Daily Archives: May 9, 2021

A few weeks ago, Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance announced that his office had decided to stop prosecuting prostitution. This was widely reported as a victory for sex workers, and indeed it is a shift, considering how past initiatives that were doing something good for sex workers often just led to further crackdowns. But Melissa Gira Grant, a New Republic staff writer who has covered sex work activism for more than 15 years, saw the new rule a little differently. She says it wont do anything to change aggressive police behavior toward sex workers and that the citys continued prosecution of people who buy sex will only perpetuate harmful stereotypes. On Tuesdays episode of What Next, I spoke with Grant about the states rethinking their stances on sex work and whether the legal system can deliver the security these workers need. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Mary Harris: In 2016, you reported a story about a Brooklyn woman named Sarah, whos a mother and a sex worker. Sarah kept getting arrested even when she wasnt breaking the law, most often under a state law that criminalized loitering with intent to commit prostitution Basically, if police saw you standing around and thought you looked like a sex worker, they could arrest you.

Melissa Gira Grant: The most extraordinary arrest Sarah told me about was one time when she was on a public city bus and the police essentially pulled the bus over to arrest her. In the process, they physically grabbed her, and women officers looked in her underwear and made her feel really humiliated. I mean, the entire process is public humiliation.

What was the reasoning?

The only thing Sarah could come up withand I think this is accurate, from what Ive gauged from hundreds of women Ive talked to whove been in the same situationis that once police make an arrest and regard somebody as what theyll call a known prostitutethats who they always are to the department. When police have to make a certain number of arrests, theyre just going to go back for the people they can most easily arrest. In New York City, theyre not arresting all sex workers all the time, but they are also arresting women who are not currently doing sex work but may have done so at one point. A lot of the time, that is women of color, women in low income communities, trans women, and immigrant women.

You make this interesting comparison in your reporting between arrests like Sarahs and stop and frisk. A lot of times, women like Sarah were being arrested because of where they were and how they looked. Like, the reasoning behind arresting women was because they were wearing tight black leggings or tight jeans and a tight and a tank top showing their cleavage.

It is very clear to me, both from the time that Ive spent reporting in courts and the time that Ive spent talking to advocates, that 90-plus percent of the people arrested for loitering for prostitution in Brooklyn were Black. It is incredibly targeted in the way that stop and frisk was targetedand it is targeting the same communities. We found that NYPD was making about 2,0003,000 prostitution-related arrests a year, mostly concentrated in five communities that were largely low-income and largely Black and brown. So its not that they were making arrests in areas known for prostitution. Its they were making arrests in the same communities where they were already making arrests. And then those communities become known for prostitution, because thats where the arrests continue to happen.

The sex workers rights movement has made some pretty significant strides. The loitering law was repealed in February of this year, and other cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia are starting to loosen prosecution of sex work as well.

Part of it is that the culture has shifted quite a bitnot necessarily the culture around sex work, but the culture around policing. I think you can draw a line in the sand in 2014 with the murder of Mike Brown and the Black Lives Matter movement, with the questioning of what it means to look to police for public safety, with more people questioning the role of police in our lives. When you come to sex work with that perspective, youre asking not about the behavior of sex workers, but about the behavior of police. Its a very different framework. When you look at what police do to sex workers, when you look at the harassment, if not violence, and the ways these arrests upend peoples lives and expose them to harm, I dont think it can be justified. So now you have a much bigger constituency of people. Its not just sex workers pushing for thisits going to be groups pushing for all different kinds of reforms to policing, including people who are pushing for abolition. And you have groups that may never have done anything around sex workers rights but are going to be part of this broader effort because they see the damage that policing does in their communities.

And, as long as the NYPD is allowed to make arrests of people who buy sex, the impact of the DAs new decision is not that great. If anything, the rhetoric of treating sex workers as victims who should not be arrested and treating their customers as, essentially, sex offenders whom we have to go after with the full force of the lawthat itself is a very damaging message to send this message, that anybody involved in sex work by necessity is a victim we need to rescue by arresting their source of income without providing any kind of alternative. It keeps the same cycle continuing. Also, I think it creates this social perception that sex workers cant organize, that sex workers dont have community, that sex workers cant influence public policyall of which are things that actually are happening. So its incredibly dangerous, I think, to have those ideas spreading at the same time when sex workers are getting some support from legislators.

There are a few different ways governments have decided to treat sex work around the world. The first, full criminalization, is what we have in the U.S. for the most part. Then theres partial criminalization, where sex work itself isnt illegal but everything around itbeing a customer or providing a location for or transport to sex workis still illegal. Its essentially what New York has just put into place.

Decriminalization, which we see in New Zealand and a few states in Australia, does essentially get criminal laws out of sex workers work lives when it comes to their work. Sex workers still can and do bring cases around sexual harassment, sexual violence, wage theft. Not being regarded as criminals themselves mean that they can actually use the law to protect themselves in the ways they need to. Arresting them or their customers as a protection measure just exposes people to violence.

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Decriminalization is largely preferred by sex workers because, if you look at places that have put in place partial criminalization, you can see problems right awayepecially when it comes to policing.

Norway has this partial criminalization model. Amnesty International did research in four different countries looking at their prostitution laws, and it found some of the most stunning human rights abuses that I have heard around sex work. Police there created something called Operation Homeless, where they were surveilling and documenting sex workers and where they worked and then harassing their landlords, saying, If you dont evict this person, were going to come after you.

When this was exposed, how did the police respond? Was there some kind of turnabout?

Theoretically, Operation Homeless doesnt exist anymore, but the reality is theyve just pivoted. The kinds of anti-prostitution policing weve seen after the apparent end of Operation Homeless was largely targeting African immigrant women. Cops would stop people on the street and harass them to get them to turn over their papers. If they werent documented, they would be threatened with deportation. They are still penalized. They are still regarded as people who have to be corrected or excluded. Theres no way to have police in sex workers lives and not send that message that sex workers are a problem and police are the solution to the proble.

