Daily Archives: May 3, 2022

Marching in the war on drugs | News | sharonherald.com – Sharonherald

Posted: May 3, 2022 at 10:00 pm

FARRELL Orlon Dungee literally carried his mothers memory in the form of a large, framed photograph as he walked over a mile on Saturday.

The 10-year-olds mom, Laura West, died in December of an opioid overdose after fighting a long battle with drug addiction. She was only 29.

Thats why her son carried her portrait at Saturdays Memory Walk Against Addiction. More than 100 joined the event, which was hosted by the Valley Baptist Church in Farrell.

Many of the people in attendance had personal stakes in the event, through people close to them who have struggled with addiction.

Laura Wests mom, April West, now cares for Orlon and her daughters two other children.

April West talked about her daughter as she walked with others while wearing a T-shirt with a large photo of Laura on the back.

When she walked into a room the whole room brightened, West said.

But her opioid addiction ground her down.

She overdosed so many times, West said. She just got tired.

April West said Its been difficult moving forward, but she found a path out of the darkness.

I have to say its by the grace of God, she said.

Valley Baptist Church Pastor T. James Harrison spoke briefly to the crowd gathered outside the church after the walk.

We want people to know were here for them, Harrison said. and he added drug addiction is felt in every corner of society regardless of religious faith, age, gender or race.

On the same day I had two funerals for people who died of drug overdoses, he said.

In a study on opioid addiction, the Mayo Clinic found anyone taking these powerful narcotics is at risk of developing addiction.

Your personal history and the length of time you use opioids play a role, but its impossible to predict whos vulnerable to eventual dependence on and abuse of these drugs, the clinic said on its website. Legal or illegal, stolen and shared, these drugs are responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the U.S. today.

Mercer County Coroner John Libonati was among those at the event and shared some heartbreaking numbers. In Mercer County, as in much of the nation, drug overdose deaths are increasing.

After 44 drug overdose deaths in 2020 in the county. Last year, that figure rose to 67, the highest since the opioid epidemic struck Mercer county, according to recently compiled figures.

So far, Libonatis office has compiled 27 drug deaths in less than four months in 2022, with another five cases pending.

Were on pace to hit triple digits this year, Libonati said.

But there is hope.

Events like the one Saturday serve as an outreach to anyone dealing with an addiction, Libonati said.

Sometimes they get the feeling nobody cares, he said. Just look at the people who are here today. There are people who care.

National Fentanyl Awareness Day is rhetoric supporting the War on Drugs | Opinion – The News Journal

Posted: at 10:00 pm

Jordan McClements| Special to the USA TODAY Network

You think that May 10, National Fentanyl Awareness Day, will provide awareness of the overdose crisis? You would be right, according to the state, until you realize that National Fentanyl Awareness Day is supported by the group Drug Induced Homicide. Then you type druginducedhomicide.org in and the first thing you read is the headline: Why Are Drug Dealers Getting Away With Murder? You think it makes sense, but youre wrong.

National Fentanyl Awareness Day is a reactionary movement headed by cops, lawyers, parents, and other agents of the state who are feigning ignorancewhen, instead, they are painting a racist portrait straight out of the red herring rhetoric of the War on Drugs.

This is the backside of the Biden administrations approach to ending the overdose crisis outside its small approach to harm reduction. The supply is cut before it even makes it to the United States or any part of the world.

Going after cartels and dealers will only continue prohibition, as the state wants abstinence-only policies, which are enacted by the state to enact class warfare and consequently the elimination of the working class and working people.

There is a supply of fentanyl because there is a demand. When my cousin and I shot up, we went to dealers of people who overdosed because we knew wed get higher. And we did.

Now is the time to implement harm reduction and eliminate this red herring attempt a holiday that the state will recognize because it not only supports the War on Drugs it is the very definition of the War on Drugs.

I and my cousin overdosed. This day is a slap in the face to users and ex-users alive and dead, along with our friends and families.

Embrace harm reduction. The world hasnt and will never stop using drugs. National Fentanyl Awareness Day is a holiday for the state to announce all the people it is murdering due to its lack of harm reductionist policiesand inability to care about human life especially current and ex-drug users.

You want the reasons? The reasons are that the state doesnt want people to use any drugs except the three that help you deal with work, those being alcohol, caffeine and tobacco. Alcohol and tobacco kill you faster than any clean illegal drugs.

By placing the blame on dealers and cartels, you are taking away the material reality that not drug dealers, but the state is getting away with homicide on a national and international level.

This new day on the calendar on May 10will be a rallying cry for the overdose count to increase even higher because it is the antithesis of harm reduction.

As a nation and world, we need to use harm reduction instead of putting people in prison and murdering them by the state doing nothing about the overdose crisis besides further pushing the overdose count up with its abstinence-only policies as you and everyone else drives by us.

The reason the state has legalized only alcohol, caffeineand tobaccoand no other drugs is the other drugs make you question the American dream. Shooting heroin in your veins tells you that the American dream doesnt, hasntand will never exist. And until you realize that the state has been murdering the world in the attempt to stop this uniquely American perversity, we will watch helplessly as we lose our friends, family, countryand world die at the hands of those who only wish to preserve their conception of the state by murdering the working classes.

The world and its solution to the overdose crisis in harm reduction cannot coexist with murder from the state through policy failure and consequent murder of the working classes as a result of the War on Drugs.

Until people with lived experience shape policy, the assassins of the state will always get away with murder as they continue to further paint the nations face with the blood from our track marks.

