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Despite an exile that has lasted four decades, Al-Senussi said he would return to Libya "in a heartbeat."
But Dartmouth's Vandewalle said Al-Senussi and his relatives would have little hope of gaining a position of power upon their return.
"It's about as likely that they'll get back in power as the Marcoses in the Philippines," he said, referring to the family of the former president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, who in 1986 fled a military rebellion and moved to Hawaii.
On July 31, armed police and private security guards carrying semiautomatic weapons attacked Liberty Township, a tent city set up by dozens of protesters in Chișinău, Moldova, outside the home of wealthy oligarch and political kingmaker Vladimir Plahotniuc. The private security forces were especially brutal, and many people were injured. Several activists were arrested.
Protest organizer Grigory Petrenko dragged away from oligarch’s home by police in Chișinău, Moldova, July 31.
The tent city, which included whole families, had been set up July 24 to protest steep price hikes for electricity and natural gas — austerity measures backed by Plahotniuc and the ruling “Alliance for European Integration.” Protests also spread to other towns and villages in the former Soviet republic of 3.5 million people, which is sandwiched between Ukraine and Romania.
On July 18, the National Agency for Energy Regulation (ANRE), a government agency, recommended increasing electricity rates by 37 percent and natural gas rates by 15 percent. Hikes in water and heating oil prices are also planned.
Moldova’s currency has sharply depreciated in recent years, causing hardship for poor and working people, as pro-Western politicians cut off trade with Russia. While most Moldovan oligarchs have their money invested outside the country, agricultural and manufacturing workers dependent on the Russian market were hit especially hard.
As in neighboring Ukraine, Chișinău’s right-wing government seeks to sell off the country’s resources and impoverish workers and farmers in a bid to join the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO military alliance. Moldovan authorities have also shown a growing willingness to repress any signs of dissent.
Two young anti-fascist leaders, Pavel Grygorchuk and Mikhail Amberg, were arrested in November and held for six months as political prisoners, first in jail and then under house arrest. Grygorchuk is editor of the communist website Grenada.md, and both activists are leaders of the Red Bloc Party founded in May.
Website Publika.md, controlled by oligarch Plahotniuc, published a scare-mongering editorial against Liberty Township organizer and Red Bloc Party chairperson Grigory Petrenko on Aug. 5, as well as other articles implying that the protests are “coordinated by external forces” — code words for Russia.
After a local appeals court ruled July 31 in favor of Plahotniuc’s demand to dismantle the tent city, cops and security guards moved in immediately, violating the rights of protesters who had planned to appeal the case to the country’s Supreme Court.
“We believe the tariff increase is unreasonable,” one protester told Omega. “We have nothing more to pay for gas and electricity. We also want to live like human beings.” Protests have continued since the repression in Chișinău and spread across the country.
In response to the growing protest movement, the government was forced to take a step back on Aug. 5, when a meeting of the Supreme Security Council decided to make “categorical recommendations” for revision of the tariff on natural gas, Grenada reports. Activist Pavel Grygorchuk cautioned that this was meant to soothe public discontent while the regime prepares repression against protest leaders.
GARETH BALE has trained on his own at Real Madrid today.
The Welshman has been heavily linked with a move to Manchester United before the window closes in six-days time.
It looked like a deal could be scupperred this morning as Bale picked up an injury.
While the Madrid squad were put through their paces today, Marca say Bale trained on his own nursing a toe injury.
The Welshman has been suffering from discomfort in the big toe on his left foot but was fit enough to do some running exercises.
It will be music to the ears of Louis van Gaal and Ed Woodward who continue to work on a plan to bring Bale to Old Trafford.
ESPN reported today that United's next plan was to include De Gea in a cash-plus player move for the Welshman.
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Russia’s Progress M-28M supply ship blasted off from the steppes of Kazakhstan on Friday, launching on a two-day trip to the International Space Station with critical supplies, fuel and fresh food displayed by station astronaut Scott Kelly. Packed with nearly 3 tons of cargo, including fresh water and oxygen, the resupply mission lifted off at 0455 GMT (12:55 a.m. EDT; 10:55 a.m. local time) Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The cargo capsule reached the space station at 0711 GMT (3:11 a.m. EDT) Sunday after a two-day pursuit. Email the author. Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.
A Russian Progress cargo ship glided to a smooth docking with the International Space Station early Sunday, bringing more than 3 tons of supplies and equipment to the lab complex.
Recovering from an April failure, Russia successfully launched a Progress cargo ship early Friday loaded with more than three tons of supplies and equipment needed to replenish stockpiles aboard the International Space Station.
