Monthly Archives: May 2023

When U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety publicly stated that weapons loaded onto a cargo vessel docked at a South African naval base last December were destined for Russia, he made big news. Despite a steady drumbeat of reports that have highlighted the African states reluctance to condemn Russias war of aggression and the warm military and political relationship South Africa continues to enjoy with Russia, some sought to characterize Brigetys remarks a gaffe or an affront to South Africa. Others seemed to portray the incident as an easily forgotten hiccup in an otherwise positive narrative. None of these assessments quite hit the mark. What Brigetys remarks really represented was a step forward in moving to a reality-based policy toward South Africa.

It's simply not plausible that Brigety was relaying a suspicion or a gut feeling. Why is honesty such an affront? If South Africa finds it distasteful to have its activities acknowledged in the light of day, why does the country engage in them in the first place? South Africas leaders have every right to assess the costs and benefits of the options before them and make the choices they believe are in their countrys interest, but no right to insist that other states help them obscure those choices. Neither the United States, nor any other country, has a responsibility to pretend not to notice the gulf between South African actions and its preferred narrative of nonalignment driven by its values and passionate commitment to equity for the Global South.

Its long past time to stop romanticizing U.S.-South Africa relations, or pretending that a one-sided enthusiasm for cooperation with the South African government is a critical linchpin in U.S.-Africa policy. These fantasies have more to do with our wishful thinkingboth about ourselves, and about the nature of the South African statethan with reality. The United States support for the apartheid government during the Cold War is undeniable. The equally undeniable history of the American publics opposition to such policies, which ultimately led to Congress overriding a presidential veto to pass the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act, clearly has less resonance across the Atlantic than it does at home, as does decades of U.S. effort to build a robust bilateral partnership with a democratic South Africa. Other U.S. policies, including the 2011 intervention in Libya and its consequences, have been wrapped into a South African narrative of an arrogant, militaristic, and dangerous West; while the brutal realities of Russian policies, at home and abroad, somehow are understood to paint a picture of a desirable partner in remaking the international order.

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South Africa

U.S. Foreign Policy

Sub-Saharan Africa

At the same time, South Africa is not only a country in which numerous political leaders believe the United States is more enemy than friend, and who pursue policies explicitly aimed at weakening the United States and strengthening its adversaries. It is a state in which the dominant political party boasts both a stirring history of resisting oppression, and a damning record of not just accepting corruption, but at times systematically perpetuating it at the expense of the South African public. Its liberation struggle is respected, and the size (though not the overall health) of its economy is admired in the region, but South Africa today cannot be celebrated as a model of the rule of law, or democratic governance that works for the population. The countrys independent judiciary and robust civil society continue to be real sources of strength, but they shine in part because they push back on an increasingly dysfunctional state

Just as the United States cannot achieve its goals at home and abroad without an honest acknowledgement of our own flaws, Washington cannot conduct foreign policy without a clear-eyed assessment of our partners. Thats not bullying, its operating in reality. Over and over, South African words and deeds demonstrate that what would seem to be fertile ground of shared interests and values in democratic societies is, for the time being, a mirage. Some honesty may rock the diplomatic boat, but ultimately will lead to fewer dashed hopes and fruitless overtures. In the best case, telling the truth can point toward the strategic clarity that U.S.-Africa policy needs.

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Facing Reality on South Africa - Council on Foreign Relations

Recently, the FBI has targeted Black nationalist groups for allegedly having ties to Russian authorities. Three individual members of the African Peoples Socialist Party (APSP) and its activist arm Uhuru Movement based in St. Petersburg, Florida, and one member of the Black Hammer Party based in Atlanta, Georgia were indicted by a federal grand jury in Tampa for allegedly working on behalf of the Russian government and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB). Specifically, the indictment alleges that the Black nationalist activists conduct[ed] a multi-year foreign malign influence campaign in the United States, and acted as unregistered agents of the Russian government to sow discord and spread pro-Russian propaganda.

The indictment alleges that Russian citizen Aleksandr Viktorovich Ionov, who was indicted last year, sought to use U.S. political groups to interfere in U.S. elections by, among other things, funding political campaigns of APSP members in 2019.

Omali Yeshitela, who is a founding member of the APSP and the Uhuru Movement, has stated that Ionov did not play a role in any of their election campaigns and denied taking money from Ionov. Yeshitela is a long-term resident of St. Petersburg, Florida, and has been active in promoting anti-racist, anti-imperialist, and anti-capitalist politics there and across the country. Penny Hess, chairperson of the African Peoples Solidarity Committee and one of the APSP members facing indictments, said at a May 10th press conference that it is completely absurd and profoundly racist that anyone would say that Chairman Omali Yeshitela is anything but his own person, that he would be somebody elses agent.

Indeed, these indictments echo racist propaganda used by the media and government officials that try to paint political dissent among Black people as the result of outside influence or outside agitators. The goal of these assertions is to undermine the political activity of Black radical and socialist activists and minimize the wider impact and influence of particularly militant expressions of resistance by the Black working class and community.

The political repression of Black, anti-racist, and anti-capitalist activists is an act with historical precedence, and one that the capitalist state and both capitalist parties (the Democrats and Republicans) relied on to curtail the growth of the 2020 BLM uprisings and their radical, anti-capitalist tendencies. When the protests erupted in 2020, many were met with police violence and mass arrests. When that failed to stop the movement, the capitalists then relied on the Democratic Party, the non-profit and trade union bureaucracy, and corporate foundations to co-opt the movement. When they failed to co-opt the vanguard of the movement, the capitalists deployed continual forms of state repression to drive the vanguard off the streets. Examples include the proliferation of anti-protest laws throughout the country and the continuous persecution of BLM activists in Grand Rapids and Detroit as well as abolitionist and environmental activists resisting Cop City in Atlanta, Georgia.

Many of the vanguard activists and organizations have found it difficult to maintain their forces and organize while defending themselves against legal charges. Many leaders were placed on probation, and in some instances even sentenced to jail. Hence, it should be clear that the main goal of state repression is to prevent the independent activity of the working class and oppressed, which in turn makes it critically important that the Left speak out and expose these instances of state repression and their purpose.

The Left should not only speak out against this attempt of state repression against activists expressing dissent against the U.S. government, but also advocate for the right of activists to have international connections and ties to other anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist organizations. This, in principle, should include organizations that we have political disagreements with. We in Left Voice have very important disagreements with APSP, the Uhuru Movement, and Black Hammer, specifically our analysis of class exploitation and oppression, the role of the revolutionary vanguard party, and the need to have a strategic orientation towards the working class, to name a few. Given that Black Hammer has recently aligned itself with neo-fascist formations like the Proud Boys and shown admiration for Trump and Majorie Taylor Greene, we cannot in good faith consider them as part of the Left and call into question their commitment to liberation of the working class and oppressed. Nonetheless, we stand firm against the capitalist states racist attempt to repress these groups because they speak out and critique the capitalist state.Above all, we must ensure that the critiques of the racist and violent practices of capitalism stay front and center, and not the narratives of the police and FBI. Their narratives are challenged by evidence of their violence and repression, such as the recent autopsy report of Tortuguita, who was shot 57 times and had no gun powder residue on his hands. We demand all charges be dropped against Black activists and those fighting to Stop Cop City.

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Federal Charges of Political Activists Show the Racist and ... - Left Voice

International attention in recent days has been fixed on the unprecedented social and political crisis wracking Pakistan. Following the arrest (and temporarily release pending trial) of deposed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, a wave of social unrest not seen in years has been ignited. Protests of his supporters have shaken the entire country which will no doubt continue even after his temporary release, with Khan calling for freedom protests this coming Sunday.

Roadblocks have been mounted cutting off access from Islamabad, where the government is based. Protestors have targeted the residence of senior state officials, police commanders and army generals. In one widely shared video, protests raided the house of the local corps commander in Lahore, stealing expensive food, golf clubs and even peacocks. Reports emerged in the last week of Khan supporters taking to the house of current right-wing PDM (Pakistan Democratic Movement a loose coalition of 13 bourgeois, regional and Islamist parties) coalition government leader Shehbaz Sharif, with his luxury cars allegedly being torched by the crowds.

