There has been quite a bit of talk in the past couple of days about when we might get back to normal. The president is hoping that might happen as soon as Easter while others are saying it could be 3-4 months. But some people arent interested in going back to normal. On the contrary, they see the crisis as an inflection point that presents and opportunity for some significant changes to the country.

On the left there are a lot of people who see the crisis as an opportunity to push forward some of the socialist agenda theyve had all along. In some cases, they dont mean European-style social democracy, they want to see an end to capitalism. Heres an example published by NBC yesterday. The author of this is named Paris Marx:

Once COVID-19 abates and people can start leaving their homes, many industries may indeed have collapsed or will be surviving on government support the airline industry being the first. If China and Italy are any indication,carbon emissions and air pollution will have declined. We can choose whether we ramp things back up in a way that continues to threaten our futures and our health by fueling the climate crisis, or we can make the necessary investments and change the regulatory framework to move away from fossil fuels while ensuring that our workers have a future.

When Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., proposed their Green New Deal in February 2019, the most likely implementation of which wouldcost $16.3 trillionover 10 years, it was written off as a green dream by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., andridiculed by Republicanswho charged it was too expensive and un-American. Yet its policies would provide a job guarantee for being laid off, support for retraining for many workers, and a mass investment program to not only boost the economy, but move it away from fossil fuels.

Is the author suggesting we should not have an aviation industry? I seem to remember that was a big issue when AOC initially released the Green New Deal and a summary that suggested a focus on high speed rail at a scale where air travel stops becoming necessary. Even Sen. Mazie Hirono mocked the idea of replacing air travel with trains saying, That would be pretty hard for Hawaii.

AOCs accidentally leaked agenda, which she backtracked away from at the time, sounds moderate compared to what this author is suggesting. At least AOC wanted to phase out air travel by replacing it with something else. Paris Marx is suggesting that if the industry collapses we just let it burn, even if theres no alternative.

As for the cost of the Green New Deal, that has been a matter of some debate. Initial estimates ranged between $52 and $94 trillion over 10 years. Sanders would later release his own GND plan (under the same name) and claim it would cost $16.3 trillion. However, its important to note that his GND plan was just one of several plans. If you include the cost of his Medicare for All plan, youre right back around $50 trillion over ten years. Thats far beyond even the cost of the current stimulus bill duplicated every year for the next ten years.

Sanders plan also didnt envision a global pandemic which would potentially create a worldwide recession (or worse). Its one thing to promise a government job to out of work people when the economy is running along wish sub-4 percent unemployment. Its quite another to make the math work when unemployment hits 15 percent or higher. The cost of the latter program would be far higher and the ability to cover those costs after taking into account all of the revenue the government will lose because people are out of work will be far less.

Anyway, this isnt even the most extreme proposal being floated during the crisis. Yesterday a site called Open Society published a piece suggesting now is a good time to think about doing away with capitalism and the nuclear family:

Nuclear households, it seems, are where we are all intuitively expected to retreat in order to prevent widespread ill-health. Staying home is what is somehow self-evidently supposed to keep us well. But there are several problems with this, as anyone inclined to think about it critically (even for a moment) might figure out problems one might summarize as the mystification of the couple-form; the romanticisation of kinship; and the sanitization of the fundamentally unsafe space that is private property

In short, the pandemic is no time to forget about family abolition. In the words of feminist theorist and mother Madeline Lane-McKinley; Households are capitalisms pressure cookers. This crisis will see a surge in housework cleaning, cooking, caretaking, but also child abuse, molestation, intimate partner rape, psychological torture, and more. Far from a time to acquiesce to family values ideology, then, the pandemic is an acutely important time to provision, evacuate and generally empower survivors of and refugees from the nuclear household.

And thirdly, even when the private nuclear household poses no direct physical or mental threat to ones person no spouse-battering, no child rape, and no queer-bashing the private family qua mode of social reproduction still, frankly,sucks. It genders, nationalizes and races us. It norms us for productive work. It makes us believe we are individuals. It minimizes costs for capital while maximizing human beings life-making labor (across billions of tiny boxes, each kitted out absurdly with its own kitchen, micro-crche and laundry). It blackmails us into mistaking the only sources of love and care wehavefor the extent ofwhat is possible.

That last link is to an article at a site called Pinko. Heres a sample:

In place of the coercive system of atomized family units, the abolition of the family would generalize what we now call care. Care of mutual love and support; care of the labor of raising children and caring for the ill; care of erotic connection and pleasure; care of aiding each other in fulfilling the vast possibilities of our humanity, expressed in countless ways, including forms of self-expression we now call gender. Care in our capitalist society is a commodified, subjugating, and alienated act, but in it we can see the kernel of a non-alienating interdependence.

Communists like to promise the revolution that sounds like it will be an orgy/art exploration, but the reality is always something closer to Venezuela, i.e. a man-made disaster where millions of nuclear families flee their homes to protect their children.

Even the fringiest of communist ideologues now see a path to what they want in things Sanders and AOC have already introduced in Congress. Were not quite there for the family abolishment people. The full language to propose that as a serious idea hasnt been imported into the mainstream yet, but you can bet they are working on it. AOC has already suggested it makes sense that people no longer want to have children. Little by little theyll make this part of the conversation. The coronavirus is just another crisis the far left doesnt want to go to waste.

The rest is here:

For the far left, the coronavirus crisis is the perfect time to abolish capitalism and the nuclear family - Hot Air

ARIES (March 21-April 19)Your oracle comes from Aries poet Octavio Paz: The path the ancestors cleared is overgrown, unused. The other path, smooth and broad, is crowded with travelers. It goes nowhere. Theres a third path: mine. Before me, no one. Behind me, no one. Alone, I find my way. APRIL FOOL! Although the passage by Octavio Paz is mostly accurate for your destiny during the rest of 2020, its off-kilter in one way: Its too ponderously serious and melodramatic. You should find a way to carry out its advice with meditative grace and effervescent calm.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)A century ago, fiery writer Maxim Gorky and hard-ass Taurus politician Vladimir Lenin were listening to a Beethoven sonata together. I cant listen to music too often, Lenin told his companion. It affects your nerves, makes you want to say stupid, nice things. This is crucial advice for you to heed in the coming weeks, Taurus. You need to be as smart and tough as possible, so dont you dare listen to music. APRIL FOOL! Lenin was half-mistaken, and I half-lied. The fact is, music makes you smarter and nicer, and those will be key assets for you to cultivate in the coming weeks. So yes, do listen to a lot of music.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)By the time he was 55 years old, Gemini author Thomas Hardy had written 18 novels and many poems. His stuff was good enough to win him two separate nominations for a Nobel Prize in Literature. But during the last 32+ years of his life, he never wrote another novel. According to one theory, it was because he was discouraged by the negative reviews he got for his last novel. I suspect you may be at a similar juncture in your life, Gemini. Maybe its time to give up on a beloved activity that hasnt garnered the level of success youd hoped for. APRIL FOOL! The truth is, it is most definitely NOT time to lose hope and faith. Dont be like Hardy. Rededicate yourself to your passionate quests.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)Cancerian theologian John Wesley (17031791) was a Christian who embodied the liberal values that Christ actually taught. He advocated for the abolition of slavery, prison reform, the ordination of women priests, and a vegetarian diet. He gave away a lot of his money and administered many charities. To accomplish his lifes work, he traveled 250,000 miles on horseback and preached 40,000 sermons. Lets make him your role model for the coming weeks. Be inspired by his life as you vividly express your care and compassion. APRIL FOOL! I lied a little bit. Although most of what I just recommended is a good idea, the part about traveling long distances, either on horseback or by other means, is not.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)The neurotic but talented French novelist Marcel Proust observed, Everything vital in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded religions and composed our masterpieces. With that in mind, and in accordance with current astrological omens, I urge you to cultivate your own neurotic qualities in their extreme forms of expression during the coming weeks. Youre due for some major creative breakthroughs. APRIL FOOL! I was kidding. The fact is, you can generate creative breakthroughs in the coming weeks by being poised and composednot extra neurotic.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)Virgo author Leon Edel wrote a five-volume biography of renowned author Henry James. In the course of his research, he read 15,000 letters that were written by James. He came to have a profound familiarity with the great man. In accordance with current astrological omens, I recommend that you choose a worthy character about whom you will become equally knowledgeable. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. Its true that now is an excellent time to deepen your understanding of people you care about. But dont get as obsessed as Edel!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)About 2,000 years ago, a Roman woman named Sulpicia wrote six short love poemsa total of 40 linesthat are still being analyzed and discussed by literary scholars today. I bring her to your attention because I think that in the next four weeks you, too, could generate a small burst of beauty that will still be appreciated 2,000 years from now. APRIL FOOL! I lied about the small part. The burst of beauty you create in the immediate future could actually be quite large, as well as enduring.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)French poet Louis Aragon (18971982) was an influential novelist and a pioneer of surrealistic poetry. Much of his writing had a lyrical quality, and many of his poems were set to music. He also had a belligerent streak. Before the publication of one of his books, he announced that he would thrash any writer who dared to review it in print. Success! There were no critical reviews at all. I recommend his approach to you in the coming weeks. Make it impossible for anyone to criticize you. APRIL FOOL! I lied. I would never suggest that you use violence to accomplish your aims. And besides that, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to solicit feedback of all varieties, even the critical kind.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)I hesitate to be so blunt, but its my duty to report the facts. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you should have as many orgasms as possible in the next 15 days. You need to tap into the transformative psychological power thats available through monumental eruptions of pleasure and releases of tension. (P.S. Spiritual orgasms will be just as effective as physical orgasms.) APRIL FOOL! What I just said is true, but I left out an important component of your assignment: Be loving and responsible as you pursue your joyous climaxes, never manipulative or exploitative or insensitive.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)Ancient Greek orator Demosthenes was renowned for his skill at delivering powerful, charismatic speeches. While he was still learning his craft, he resorted to extreme measures to improve. For example, there was a time when he shaved just half of his head. It made him ashamed to go out in public, forcing him to spend all his time indoors practicing his speeches. Would you consider a similar strategy right now? APRIL FOOL! I was just messing with you. Its true that the coming weeks will be a good time to minimize your socializing and devote yourself to hard work in behalf of a beloved dream. But shaving half your head isnt the best way to accomplish that.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to tell as many lies as possible if doing so helps you get what you want. I hereby authorize you to engage in massive deceptions, misrepresentations, and manipulative messages as you seek to impose your will on every flow of events. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, everything I just said was the exact opposite of your actual horoscope, which is as follows: You have a sacred duty to tell more of the truth than you have ever been able to tell before. As you dig deeper to discover more and more of whats essential for you to understand and express, dedicate your efforts to the goal of gliding along with the most beautiful and interesting flow you can find.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)Fifteen minutes before the Big Bang occurred, where was the matter that now constitutes your body and my body? And if, as seems to be true, the Big Bang was the beginning of time, what time was it fifteen minutes earlier? Questions like these are crucial for you to ponder in the next two weeks. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The questions I articulated should in fact be very low priority for you. In the immediate future, youll be wise to be as concrete and specific and pragmatic as you can possibly be. Focus on up-close personal questions that you can actually solve, not abstract, unsolvable riddles.