An eight-ton Russian Progress supply ship packed with nearly three tons of food, water and fuel for the International Space Station is ready for liftoff Friday on a vital mission to resume cargo deliveries to the outpost after back-to-back logistics flights fell short.
You are here: Home / News / Message to New Congress: Reinstate Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pronto!
Message to New Congress: Reinstate Voting Rights Act of 1965, Pronto!
(ThyBlackMan.com) What happens after the government shut down?
When the new US Congress convenes in January of 2019, the Democrats will have a House majority. And with that new power, there is one mission which should be at the top of their to-do list: Reinstatement of The Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Now more than ever, amidst the renewed intensity of racial tension within the United States, we need The Voting Rights Act to fight against constant voter suppression efforts across the country. In the age of Donald Trump (and the white supremacist ideals which he articulates and upholds), we need Congress to take a firm stance against racial discrimination within our voting systems.
First, let’s take a genuine look at the history of The Voting Rights Act: what led up to it and how it was first enacted. We’ll then cover the landmark 2013 Supreme Court decision to strike down The Voting Rights Act’s coverage formula. Lastly, with this context in mind, we’ll discuss the various criticisms of that 2013 decision, which essentially gutted the Act and its ability to be enforced—criticisms from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg herself, from Carol Anderson (an African American Studies scholar), and from a progressive and well respected prolific writer, Vann R. Newkirk II; in his coverage for the Atlantic.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a monumental achievement targeted against racial discrimination in the United States. President Lyndon B. Johnson first signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6th, 1965, amid the peak of the American Civil Rights movement. This federal legislation explicitly outlawed racial discrimination in voting.
As a teacher of Economics and History; I’ve often familiarized my students with this fact: the purpose of the Civil Rights Act of 1965 was to put into law the rights which citizens were guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments of the United States Constitution. The most important achievement of this piece of federal legislation was to ensure that members of racial minorities had the right to vote—particularly within the segregated south.
It’s interesting to note that the US Department of Justice regarded the Voting Rights Act as “the single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress” (“The Effect of the Voting Rights Act”).
In Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, state and local governments were explicitly prohibited from enacting voting laws which discriminated against racial minorities. For example, laws which enforced literacy tests for voters were one such discriminatory measure (these tests were widely-regarded as efforts to impede racial minorities from voting in US elections).
And who do we have to thank for this revolutionary piece of legislation? The leaders of the Civil Rights Movement, such as Martin Luther King Jr., James Bevel, Shirley Chisholm and Jackie Robinson to name a few; along with the demonstrators in the first Selma marches, the Selma to Montgomery protests (and the infamous devastation of “Bloody Sunday). These brave protestors moved the “long arch of the moral universe” a little closer to racial justice for people of color in the course of US history.
Despite the revolutionary power of the Voting Rights Act, a 2013 Supreme Court decision rendered it effectively unenforceable in modern-day America. In a 5-4 decision, the coverage formula of the Voting Rights Act was struck down, with conservative judges citing it as “unconstitutional”.
So essentially, the argument against the Voting Rights Act’s coverage formula was that, in 2013, America simply no longer dealt with the racial discrimination that preceded its enactment (more on that, and its lack of validity, later). And without that coverage formula, it became basically impossible for other aspects of the Voting Rights Act to be upheld.
Where to even begin? Well, first we’ll look to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent against the ruling, which she gave on behalf of herself and the other three justices who voted against it.
In true RBG fashion, The Notorious RBG states emphatically how she precisely fought against the decision, saying that, “The sad irony of today’s decision lies in its utter failure to grasp why the [Voting Rights Act] has proven effective … Throwing out preclearance when it has worked and is continuing to work to stop discriminatory changes is like throwing away your umbrella in a rainstorm because you are not getting wet,” (as quoted in this summary). Here, Justice Ginsburg makes the argument that racial discrimination is not some long-gone threat: it still exists, and therefore still requires legislation to actively fight against it.
Another excellent argument against the 2013 decision is given by scholar Carol Anderson in her interview with CBC Radio just earlier this year. Anderson explains that, “It was the Shelby County vs. Holder decision. In that 5-4 decision, John Roberts, the chief justice, wrote a decision that basically said the Voting Rights Act has basically outlived its usefulness. This is no longer the racism of the 1960s, we don’t have the racism of Jim Crow, and that the Voting Rights Act unfairly picked on the south — as if the south hadn’t done anything — and that the law was inelastic,”.
