Category Archives: Abolition Of Work

Tangerine Clarke

Some of the members of the 18b Assigned Council Association of Queens Family Court, pictured with Sara A. Tirgary, Esq, President, Rorary L. Lancman, District 24 Council Member and Chair of the New York City Council Committee on Courts and Legal services, and Council Member I. Daneek Miller (center) at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center in Queens.

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A wide cross-section of the Jamaica, Queens community viewed the gut-wrenching injustices meted out to minorities in the criminal justice system, in a free public screening of the Netflix original documentary film 13th Amendment, presented by York City Council Member I. Daneek Miller, and the 18b Assigned Counsel Association of Queens Family Court.

The April 7, outreach of the Assigned Council Panel at the Jamaica Performing Arts Center, was one of many programs that include a winter coat drives, and community forums, organized by the professional panel, committed to fairness and equality, and who felt it was imperative to educate the community about this primary document of the 13th Amendment to the Unites States Constitution abolition of slavery and involuntary servitude.

However, President, Sara A. Tirgary Esq, said the film clearly shows that the abolition of slavery was replaced with an increased prosecution of the minority community, making mass incarceration a substitute for slavery.

As such, the body has recognized the need to work with community groups, organization, political lenders, and its clients to raise awareness to squash intolerance, and demand all be treated fairly, equally, and with respect, said Tirgary.

Titled From Slave to Criminal with one Amendment, the film by Ava Duvernay, director of the Civil Rights movie, Selma, was narrated by academics, historians, and professionals, who, painted a bleak picture of the lives of millions of black and Latino men and women who are behind bars for minor crimes, and who spend countless years waiting for their cases to be heard.

Council Member Miller said he hoped the film stimulate and inspire all to further engage, and become strong advocates to bring the issue of mass incarceration to the forefront, adding that the community must recommit to bring about justice and reform.

Everyone should take something from this film with them to share in the community, and share with those who have been affected by the injustices of the prison system, he added.

I look forward to working with each and everyone in the community to bring about reform, Councilman Miller, said.

Rorary L. Lancman, District 24 council member and chair of the New York City Council Committee on Courts and Legal services, commended, Council Member Miller, for helping to reform the criminal system, where thousands of people are sitting in prison awaiting trial because they cannot make $500.00 bail money, because they are poor, said Lancman.

More people are incarcerated in the United States than in any other part of the world, said Lancman, adding that this is a special burden on lawyers, whom he thanked for the work they do, day in, and day out.

Guyanese-born Andrea Ogle Esq. who has been a member for 18 years, and who was emcee, noted that the panel has just began to take steps to reach out to the community by holding events such as the screening, educating attorneys on issues such as immigration, and participating in fundraisers to carry out the groups mission to support members with the best services available so that they in turn, can give quality legal representation to those who need it.

To honor the 49th Anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., some members of the panel recited Maya Angelous poem I Rise.

The organization which started in 1972 comprises private practice attorneys of diverse backgrounds, minority, including women, who are former judges, court attorney referees, support magistrates and former supervisors for a number of NYC agencies and community organizations. They brought this stirring documentary to the screen to educate the community about the legal system and to help those in crisis and unable to afford legal representation.

The screening was held in conjunction with Congressman Gregory Meeks, NYS Sen. Leroy Comre, NYS Assemblewoman Alicia Hyndman, and NYS Assemblyman Clyde Vanel.

Assigned Council members included: Andrea S. Ogle, Esq.

Robert Silverberg, Esq. Maria De La Cruz, Esq.

Valadimir Cadet, Esq. Anthony Agustus, Esq.

Ade Agbayewa, Esq. Maricel Gonzalez, Esq.

Eugene Crowe, Esq. Toba Beth Stutz, Esq.

Lance Dandridge, Esq. Sarah Tirgary, Esq.

Patrick Griffiths, Esq. Debora Garibaldi, Esq.

Sandra Munoz, Esq.Daniel Moskowitz, Esq.

Diana Kelly, Esq. James Gavin, Esq. and past president Crystal L. Screen, Esq.

To learn more email info@ACAOFC.ORG

Posted 12:00 am, April 17, 2017

2017 Community News Group

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The '13th Amendment' docu shown in Queens - Caribbean Life

Robert Dodge, Special to The Star 8:05 a.m. PT April 15, 2017

The Santa Susana Field Laboratory in the hills outside Simi Valley, site of a 1959 partial nuclear meltdown.(Photo: STAR FILE PHOTO)

"Don't tell me what you value. Show me your budget and I'll tell you what you value."