A torrent of state repression has been the due response of the Pakistani state. Social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook have been entirely closed down. Schools and universities as potential sites of opposition to the military have been forcibly closed. Official reports at the time of writing state between 9 and 14 protestors have been shot dead and 4,000 arrested since the unrest began. This is quite likely to be an under-estimate, and shows the brutal lengths to which the state will go in order to crush the alleged conspiracy by Khan and his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to drag Pakistan into a civil war.

Although Khan was released after a judgment by the Supreme Court, he faces charges relating to the alleged personal sale of state gifts (given to Pakistan by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman) along with allegedly failing to declare his personal wealth to the Electoral Commission. But these are only part of a multitude of charges, including but not limited to terrorism, corruption, contempt of court, rioting and blasphemy.

Whether Khan is actually guilty of these charges cannot be exactly determined, but it is also not the main issue. This is not why the PTI has been placed on trial in the first place. Far more serious crimes have been and continue to be committed by all factions of Pakistans ruling elite. Khans real crime in the eyes of the military elite and the PDM coalition government is exploding the facade of military rule, at a time of unprecedented crisis for Pakistans ruling class which has pushed the country to the brink.

The crises for Pakistani capitalism are deep and unique even by the standards of South Asia. Its economy is crumbling under the pressure of sovereign debt to imperialist powers, be it the IMF or Chinese state and commercial banks. Society is further held back by an openly factional, warring ruling elite. Last years devastating floods still leave millions in poverty or without homes. Long queues are commonplace as the rapidly growing army of the unemployed struggle to find food to survive. The Economist magazine quoted a media capitalist in Taliban-run Afghanistan, that his country is better managed today than Pakistan.

Khans posing as anti-establishment and an opponent of the military-capitalist elite and the hated Sharif government has therefore struck a deep chord in society. He is by far the most popular politician in Pakistan today, which strikes fear into the heart of the military establishment given the scheduled upcoming October elections.

The fight between Khan and the PDM is not simply one between the capitalists, landlords and generals on the one hand, and the people represented by Khan. Khan has indeed mobilised wide layers of the Pakistani masses to his own banner. But his own record needs to be brought out. In fact, Khan represents another wing of the same capitalist elite which has fallen out of favour with the military hierarchy. But only after that same military elite engineered his coming to power in 2018.

Since partition in 1947, Pakistan has been consistently burdened with the outsized role played by the military. When necessary (as cannot be ruled out over the next period), this has taken the form of overt dictatorship, infamously in the form of the bloodthirsty Zia-ul-Haq regime. More frequently, the facade of democracy in Pakistan has depended on a system of military patronage. Those in power are whoever wins the favour of the generals and secret service chiefs, who themselves form a key link in the chain of Pakistans capitalist and feudal landlord classes.

Khan won such support at the exact point in 2018 when all other options had exhausted themselves. Popular disgust at the neoliberal policies of the PML (Sharifs party) and the Pakistan Peoples Party had grown to such proportions that a new, clean face was needed for the generals to lean on. It is an open secret that Khans victory that year came from the torrent of intimidation and propaganda from the military.

Through his time in office, Khans policies remained firmly within the confines set by imperialism and capitalism. Two IMF-mandated austerity packages were forced through during his government. He willingly carried out the generals preferred policy of balancing between US and Chinese imperialism, integrating Pakistan deeper into the debt trap of the Belt and Road Initiative via the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which consequently allowed him to lean on anti-US rhetoric at key opportune moments. In return, the military top brass opened up corruption cases against rivals of Khan, not dissimilar to those facing him today. Far from siding with the poor and oppressed, the class character of the PTI in this period was summed by the comment of Khans Kashmiri Affairs Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in 2021 when news arrived of growing inflation: Cant we sacrifice a little and reduce the quantity of the sugar in our tea and eat less bread?

The honeymoon was never going to last for an entire term. Since the birth of Pakistan, it has always been customary for the military to turn against its own governments after only a short time in office. Not a single one of Pakistans 22 Prime Ministers have ever finished an entire term. What has been unique about Khans removal from power has been the extent to which he has openly challenged it, unintentionally calling into question the entire established way of forming and deposing governments.

The reason for his discarding in early 2022 was simple: Khan simply grew too big for his boots for the liking of the generals. Khan broke the elites oldest taboo in wanting to declare himself kingmaker, over chief of army staff at the time, General Qamar Bajwa. Instead of accepting Bajwas choice to appoint Asim Munir as his successor, Khan vouched instead for his closest ally Lt General Faiz Hameed, as a maneuver to extend his own time in office. The result was a stage-managed vote of no confidence which ended Khans time in office and brought the PDM to power in April 2022.

Now the dirty laundry of the entire ruling elite has been aired in public, in a way not seen in decades. In a game of tit-for-tat attacks over the last year, Khans and Sharifs followers have gone to the end of the earth to dig out dirt on one another. As a result, the fraud of Pakistani democracy now lies in tatters.

Khan is distinguished not only by his willingness to take the fight to his enemies in the military high command, but to mobilise his own mass base in high-profile marches, twinning this with a superficially anti-US, anti-imperialist image. Khan has staged multiple national demonstrations and dissolved regional governments in his local bases of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as maneuvers to call an early election to bring himself back into power.

It is no surprise then that this factional battle over the previous year has turned to bloodshed. First, key Khan ally and TV presenter Arshad Sharif was assassinated in exile in Kenya last October. Just over a week later, a gunman made an attempt on Khans life during a rally in Northern Punjab, only wounding Khan while killing one of his supporters. While the military and ISI have publicly denied involvement and issued their condolences, you dont have to be a conspiracy theorist to know where responsibility almost definitely lies. You can only look at the fates of Benazir Bhutto, as well as her father Zulfikar to see the extent the generals have been prepared to go in the past to wipe out political figures who outlive their usefulness to them and become a nuisance.

While the elite factions line up and wage war for their privileged positions, the masses of Pakistan are living in a quagmire of economic, climate and social hell, as a result of the capitalist policies of the ruling class.

Pakistans annual inflation hit 36.4% in April, with food-price inflation running at 48.1%. Hundreds of factories continue to close down, with millions of workers losing employment monthly. Staple supplies such as medicine have reached record-low levels. Salaries are being slashed, privatisations are gaining pace and fees increasing. Increasing numbers of young people are fleeing the country, including educated student youth who have left studies to find not even menial work on offer.

Pakistans foreign exchange reserves have dwindled to only $4.5 billion, only just about enough to cover a months worth of imports. Since the floods last year, 45% of Pakistans total food producing land has been eradicated. These floods submerged more than a third of Pakistans total land underwater, killing more than 800,000 livestock. One million houses were washed away, bringing particularly acute devastation to the nationally-oppressed regions of Balochistan and Sindh, both hubs of Pakistans textile industry.

This shows the sheer destruction which the escalating global climate crisis will have in the neo-colonial world. The policies of the super-rich monopolies and corporations, and generalised chaos of the capitalist system have left the poorest globally to pick up the bill for crimes not of their making.

But the response from imperialism underlines its sheer brutality. Rather than cancelling Pakistans sovereign debt in the wake of the floods, the IMF has only doubled down on the estimated $77.5bn in loan repayments expected by June 2026. The Sharif government meanwhile has eagerly responded by raising the prices of oil, gas, electricity and introduced general sales taxes on the poor. Pakistan is now on the brink of a crisis mirroring that of Sri Lanka, which defaulted and declared bankruptcy last year.

