Monthly Archives: May 2017

Microfinance and the challenge of failing states – BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)

Posted: May 23, 2017 at 11:25 pm

The problem of poverty in Nigeria is not abating. At best it is getting worse and at worst it has gone beyond our capacity to manage. And this has nothing to do with the laudable policy of microfinance and its very successful implementation. Nigeria is at critical cross roads of its socio-economic development. The continued organised misgovernance and manipulation of religion and politics by vested interests have ensured that we get into a bind that is hard to break. Today, the poor in many parts of the country are no longer afraid of poverty because something worse than poverty has arrived. They fear for their lives. As things stand, the nation is in such a bad shape that in or out of recession, it makes no difference to the lives of most of the ordinary people. In Nigeria hard facts are risky to share but the man dies..

There is incontrovertible evidence that most of the 36 states have practically become unable to meet the needs of their people. They exist only because it is politically profitable to some of our political class to continue to maintain this failed structure and leadership style. Not only are the majority of the states insolvent and unable to meet their financial obligations, they are flatly unable to provide safety and security to their people. And this is one of the parts of the Nigerian problem that everyone would like to avoid but the man dies

Worse still, the institutions endowed with the capacity to secure them have been privatized. The police and, sometimes, the army whose primary duty is to protect the people, have been parcelled out to politicians and the privileged few on guard duty and as orderlies for all manner of people. Few are left for the real calling. As a result, the streets have been occupied by dangerous gangs who make sure that, in some rural areas, farmers no longer farm and traders no longer come to markets. The economic activity of the poor, which is the basis of microfinancing has been victimised and brought to a standstill. In such areas, one begins to wonder how the effectiveness of our microfinance programme can be assessed, as social collapse and insecurity continue to rubbish microfinancing.

A recent Channels Television presentation on the power supply challenges faced by artisans in Nassarawa state was as elixir for this piece. Although it was a rehash of the tale of woes we get from all over the country on the failure of governments to solve the basic problem, which everyone knows is behind the mass poverty in Nigeriadebilitating epilepsy of power supply. In that story, a spray painter and many other artisans, who seek to legitimately earn a living, spend all they make to provide power through generators. This is the same story everywhere and instead of declaring a national emergency on electricity we are busy splitting hair on what an Acting President could sign and not sign.; and following the same spending pattern that brought us to this shameful state a battle of supremacy between the executive and the legislature, a bloated civil service of many ghost workers the source of whose entry to the service has never been found, translucent security votes and inflated contracts and more.

Following the Nassarawa story I decided to dig deeper on the economic activity of the poor in that area of Nigeria. The results are terrifying. As we sit in Abuja to postulate our shares of the 2017 budget, life has come to a standstill in many parts of the middle belt. At a point one wonders whether some of these states, including Nassarawa and Taraba, are not worse hit by Boko Haram than the North East. I dont know how many of us are aware that life in many parts of that area, especially outside their state capitals, is a nightmare. How many of us know that there are days reserved for armed robbers to rob the people in some places and that there are days when people in some villages literally dress up and wait to be robbed by armed robbers? The robbers come on certain market days as a matter of appointment, to rob the people in some villages outside Lafia in Nassarawa state. I was told that the robbers come on market days to rob those who sold cattle. It was alleged that the police is aware and feeling inadequate to confront the robbers, often close by 6pm and return to their bases, leaving the people to their own devices.

This further strengthens the argument that Nigeria as presently constituted cannot serve the needs of a modern state. The borders are wide open and trailer loads of strangers, most of whom do not speak any Nigerian language poured into Taraba when Sambisa Forest was attacked, according to the Governors Chief of Staff. The strange visitors entry was turned to a political discourse and nothing happened.

This story of the artisans in Nassarawa is not a unique. It is the story of every part of the country. The absence of electricity, among other tools of economic empowerment, has made it impossible for Nigerians to depend on themselves. They have been deprived of the opportunity to exercise their talents and therefore, poverty has become the destiny of many children yet unborn. Poverty reduces the quality of the human person. The poor often sound incoherent and appear somewhat unintelligent because they have little learning and no time to think outside the box of hunger and destitution. They are forced to focus on the immediate stomach infrastructure challenges to the exclusion of any futuristic engagement. Some governments around the world, including North Korea, have at one point or the other used mass emiseration to elicit loyalty from their people.

Microfinancing cannot succeed in an environment where people have suspended their will and enterprise and resorted to opportunism and dependence on prebendalism. The essence of microfinancing is to tackle poverty by empowering the poor who are economically active. This is what prompted the federal government to launch the National Microfinance Policy, which has gone a long way to tackle the endemic poverty across the country.

Today, microfinance banks, numbering about 1000 have been established and working all over the country. However, while considerable progress has been made in canalizing financial resources to the poor and boosting their economic activities, it does appear that much has not been achieved. As more microfinance institutions get into the fray, more people seem to get into the poverty net. There are more educated beggars today than in 2005. Many are beginning to think that the microfinance sector is failing in reducing poverty. This may be a wrong impression but it is justifiable based on facts outside the control of the microfinance sector.