Theres also a way that any migrant sex worker is regarded as being trafficked because of myths and assumptions within the racialized way people talk about sex trafficking and sex work. In the U.S., the reality is that Asian migrant sex workers are some of the most vulnerable and targeted sex workers in the community. Theyre also organizing in their own rights groups, like Red Canary Song, which started in New York after an Asian migrant sex worker named Yang Song was killed in an NYPD raid. Their analysis of thisand I think its really important to share and credit this to themis that they are the ones who are best positioned to intervene when people are being exploited and are vulnerable. They are the ones who could help sex workers who are trafficked, or having their wages stolen or passports confiscated, or being treated in all of these other abusive ways. They have that trust right there in the community.

In reality, the idea of people being trafficked is used as justification to continue to send police in. Its claimed that sex work legalization will lead to increases in human trafficking, which I dont think theres any way of knowing, because there are very few studies that actually sort of provide a baseline as an alternative. I can say from the United States, where prostitution is fully criminalized, human trafficking actually still exists. Sex trafficking exists. And you know, the reason sex trafficking is even regarded as something different from human and labor trafficking is because sex work isnt considered work. So under our laws, its created as a separate category and is treated very differently by police

In other industries where we see traffickingagricultural work or domestic workwhat we dont do is send police into homes on the Upper West Side to ensure the domestic workers arent being trafficked. But we are sending police into immigrant communities and massage businesses. Theyre not going to other kinds of informal labor where people are vulnerable to trafficking because they dont have access to labor rights. Thats what it comes down to when you when you have a group of workers who are undocumented, whose industry isnt protected under labor lawthat creates an environment thats ripe for abuse. I dont think theres any situation in which police can correct that. For the past 20 years, weve been throwing police at the issue of human trafficking in the United States, and theres no evidence that its actually reduced anything.

What would be the answer? Should we give people a voice in their workplaces take labor abuse complaints seriously? Should we give workers some kind of amnesty so that even if theyre undocumented and they report abuses in their workplace, theyre not going to get deported? There are lots of different solutions that have nothing to do with looking to the police, which, particularly in immigrant communities, can be a source of violence.

I wonder if you see the Manhattan district attorneys new ruling as a first step, and if so, in the right or wrong direction.

My initial response to itand I still am very much in this placeis yes, do that and stop the arrests, and its only a step backward if it stops here, if its only a fig leaf for this prosecutors office. I dont think anybody whos involved in campaigns for decriminalization and for ending the police harassment and abuse of sex workers will look at this and say, Well, thats it, we won that one. Their target isnt necessarily the prosecutors office. Their target is the police, and theyre focused on that. Sure, the prosecutor does have a lot of power, but the reality is the NYPD right now has more power over sex workers lives. So if you want to stop sex workers from being criminalized, you have to look at the police.

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Sex Workers Want More Than Just the Right to Work - Slate

Against a backdrop of bright pink tulips, protesters stood outside Gov. J.B. Pritzkers Gold Coast home on Friday with flowers, signs and a painted piece of cardboard that read, Dear J.B., on this Mothers Day, set our loved ones free.

That oversized Mothers Day card included demands that Pritzker sign clemency petitions to for prisoners they say have been wrongfully incarcerated and that he stop construction of a new youth prison at the Lincoln Developmental Center.

Denice Bronis, an Elgin resident and member of Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity, said her son Matthew Echevarria, in prison for 22 years after being convicted of murder, contracted COVID-19 at Menard Correctional Center and still exhibits long-term symptoms.

Mothers Day is just as much a day of love as it is a day of pain, especially for those who have experienced forced separation from our children, our loved ones, by the state, Bronis said.

The Illinois Department of Corrections started allowing in-person visits at all correctional centers on Monday, provided COVID-19 safety regulations are followed. During Phase 1 of its visitation plan, set to last for 60 days, physical contact is not permitted and clear plastic barriers separate incarcerated individuals and visitors.

Kiah Sandler, a Bronzeville resident with the End IL Prison Lockdown Coalition, said although the groups demands have shifted since Pritzker signed a sweeping criminal justice reform bill, there is still work to be done by the governor.

Sandler said the coalition is asking Pritzker to lift that ban on personal contact during in-person visits, and also to grant more clemency requests to set loved ones free with the stroke of a pen.

We just want people to be able to feel safe, we want families to be able to be families again, Sandler said. We want to honor the strength and resilience of those moms, caregivers, and chosen family who provide care across the bars and walls of prisons here in Illinois.

The Mothers Day card, signed by dozens of mothers, loved ones and supporters of those in prison, was shoved under the black metal gate in front of Pritzkers mansion. A few protesters used the homes intercom to alert the governor to the delivery and repeat their demands. They received no response.

Grid View

A Pritzker spokesperson later sent an email stating Pritzker has granted clemency requests throughout the pandemic and the state prison population is at its lowest level in years down 28% since 2019, including a 43% drop in female inmates.

Holly Krig, a member of Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration, said it is horrific and cruelly unnecessary, that visitors and incarcerated people are not allowed to touch and also that visitors must be vaccinated; that means children under 16 who cant be vaccinated yet cant visit.

She said for younger children and newborns to maintain a relationship with incarcerated mothers, contact is essential.

People can be released, people should be released and they should be released immediately, Krig said. We need to bring our people home.

Originally posted here:

Protesters deliver Mothers Day card to Pritzkers house, demand release of incarcerated loved ones - Chicago Sun-Times

As I and many other residents of Portland see Charter Commission campaign signs pop up, and as we read and hear local news reports quoting people who recommend the abolition of many things that relate to law enforcement, I cannot help but worry that because of the moment we are in, we are going to be making decisions that may not be easily undone with the result of one local election.

Our opinions about issues on policing in America and changing the structure of city government these days seem to only be more hardened, and the willingness to compromise seems to be fading. I get that compromise cannot always be achieved, but it does not mean we dont have an obligation to try, state it publicly and attempt to choose leaders who we hope can reach a middle ground.