Read the rest here:

Week of March 25 | Free Will Astrology - Style Weekly

Khwaja Saad, Salman released, demand abolition of NAB

LAHORE: Veteran politician and central leader of Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) Khwaja Saad Rafiq has demanded abolition of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) immediately to put the country back on development track.

NAB and Pakistan cannot go together, he said while talking to the media on Thursday after getting released from Camp Jail Lahore where he was incarcerated, along with his brother, Khwaja Salman Rafiq, in a NAB case pertaining to Paragon Housing Society scam. Senator Pervaiz Rasheed and other party leaders were also present.

We have suffered 16-month imprisonment in a dark, constricted cell, as the rulers had lodged us there in their pursuit of political victimisation. Nothing was proved against us during that long period of imprisonment, added the former federal minister. Despite severe victimisation, our spirits are high as ever and we are still standing with Nawaz Sharif like before, Saad said.

Saad reminded that the country was dismembered in the past when a minority was imposed on the majority. He regretted that the country was being ruled by incompetent and self-centred people currently. He said his companions and noted politicians were tortured, but declared that we have no desire to take revenge for our political victimisation, as Pakistan cannot afford such victimisation anymore. He said it was up to those people who conspired against their political opponents whether to tell the nation if the country had progressed or regressed during their government. They must tell [the nation] if people of Pakistan have suffered due to their conspiracies or not. National security was compromised and exposed to dangers as a result of stealing of elections, the PML-N leader said.

He said levelling of baseless accusation against political opponents and using state force against them would not work any more. He advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to learn bearing with his opponents. He criticised Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government overarrest of Jang Group Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman. What was the fault of Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, asked the PML-N leader adding that his only fault was that his media group criticised all incompetent rulers. He told the premier that an independent media was not his enemy.

He reiterated that the PTI government was not elected. I contested polls against Imran Khan. I won the polls, but the vote recount was not allowed with the connivance of Justice Saqib Nisar. The nation suffered due to his illegal actions, though he is history now, he added. Saad said he wished his party could have changed the black NAB law, adding that there was no political prisoner during the past regimes of PML-N and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He said political victimisation began with the inception of the PTI government, and political leaders were still languishing in jails. NAB will have to be closed down to let the country progress. Pakistan cannot go together with NAB. A black law designed by a military dictator is still imposed in the so-called democratic regime. It has always been used to crush political opponents, he added.

He said NAB had always been used to suppress fundamental rights of political opponents. He noted that Rana Sanaullah, Shahbaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz, Hanif Abbasi, Ahad Cheema, Khursheed Shah, Sharjeel Memon, etc., were jailed without establishing charges against them. Ahad Cheema, who worked to develop the city, was still being humiliated in jail, instead of given respect. He noted that honourable judges of Supreme Court had been saying that NAB lacked sincerity and was used against the opponents. He said we dont want the PTI to suffer what the PML-N and PPP leaderships had undergone. We were accused of being terrorists and traitors. Whenever masses will be given a chance, they will stand with us.

The struggle for supremacy of Constitution and democracy will succeed at the end. We will not victimise anyone and level baseless allegations, he added.

Saad said he had only challenged political opponents, and not any institution, when he stated that the PML-N leaders would prove to be lohay ke chanay (iron pellets). He said as to who gave Justice Saqib Nisar the right to humiliate political leaders, and make the nation damn fool in the name of a dam. Movement for judiciarys supremacy was launched by the PML-N and it will reach its logical end.

He said Imran Khan had no desire to save the country from coronavirus, as his intentions were not sincere. Had Imran been sincere, he should have called all opposition parties and asked them to work collectively to protect masses from the virus, the PML-N leader added.

Former railways minister regretted that various train accidents had been taking place. The way of stealing votes in Pakistan must be blocked; otherwise, the nation would continue to suffer and progress will remain a dream, he added.

Saad Rafiq said the rulers had pushed the country to such a disastrous situation that it would take a long time to put the country back on track. He said the PTI leaders could put their names on the PML-N development schemes, but at least they should complete them on time. He expressed confidence that the democracy taken hostage in Pakistan would be liberated soon, and the supporters of the liar prime minister would have to repent. Khwaja Salman Rafiq said his party did not want to do politics on coronavirus, adding that if Taftan border was sealed off timely, situation would have been much different in the country today. He recalled that the PML-N government had eliminated polio in Punjab and federal capital areas, besides controlling the dengue virus. But when dengue resurfaced last year, he felt sorrow over the nullification of Shahbaz governments efforts.

Earlier, when Khwaja brothers were released from camp jail, a large number of party workers, led by Pervaiz Rasheed, Imran Nazir and others welcomed them and took them away in the form of a rally, chanting slogans and showering flower petals on them.

Read the rest here:

Khwaja Saad, Salman released, demand abolition of NAB - The News International

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Your oracle comes from Aries poet Octavio Paz: "The path the ancestors cleared is overgrown, unused. The other path, smooth and broad, is crowded with travelers. It goes nowhere. There's a third path: mine. Before me, no one. Behind me, no one. Alone, I find my way." APRIL FOOL! Although the passage by Octavio Paz is mostly accurate for your destiny during the rest of 2020, it's off-kilter in one way: It's too ponderously serious and melodramatic. You should find a way to carry out its advice with meditative grace and effervescent calm.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): A century ago, fiery writer Maxim Gorky and hard-ass Taurus politician Vladimir Lenin were listening to a Beethoven sonata together. "I can't listen to music too often," Lenin told his companion. "It affects your nerves, makes you want to say stupid, nice things." This is crucial advice for you to heed in the coming weeks, Taurus. You need to be as smart and tough as possible, so don't you dare listen to music. APRIL FOOL! Lenin was half-mistaken, and I half-lied. The fact is, music makes you smarter and nicer, and those will be key assets for you to cultivate in the coming weeks. So yes, do listen to a lot of music.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): By the time he was 55 years old, Gemini author Thomas Hardy had written 18 novels and many poems. His stuff was good enough to win him two separate nominations for a Nobel Prize in Literature. But during the last 32+ years of his life, he never wrote another novel. According to one theory, it was because he was discouraged by the negative reviews he got for his last novel. I suspect you may be at a similar juncture in your life, Gemini. Maybe it's time to give up on a beloved activity that hasn't garnered the level of success you'd hoped for. APRIL FOOL! The truth is, it is most definitely NOT time to lose hope and faith. Don't be like Hardy. Rededicate yourself to your passionate quests.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerian theologian John Wesley (17031791) was a Christian who embodied the liberal values that Christ actually taught. He advocated for the abolition of slavery, prison reform, the ordination of women priests, and a vegetarian diet. He gave away a lot of his money and administered many charities. To accomplish his life's work, he traveled 250,000 miles on horseback and preached 40,000 sermons. Let's make him your role model for the coming weeks. Be inspired by his life as you vividly express your care and compassion. APRIL FOOL! I lied a little bit. Although most of what I just recommended is a good idea, the part about traveling long distances, either on horseback or by other means, is not.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The neurotic but talented French novelist Marcel Proust observed, "Everything vital in the world comes from neurotics. They alone have founded religions and composed our masterpieces." With that in mind, and in accordance with current astrological omens, I urge you to cultivate your own neurotic qualities in their extreme forms of expression during the coming weeks. You're due for some major creative breakthroughs. APRIL FOOL! I was kidding. The fact is, you can generate creative breakthroughs in the coming weeks by being poised and composednot extra neurotic.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Virgo author Leon Edel wrote a five-volume biography of renowned author Henry James. In the course of his research, he read 15,000 letters that were written by James. He came to have a profound familiarity with the great man. In accordance with current astrological omens, I recommend that you choose a worthy character about whom you will become equally knowledgeable. APRIL FOOL! I half-lied. It's true that now is an excellent time to deepen your understanding of people you care about. But don't get as obsessed as Edel!

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): About 2,000 years ago, a Roman woman named Sulpicia wrote six short love poemsa total of 40 linesthat are still being analyzed and discussed by literary scholars today. I bring her to your attention because I think that in the next four weeks you, too, could generate a small burst of beauty that will still be appreciated 2,000 years from now. APRIL FOOL! I lied about the "small" part. The burst of beauty you create in the immediate future could actually be quite large, as well as enduring.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): French poet Louis Aragon (18971982) was an influential novelist and a pioneer of surrealistic poetry. Much of his writing had a lyrical quality, and many of his poems were set to music. He also had a belligerent streak. Before the publication of one of his books, he announced that he would thrash any writer who dared to review it in print. Success! There were no critical reviews at all. I recommend his approach to you in the coming weeks. Make it impossible for anyone to criticize you. APRIL FOOL! I lied. I would never suggest that you use violence to accomplish your aims. And besides that, the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to solicit feedback of all varieties, even the critical kind.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): I hesitate to be so blunt, but it's my duty to report the facts. According to my reading of the astrological omens, you should have as many orgasms as possible in the next 15 days. You need to tap into the transformative psychological power that's available through monumental eruptions of pleasure and releases of tension. (P.S. Spiritual orgasms will be just as effective as physical orgasms.) APRIL FOOL! What I just said is true, but I left out an important component of your assignment: Be loving and responsible as you pursue your joyous climaxes, never manipulative or exploitative or insensitive.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Ancient Greek orator Demosthenes was renowned for his skill at delivering powerful, charismatic speeches. While he was still learning his craft, he resorted to extreme measures to improve. For example, there was a time when he shaved just half of his head. It made him ashamed to go out in public, forcing him to spend all his time indoors practicing his speeches. Would you consider a similar strategy right now? APRIL FOOL! I was just messing with you. It's true that the coming weeks will be a good time to minimize your socializing and devote yourself to hard work in behalf of a beloved dream. But shaving half your head isn't the best way to accomplish that.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to tell as many lies as possible if doing so helps you get what you want. I hereby authorize you to engage in massive deceptions, misrepresentations, and manipulative messages as you seek to impose your will on every flow of events. APRIL FOOL! I lied. In fact, everything I just said was the exact opposite of your actual horoscope, which is as follows: You have a sacred duty to tell more of the truth than you have ever been able to tell before. As you dig deeper to discover more and more of what's essential for you to understand and express, dedicate your efforts to the goal of gliding along with the most beautiful and interesting flow you can find.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Fifteen minutes before the Big Bang occurred, where was the matter that now constitutes your body and my body? And if, as seems to be true, the Big Bang was the beginning of time, what time was it fifteen minutes earlier? Questions like these are crucial for you to ponder in the next two weeks. APRIL FOOL! I lied. The questions I articulated should in fact be very low priority for you. In the immediate future, you'll be wise to be as concrete and specific and pragmatic as you can possibly be. Focus on up-close personal questions that you can actually solve, not abstract, unsolvable riddles.