It is hard to talk about microfinancing without talking about poverty, its raison deter. Nor can we discuss poverty in Nigeria without mentioning the rapidly shrinking ability of the state to protect the citizens. How does a microfinance institution deal with the poor in a state where people sleep in churches and mosques most nights? How do people survive in a state where hotel management evacuates guests because an attack was expected? This is what is going on in the villages of Nassarawa state and perhaps, other surrounding states. I hope Boko Haram has not left and changed tactics while we continue to bombardSambisa. Could it be that the robbers are not mere armed robbers? Could it be that Boko Haram has stopped holding territories but makes do with ensuring that the place is destabilised? As I said there are certain topics we do not like to discuss but microfinance fails wherever the state fails.

Emeka Osuji

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Microfinance and the challenge of failing states - BusinessDay (satire) (press release) (registration) (blog)

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Youths’ vote can sway 2018 election – DailyNews

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Blessing Kasiyamhuru 23 May 2017 2:57PM 0 comments

HARARE - As the 2018 general election fast approaches, Zimbabwe Partnership for Prosperity (ZIPP) challenges the youths in Zimbabwe to rise up and vote in numbers as this crucial vote will help shape their future.

The first step is for them to register to vote and show up to vote on Election Day.

While young voters in the past have been comfortable in apathy neglecting the importance of voting, they should realise that their voice is an important one because democracy doesnt work without citizen participation. Their vote does matter, so much so because history has shown that a collective youth vote could actually sway an election.

Voting gives the youths the power to make important choices as they decide what they like, dont like, and their voices are heard. If they fail to vote they are yielding the ultimate power to adults to make decisions about the leaders and laws that will shape and lead society for decades.

It is always essential that young Zimbabweans take advantage of their right to vote, creating a future that aligns with their fundamental beliefs and setting a precedent for future generations.

Regrettably, ZIPP has noticed that in the past the youth in Zimbabwe have not used their huge numbers at the ballot box to shape political and socio-economic decisions. Interestingly, the youths are known to complain about issues that affect them yet squander opportunities to influence the election of people who share their aspirations.

The majority of the youths today are walloping in poverty as the country witnesses high unemployment levels believed to be hovering over 90 percent which if unchecked, will be a disaster in waiting for the government. They also still face a host of other challenges, including limited access to entrepreneurship opportunities and credit for setting up businesses.

It is not a secret that high unemployment levels in Zimbabwe are quite undesirable especially after President Robert Mugabes 2013 election promise to deliver more than two million jobs by 2018 that has not come to pass.

While every year Zimbabwe produces an estimated 300 000 graduates from its 16 universities plus others coming out of polytechnic colleges, nursing schools, teacher colleges and apprenticeships, the countrys floundering economy that is starved of investment and job creation can scarcely absorb a fraction of them.

This paints a grim picture of many young people with no source of income and no future to look forward to.

It is against this background that ZIPP urges all the unemployed youths to take time out and exercise their only hope for a better future, which is to vote for a government that will address their employment needs.

Young voters who want to inspire change need to show their support for the candidates whom they feel best represent their needs because no one else is going to vote in the interest of young people except young people.

In particular, the youths not only should they practice their right to vote but the right to be voted for into office themselves. Zipp, therefore, offers this opportunity as a youthful party to all youths that aspire to be leaders and policy makers of the future government of Zimbabwe in 2018.

Voting and being voted for or supporting the candidates that includes youths of their choice is effective youth participation in politics.

ZIPP urges government, Zimbabwe Election Commission, NGOs, political parties, churches and learning institutions to create enough awareness among the youth as to why they should vote.

It is only in Zimbabwe that we have an organisation like Zimbabwe Coalition of Unemployed Graduates formed by jobless but highly qualified youths. The coalition has since presented a petition to the Parliament of Zimbabwe highlighting their dissatisfaction with the state of the economy.

We also challenge Zimbabwe Coalition of Unemployed Graduates to mobilise its wide membership to register and vote.

Zanu PF government is struggling to deal with a worsening unemployment crisis as companies collapse, hence our call for youths to use the only weapon still in their possession the vote.

Local companies have resorted to retrenchment for business sustainability and survival while others have been forced to restructure and downsize as a direct response to low capacity utilisation and product demand.

Over time, the increase in retrenchments has seen unemployment figures rising.

For the few companies still operating, foreign currency to buy new equipment has been a challenge and as a result companies are forced to use obsolete machinery susceptible to frequent breakdowns.

As a government in waiting ZIPP has the advantage of a pool of known professional human resource base; graduates that are jobless - be they teachers, nurses, engineers that we shall absorb into employment through facilitating an environment conducive for creating the necessary jobs.

*Kasiyamhuru is President ZIPP.

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The True Story of Brainwashing and How It Shaped America – Smithsonian

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built upon the idea of brainwashed GIs in Korea.