Until you realize this propaganda machine through the symbol of National Fentanyl Awareness Day is rhetoric that supports the War on Drugs that created and continues to increase the overdose crisis you will lose your friends, family, country, world, and life just as we did.

JordanMcClementsis a resident of Felton.

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National Fentanyl Awareness Day is rhetoric supporting the War on Drugs | Opinion - The News Journal

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Opinion: We can’t reach racial equality without drug law reform – The Globe and Mail

Posted: at 10:00 pm

Akwasi Owusu-Bempah is a faculty member in the department of sociology at the University of Toronto and race equity lead at the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation. Alex Luscombe is PhD candidate in the Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies at the University of Toronto.

Drug prohibition in Canada has always been about race. Our first national drug law, the Opium Act of 1908, was introduced as a way to control the Chinese community. following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Chinese labourers had been recruited in sizeable numbers to work on the railroad but were seen as an unwelcome threat to the employment prospects of white men following the completion of the project in the early twentieth century.

Our first cannabis laws were introduced in the 1920s following the racist musings of Emily Murphy published in Macleans magazine and later compiled in her book The Black Candle. Ms. Murphy suggested Black people and racialized immigrants were decaying the moral fabric of Canadian society and corrupting white women and girls by introducing them to drugs. Of course, Ms. Murphy had no empirical evidence to support her case, but her writings nonetheless made their way into the popular imagination.

Later policy shifts, including prime minister Brian Mulroneys declaration of a war on drugs in Canada in 1986, resulted in dramatic increases in the number of Black people being sent to prison for drug-related offences. Vice News, which reported on racial differences in cannabis arrests prior to legalization, has published new data showing that Black and Indigenous people are significantly overrepresented in drug possession arrests in cities across Canada.

As politicians, policy makers and members of the public look for ways to reduce racial inequality in our society, our drug laws should be front and centre. Racial disparities in drug possession arrests are troubling because of what we know about patterns of drug use. Available evidence from Canada and other countries such as the U.S. and U.K. shows that rates of drug use are relatively similar across racial groups. Racial differences in drug arrests stem largely from racially biased policing practices. Black and Indigenous people are more likely to be stopped by the police, which means they are also more likely to be caught in possession of drugs. In fact, stereotypes connecting race with drug use drive the police to initiate more contact with Black and Indigenous people in the first place.

A second reason for the disparities in arrests is the fact that Black and Indigenous people are more likely to experience homelessness and poverty. Middle and upper-class drug users can call on delivery services to obtain their drugs and have the benefit of being able to consume them in private spaces. They run little risk of drug-related contact with the police as a result. On the other hand, the underhoused and the people who live in dense apartments and multigenerational homes are pushed into the streets to buy and use their drugs, increasing their chances of being caught by the police.

In essence, were criminalizing poverty and making it less likely that the people with criminal records for drug offences will be able to contribute to our society. People who are criminalized have more difficulty completing their education, finding meaningful employment, securing housing and doing many other things that most of us take for granted. People with criminal records also have a greater likelihood of future contact with the justice system and are more dependent on the state for support.

These are not the only reasons we should overhaul our drug laws. Drug prohibition has done little to curtail drug use while at the same time allows a multi-billion-dollar unregulated (illegal) drug market to flourish. This illegal market is naturally attractive to criminal organizations, which use violence to protect their business and may use drug proceeds to fund other criminal endeavours. Unregulated markets are susceptible to toxic drug supplies, which combined with the big-pharma fuelled opioid dependency and overdose crisis, claimed the lives of approximately 27,000 Canadians between Jan., 2016, and Sept., 2021, according to Statistics Canada.

Finally, we believe we should move beyond prohibition because people should be able to choose what substances they put into their bodies and when and how they choose to alter their consciousness. This argument is well articulated by celebrated neuroscientist Carl Hart in his recent book Drug Use for Grown-Ups. In dispelling many of the myths weve been taught about drugs and drug use, Dr. Hart correctly points out that our drug laws, rather than drugs themselves, are the cause of a great deal of social harm and suggests that personal happiness can be found through responsible drug use.

Whatever your take on drug use might be, it is undeniable that the enforcement of our drug use is biased and needs to change.

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Opinion: We can't reach racial equality without drug law reform - The Globe and Mail

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Connecticut Cannabis Lottery To Close This Week – CT News Junkie

Posted: at 9:59 pm

Cannabis buds (CTNewsJunkie / photo)

The lottery for anyone wanting to participate in Connecticuts cannabis industry as a retailercloses at midnight May 4.

The Department of Consumer Protection said that as of last Thursday it received 1,215 entries for a general license and 1,957 entries for a social equity license.

There will be six general licenses issued and six social equity licenses issues. The entries will be handed over to a third party vendor to choose which entries get the provisional license.

They can apply as much as they want, but they have to pay a fee every time, Kaitlyn Krasslet, a spokeswoman for the DCP, said.

Krasslet said they do plan to have another lottery this summer and any social equity applicant who doesnt get chosen will be added to the general lottery.

It costs $500 for a general license entry and $250 for a social equity license entry. Those fees are not refundable.

We do expect there to be many more applications, Krasslet said.

The DCP has already received entries for medical hybrid retailers, micro cultivators, and food and beverage manufacturers.

Advocates who pushed for legalization in Connecticut worry that the system is rigged against those who they tried to help with this legislation.

Our folks dont have the capital, Rep. Anne Hughes, D-Easton, said.

She said she was surprised to learn an out-of-state company received a seven-figure sum from the quasi-public agency, Connecticut Innovations, to apply for these licenses.

Theyre skipping the line, Hughes said.