While Pakistan is contested between the imperialist powers, attention has somewhat shifted out of the region compared to the period of the War on Terror. As key resources and attention have instead shifted to Ukraine and the South China Sea in the New US-China Cold War, meagre sums of 53m from the US and 25m from British imperialism were provided in aid, compared to the dozens of billions forked out in spending to prop up the Ukrainian military. China, meanwhile, facing internal shocks from its own economic and Covid crises, has complicated the expansion of its international influence, drawing question its role as a fledgling imperialist power over the region.

Anybody who tries to put this down to Pakistans status as a poor country is wrong. The total declared wealth of the Sharif family sits at $1.8bn. Nishat Group chair Mian Mansha, the ultra-rich mill owner whose family profited from the 1947 partition, boasts $3.7 billion. For real estate mogul Malik Riaz, his declared wealth is $1.5 billion. Former President Asif Ali Zardari, the former husband of Benazir Bhutto sits on a net worth of $1.8bn. The list goes on. If, instead of the criminal racket ruling Pakistan today, there was a government of the workers and oppressed, which seized the wealth of the capitalists, generals and landlords, and invested it into the real needs of the people of Pakistan in a planned socialist economy, the lives of the people would of course be utterly transformed.

Despite Khan being a bourgeois populist and opportunist, the growing support for him is still an expression of deep discontent with the ruling elite in Pakistani society. He is looked to by many as a figure prepared to take on the rottenness and corruption of the capitalist parties of the PDM coalition, under whose rule unemployment, hunger, inflation and terrorist violence have skyrocketed.

This is why the ruling elites fear this mobilisation. By targeting the generals, the protests have unknowingly gone beyond simply saving Khans own career. What the ruling class fears is a revolutionary explosion which could pose a serious challenge to the establishment and alter the balance of power in the region. There are clear signs of splits in the Pakistani state, with the lower echelons of the judiciary, army and even potentially the police indicating growing levels of support for Khan.

Where events take Pakistan over the next period is not entirely clear. It is not even ruled out that the generals could dig up the heritage of the Zia regime and attempt to form a new military junta if they feel control slipping out of their hands.

Events may also take the turn of what happened last year in Sri Lanka, where after declaring bankruptcy to the IMF and facing harsh austerity measures, a mass hartal (total stoppage and general strike) paralysed the regime, leading to the storming of the palace of President Rajapaksa. Were this to happen in Pakistan it could have deep ramifications. This is a country with the fifth-largest population in the world.

A revolutionary upheaval would likely see the women of Pakistan come to the fore expressing their seething anger against sexism, patriarchal violence and fundamentalist oppression. It could echo the events shaking Iran last year and this year, while giving a signal to the people of Afghanistan that mass resistance to Taliban rule is possible and necessary. It could also boost the confidence of the oppressed peoples in Sindh and Balochistan, intensifying calls for national self-determination.

Like the people of Iran have re-discovered the best traditions of 1979 and the revolution against the Shah, the people of Pakistan the unemployed, workers, women, and nationally oppressed peoples will need to rediscover the traditions of the 196869 revolution, when a mass movement of students and factory occupations posed a serious challenge to military rule. But building a movement for revolutionary change will require acting independently of all wings of the capitalist elite whether PDM or PTI. It is quite possible that Khan, in exchange for lenient terms and a forgiving treatment, will be prepared at some stage to place a dampener on these protests.

Events have shown that the working class is more than capable of acting independently. Recent strikes, of health workers this January in Sindh against privatisation, of the victorious 40,000 strong strike of power loom workers in Faisalabad last August and others provides a glimpse into what the exploited poor and working-class majority in Pakistan is capable of when organised. The now-six year tradition of Aurat Azadi feminist Marches, bravely challenging fundamentalist patriarchy and violence against women and gender non-conforming people against police repression, provides a small window into the heroic role that women could play in the struggle to transform society, as they have in Iran.

The workers and the oppressed of Pakistan must rely on their own strength to win fundamental change. This will mean setting up organisations of the unemployed, to link up with a militant Pakistani labour movement. This would provide a powerful basis on which to challenge the wealth and power of the capitalist elite, and to fight for a democratic socialist Pakistan, in a confederation of South Asia, and a socialist world.

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Age of Disorder || Pakistan on the Brink: Down with Capitalist PDM ... - International Socialist

Victimhood is a basic prop of fascism. It helps to legitimize the aspiring fascist leader with his victimized base while at the same time giving license for the persecution of those people he denounces for victimizing his base.

As Donald Trump constantly demonstrates through his laments about being the object of witch hunts, the fascist-in-waiting proudly wears the mantle of victimization. This cleverly disguises that he is, in reality, the embodiment of the class and system responsible for the oppressed state of his victimized base.

For in touching this very sensitive nerve of the millions of citizens in this country who are bitterly disappointed and enraged by their fate in life particularly white males he creates a bond of fellow victimization. Their sense of abject powerlessness, as well as betrayal for having been cheated out of the promise of the American Dream (especially their privileged status as white males) has caused many to identify with Trump and his self-pitying victimhood. Hes become their voice, his crazed public outbursts expressing what they privately rant about, providing them with accessible targets migrants and people of color, the gay and transgender populations, teachers, school board and election board members, not to mention the Wokes and liberal politicians for their wrath and hatred. As Trump promised at the Conservative Political Action Conference earlier this year, Those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.

What is especially ironic about this, of course, is that fascism is the ultimate expression of capitalism and the class warfare that the ruling class wages against working people. While largely invisible, it is the rich and powerful who are not only responsible for the economic oppression that working people suffer but also the money behind the efforts to destroy democracy and its potential to eliminate power relationships.

Unfortunately, fascism is greatly aided by the disempowering false consciousness that afflicts so many everyday folks, causing us to not recognize the origins of our oppressive situation. We envy the ruling class, instead, their power and wealth, hence blinding us to the connection between their ill-gotten gains, and the exploitation of our labor that made such affluence possible.

The absence of such liberating consciousness, however, should not mislead us about the legitimate rage that found expression in the storming of the nations Capital on January 6, and the MAGA movement in general. While perverted by Trumps lies, the wrath and fury demonstrated toward our government is embedded within a sense of betrayal that goes to the heart of the capitalist system and its political and corporate masters.

In what she identifies in her book, Hiding in Plain Sight, as the wreckage of the American Dream, the author, Sarah Kendizor, describes the period from 1946 to 1974 as one of unparalleled stability and prosperity. It was a time in which the American Dream seemed feasible, having a steady job and getting a raise, owning a home, not needing an advanced degree for a career, and if you did, being able to afford one without being saddled with decades of debt.

Then the bottom fell out, and class warfare against workers and the middle class accelerated. Along with its assault on labor unions, the Reagan Administration cut tax rates on the rich from 74 to 27 percent while raising taxes on working-class people 11 times, initiating the extreme stratification of income and wealth that has characterized American society for the last 40-plus years.

From 1947 to 1979, income for the bottom fifth of Americans rose 122 percent. Up to that time, workers pay had increased proportionally with productivity. But between 1979 and 2017, while growth in worker productivity grew 70.3 percent, hourly compensation grew only by 11.1 percent.

At the other end, earnings of the top 0.1 percent grew 343.2 percent; from 1979 to 2009, income of the top 1 percent rose 270 percent, while that of the remaining 99 percent stagnated. This disparity has continued right up to the present, stripping average people of opportunities and resources.

For working Americans, the American Dream has become a nightmare of dashed expectations, as illustrated by the belief that their children will be financially worse off than their parents, reversing the historic trend of generation progress, as well as the skyrocketing death rate amongst middle age, white males known as Deaths of Despair, caused by outright suicide as well as the many instances hidden in drug overdoses and alcoholism. The latter is a phenomenon that particularly afflicts those who are lost in todays economy, unable to assume their patriarchal-prescribed role of supporting their families.

The corporate-controlled government bears significant responsibility for this situation, as evidenced from Reagans union busting and trickle-down economics, and Clintons support of NAFTA and GATT free trade globalization that resulted in the loss of US jobs, to its failure to train an increasingly technologically redundant workforce to transition from an industrial to a knowledge economy, and what Kendisior identifies as the iron triangle of organized crime, state corruption and corporate criminality that fleeced the common person.