Journalist Edward Hunter was the first to sound the alarm. Brain-washing Tactics Force Chinese Into Ranks of Communist Party, blared his headline in the Miami Daily News in September 1950. In the article, and later in a book, Hunter described how Mao Zedongs Red Army used terrifying ancient techniques to turn the Chinese people into mindless, Communist automatons. He called this hypnotic process brainwashing, a word-for-word translation from xi-nao, the Mandarin words for wash (xi) and brain (nao), and warned about the dangerous applications it could have. The process was meant to change a mind radically so that its owner becomes a living puppeta human robotwithout the atrocity being visible from the outside.

It wasnt the first time fears of Communism and mind control had seeped into the American public. In 1946 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was so worried about the spread of Communism that it proposed removing liberals, socialists and communists from places like schools, libraries, newspapers and entertainment. Hunters inflammatory rhetoric didnt immediately have a huge impactuntil three years into the Korean War, when American prisoners of war began confessing to outlandish crimes.

When he was shot down over Korea and captured in 1952, Colonel Frank Schwable was the highest ranking military officer to meet that fate, and by February 1953, he and other prisoners of war had falsely confessed to using germ warfare against the Koreans, dropping everything from anthrax to the plague on unsuspecting civilians. The American public was shocked, and grew even more so when 5,000 of the 7,200 POWs either petitioned the U.S. government to end the war, or signed confessions of their alleged crimes. The final blow came when 21 American soldiers refused repatriation.

Suddenly the threat of brainwashing was very real, and it was everywhere. The U.S. military denied the charges made in the soldiers confessions, but couldnt explain how theyd been coerced to make them. What could explain the behavior of the soldiers besides brainwashing? The idea of mind control flourished in pop culture, with movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Manchurian Candidate showing people whose minds were wiped and controlled by outside forces. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover referred to thought-control repeatedly in his book Masters of Deceit: The Story of Communism in America and How to Fight It. By 1980 even the American Psychiatric Association had given it credence, including brainwashing under dissociative disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III. Had Chinese and Soviet Communists really uncovered a machine or method to rewrite mens minds and supplant their free will?

The short answer is nobut that didnt stop the U.S. from pouring resources into combatting it.

The basic problem that brainwashing is designed to address is the question why would anybody become a Communist? says Timothy Melley, professor of English at Miami University and author of The Covert Sphere: Secrecy, Fiction, and the National Security State. [Brainwashing] is a story that we tell to explain something we cant otherwise explain.

The term had multiple definitions that changed depending on who used it. For Hunterwho turned out to be an agent in the CIAs propaganda wingit was a mystical, Oriental practice that couldnt be understood or anticipated by the West, Melley says. But for scientists who actually studied the American POWs once they returned from Korea, brainwashing was altogether less mysterious than the readily apparent outcome: The men had been tortured.

Robert Jay Lifton, one of the psychiatrists who worked with the veterans and had previously studied doctors who aided Nazi war crimes, listed eight criteria for thought reform (his more measured term for brainwashing). They included things like milieu control (having absolute power over the individuals surroundings) and confession (in which individuals are forced to confess to crimes repeatedly, even if they arent true). For the American soldiers trapped in the Korean prison camps, brainwashing meant forced standing, deprivation of food and sleep, solitary confinement, and repeated exposure to Communist propaganda.

There was concern on the part of [the American military] about what had actually happened to [the POWs] and whether they had been manipulated to be [what would later be known as] a Manchurian candidate, says Marcia Holmes, a science historian at the University of Londons Hidden Persuaders project. Theyre not sleeper agents, theyre just extremely traumatized.

The early 1950s marked the debut of the militarys studies into psychological torture, and instead of concluding the American soldiers needed rehabilitation, military directors came to a more ominous conclusion: that the men were simply weak. They became less interested in the fantasy of brainwashing and became worried our men couldnt stand up to torture, Holmes says. This resulted in the Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape program (SERE), meant to inoculate men against future attempts at psychological torture by using those same torture techniques in their training.

Meanwhile, the American public was still wrapped up in fantasies of hypnotic brainwashing, in part due to the research of pop psychologists like Joost Meerloo and William Sargant. Unlike Lifton and the other researchers hired by the military, these two men portrayed themselves as public intellectuals and drew parallels between brainwashing and tactics used by both American marketers and Communist propagandists. Meerloo believes that totalitarian societies like Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union or Communist China were in the past, and continue to be, quite successful in their thought-control programs [and] the more recently available techniques of influence and thought control are more securely based on scientific fact, more potent and more subtle, writes psychoanalyst Edgar Schein in a 1959 review of Meerloos book, The Rape of the Mind: The Psychology of Thought ControlMenticide and Brainwashing.

Psychiatrists, as well as writers like Aldous Huxley, were aided by the dominant theory of the human mind at the time, known as behaviorism. Think of Ivan Pavlovs slobbering dogs, trained to salivate upon hearing a bell, even if they werent tempted with food. The basic assumption of behaviorism was that the human mind is a blank slate at birth, and is shaped through social conditioning throughout life. Where Russia had Pavlov, the U.S. had B.F. Skinner, who suggested psychology could help predict and control behavior. Little wonder, then, that the public and the military alike couldnt let go of brainwashing as a concept for social control.

