete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to such exhibits.Dupuy Employment AgreementThe principal change in the Dupuy Employment Agreement resulting from the DupuySecond Amendment is to increase the base salary paid by the Company to David H.Dupuy for his employment as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer("Dupuy Base Salary"). In 2020, the Dupuy Base Salary was $392,000.00. The DupuySecond Amendment increases the Dupuy Base Salary to $460,000.00 for 2021, whichis a $68,000.00 increase from 2020.The foregoing descriptions of the Dupuy Second Amendment to the Dupuy EmploymentAgreement are qualified in their entirety by reference to the Dupuy EmploymentAgreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.1 to the Current Report on Form 8-Kfiled with the SEC on March 11, 2019, the first amendment to the DupuyEmployment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.2 to the Current Report onForm 8-K filed with the SEC on January 3, 2020, and the Dupuy Second Amendment,which is included as Exhibit 10.2 to this Current Report on Form 8-K, and areincorporated by reference into this Item. The foregoing description of the DupuySecond Amendment does not purport to be complete and is qualified in itsentirety by reference to such exhibits.Stach Employment AgreementThe principal change in the Stach Employment Agreement resulting from the StachSecond Amendment is to increase the base salary paid by the Company to Leigh AnnStach for her employment as Executive Vice President and Chief AccountingOfficer ("Stach Base Salary"). In 2020, the Stach Base Salary was $326,800.00.The Stach Second Amendment increases the Stach Base Salary to $387,600.00 for2021, which is a $60,800.00 increase from 2020.The foregoing descriptions of the Stach Second Amendment to the Stach EmploymentAgreement are qualified in their entirety by reference to the amended andrestated Stach Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.1 to theCurrent Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on May 2, 2019, the firstamendment to the Stach Employment Agreement, which is included as Exhibit 10.4to the Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on January 3, 2020, and theStach Second Amendment, which is included as Exhibit 10.3 to this Current Reporton Form 8-K, and are incorporated by reference 2--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
into this Item. The foregoing description of the Stach Second Amendment does notpurport to be complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to suchexhibits.
Item 9.01 Financial Statements and Exhibits
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Edgar Online, source Glimpses
Read more here:
COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE TRUST INC : Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Financial Statements and Exhibits (form 8-K) - marketscreener.com
Posted in Fifth Amendment
Comments Off on COMMUNITY HEALTHCARE TRUST INC : Change in Directors or Principal Officers, Financial Statements and Exhibits (form 8-K) – marketscreener.com
Human Trafficking Support Signs Placed at Riverfront Park – City of Spokane
Posted: at 2:56 pm
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Media: Fianna Dickson, 625.6297. Riverfront: 311 or 509.625.6600
Friday, January 8, 2021 at 2:03 p.m.
SPOKANE Beginning Monday, January 11, 2021, signs providing resources and support for human trafficking victims will be placed at Riverfront Park.
The signs are produced in collaboration with Lutheran Community Services Northwest, the Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce, and Spokane City Council member Candace Mumms office.
The Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce has been working for a decade towards abolition of human trafficking, and these signs are one tool we have towards outreach, intervention, and prevention, said Candace Mumm, member of the Spokane City Council.
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month, and Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward issued a proclamation encouraging citizens to become more informed on this growing problem, to be vigilant and report suspicious activity, and to work towards solutions to end trafficking in all its forms in our community.
Lutheran Community Services Northwest and members of the Inland Northwest Human Trafficking Taskforce are very appreciative of the City of Spokane's support on sexual and labor trafficking exploitation public education, said Mabel Elsom, Lutheran Community Services Northwest victim advocate. These signs will not only bring awareness of human trafficking to our area but will allow survivors to get immediate information for assistance, support, and advocacy. LCSNorthwest'smission ofHealth, Justice, and Hopeis in alignment with the task force mission statement; to abolish all forms of human trafficking through education, prevention and intervention by working collaboratively to provide advocacy, support, empowerment, healing, and justice.