However, white working men have compounded their economic circumstances by their racist-inspired perception that the socialist government has promoted policies that provide unfair advantages to people of color. Playing the race card that many white workers have bought into since the early days of slavery, fascists exploit these fears by promoting the Great Replacement Theory that maintains white people are losing the skin privilege theyve enjoyed during four hundred years of caste supremacy.

Along with their legitimate class rage, white racism contributes significantly to the community of victimhood that wants to Make America Great Again.

Tim Stevenson is a community organizer with Post Oil Solutions from Athens, and author of Resilience and Resistance: Building Sustainable Communities for a Post Oil Age (Green Writers Press), and the recently published, Transformative Activism: A Values Revolution in Everyday Life in a Time of Social Collapse (Apocryphile Press). The opinions expressed by columnists do not necessarily reflect the views of Vermont News & Media.

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Tim Stevenson | Living with the Long Emergency: Rising Fascism ... - Brattleboro Reformer

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Just ahead of the mayoral inauguration next week, one issue that will face Mayor Brandon Johnson's administration is big bureaucracy.

On that subject, one topic we've covered extensively is water bills. For four years, we have exposed systematic issues at the Chicago Department of Water Management - leaving Chicagoans getting hosed.

We invited all the aldermen to our studios to talk about it. Three incoming Ald. William Hall (6th), Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), and incoming Ald. Ronnie Mosley (21st) came and sat down with CBS 2 Streaming Anchor Brad Edwards.

Edwards told the aldermen that when he first started investigating people's water bill woes in Chicago, he expected it to be a dry, dull subject. But he told the aldermen it turned out to be "the most riveting, regressive government oppression" he has seen.

The circumstances vary from case to case, of course, but in short, the pattern involves Chicagoans getting socked with bills for water they didn't use.

"Because of your reporting, I'll be working with my colleagues to make sure that we're beginning to address this issue," Villegas said, "and I think I think that we'll finally put it into this thing this year. We're going to hold hearings with the Department of Water Management and Department of Financing."

CBS 2 fixed dozens of people's water bills under Mayor Lori Lightfoot but the city departments refused to answer any more questions. What if they refuse to answer Ald. Villegas' questions too?

"I can tell you that they're not going to refuse to come - because of the fact that we're the body that appropriates their budgets," Villegas said.

Lead pipes

Meanwhile, Chicago water rates have quadrupled in 20 years from $1+ per gallon in 2002 to $4+ per gallon by 2020.

"So over the years, I've seen my water bill increase, but I've also seen the lack of investment in infrastructure," said Hall.

Chicago has 387,095 lead service lines. Those are pipes made of lead that deliver water to homes.

The service lines are also potentially delivering lead into those homes. We have measured illegally high amounts of drinking water in said homes.

"The danger that we have is that we're on the verge of another Flint crisis," said Hall.

"We've got to figure a way to address this issue," added Villegas. "This is impacting predominantly African American and Latino communities."

Villegas plans to fight for billions in federal funds to replace the pipes. He estimates to replace all of Chicago's lead water lines, it will cost $9 billion.

But such an undertaking will also mean jobs.

"We're going to have a lot of development and rebuilding of the infrastructure in the 21st Ward," said Mosley. "I want to make sure that our residents are the ones that are doing that work; that they have the skill sets, the certifications, the licenses to participate in the rehabilitation and revitalization of our ward."

A broken system

These are all hypotheticals. Right now, as we've shown, the system is broken.

And we have fixed water bills for numerous Chicagoans some of them in excess of $61,000.

One common thread among all of our victims in our Getting Hosed series, which are dozens over four years, is that the city doesn't care.

Villegas says he expects that to change.

"I think that the new administration is going to be a lot more welcoming of this change, because of the fact that it's affecting everyday working families," he said.

This made it sound as if Mayor Lori Lightfoot's team whether the mayor herself or her administration was not working with Villegas on this issue, as they were not working with us.

When Edwards asked about this, Villegas replied, "Yeah, that's a correct assessment."

Solutions

Villegas spearheaded a study that found departments are siloed and don't speak to each other in what amounts to a crippled bureaucracy.

"So this is something that I've been working on, as it relates to making sure that we have the technology in place," Villegas said.

Villegas is now undertaking what might be a $500 million tech upgrade to fix that siloing. But Alderman-elect Hall said such proposals for upgrades or investments can raise red flags for taxpayers.

"When you hear upgrades, and we hear investment, that's usually code word on the backs of those who are residents," Hall said, "and I thank you for having the conversation. But again, residents are not going to, and they should not have to, pay for misery due to mismanagement of infrastructure and water. That's unacceptable."

As for the bills, Alderman-elect Mosley has an idea.

"This can't be in another email that just goes unread, and time goes by. I would invite the Water Department to come to the 21st Ward - and my residents to bring their bills with them so that we can go through them together and figure out the cost savings that need to be applied here," Mosley said. "When we talk about just that accountability, yes, it is coming to the alderman's office; you can call 311. But my job is to be your ambassador to expedite or deliver those city services. And so when you talk about leadership, and what does it look like, When you talk about just being an alderman, it is bringing those departments representatives directly to the people and bringing forth a solution."

It's not just bills. All agree there is also a safety issue when it comes to the city's water supply with too many generations of too many kids having consumed too much lead-laced water. Such poisoning can lead to a lifetime of cognitive issues.

Villegas' call for City Hall hearings is a huge step, and one not taken before. And there's much to tackle.

Those hearings could happen within weeks.

Brad Edwards is an investigative reporter and main anchor at CBS2 Chicago.

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Members of new City Council weigh in on water bills - CBS Chicago

STATEMENT

This year on 17th May, we mark the 28th year of the enforced disappearance of then six-year-old 11th Panchen Lama, Jetsun Tenzin Gedhun Yeshi Trinley Phuntsok Pal Sangpo, popularly known as Gedhun Choekyi Nyima. Following the recognition of then six-years-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, the Chinese government abducted the Panchen Lama along his family and Chadrel Rinpoche, who was responsible for leading the search committee for the reincarnation, just three days later. None of them have been seen since then. As one of the worlds longest-standing enforced disappearance cases, the Panchen Lamas 28-year-long abduction serves as a grim reminder of the brutal oppression of the Chinese colonial regime against the Tibetans.

Chinas interference in the selection process of the Panchen Lama shows their disregard for the fundamental human rights and religious beliefs of Tibetans, which are deeply rooted in Tibetan culture. Though China signed many UN rights treaties, China continues to show a blatant disregard for fundamental human rights and religious beliefs in Tibet through its repressive policies towards Tibetans. The international community has condemned Chinas noncommittal actions in violating fundamental human rights and justice. Numerous international governments and organisations have issued resolutions and statements for the Chinese government to provide reliable information about the Panchen Lama.

Our demands for the Chinese government are twofold.

We urge them to reveal credible information about the whereabouts and well-being of the 11th Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, and his parents.

We call upon the Chinese government to respect the basic human rights of Tibetans, including an immediate halt to the forced disappearance of prominent religious figures, leaders, and advocates in the community.

We will continue to hold them accountable for their severe violations against Tibetan people, and demand that they adhere to international conventions.

-Filed by Tibet Advocacy Section, DIIR

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DIIR Statement on 28th Anniversary of Enforced Disappearance of ... - Central Tibetan Administration

Content warning: This story includes mentions of sexual assault and murder.

As part of Multicultural Student Affairs APIDA programming, Chicago nonprofit KAN-WIN facilitated a workshop and presented a timeline about gender-based violence in Asian Pacific Islander Desi American communities Tuesday.

KAN-WIN provides services like legal advocacy and support groups to those affected by gender-based violence. The nonprofit aims to work toward womens empowerment across Asian American communities. KAN-WINs education outreach coordinator Arthi Jacob spoke alongside youth and young adult organizer Abbey Zhu (Weinberg 22).