With this fear of a mind-control weapon still haunting the American psyche, CIA director Allen Dulles authorized a series of psychological experiments using hallucinogens (like LSD) and biological manipulation (like sleep deprivation) to see if brainwashing were possible. The research could then, theoretically, be used in both defensive and offensive programs against the Soviet Union. Project MK-ULTRA began in 1953 and continued in various forms for more than 10 years. When the Watergate scandal broke, fear of discovery led the CIA to destroy most of the evidence of the program. But 20,000 documents were recovered through a Freedom of Information Act request in 1977, filed during a Senate investigation into Project MK-ULTRA. The files revealed the experiments tested drugs (like LSD), sensory deprivation, hypnotism and electroshock on everyone from agency operatives to prostitutes, recovering drug addicts and prisonersoften without their consent.

Despite MK-ULTRA violating ethical norms for human experiments, the legacy of brainwashing experiments continued to live on in U.S. policy. The same methods that had once been used to train American soldiers ended up being used to extract information from terrorists in Abu Ghraib, Iraq and Guantanamo Bay.

Here, then, is the brief history of brainwashing, Melley writes in a 2011 paper for Grey Room. The concept began as an [O]rientalist propaganda fiction created by the CIA to mobilize domestic support for a massive military build-up. This fiction proved so effective that the CIAs operations directorate believed it and began a furious search for a real mind control weapon. The search resulted not in a miraculous new weapon but a program of simulated brainwashing designed as a prophylactic against enemy mistreatment. This simulation in turn became the real basis for interrogating detainees in the war on terror.

While few people take seriously the notion of hypnosis-like brainwashing (outside Hollywood films like Zoolander), there are still plenty who see danger in certain kinds of control. Consider the conversations about ISIS and radicalization, in which young people are essentially portrayed as being brainwashed. Can You Turn a Terrorist Back Into a Citizen? A controversial new program aims to reform homegrown ISIS recruits back into normal young Americans, proclaims one article in Wired. Or theres the more provocative headline from Vice: Inside the Mind-Control Methods the Islamic State Uses to Recruit Teenagers.

I think a program of isolation and rigorous conversion still does have a life in our concept of radicalization, Melley says. But outside those cases related to terrorism its mostly used facetiously, he adds.

The notion of brainwashing, no less than radicalization, often obscure[s] far more than it reveal[s], write Sarah Marks and Daniel Pick of the Hidden Persuaders project. Both terms could be a lazy way of refusing to inquire further into individual histories, inviting the assumption that the way people act can be known in advance.

For now, the only examples of perfect brainwashing remain in science-fiction rather than fact. At least until researchers find a way to hack into the network of synapses that comprise the brain.

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What Erdogan And The Turkish Government Are Doing To This NBA Star Is Chilling – GOOD Magazine

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Education and Technology:

Microsoft Learning Tools is software that helps improve reading skills by reducing visual crowding, highlighting words, and reading text aloud, so students can engage with words in a whole new way.

Again?

AsTurkeys president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan takes extraordinary steps to consolidate power and to crush dissent within his country. Here in the United States, Oklahoma City Thunder star and Turkish native Enes Kanter has been unafraid to speak out against the undermining of democratic institutions withinhis home country. His basketball stardom has afforded Kanter a platform most Turks dont have, giving his criticism of the Turkish government more weight. Thats too much for a strongman like Erdogan to take. So the Turkish government tried to silence Kanter just this past weekend once and for all, and now the basketball star is opening up about the oppression he and other Turks face with Erdogan in power.

The harassment of Kanter came to a head on his latest trip abroad. With his NBAseason over, Kanter has been traveling around the world, hosting basketball camps with his foundation. When he wasin Indonesia, Kanters manager knocked on his hotel room door in the middle of the night and said they needed to talk. He told me the Turkish government has called Indonesia and told them Enes Kanter is a dangerous man, Kanter says. The army and secret service were going to shut down his camp, and they needed to get out of the country.

They fled to Romania, the site of his next scheduled event, on the earliest flight they could board. But as he tried to enter Romania, he found the Turkish government had revoked his passport. He worried that he would deported back to Turkey and jailed by Erdogan. WhileRomanian policedetained him, he filmed a video for Twitter to let the world know what was happening.

To understand Kanters objections to Erdogan, it helps to have a little background. Erdogan effortsto change Turkey from a parliamentary democracy into to a country with a strong executive have been successful. It has been part of a decades-long quest for power. In 1994, when he was elected mayor of Istanbul, he started banning alcohol sales in cafs as part of his effort to turn secular Turkey into an Islamic-dominant country. In the 2000s he founded a party that would eventually win a majority of seats in Parliament and make him prime minister. Herose to president and just as corruption investigations seemed poised to bring him down;he was able to deflect blame and quash the inquest. Since then he has been cracking down on dissent. And with his country in turmoil, last year a failed military coup gave him the political capital to seize more power. He had people fired from their jobs, jailed people deemed as coup sympathizers, and became the worlds leader ofjailing journalists.