Homework: Tell jokes to humorists. Be extra kind to kind people. Sing songs to the birds. Change the way you change. FreeWillAstrology.com

Read the rest here:

Free Will AstrologyWeek Of March 26 | Advice & Fun | Bend - The Source Weekly

President of the United States Donald trump talked about their assumptions on spread of coronavirus COVID-19. In his opinion, the treatment should not be worse that the problem. About this American leader said during the broadcast on the Fox News channel.

Donald trump believes that many people can die if it is admitted the current situation. According to the President, many want to get back to work.

trump said that previously, they never closed the country, despite severe epidemics of influenza and other diseases. In addition, the American leader said that for many people the stakes are very high they might lose their businesses, lose their jobs.

Donald trump said the country wants to begin the process of returning to a normal situation as soon as possible. If you delay this, the States will lose more people, reports TASS.

the President noted that the authorities want to remove restrictions on the private sector because COVID-19 for the Easter holidays until April 12.

For the last day in the United States from the new virus has killed more than a hundred people. According to the American Johns Hopkins University, currently in the country revealed more than 50 thousand cases of infection with coronavirus. The total number of dead is more than 600 people.

View post:

Tramp for the abolition of restrictions: treatment should not be worse than the problem - The KXAN 36 News

Recent columns in the Turkish press praise jihad and martyrdom and yearn for a caliphate. Burhan Bozgeyik wrote on March 20, 2020: "Jihad is a valid ruling until the Day of Judgement. Jihad will not be abandoned... If the Muslims are unified, [the unbelievers] will all be like dogs at our door." Mustafa Kasadar wrote on February 10: "This ummah has gotten its dignity and honor from jihad and martyrdom." Muzaffer Dereli wrote on March 6: "If we get scared when war and jihad are mentioned, this shows the weakness of our faith."

Mustafa elik wrote on March 11: Democracy, which was imposed as an ideology after the abolition of the caliphate, is a dress of the Greek philosophers that was put on the Muslims... Governing without that which Allah has sent down is a cruelty composed of darkness... If Islam's state governs the world on its own, Allah will lift off of us the despicableness that is thought to be irremovable!" The government-issued sermon for February 28 said: "Our troops obey the call of our prophet to 'make jihad with your hands, your words, and your property.'"

From left to right: Burhan Bozgeyik, Mustafa Kasadar, Muzaffer Dereli, and Mustafa elik.

Following are translated excerpts from the columns and sermon.

"Jihad Is A Valid Ruling Until The Day Of Judgement Jihad Will Not Be Abandoned... If The Muslims Are Unified, [The Unbelievers] Will All Be Like Dogs At Our Door "

In a March 20, 2020 column, Burhan Bozgeyik wrote: "There cannot be Islam without a state. There must be a state, an administrator of all Muslims. This is the truth. Allah's rulings will be dominant in all areas (the sayings and actions of Muhammad are included in these rulings). All Muslims will be brothers, will be united. A Muslim will never draw a weapon on another Muslim. Jihad is a valid ruling until the Day of Judgement. Jihad will not be abandoned. If jihad is abandoned, despicableness will come on its own. The unbelievers will be expelled from every handsbreadth of Muslim land... Let's say it outright: To hell with all of the cruel unbelievers who, in the language of the Quran, are all filth. If the Muslims are unified, they will all be like dogs at our door."[1]

"Our Troops Obey The Call Of Our Prophet To 'Make Jihad With Your Hands, Your Words, And Your Property'"

The February 28 Friday sermon issued by Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs read in part: "Our troops are always beside the oppressed against the tyrant. They are at the front for the good of the world, and they take cover in the name of humanity. They are on expedition to run to help those whose rights are taken from them. Our troops stand tall on their feet on the side of truth and against falsehood, having faith in the [Quran 17:81] verse 'And say: "Truth has come and falsehood has collapsed. Verily, falsehood is condemned to collapse.' Our troops run from victory to victory being bound from their hearts to the [Quran 3:139] verse: 'Do not become loose, do not be saddened. If you have faith, you will be superior.' Our troops obey the call of our prophet to 'make jihad with your hands, your words, and your property' and say 'stop' to the brazen raid of the enemy."[2] Turkey's Ministry of Religious Affairs, which prepares the sermons that are given each week at the country's 84,000 mosques, issued this sermon amid fighting in Idlib between the Turkish military and Turkish-backed jihadi factions on one side and the Syrian military on the other.

"This Ummah Has Gotten Its Dignity And Honor From Jihad And Martyrdom"

In a February 10 column, Mustafa Kasadar wrote: "This ummah has gotten its dignity and honor from jihad and martyrdom. This ummah, in the period when it burned and ignited as a whole with the longing for jihad martyrdom, it was the lord of the world. It gave shape and order to the whole world. But whenever it became a nation that was disgusted by death, that forgot the desire for martyrdom, and preferred the worldly life to the hereafter, that is when it fell from the summit and became the plaything of the non-Muslim nations...

"On this occasion we are commemorating with mercy all our martyrs and congratulating all of the civil society organizations, above all the Anadolu Genlik Dernei (Anatolian Youth Assocatian, AGD) who are celebrating February as 'Martyrdom Month' and bringing jihad and martyrdom to the youth agenda once again. We commemorate with mercy and gratitude the jihad leaders 'Izz Al-Din Al-Qassam, Hassan Al-Banna, Abdullah Azzam, Ahmad Yassin, and Necmeddin Erbakan, who are the jihad teachers of our age. The path that will save the ummah from this despicableness today is clear. This path has been tried dozens of times before and every time, with this method, the ummah got up from the place to which it had fallen and reached the summit once again. That path is singular, and it is the construction of an ummah that desires jihad and martyrdom."[3]

"If We Get Scared When War And Jihad Are Mentioned, This Shows The Weakness Of Our Faith"

In a March 6 column, Muzaffer Dereli wrote: "Only hypocrites flee from war when it is necessary. To say: 'Do your worship, leave off jihad' is such a big sign of discord... After permission for war (jihad) came following the hijrah [i.e., migration], the hypocrites feared war with the enemy and they made the entreaty: 'If only this command came a little later.' Today, if we get scared when war and jihad are mentioned, this shows the weakness of our faith. Jihad is making war with [one's] life and property for Allah in the path of Allah. It is working and making effort with [one's] life, property, words, publications, and by other means to spread Allah's supreme name to the universe... When it is necessary, jihad is farz [obligatory] for believers, and the one who is prepared on this path is called a mujahid." Dereli ends his article with two poems about martyrdom and jihad.[4]

Mustafa elik wrote in a March 11 column: "The Rashidun Caliphate[5] is for Muslims a yardstick in government. In the absence of a caliphate, they repeatedly condemn the caliphate. In theology departments they are having doctoral work done to cancel the hadiths of the prophet concerning the caliphate. They are trying to make Muslims the enemy of the order that the prophet recommended. This is a danger as intense as the Day of Judgment. Those who fall into this danger will definitely fall into destruction. They do not know: The caliphate is innate nature,[6] can innate nature be forgotten? Man was created as a caliph. The caliphate entered the picture when man was created. The caliphate is part of the agenda wherever there are people. Because without the caliphate, man's innate nature cannot be satisfied. Those who dirty their minds with ideologies do not know this reality..."

"Democracy... Is A Dress Of The Greek Philosophers That Was Put On The Muslims... Governing Without That Which Allah Has Sent Down Is A Cruelty Composed Of Darkness"

"With the abolition of the caliphate, our world became darker. Never mind the people, [even] the leaves on the trees grew yellow. The poor, the destitute, the orphans, the parentless sought a master to protect and embrace them. In the absence of the caliphate, never mind enemies, brother strafed brother. Those fighting back without a caliphate and without a caliph, benefited the unbelievers more than the Muslims. The enemies of the caliphate took from us the possibility of being governed with our religion. They stole the sun from our eyes and the spring from our noses. In the absence of a caliphate, we experienced winters in the spring of our lives. It was as if we began our lives from the end...

"The abolition of the caliphate is an epic of sorrow. Democracy, which was imposed as an ideology after the abolition of the caliphate, is a dress of the Greek philosophers that was put on the Muslims. The abolition of the caliphate was a wedding of pleasure and joy for those who swallow the fire of ideologies... The ideology that, with the abolition of the caliphate, was put in front of and in place of Islam, is governance without that which Allah has sent down. Governing without that which Allah has sent down is a cruelty composed of darkness... They divided the single ummah into a thousand and one pieces. They made Muslims forget the caliphate, which is the recommendation of the prophet. If Islam's state governs the world on its own, Allah will lift off of us the despicableness that is thought to be irremovable!"[7]

[1] Milligazete.com.tr/makale/4078828/burhan-bozgeyik/mahzun-kabe-bize-ne-soyluyor, March 20, 2020.

[2] Karar.com/diyanetin-cuma-hutbesi-cihad--28-subat-2020-1546697, February 28, 2020.

[3] Milligazete.com.tr/makale/3641018/mustafa-kasadar/sehitlik-ve-sehadet-ayi-subat, February 10, 2020.

[4] Dirilispostasi.com/makale/cihat-mucahit-ve-sehadet, March 6, 2020.

[5] The Rashidun Caliphate governed much of the Middle East from 632 to 661. It was the first caliphate established after the death of Muhammad.

[6] The original word is ftrat, the Turkish word for the Islamic concept of fitra.

[7] Yeniakit.com.tr/yazarlar/mustafa-celik/hilafet-unutulmaz-ideolojilerin-atesi-yutulmaz-31580.html, March 11, 2020.

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Turkish Columnists Praise Jihad, Martyrdom, And Caliphate: 'Jihad Is A Valid Ruling Until The Day Of Judgement... If The Muslims Are Unified, [The...

the President of Federation of hockey of Russia (FHR) Vladislav Tretyak commented the decision of the International ice hockey Federation (IIHF) to cancel due to the spread of the coronavirus COVID-19 world championship.

Given the unfavorable epidemiological situation in the world, this decision was not a surprise, quotes the words of Tretyak, the press service of the FHR. Termination of a season the teams no reason to postpone our business. Preparing for the next season has already begun.

Also head of the Russian hockey Federation thanked the fans for their support and the players, coaches and all who work with the teams for their hard work. In this case, Tretiak said that the hockey season isnt over.

We hope the Championships of Russia, childrens and youth competitions will be played out. The championship KHL, VHL, MHL must be brought to its logical end to determine the Champions, concluded the triple Olympic champion.

Recall, the outbreak of pneumonia caused by a coronavirus, a new type was recorded in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of 2019. To date, the virus has spread to 188 countries and territories. Cases it is already about 308 thousand people, of which 13 thousand died.

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Vladislav Tretiak the abolition of the world Cup: this decision was not a surprise - The KXAN 36 News

If you were a UK small business owner worried last Tuesday about how you might survive the year, you would have been a slightly less worried one after the Budget.

Some people might have found the news that coronavirus could well put some 20% of the UKs workforce out of action all at once made them feel a little tense. Others may have found the extraordinary scale of Rishi Sunaks spending promises did the same. He clearly expects things to get very bad indeed over the next few months.