Jason Ortiz, executive director of SSDP, said theres nothing in the Connecticut licensing scheme that should help an out-of-state company get a license in the Nutmeg state.

In a webinar last week, Peter Barsoom, CEO and Co-Founder of 1906 New Highs, said they will be applying, but they havent applied yet. However, they plan to submit more than one.

We are planning to release additional details later this week regarding the investment from Connecticut Innovations, Barsoom said in an email regarding questions about the investment.

Barsooms company received $1.25 from Connecticut Innovations.

Theres no social equity here, Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, said. The damn bus has left the station and Im still waiting.

Porter worries that the industry is going to be set before those disadvantaged by the war on drugs will even get a shot.

She said it reminds her of plantation politics.

Make me whole. This piece meal thing is not going to work to build intergenerational wealth, she said.

She said poverty is a policy choice and the states legalization is allowing oppression to continue.

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Connecticut Cannabis Lottery To Close This Week - CT News Junkie

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Could Congress Ban Abortion Nationwide if Roe Gets Overruled? – Reason

Posted: at 9:59 pm

In this Nov. 30, 2005 file photo, an anti-abortion supporter stands next to a pro-choice demonstrator outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

As you probably know by now, a leaked draft Supreme Court opinion indicates there may well be five justices prepared to overrule Roe v. Wade. For a long time, many assumed that if Roe were to be overruled, abortion policy would be "left to the states." That will indeed happen in the short run. But such a state of affairs might not last. Many Republicans have been advocating nationwide bans on abortion, including very sweeping ones that would forbid all abortions more than six weeks into a pregnancy. For their part, many Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, back nationwide legislation protecting abortion rights.

Would such laws be constitutional? I have written about this issue twice before (see here and here). The bottom line is that current Supreme Court precedent likely would enable Congress to ban most, if not all, abortions if it wanted to. That's because the Court has endorsed a ridiculously broad interpretation of Congress' powers to regulate interstate commerce. But that precedent might be pared back, thanks in part to that unlikely champion of abortion rights, Clarence Thomas.

Here's why current precedent likely supports broad congressional power to restrict abortion:

Under cases such as Gonzales v. Raich (2005), the Supreme Court has held that Congress' power to regulate interstate commerce includes the authority to restrict almost any "economic activity," so long as it has a "substantial effect" on interstate trade. And [in Raich] "economic activity" is defined very broadly to include anything that involves the "production, distribution, and consumption of commodities." That definition allowed the Court to use the Commerce Clause to uphold a federal ban on the possession of marijuana that had never crossed state lines or been sold in any market (even an intrastate one). Nearly all abortions involve the "consumption" and "distribution" of commodities, such as medical supplies. In addition, most abortions qualify as "economic" transactions because doctors, nurses, and others are paid to perform them.

One could argue that a federal law banning or severely restricting abortions isn't "really" aimed at regulating interstate commerce. The true motive would be to restrict abortion regardless of whether it involved interstate transactions or not. But much the same can be said for the marijuana ban upheld in Raich, and other federal laws enforcing the War on Drugs. They go far beyond targeting actual interstate trade in drugs, and instead forbid even in-state distribution and possession of illegal narcotics.

If, as is likely, the interstate abortion market expands in the wake of a Supreme Court decision overruling Roe, Congress could claim that suppression of intrastate abortions is necessary in order to enforce restrictions on those that involve crossing state lines. If abortion is banned in State A, but legal in neighboring State B, that creates an incentive for residents of A to cross into B in order to get abortions - even if the feds enact a ban on such crossing. That ban might be more effectively enforced if abortion were illegal in B as well as A..

The Commerce Clause rationale for abortion restrictions might not apply to abortions that are performed on a noncommercial basis by staff who provide their services for free. But such cases are only a small percentage of the total. Moreover, in Raich, the Court upheld the ban on Angel Raich's possession of marijuana even though the producers had in fact provided it to her for free. The theory was that even such completely noncommercial production and distribution of an illegal drug could impact the interstate market.

These kinds of Commerce Clause arguments may strike some readers as the kind of sophistry that gives lawyers a bad name. I sympathize with that reaction! I hate these arguments myself, and have long argued that Raich is a terrible decision that should be overruled. But this is exactly the sort of reasoning that prevailed in Raich, and provides a constitutional rationale for much of the federal War on Drugs.

However, Raich has been much criticized by conservative and libertarian legal commentators, and is especially abhorred by Justice Clarence Thomas. He has also suggested, in a 2007 concurring opinion, that federal abortion restrictions may be beyond the scope of congressional power under the Commerce Clause. It is possible that one or more other conservative justices agree with him on this. A federal abortion ban could, therefore, be struck down by a coalition of conservative justices who oppose it on federalism grounds, and liberal ones who believe it violates constitutional individual rights. I outlined this scenario here:

In Gonzales v. Carhart (2007), the Supreme Court upheld a federal restriction on late-term "partial birth" against individual rights challenges. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote a concurring opinion emphasizing the possibility that the law in question exceeds the scope of congressional power under the Commerce Clause. Thomas previously wrote a forceful dissent in Gonzales v. Raich. [In 2021], he reiterated key elements of his critique of that decision, and urged the Supreme Court to reconsider it.

It's possible that one or more other conservative justices could join Thomas's reasoning.

One can then envision federal abortion restrictions getting invalidated by a coalition of conservative justices who believe they are beyond the power of the federal government, and liberal justices who object on individual-rights grounds. It is also possible (though less likely) that some liberal jurists could endorse the federalism argument against these restrictions. Liberal thinking on constitutional federalism shifted a good deal in recent years, and some of that shift may go beyond "fair weather federalism" brought on by opposition to Trump's policies. It's also possible that either liberal or conservative judges will think of clever ways to limit the scope of Raich, even if it doesn't get overruled completely.