The frightening reach of Erdogans autocratic ways were felt in America last week. He came to the States to be welcomed by friend of dictators, President Donald Trump. While he was in Washington, D.C., Kurdish immigrants protested the Turkish embassy. What happened next was truly disturbing.

The bodyguards who beat the protestors in full view of Erdogan left the country withoutconsequence. In fact, when they returned, the Turkish government demanded an apology from the United Statesfor interfering with Erdogans security detail.

Its behavior like this from Erdogan and his lackeys that has Kanter speaking out that nearly cost him his freedom this weekend, but this wasnt the beginning of the harassment.It started with him being left off the Turkish national team, despite being their best player, and has evolved into his inabilityto visitTurkey for fear of being arrestedorkilled. Andto protect family and friends back home and in order to keep Erdogan from jailing them, hes had to cut off all communications. Those family members still face harassment in Turkey. (His dadhas been spit on at the supermarketfor having a son who questions Erdogan.)

With some help from the United States, Kanter was able to leave Romania for London and then return to New York toavoid detention by Turkish authorities. Yet, it will be a while before life will be back to normal for him or his country.

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What Erdogan And The Turkish Government Are Doing To This NBA Star Is Chilling - GOOD Magazine

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Tump administration sends mixed marching orders in the war on drugs – SaukValley.com

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WASHINGTON As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump pledged to tackle prescription-drug abuse and the flow of illegal drugs into the country. But his White House efforts are off to a rocky start so far.

Trump appointed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to lead a opioid crisis task force. Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and other administration officials, including Attorney General Jeff Sessions, have embarked on a listening tour of areas ravaged by the opioid epidemic.

But any goodwill gained from those efforts was likely undercut by a leaked document that provided a preview into the administrations plan to effectively gut the Office of National Drug Control Policy, which takes the lead in addressing drug abuse issues, by reducing its funding by almost 95 percent.

Then came the announcement that the Justice Department would reverse an Obama-era policy that urged prosecutors to try to avoid mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, and an emerging pattern from the administration is developing that is troubling to some lawmakers and advocates.

Such policies and proposals could be examples of an unpredictable White House that at times sends contradictory messages about its strategy.

But while Republican members continue to hold out hope that Trump will keep his pledge to combat the opioid epidemic, a number of GOP senators are becoming more vocal in their criticism of his early actions on the issue.

I am alarmed at the defunding [of the drug-control policy office] because that, to me, signals less emphasis on what I think is a deep problem, said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-West Virginia. I think we need an overarching policy and I would like to see it remain in the White House where it would get the ultimate attention.

Capito said she gave Sessions an earful about the possible funding cuts when he visited West Virginia for an event hosted by the Drug Enforcement Agency, which takes the lead on drug interdiction efforts.

The fiscal 2017 spending bill that Trump signed into law this month will provide $150 million more this year to help fight the opioid epidemic. Should the administration choose to forge ahead and suggest reduced funding for the office in the pending fiscal 2018 budget proposal, it will likely not get much support in Congress.

But it is not just funding that has galvanized Republicans into pushing back against the Trump administration. After Sessions announcement, some Republican senators came out against the shift back to harsher sentences for nonviolent drug offenders.

Mandatory minimum sentences have unfairly and disproportionately incarcerated too many minorities for too long, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, said in a statement. Attorney General Sessions new policy will accentuate that injustice. Instead, we should treat our nations drug epidemic as a health crisis and less as a lock em up and throw away the key problem.

But the decision did not meet total opposition among Republicans in Congress.

Law enforcement should side with the victims of crime rather than its perpetrators. This policy is simply common sense and will help reduce crime and drugs in our neighborhoods, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said in a statement.

A Justice Department spokesman said the directive guarantees that prosecutors treat all defendants fairly, equitably, and uniformly.

Outside advocacy groups say they are baffled by the administrations recent actions.

To say you are going to address things and then put some policies in place that dont make any sense to what we know works, and what the science says, it leaves one beyond just scratching their head and wondering where the impetus for this is, said Tom Hill, vice president of addiction and recovery at the National Council for Behavioral Health.

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2 Filipinos spared from deportation due to PH war on drugs … – Inquirer.net

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Asian Law Caucus for Immigrants Rights staff attorney Kevin Lograduated from UC Berkeley before he received a law degree from Stanford Law School. CONTRIBUTED

SAN FRANCISCO Two Filipino immigrants, who served jail terms for drug offenses but were apprehended by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and placed on deportation proceedings, were recently granted protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) because they are potential targets of President Rodrigo Dutertes lethal war on drugs.

One immigrant was immediately released after an immigration judges CAT ruling while the other remains in custody pending the written decision of the judge that could withstand an impending appeal of ICE against the still detained convict.