The presentation covered the time period from 111 B.C.E. and ending with the present. Each slide covered a significant event related to gender-based violence, including the Bangladesh Liberation War (1971), Chinese imperialism in Vietnam (111 B.C.E.) and the founding of KAN-WIN (1990).

We created this timeline to talk through how our experiences of gender and gender oppression as Asian women are highly racialized, Jacob said. The oppression of Asian and Asian American women under patriarchy is inextricable from histories of racism, colonialism, imperialism, militarism and immigration.

The presenters invited the audience to talk about common themes across history, as well the differences. They facilitated discussion about how past gender-based violence intersects with the present.

Jacob told the story of Phoolan Devi. Devi, who later became a Member of Parliament in India in 1996, was subjected to child marriage, abuse and assault. After Devi was assaulted by a group of upper-caste men, she led a raid and shot the men at a river bank.

Though Devis story is well-known, caste-privileged people interact with her experience in a way that fetishizes her trauma, Jacob said.

Theyre still reinforcing this violence against her, they said. Thats partly why I added that to the timeline.

MSA graduate assistant Grace Park said women in APIDA communities, especially those experiencing gender-based violence, cannot rely on legal systems to seek justice.

Park said May Tsubouchis murder exemplifies this injustice in the legal system. In 1944, Tsubouchi, who was held at the Poston Internment Camp, was murdered by her co-worker, who had previously stalked and threatened her. However, official camp reports did not take action against the perpetrator.

The government dismissed Tsubouchis experiences, labeling her a prostitute, Park said. At the same time, the government used her story to increase state surveillance in an already highly surveilled camp.

Though the legal system claims to support those affected by gender-based violence, that doesnt hold always true, Park said.

Those protections are primarily for white, cis women, Park said. It often brings greater danger to the women in our communities, femmes, trans folks, nonbinary folks who try to report and then end up getting punished, incarcerated or further surveilled.

At the end of the presentation, Jacob and Zhu highlighted the war on terror. The 2001 Patriot Act legalized the unconstitutional surveillance of Muslim communities, which contributes to the overpolicing of Muslim women, Jacob said.

Zhu spoke about Yang Song, a sex worker who died in a New York police raid in 2017. The previous year, a police officer sexually assaulted and threatened her at gunpoint. If she didnt cooperate, the officer said, she would be deported.

Zhu said this case illustrates how policing, imperialism and militarism tie together. These forces are complicit and active agents of violence against AAPI women, Zhu said.

(Theres the) idea that sex workers or people who are participating in the sex trade are somehow deserving of violence, because theyre inherently immoral, Zhu said. What pushes people to participate in the sex trade are also those larger systems of domination and oppression.

Jacob emphasized the importance of naming violence against AAPI women, whether it be racism, fetishization or imperialism.

Conversations about gender-based violence typically center white, middle to upper class women, according to Jacob. Histories and experiences of Asian and Asian American women have been traditionally excluded from mainstream narratives, Jacob said.

The solutions generated by the mainstream anti-violence movement that exists as of right now have been ineffective and harmful to Asian and Asian American survivors, Jacob said. This is what we want to remedy.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @JessicaMa2025

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KAN-WIN shares timeline of gender-based violence toward Asian ... - Daily Northwestern

A voice call in the Discord server where members say that they would speak to each other for hours. The Post has blurred members' faces. (Video: Obtained by the Washington Post)

Exclusive

Videos and chat logs reveal Jack Teixeiras preparations for a violent social conflict, his racist thinking and a deep suspicion of the government he served

Updated May 14, 2023 at 10:30 a.m. EDT|Published May 13, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Editors note: Videos in this presentation include racist language and gunshots, which may be disturbing to some readers.

Jack Teixeira, dressed in camouflage fatigues, his finger wrapped around the trigger of a semiautomatic rifle, faced the camera and spoke as though reciting an oath.

Jews scam, n----rs rape, and I mag dump.

Teixeira raised his weapon, aimed at an unseen target and fired 10 times in rapid succession, emptying the magazine of bullets.

Jack Teixeira uses slurs while at a firing range in Raynham, MA. (Video: Obtained by the Washington Post)

The six-second video, taken at a gun range near Teixeiras home in Massachusetts, affords a brief but illuminating glimpse into the offline world of the 21-year-old National Guard member, who stands accused of leaking a trove of classified military intelligence on the group-chat platform Discord.

Previously unpublished videos and chat logs reviewed by The Washington Post, as well as interviews with several of Teixeiras close friends, suggest that he was readying for what he imagined would be a violent struggle against a legion of perceived adversaries including Blacks, political liberals, Jews, gay and transgender people who would make life intolerable for the kind of person Teixeira professed to be: an Orthodox Christian, politically conservative and ready to defend, if not the government of the United States, a set of ideals on which he imagined it was founded.

Teixeiras love of guns, which first drew him to an online community of friends, was intertwined with a deep suspicion of the government that he served as an enlisted member of the Air National Guard. But Teixeira did not consider himself a whistleblower, according to friends.

By the time of his arrest, filings by federal prosecutors show that Teixeira had amassed a small arsenal of rifles, shotguns and pistols, as well as a helmet, gas mask and night-vision goggles, all under the roof of the house where he lived with his mother and stepfather. The Post obtained and verified two videos taken at their home in Dighton, Mass., where the FBI arrested Teixeira last month.

Filmed from the shooters perspective, the first video shows a person identified by a Discord user as Teixeira firing an AR-style weapon into the forest. Another video shows the gunman firing a pistol into the woods behind Teixeiras home, including two rapid volleys that suggest the weapon may have been modified. It isnt clear what legal or illegal modifications Teixeira may have made, though devices like binary triggers and typically illegal auto sear accessories can make semiautomatic guns fire quicker than they are designed to shoot. A separate photograph shows an AK-style weapon resting on a table outside the family home next to a helmet with attached night-vision goggles.

For Teixeira, firearms practice seemed to be more than a hobby. He used the term race war quite a few times, said a close friend who spent time with Teixeira in an online community on Discord, a platform popular with video game players, and had lengthy private phone and video calls with him over the course of several years.

He did call himself racist, multiple times, the friend said in an interview. I would say he was proud of it.

The friend, like others on the server, spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid being associated publicly with Teixeira, who faces a potential sentence of 25 years in prison. The friend gave a video interview to The Post and requested that their face be obscured and their voice modified.

A source close to Jack Teixeira describes his violent online persona. (Video: Jon Gerberg, Nilo Tabrizy/The Washington Post)

In the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, Teixeira told friends that he saw a storm gathering. He was afraid they would target White people, his friend said. He had told me quite a few times he thought they need to be prepared for a revolution. The friend said Teixeira spoke approvingly of Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager who shot three people, two fatally, during protests that summer in Kenosha, Wis., claiming that he had acted in self-defense. A jury acquitted Rittenhouse of five counts, including intentional first-degree homicide, in 2021.

Teixeiras preparations for civil chaos werent limited to arms; knowledge was also power. His job as a computer technician at Otis Air Force Base, on Cape Cod, gave him access to the Pentagons network for top-secret information, where, according to his friends, Teixeira viewed thousands of classified documents on a vast range of topics, from the war in Ukraine to North Korean ballistic missile launches to attempts by foreign governments to interfere in U.S. elections. Teixeira shared some of this intelligence bounty with a band of about two dozen people in a Discord server he came to control called Thug Shaker Central. (The servers name, the most often used of several, is a racist allusion.) Teixeiras goal, they said, was to reveal truths that powerful people had hidden from ordinary ones.

Teixeira wanted his online companions, many of them teenage boys, to be prepared for things the government might do, reinforcing to them that the government was lying to them, said the close friend, who was also a member of the server. Beginning in 2022, the year after Teixeira was granted a top-secret government security clearance following a standard background investigation, he began posting classified documents in the server, first typing them out by hand and later uploading photographs of printed documents bearing classification markings and restrictions on their distribution. He also shared video from the base, showing friends on the server where he worked and allegedly secreted away classified intelligence.