I voted no last year on the proposal to create the Charter Commission, because I did not see a reason for essentially cracking open our citys constitution to achieve what those supporting the measure were seeking. But also maybe it was because I come from Chicago, and the calls for a more powerful mayor in Portland reminded me of all the drama that comes with an elected mayor, which I did not believe would be beneficial for a city of Portlands population. But the majority of Portland residents spoke by approving the formation of a Charter Commission, and it will be formed. I respect the decision of the voters, and I will also vote in Junes Charter Commission election. Thats how democracy works. Sometimes you are on the losing end of an argument, but you have to respect the process and the people who disagreed with your assessment on a matter, as difficult as it can be at times.

When we vote for essentially our constitutional delegates to change the city charter in June, we as Portland residents must really take the time to dig into the background of the candidates who seek to draft the recommendations to change our city charter, which will later be presented to the voters. We must elect people who want meaningful reform, not a fulfillment of their personal agendas. Also, we cannot elect those who will be the loudest voices in the room and will take the most space in conversations as if they possess all the answers. Because guess what, not one single person knows all the answers and can speak for everyone about all of the issues.

All of what I said about the Charter Commission applies to police reform in Portland as well. As a Black man living in Maine, I understand firsthand the concerns out there about policing in America, and I have expressed my own thoughts about it in the public space. However, I am also not going to label the Portland Police Department as the enemy or lay all of the nations problems with policing in America on 161 officers in Portland, because it is not fair to them. They did not create the historical and long-standing issues regarding the relationship between communities of color and all the other issues that plague policing in America.

In my own corner of the world, I will be working with others to achieve meaningful police reform that will benefit Portland residents and address issues of local concern. As a citizen of this city who wants to be part of the solution, I hope to do my part by listening and encouraging our local elected leaders to compromise and, most importantly, to learn from others. Given that police reform will likely be on the agenda of the Charter Commission as well, I hope Charter Commission members find ways to do the same.

I cannot imagine the amount of pressure that is placed on our local elected leaders and, soon, the Charter Commission. However, it is my hope that we all can work together to enact reform that is meaningful and includes all parties involved and that people will stay level headed when topics become difficult to discuss. We have the ability to rise above it all. Lets do it, Portland!

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Maine Voices: With big issues on the table in Portland, Charter Commission vote will be critical - Press Herald

On May 4, the Tennessee General Assembly voted to refer a constitutional amendment to the 2022 general election ballot that would remove language that allows the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment and replace it with the statement, Slavery and involuntary servitude are forever prohibited. The ballot measure would also state that the language does not prohibit an inmate from working when the inmate has been duly convicted of a crime.

In 2020, voters in Nebraska and Utah voted to remove language from their respective constitutions that allowed the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishments. Nebraska Amendment 1 was approved by a margin of 68.23% to 31.77%. Utah Constitutional Amendment C was approved by a margin of 80.48% to 19.52%.

As of 2021:

Ten states had constitutions that included provisions prohibiting enslavement and involuntary servitude but with an exception for criminal punishments.

Nine states had constitutions that included provisions permitting involuntary servitude, but not slavery, as a criminal punishment.

One stateVermonthad a constitutional provision permitting involuntary servitude to pay a debt, damage, fine, or cost.

The Tennessee State Legislature can refer constitutional amendments to the ballot for gubernatorial general elections. The Tennessee Constitution requires the legislature to approve a constitutional amendment during two successive legislative sessions with an election in between. However, the constitution provides for two different vote requirements depending on the session. During the first legislative session, the constitutional amendment needs to receive a simple majority (50%+1) vote in each legislative chamber. During the second legislative session, the constitutional amendment needs to receive a two-thirds vote in each legislative chamber. In the state Senate, that amounts to 17 votes during the first session and 22 votes during the second session, assuming no vacancies. In the state House, that amounts to 50 votes during the first session and 66 votes during the second session.

During the 2019 legislative session, Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-29) introduced the constitutional amendment into the legislature as Senate Joint Resolution 159 (SJR 159) on February 5, 2019.

On March 25, 2019, the state Senate approved SJR 159, in a vote of 32-0. On April 22, 2019, the state House approved SJR 159, in a vote of 97-0.

The amendment was introduced during the 2021 legislative session as Senate Joint Resolution 80 (SJR 80). The Senate approved SJR 80 on March 15, 2021, in a vote of 26-4. On May 4, 2021, the House approved SJR 80 in a vote of 81-2, with two present and not voting.

State Representatives Joe Towns (D) said, Today is a historic day as this state has taken a definitive step forward in stripping all forms of slavery from the Tennessee State Constitution. Some Tennesseans may be prisoners, but, by God, they will not be slaves. We are the first Southern State to embrace universal abolition. I am proud to have carried this joint resolution and now we need all Tennesseans to join us in correcting this wrong by voting for this constitutional amendment in November of 2022.

The amendment is one of three set to appear on the 2022 statewide ballot. Tennessee voters will also be deciding a right to work amendment and an amendment that provides a process, along with a line of succession, for an acting governor when the governor is unable to perform the offices powers and duties.

Tennessee voters last decided on a constitutional amendment in 2014. Tennessee voters approved 100% of the 11 statewide ballot measures appearing on ballots between 1995 and 2014.

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Tennessee voters will decide 2022 amendment to remove language that allows the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment ...

Do better

As a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, I have watched with outrage at the way elected officials and others have treated the young woman who accused a state legislator of sexual assault.

There is no excuse for identifying this young woman publicly as has been reported in media statewide. Coordinated efforts to shame, bully and attack her character on social media in the wake of her allegations are reprehensible.

As a survivor, I know this young woman is facing years of gut-wrenching work to reclaim her dignity, confidence, and self-esteem.

While the backlash not only makes matters more difficult for her, it also sends a chilling message to anyone who suffers unwanted sexual advances or violence at home. Studies show that one-fifth of sexual abuse victims decide not to report a crime out of fear of retaliation.

It makes me wonder what kind of message were sending to our sons and daughters about holding those accountable for unwanted sexual advances and domestic abuse? From my perspective, we simply must do better.