Lastly, supporting Anderson’s claims, Vann R. Newkirk II writes for The Atlantic in July of this year: “Just five years after the landmark Shelby County v. Holder decision, it’s become clear that the decision has handed the country an era of renewed white racial hegemony.” He also points to new Voter ID laws, which made voting much more difficult for racial minorities throughout the country. Critics allege that laws regarding voter IDs, poll closures, and voter-roll purging are just a few of the tactics used to suppress minority votes.
Hmm. So I read the Vox article and the research study that it linked to. The article made a lot of statements that had no references, then the one real research they referenced indicated that there was no effect. Still feels like a made up story to me.
I will not argue that racism is alive and well. I would like to better understand why Voter ID is seen as black voter suppression. Why?
For Putin, the path to consolidating his Syrian achievements may lie in an agreement with Israel that further solidifies Russia’s status.
Russian president Vladimir Putin further cemented his position atop the Syrian power pyramid as a result of Israel’s massive air campaign that targeted Iran’s positions and Assad’s air defenses. Dubbed by Israeli military planners as “Operation House of Cards,” it was the most extensive aerial assault by the Israeli Air Force (IAF) in Syria since October 1973. Whether Jerusalem’s impressive military success translates into a political triumph will be determined by how Tehran responds going forward, but there is little doubt Iran suffered a major setback in a week already full of monumental disappointments. In the meantime, Putin’s strategic position in the Middle East has been enhanced and all he had to do was say, “Yes,” to Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu.
The Kremlin’s accommodating stance toward Netanyahu’s concerns, including the lack of criticism toward Israel in the wake of the attack was a new development that was no doubt welcomed with relief in Jerusalem. That is because Russia has played the role of arbiter since its September 2015 entry into the Syrian war on behalf of the beleaguered butcher, Bashar al-Assad. For several years, Russia’s growing presence posed an obstacle to Israel’s enforcement of its red lines, requiring deft diplomacy on Netanyahu’s part to arrive at an understanding over Israel’s operational parameters and manage the deconfliction line to avoid military mishaps.
With close to ten meetings between Netanyahu and Putin since 2015, Israel and Russia have managed to avoid operational accidents but have not been on the same page regarding Iran’s place in Syria’s future. For example, the parameters of the 2017 southwest Syria ceasefire and de-escalation zone—both efforts spearheaded by Moscow—did not take into account many of Israel’s security concerns. Even more, the joint U.S.-Russian statement in November 2017 called for the “reduction, and ultimate elimination” of foreign fighters from southern Syria as part of the de-escalation zone’s creation but a few days later, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov referred to Iran’s presence in Syria as “legitimate” and said Russia did not commit to ensuring the withdrawal of Iran or its affiliated militias.
Russia also let its displeasure with Israel spill out into the media after its February and April strikes against the T-4 air base in Homs province, a major aerial logistical hub for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) where Russia also maintains a presence. There were reports that after Assad shot down an Israeli F-16 during the February mission that Netanyahu was ready to green-light a more comprehensive military response but scaled back after receiving “a furious phone call” from Putin.
Russia was likewise incensed after Israel’s airstrike at T-4 in April, which destroyed Iran’s soon-to-be-deployed advanced short-range air-defense system, the SA-15 (Tor missile system). The Kremlin’s tangible punishment would be delivered in the form of its sale of the SA-10 (S-300) air-defense system to Assad.
The rising Israeli-Russian friction was unmistakable. Yet somehow following Netanyahu’s meeting in Moscow and the successful execution of Operation House of Cards, Russia backed off the deal.
Even more interesting was the context in which the decision was made public. “For now, we’re not talking about any deliveries of new modern (air defense) systems,” top Kremlin aide Vladimir Kozhin said when asked about the possibility of supplying Syria with the S-300. Kozhin added that the Syrian military already had “everything it needed,” which is a remarkable comment given that Israel destroyed the lion’s share of Assad’s air defenses after being targeted during its operation.
The removal of these obstacles and gaining Putin’s tacit approval is a major development that would appear to be the result of Netanyahu convincing the Russian president of the following: first, that Israel’s only interest was in responding to Iran and its affiliated proxies in Syria. It had no issue with Russia’s position in Syria and would not target Assad or his defense assets. In fact, Israel would even warn Assad to stand down once the operation commenced. If Israel had to respond because Syrian forces foolishly decided to engage, then Israel would take out those targets but leave Assad personally unharmed. Nor would it widen the conflict to Lebanon if Iran did not order Hezbollah to attack from there, thereby avoiding the apocalyptic predictions analysts have warned about for years.