Former Vice President Joe Biden, quoting his father, knew that a budget reflected the values and priorities of anation. Each April, our country funds its priorities. Ultimately, as the Rev. Jim Wallis has said, "Budgets are moral documents."

At this time each year,Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles calculates how much money the United States spends on nuclear weapons programs for the current tax year. The Nuclear Weapons Community Costs Project has identified that for tax year 2016, the United States will have spent $57.6 billion on nuclear weapons programs.

California contributed more than $7 billion to this amount, while Ventura County will have spent over $174 million andneighboring Los Angeles County about$1.8 billion to fund weapons that can never be used.

Every dollar spent on nuclear weapons is a dollar taken from programs that support the health and well-being of our country, our communitiesand our loved ones. These are critical funds that we can never get back.

The Trump administration is proposing a dramatic increase in the budget for nuclear weapons while simultaneously proposing a dramatic decrease for social and environmental programs. This is in addition to the nuclear grand bargain of the Obamaadministration's proposed buildup of our nuclear arsenal to the tune of $1 trillion over the next three decades. This is the opening salvo as other countries follow suit in this new nuclear arms race.

While nuclear weapons are unseen their threat seemingly hypothetical and unimaginable they are causing tremendous harm to our health and the environment right now, even without a single detonation. Vast quantities of deadly radioactive waste and contamination from Cold War production continue to threaten the health of communities and vital ecosystems throughout the country.

The human health and safety impacts of nuclear weapons will grow exponentially through the proposed buildup. There is no safe, long-term storage for nuclear waste, which can remain hazardous for millennia.

Our own Ventura County is a victim of the Cold Wars nuclear legacy. The Santa Susana Field Lab site in the hills above Simi Valley remains radioactively contaminated to this day following the partial meltdown of an experimental nuclear reactor in 1959.

Probably one of the most contaminated locations in our state, this radioactive and chemical contamination will continue to threaten the health and well-being of surrounding communities as it has done over the past 58 years until it is fully cleaned up. Who among us wants to live with the possibility that the next childhood or adult cancer case might have been prevented if only the site were cleaned up as it was promised so long ago?

Internationally, the non-nuclear nations of the world have grown weary of the actions and failure of the United States to meet our legally binding commitment to work in good faithtoward the abolition of nuclear weapons.

Taking their future into their own hands, the vast majority of the non-nuclear nations will complete negotiations at the United Nations this July on an international nuclear ban treaty that will outlaw nuclear weapons just as all other weapons of mass destruction have been banned. This will leave the United States and other nuclear nations once again in breach of international law.

Fortunately, a world under constant threat of nuclear apocalypse, either by intent or accident, is not the future that has to be. But change will not happen on its own. Each of us has a role to play.

Ultimately it will take the people of the United States and of Ventura County to awaken from our trance and join the rest of the world in demanding that our leaders work to abolish nuclear weapons and redirect these expenditures to secure a future for our children and address the real needs of our country and community.The time for action is now.

Robert Dodge, a family physician in Ventura, serves on the boards of Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and Citizens for Peaceful Resolutions.

Read or Share this story: http://www.vcstar.com/story/opinion/columnists/2017/04/15/nuclear-waste-tax-dollars/100488870/

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A nuclear waste of tax dollars - Ventura County Star

To escape persecution in Britain, many Quakers fled to the Caribbean and North America where the movement spread despite initially persecution. Some became wealthy businessmen and influential politicians. Dissention, and fragmentation from within occurred, and branches espousing different ideologies were established all over the United States.

Among the commercial activities of the Quakers was trading, including the shipment of West Africans across the Atlantic to estates in North America and the Caribbean. Some Quakers were holders of enslaved Africans, plantations, and slave ships. They believe slavery was acceptable as long as the well-being of the enslaved was attended to. But, the dehumanising nature of slavery was in stark contradiction to their belief in the equality of all men, and their opposition to religious and political hierarchies.

So, about 1688 some Quarkers began objecting to the institution of slavery. In that year they met with German Mennonites in Germantown, Pennsylvania, to discuss why they were dissociating themselves from slavery. Yet, up to 1705, 70 per cent of American Quakers were holders of enslaved Africans. The number dropped to 10 per cent by 1766. The campaign to dismantle the system grew between 1755 and 1776. The Quarkers became the first organisation in the Western Hemisphere to ban slave-holding.