Vote Lincoln

I endorse the Re-Election of Commissioner David Lincoln to Golden Gate Highway District Board, representing Sub District 1. I have known Commissioner Lincoln and worked with him on Highway District issues and in other organizations over the years. I have never known him not to hesitate to take on issues, usually providing a leadership role. Executively, I have worked with him closely as he is Chairman of the Canyon County Association of Highway Districts, and the Board of the Idaho Association of Highway Districts. More locally he has been instrumental in organizing cooperative agreements, between neighboring Highway Districts, and the Cities in the District and those bordering the District. Those agreement include a gravel pit and cooperation with equipment and projects. Those actions have saved the District and Canyon County taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. He is never hesitant to spent time with Legislators and other officials for the benefit of Highway District and our Communities. I fully support the Re-Election of Commissioner David Lincoln.

No sense

Critical race theory is a radical concept that holds that American institutions, language, culture, meritocracy, and liberal system of government are systemically racist and must be fundamentally altered. The theory teaches that our children are inherently evil just because they are white. The theory teaches that our Revolutionary War was not fought for the purpose of freedom from excessive taxation without representation, but because our forefathers wanted a slave nation. Utter Horse Feathers.

To set the record straight, In the British Empire, slavery was legal through the 18th century. The Slave Trade Act 1807 of abolished the slave trade in the British Empire, but it was not until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 that the institution of slavery was abolished. Slavery was abolished in the colonies in 1833. This is over thirty to fifty years after the Revolutionary War. There is no reason to fight a war to be a slave nation if the nation you are a part of is already a slave nation. This makes no sense.

Civics

America is great due in part to the free education provided all children. The Idaho Freedom Foundation is said to believe that it isnt the proper role of government to provide that education and via totally baseless innuendos, amplified by extremists in the Idaho legislature, created a paralysis in the Legislature passing an education budget. This year those far right extremists falsely claim that our students are being taught Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Social Justice in school, and they want the Government to prohibit those concepts from even being introduced. Will they next demand that the Government dictate that students are taught their extremist political views? School subjects decisions are better left to the State Board of Education and locally elected school boards, not the Government.

I had not heard of CRT prior to the false claims of the IFF and those far right noise makers in our Legislature. After looking CRT up on Wikipedia, Im wondering if a course in CRT shouldnt be offered in Idahos colleges along with Civics and American Government.

Legislature

This letter is geared towards Idaho Republican Legislatures, you know, the lawmakers that introduced two anti-education bills, one which prohibits being taught diversity and equality. You people should be ashamed of yourself for laws bordering on fascism. Fascism, comparable to the Nazi book burning that occurred in the 1930s. Your power over Idaho citizens now includes power over their thoughts and a weakened educational system, weakened by the $1.5 million taken away from Boise State for instance. Your real reason for doing this is to stay in power. Idaho needs quality education, not low-grade education, and thought police in our Universities. There will come a time when you are no longer elected, then I can laugh at you. Recently George W. Bush stated, if Republicans continue to cater to white evangelicals, their ability to win elections will be greatly compromised. Is that going to be you Gov. Little? You signed HB 377.

Melissa Sue Robinson, Nampa

Support

In response to the Guest Commentary by Natalie MacLachlan I have to say that I appreciate her passion and advocacy for our students, their families and for her fellow educators. As a fellow educator I have to say that in my 13 years Ive always felt supported by our elected legislators. The education budget has steadily risen over that time period with another 4% increase for this school year. Beginning teacher pay has risen dramatically the past 4-5 years with veteran teacher pay increasing for this next school year. Half of the entire general fund for the state of Idaho goes to education alone. I found it very obviously untrue for Ms. MachLachlan to state that our legislators dont care about Idaho children and educators. A legislator may not do what she or I want them to do but that doesnt mean they dont care about the students and families that we teach or that they dont care about educators. Unfortunately, those accusations were a thoughtless ending to what was mostly thoughtful commentary.

Damage

The witch hunt is on. Beware, teachers and administrators in public schools. McCarthyism oh no its McGeachinism this time--gun, bible, and conspiracy theories in hand. Shes on the loose with her posse to ferret out communism, socialism, social justice in the public schools (which her IFF buddies hope to privatize by not giving federal money to public schools--get the connection??).

McGeachins Task Force has been formed much like McCarthys Un-American Activities panel.

So what does this state leader plan to accomplish? More irreparable harm to our public schools?

Were bottom of the states for education funding. 120+ classrooms were without certified teachers last year and some schools went to 4-day weeks, etc.

The legislators have no facts for their complaints--one has heard a substitute say blah blah, another some obscure persons report.

This is exactly why McGeachin must hunt for evidence and ask families to sell out their teachers.

Remember the damage McCarthy did to our country?

Consider the damage McGeachin will do to our state--in education, industry, community morale.

Uninformed

Sunday, May 2 letter from Kathryn Brandt regarding CRT, Critical Race Theory.

You apparently are not real well informed or have an agenda on this particular, volatile topic. Google certainly is not comparable to the all knowing Oz by any stretch of the imagination. Since the topic has come up, there have been a multitude of professors and other educators at all levels using that same phrase. Its not just IFF, FOX, and our state legislators as you assert. If you truly want a definition, why dont you ask them rather than make unfounded accusations against only conservative organizations. The same phrase is also used in near all media outlets including those, especially CNN, with a very apparent liberal bias but you neglected to even mention them.

Delusion

Ive been an Independent since 2009. Im formally educated in Radio TV Broadcast/Journalism and American History. Ive paid close attention to all things Political and Education since 1981 when I met my Wife who was a Teacher for over 30 years. The last 14 years of my career I worked for 2 different Education Companies. One an intervention company that served children with language challenges across the entire country, and the last 6 years with the largest textbook publisher of curriculum in the world covering Idaho, MT & WY. Weve had bias in our National Education system since the Dept of Ed was created in 1979 around diversity. Some of these Educators locally and Democrats in the legislature complaining about no evidence for Critical Race Theory is amusing, its been going on for so long. The 1619 Project and White Fragility has been an approved part of curriculum across the country. Attacking students because they are born a certain skin color is the worst kind of racism there is. To deny it is delusional.