Cynics may say that Thomas isn't really sincere in his opposition to Raich or his doubts about the constitutionality of federal abortion restrictions. I cannot know his true feelings for sure. But, as a general rule, Thomas is known for being a man who says what he means and means what he says. He even often gets criticized for his apparent reluctance to compromise with other justices or respect their sensibilities. I also see little motive for him to express the above views if he doesn't really mean them. It's unlikely Thomas was trying to curry favor with liberals. If he truly valued such favor, he would say and do a lot of things differently.

Thus, if Congress does enact federal abortion restrictions, abortion rights advocates may well have a good chance of stopping them by relying on federalism arguments. In order to make the most of that opportunity, they would need to explicitly make that case and - ideally - ask the Court to overrule or severely limit Raich.

Attacking Raich and other ultra-broad Commerce Clause precedents may go against the grain for some left-of-center abortions rights advocates. But immigration advocates have made a similar shift in sanctuary cities cases (with great success), and the pro-choice legal community could follow their example. For some pro-choicers - myself very much included! - the possibility that reducing Commerce Clause authority would weaken the War on Drugs would be a feature, not a bug.

In addition to using the Commerce Clause, federal abortion restrictions could also be enacted using Congress' spending power. I go through some of the details here:

In addition to trying to directly regulate abortion by using its Commerce Clause powers, Congress could also try to do so indirectly by using its Spending Clause power to condition grants to state governments. For example, it could enact legislation restricting various types of health care grants to state governments unless the latter ban or severely restrict abortion. These kinds of conditional spending restrictions are subject to a number of constraints under current Supreme Court precedent. The amount of money involved cannot be so large as to be "coercive"; the conditions must be sufficiently related to the purpose of the grant; and they have to be clearly stated on the face of the law - not just inferred by the executive branch. The Trump administration ran afoul of all three of these restrictions during its campaign to cut federal funds to "sanctuary cities."

Much depends on the exact scope and wording of the legislation at issue. Nonetheless, I think a carefully drafted conditional-spending restriction on abortion rights could potentially jump through these hoops. Then, blue states would face a choice of either losing some of their federal health care grants or imposing abortion restrictions.

The Spending Clause approach is less threatening to abortion rights because states could. avoid the conditions by refusing the federal funds tied to them. In practice, such refusals of federal funds are very rare. But a hot-button ideological issue like abortion might prove an exception to that rule.

I would add that the requirements of relatedness and noncoercion set a ceiling to the amount of pressure Congress could bring to bear in this way. It couldn't deny affected states all or most federal health care funding (that is precluded by NFIB v. Sebelius, which struck down as coercive a provision of the Affordable Care Act that would deny all Medicaid funds to states that refuse to expand Medicaid), and it cannot deny funds with little or no connection to abortion.

Some conservatives have argued that a federal law banning abortion might be authorized by Section 5 of the 14th Amendment, rather than the Commerce or Spending Clauses. But that would be a radical departure not only from current Supreme Court precedent, but also from traditional conservative originalist approaches to the Fourteenth Amendment. Co-blogger Jonathan Adler explained why here.

Obviously, the above constraints on federal laws banning abortion would also apply to federal laws seeking to protect it against the states. In the wake of a decision overruling Roe, conservatives and liberals alike may need to decide whether they care more about preserving the autonomy of "their" states, or about retaining the power to control the other side's states when their preferred party is in power in Washington. In both cases, however, even if some would prefer to preserve maximal federal power, there may well be others willing to file federalism-based lawsuits, regardless of what their ideological comrades think.

Finally, I should note the scenarios discussed above may not come to pass, because political obstacles may prevent Congress from enacting any significant new abortion legislation, whether pro-life or pro-choice. Doing so would likely require either a massive 60-vote Senate supermajority or the abolition or limitation of the filibuster. On the Republican side, federal abortion restrictions could be opposed by key moderate senators, such as Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski (both of whom are pro-choice).

But while the obstacles to such legislation are significant, they may not be insuperable. If you believe that abortion is murder, you might well be willing to set aside the filibuster to ban it. Ditto if you think it's a fundamental human right, and only federal legislation can ensure its protection. If Roe does indeed get overruled, time will tell if major new federal abortion legislation is politically feasible or not. If it turns out that it is, there is a good chance it might be successfully challenged on federalism grounds.

UPDATE: Back in 2015, co-blogger Jonathan Adler also wrote a post explaining why federal abortion restrictions exceed the scope of Congress' powers under the Commerce Clause. I think he's overly optimistic when it comes to current precedent. But the kinds of arguments he marshals are the sort that might well be accepted by Justice Thomas and others if the issue were to come before the Supreme Court.

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Could Congress Ban Abortion Nationwide if Roe Gets Overruled? - Reason

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The Tories biggest trick is making their opponents fight post-Brexit policies in the courts – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:58 pm

It seems like every few months brings news of another defeat for the UK government in the courts. And there may well be more to come the latest policy in the sights of lawyers and activists is the plan to process certain asylum seekers whove arrived on Britains shores in Rwanda in east Africa.