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However, no small or medium-sized business owner could possibly fail to be impressed by the measures the UK is taking to support them.

Statutory sick pay is to be available for all those told to self-isolate from day one rather than the usual day four even if they have no symptoms. That would be a tough unexpected expense for many firms except that the state intends to pick up the bill for up to 14 days per employee, for all businesses with fewer than 250 employees.

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Further relief comes in the form of the abolition of business rates for one year for the retail, leisure and hospitality industry. That means around half of all UK businesses wont be taxed on their premises. Retailers, who have been clamouring for years for something like this because of online competition, should be particularly pleased.

And if that doesnt do it, small and medium-sized businesses can apply to the new coronavirus disruption loan scheme for government-backed loans of up to 1.2m or, if they are very small, for a one-off 3,000 cash grant. About 700,000 firms will be eligible for this.

All this does two very good things. First and foremost, the measures make it clear that this government really is on the side of small businesses. That is a good thing too, as 60% of private sector workers work for firms with fewer than 250 employees. And, second, the programmes might actually work.

Business survival is all about cash flow. They can keep going as long as they can pay their bills. In times like this, policies that might increase sales are hard to dream up. So it makes real sense to focus on policies that cancel debts, extend the payment time on bills including beefed up arrangements for businesses and the self-employed to defer tax payments and lend firms low-cost money to pay bills.

Sunaks choices look like well thought-out support policies: neat bits of good news in a sea of bad.

However, there will be some whining over one small company-related policy: the cut to entrepreneurs relief. The government has previously allowed entrepreneurs to pay capital gains tax on the sale of their businesses at a rate of 10% rather than the usual 20%, up to a lifetime allowance of 10m. That allowance will be cut to 1m.

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But this change has been a long time coming. There is little evidence that the relief actually encourages new entrepreneurs to start up. There is also some evidence that it encourages them to hold large amounts of cash inside a company structure. Doing this allows owners to give themselves retirement funds on the sale of their businesses, effectively converting what would be income into capital for tax purposes. This is not a productive government policy.

In better economic times, it might have made sense to scrap the relief all together, as the government floated earlier this year. In these uncertain times, it makes sense to limit the benefit.

Doing so backs up the signal sent by the rest of Sunaks measures: the UK is keen to support and reward anyone prepared to risk their own capital to create a business.

However, my approval of Sunaks support measures for small and medium-sized businesses comes with one clear caveat: the UK has a history of over-subsidising some businesses.

I would argue, for example, that the tax credit system has long kept too many companies hooked on cheap labour because the low wages they pay are topped up by government benefits. That has turned these businesses into something closer to government make-work schemes than the kind of dynamic productive organisations that capitalism is supposed to produce.

With that pitfall in mind, I believe it is worth reminding the chancellor that policies introduced in times of crisis can be hard to back out of, even if you insist when you introduce them that they are time-limited. Sunak should also remember that in normal times most businesses are supposed to fail. Only 42.4% of businesses started in 2013 were still trading in 2018, official figures show.

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The UK must work hard to avoid standing in the way of that kind of creative destruction. The chancellor must take care to ensure his new schemes are short-term schemes to keep people in work, not long-term ones that simply make work for them.

This article was first published in the Financial Times

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Sunaks Budget: good but short-term measures must be temporary - MoneyWeek

(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Joshua F.J. Inwood, Pennsylvania State University and Derek H. Alderman, University of Tennessee

(THE CONVERSATION) Delays and long lines at polling places during recent presidential primary elections such as voters in Texas experienced represent the latest version of decades-long policies that have sought to reduce the political power of African Americans in the U.S.

Following the Civil War and the extension of the vote to African Americans, state governments worked to block black people, as well as poor whites, from voting. One way they tried to accomplish this goal was through poll taxes an amount of money each voter had to pay before being allowed to vote.

This practice was abolished by the passage of the 24th Amendment in 1964. Further protections for nonwhite voters came with the Voting Rights Act, which closely followed the Selma to Montgomery civil rights protest marches 55 years ago, in March 1965.

But in recent years, new barriers have gone up that, we believe, constitute a new type of poll tax on working people and minority voters. Weare scholars of the American civil rights movement, including the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committees voting rights efforts.

Unlike past poll taxes, the modern poll tax isnt paid in money, but in time how long it takes a person to get to a polling place, and, once there, how long it takes for them to actually cast their ballot.

Securing the right to vote

Almost immediately after the 15th Amendment gave African Americans the right to vote in 1870, state governments in the South passed a series of laws seeking to limit freed blacks voting power.

In addition, white supremacist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan used violence to intimidate African Americans from casting ballots.

This situation remained largely unchallenged for almost a century, until the 1960s, when the years of protest by the civil rights movement bore fruit in the abolition of poll taxes and federal protection of citizens voting rights.

Creating a new poll tax

Since the 1960s, there have been efforts by state and local officials to limit these hard-won victories.

The most recent chapter in this battle is the 2013 Supreme Court decision in Shelby County v. Holder, which lifted restrictions on states that have historically blocked African Americans from voting, so state governments no longer need to seek federal approval before taking actions that might disproportionately harm black citizens right to vote.

Since the Shelby County decision, local election boards and state governments have closed over 1,600 polling places. That is approximately 8% of total voting locations within jurisdictions affected by the Shelby decision.

The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, a bipartisan independent study group started in 1957, found that states claimed polling-place closures were intended to save money, centralize voting operations, and complying with Americans with Disabilities Act but really the goal was reducing voter turnout, particularly among minority voters who were historically disenfranchised. Using publicly available data, federal lawsuits brought against states and counties the report documents clear patterns of discrimination.

These closures, often done with little notice or public accountability, have occurred across communities of varying racial and demographic characteristics. What unites these places are the costs they impose on voting from longer wait times to transportation obstacles experienced disproportionately by voters of color, older voters, rural voters, voters with disabilities and poor working people in general.

In the 2016 election, for instance, scholars at UCLA found that voters in black neighborhoods waited, on average, 29% longer to vote than voters in predominantly white communities. The study found, Even within the same county, voters in a hypothetical all-black precinct would wait 15 percent longer than voters in an all-white precinct.

The study found voters in majority black precincts were far more likely to wait longer than half an hour to cast a ballot than voters in majority white precincts. A study of the 2012 election found that the voters who waited in long lines paid, collectively, over half a billion dollars in lost wages.

Considering time

We believe that polling place closures represent a modern-day version of the poll tax.

In our view, access to polling places is a key element of citizens right to vote. People need fair and equitable access to places to vote and determining what that means should include time and travel costs imposed on voters. This would expand traditional understandings of access to polling places beyond narrow legal opinions and take into account the full range of racial and class barriers to being able to participate in U.S. democracy.

Everybodys time is valuable. But wait times have different effects depending upon a persons socioeconomic status.

Working people calculate daily how much time, if any, they can afford to be away from their hourly wage job. Interminable waits at polling places may not fit in the schedule with a second or third job. Work supervisors may not excuse a late arrival or an absence. A working person may feel pressure to leave a polling place before casting a ballot, just to get to work on time and keep the money coming in.

Importantly, the Supreme Courts Shelby County ruling did not invalidate all of the Voting Rights Act. Rather, it threw out the method by which the federal government could determine which areas of the country had policies that resulted in widespread voter disenfranchisement.

Congress could enact new legislation detailing a new method of making that determination, which would then restore federal oversight to states that create barriers to voting.

However because of our federal system where states have direct oversight of elections many of these decisions ultimately take place at the local and state level. As a result, election officials need to work in transparent ways with diverse communities to ensure that changes to voting locations do not disproportionately limit minority access. In addition, states could also ensure equal access to voting by creating, or expanding, early voting periods, and making it possible to vote by mail.

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This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here: https://theconversation.com/closing-polling-places-is-the-21st-centurys-version-of-a-poll-tax-133301.

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Closing polling places is the 21st century's version of a poll tax - Thehour.com

In 2016 the magazine Revolucin y Cultura (RyC) then directed by Luisa Campuzano and by an Advisory Council composed of Graziella Pogolotti, Ambrosio Fornet and Antn Arrufat dedicated a dossier to the 130th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Cuba. [1]

Historieta de un esclavo en Cuba, by Israel Castellanos Len, appeared among its pages. It is a montage of plastic works, accompanied by texts dedicated to slavery and its resistance. There you can see La sangre negra de la historia (2014, mixed media, 150 x 60 cm), by Luis Manuel Otero Alcntara (LMOA). Manuel Mendive, Alberto Lescay and douard Laplante are other artists participating in the material.

That LMOA work is a Cuban flag. In its triangle, with a white background, names such as Jos Antonio Aponte, Quintn Banderas, Gustavo Urrutia, Mariana Grajales, Blas Roca, Carlota, Antonio Maceo and a long list of black and mestizo heroes of different ideological affiliations are written in red ink. The background of the work is a humble wall, typical of a common Cuban home, from which the flag hangs. The accompanying text belongs to Biography of a Runaway Slave, by Miguel Barnet.

Only five years after the RyC dossier was published, voices from official institutions in the country the same as that magazine belongs to have taken away from LMOA any status as an artist.

The artivist has been prosecuted with a request for sentences of between two and five years on charges of violating the National Symbols Law and damaging state property under the Penal Code. A few days ago, for the moment, the trial has been suspended.

The first of these accusations has more public information than the second. The outrage that his performances represent for the flag that use it in daily and intimate situations, such as covering oneself with it to go to the bathroom or lying on it on the sand at a beach, has been cited. Certainly, they are unorthodox uses of the symbol.

The national flag: resistance and heterodoxy

Ironically, the national flag also has its own history of heterodoxy.

First raised in New York, it was conceived by Venezuelan general and freemason Narciso Lpez. In 1848 Lpez had hired mercenaries among veterans of the Mexican war for a project to rid Cuba of Spanish colonial rule. He offered them, according to Lisandro Prez, the regular pay of the U.S. Army, in addition to promising them future ownership of land in Cuba.

In 1850 an expedition under his command would land through Crdenas, this time already in the midst of conflicts with the Cuban annexationists in New York. On that occasion for which Lpez sought support from southern slaveowners in the United States the flag arrived in Cuba. The Constitution that Lpez brought with him also affirmed that Cuba should be a Republic, but was silent about slavery.

The Venezuelan died executed by the colonial power in search of what Emeterio Santovenia called the international sovereignty of Cuba. Jorge Quintana defended that he was not a filibuster, but a patriot. Herminio Portell Vil dedicated three volumes to demonstrate that he was not an annexationist. However, the label of annexationist still haunts Lpez to this day, although recognized patriots were in his circle.

Cirilo Villaverde, author of Cecilia Valds, explained the original content of that flag: the three blue stripes represented the regions of Cuba, and the two white ones are the symbol of the purity of the intentions of independent republicans.