Regarding the transfer of the S-300, Netanyahu likely impressed upon Putin that the delivery of the system to Syria would constitute the crossing of a red line and would be immediately targeted as a threat to Israeli security. On the other hand, the deployment of the more advanced S-400 system near Russia’s coastal bases—strictly operated by Russia’s forces—was acceptable as it arrived a while ago in response to Turkey’s downing of their Su-24 fighter plane in December 2015. That should suffice given that the S-400 is a world class air-defense system and Russia was not on Israel’s Syrian menu.
This understanding in advance of the operation apparently allowed Israel to first target IRGC and Hezbollah positions in al-Kisweh (just south of Damascus) and in Quneitra (adjacent to Israel’s Golan border) using only F-15 and F-16 fighter planes as the air component. If Israel believed their planes would either be targeted by the S-400 or that the information it gathered would be passed on to their Syrian counterparts waiting to ambush, the IAF strike configuration would have likely prioritized the removal of the threat posed by the air defenses before turning its attention to Iran’s command and control headquarters, intelligence facilities, logistical command sites, observation posts, missiles storage facilities, ground operations staging areas and so on. Open source reporting did not indicate Israel used its F-35 “Adir” stealth aircraft, nine of which were declared operational as part of the IAF’s elite Golden Eagle Squadron.
Putin judged such a decision as against his interests, which is defined in Syria as maintaining his expanded military presence and preserving his enhanced role as a regional arbiter. He may be coming around to the idea that he can accomplish that without Iran and against the wishes of Assad, who will become more dependent on his good graces if Tehran’s position recedes.
For Vladimir Putin, the path to consolidating his Syrian achievements may lie in an agreement with Israel that further solidifies Russia’s status, and with the United States, which is focused solely on ISIS in eastern Syria and plans to withdraw. That could mean two things: The first is that the Iranian date Putin brought to the Syrian party is not as attractive as the Israeli he met at the ball. The second is that Israel’s operation may have exposed the nature of Iran’s gains in Syria as nothing more than a house of cards, vulnerable to the aerial forces that blow in unabated from the south.
Matthew RJ Brodsky is a senior fellow at the Security Studies Group in Washington, D.C. and coauthor of a forthcoming study on the transformation of Iran’s military presence in Syria and its impact on regional security. He can be followed on Twitter at @RJBrodsky.
When Claire Ferguson, the president of the United States Figure Skating Association, consents to a media interview, she's careful to check her agenda. She's available for questioning, it's just that scheduling can be tricky, what with a trip to Russia or grandchild-tending to work around.
It's late spring when a Monitor reporter and photographer pull up to the Ferguson homestead in scenic Jamestown, R.I. One might imagine this a quiet time of year for figure skating and Ferguson, especially now that the hullabaloo surrounding the Winter Olympics and the Nancy Kerrigan-Tonya Harding controversy has passed.
The association's involvement with the Kerrigan-Harding affair, Ferguson says, hasn't seriously taxed her. The general direction of the sport, she says, is her greatest ongoing concern.
Last month, the biggest annual congress in the history of US skating was held across the bay in Newport. There were 417 delegates, some 700 votes (including proxy ballots), and enough wrangling for three conventions. ``The room was crowded, people came with agendas, and they were practically violent ... about a lot of things,'' Ferguson says.
Part II of an administrative doubleheader begins today in Boston, when the International Skating Union's week-long Congress and Council convenes.
Representatives from 49 countries will try to reach a consensus on various burning issues, including eligibility.
This was the first year that professionals were allowed to skate in the Olympics, and on the whole it was deemed a success. Unless the rules are tightened, however, Ferguson foresees a situation in which skaters and promoters take over.
The Ferguson model would emulate what has happened in track and field and gymnastics, where national and international governing bodies maintain control through sanctioning powers. This, she argues, permits promoter-driven events to exist, but requires that certain standards be met and some funds be used for the general benefit of the sport.
Ferguson is the first woman to serve as president of the US Figure Skating Association. She says some people assumed she was ``just a housewife'' who would be overmatched by the growing pressures of the job when she was voted into office in 1992.
This view, she says, ignores various important life experiences, including her college education at Michigan State University, work as a schoolteacher, and business background (vice president of her husband's veterinary practice).
Then, too, raising three children has provided many lessons in ``common sense,'' and, as she says, ``I think you have to have a basic skating sense and understand what the full picture is.'' The latter has been acquired during more than 30 years as an active member of the US skating association, including many as a judge and board member.
What she says ``catapulted'' her into ``the political scene'' was her experience as a 1980 US Olympic team leader. That put her behind the scenes with parents, skaters, and coaches, and convinced her that there needed to be substantially more funding of Olympic hopefuls.