They created societies to agitate for emancipation, and influenced by the Quakers' stance on slavery, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson convinced the Continental Congress to ban the importation of slaves into the United States as of December 1, 1775. With Franklin's help the Quakers formed the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. In 1791 a campaign was launch to boycott goods made by enslaved Africans, and between 1780 and 1804 slavery was abolished in the northern states.

Yet, slavery in the south was still legal. This dichotomy created an informal resistance movement called the 'Underground Railroad', which established a network of safe houses and escape routes to Canada and the northern free states. The Quakers worked as 'conductors' on these routes, and hid run-aways into their houses until it was safe for them to move on.

However, some Quakers did not agree with the illegal assistance their colleagues were giving to run-aways. They were against breaking the law. It was a quandary in which they found themselves. They were against slavery, but also opposed breaking the law. This resulted in more fragmentation. The Quakers who were staunchly against the wicked system of servitude continued to assist run-aways, and many were arrested for the role they played in helping them to escape through the Underground Railroad.

On the side of the Atlantic, agitation for the emancipation of enslaved Africans was also strong, and the Quakers were loud in their call for an end to the injustice of which they were a part. The Quaker banker, David Barclay, was to strike one of the first major blows by any Quaker to British slavery in the Caribbean. In 1795, he freed the 32 enslaved Africans on his plantation at Unity Valley in St Ann, Jamaica. Thirty of the emancipated were sent to Pennsylvania via Kingston.

The Quakers played a significant role in the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807, and in 1824 they began a campaign to boycott sugar produced on the plantations in the West Indies. Nine years later, British slavery was outlawed, but full emancipation was to come in 1840, when the Apprenticeship System was slated to end. The system, which began in 1834, was a transition period to prepare the enslaved for freedom. But, Joseph Sturge, a Quaker philanthropist, was not in favour of this system.

He set up a committee of the Ant-slavery Society to campaign for the end of the system. He visited the Caribbean in 1836/37 to investigate what was happening to the apprentices. His report, 'The West Indies in 1837', told of the inhumane treatment of the apprentices, and the gross injustices that they were experiencing. He gave evidence to a committee of the House of Commons, and travelled around Britain garnering support. His work helped to end the Apprenticeship System, and by extension slavery, in 1838.

familyandreligion@gleanerjm.com

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The story of the Quakers Part III | Slavery and abolition - Jamaica Gleaner

It wouldnt be a French presidential election without high drama. And Jean-Luc Mlenchon, the 65-year-old leftist candidate who has unexpectedlysurged in the polls in recent weeks, is rejiggering the state of the race and complicating matters for his three rivals.

Mlenchon, once a distant fifth place in the polls, this week was polling at 20 percent, beating the scandal-ridden conservative Franois Fillon by 1 percentage point, according to an Ipsos-Sopra Sterna poll for Le Monde newspaper. Centrist Emmanuel Macron was tied in the lead with far-right leader Marine Le Pen at 22 percent.

Mlenchon, a self-proclaimed populist who likens himself to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and idolizes Venezuelas Hugo Chavez and Cubas Castro brothers, joined the Socialist Party in the 1970s and later became a senator.

He said in 2008 that he saw himself as the person who would reinvent the left in the face of a crisis of capitalism.So, he formed his own Party of the Left, but abandoned it to form another party in 2016: La France insoumise, which translates to a France that wont bow down. He drew inspiration from populist anti-liberal movements, like the Spanish Indignados.

France has always had a history of radical thinking, which for a long time originated from the Communist Party, Roger Martelli, a historian specializing in communism, told HuffPost France. When that party fizzled, Jean-Luc Mlenchon espoused that radicalism, but without ascribing to communist thinking.

Sylvain Lefevre via Getty Images

Mlenchon, a skilled orator whose newfound popularity has been attributed by many to animated performances in the last few debates, has rested his campaign on the abolition of Frances system of government, the Fifth Republic. He aims to create anew republicdefined by the people and not the oligarchy now in control, according to his website.

Hes also proposing a 100 million-euro (about $106 million) economic stimulus; a Frexit from the European Union; a NATO pullout; dropping the retirement age to 60; and a 32-hour work week. He wants to tax those who make more than 400,000 euros a year, or $425,000, at 90 percent.