The policy was met with justified outrage from progressives and the left. Specialists also predicted that it would run afoul of international law and human rights legislation. But what if this was part of the plan all along? The Times columnist Clare Foges, writing under the headline Rwanda wont work: but it will for Boris Johnson, wondered if the real purpose of the plan was not to actually reduce perilous journeys across the Channel, as the government claimed, but to draw progressives into extended court battles and lawsuits. This would force them to act as an explicit blockade on post-Brexit migration policies, frustrating the peoples will ratified by the 2019 election, and thereby galvanising Tory activists and potential voters.

This poses an uncomfortable question for the left: what if its increasing embrace of the justice system is not just a sign of political weakness, but rather a gift to the right?

Johnson is hardly alone with this tactic. In Brazil, Jair Bolsonaros term as president has been marked by a recognisable pattern of improbable initiatives followed by protracted leftwing resistance in courts. In Belgium, Flemish nationalists such as Theo Francken, the former secretary of state for asylum, have repeatedly attacked judges who have thwarted plans to deport asylum seekers. By forcing opponents to lawyer up instead of building movements and pursuing state power, the right can pose as the defenders of an assailed, disfranchised majority.

This leftwing embracing of the courts makes sense on one level. In the face of rightwing attempts to restrict basic human rights, the justice system has some of the more powerful tools. Immigration policy is not unique in this regard. Over the past decade, green activists have begun pressing claims against a variety of state actors to hold them accountable for climate inaction. Given the issues urgency, it is understandable that ecologists would examine a wide repertoire of tactics.

Context matters, however. Historically, courts were usually the lefts last resort. They offered a pivot when all other routes had been exhausted or political circumstances were simply too hostile. The left relied on a densely organised civil society of unions, parties and councils which could fight opponents on their own terrain. These parties and unions could run in elections, strike or rewrite constitutions. Yet they were always sceptical of the idea that progress could be achieved through the courts alone, or that judges were the most reliable guardians of popular power.

In the past 40 years, as these bastions of worker power have atrophied or died out, the left has become isolated and weak, populated by a small caste of professionals many of them lawyers and academics who only have a tenuous connection to an organised constituency.

In this sense, the embrace of judicial power is itself the expression of political weakness. In the 1990s, the third democratic wave elevated the ideal of independent courts, together with market economics, to a sacred criterion for membership in the global democratic community. In the 2010s, however, disillusionment with courts became endemic across young and old democracies, from the Polish governments decision to handpick judges to the controversies around the German constitutional court and its queasiness about looser EU budgetary rules.

The US provides a helpful example of the drawbacks with trying to secure progressive gains through the courts. The country is somewhat unique in that its abortion rights were achieved through supreme court action rather than directly elected majorities. In several European countries, parties that supported abortion rights had to run in elections across the 1970s and 1980s, thereby facing a direct, democratic test from voters. Once these parties won office, it was easier to get anti-abortion activists to acquiesce to the new regime. There had been a fair contest, and the losers had to accept the result. In the US, by contrast, conservatives repeatedly felt as if abortion rights were imposed by judicial coup. This encouraged political backlash, and allowed anti-abortion activists to claim a fresh democratic mandate.

This does not imply that conservatives are strangers to the opportunistic usage of courts. Many of the authoritarian threats of the 2010s came from ideologically driven judges. The right in Latin American is especially keen on lawfare.

A variety of trends may well decrease the vote share of rightwing parties in the near and distant future. In Britain, persistently low wages and a cost of living crisis do not make for great electoral prospects. Faced with these demographic and economic trends, the Conservative party (and other rightwing outfits) could increasingly prefer its opponents to fight them on the terrain of courts and judges. This is an easy option: it allows rightwing parties to pose as the representatives of a frustrated majority, while camouflaging their own anti-democratic plans to gerrymander voting districts, for instance, or even to introduce tests at the voting booth.

Scepticism about judicial power should not make progressives cynical about what can be achieved through the law. There are important battles that should be fought in courts. Yet if progressives are serious about offering a real political alternative, they will be better off focusing on the (re)building of durable institutions, rather than appealing to the moral conscience of high judges. Courts will not always be their best friend sometimes, they might even be an enemy.

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The Tories biggest trick is making their opponents fight post-Brexit policies in the courts - The Guardian

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Brexit: More Irish passports than UK passports issued in Northern Ireland for first time – The Independent

Posted: at 9:58 pm

More Irish passports than British passports are being issued in Northern Ireland for the first time, new figures show.

48,555 people in Northern Ireland applied for a UK passport in 2020 around 350 fewer than the 48,911 opting for an Irish passport the same year.

The figures, obtained by freedom of information request and first reported by Irish Times reports, do not include Irish passports issued by all channels meaning the gap could be even wider.

It comes ahead of Northern Ireland assembly elections on Thursday where Sinn Fein is expected to become the biggest party in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Polls have the left-wing republicans solidly ahead of the DUP, after the latter party's support collapsed and splintered to other groups.

Such a result would see Sinn Fein hold the first minister position in the Northern Ireland executive, if one can be formed the first time a unionist has not held the role.

Yet the increase in Irish passports being issued may have less to do with changing demographics or support for Republicanism and more to do with pragmatism and utility.

Under the Good Friday Agreement, people born in Northern Ireland can identify as either Irish, British or both and carry either or both Irish and UK passports.