Jan. 6

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Dan Dunness letter on Sunday May 2nd stated unarmed demonstrators entered the Capital building and accused the media of screaming insurrection. These people were armed with bear spray, metal poles with American flags, a hockey stick, metal poles taken from the construction site used to beat officers and break windows, two bombs were planted at the RNC and DNC headquarters, several rioters were seen carrying zip ties for their possible arrest of members of congress. The Capitol police union stated 140 officers were injured in that riot, 5 people died and 2 officers later committed suicide. I dont know where Dan gets his news from, maybe he just took the word of Donald Trump when the former president said this was a peaceful demonstration, the people were hugging and kissing the officers at the Capitol only a few were being disruptive. Not what I saw.

Fact check

Mr. Dunnes letter published 5/2 and entitled History demands a response. He states When the unarmed demonstrators entered the Capitol building both papers screamed insurrection, not even close. Unarmed? A partial list of weapons taken from the indictments of some of those arrested includes: stun guns, pepper (and bear) spray, batons, flag poles, sharpened poles and sticks, hockey sticks, fire extinguishers. The list goes on. Im struggling to understand how you arrived at your definition of unarmed. A Justice Department filing lists 134 police officers assaulted, and the police union claims 140 officers injured. Your unarmed demonstrators were shouting hang Mike Pence for refusing to not certify the election, which he had no constitutional authority to do, and kill Nancy Pelosi, among other threats against federal officials. They stormed and ransacked the Capitol, injured over 130 police officers, tried to stop the certification of the election essential to our democracy, and threatened to kill federal officials. Help me understand how thats not an insurrection. I suggest you look that word up in the dictionary.

Great?

The Idaho Republican Tyranny Partys core value program, wants indoctrination and trafficking of critical conspiracy and gaslighting theory, to replace critical race theory and the teaching of social justice in America USA. Because evidently, social justice for all, will not make America great, again, under the 21st century Republican oligarch system.

Idahos Governor & Lt. Governor have the educational police (gaustpo) out looking for teachers of social justice, because they are concerned about communistic infiltration concepts getting into the classrooms. Germany 1933-1946 classrooms = no social justice teaching allowed, only the indoctrination of critical conspiracy and gaslighting theory.

If teaching critical race theory and social justice isnt rooted out of the classroom, America will never have another Republican wannabe dictator president sponsoring a coup d tat, like the one on 1/6/2021. And, how would America USA ever become Republican great again, without an insurrection? Like, when the ex-impeached president dialed 911 and reported massive 2020 voter fraud. However, he could not supply the MASSIVE evidence of that MASSIVE fraud.

Making Idaho great, again?

Darryl Christianson, Boise

Disservice

To the religious group who was using a mega phone today in downtown Nampa @ 12pm on 5/1/21: As a born again Christian there comes a time and place to spread the word of Christ, and screaming on any corner during the day causing havoc with paying customers trying to shop our little stores and causing motorist to stop and confront is actually a disservice to Christ and to us little stores who depend on our Saturday shoppers to survive!! You took away our customers for the day, and I hope you are satisfied with your actions!! I support freedom of speech but next time, please keep your mega phone home & use your posters to spread the word of Christ so I can support my small business and other stores can survive too. Thank you...

Lol

Once a year I get to LOL from the statements of an overly optimistic coach for the overly poor Idaho football team. I am referring to 8 year Coach Petrino. Every year before the season starts he finds ways to embellish the quality of Idaho football only to see them consistently play poorly with a constant losing record. The losses continue from when they were in the top FBS league to the less powerful FCS league they are now in. Here are some of Petrinos gems from the recently completed spring football. 1. Pandemic blame We never really went into the game with a full squad. Guess what coach? The Pandemic affected every team. 2. We are just a couple of people away from being really really good. Ive heard that refrain for 8 years. How about being just good. 3. They never lost by more than 10 points. But they still LOST, especially to such powerhouses as Idaho State and Northern Arizona. Keep on dreaming coach. Im sure it will be Deja-Vu all over again.

Marty Kopelowitz, Meridian

Less woke

In what seems like yet another organizational desire to go broke with woke, the Idaho Press continues to publish predominately Associated Press generated articles that meet all the wokeness talking points, while alienating the majority of Americans opinions. As a public service, Id like to replace actual Idaho Press headlines with more accurate (albeit, less woke) representations. For instance, Anti-Transgender Laws would become Pro- Female Athlete Laws. Defund The Police Platform would become Increase Violent Crime Objective. Cancel Culture would become Were Afraid To Admit Youre Right. And lastly, Anti-Vaccine Movement would become the I Still Have Some Say On What Gets Injected Into My Body Movement.

The Idaho Press does not vouch for the factual accuracy or endorse the opinions expressed in Letters to the Editor. If you would like to respond to anything you read here, please submit a letter at idahopress.com/opinion

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Letters to the editor, May 9, 2021 - Idaho Press-Tribune

As campus-based and grassroots movements against anti-Black and racist state violence continue to proliferate around the globe, university police and campus safety infrastructures and policies are rapidly losing their institutional legitimacy. Multiple national organizations, including Scholars for Social Justice and the American Studies Association, have endorsed the call for college and university campuses to join the national Cops Off Campus May 3, 2021, Day of Refusal and to organize with each other to contribute to solidarity activities throughout Abolition May. In addition to more than 30 University of California and California State University campuses, colleges and universities across the continent are participating in this month-long mobilization, including the University of Illinois, the University of Chicago, the City College of San Francisco, the University of Texas, Yale University, San Bernardino Valley College, the University of Virginia, the City University of New York, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Pennsylvania.