Ferguson asserts that one of her best decisions was to hire Jerry Lace as the association's full-time executive director. She considers Lace the ideal person to deal with many of the complex operational matters that fall to the 30-person staff at US figure- skating headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Ferguson has held the association's reins during a dramatic period in the sport's development. Association membership has doubled, to more than 120,000, since 1988; the budget is ``$8 million, pushing $10 million''; and people are flocking to see the numerous figure-skating events or watching them on television. After the Olympics, a performance by touring champions in St. Petersburg, Fla., drew 28,000 spectators - believed to be the largest skating crowd in history.
And this fall, CBS Sports has announced it will air figure skating head-to-head against pro football broadcasts.
Despite concerns about what skating's future may hold, Ferguson expects that Lace will bring continuity to the US Figure Skating Association when she steps down. ``We'll be fine,'' she says.
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The sisters, who live in a small community near the Kansas-Nebraska state line, were in the raft with Caleb on Aug. 7. The women suffered serious facial injuries.
On the 168-foot, 17-story-drop Verrückt, riders would plunge down one slope, glide up and over another hump and then shoot down a final slope. It opened in 2014 amid publicity that attracted media from around the globe to Kansas City, Kan.
But an investigation by The Star in August described early warning signs about the ride. Even in the face of design and safety problems, Verrückt’s path to completion was all but assured, with almost no outside officials casting a critical eye on the project, The Star found.
After Caleb’s death, several riders told The Star about difficulties while on the world’s tallest water slide. Several experienced their harnesses coming off and in two instances since mid-July, people said their raft went airborne.
One was reported about three weeks before Caleb’s death and the other on July 28.
The sisters’ attorney said they sent a letter to Schlitterbahn officials in the fall saying that they would not consider discussing a settlement unless the slide was removed and destroyed.
“We didn’t have mediation until there was an agreement to that,” Johnson said.
What happened that August day is personal for the two sisters and they continue to decline to speak publicly about it. The two were prepared, however, to testify if needed for the bill in the Kansas Legislature strengthening the law on amusement ride inspections, Johnson said. The bill passed easily — and was sent to the governor for his signature — and the sisters weren’t needed to testify.
“If they ever speak out, it would be in favor of even more safety-oriented policies and procedures for amusement parks, but especially water parks,” Johnson said.
The sisters continue to think about the Schwab family.
Our new biography of Michael Bay has just been posted, thanks to editor Paul Hehn at the Epics and Explosions Desk.
Michael Bay graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut in 1986, just one year ahead of Joss Whedon of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly fame.
Wesleyan is also the school where President Woodrow Wilson was a winning football coach in the 1880s. Is it too much to hope for a Michael Bay-directed life of Woodrow Wilson, possibly with Megan Fox as First Lady Edith Bolling Galt Wilson?
You knew Edith was a bad girl. On top of which, both Megan Fox and Edith Wilson have Native American ancestors: Fox’s were Cherokee (or maybe Powhatan) and Edith Wilson had a distant connection to Pocahontas. I think this could work.
For Woodrow Wilson, I’m thinking Mark Wahlberg. Here he is as Wilson in 1915, vowing revenge in front of the torpedoed wreck of the Lusitania. Look out, Mister Kaiser!
But back to Michael Bay. Here’s something I didn’t know until now: Michael Bay directed the original “Got Milk” commercial in 1993 — yes, the one that kicked off the whole “Got [blank]” craze.
Aaron Burr! Maybe a life of Woodrow Wilson isn’t so far-fetched after all.
The US Federal Trade Commission announced yesterday that it has reached a settlement with Vizio, which it alleged misled customers about what data its smart TVs were collecting. Vizio agreed to pay $US2.2 million ($2.8 million) in penalties, including $US1.5 million ($1.9 million) to the FTC and $US1 million ($1.3 million) to the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, with $US300,000 ($391,827) suspended.
The lawsuit centred on Vizio's "Smart Interactivity" feature, which the company said "enables program offers and suggestions". That sounds great! I love offers and suggestions, as do my friends and family!
But that wasn't really what was happening. According to the complaint, Vizio began tracking consumers' data in February 2014, on both new and old TVs. The "Smart Interactivity" feature was a cover for a technology called ACR, which tracks viewing data "second-by-second", while the TV settings offered no explanation about what that feature was actually doing.
The biggest privacy concern surrounding this practice is that the tracked data included IP addresses. This information, passed through a "data aggregator", enabled advertisers to track your behaviour across devices, which in turn allowed advertisers to see, for example, "whether a consumer ha[d] viewed a particular television program following exposure to an online advertisement for that program".