The irony is that voters drawn to Mlenchons populist views could, in a sense, be supporting much of what they would get from a candidate on the opposite end of the ideological spectrum.

Le Pen is a populist herself. Shes more of a hard-liner when it comes to immigration and terrorism. But like Mlenchon, shes committed to bringing jobs back to the French and withdrawing from the European Union and international treaties. Both Le Pen and Mlenchon have suggested they would hold referendums to let the people of France weigh in before taking action.

Mlenchon has tried repeatedly to refute these supposed similarities.

Im not a nationalist, he told Le Point magazine in reference to Le Pen. Im a patriot. Im prepared to negotiate with other countries, not shut France in.

A first round of voting will take place April 23. The second round, which will whittle the race down to two candidates, happens on May 7.

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Why You Should Pay Attention To Jean-Luc Mlenchon And The French Election - Huffington Post

Rep. Doug Lamborn, though I'm glad and appreciative of the fact that you are finally holding in-person town hall meetings, the April 12 town hall meeting in Colorado Springs held at a small police substation and during the time when most people are working, isn't enough to hear the many voices of your constituents in Colorado Springs.

Rep. Lamborn, you work for us, the people, and you need not feel the need to hide from your employer. We only want you to do a good job for us and, a good employee should always be open and accessible to meet with their employer in person to receive any feedback or criticism so they can do better in their job. Failing to do so, or only partially, shows you aren't really interested in serving the people of our district but rather only those who donated substantially to your campaign and those who may just happen to agree with those donors' ideology and wants. The town hall you had in Colorado Springs just seemed to be more a PR event to overcome criticism for past refusals to hold in-person town halls than anything else.

If you feel that is a misrepresentation of where you truly stand, then prove me wrong by holding more frequent in-person town hall meetings within the more populated areas of CD5 (i.e., Colorado Springs) in larger venues, and have most of them in the evenings or on weekends so that the majority of your constituents who work during the weekdays can attend. Doing so will show the people and the media that you aren't just about "phoning-it-in" but you are truly here to serve.

David Read

Colorado Springs

Science center would be a draw

Now that the City of Champions concept for a sports complex downtown is a nonstarter and the idea of having an aviation museum to take its place has fallen through, has anyone given any thought to using the downtown site for a Colorado Springs Science Center? This project is long overdue for our city.

With all the talk about how the Olympic Center will bring tourist dollars into the community; just imagine how a science center would become a tourist destination as well as a public educational center of gravity for the Pikes Peak region.

We hear the constant drum beat in the media for the need to improve STEM education for all students. I for one would have no problem approving the use of some tax dollars to go to establishing the Colorado Springs Science Center.

Norm Black

Colorado Springs

Human trafficking a threat

People assume that we no longer have to worry about slavery in this modern day and age; claiming that such a thing was abolished over a century ago and couldn't possibly exist anymore.

But while it is true that slavery might be illegal now, this does not excuse the fact that about 20 million people are involuntarily shoved into human trafficking systems every year. In Colorado Springs alone, there have been as many as 163 human trafficking cases reported between 2015 and 2016; many of them involving the prostitution of underage children.

Within the past few decades, Colorado had become one of the largest human trafficking hubs in the nation, due to the increasing population, international airport, and two major interstates that intersect directly in the heart of Colorado's capital; Denver. Yet despite all this, people still manage to convince themselves of the complete abolition of slavery; ignoring the reality of the underground trafficking system that continues to grow right in front of them.

Most of the state's citizens aren't aware of such a large and dangerous business being run so close to home. Because of this there are numerous organizations that seek to eliminate the human trafficking industry that threatens our very own community. Through the education and awareness of the issue, we can work to eradicate the industry and make our home a safer place for all.

Aspin Rasch

Colorado Springs

Golden rule in full effect

Many, many thanks to the person who turned in - intact - the wallet I had left at Lowe's recently. The golden rule must still be in force in Colorado Springs.

Paula Bondurant

San Antonio

Support a culture of transparency

As a U.S. and Colorado citizen, I look forward to exercising my constitutional rights of freedom of speech and assembly this weekend. I'll be participating in the Denver Tax March with what I hope will be multitudes of like-minded people who support the idea that our politicians are public servants, beholden to the public good and not their own overarching financial interests. Our public offices are not marketplaces in which politicians should profit, especially at the expense of the public interest.