The Post obtained hundreds of documents, as well as text messages, that Teixeira shared on the server over the course of several months. Teixeiras lawyers declined to comment. Teixeira, who remains in federal custody, has not entered a plea.

Teixeira occasionally augmented his leaks with sober analysis. He once confidently predicted that China will be trying to avoid sanctions and appease us in the near term in light of new laws and regulations aimed at blunting the countrys semiconductor manufacturing industry.

But Teixeiras missives also revealed a conspiratorial streak.

Recently a Al-Qaeda sympathizer moved nearby my area, immigrant and were finding more about their organization, he wrote in October 2022, apparently referring to the U.S. government. Any sand n----r like that we will watch them[.]

On Discord, an account with the handle Jack the Dripper, one of Teixeiras known monikers, shared an image titled payback, showing a large passenger jet careening toward the Kaaba in Mecca, Islams holiest site.

Teixeira asserted that lots of FBI agents were found to have sympathized with the Jan 6 rioters, and he said naive members of the intelligence community, of which he was technically a part, had been cucked. He referred to mainstream press as zogshit, appropriating a popular white-supremacist slur for the Zionist Occupied Government. Friends said that during live video chats, Teixeira expounded on baseless accusations of shadowy, sinister control by Jewish and liberal elites, as well as corrupt law enforcement authorities.

He had quite a few conspiratorial beliefs, the close friend said, adding: I remember him multiple times talking about things like Waco and Ruby Ridge, and talking about how the government kills their own people, referring to a pair of notorious armed standoffs that the far right has held up as emblematic of government oppression.

Polarized by the pandemic

Already united by their love of guns and their Orthodox Christian faith, two members of Thug Shaker Central said their nascent political beliefs became hardened and more polarized during the isolation of the pandemic. Unable to see their local friends in person, the young members spent their entire days in front of screens and came under the influence of outsize online figures like Teixeira. Some on the server saw him as an older brother others, friends said, like a father figure.

The Post obtained previously unpublished screenshots from the server and recordings of members playing games together. Racist and antisemitic language flowed through the community, as did hostility for gay and transgender people, whom Teixeira deemed degenerate. The line between sarcasm and genuine belief became increasingly blurred. On video calls, users held up a finger, jokingly imitating members of ISIS. In their rooms were flags associated with Christian nationalism and white power.

In interviews, some of the members struggled to explain worldviews that had developed largely online, and expressed remorse. Several admitted they had become radicalized during the pandemic and were influenced by Teixeira, whose own politics seemed animated by social grievances and an obsession with guns.

The members may have sensed they were treading into dangerous political waters, even before leaked classified documents started circulating. During video chats, some hid their faces behind masks, fearful of being publicly identified with a group of self-professed bigots, Teixeiras close friend said.

After he enlisted in the U.S. Air National Guard in September 2019, Teixeira also feared that his own racist and violent statements would jeopardize his chances of getting a security clearance. He was worried something from Discord would come up during his interview, said the friend, who met him when the application was still pending. Teixeira changed his online handle to an innocuous version of his surname and became less active in the community for a time, the friend added, in an effort not to create more incriminating evidence.

But Teixeira already had an offline record that arguably should have raised concerns for the officials who approved his security clearance. In March 2018, Teixeira was suspended from his high school when a classmate overheard him make remarks about weapons, including Molotov cocktails, guns at the school, and racial threats, according to a Justice Department filing last month that argued Teixeira should remain in jail while he faces charges under the Espionage Act stemming from his alleged leaks.

Federal prosecutors noted that, according to local police records, Teixeira claimed that he had been talking about a video game when he made the alarming comments. But other students disputed that characterization, prosecutors said. And Teixeiras close friend, who knew him after he had graduated high school, said he had confessed to wanting to take a gun to school and carry out a shooting.

He had told me multiple times about when he was younger, his desire to shoot up his school, the friend said. He hated his school.

To my knowledge, he never hurt anyone physically, but he absolutely talked about it pretty often, the friend added. Other friends confirmed Teixeira talked about attacking his school, but they said they didnt take his threats seriously.

A source who knew Jack Teixeira closely recounts troubles in Jacks personal life. (Video: Jon Gerberg, Nilo Tabrizy/The Washington Post)

It remains unclear how Teixeira obtained a clearance and what consideration, if any, adjudicators gave to his history of violent remarks.

Ann Stefanek, an Air Force spokeswoman, said Teixeira is subject to potential discipline, considering he was working under active duty. After the Air Force concludes an investigation, she said, a commander will determine if Teixeira should face charges in the military. The service is coordinating closely with the FBI in the leak investigation, she said.

Teixeira remains an airman first class, a low-ranking enlisted service member, as he awaits trial on the leaking charges.

The military has, in the past, struggled to track down individuals who have espoused racist or white-nationalist ideologies. Service members have faced charges that include dereliction of duty and misconduct for racist rants.

After Teixeira got his privileged access, he sought out another official license that had eluded him: a firearms identification card, which, in the state of Massachusetts, permits the possession of non-large-capacity rifles, shotguns, and ammunition.

Teixeiras application had been turned down in 2018 due to the concerns of local police about his violent remarks at his high school, court records show. But in a letter to a local police officer in 2020, Teixeira argued that his new career in the Air Force, and the security clearance that came with it, demonstrated his trustworthiness.

I now represent much more than myself and need to watch what I say and do both in public and in private, as it affects more than just myself, Teixeira wrote in November 2020. He allegedly began divulging classified information online a little more than a year later.

The pandemic refuge of Thug Shaker Central wasnt the only place Teixeira appears to have spilled protected information.

According to court documents and online records reviewed by The Post, Teixeira posted intelligence on another Discord server as early as February 2022. This community of gamers contained hundreds of people, exposing official secrets to a much larger audience than his tight-circle of friends, who said they understood they should keep the classified documents to themselves.

The server, called Abinavskis Exclusion Zone, is associated with a YouTube streamer who plays the video game War Thunder, known for its realistic models of tanks, fighter jets and other military vehicles. A member of the server, who asked not to be identified, said a user believed to be Teixeira posted intelligence in a channel called civil-discussions, usually in a running thread.

Abinavskis Exclusion Zone remained active this month. When The Post reviewed the server on Tuesday, it listed 627 members, of whom 150 were online at the time.

On April 6, a Discord user informed Teixeira that he had seen material he believed the service member had shared show up on another social media platform, Telegram, in a channel devoted to pro-Russian topics.

Is it actually one of them btw, the unidentified user asked, according to court documents.

Not commenting, Teixeira wrote in reply. The user then asked, [D]id you share them outside of abis, an apparent reference to Abinavski.

In chat logs made public by prosecutors, Teixeira repeatedly makes reference to the thread where he had posted material starting in 2022. In a March 19, 2023, exchange, Teixeira wrote that hed decided to stop with the updates, thanking everyone who came to the thread about the current event, an apparent reference to the Russian invasion of Ukraine that had begun a year earlier.

I was very happy and willing and enthusiastic to have covered this event for the past year and share with all of you, Teixeira wrote, in comments that match messages the New York Times first reported he had made on that date in what it identified as a second server but didnt name as Abinavskis Exclusion Zone. In an email to The Post, Abinavski said a user believed to be Teixeira left the server in early April.

Abinavski said the civil-discussions channel had a thread for conversations around the Ukraine war, created roughly the time Russia invaded. Members confirmed with me that photos of documents were posted to the channel, Abinavski said.

The YouTuber added that Discord deleted the civil-discussions channel on April 24 after multiple members received notices from the company.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Discord said: We have removed content, terminated user accounts, and are cooperating with the efforts of the United States Departments of Defense and Justice in connection with this incident.

In this instance, we have banned users involved with the original distribution of the materials, deleted content deemed to be against our Terms of Service and issued warnings to users who continue to share the materials in question, the spokesperson added.