Human trafficking is a critical issue, and these signs at Riverfront will support a growing awareness of problem, provide ways to report suspicious activity, and connect victims with resources, said Garrett Jones, Director of Parks and Recreation.
Nearly 20 signs will be placed around Riverfront Park; some will be placed now, and others as more buildings and additional restrooms re-open as COVID-19 guidelines allow. Additional signs will be placed at other City of Spokane parks and Spokane area locations in the months to come.
About City of Spokane Parks and Recreation
City of Spokane Parks and Recreation stewards nearly 120 properties across 4,000 acres of park land, including manicured parks, conservation lands, aquatic centers, golf courses, sports complexes, and an arboretum. We also offer hundreds of recreation opportunities for all ages and abilities to improve the health and quality of life for our community. Enjoy all your city has to offer by visiting spokaneparks.org. Follow us @SpokaneParks on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
-###-
Read the original post:
Human Trafficking Support Signs Placed at Riverfront Park - City of Spokane
Posted in Abolition Of Work
Comments Off on Human Trafficking Support Signs Placed at Riverfront Park – City of Spokane
Section 21 Abolition – Labour offers to work with Tories – Letting Agent Today
Posted: at 2:56 pm
Labour housing spokesperson Thangam Debbonaire has released details of a letter seeking further clarity and commitments on the rental sector eviction process - she sent it to the Housing Secretary before Christmas but has yet to receive a reply.
The letter, which Debbonaire has put on Twitter, was dated December 22 and demandsinformation on a range of housing issues.
With regard to evictions, she writes:
Evictions of People in the private rented sector: We have all appreciated the bans on evictions of people who have lost income and are struggling to pay rent this year. I also accept the need for landlords, particularly social landlords, to be able to evict people who are causing serious nuisance or harassment or worse to their neighbours.
However, the continuing economic crisis, the gaps between the financial support schemes and the difficulties faced by people on precarious and insecure incomes means that there are many people who are behind with their rent and continue to struggle.
There are others who have managed to pay but are still at risk of landlords using Section 21 to evict them. Abolishing Section 21 was a Tory manifesto and Queens Speech commitment and we would work with you to ensure it passes quickly.
An extension to the protections from eviction for tenants who have lost income as a result of Covid is also vital. Additionally the fear of losing 20 per week Universal Credit in spring is causing families concern. The cost of providing emergency and long-termaccommodation for those who present as homeless at their councils is considerable. The health risks of some people ending up win the streets are clear.
Then Debonnaire adds, with this emphasis:
Will you act now to ensure that people have the help they need to be protected from eviction from their homes? Will you commit to bringing forward the promised legislation toend Section 21 urgently in the new year?
There has been no response from Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick to the letter, although the government has frequently made clear that the Section 21 abolition, as part of the Renters Reform Bill, will be a priority once Parliamentary time allows after the Coronavirus peaks have been passed.
Here is the original post:
Section 21 Abolition - Labour offers to work with Tories - Letting Agent Today
Posted in Abolition Of Work
Comments Off on Section 21 Abolition – Labour offers to work with Tories – Letting Agent Today
Opinion | The Electoral College Isnt Supposed to Work This Way – The New York Times
Posted: at 2:56 pm
The 2020 presidential election has been a disaster for people who think the Electoral College is still a good idea. Joe Bidens clear victory has been followed by attempts by the incumbent president to induce Republican legislators and other elected Republican officials in five states he lost to ignore the certified vote counts in their states and substitute their partisan preferences for the voters decision. Now Congress will formally receive the electoral votes, after a series of attempts to subvert the democratic process, all made possible by the Electoral College.
An early salvo was a suit filed in the U.S. Supreme Court by the State of Texas and supported by 126 Republican House members and 18 Republican attorneys general asking the court to throw out the electors chosen by those same five states because Texas said it did not like the way they conducted their elections.
Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas filed suit asking the courts to declare that Vice President Mike Pence has the legal right to pick the next president himself under the 12th Amendment by ignoring the electoral votes for Mr. Biden cast by those five states. Instead, the Gohmert suit asks Mr. Pence to replace them with votes cast by the losing Trump elector slates in those states.
In response to public pleas from President Trump, Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has announced that he will join Republican members of the House in objecting to the votes of some states cast for Mr. Biden, thereby requiring separate votes by the House and Senate on those electors. This, in theory, could result in a deadlock that could be broken by the House voting with one vote for each state delegation for president, resulting in the election of Donald Trump to a second term after losing in both the popular vote and the Electoral College. The fact that Democrats hold a majority in the House makes this outcome unlikely, of course, but it is a viable gambit for future elections.
When the Electoral College was created, many conceived the United States as a confederation of sovereign states. And only a small percentage of the adult population could vote at all property-owning white males in many states and senators and the president were not elected by popular vote. Today the country is one of the longest-lasting democracies in the world, with almost all adult citizens entitled to vote for the president and members of Congress our Constitution and body politic are not what they were in 1787.
The presidential election is really 51 elections, each conducted and certified by its jurisdiction. Those who support the continued use of the Electoral College system say that the states speak to one another through it and so it performs a vital role in promoting national unity and the constitutional system.
But the multiple challenges to the votes of the people this year expressed through the states and their votes in the Electoral College teach us that the Electoral College is a fragile institution, with the potential for inflicting great damage on the country when norms are broken. Many of the attempts to subvert the presidential election outcome this year are made possible by the arcane structure and working of the Electoral College process and illustrate the potential for the current Electoral College to promote instability rather than the stability the framers sought.
When some state legislatures were pressed by President Trump to consider changing the outcome of the election, they all declined this time. But what would have happened if a majority of legislators in one or more states had decided to overrule the voters and reassert their constitutional authority to choose electors? The Electoral Count Act of 1887 gives the final say to governors the electors they certify are entitled to the presumption of legitimacy. What would have happened if some of the governors of the states Mr. Trump targeted had given in and certified Trump electors despite the official vote count in their states for Biden? We would have had a constitutional crisis of the highest order, calling into question our national commitment to democratic elections.
So as some Republicans have persisted in the view that a legislature or governor could have certified electors other than those chosen by the people and certified by state election officials, they have shown the Electoral College to be potentially dangerous. The possibility that politicians of either party could change an elections outcome through postelection manipulation of the Electoral College is destabilizing.
And the idea that the vice president, sitting in the chair as presiding officer of the joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes, could decide on his own to ignore electors certified by the states and replace them with impostors certified by no one leads straight to the end of democracy. The push by Senator Hawley and Representative Gohmert and other Republicans to challenge duly certified electoral votes and attempt to have the citizens and states they represent be disenfranchised is another path to the same destination.
All of this will, and should, propel calls for modernization of the Electoral College. Many will seek its abolition and replacement by a single nationwide poll. But at the very least, the irrational intricacies of the 1887 Electoral Count Act should be replaced by a uniform system guaranteeing that the popular vote in each state controls the ultimate allocation of that states electors. The 2020 election has highlighted the destabilizing tendencies in the current system and the need for reform.
Mr. Potter is a former commissioner and chairman of the U.S. Federal Election Commission, was general counsel to John McCains two presidential campaigns and is founder and president of the Campaign Legal Center. Mr. Fried was the U.S. Solicitor General under President Ronald Reagan, is a professor at Harvard Law School and serves on the board of the Campaign Legal Center.
The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.
Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.
Go here to see the original:
Opinion | The Electoral College Isnt Supposed to Work This Way - The New York Times
Posted in Abolition Of Work
Comments Off on Opinion | The Electoral College Isnt Supposed to Work This Way – The New York Times