Alex Kelly from Eden Architectural Conservation cleans a gargoyle on the north doorway at Rosslyn Chapel in Roslin, Midlothian, as part of conservation maintenance

People enjoy theme park rides at a funfair at Small Heath Park in Birmingham, as the holy month of Ramadan comes to an end and Muslims celebrate Eid al-Fitr

Englands Ronnie OSullivan in action against Englands Judd Trump during day sixteen of the Betfred World Snooker Championship at The Crucible, Sheffield

Visitors record images amongst azalea and rhododendron blossom in Richmond Park, London

Reuters

A giant puppet, controlled by four people, called Gnomus, the Caretaker of the Earth, performs at Stonehenge, near Amesbury, Wiltshire

The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in a TV studio during a visit to the BBC World Service at BBC Broadcasting House, London, to mark it's 90th year and to thank staff and learn how they are continuing their operations across Ukraine, Russia and Afghanistan

Trafalgar Square in central London is covered in plants and flowers at the launch of an initiative to rewild and protect 2 million hectares of land. The temporary installation, which is made up of over 6000 plants, flowers, and trees, aims to raise awareness of the importance of biodiversity in urban spaces, with visitors to the site invited to pick up and rehome one of the plants

One of the Liverbirds that sits atop of the Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, is illuminated just before the sun rises over the city

Prime Minister Boris Johnson paints over the white line of the centre circle during a visit to Bury FC at their Gigg Lane ground in Bury, Greater Manchester

Getty

A lone Grenadier Guard during the Dawn Service commemorating Anzac Day at the New Zealand Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, London

Killy Cavendish during St George's Day celebrations in London's Trafalgar Square

A demonstrator holds a pink smoke flare billowing over members of Extinction Rebellion staging a protest against the use of and investment in fossil fuel, outside offices of Vanguard Asset Management on Earth Day in the City of London

Reuters

The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), the City of London's Reserve Army Regiment, fire a 62 Gun Royal Salute at the Tower of London to mark the 96th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II

Stella Morris the wife of Julian Assange talks to the media outside Westminster Magistrates' Court in London, after Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was formally issued with an order for extradition to the US to face espionage charges

Sunrise behind the Bass Rock off the East Lothian coast near North Berwick

Riders dressed as knights take part in the International Jousting Tournament, held at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds, northern England

AFP/Getty

Cyclists take part in MacAvalanche, a mass start mountain bike race through the snow, descending over 900m from the summit of Aonach Mor in the Nevis Range near Fort William

Zara Tindall riding Classicals Euro Star takes part in the Barefoot Retreats Burnham Market International Horse Trials in Norfolk

People on the beach in Bournemouth. Good Friday is set to be the hottest day of the year so far, experts have predicted, ahead of "very pleasant" spring conditions over the Easter weekend

Migrants arrive at Dover port after being picked up in the channel by the border force

Getty

A demonstrator is carried away by police outside the Department for Business in London after protesting against oil and gas production

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (left) arrive for a meeting at Young Peoples Futures, a charity investing in the future of Scotlands young people, as part of a campaign visit in Glasgow

Studio supervisor Emma Meehan adds the final touches to a waxwork of US drag queen RuPaul at the unveiling at Madame Tussauds of the latest waxwork in Blackpool

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People take part in a protest outside Downing Street in London, over transgender people not being included in plans to ban conversion therapy

Eventual winner Noble Yeats ridden by jockey Sam Waley-Cohen take the water-jump during the Grand National Steeple Chase on the final day of the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpoo

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Police officers work to remove activists from Extinction Rebellion who were hanging from suspension cords beside a giant banner that reads End fossil fuels now, as they stage a protest on Tower Bridge, east London, which has been closed to traffic

Lorries queued in Operation Brock on the M20 near Ashford in Kent as freight delays continue at the Port of Dover, in Kent, where P&O ferry services remain suspended after the company sacked 800 workers without notice

Performer Martti Peltonen stands beneath a chocolate easter egg as it is shattered by a crossbow bolt during a photocall for Circus Vegas in Old Deer Park, Richmond, at the start of their first British tour in over four years

New street art which has appeared in Leith, Edinburgh, in response to Russias invasion of Ukraine. The mural features a Nightingale, the official national bird of Ukraine, against the countrys flag

Ai-Da, an ultra-realistic robot named after Ada Lovelace, the first computer programmer, paints an image during a photocall in London

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Cambridge womens team celebrate after winning the 76th Womens Boat Race on the River Thames in London

People protest against the rising cost of living outside Downing Street in London

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Freight and passenger queues waiting to check in at the Port of Dover, Kent, as some ferry services remain suspended at the Port of Dover following P&O Ferries sacking of 800 seafarers without notice

A soldier of the Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment falls off a horse during a practice to participate in the state ceremonial surrounding this year's Platinum Jubilee celebrations at Hyde Park in London

Sheep in snow on Shetland

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Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of York arrive at a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London

Performers including dancers from Ukraine rehearse the finale as Blackpool Tower Circus prepares to reopen following 1 Million renovation

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Re-enactors in the grounds of Bolton Castle near to Leyburn in North Yorkshire, watch as re-enactors bring alive the story of the Battle of Towton, which took place on March 29th, 1461 at a small village near to York called Towton

Early morning swimmers play with a ball in the sea at Cullercoats Bay on the north east coast of England

A view of lorries queued on the A20 near Dover in Kent as freight delays continue at the Port of Dover where P&O ferry services remain suspended after the company sacked 800 workers without notice last week

A group of people thought to be migrants are are guided up the beach after being brought in to Dungeness, Kent, onboard the RNLI Lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel

John Shipton, father of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, walks with his sons partner Stella Moris as they leave from Belmarsh Prison in London where Moris was set to marry Julian Assange

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A pedestrian looks at cherry blossom trees in Battersea Park, in London

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People walk by daffodils and flowering cherry blossom in War Memorial Park in Coventry