As classified documents began popping up across the internet, Teixeira asked an unnamed user to help him delete en masse the posts that Teixeira had made in civil-discussions, according to court documents. If anyone comes looking, dont tell them shit.

But the leak that led the authorities to the young National Guard member appears to have come not from Abinavskis larger group but within Teixeiras trusted circle. The classified information that showed up on Telegram, and later circulated more broadly online, came from a young Thug Shaker Central member, several other members of the server said, who broke the clubs unwritten rule not to share the documents and set off a chain of events that led to Teixeiras arrest the following month.

Moving from online to IRL

The civil-discussions channel gave Teixeira a large audience. But in Thug Shaker Central, he seemed to feel he was in a more intimate environment, able to share his love of guns and express his political views to a sympathetic audience. Teixeira posted videos and photographs taken at his mother and stepfathers home in Dighton and clips he recorded at the nearby gun range, where Teixeira made his mag dump video.

Firearms are shot in the backyard of Jack Teixeira's parent's home. (Video: Obtained by the Washington Post)

Teixeira developed an offline relationship with at least one friend on the server: Henry Adams, 18, who lives with his family about an hours drive from Dighton in Hanover, Mass.

Three former members of Thug Shaker confirmed Adamss identity, as well as his close ties with Teixeira and activity on the server. An attorney for Adams, Max Perlman, confirmed that his client knew Teixeira for around three years, bonding over shared interests. Through his attorney, Adams denied being a member of Thug Shaker Central, claimed to be unaware of its existence and said he had never seen any illicit material posted by Teixeira on any server.

According to a former member of the server, Adams tried to obtain support for Teixeira following his arrest. Asked if Adams had contacted anyone on the server, Perlman said his client had spoken to one minor individual and asked for letters of support because Mr. Teixeiras mom ask[ed] him to see if people would do that and get them to his lawyer.

Perlman said Adamss and Teixeira visited a shooting range in Raynham, Mass., many, many times, accompanied by Adamss mother, Lisa, his father, Richard, or Teixeiras biological father, Jack Michael Teixeira.

Reached by phone, Adamss mother didnt dispute that her son knew Teixeira. But she denied that he was active on Thug Shaker Central and said he saw nothing.

Referring to Teixeira, she asked, When did serving your country and being a Christian become a bad thing?

Attempts to reach Jack Michael Teixeira were unsuccessful.

Additional videos obtained and verified by The Post showed Teixeira and Adams at the gun range, owned by Taunton Rifle and Pistol Club. In one, Adams fires a Soviet-era SKS rifle. In another, Teixeira fires a pump action shotgun.

The club president, Eric Dewhirst, confirmed that the footage was taken at the members-only facility. In an interview at the organizations clubhouse, Dewhirst said there was no record of Teixeira being a member, suggesting that he and his friend were probably taken there by someone else. Dewhirst, who said he had read about Teixeiras alleged crimes and his life online, described the 21-year-old as young and head full of mush.

He absolutely enjoyed gore

When Teixeira wasnt firing guns in the real world, he was playing with them online.

He played a lot of video games, mostly shooters, his close friend said, noting that Teixeira preferred games from the shooters point of view.

Teixeiras gaming and political cultures overlapped, the friend observed. Once you start getting into the more niche video games, a lot of those communities are much more conservative. I think he found a small place where his views got echoed back to him and made them worse.

The interest in video games and conservative politics was accompanied by an acute obsession with violence, the friend said. He would send me a video of someone getting killed, ISIS executions, mass shootings, war videos. People would screen-share it, and he would laugh very loudly and be very happy to watch these things with everyone else. He absolutely enjoyed gore.

Friends may not have taken seriously Teixeiras threats against his high school. But he voiced approval of some shooters, particularly when they targeted people of different races and faiths. Teixeira was especially impressed by a gunmans rampage at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, which left 51 people dead and 4o injured. He was very happy that those people died, the friend said, because they were Muslim. The shooter live-streamed his massacre as though he were in a video game.

The line between condoning violence and making light of it was slippery. When Teixeira was waiting on approval of his security clearance, he told his friend that he was particularly concerned that jokes he had made in the server might surface about shooting up buildings and wanting to kill government agents. These were frequent subjects of amusement.

Most of the jokes he would make were about the ATF, the friend said, referencing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the federal governments premier gun control agency and a bte noire of the far right.

He was very against gun control. And so he would talk about wanting to kill ATF agents or when ATF agents would show up to his house, like theoretically preparing your house so that they would die in some strange trap.

In arguing that Teixeira should remain in jail while he faces charges, federal prosecutors pointed to his threats of violence in high school. But among online communities whose members hold more extremist conservative views, the friend said, its really common to joke about killing government agents like that, so it never seemed worrying to me.

Teixeiras alleged hostility toward the government doesnt explain his motivation for disclosing classified information. Other convicted leakers, including those like Teixeira who served in lower-level positions but had some of the highest levels of security clearance, were self-described whistleblowers trying to check perceived abuses or wrongdoings. Teixeira was trying to impress, and apparently mold, a group of teenagers.

I think he did think it made him special, the close friend said. I think there was a part of him that felt like he was cool or important because he got that access.

For the teenagers Teixeira had taken under his wing, the classified documents offered an education about how the world secretly worked. He wanted to be seen as someone whos powerful or looked up to, the friend said. He wanted them to be what he thought was the ideal, the ideal man.

Dalton Bennett, Evan Hill, Alex Horton, Andrew Ba Tran, Alice Crites, Nilo Tabrizy, Jon Gerberg and Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.

Visit link:

Alleged leaker fixated on guns and envisioned 'race war' - The Washington Post

The Department of Employment and Labour expresses the deepest sense of condolences to the family of Dr Dennis George, FEDUSA, and the broader labour market community on the passing of Dr Dennis George.

The Department shares in your sadness and loss as we remember Dr Dennis George as a person of substance. His passing comes at a time South Africa is reviewing its labour market policies. It is at this moment that we recall the immersed contribution and role he played in shaping the current labour market landscaping. His fierce but gentle contribution echoed the desires and aspirations of the working people of this land and contributed to the better governance of the labour market.

"As a department, we are deeply saddened by the passing of this prominent figure in the South African labour movement, political activism, and business leadership, George left an indelible mark on South African society," said Minister Nxesi.

For many years, he served as General-Secretary of the Fedusa. He fought fervently for worker rights as the former General-Secretary of the Fedusa, advocating for fair wages, safe working conditions, and equal opportunities for workers. George has made significant contributions to the department's function in terms of union registration and ensuring worker rights are protected. He was adamant that every voice, especially those of the disadvantaged, marginalized, and voiceless in society, deserved to be heard.

Minister Nxesi said; We are reminded of his unremitting determination, he defied the powers that be, refusing to remain silent in the face of oppression, confronting systemic injustices with tenacity and bravery, and advocating for transformative change that would improve the lives of all South Africans.

Comrade George's journey through life was indeed one of an unwavering pursuit of a better world, especially considering the vast majority of workers who endure socioeconomic difficulties. Because of his immense contribution, the labour market milieu is today experiencing relative labour market peace and labour stability.

We do not doubt that his departure speaks about his promotion to meet many heroes and heroines who have shaped the destiny of this country. Among the stars, he will be received as a star and his contribution as a star will continue to shine brighter and brighter for the years to come. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, and the entire industry.

May comrade Georges soul rest in eternal peace.

Read more:

Employment and Labour pays tribute to Dr Dennis George - South African Government

Gail Collins: Hey, Bret, good to be conversing again. Heck of a lot going on. Before we get to the border or the budget, though, let me admit Im shallow and start with the Trump town hall on CNN.

Bret Stephens: Not shallow, Gail. But you are depressing me.

Gail: Trump lost your Republican vote a long time ago, but if you were still on the fence, was there anything on display that evening that would have had an impact?

Bret: Im not exactly a reliable gauge of how todays Republicans think: In November, I wrote a column called Donald Trump Is Finally Finished, which I may have to spend the rest of my life living down.