The May 3 Day of Refusal is a one-day commitment to withdraw all labor and participation from college and university activities, including (virtual) classes, events/webinars, email correspondence and administrative meetings. This is the inaugural mobilization of Abolition May, which Cops Off Campus conceives as an open invitation to organize and participate in a wide variety of community-building actions, including abolitionist teach-ins, mutual aid drives for vulnerable people on and near campuses, autonomously organized town halls, banner postings, street theater, walking tours focusing on sites of past police and university violence, and the creation of memorials commemorating people killed by police.

As this movement unfolds, the University of California (UC) administration is actively engaged in a repressive and reactionary response to the crises shaping the current historical moment. A series of proposed revisions to the systemwide UC police policy will expand the capacity for statewide police militarization (via Systemwide Response Teams), enhance UC Police Department (UCPD) surveillance technologies (by distributing body-worn cameras), and further weaponize the UCPDs Use of Force policies. The implications of this administrative proposal are deeply concerning, not only because UC is among the largest public university systems in the world, but also because it has historically served as an experimental ground for the development of modern police technologies and protocols.

Students, faculty, staff and surrounding communities are identifying and confronting the UC administrations approach to police reform through vigorous abolitionist organizing. Central to this work is the embrace of rigorous shared analysis, education and planning that fundamentally challenge the institutional assumptions underlying police-dependent notions of campus safety. Alongside UC Student Association leader (and UC Riverside student) Naomi Waters, San Francisco State University student leader JaCorey Bowens and Laney College professor Kimberly King, I participated in the presentation of a clear abolitionist response to the ongoing problem of university and college police presence during the April 21 CalMatters/KQED (Los Angeles) event, The Future of Campus Policing.

During this discussion, the four of us collectively reframed notions of safety and security by centering dynamic, decriminalizing, community-accountable infrastructures that deprovincialize college and university campuses, emphasizing how institutions like UC have historically had gentrifying, disastrously criminalizing effects on surrounding people and geographies. The resulting debate with the UC Regents Chair John Perez and UC Davis Police Chief Joseph Farrow exemplified the recent and remarkable shift in the content and parameters of critical public discussions of police power. Such debates are increasingly engaging with abolitionist frameworks and thus no longer accept the severe limitations of reformist scripts. While the impact of such invigorated debates on the UC administrations policing policy is still to be determined, it seems clear that the campus police presence is steadily losing credibility. The administrative leadership can no longer presume consent to its definition of campus safety.

Abolitionist security and safety measures directly confront and address the insecurities housing, food, health, economic, and otherwise that are not only created and reproduced by colleges and universities, but are also reinforced by their policed relation to surrounding (working-class and poor, unhoused, Black, Indigenous, Brown, undocumented, criminalized) communities.

In contrast to this dynamic abolitionist approach, the UC administration proposes to reform, expand and further militarize its police force in the name of safety, peace and security. Three aspects of its plan are worth special attention, especially as they are likely to influence other institutions approaches to police reform: the creation of Systemwide Response Teams, deployment of body-worn cameras, and preemptive sanction of police violence and intimidation through enhanced use-of-force policies.

The MISSION STATEMENT of SRTs states,

1602. The mission of the University of California SRT is to maintain a trained team of sworn personnel with the skills and equipment readily available to assist local campuses to:

(a) Facilitate and protect the Constitutional Rights of all persons;

(b) Keep the peace and protect life and property;

(c) Protect lawful activity while identifying and isolating unlawful behavior;

(d) Provide dignitary protection; and

(e) Provide training and other assistance when requested and appropriate.

It is a shock to the conscience and ethical sensibility of many UC students, educators and workers that, after a year of worldwide uprisings against police violence, the UC administration is proposing the creation of a new, specialized police force that significantly expands the power, militarization and personnel of the existing UCPD.

The SRT apparatus facilitates multicampus police mobilizations for the purpose of controlling and suppressing mass demonstrations on and near UC campuses. By way of example, the provisions cited above would allow (if not obligate) the UCPD to convene SRTs for the purposes of deterring, repressing, and/or neutralizing public protests of UC Regents meetings, while utilizing SRTs as a privileged form of paramilitary protection for visiting dignitaries (e.g. ambassadors and prominent state officials) representing governments that may be widely criticized for historical and ongoing atrocities, including apartheid, colonial occupation and genocidal violence. (This provision seems especially well-suited for targeting mobilizations of solidarity with Palestinian liberation that challenge the policies and asymmetrical violence of the Israeli state.)

The paramilitary nature of the SRTs is crystallized in the proposed policys provision for the assignment of special personnel to meet operational needs, including grenadiers. According to the U.S. Armys Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad Field Manual, a grenadier is a soldier equipped with a grenade launcher for the purpose of providing limited high-angle fire over dead space. According to the University of Wisconsin police, the grenadier is an officer who has been trained in the use of Chemical Agents/Munitions and their delivery systems. Notably, the UC policy does not provide a clear definition of this personnel category, and the grenadiers capacity to engage in tactics of campus-based counterinsurgency is left to speculation.

The proposed revision to UC police policy allows UCPD officers extraordinarily wide latitude to exercise discretionary activation when it comes to use of their body-worn video cameras (BWVs). They are given enough room for subjective interpretation of situations that they can essentially activate or deactivate their cameras anytime they wish, with rather loose requirements for post facto justification. Further, there is no clear consequence for failing to activate (or unjustifiably deactivating) BWVs, and there are also no apparent consequences for losing or accidentally erasing the BWV footage itself.

By way of example, 1520. Modification, Alteration, or Deletion states, no employee shall modify, alter, or delete video or audio once recorded by the [body-worn] camera, except as authorized by Department policy, yet there is no accompanying clarification of penalties if the policy is violated. Such toothless and deceiving policies effectively create superficial, bureaucratic approaches to police accountability that serve to expand the technology and judicial impunity of policing.