Emilia Casanova received virulent condemnations for her heterodox political life: she founded the first Cuban Womens League and is the pioneer of Cuban diplomacy, in addition to having sewn countless flags with her hands. Those who condemned her preferred the destruction of Cuba to a Cuba with Emilia Casanova. Ana Cairo Ballester saw in her the dignity of Cuban women as well as a challenging paradigm of republicanism.

Domingo Goicura shared the works of Narciso Lpez. He was persecuted and imprisoned. He came ready for the war of 1868. In prison, he did not seek worthy among the worthy defense when judged by a verbal council of war. The oral memory would tell that, on the way to the gallows, he assured that the statue of Carlos III would be replaced by that of Cspedes. Before dying, he would have said: A man dies, but a people is born!

He was right: everything that can be called the Cuban people the class, racial, cultural, regional exchanges that it implies, as well as its political constitution as a subject was not born in beautiful colonial houses or in humble huts. It was born in what that people called the redeeming scrubland, the Cuban political city of the 19th century, which developed democratic citizenship as an egalitarian.

The flag of the annexationist became a sign of nationalism. It represented the greatest conceivable heterodoxy at the time: the libertarian, anti-colonial and anti-slavery Republic. The newspaper La Revolucin, from New York, would add content to the meaning of its triangle (1870): One of its sides is Liberty, another is Equality, and the third is Fraternity. The base of the Cuban triangle is the Republic; the vertex the abolition of slavery. The same flag that came from Crdenas later covered Francisco Vicente Aguileras coffin, which Mart called the Father of the Republic.

The democratic meanings of the war egalitarian character, defense of social rights, anti-racism, appreciation of the Law and order marked the democratic uses of the flag that became the flag of all Cubans.

The testimonies of devotion to her are as infinite as fair.

That flag vindicated the heterodoxies of the right of resistance and the inclusion of everyone embodied in the nation and represented personal, national and social freedom. Thats why it is a national flag, not a party flag. Without the continued exercise of those values, it is just a piece of cloth. Homeland is a very demanding political passion. It is a democratic passion when defending those values.

The democratic meaning of patriotism

From another side of patriotism, Gonzalo Castan the alleged desecration of his grave triggered the execution of the medical students (1871) could say that Spanish soldiers, and especially volunteers, die for the [Spanish] homeland and that their memory will never be erased from our hearts.

Verses of colonialist soldiers shared this sense: In the Plaza de Matanzas/ I met a black man, he told me; Long live Cuba/and I shot him.//Because of the little confidence we have in that people,/ we Spaniards do/as blacks do to us. The book that collects them is titled Amor por la patria.

It is also a concept of homeland. It is the ethnic, racialized homeland, focused on biology, language, inheritance. The conservative homeland. The excluding homeland of improper emotion, of reason without dialogue. That of freedom as a privilege of sect.

It was the homeland committed to colonialism and then to Francoism: the peoples of America, Franco would say in 1939, are born of our same lineage, formed in the same faith, educated in our same language and therefore participants of the same culture.

It was the German homeland of Hitler and Goebbels: We are going to fight for the preservation of the existence and development of our race and our people, the food of their children and the maintenance of pure blood, freedom and the independence of the homeland.

It was the homeland of Stalinist Russification, another form of official patriotism. It is the xenophobic homeland of Trump, who shouts go back to your country to a Latina born in the Bronx.

Those homelands are daughters of despotism. Democratic patriotism does the opposite. Find the homeland where you are free.

It is patriotism that Jos Mart expressly defended: They say that the separation from Cuba would be the division of the homeland. It would be so if the homeland were that sordid and selfish idea of domination and greed. It was also that of Heredia: From my homeland/under the cloudless sky/I could not resolve to be a slave/nor consent that everything in nature/was noble and happy except man. It was also that of Villaverde, for whom the patriotism of his character Leonardo Gamboa was only platonic, since it was not based, as it should be, on the feeling of duty or on the knowledge of rights as a citizen and as a free man. It was, in the same vein, that of Calixto Garca: When you are going to be a citizen of a free people, it is necessary to respect the laws and exercise the virtues from the battlefields.

That is, patriotism is democratic when it is a political passion for freedom.

It was those cosmopolitan universal, therefore democratic ideas about the country. Such was the homeland of the Jacobins: The war we are waging is not a war between king and king or between nation and nation; it is a war of freedom against despotism. There is no doubt that we will be victorious. A just and free nation is invincible. It was Marxs idea of the workers have no homeland, of Kants cosmopolitanism, or that of Marts homeland is humanity. It was this meaning that Roberto Salas defended when he placed the flag of the July 26 Revolutionary Movement on the crown of the Statue of Liberty in New York (1957), which became a symbol of the Cuban underground revolutionary struggle.

The homeland, a common good

LMOAs recent performances with the flag are consistent with that piece of his in RyC. At that time no one questioned his status as an artist. Both are statements about the flag as a common good, about the homeland that belongs to everyone, with diverse political marks, but without ideological, class, or racial monopolies.

In any case, they should be judged as art bad art, if it were but it is a mistake to draw punitive consequences based on their perceived literal meanings. Art critics, such as David Mateo, or artists, such as Cirenaica Moreira, have brought order to the branches of that forest. More than error, it is a horror to turn art critics into criminal law judges.

There are doors that cannot be opened.

Being against LMOAs incarceration is not the same as sharing his political agenda. His work can be very interesting, or not; in bad taste or with civic substance; but thats not whats important here.

What should interest us are central questions that his case brings to the fore: how pluralism and difference are processed in Cuba, how resistance is exercised against what is experienced as unfair, what is the legitimate space to dissent, what right we have to participate in the public space, what should be the width the virtue of the patriotism that we want to defend in the homeland that we want to live.

We should also be interested in the right to dissent from the LMOA political agenda without being slandered for it. Opposition to an injustice does not justify the anything goes advocated by currents of opinion contrary to the Cuban government, and which operate with the same with me or against me that they claim to contest. We should be interested in the country being an altar stone, not a tribe.

The right to freedom of expression follows from the idea of homeland as a heroism of freedom. That right is of interest, but other rights should also be of interest to us. The preference for ownership exercised in common over private property also follows from this idea of homeland. Love for the municipality as an essential form of political life. The passion for Law, for its democratic elaboration and for its universal compliance, without selectiveness. The devotion to civil and political equality. The demand for freedom of the other as a condition of possibility of freedom itself. Fidelity and loyalty to the norms and institutions that make us free. The appreciation of pluralism. The cult of the full dignity of man. The homeland with all and for the good of all.

Note:

[1] Revolucin y Cultura, No. 2, April-June, 2016.

Originally posted here:

Homeland. Passion and democracy of national symbols in Cuba - OnCubaNews

The government is expected to table legislation in the Commons next week which would ban gatherings of more than 500 people.

While some of the largest sports leagues and entertainers have already taken action, smaller venues and cinemas say a shutdown could do serious harm to their businesses.

Sky News has spoken to pubs, cinemas and live TV broadcasters to see what they're doing to keep customers and audiences safe.

Pubs and clubs

For independent bars and clubs, the prospect of a lack of revenue is daunting.

The Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT) is one of London's most famous LGBT+ pubs, frequently selling out cabaret and club nights like Duckie and Push The Button.

The chancellor Rishi Sunak, in his recent budget, announced the abolition of business rates for certain companies to help them during the COVID-19 pandemic. But this hasn't alleviated the RVT's chief executive James Lindsay's concerns.

"The government took a step in the week to give businesses a rate-free period, but it's not helping us in any way," he told Sky News.

"It's really concerning. Because of the nature of the virus, we're not covered by our insurance. It is uncomfortable thinking at the moment."

Mr Lindsay added that the impact of the outbreak could affect the wider nightlife industry.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UK Hospitality, said: "This is a question of survival for hospitality businesses. In two months they will run out of cash, putting hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk."

Wetherspoons, one of the most popular pub chains in the UK, has yet to say whether they will be closing pubs.

In a statement on their website, however, the chain said it would be "educating employees on prevention" and "cleaning and sanitising contact points more frequently".

Cinemas

Film production and promotion schedules have been affected by the outbreak, with Disney pushing back the release of its remake of Mulan and the soft reboot of the X-Men franchise, The New Mutants.

The UK Cinema Association, which represents the interests of UK cinema operators, has said COVID-19 should not mean the public cannot visit the cinema.

But the organisation warned: "The decision by a number of US studios to delay the release of several of their upcoming major films presents an unprecedented challenge to many UK cinemas, and is something which may genuinely call into question the survival of a number of sites."

One UK chain, Showcase Cinemas, has taken measures into their own hands, ahead of government and public health advice.

In an email to customers, Showcase said it would be reducing audience capacity by 50% in auditoriums in order to allow for space between seats.

"If staff or a guest at the cinema is showing symptoms such as a fever, cough or shortness of breath, they will be respectfully asked to leave," the company said in the email.

Live Television

ITV, whose entertainment programmes like Dancing On Ice and The Voice UK rely heavily on live audiences, has told Sky News that it would prefer shows to be made without an audience.

In a message of guidance to production teams, the company said the measure is "precautionary" and that "all productions" are being assessed.

But Ant And Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, one of the UK's most popular Saturday night programmes, will continue to go ahead "business as usual" according to one of its presenters Declan Donnelly.

ITV also said that fewer than 500 people are in the studio for Saturday Night Takeaway, adding it would comply with advice given by Public Health England and the World Health Organisation.

The channel went on to say: "All of our audience handling agencies are sharing the updated advice from the NHS site with audiences prior to attending our shows and we continue to work with them to update advice as and when it changes."

Channel 5 is taking further steps. The channel said in a statement: "As a precautionary measure we have taken the decision not to have a live studio audience for The Jeremy Vine Show for the time being.

"We will continue to monitor and review official guidelines and advice."

The BBC and Channel 4 will continue to air shows in front of live audiences - for now.

As well as well as creating television programmes, the BBC also records and airs radio programmes like The News Quiz and The Now Show, which often require a live audience.

The corporation said: "We're keeping the situation with our audience-based programmes under review.

"While the current government advice doesn't necessarily prevent such programmes taking place, this is a rapidly evolving situation and we take seriously our duty of care to audiences, panellists and our staff."

Channel 4, whose programmes Countdown and The Last Leg use live audiences, also said it would be looking at advice given by Public Health England.

"We and our production partners across all of our shows are continuing to monitor the situation very closely."

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Coronavirus: How Saturday Night Takeaway, pubs, and cinemas are keeping audiences safe - Sky News

I caught part of a documentary about the abolition of Capital Punishment during the week.

There were some extraordinary insights into its history, but one of the commentators on the programme raised the point that when it was abolished during the 1960s this was not due to public opinion, which was in favour of maintaining it, but rather it was down to a group of determined MPs, at a time when the public was willing to accept that the politicians knew best.

As he then went on to say, it would be very difficult to imagine this happening today.

At a time when faith in our leaders is so diminished, it is sometimes refreshing to be reminded of the calibre of people working in the background doing the real work.

On many occasions over the past few days, I have been hearing how reassured people have been by the presence of the Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Scientific Officer.