I believe that it's critical for the health of our democracy that our elected officials support a culture of transparency, especially as it relates to their financial interests and the positions of power that might allow those interests to supersede our public good.

First and foremost of these public servants is the president of these United States. We demand to know where his interests lie and to whom he is beholden. #showusyourtaxes

Robyn Rissman

Denver

Workers did a bang-up, good job

I'd like to express my admiration and appreciation to the city workers who put in new sidewalks between South Union and Hancock on East Bijou Street. They worked hard and steady and did a bang-up, good job.

Frankie Roland

Colorado Springs

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LETTERS: Improve in-person town halls; workers did a bang up, good job - Colorado Springs Gazette

Sinn Fein says agreement must be reached by Friday or its another (to nowhere). In fact, the only thing that will be forced by then is that Westminster will have to legislate for a new rate to be set.

So the talks will be paused today, not ended. Its a fairly run of the mill attempt by the SF leader to frame the narrative of these periodic breakdowns (of which this is just the most recent and severe). That it was nonsense seems not to dampen the effect.

The British government seems intent on keeping the possibility of an election (for SF) and/or the option of direct rule (for the DUP) on the table for a reasonable period of time. Both options would render the last election results null and void.

But their preferred option is to get the two back to work: with or without the smaller parties. As well as giving away control of setting the local rate, there are other things that will be put in jeopardy.

Heres Eileen Evason, who helped the DUP/Sinn Fein led Executive on their ameliorated welfare reform package:

We need to start thinking now about which parts of the package should be retained and whether we can help those affected by cuts made since our report: most obviously the implementation of the so-called 2 child policy, cuts to Employment & Support Allowance and the severe limitation in support for widowed parents which is now being put in place.

I have no doubt that those working with the most vulnerable in our society are anxious to move forward but here, as is the case on so many issues, it is difficult to see how progress can be made without resolution of the current political impasse.

The voluntary and community sector, already under threat of cuts from the Community Relations Council, are also effectively cut off from by the Office of the Executive.

Sinn Fein appear to be gambling all of its limited gains (jointly won through the DUP) for a highly limited Irish Language Act (both parties tried to get a Bill of Rights through before and failed), and with bids on legacy also being noticeably limited.

On the future focused side of the ledger, marriage equality is within grasp of the new Assembly (although new elections might actually endanger that possibility by restoring the DUPs capacity to block such measures in the Assembly).

Long overdue reform of the Petition of Concern is now possible for the new Assembly: if anyone is policy smart enough to come up with an alternative protection? And there are a raft of things that can be done with the balance of power that was not possible before and may not be possible after a re-run.

A long stasis may now suit a troubled DUP, but voiding this election, as SF wants, only risks re-ensnaring a temporarily freed Assembly in the grip of this ongoing domestic within what is likely to remain Northern Irelands dysfunctional politbureau for the sake of a long shot to finally take the top seat off the DUP.

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Opportunity Costs of an Impasse include Welfare Reform and Marriage Equality Abolition of the Hated PoC - Slugger O'Toole

A long-time Red Deer Public Schools trustee says its time for change.

At Wednesdays board meeting, Dianne Macaulay, who is also Director of Zone Four for the Alberta School Boards Association, introduced a notice of motion asking fellow trustees to support advocating for a unified public school system.

Such a system, in her mind, would allow for locally-elected school boards to offer Catholic programs as well as other faith and program options.

It is important to note that this initiative does not call for the abolition of Catholic programs in Alberta, but rather contemplates the potential for public school boards to grow and expand faith program offerings, she says. This is no different than Red Deer Public operating French Immersion programs which do not challenge the existence of the constitutionally protected Francophone School Boards.

Macaulay notes that Red Deer Public Schools supports programs of choice where there is demand, and a move like this would mean more choice, not less.

She says while they are engaged in a dialogue on curriculum redesign, perhaps it is also time to answer the bigger question about program or system redesign.

I support choice within public school districts. All Alberta taxpayers pay for public education in this province and yet we have two school systems that are only for students of one religion, she adds.

Catholic schools arent under the constitution and that is the argument that you will get from individuals that aren't quite up to date with why Catholic schools were first allowed in our province in 1905. It's as simple as a vote in the legislature to re-evaluate our education system." Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools board chair Guy Pelletier is not in favour of unification, and disagrees with Macaulays claim regarding constitutionality.