The two grateful Filipinos living in San Francisco chose to remain unidentified. Both men have families, are indigents and in their mid-30s. They are green card holders who were represented for free by legal advocacy group for Asians in San Francisco.

Their lawyer, Kevin Lo, is a staff attorney in the Immigrant Rights Program of the Asian Law Caucus. Lo chanced upon the two men when he visited the San Francisco immigration detention center and realized that the two Filipinos needed representation, as most people in immigration detention are usually not legally aided enough.

Claims for protection

In evaluating the cases of the two Filipinos clients, we learned about the situation in the Philippines with President Dutertes drug war. And when we realized that they had claims for protection under the Convention Against Torture, we decided to take their cases because we know the situation is pretty serious, Lo shared.

Eminent immigration lawyer Lourdes Tancinco notes that the view of the outside world on the controversial death toll in the war of drugs has an impact on the fate of Filipinos abroad. INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

We decided to make the argument that drug addicts who are deported to the Philippines has a more then 50 percent chance to be added to government watch lists and subsequently killed, Lo explained.

Asian Law Caucus sought the help of Vicente Rafael, professor of history in the University of Washington, specializing in Southeast Asian history. Rafael became our source for the condition in the Philippines particularly the drug war being waged by President Duterte,Lo said.

Rafaels declaration together with another experts statement proved very helpful in securing the detainees protection from the judge.

We [also] submitted a big stack of articles and pictures to show that in the Philippines drug convictions typically equal torture and death, Lo explained. If we havent been able to submit the country condition confirmation that intended to show that the governments (drive against drug offenders) is true, the ruling may not have been granted and they could have been deported.

Scheduled to testify again

Rafael is scheduled to testify by phoneon another case, in Tacoma, Washington, largely along the same lines. Nearby Seattle was where an earlier case employing the CAT appeal protection lost.

Duterte supporter Atty. Arnedo Valerasays drug addicts who surrender are sent to rehabilitation centers for treatment and rehabilitation under the Duterte administration.INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Lo wants to make clear though that the CATis usually the last thing that people try for because it doesnt lead to any legal status; one can still be deported when conditions change. It is also not granted very often.

For our clients, the judge said he wont be deporting our clients. But once Duterte is no longer in power and the drug war is no longer happening, they can be deported. So, CAT is an acknowledgement that you are deportable, but for human rights reason, you are not going to be for now, disclosed Lo.

He says its a form of relief that applies to other people in other countries with dangerous condition of human rights. The Duterte situation is so extreme, so rare that the head of state will be so explicit and proud that he killed so many people that started back when he was mayor of Davao City.

Unfair deportation system

Lo also stressed that the U.S. deportation system is so unfair because even if immigrant convicts spent only a few months in a U.S. prison, they are being deported even for drug crimes that are not serious.

Current U.S. immigration law punishes drug crimes very heavily. It is kind of funny that we are criticizing Duterte for his war on drugs, while the U.S. war on drugs, although not be as bad, is pretty extreme too, Lo lamented.

Vicente Rafael, professor of history in the University of Washington, offered testimony that helped two immigrants be spared from deportation.INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

In the deportation process, ICE will request for travel documents from the Philippines and also will turn over a copy of the deportees criminal record. What that means is that the U.S. is explicitly telling the Philippines that the deportee is a drug abuser or trafficker. Under Duterte, it is very likely that the deportee will be added to the drug list.

Duterte supporter Atty. Arnedo S Valera, a practicing immigration attorney, congratulated Lo and company for creative legal representation in finding a relief from deportation for these two Filipinos.

Legal aberration

However, he contended that this ruling is a legal aberration and not the prevailing case law in almost all immigration courts in 50 States. For the last decade, based on specific and unique removal issues faced by Filipino immigrants, I have been successful in obtaining asylum alleging fear of even torture under the Aquino and Arroyo regimes.

Most likely, these liberal rulings will be appealed by the government because the fact is, under the drug policy of theDuterte administration, drug addicts who surrenderand are not engaged in selling drugs and other criminal activities are sent to rehabilitation centers for treatment and drug rehabilitation.

Duterte critic and seasoned litigator Ted Laguatan says that the present Philippine government has developed a global reputation for being engaged in state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and human rights violations.

Numerous documented reports and graphic pictures of Filipinos brutally murdered by police elements and so called vigilantes many of whom are also police elements dressed in civilians, have been published in international publications. More than 8,000 killed since PresidentRodrigo Duterte sat in office, reasoned Laguatan.

Laguatan says that while government apologists continue to deny that these killings are state-sponsored, there are so many recorded footages of President Rodrigo Duterte delivering speeches urging the police to continue with these killings and assuring them of his protection.

Duterte behind the killings

Anyone with a modicum of intelligence knows that Duterte is behind these killings as the styles or modes of executions are the same as those used by the notorious Davao Death Squad reputedly headed by Duterte when he was Mayor of Davao City. Moreover, the more than 8,000 killings are self-evident. They would not have happened if Duterte were not President.As such, more Filipinosin removal proceedings in Immigration Court will be using the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT) to prevent their removal, Laguatan opined.