Maybe its the partly the grey hair, but listening to sensible, experienced and measured people, explaining their view on what is happening, giving clear advice and guidance, while openly saying that they cannot say with certainty how the coronavirus crisis will unfold, has been a source of great comfort over the past week or so.

The cynic in me does wonder whether the Prime Minister is so keen to be flanked by his two eminent Civil Servants, as even he appreciates that people need to be convinced that what he is saying is actually true and is supported by genuine experts

It does beg the question though why, up to now, our Government is so disdainful of experts, and why the Governments chief advisor has made such an objective to fill the CivilService with weirdoes and misfits.

How reassured would we be as a nation, during a time of an evolving, complicated and very real problem, if we were depending on one of these afore-mentioned weirdoes?

There are times when experience and gravitas are required, and that time seems to be now.

Similarly, in a period where questionable news sources are so prevalent, and fake news is so widespread, surely the value of BBC news be it on the television, online, or particularly, on the radio is clear for all to see, and attempting to defang or weaken the BBC seems to be yet another strategy that has not been thought through, or at the very least the opaque potential benefits may be outweighed by the unintended consequences.

Maybe the current problems will highlight how fortunate we are to enjoy the benefits brought by our long-standing institutions, such as the Civil Service and the BBC, and we may even start appreciating what we have got.

We cannot know how long this crisis will last and what the long-term implications will be, but hopefully, we shall all be doing our bit to prevent the possible spread of the coronavirus.

I was surprised to witness an exchange last week when somebody started sneezing into his hand, and when it was suggested that it may be a good idea to use a tissue and wash his hands, point blank refused to do so, and said he really didnt care if anyone else picked up something from him.

In fairness, there was a half-hearted apology a few minutes later, but it does not augur well for what may very well be a very challenging few weeks for the nation.

Excerpt from:

Why we haven't had enough of experts - The Wokingham Paper

A think tank has called on the next Mayor of London to launch a programme of affordable house building, review the green belt and develop a fair and transparent approach to setting rents.

Centre for London said housing supply is failing to keep pace with the citys growth, while housing is increasingly unaffordable to Londoners on low and modest incomes.

Policies suggested include the launching of a programme of building affordable housing using government funding or a London Housing Bond supported by housing benefit payments, which could be used to build 25,000 affordable homes a year.

Richard Brown, deputy director at Centre for London, said: Housing is Londons fundamental challenge.

High housing costs push working Londoners into poverty, makes entry-level jobs inaccessible for young people from out of town, and makes people in the rest of the UK feel alienated from their capital.

Housing is a risk for Londons status as a centre for global headquarters too, by acting as a deterrent for internationally mobile professionals.

Londons housing problem is complex and long-established. Tackling it will not involve a single solution, but a concerted campaign of action.

The next Mayor of London must work with boroughs, housing association and developers with the backing of the government to address supply, affordability, security and quality.

The other policies suggested are as follows:

Undertaking a long-term review of Londons green belt, with the aims of managing release of land to build well-connected new places, preserving Londons urban character, and enabling access to open space for Londoners. The government should permit and support such a review.

Piloting zoning-based planning for major sites, to broaden the market of developers enable wider public engagement in planning, using existing tools such as permission in principle, and lobby the government for a more comprehensive review of planning processes.

Incentivising denser development in station intensification areas and use call-in and development corporation powers to ensure that these are delivered.

Supporting Londons boroughs to build more housing, enabling inter-borough collaboration, and supporting modern construction methods like modular homes through joint buying initiatives.

The next Mayor of London should also promote affordable renting and enable home ownership, by:

Promoting longer-term tenancies with index-linked rents, and support abolition of Section 21 evictions so that rents can be challenged in tribunals. While the Mayor would depend on government support for rent controls, landlords should be encouraged to give tenants longer-term tenancies that index rent rises to inflation rates for three to five years.

Exploring personalised rents for build-to-rent and other new development. Personalised rents base rents on a proportion of household incomefollowing deductions for essential costs. This approach allows for rents to rise and fall as tenants earn more or their personal circumstances change.

Lobbying government to help private renters to buy from their landlords.

The Mayoral election will take place on 7 May 2020, with current Mayor Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party being the favourite to win a second term.

Read the rest here:

Think tank: Next Mayor of London should focus on supply and affordability - Property Wire

Pledges to support pubs and many other small businesses, as well as their employees, were made by Sunak in the Budget in a bid to protect the economy as the coronavirus increases its presence in the UK.

Many commentators highlighted that the Chancellors speech outlined fears the UKs economy could be hit hard by measures put in place to protect against the virus that has swept across much of the world.

Long Live The Local has welcomed the freeze in beer duty announced in the Budget, as well as the increased support in business rates relief for small pubs.

The UK pays 3.5bn in beer duty each year, which is the highest across Europe. The Chancellors decision to freeze beer duty puts pubs and brewers in a better position than the beer duty increase originally planned.

The announcement by the Chancellor clearly demonstrates that he has listened to 250,000people who signed the petition, 130,000peoplewho wrote to their MPs and 25,000 pubs who have campaigned throughout the year.

Long Live The Local programme directorDavid Cunninghamcommented: The Government has listened to the quarter of a million people that signed our petition asking for a cut to beer duty. While not a cut, replacing the planned increase with a freeze shows the Chancellor has recognised the value of local pubs and Britains brewers.

This was echoed by Candice Brown, publican of the Green Man in Eversholt, Buckinghamshire, and former Great British Bake Offwinner. She said: Pubs are the beating heart of villages like Eversholt. There are pubs like mine up and down the country that will welcome this freeze in beer duty. Its great to see the Chancellor really understands the cultural, social and economic value of pubs. He would be welcome for a pint in my pub any time.

However, it was made clear that pubs and their employees would be protected as much as possible during and after any issues caused by the outbreak through a series of measures, as reported live by The Morning Advertiser.

Firstly, Sunak outlined the imminent threat the virus poses to UK citizens and its economy, saying: We are doing everything we can to keep this country and our people healthy and financially secure.

We will get through this together. The British people may be worried but they are not daunted. We will protect our country and people, and will rise to the challenge. This virus is the key challenge facing our country but it is not our key challenge.

We have just had an election where people voted for change to our economy and this Budget delivers on that change.

He said there could be up to a fifth of the population out of work with the illness or in isolation, impacting their income and that of their employers.

As a result, Sunak abolished business rates for pubs with a rateable value under 51,000 for the financial year, as well as an additional business rates relief of 5,000.

Employers will also be able to claim a temporary coronavirus interruption loan, while businesses with fewer than 250 employees will be able to refund statutory sick pay for those off work due to coronavirus for up to 14 days.

Self-employed and gig-economy workers (zero-hours contractors) will also be given access to the relevant sickness benefits immediately, should the virus prevent them from working.

Sunak also confirmed a digital services tax will be introduced from 1 April, seeing a 2% levy on sales from certain types of digital businesses, which could raise 500m a year.

Meanwhile, plans to increase beer, wine, spirits and cider duty were also axed by the Chancellor, who hailed the pub trade as vital to the communities they serve.

Such a move inspired joy and relief from producers and the trade bodies representing them.

Wine and Spirits Trade Association (WSTA) chief executive Miles Beale said: The decision to freeze wine and spirit duty is welcome for British business, pubs and the wider hospitality trade. While he has not cut duty, it is reassuring to see that in his first Budget as Chancellor, Rishi Sunak MP, has taken steps to address the UKs excessively high duty rates.

Todays freeze is a victory for the WSTAs hard-fought campaign that called on Government to help cash-strapped consumers by keeping prices down, and to support British businesses entering a new trading landscape.

The UK Spirits Alliance (UKSA) paid a similar tribute to the Budget and a spokesperson said: Todays announcement of a freeze in spirits duty is welcome news for Britains army of distillers and the millions who enjoy our products. This is the third freeze in three years, bringing much-needed stability for our industry.

We also welcome confirmation of the Governments Queens Speech commitment to a review of alcohol duties.

A Heineken UK spokesperson said: "Licensees and drinkers up and down theUK will beraising a pint tothe Chancellor tonight for freezing beer and cider duty supporting the great British institution, the pub.

Furthermore, the newly announced increase in the business ratesdiscount for pubs from 1,000 to 5,000 will help secure a brighter future for thousands of pubs pubs that are at the heart of communities across the nation.

Nik Antona, Campaign for Real Ale chairman, said: Against the backdrop of industry fears on coronavirus, it is good to see the Government has continued to recognise the value of pubs to the economy and society by freezing beer duty in the Budget. Brewers and pubscompanies mustnow pass any savings onto consumers.

We feel the decision not to implement a preferential rate of beer duty is a missed opportunity and will use the upcoming review of alcohol duty to continue to make the case for this, as we believe this is the best way to support community pubs.

The abolition of business rates for pubs with a rateable value under 51,000, and the 5,000 discount for those with a value up to 100,000 is great news for qualifying pubs, and we are glad that the Treasury has listened to our calls for action.

The announcement of a review of the business rates system iswelcome, and this must happen as soon as possible so that we can fix the root issues with this unfair system and save our pubs from extinction.

Diageo Great Britain, Ireland & France managing directorDayalan Nayagersaid:We welcome the Chancellors duty freeze, which will provide much needed stability in these difficult times for the industry. We are delighted that he announced his intention to reform the duty system to bring fairness for gin and Scotch whisky, which should ensure that these iconic home-grown products no longer face punitive levels of tax.

Drinkers across the country will raise a toast to the Chancellor tonight. The Governments measures to help the hospitality and retail sectors will also be a welcome move for our customers, their employees and consumers in general.

British Institute of InnkeepingCOO Steven Alton commented: We are extremely pleased that in these turbulent times, the Government is taking the radical step of abolishing business rates for pubs with a rateable value of less than 51,000 for the next year.

Pubs are at the core of high streets and rural communities alike, and the challenges they currently face, are unprecedented. This relief, coupled with the sick pay support for those self-isolating during Coronavirus, is great news for those working in the front line of hospitality.

In addition, the news that business rates will be reviewed this year gives us hope that measures bringing short-term relief will be backed up by rate reforms that could bring long-term growth to our vibrant and vital sector.

Vice-president for Carlsbergs corporate affairs Bruce Ray said: Beer and pubs make a significant contribution to the UK economy and play an important role in the lives of many people who enjoy drinking beer in the many wonderful pubs and bars all across the country.

Were pleased the Chancellor has recognised the publics concern and has frozen beer tax. This is good news for breweries of all sizes, their supply chains and employees, as well as the thousands of hard-working publicans all across the UK.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: Pubgoers across the UK will be toasting the Chancellor tonight for freezing beer duty. This freeze alone will save pubgoers 80m and secure 2,000 vital jobs across the country.

Some 82% of the beer we drink here is brewed in the UK, so this is a very welcome decision that will help pubs and brewers across the UK. Cheers to the Chancellor.