Catholic education exists as a constitutional right and they do operate quite differently than simply a religious or Catholic program within a public setting. The Catholic education is delivered in whole to educate the students' mind and spirit, so it's not just a simple question of putting a cross on the wall and offering a religious class."

Red Deer Public board chair Bev Manning says the discussion has been growing across the province since former Education Minister David King said publicly last month that public and Catholic school boards should amalgamate.

The board certainly will look at the motion and have a very valuable discussion around it. I think we've got a great board here in Red Deer and we work hard at trying to make sure we get all the information before we make a vote, Manning said Thursday. I am anticipating we will get all the information out there that we can and have a good, open discussion about the motion and see where it goes.

A vote on Macaulays notice of motion will be held at the Red Deer Public Schools board meeting on May 10.

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Red Deer Public Schools trustee calls for unified education system - rdnewsnow.com

Alexander Kerensky, as Minister of War, meets with other military officials.

The whole system of culture, the chief element in the condition of the people, must be completely transformed. Instead of poverty, general prosperity and content; instead of hostility, harmony and unity of interests. In short, a bloodless revolution, but a revolution of the greatest magnitude, beginning in the little circle of our district, then the province, then Russia, the whole world. Because a just idea cannot but be fruitful. Yes, its an aim worth working for.

Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

After years of war and political tumult, there was optimism in Russia about the countrys future. As the news of the czars abdication spread from Saint Petersburg to Russias provincial towns, widespread celebrations erupted. The writer Konstantin Paustovsky, who lived in the small railway town of Yefremov 200 miles south of Moscow recorded that when a local provisional committee proclaimed its authority, Never in my life have I seen so many tears of joy as on that dayPrisons were opened, schools were closedThe town and people were transformed. Russia had burst into speech. Gifted orators sprang up overnight.

The country celebrated Easter on April 15, the most significant holiday in the Russian Orthodox church calendar amidst hopes that a new government would bring stability and address the persistent issues supplying food to the cities and munitions to the military.

After Nicholas II abdicated in March, and was subsequently placed under house arrest with his family and servants at the Alexander Palace, the Provisional Government formed with Georgy Lvov as Prime Minister. Lvov was a member of the Constitutional Democratic (Kadet) party and had served in the Duma, Russias representative assembly, since 1906. The 55-year-old nobleman had a long history of taking initiative and demonstrating leadership in difficult situations. When he took charge of his familys country estate during the agricultural depression of the late 1870s, it was nearly bankrupt. He consulted local peasants for their expertise and read agricultural textbooks, sowing new crops to transform the land into a profitable commercial farm complete with a cannery to preserve and sell produce from the once neglected orchards.

The Lvov estate was a few miles away from the home of Leo Tolstoy, the celebrated author of Anna Karenina and War and Peace. Lvov had shared his neighbors disdain for the lavish lifestyle of their fellow nobles and a strong view that the aristocracy existed to serve the people. Lvov recalled in his memoirs that his work on his estate, which included toiling in the fields alongside the peasants in the manner of Constantine Levin, one of the major characters in Anna Karenina, separated [me] from the upper crust and made [me] democratic. I began to feel uncomfortable in the company of aristocrats and always felt much closer to the peasants.

Lvov earned a law degree from the University of Moscow then entered the civil service. He organised relief work during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 then became the chairman of the All-Russian union of Zemstvos (municipal governments) during World War I, serving on committee that helped organize supplies for the military and treatment for wounded soldiers. With his extensive experience serving in government and organizational abilities, Lvov seemed to be the ideal figure to address Russias extensive infrastructure and supply problems in 1917.

But, there was a younger generation of rising political figures who viewed Lvov and his supporters as yesterdays men. Tolstoy had died in 1910. Lvov was inspired by the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 and the creation of the Duma in 1905, and had once hoped that Russias absolute monarchy would experience gradual reforms until it became a constitutional monarchy with an effective representative government, in the manner of the United Kingdom. With the collapse of czarism, this commitment to gradual reform and the development of parliamentary institutions seemed outdated.

Although Lvov treated members of different social backgrounds democratically, his noble origins made him suspect to the soviets, the councils of workers and soldiers deputies. The supporters of his Kadet party were primarily urban, educated professionals, not the working or peasant classes. Lvov soon found himself politically isolated. Conservative, czarist political factions refused to work with the revolutionary government and the soviets distanced themselves from a government run by a member of the nobility. The end of the Romanov dynasty opened the floodgates for more radical political change.