The Druid Order Spring Equinox ceremony held at Tower Hill Terrace in London. The druids hold a ceremony celebrating the rise of the light. Ceridwen, the earth mother, brings token seeds which are symbolically sown around a circle. The concern of The Druid Order is with the evolution of humanity in harmony with the universe and to teach through open meetings, ceremonies, meditation and ritual

People take part in the Stand up to Racism march in central London to mark UN Anti-Racism Day

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Brexit: More Irish passports than UK passports issued in Northern Ireland for first time - The Independent

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‘Brexit weakens UK!’ GB News guest warns leaving EU has increased chance of united Ireland – Express

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Journalist and author Tony Parsons, who voted for the UK to leave the European Union in 2016, spoke to Mark Dolan on GB News about the inevitability of Britain losing Northern Ireland, noting that it is not inevitable but the disputes with the Northern Ireland Protocol could be driving the Emerald Isle towards unification. Mr Parsons stated: I think its not inevitable. Ireland was united throughout most of its history, its a relatively recent development, partition, but I think the fact that theres a customs union down the middle of the Irish Sea now, certainly takes Northern Ireland further away from Great Britain, makes the United Kingdom less united.

He added: I think Brexit has certainly weakened the UK it's indisputable, theyre being treated differently from the rest of us.

According to the latest poll for the Belfast Telegraph conducted by LucidTalk, support for the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is at 20 percent while support for Sinn Fein stands at a six-point lead at 26 percent.

If this poll is reflected in the results of the election on May 5, the nationalists will be able to nominate Vice President Michelle ONeill as Ulster's First Minister.

Ms ONeill stated that Brexit has led to many questioning Northern Irelands place in the UK, as she said: I think a lot of people are now considering the constitutional position because Brexit has pulled us out of the EU, stolen our EU citizenship from us.

Speaking on the Trevor Phillips on Sunday show, she said: I certainly think we are closer than we have ever been previously [to Irish unification], and now is the time to plan.

DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson aimed to quash the results of the poll by stating: I think the polls are not reflective of what I find on the doors Im not bothered by polls, and I think the political pundits who stake their reputation on the results of polls might get a surprise on May 5.

READ MORE:Ukraine defence forces bring down Alligator helicopter - VIDEO

Mr Parsons concluded by saying: I dont think [reunification is] inevitable, but I do think that Northern Ireland has been cut adrift by Westminster and cut adrift by this country.

The Northern Ireland Protocol hasnt been addressed enough, wasnt thought through enough and we havent really stood by the people of Northern Ireland the way we shouldve done.

Mr Parsons added: Its one of the great sadnesss I think about Brexit that its definitely weakened the United Kingdom.

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'Brexit weakens UK!' GB News guest warns leaving EU has increased chance of united Ireland - Express

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PM accused of IGNORING possible Russian interference in Brexit ‘didn’t want to know’ – Express

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will be hoping the Conservative Party can come out of the local elections this week relatively unscathed, following mounting pressure over Partygate scandals and the Governments handling of the cost of living crisis. A new survey conducted by Electoral Calculus has predicted this week that the Conservatives are on track to lose nearly 550 seats in the local elections in the worst performance since Sir Tony Blair led Labour in the 1990s. Labour will hold 3,500 council seats a gain of more than 800 whilst the Tories will retain just under 980, a fall of 548, according to the survey of 1,749 adults in the 201 councils going to the polls on Thursday.

Tory candidates have pushed hard on the line that the UK's support for Ukraine and tough sanctions on Russia should be enough to see them continue in power, with the hopes this will help limit the damage in the vote on Thursday.

The Prime Minister has repeatedly said he plans to get on with the job in the wake of the Partygate scandal, and has implied that the instability of a new Government would be detrimental to the UK at such a precarious time for Europe, with war raging on the continent for the first time since World War 2.

However, Mr Johnson and his Conservative Party colleagues were accused of turning a blind eye to Russian interference when it came to the Brexit referendum in 2016.

The claims came in a report from Parliaments intelligence and security committee titled the 'Russia Report'.

It said the Government had not seen or sought evidence of successful interference in UK democratic processes at the time, and it made clear that no serious effort was made to do so.

Stewart Hosie, a Scottish National Party (SNP) MP who sat on the cross-party committee, said: The report reveals that no one in Government knew if Russia interfered in or sought to influence the referendum because they did not want to know.

The UK Government have actively avoided looking for evidence that Russia interfered. We were told that they hadnt seen any evidence, but that is meaningless if they hadnt looked for it.

The committee, which scrutinises the work of Britains spy agencies, said: We have not been provided with any post-referendum assessment of Russian attempts at interference."

Contrasting with the how the US looked into Russian interference in its own democratic votes, the report added: This situation is in stark contrast to the US handling of allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, where an intelligence community assessment was produced within two months of the vote, with an unclassified summary being made public.

The Committee members stressed that they cannot conclusively say whether Russia had or had not interfered in the referendum on the UK's EU membership.

READ MORE:'Cancer-ridden' Putin facing COUP as inner circle prepares to axe him

The report continued: Even if the conclusion of any such assessment were that there was minimal interference, this would nonetheless represent a helpful reassurance to the public that the UKs democratic processes had remained relatively safe."

An official UK government response said at the time: We have seen no evidence of successful interference in the EU referendum.

Given this long-standing approach, a retrospective assessment of the EU referendum is not necessary."

As reported by the Guardian at the time, the committee observed that the UK has become a favourable destination for Russian oligarchs and their money.

The extent of Russian money in the UK became apparent last month when the BBC reported that a dozen sanctioned Russians are linked to an estimated 800million worth of property in Britain.