Here is the original post:

What did pubs get in the Budget 2020? - MorningAdvertiser.co.uk

Rottenomics: The Story of New Zealands Leaky Buildings DisasterHow profit-gouging and government deregulation created New Zealands home-building catastrophe By John Braddock 12 March 2020

Rottenomics: The Story of New Zealands Leaky Buildings Disaster by Peter Dyer (Bateman Books, 2019)

New Zealands housing problems were recently described as a human rights crisis of significant proportions by Leilani Farha, a UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, following a fact-finding mission to the country.

Farha said that the social conditions she encounteredchronic homelessness, substandard accommodation, the gutting of public housing and skyrocketing rentswere violations of the right to health, security and life. The root issue, Farha declared, was the speculative housing market that had been supported by successive governments, including the current Labour-led administration.

New Zealand has some of the most expensive housing in the world relative to wages. The Real Estate Institute declared the average median house price increased by 11.8 percent in the year to January, to $615,000. Westpac bank has predicted another 10 percent increase this year. Since 2017, when Labour took office, median rents have increased by over 28 percent, from $400 a week to $515, according to TradeMe. Over 20182019, however, wages rose just 4.3 percent.

The deepening crisis is a product of fiscal regimes pursued by central banks internationally since 2008. Low interest rate policies have seen a flow of cheap cash that has financed rampant speculation in finance and property, while brutal austerity measures have hit the working class.

In New Zealand, the assault on the basic social right to safe and decent housing was prepared by three decades of pro-market deregulation, begun by the 198490 Lange-Douglas Labour government. Sweeping attacks on jobs, incomes and social services have continued under administrations of all stripes.

A 2019 book, entitled Rottenomics: The Story of New Zealands Leaky Buildings Disaster, by independent journalist Peter Dyer, provides a timely and valuable insight into one major aspect of how this assault unfolded.

Rottenomics references the term Rogernomics, which describes the pro-market liberalisation program launched by Labour Finance Minister Roger Douglas in the 1980s. The abolition of red tape, that is, the destruction of basic rules and regulation and the introduction of self-regulation, along with the privatisation of public services, rendered thousands of homes and buildings rotten and uninhabitable.

Bottom line estimates, according to Dyer, imputed from two partial government reports, indicate between 1985 and 2014, 174,000 homes were built that were doomed to rot, with a total eventual cost of $NZ47 billion. This figure excludes public buildings including schools, libraries, hospitals, etc.

Dyer characterises the leaky homes scandal as the largest man-made disaster in New Zealands history. He lays the blame firmly at the feet of both Labour and National Party-led governments that have overseen a system that continues to ensure that inadequate, unsafe homes are still being built.

The value of Dyers book lies in its thorough exposure of various factors that combined to render what was an entirely preventable disaster inevitable. The regulatory framework that had kept New Zealand buildings relatively rot and leak-free over the post-war period was systematically demolished in the deregulatory mania.

Dyer begins with a description of how Pinus radiata, also know as radiata pine and Monterey pine, a soft wood that is highly profitable because it grows quickly, replaced depleted native hardwoods in house construction. The first round of deregulation in the mid-1980s allowed for radiata pine, untreated with fungicides or insecticides, to be widely used as a building material, leading to rot and leakages.

Industry heavyweights, such as Carter Holt Harvey (CHH), lobbied intensely for the adoption of untreated timber. Treatment was regarded as an unnecessary cost. Driving CHH, Dyer notes, were new agreements which opened up free trade in goods between NZ and Australia, greatly increasing opportunities for profits. CHH soon became one of NZs largest, richest and most powerful corporations, quadrupling its assets, from $577 million in 1985 to $2.73 billion just four years later.

The key piece of legislation, the Building Act 1991, had bipartisan support after being prepared by the outgoing Labour government then brought forward by National. Building certification was thrown open to market competition and private certifiers were legally enabled to compete with local government inspectors. Business became self-regulating, while regulators were turned into freelance business operators.

It took little more than two years for reports of leaky homes to appear, as the use of untested and unaccredited products and processes became standard. According to Dyer, designers and builders took serious risks, including the widespread use of fake stucco and monolithic claddings, cheap silicon sealants and houses built without watertight eaves or flashings.

The repeal of the Building Performance Guarantee Act eliminated limited government guarantees over certain new homes. Under the Local Government Amendment Act, a swathe of public supervisory positions, such as town clerks, clerks of works and city engineers, were cut. A newly-created Building Industry Authority oversight body was given insufficient powers and inadequate funds to do its job properly.

The de-professionalising of the industry was carried through by wide-ranging assaults on the public sector, including the closure of the Ministry of Works, Ministry of Electricity and the privatisation of railways, all of which had trained specialist tradespeople and apprentices. The destruction of these century-old institutions underpinned a catastrophic, enduring loss of industrial skills.

Long-established systems of trades training were replaced with short-term, fees-charging courses at polytechnics. Unsupervised self-employed subcontractors, often the victims of mass workplace closures, flooded the labour force, all bidding for jobs on the lowest price. One architect declared: The entry cost to the industry is a hammer, a kit of power tools, a ute [flatbed vehicle] and a dog No registration scheme for builders exists all in the interests of keeping costs down and development profits up.

The 1993 Companies Act enabled property developers to evade financial liability by declaring bankruptcy in one company and then continuing business-as-usual by opening another. In one case, 19 limited companies with numbered versions of the same name, operated by the same developer, were registered with the Companies Office between 1994 and 2002.

Millions in costs had to be picked up by homeowners and local councils. A vastly inadequate Financial Assistance Package with a 10-year liability limit, instituted by a National Party government in 2011, had by 2015 assisted just 700 households with property remediation.

Dyer details the human consequences of those forced to live with mould, mildew and cold. One woman, Sarah, was sick for three years and diagnosed with aspergillosis, an infection caused by mould. Her life fell to pieces after she was forced to sell her property at a loss. Persistent illness affected Sarahs ability to work and she was made redundant. Between lost income, medical and legal expenses and inspectors fees, Sarah calculated her losses at about $NZ500,000.

The book does have significant political weaknesses, arising from the authors reformist political perspective. In particular, it fails to address the root causes of the post-1984 de-regulation program. While excoriating the policies and parties of the political establishment, Dyer attributes the destruction of the New Zealand economy to the vision of a small group of neo-liberal ideologues, centred principally in the Treasury.

Dyer implies that the solution lies in a return to better regulation and planning. He lauds the post-war tripartite arrangements in which three equal and independent partnersgovernment, industry and unions, co-operated to manage industrial relations and society as a whole. He looks back fondly on the apprenticeship training system, which was dependent on the cheap labour of indentured apprentices.

The post-war settlement based on national protectionism and social regulation was blown apart in the 1980s by vast changes to the world economy. The unprecedented development of globalisation of production rendered the social reformist measures advocated now by Dyer and others became completely unviable. There can be no return to planning and social protections under the profit system in which industries compete on a global scale, primarily by driving down costs at the expense of the health and wellbeing of ordinary people.

The deregulation of New Zealands building industry is not unique. Dyers book does not refer to the use of aluminium composite panels (ACPs) of the type responsible for the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, in which 72 people died. The same potentially combustible cladding is widely used in the UK, Australia and other countries.

In New Zealand, Auckland City Hospital, TVNZs headquarters, the PwC Tower and more than 5,000 city apartments were subsequently found to be clad in ACPs with flammable polyethylene cores. A Wellington City Council investigation found 103 of the capitals buildings had ACPs.

Today, the industry remains mired in crisis, and incapable of meeting the pressing need for safe, healthy affordable housing. Labour last year ditched its Kiwibuild scheme, which promised to build 100,000 affordable new homes in 10 years. Only 79 new homes had been built, most of them priced at $500,000 or morewell beyond the reach of ordinary families.

The author also recommends:

Families spokesman on New Zealand earthquake building collapse: Are there people who are above the law?[6 February 2018]

Australian inquiry into dangerous building products: An exercise in political damage control[27 July 2017]

2019 has been a year of mass social upheaval. We need you to help the WSWS and ICFI make 2020 the year of international socialist revival. We must expand our work and our influence in the international working class. If you agree, donate today. Thank you.

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How profit-gouging and government deregulation created New Zealand's home-building catastrophe - World Socialist Web Site

Emergency measures to combat the spread of coronavirus in Russia, including the closing of borders, mandatory quarantines for immigrants from poor countries, the transfer of students into distance learning, still in no way affected the coming vote on amendments to the Constitution. According to sources of Vedomosti close to the presidential administration, the complete abolition of voting had not yet been discussed.

This will raise doubts about the legitimacy of the adoption of the amendments. The opposition may say that the government got scared and used the situation with coronavirus to hold the amendment. In addition, the President has repeatedly stressed that it is very important that the amendment was supported by people, explained one of the interlocutors of the newspaper.

will Not be able to have and to hold e-voting across the country, because the regions lack the necessary infrastructure, but in Moscow emphasis will be placed on it. To translate the vote in the capital, a fully electronic format will not. But the Kremlin can lower the required voter turnout and of voting for the amendment: 60%. The main thing is to avoid panic, because then vote for the amendments, no one will come, said one of the sources.

Secretary of the CEC, Maya Grishina told Interfax that the Commission is studying the possibility of increasing periods of early voting, and she still has time to make a final decision on this matter.

the Decision (to be taken within the time), on the basis of the signed law, which is in the constitutional court, which says that we have three days after the decree of the President about appointment of date of elections, she specified. According to another interviewee, familiar with a situation, a decision can be made as early as next Wednesday.

According to Vedomosti, the CEC prepared a draft order.and vote provides for expression outside the polling station during the three days before election day. Yet the estimated date for the vote is April 22, but the last word for the President.

the head of the Public headquarters for the observation of elections in the capital, the chief editor of Echo of Moscow Alexei Venediktov wrote in a Telegram that he believes the right to put the question on the abolition of voting on April 22. He noted that 95% of polling stations located in schools, and schools need to send to quarantine. In Moscow, we will remind, on March 16, introduced free school attendance.

co-Chairman of the movement Golos Gregory Melkonyants believes that the expansion of the list of valid reasons for home-based voting, its extension and lack of effective monitoring can lead to the explosive growth of statistics about the number of voters at home. Therefore, the attendance will be done early and home early voting, whereas during a pandemic, it is necessary to abandon the vote and not put people at risk.

In his opinion, if the vote is not canceled, it will demonstrate the governments attitude to its citizens and could lead to lower turnout and vote against the amendments. And visiting voters at home will create additional threat of infection and spread of the virus.

the Expert of the movement Voice Basil Weissenberg pointed to a number of problems with electronic voting. The main complexity of the control of the observers, and the inability to check your voice for voters: voters cannot verify that his vote in the electronic system was considered correct. The expert also recalled that the mechanism of online voting has caused serious concerns during the elections to the Moscow city Duma. Then the result of the failure of the system of Internet voting have stopped work from-for technical problems, and then e-voting had to be suspended fromre-keying of cryptographic equipment.

See the original post:

Experts fear an explosion of voting on amendments to the Constitution - The KXAN 36 News

Luxembourg may be a country only the size of Oxfordshire, but the government is making big claims for its abolition of fares on public transport comparing the move with the invention of the wheel, the arrival of the internet.