Staunch Marcos and Duterte critic Atty. Ted Laguatan says the present Philippine government has developed a global reputation for engaging in state-sponsored extrajudicial killings and human rights violations.INQUIRER/Jun Nucum

Another eminent immigration lawyer Lourdes Tancinco noted that with the current social political environment in the Philippines, the view of the outside world on the controversial war of drugs has an impact on the fate of Filipinos abroad.

I am not surprised that it had reached the immigration courts involving Filipinos who are facing removal. It would not be difficult to find sufficient evidence for protection under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) Act considering that substantial and factual information is available in regards to the increasing number of death of people involved in illegal drugs. The courts can rely on expert opinion or organizations like the UN Commission on Human Rights, Tancinco said. Tancinco noted that the challenge in employing CAT is proving whether the abuse is inflicted by, or at the instigation of, or with the consent or acquiescence of, a public official or any person acting in an official capacity.

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2 Filipinos spared from deportation due to PH war on drugs ... - Inquirer.net

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Trump Called Rodrigo Duterte to Congratulate Him on His Murderous Drug War: You Are Doing an Amazing Job – The Intercept

Posted: at 11:24 pm

In a phone call from the White Houselate last month,U.S. President Donald Trump heaped praise on Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte,one of the worlds most murderous heads of state, fordoing what Trump called anunbelievable job in his war on drugs. Trump offered an unqualified endorsement of Dutertes bloody extermination campaign against suspected drug dealers and users, which has includedopen calls for extrajudicial murders and promises of pardons and immunity for the killers.

You are a good man, Trump told Duterte, according to an official transcript of the April 29 call produced by the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs and obtained by The Intercept. Keep up the good work, Trump told Duterte. You are doing an amazing job.

Trump began the call by telling Duterte, You dont sleep much, youre just like me, before quickly pivoting to the strongmans drug war.

I just wanted to congratulate you because I am hearing of the unbelievable job on the drug problem, Trump told Duterte at the beginning of theircall, according to the document. Many countries have the problem, we have a problem, but what a great job you are doing and I just wanted to call and tell you that.

Thank you Mr. President, replied Duterte. This is the scourge of my nation now and I have to do something to preserve the Filipino nation.

The transcript, which contains numerous typographical errors, was authenticated by well-placed sources in the Palace and the Department of Foreign Affairs by reporters at the Manila-basednews outlet Rappler, which collaborated with The Intercept onthis story.

Since Duterte took office in June, Philippinenational police and vigilante death squads have embarked on a campaign to slaughterdrugusersas well as drug dealers. Hitler massacred three million Jews [sic], now,theres three million drug addicts. Id be happy to slaughter them, he said in September. Last month, he told a group ofjoblessFilipinosthat they should kill all the drug addicts. Police have killed over 7,000 people, devastated poor areas of Manila and other cities, and used the drug war as a pretext to murder government officials and community leaders.

The new details of Trumps call with Duterte comeon the heels of the Philippine presidents announcement that he is imposing martial law on the autonomous island of Mindanao, where government forces are battling Islamist rebels. If I had to kill thousands of people just to keep Philippines a thousand times safer, I will not have doubts doing it, Duterte said.

On the April 29 call, Trump pointed out to Dutertethat his predecessor in the White Househad been critical of the rising body count under Dutertes reign in the Philippines, but that Trump himself gets it. I understand that, and fully understand that, and I think we had a previous president who did not understand that, Trump said, but I understand that and we have spoken about this before.

Whenthe Obamaadministration offeredsome tempered criticism of Duterteskilling spree, Duterte called the U.S. presidentthe son of a whore and an idiot who can go to hell. Speaking in Beijing inOctober, Duterte said, America has lost now. Ive realigned myself in your ideological flow.And maybe I will also go to Russia to talk to Putin and tell him that there are three of us against the world: China, Philippines and Russia. Its the only way.

However, inthe wake of Trumps election, Dutertesaid, I dont want to quarrel anymore, because Trump has won. Onthe April call, Trump addressed Duterte warmly by his first name, Rodrigo, and Duterte thanked Trump for his sentiments on Obama.

This week, Duterte was slated to beinRussia for a five-day trip, including a meeting with President Vladimir Putin, whom he has called his favorite hero. On Tuesday, Duterte announced from Moscow that he was cutting the trip short in light of his declaration of martial law and fighting between rebels and the government in Mindanao.

Following the call last month, the White House publicly described a very friendly conversation that culminated with an invitation for an Oval Office meeting. To endorse Duterte is to endorse a man who advocates mass murder and who has admitted to killing people himself, said John Sifton, the Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, reacting to the transcript. Endorsing his methods is a celebration of the death of the poor and vulnerable.

A member of a Scene of the Crime Operatives team investigates the scene where two alleged robbers were killed after a gun fight with police in Manila on Feb. 8, 2017.