Multi-million-pound country manors in the south of England and luxury flats in London's most expensive areas are among the homes which have been snapped up by figures linked to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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Transparency, an anti-corruption group, explained to the broadcaster why Russian money in the UK has been so hard to track.

They said: "Because of the system of secrecy here in the UK and in relation to the Overseas Dependencies it's really easy for people to hide their assets and their funds in the UK and not even the police necessarily have sight of where those assets are."

In March, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the UK Government announced it would impose sanctions on 370 more Russian individuals, including more than 50 oligarchs and their families with a combined net worth of 100billion.

The foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said: We are going further and faster than ever in hitting those closest to Putin from major oligarchs, to his prime minister, and the propagandists who peddle his lies and disinformation.

"We are holding them to account for their complicity in Russias crimes in Ukraine.

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PM accused of IGNORING possible Russian interference in Brexit 'didn't want to know' - Express

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Bank of England duty bound to trigger recession to curb inflation – The Guardian

Posted: at 9:58 pm

Britains central bank policymakers are duty bound when they meet this week to push the UK into recession to cap rising inflation, a former Bank of England (BoE) official has said.

Adam Posen, who runs Washington-based thinktank the Peterson Institute, said that while the Bank of England would not want workers to lose their jobs, it should hike interest rates now to squeeze out inflationary pressures made worse by Brexit trade and immigration restrictions.

The BoEs monetary policy committee (MPC) meets on Thursday and is expected to increase interest rates by 0.25%, taking the central banks base rate to 1% its highest level since early 2009. Inflation in March peaked at 7% its highest level for 30 years.

Posen, who was a member of the MPC from 2009 to 2012, said the central bank needed to take more drastic action after Brexit reduced the UKs labour supply and limited the flexibility of the workforce. Without a U-turn by the government on trade restrictions and immigration policy, the BoE must shrink the economy.

The central bank has no choice but to cause a recession when a broad range of prices are rising at such a strong pace, he said.

It is duty bound to bring inflation down after more than a year when it has been more than 2 percentage points above its 2% target level during a period of full employment.

He said wages were increasing due to shortages of workers and this was likely to add to inflationary pressures over several years unless further interest rate hikes were imposed. He added that if wages failed to keep pace with inflation over the rest of the year, it showed that the wage bargaining power of workers was weak and there was even more reason to put the brakes on rising prices.

There is a greater risk of inflation persisting without further action in the UK compared with other major economies. The US is going through a period of high inflation that monetary policy will arrest. Euro area countries dont really have much inflation other than the spike in energy and food prices caused by the Ukraine war.

The UK, on the other hand, has Brexit, which is going to restrict the supply of labour over the longer term, and trade restrictions that will keep prices higher than they would otherwise be, he said.

Opinion is divided among academics and City analysts over the next steps by the central bank, with some, including Posens predecessor on the MPC, the labour market economist Danny Blanchflower, arguing that rates need to remain low to protect an economy already heading for recession.

Blanchflower, a professor at the Ivy League university Dartmouth College, said several recent indicators showed the UK was already heading into recession and it would be irresponsible for the BoE to give it an extra push.

But those calling for a succession of interest rate increases this year argue the faster pace of wage increases and strong levels of savings among middle and higher income groups will mean demand outstrips supply, generating even higher inflation. They say firms lack the skilled workers and raw materials needed to meet demand, and are likely to respond by increasing prices further.

Shortages of workers pushed vacancy rates to a fresh record in the latest labour market figures covering the three months to February. The worst affected industries IT, manufacturing, construction and hospitality were those that relied most on foreign-born workers, mostly from the EU, Posen said.

He added the UK was far more open to trade and immigration, and attractive for foreign investment before the 2016 Brexit vote.

Ken Rogoff, a Harvard professor and former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said: A recession in Europe is almost inevitable if the war in Ukraine escalates, and the Chinese economy may already be in recession.

Writing on the Project Syndicate website, he added: And with US consumer prices currently increasing at their fastest rate in 40 years, prospects for a soft landing for prices without a big hit to growth look increasingly remote.

Last week the Brexit opportunities minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg, said Britain would postpone physical checks on fresh food imported from the EU for a fourth time, citing the likelihood they would cost UK firms 1bn in red tape.

A report last week by researchers at the LSE Centre for Economic Performance said that the introduction of new post-Brexit trading rules last year caused a major shock to UK-EU trade.

The research found UK imports from the EU fell by 25% relative to those from elsewhere in 2021.

Its authors suggested new rules had also caused many smaller businesses to terminate relationships with suppliers based in the EU and stop exporting to the 27-member trading bloc.

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Bank of England duty bound to trigger recession to curb inflation - The Guardian

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Daily Archives: May 3, 2022

Marching in the war on drugs | News | sharonherald.com – Sharonherald

National Fentanyl Awareness Day is rhetoric supporting the War on Drugs | Opinion – The News Journal

Opinion: We can’t reach racial equality without drug law reform – The Globe and Mail

Connecticut Cannabis Lottery To Close This Week – CT News Junkie

Could Congress Ban Abortion Nationwide if Roe Gets Overruled? – Reason

The Tories biggest trick is making their opponents fight post-Brexit policies in the courts – The Guardian

Brexit: More Irish passports than UK passports issued in Northern Ireland for first time – The Independent

‘Brexit weakens UK!’ GB News guest warns leaving EU has increased chance of united Ireland – Express

PM accused of IGNORING possible Russian interference in Brexit ‘didn’t want to know’ – Express

Bank of England duty bound to trigger recession to curb inflation – The Guardian

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