It is well established that even when used according to prescribed guidelines, police-worn body cameras have never definitively reduced the frequency or intensity of police violence. Recorded footage is generally not accessible to the public, and police administrators (including officers themselves) are afforded significant privileges in handling the preservation and distribution of such recordings. (Keep in mind that the world learned of George Floyds murder at the hands of Minneapolis police through the video recording of a courageous 17-year-old minor, while former Officer Derek Chauvins body cam footage was not released until well into his criminal trial 10 months later.) Further, increased distribution of body-worn cameras contributes to the enhancement of criminalizing surveillance technologies, exacerbates privacy concerns, and often significantly increases police personnel and budgets under the guise of reform.

The proposed revision to the UCPDs Use of Force policy weaponizes fantastically broad definitions of active resistance and assaultive resistance to police authority. As defined in the proposed policy, these terms allow for extraordinarily generous interpretations of resistance that retroactively justify police force, potentially including deadly or maiming police violence; for example, the category of active resistance includes any observation of a policed subjects bracing, tensed muscles, while the definition of extreme agitation agitation so severe that the person can be dangerous to themselves or others is precisely the rationale used to justify numerous anti-Black police killings, including MaKhia Bryant, Laquan McDonald, and many others.

Similarly, the definition of non-compliance allows police the widest possible latitude to make subjective judgments of physical gestures, stances, and observable mannerisms. Such inferences are entirely saturated by the ideological, symbolic and historical forces of anti-Blackness, racism, sexism, gender normativity, ableism and ageism.

The Use of Force policy is thus a potentially devastating weapon of repression, intimidation and criminalization because the scope of its implementation remains almost entirely determined by the perceptions of police officers themselves. Section 803 states: reasonableness of force will be judged from the perspective of an objectively reasonable officer in the same situation, based on the circumstances perceived by the officer at the time. (Emphasis added.)

It is necessary to raise fundamental questions over the institutional assumptions that enable and allegedly necessitate such policies, which are usually framed by administrators as existing for the protection of those who are being policed. Use of force protocols neither prevent nor curb anti-Black, racist, gendered and ableist police violence. To the contrary, these policies establish the bureaucratic and legal premises for ensuring that police threat, harm and fatality remain central to campus safety infrastructures.

While there are other aspects of the University of Californias proposed policy that call for critical examination, these few examples reflect the need to collectively challenge the normalized conditions of institutional violence that crystallize in the enduring presence of the UC police force. The UCPDs enormous infrastructure of privilege and power (budgetary, juridical, and otherwise) has toxified one of the worlds largest public universities for well over half a century. At a moment in which people worldwide are questioning the institution of policing, it is both possible and necessary to challenge the very existence of police on college and university campuses.

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University of California Pushes to Militarize and Expand Its Police Force - Truthout

With help from Myah Ward

THE 266,000 QUESTION This mornings April employment report held a shocking number: The country created about 266,000 jobs last month, about the quarter of the number that economists had expected. President Joe Biden tried to put a positive spin on the report later in the day, arguing that the economy was back on track, but also saying that the numbers are evidence that more stimulus is needed. Nightly asked chief economics correspondent Ben White to explain this mornings report and tell us whats ahead for jobs this summer in three minutes or less. As Ben says, The question is, Is it an outlier, or is it a real indication that the pace of jobs coming back from the Covid hit is slowing down considerably?

Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Heading into the weekend like Rob Gronkowski on a slide (h/t to our new Massachusetts Playbook author Lisa Kashinsky). Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at [emailprotected], or on Twitter at @renurayasam.

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GARY GENSLERS PRE-SNL READING The loathing Musk inspires from the left is uniquely intense and personal, not unlike that directed toward his fellow techno-optimists in the Democratic Party like Andrew Yang and Pete Buttigieg. Musk shares their cardinal sin: that of cringe, an obliviousness toward, or unwillingness to acknowledge, the tastemakers who define pop culture at its highest level which increasingly includes policy positions, like police abolition or massive wealth redistribution. Musk has remained stubbornly committed to a brash and vague tech-bro libertarianism that was already wearing out its welcome among cultural elites in 2011, and seems fully retrograde in the world of 2021. And his arc as a public figure serves as a neat lesson in how and where the battle lines of our current culture wars came to be drawn. From Derek Robertsons How the Internet Turned on Elon Musk, coming this weekend in POLITICO Magazine

California population drops for first time in state history: Californias population declined in 2020 for the first time in the state's recorded history due to Covid-19 deaths, federal immigration restrictions and declining births, state officials announced today. The nations most populous state lost more than 180,000 people between January 2020 and January 2021, a decline of 0.46 percent, according to data released by the state Department of Finance. This was the first time California experienced an annual drop since the state began recording such data in 1900, according to Finance spokesperson H.D. Palmer.

Internal study highlights struggle over control of Americas special ops: The study, which has not been previously reported, is being conducted by Joint Special Operations University, the academic arm of U.S. Special Operations Command. The plan is to review arguments for and against establishing a separate military branch for the special operations community, according to a slide deck dated March 21 and reviewed by POLITICO.

Virginia gubernatorial candidates push election integrity in major post-Trump contest: The first statewide Republican nominating contest since Trump left office has added a new issue to the top tier of traditional GOP campaign messages: election integrity. All four of the leading Republican candidates for this weekends unassembled convention, where Republican delegates will vote for their nominee at 39 sites around the state, are talking about election and voting rules on the trail and in ads, with some putting forth detailed plans for how they would change Virginias election rules.

Keisha Lance Bottoms exits Atlantas mayoral race: Bottoms said this morning that she would not seek a second term as Atlantas mayor, citing the tumultuous last four years. Bottoms alerted staffers and allies of her plans to exit the race on Thursday evening in a call first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

THEY HAVE TO GO FASTER Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) is one of only four Indian Americans currently in Congress. Elected in 2016, hes been pushing the Biden administration for weeks to deliver vaccines and other supplies to India.

In 2000, only two South Asian Americans ran for Congress, according to FiveThirtyEight. That rose to about 40 in the last couple of election cycles. And, Krishnamoorthi told Nightly, The administration has about 20 senior officials of Indian heritage or South Asian heritage, including the vice president.

Nightlys Renuka Rayasam spoke with Krishnamoorthi today about the rise of South Asian political power in the U.S. and whether the administration is doing enough to help India. This conversation has been edited.