Photo: Noel Celis/AFP/Getty Images

Dutertes police killings are widely recognized by the international community as an ongoing atrocity. The war on drugs has drawncondemnationfrom theUnited Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings, and last month a Philippinelawyer filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Duterte of mass murder and crimes against humanity. The State Departments annual human rightsreportacknowledges thousands of extrajudicial killings with impunity and calls themthe countrys chief human rights concern.

Killing is nothing new for Duterte. His bloody record started in 1988, when he became the mayor of Davao City, a coastal city in the southern Philippines. During his tenure,he earned the nickname the Death Squad Mayor a titlehe embraces. According to oneformer hitman, Duterte formed an organization called the Davao Death Squad a mafia-like organization of plainclothes assassins that would kill suspected criminals, journalists, and opposition politicians, often from the backs of motorcycles. Multiple former members of the group have come forward and said that they killed people on Dutertes direct orders.

Duterte has even bragged that he personally killed criminals from the back of a motorcycle.In Davao I used to do it personally, hetolda group of business leaders in Manila. Just to show to the guys [police officers] that if I can do it, why cant you.

In 2016, Duterte campaigned on a policy of mass extermination for anyone involved in the drug trade. Id be happy to slaughter them. If Germany had Hitler, the Philippines would have me, Duterte said after his inauguration in September.

Despite human rights concerns, the U.S. has long consideredthe Philippines a military ally, and under Obama the U.S. gave the countrys military tens of millions of dollars in weapons and resourcesper year. The U.S. government does notprovide lethal weapons directly to the PhilippineNational Police, which has a decadeslong history of extrajudicial killings. But it does allow U.S. weapons manufacturers to sell to them directly. In 2015 the State Department authorized more than $250 million in arms sales from U.S. defense contractors to security forces in the Philippines.

After Dutertes election, Obamas State Department halted one sale of assault rifles to the Philippines, largely due to the objections of Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., the leading Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The Philippines became a colony of the United States in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War. A long insurgency followed, and the country didnt win full independence until 1946.

Disclosure:Omidyar Network is an investor in Rappler, an independent news organization based in the Philippines. The Intercepts publisher, First Look Media, was founded by Pierre Omidyar.

Top photo: A drug suspect lies dead in a hallway during an alleged shootout with police in Manila, Philippines, on Aug. 18, 2016.

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US war on drugs protectionists – Press TV

Posted: at 11:24 pm

Opioids and Marijuana.

Crisis lurking within US; once this looked just like a random medicine bottle for prescription medication but for many in the United States now it is reminiscent of addiction and overdose.

Just in 2015, 33,000 people died of overdoses from prescription drugs such as OxyContin. But thats not all about the opioid crisis that has gripped the country, as heroine is also wreaking havoc, with overdoses reaching epidemic levels. The Trump administration is, meanwhile, announcing a new war on drugs, a war many believe is already doomed to fail.

In this episode, we take a look at the crisis lurking within the country. Speaking of crises, President Trump had promised to tackle unemployment. He is now supposed to bring jobs back to America by adopting a Buy American, Hire American policy. As a result, the largest economy on the planet appears to be rushing to a protectionist stance: another bad news particularly for US trade partners, which we will cover in the second part of the show.

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Gambling

Posted: at 11:24 pm

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Gambling

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LSU’s Lanard Fournette booked for gambling with false ID in Baton … – The Advocate

Posted: at 11:23 pm

LSU running back Lanard Fournette was arrested and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after the 20-year-old was allegedly caught gambling with a false ID at the L'Auberge Casino in Baton Rouge, according to state police.

Fournette, the younger brother of former LSU standout Leonard Fournette, was arrested Monday after surveillance video showed and casino personnel confirmed he gained access to the gaming floor Saturday with a different ID than his own driver's license, according to his arrest report.

"Coach Ed Orgeron is aware of the incident," LSU team spokesman Michael Bonnette told The Advocate. "He will be disciplined internally."

Security video showed Fournette playing at a craps table for 16 minutes around 1:30 p.m., before walking to the players services counter. Fournette then allegedly presented his real ID to the cashier for a cash withdrawal, who determined his accurate age and contacted security, the report says.

Fournette, of Slidell, was detained at the casino, but left before the officer's arrival, the report says. When casino security asked Fournette about the incident, Fournette said he used another person's ID to enter the casino, the report says.

Fournette is a redshirt sophomore at LSU who's played in just three games. He redshirted as a true freshman in 2015 before playing against Jacksonville State, Missouri and Southern Miss last year. He's one of five scholarship running backs expected on the roster this fall.

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LSU reserve offensive lineman Adrian Magee was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a count of si

He's the second LSU player to be arrested this spring, joining offensive lineman Adrian Magee. Magee was arrested in April on a count of simple burglary. Magee remains suspended indefinitely, coach Ed Orgeron said last week.

As a first-time offender, the district attorney could potentially offer a pre-trial diversion to Magee, said Brent Stockstill, the attorney representing the player.

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LSU's Lanard Fournette booked for gambling with false ID in Baton ... - The Advocate

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