The key link between the soviets and the Provisional Government was Alexander Kerensky, a 35-year-old lawyer from Simbirsk (now Ulyanovsk), a small town on the Volga river 550 miles east of Moscow. Simbirsk was also the town where Vladimir Lenin grew up and the two families knew each other. Lenins father was superintendent for schools in the region and Kerenskys father was the headmaster of the high school attended by the young Lenin, even writing the reference letter necessary for Lenin to get into law school.

While Lenin spent much of Nicholas IIs reign as a revolutionary in exile, Kerensky worked within existing government institutions. In 1912, Kerensky was elected to the Duma as a member of the Trudovik party, a moderate labor party affiliated with the socialists. After the abdication, Kerensky was elected vice chairman of the Saint Petersburg soviet and served as Minister of Justice under Lvovs Provisional Government, the only person to hold a position in both the soviet and the government.

As Minister of Justice, Kerenskys first order of business was investigating the wartime conduct of the former Czar, known after his abdication as Colonel Nicholas Romanov, the military rank he held at the time of his accession in 1894. While the Provisional Government entered into negotiations with Britain, where Nicholass cousin George V was king, in the hopes of sending the Imperial family into exile, the soviets, however, were determined to have the dethroned czar answer for his activities as ruler.

One of the many telegrams received by the Saint Petersburg soviet stated, The Kuragino [a town in central Russia] general assembly protests the departure of Nicholas Romanov and his wife for England without trial in light of proof that they betrayed the fatherland. George V and British Prime Minister David Lloyd George ultimately withdrew their offer of asylum, fearing that the residence of the ex-Emperor and Empress would be strongly resented by the public, and would undoubtedly compromise the position of the King and Queen, leaving Kerensky free to conduct his investigation.

He visited Nicholas repeatedly in late March and April. Kerensky recalled in his memoirs, When I told [Nicholas] that there was to be an investigation and that Alexandramight have to be tried, he did not turn a hair and merely remarked: Well, I dont think [Alexandra] had anything to do with it. Have you any proof? To which I replied: I do not know yet.

Despite these circumstances, the two men developed a surprisingly cordial rapport. Kerensky wrote I began to see a human side to [Nicholas]. It became clear to me that he had acquiesced in the whole ruthless system without being moved by any personal ill will and without even realizing that it was bad. His mentality and circumstances kept him wholly out of touch with the people. Nicholas described Kerensky as a man who loves Russia and I wish I could have known him earlier because he could have been useful to me. Kerenskys investigation lasted 18 days but it never led to a trial and the former Imperial family remained in comfortable confinement in their palace until the autumn.

Lenin, following the news from afar, distrusted Kerenskys willingness to work with the Provisional government and leniency toward the former czar. He telegraphed his fellow revolutionaries in exile, No trust in and no support of the new government; Kerensky is especially suspect; arming of the proletariat is the only guarantee. Before returning to Russia, Lenin issued his April theses, which began, In our attitude toward the war not the slightest concession must be made to "revolutionary defencism," for under the new government of Lvov & Co., owing to the capitalist nature of this government, the war on Russia's part remains a predatory imperialist war. Once back in Russia (he arrived on April 16), Lenin established Bolshevik headquarters in a Saint Petersburg mansion that had once belonged to prima ballerina Mathilde Kschessinska and encouraged opposition to the Provisional Government and the war.

The new Provisional Government, however, struggled to meet the peoples expectations about the war. Its official policy was to maintain Russian participation in the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary in support of their allies Great Britain and France. On April 6, the United States had joined the allied war effort and an eventual victory seemed to be within reach. But while the Provisional Government remained committed to the war effort, Lenin demanded an immediate end to the hostilities. Lenins rallying cry of Peace, Land, Bread slowly began to undermine support for the Provisional Government, foreshadowing further political change.