Are you in touch with the Biden administration about Covid aid to India?

We have been in regular contact with the administration. There are a lot of people in the administration who get it. But there are a lot of people who are overly cautious on this particular issue. Theyre worried about the technicalities associated with the agreements with pharmaceutical companies, and even some are concerned about maybe not having enough vaccine down the road.

Theyve started to make moves in the right direction. Honestly, they have to go faster. Why would we jeopardize the incredible progress weve made with vaccines here by allowing this five-alarm fire to rage? If theres anywhere where you could have a mutation that could potentially defeat a vaccine, it could be there. Nobodys talking about not getting our own citizenry vaccinated.

How do you feel about the Biden administrations ban on travelers from India?

We have to defer to the CDC on this particular issue. That being said, it has to be uniformly applied across all countries. There should be some criteria that are set, not only for triggering a travel ban, but also for lifting the travel ban. A lot of my constituents and others are contacting us and saying, We had plans to receive grandma, our grandfather and now we are very, very afraid for their safety and we dont know when were going to be able to bring him or her.

Do you have family in India? How are they doing?

A lot of our family has unfortunately had Covid already or has Covid now. Fortunately, the elderly relatives have been somewhat segregated from everyone else in the family. They have kind of locked themselves down. One of our friends lost 10 family members. Another lost a brother, sister-in-law and younger daughter all to Covid.

Ive been to a lot of parties where the Aunties and Uncles love to argue about Trump or Biden. But Im not sure if they actually vote.

I find that fascinating too, but I think it has to do with inconvenience. Theres a large percentage who are small business people and sometimes work in situations where they feel they cant take time out to do this. Theres also a myth that was circulating in certain communities that if you vote then youre going to get called to jury duty.

I hope it doesnt take tragedies to force people to come to terms with the old adage that if you dont have a seat at the table, youre on the menu.

MACRON SLAMS VAX BLOCKING French President Emmanuel Macron today renewed his call for richer nations to share Covid-19 vaccine doses with poorer nations, and he criticized the U.S. and the U.K. for blocking such transfers.

France was the first member of the group of seven rich nations known as the G-7 to donate doses, but Macron has been under pressure recently for not clearly supporting a proposal to lift intellectual property rights for Covid-19 vaccines, an idea the U.S. backed on Wednesday.

Responding to a question by reporters upon his arrival to the EU Social Summit in Porto, Macron defended his position. Whats the issue right now? Its not really about intellectual property; you can give it to a lab that wont know how to produce it the first issue is giving doses, Macron said. The second pillar for the vaccines to circulate its not to block ingredients and the vaccines; today the Anglo-Saxons are blocking a lot of ingredients and vaccines.

CATCHING OUR BREATH After a week that saw the GOP go after Liz Cheney; Facebooks Oversight Board keep Trump from posting; and the Bidens seeming to tower over the Carters, Matt Wuerker delivers the Weekend Wrap of the best political satire and cartoons to send us into Saturday and Sunday.

107 percent

The rate of increase in threats against members of Congress compared to last year, the United States Capitol Police said today. The disclosure comes as lawmakers debate additional funding to increase Capitol Police staffing and to address security needs in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, including whether to install permanent fencing around the Capitol complex.

LIVE FROM NEW YORK, ITS $DOGE Elon Musk is hosting Saturday Night Live this weekend, and as the Tesla CEO said in the promo video, Theres no telling what I may do.

Wall Street is already betting on what Musk might do. Dogecoin, one of Musks favorite cryptocurrencies, was trading up today at around 65 cents ahead of Musks SNL appearance. Thats just short of its all-time high of 69 cents.

Last week, when Musk promoted his May 8 SNL gig on Twitter by labeling himself The Dogefather, Dogecoin spiked more than 30 percent.

Nightlys Myah Ward talked to Brendan Greeley, a contributing editor at the Financial Times, about the crypto craze and what Musk could do to move the markets this weekend. This conversation has been edited.

Lets say Musk makes a joke about buying cryptocurrencies on SNL tomorrow. What kind of effect would this have in the world of memecoins and other crypto assets?

I mean, it sounds like a lot of fun!

Look, this happens with more traditional currencies. Steven Mnuchin, I think it would have been early 2017 at Davos, made a comment about the value of the dollar. And Im going to get this wrong, but he said something about how we should let the dollar do what it wants to do. And that was interpreted as, perhaps the dollar will sink in value.

Just that indicator of intent from him changed the value of the dollar against other currencies overnight. So its not that hard to believe that somebody whos obviously invested in other coins could give a signal of intent and change the value overnight. Thats not novel.

Youre writing a book about the history of the dollar. What do you make of the crypto craze and the role these currencies play in the financial system?

I still think were talking a bit of fun. I think Dogecoin is hilarious. I dont know immediately what it would be for. But that doesnt mean we should dismiss it as inherently not money.

Theres this idea that all money is a meme. I dont agree with that. I think its necessary for money to be a meme to survive, but its not sufficient. We can talk about Steven Mnuchin at Davos saying something about the dollar and in a meme-like way, affecting the value of it. But that doesnt explain all of how it works.

I think one of the things thats missing in a conversation about any of these other new kinds of currency is that, if you want a system where different kinds of money trade for each other at par, youre not talking about technology. Youre talking about governments and social policy. Thats what makes money trade at par. If Elon Musk says something tomorrow night about Dogecoin and it affects the value of Dogecoin, that is an aspect of money. But it is not the complete aspect of how money works and how we think of it.

What do you think the is most market-moving thing Musk could say on SNL?

If he decided that he was going to convert Teslas treasury into Dogecoin, that would be significant. I dont anticipate he would do that.

But look at what were talking about. Were talking about a major American car manufacturer, the possibility of that company converting some of its treasury into a coin based on a dog meme that was invented as a joke a couple of years ago. I dont know, this is all too fantastical to take seriously.

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The mystery of the missing jobs - POLITICO - Politico