That said, I would guess that if youre the sort of voter who liked 80-proof Trump, youre gonna love 120-proof Trump. And thats what he was in that CNN town hall: more mendacious, more shameless, more unapologetic, more aggressive, nastier. But also undeniably vigorous, particularly when compared with Joe Biden. My guess is the town hall will consolidate his lead as the Republican front-runner.

Your take? Should CNN have given him the platform?

Gail: Dont see any reason CNN shouldnt have done the interview. Except that it reduces pressure on Trump to show up for any Republican primary debates. Which he naturally wants to avoid, given his ineptitude when it comes to actual policy questions.

Bret: Im of two minds. The media has a responsibility to cover the Republican front-runner, and I thought Kaitlan Collins, the CNN moderator, handled the responsibility about as well as anyone could have. Yet nonstop media attention is the oxygen on which Trump thrives. The more attention we give him which is what we are doing right now the stronger he gets.

Gail: About the impact: Yeah, if you liked Trump before, you wouldnt be deterred by his willingness to let the nation default, or his being inclined to pardon a lot of the Jan. 6 rioters.

Really would like to hear an everybody-in primary debate, though. Without Trump, I guess the only suspense would be whether Ron DeSantis is capable of being not terrible.

Bret: Well, as much as I dislike DeSantis for his views on abortion and Ukraine and free speech, I also have to ask whether Id prefer him to Trump as the Republican nominee. And there the answer is a resounding yes, much as Id much prefer a peptic ulcer to stomach cancer.

Gail: Im still not inclined to pick DeSantis over pretty much anybody. Yeah, Trump is worse when it comes to personal morality, and DeSantis probably wouldnt be as divisive in the sense of not being exciting enough to really rile up the base.

But his position on social issues like abortion is scary: He truly believes in imposing his extremist convictions on the country.

Bret: True, but Trump believes in imposing his despotic convictions on the country.

I also think its imperative that Democrats and I dont mean Robert Kennedy Jr. start thinking about challenging Biden in the primary. That Washington Post/ABC poll showing Biden with a 36 percent approval rating and running six points behind Trump should scare the bejeezus out of Democrats and thats before we wind up in a recession or a full-scale banking crisis or a shooting war with China (or all three).

Gail: Real-life fact is that no Democrat with the standing to potentially win a primary would challenge a sitting president. Especially one like Biden, whose performance is not bad. Hes had some real achievements, particularly in the super-important battle against global warming. Overall, yes, hes unexciting, and these days incapable of forcing the House Republicans to do anything really constructive. But his standards and character are high.

Bret: As you know, I will vote for him over Trump or DeSantis. But Democrats overstate his achievements and underestimate his unpopularity at their own actually, our own peril.

Gail: We both were wishing hed announce he wasnt running and open the door for other promising candidates to jump in. But since its not gonna happen its not gonna happen.

Bret: Probably right. Next subject: Your thoughts about the budget negotiations?

Gail: I have faith that theres not going to be a crushing default that in a total crisis the Fed will figure out something. But when it comes to the bottom line, Im on the side of Joe Biden. (Surprise!) You do not use the countrys credit standing to stage a stupid battle about cutting funds for the poor.

Bret: Well, by the same token, you do not use the countrys credit standing to insist that no spending cuts should even be countenanced and that able-bodied single adults should not have to find work as a condition of obtaining government benefits.

Gail: The Republicans are attacking the status quo, not some new program the Democrats are trying to push through. And Ive always been wary of the must-work stuff because all the paperwork, even in our technological era, makes it so easy for people to get cut off for no reason except bureaucratic confusion.

Bret: The conservative in me hates subsidizing indolence, especially when jobs are abundant. Welfare should go to those who truly need it, not people who just cant be bothered to work.

Gail: Also, I think this must-work discussion has to begin with quality child care for every low-income family that needs it. Very bottom bottom line is that kids come first.

About the budget I guess Congress could just decide there shouldnt be a debt ceiling. After all, we went more than 125 years without one. Is that something you think they should rally around?

Bret: The debt ceiling reminds me a bit of the doomsday machine in Stanley Kubricks Dr. Strangelove. In theory, its supposed to encourage restraint and responsibility. In practice, its likely to destroy the world. Id be interested to see the administration test the theory that the 14th Amendment, which says that the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned, makes the debt ceiling unconstitutional, although I doubt they could win that case in court.

The other crisis, Gail, is happening at the southern border. Looking back, anything the administration might have done to avert it?

Gail: Not gonna be silly enough to claim the Biden folks have been completely on top of the whole situation.

Bret: Our awesome veep .

Gail: But it looks like well finally be getting a lot of new federal workers to deal with the people who show up at the border.

And the Biden administration is working on it. The Trump administration was totally useless on the problem.

Bret: Not useless but definitely cruel. But what voters will remember is that under Trump, we didnt have this scale of a crisis.

Gail: Not sure the scale is really going to be that overwhelming as the year moves on. And I still have to note that I hate, really hate, your idea of finishing that wall.

Bret: A wall wont stop all illegal immigration. But it can help deter the most dangerous and reckless border crossings, which have left thousands of migrants dead. It should be part of an overall immigration compromise that includes automatic citizenship for Dreamers and more permissive rules for legal immigration through normal consular channels in the migrants home countries. Right now we have the worst of both worlds: a totally chaotic border that makes a bipartisan legislative compromise a political nonstarter.

Gail: Bret, these people have a lot of reasons for coming including seeking asylum from government oppression. But most of them are coming for jobs, and as youve always pointed out, our economy really needs the workers. In New York, weve gotten a ton of newcomers. Theyre having a terrible time, particularly with housing, but employers, especially in the service industries, are desperate for their help. We just need to work out a system to make it possible.

Bret: Sadly, as our news-side colleague Hannah Dreier chronicled last month, many recent border crossers are children working in conditions worthy of Dickens or Dreiser. Seeing mothers with young children strapped to their backs while hawking candies at traffic stops was something I was accustomed to in my hometown, Mexico City. Its jarring to encounter them at road intersections and on subway platforms in New York City. If Biden doesnt get a handle on this, it could cost him the election and lead to an ugly public backlash that will make Trumps immigration policy seem tame.

Speaking of subways, Gail, your thoughts on the killing of Jordan Neely?

Gail: Were talking about a former Michael Jackson impersonator who used to entertain subway passengers but had deteriorated into a homeless man who was mentally ill and sometimes scary.

Bret: Very scary. He was a person who had been arrested more than 30 times. He had punched an elderly woman in the face. He had exposed himself and peed inside a subway car. He had walked out on a residential treatment program. There was a warrant for his arrest at the time of his death but cops probably wouldnt have found out about it because a group sued to stop the police from detaining people solely to check for arrest warrants. He was the sort of guy who makes the subway frightening for a lot of passengers, particularly women. People ought to know these facts before rushing to judgment.

Gail: Neely was acting out and frightening people on the day he died. Daniel Penny, the former Marine who tackled him, was trying to stop an unnerving incident from happening. But he used chokehold force in a way that killed Neely.

I cant absolve Penny. But the big problem here is that the low- or no-income mentally ill need more services than theyre getting in New York or pretty much anywhere.

Bret: Obviously, I dont support vigilantism. But thats what you get when police are hampered from maintaining public order. The answer is to give the police the authorities and resources they need to deal with someone like Neely before a tragedy occurs.

Gail, this is too grim a note on which to end and we havent even touched on George Santoss indictment.

Gail: Now, theres a high note!

Bret: Before we go, I want to put in a word for Sam Robertss obituary for Mike Pride, a former editor of The Concord Monitor, who died last month in Florida at 76 and whom we both knew through his stewardship of the Pulitzer Prizes. Mike showed that you can often make the greatest difference as a newsman by writing about issues that are near to peoples everyday lives. He reminded us that local journalism matters. And that its at least one thing that deserves to be made great again.

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