Conflict over whether to continue Russias participation in war provoked the first test of the Provisional Governments authority. On April 18, foreign minister Pavel Miliukov sent a telegram to Russias wartime allies promising to continue the war effort and observe all the treaties dating from Nicholass reign. When the telegram was leaked to the public, mass demonstrations by Saint Petersburgs workers arose and both the war minister and the foreign minister had to resign to restore public confidence. With Kerenskys help, Lvov formed a new coalition government to quell the unrest in Saint Petersburg and appointed socialists to ministries. In spite of this, the provisional government still struggled to gain widespread support. The Bolsheviks refused to participate in the new political arrangement. Lenin, their leader, accused the other socialist parties of collaborating with a bourgeois government and an imperialist war, becoming the main opposition to the continued existence to the Provisional Government.

Kerensky emerged from the April crisis as Minister of War, a difficult assignment at a time when soldiers had formed soviets to represent their interests, officers had lost authority and mass desertions were commonplace. He needed a new approach. In May 1917, he received a proposal from Maria Bokchareva, one of the few women who had received permission from the czar to enlist in the Russian army. Bokchareva suggested the creation of womens combat battalions to shame the men into continuing the hostilities. Kerensky charged Bokchareva with the creation of the 1stRussian Womens Battalion of Death in time for a summer offensive.

Next: Russian women soldiers on the Eastern front

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In a Czar-less Russia, Winning Was Easy. Governing Was Harder. - Smithsonian

The committee is recommending the abolition or reduction of many health charges and an end to private care in public hospitals. Photograph: Frank Miller

Income tax rates and employers PRSI could be increased to fund improvements in the health service, according to the Dil committee planning its future over the next decade.

Increasing the basic 20 per cent income tax rate by 1 per cent could raise 576 million a year for a new national health fund, the committee says, while increasing the higher 40 per cent rate by 1 per cent would raise 280 million.

Changing PRSI rates for employers from 10.75 per cent to 11.75 per cent would yield more than 600 million for the fund, although it may have adverse effects on employment levels, according to the latest draft of the committees report.

The committee says an additional 500 million a year is needed to pay for the continued expansion of the health budget, growth in population and rising cost of medical technology.

By combining different options around tax, earmarked funds and general budget expansion, it should be entirely possible to fund expanded entitlement as proposed in the report, the committee says.

As reported previously, the committee is recommending the abolition or reduction of many health charges and an end to private care in public hospitals as part of a move to a single-tier system.

The latest draft report says members considered five approaches to the existing subsidy for private health insurance, including leaving it untouched, abolition and phasing it out in time, as waiting lists decline or as the number of subscribers fall. A final decision has been deferred to meeting later this month.

On funding options, the report appears to reject a mandatory, competitive private health insurance system, as was proposed by the previous government. Such systems tend to be more expensive, lack transparency and involve complex reforms, and Irelands population is not large enough to sustain more than one efficient insurer, it says.

The report says hospital consultants who currently work privately in public hospitals should be paid more in compensation for the ending of private practice, and rewarded better for elective work in the public sector.

The charge for public access to public hospital care (up to 800 a year) would be eliminated, the prescription charge for medical card holders reduced from 2.50 to 50 cent and the threshold for drug reimbursement from 144-100 a month.

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Income tax and employers' PRSI may rise to fund health system - Irish Times

Bishop Declan Lang (Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk)

The bishop said that every execution is a violation of the innate dignity of the human person

The Bishop of Clifton has reiterated his call for the Church to work for the complete abolition of the death penalty.

Bishop Declan Lang, who head the English and Welsh bishops department for international affairs said that while he welcomed the news that worldwide use of the death penalty had decreased, there was still much more progress to be made.

In a statement released today he said: More than 1,000 people were executed last year they are not just statistics. Every execution is a violation of the innate dignity of the human person and we must continue to heed Pope Francis call to work for complete global abolition.

I am encouraged by the UK governments continued opposition to the death penalty in all circumstances, as recently reiterated at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Now is a critical moment for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to actively prioritise its work in this area and help continue the trend towards a world without executions.

As the UK establishes new economic relationships outside the EU, it is also more important than ever that we use trade agreements as an opportunity to promote human rights, including abolition of this inhumane and indefensible punishment.

In an article for The Universe last year, Bishop Declan Lang said that during the Year of Mercy Catholics should commit themselves to seeking an end to executions everywhere.

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has also repeated his plea for a world free from capital punishment.

In a message to a world conference against the death penalty last year in Oslo, Pope Francis said capital punishment contradicts Gods plan for individuals and society, and his merciful justice and said that growing opposition to the practice is a sign of hope.

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Bishop Declan Lang reiterates call for complete abolition of the death penalty - Catholic Herald Online