The mobility ministry says 29 February 2020, the day nationwide ticketless travel began, will become a date anchored in history, just like the first step on the moon.

The last opportunity to pay the nationwide1.70(2) flat fare was on bus number 6 in a suburb of the capital at 11.59pm on Friday 28 February.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

Citizens, expatriates and visitors can now enjoy permanent free travel throughout the Grand Duchy.

Its fantastic, said one of the first beneficiaries: Rosalind Brown, a marketing and communications specialist who has lived in the capital for 22 years.

Collectors item: one of the last bus tickets ever issued in Luxembourg (Simon Calder)

It does encourage you to hop on the tram. Im really glad that Luxembourg is the first country to do it. I hope others follow.

The policy has been launched by Luxembourgs deputy prime minister and mobility minister Franois Bausch.

The system that we developed in the last century cannot function any more, he told The Independent.

Everywhere we have congestion problems, the quality of life in urban areas is going down.

If we organise the big urban areas, this will help with climate change.

Luxembourgs transport system costs 430m(500m) annually, with fare revenue of 35m(41m) meetingbarely 8 per cent of the total.

The Grand Duchy is thriving economically but has severe problems with traffic. Luxembourg has more cars per capita than any other country in the European Union.

In Luxembourg City, where many expatriates from across Europe and the world live and work, there is strong backing for thenew policy.

Marija from Croatia, who works in a bar, said: We pay high taxes, so its good to get something back.

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Among many Luxembourgers, though, the move will make little difference to their travel plans: only one in five commuters currently uses public transport.

Each working day, the countrys population is augmented by 220,000 employees who commute from Belgium, France and Germany. There are fears that some of them may drive just across the border and park in a small town or villages, then jump on a free bus or train to reach their workplace.

But the deputy prime minister said that Luxembourgs government has spent 103m(120m) across the border in France to improve rail links and lure commuters from car to train.

Mobility is one of the most important challenges of humanity in the 21st century, said Mr Bausch.

Not every aspect of public transport is free: commuters who want to work in serenity can pay an extra 3 to travel first class on trains.

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Like the first step on the moon: Luxembourg makes history as first country with free public transport - The Independent

Kosovos Ministry of Economy has formed a team to identify trade barriers and recommend to the Government of Kosovo further steps regarding the tax on Serbian goods.

It will recommend either the abolition or withholding of the 100% tax on the import of Serbian goods, Gazeta Express reports.

It is exactly one week since this team, consisting of nine members from different institutions, started to work. This team was founded at the initiative of the Kosovo Minister of Economy Rozeta Hajdari.

Based on the document obtained by the Pristina T7 television, the team consists of representatives of the Ministry of Commerce from different departments of this ministry, who also participate in the Kosovo Customs, Food and Veterinary Agency.

Discover the most important foreign investments in Serbia in 2019: click here!

Company representatives are also included in this group. The PKK, the Manufacturers Club and the Business Chamber are three bodies that represent the voice of Kosovo businesses.

Still, the American Chamber of Commerce of Kosovo is left out of the group. The Chamber told the T7 TV station that their views would have to be heard.

Despite our differing views on the issue of fees, the US Chamber of Commerce believes in the importance of the diversity of opinions and ideas that should be discussed within those bodies. However, over the past week we have had a meeting with both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Economy, at which we have communicated what is already a public view of the US Chamber of Commerce on the importance of undisturbed trade between the Western Balkan countries and therefore the full economic integration of the whole region, said Arian Zeka of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo.

Vetvendosje and the Democratic Alliance of Kosovo stipulated in a coalition government agreement that the tax on Serbian products would be replaced by a measure of reciprocity.

(Blic, 25.02.2020)

https://www.blic.rs/vesti/politika/gazeta-kosovska-vlada-formirala-radnu-grupu-za-razmatranje-ukidanja-taksi/rgryqxx

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Kosovo government forms a task force for abolition of tax on Serbian goods - Serbina Monitor in English

Reader disagrees with

portrayal of Sanders

Robin Beres' recent column on Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and democratic socialism displayed shocking ignorance. Throughout her column she confused the democratic socialism advocated by Sanders with Soviet and Chinese communism. Communism advocates class warfare in order to achieve public ownership of all means of production, which the Soviet Union and China achieved through an authoritarian state. Sanders, on the other hand, seeks to strengthen democracy and roundly rejects Marxist theory and the abolition of capitalism.

In a recent speech at Georgetown University, Sanders explained that he supports a free market, but he wants to expand social programs in order to reduce widening income inequality. The economy needs to work for everyone, not just the few at the top who have the advantages.

Sanders is in the same progressive lineage as President Teddy Roosevelt and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Because of these previous presidents, we already have an economy that mixes capitalism with socialism. Sanders would like to see the U.S. develop programs such as universal health care similar to what exists in Canada and much of Europe. Such a program would save an enormous amount of money and be far more efficient than our current approach.

Sanders is not my preferred candidate. Too many of his ideas are political nonstarters. But he's certainly not a communist.

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Letter to the Editor, March 1, 2020: Reader disagrees with portrayal of Sanders - Richmond.com

Bernie Sanders wants to abolish ICE and halt deportations for everyone except violent criminals. Elizabeth Warren agrees with Sanders on deportations and says the U.S. should increase refugee admissions to 175,000 a year, nearly 10 times President Trumps current limit.

Amy Klobuchar promises to restore the right to asylum for victims of domestic violence. Joe Biden says he could persuade Congress, after decades of deadlocks, to overhaul and humanize the immigration system. Tom Steyer wants a virtual halt to deportations and an end to criminal prosecutions for unauthorized border-crossing.

Those views and others were in the spotlight for the first time in the Democratic presidential campaign at a recent forum on immigration issues a prime topic for Trump, but one that has received relatively little attention in debates and primary contests so far, with crucial votes looming Tuesday in California and several other states.

Of the candidates invited to send representatives to the Feb. 20 forum in Las Vegas, sponsored by Amnesty International, the only no-show was for Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Ind.

All the prominent contenders, including Buttigieg, agree on reversing Trumps most far-reaching policies: the zero-tolerance arrests and prosecutions of all undocumented immigrants, separating children from their parents, severe restrictions on asylum, and the wait in Mexico mandate for 60,000 asylum-seekers that was halted by a federal appeals court on Friday. Also, they would end Trumps cancellation of deportation reprieves for 700,000 migrants who entered as youngsters and another 320,000 from nations ravaged by wars or natural disasters, and diversion of federal funds to build a wall at the Mexico border.

But some of their differences were on display at the forum, including Sanders plan to break up Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the post-Sept. 11 agency whose officers conduct immigration-related arrests and workplace raids nationwide.

The nation doesnt need an agency roaming around simply for the purpose of terrorizing and deportation, said the Vermont senators representative, campaign manager Faiz Shakir.

He said current ICE agents should be reassigned to border safety work while immigration enforcement is turned over to the Justice Department. And the U.S. also needs a moratorium on deportations, Shakir said, removing only violent criminals who have served their sentences while sparing 99% of the people living here peacefully and contributing to Americas economy.

Warrens spokesman, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, expressed similar views on deportation while saying ICE should be reformed from top to bottom, with immigration enforcement assigned to some other agency. Massachusetts Sen. Warren also doesnt believe that folks should be terrorized in their workplace, and wants lawyers to be provided for migrants seeking asylum, Castro said.

Bidens representative, Nevada state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, wasnt asked about deportation policy. But at another Nevada event hosted by CNN, the former vice president promised to halt all deportations for his first 100 days in office, and then to deport only immigrants who have committed a felony in the United States apparently not including the felony of illegal re-entry.

A week earlier, Biden had acknowledged, in an interview with Univision, that the record 3 million deportations under President Barack Obama including 1.7 million removals of immigrants with no criminal records had been a big mistake.

But he said the Obama administration began to get it right with Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, which allowed 700,000 immigrants brought to the U.S. before age 16 to remain in the country and get work permits for renewable two-year periods. Trump has sought to abolish the program, a dispute now before the Supreme Court.

At the immigration forum, Cancela said Biden opposes abolishing ICE but believes it has become a domestic witch-hunting organization that needs to return to its intended mission of combatting terrorism.

Similarly, Melissa Franzen, a state senator from Klobuchars home state of Minnesota, said Klobuchar does not propose to eliminate ICE, but wants it revamped and restructured to work toward keeping people safe, not terrorizing communities.

Asked about immigrants who have been sent back to Central America under Trumps order that bans virtually all Central Americans from seeking asylum, Franzen said Klobuchar would reverse the ban while taking steps to make sure the deportees can apply for U.S. asylum in their home country. Castro said Warren would allow them to return to the U.S. to apply.

Franzen said Klobuchars priorities would be to restore the right to asylum for those fleeing domestic violence, reversing a Trump administration policy; ending the caging of children, and, in the first year, winning congressional approval of a more enlightened immigration policy.

But Cancela said Biden was the one who has the relationship with Congress and the experience to get it done and rewrite the immigration laws, with a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented immigrants.

Steyer, the only candidate to attend in person, agreed with Sanders and Warren on deportation policy and also said unauthorized border-crossing should not be treated as a crime a position endorsed by Sanders and Warren, but not by the other candidates. The criminal law has been on the books since 1929, but was seldom enforced until the mid-2000s, and has been ramped up under the Trump administrations zero tolerance policy.

Steyer said ICE should be revamped, not abolished, but called for an end to the relationship between ICE and local law enforcement, a position akin to the sanctuary policies of California and many of its local governments.

When Steyer advocated a ban on housing detained immigrants in private prisons, the forum moderator, BuzzFeed News reporter Hamed Aleaziz, a former Chronicle staff writer, pointed out that the billionaires hedge fund had invested in Corrections Corp. of America, a leading owner of private prisons.

That was a mistake, Steyer replied, but I reversed it 15 years ago ... sold it for moral reasons, before anyone was talking about it.

Buttigieg, while bypassing the forum, has outlined immigration policies that include an end to ICE detainers orders to local police agencies to keep immigrants in custody so they can be deported and a pathway to citizenship for most current undocumented migrants.

He has not called for abolition or restructuring of ICE, but said he would favor cuts in the agencys budget and in the lockup of immigrant families and asylum-seekers to reduce detention of immigrants by at least 75%.

Another Democratic contender, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was not invited to the forum since he did not take part in the Nevada presidential caucus. His positions on immigration, outlined earlier this month, include substantial increases in refugee admissions and visas including placed-based visas for states and local governments to meet their economic needs a ban on private detention of immigrants, and reversal of Trumps asylum restrictions.

As mayor, Bloomberg signed laws in 2013 that limited New York Citys cooperation with ICE and barred local law enforcement from holding and handing over migrants with little or no past criminal record. But in a 2017 television interview, he rejected the concept of sanctuary cities.

You cannot have everybody deciding which laws they should obey, Bloomberg said. The law is the law.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko

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Democratic presidential candidates where they stand on immigration - San Francisco Chronicle