Monthly Archives: June 2020

Effectiveness of RCMP body cameras will depend on clear goals, policies, say experts – Nunatsiaq News

Posted: June 24, 2020 at 6:42 am

No piece of technology is going to solve deep-seated trust issues in a community with the police

After a significant increase in calls for its officers to be equipped with body-worn cameras, the RCMP announced last week, on June 8, that it would begin work on a broad deployment of the devices nationwide.

But experts who study these devices say their potential benefits will depend on what plans and policies are adopted by the RCMP for their use.

A common mistake when adopting body cameras is rushing into them, said Aili Malm, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at California State University Long Beach.

Malm provides technical assistance and training for police departments on body-worn cameras throughout the United States, where the devices have been used for longer and are more widespread.

One of the first things we ask departments is, why do you want to do this? What are your goals? she said.

If you dont have clear goals, you dont have a good policy. Youre just implementing technology and no technology is a panacea to all the problems were seeing in policing right now.

When David Qamaniq, Nunavuts MLA for Tununiq, raised the issue of body-worn cameras earlier this year during the winter sitting of the legislature, he did so in favour of methods and technologies which can safeguard us against acts of violence.

Concerns have been raised about violent interactions between police and Nunavummiut. We have read about it in newspapers and seen video clips posted on social media. The concerns are real, he said.

Less than a week later there was an RCMP-involved shooting in Kinngait.

Including that incident, there have been three RCMP-involved shootings in Nunavut since Qamaniq spoke.

Two were fatal and all involved Inuit.

Since then, others have joined the call for cameras, including Nunavut Senator Dennis Patterson and MP Mumilaaq Qaqqaq.

On June 2, the same day that Iqaluit Mayor Kenny Bell expressed his interest in equipping the RCMP with body-worn cameras, a video surfaced on social media that showed a Kinngait RCMP officer knocking down an Inuk man with a vehicle door.

The incident made national news at a time when widespread protests against police brutality had begun in the United States and Canada.

Following that, Amanda Jones, chief superintendent of the Nunavut RCMP, also lent her support for the cameras.

I think we are all on the same page that we would like to bring in the body cams, she said.

On June 8, less than a week later, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, after speaking with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki about the issue, also voiced his support.

It is something that is, in my opinion, what we need to move forward with, he said.

Im committing to raising this with the provinces this week, so we can move forward as quickly as possible.

Later that day the RCMP responded with a statement: The commissioner has confirmed that the RCMP will engage in work and discussion with policing partners and the NPF [the RCMP union] on a broader rollout of body-worn cameras.

One of the recurring hopes expressed by those in support of the cameras is an increase in trust.

But for Malm, thats problematic.

No piece of technology is going to solve deep-seated trust issues in a community with the police, she said.

That being said, it can be an important piece of the puzzle, if implemented correctly.

Prior to the RCMPs commitment to roll out the cameras nationally, the obstacles in the territory repeatedly flagged by Jones and by Nunavuts minister of justice, Jeannie Ehaloak, were the durability of the devices, their cost and the logistics of video storage.

When Qamaniq first asked about the implementation of body-worn cameras in the legislature during the fall sitting last October, one of the answers he received was a concern about the durability of the devices themselves.

We know that in the wintertime, if you have a camera, because of the harsh climate, we dont know how these cameras will withstand within the weather or in the vehicles, but we are checking into it, responded Ehaloak.

The City of Iqaluit bylaw enforcement has been using body-worn cameras in some capacity for roughly five years, first as a trial and now all four bylaw officers are equipped with one.

According to Rod Mugford, the citys chief enforcement officer, the weather isnt an issue.

They dont freeze up. They dont go dead, he said.

The cold doesnt affect them.

Mugford also said that the devices arent even prone to fogging when transitioning from cold environments to warm ones or vice versa.

Another concern about the cameras was their price.

According to Malm, that concern is shared by many police departments. Its a huge cost.

Often, its not the devices themselves, but the file storage thats expensive.

Most of the large vendors will offer the cameras for free as long as you sign a contract for their storage, said Malm.

The City of Iqaluit uses a vendor called Axon, which uses its own proprietary cloud-based storage system called Evidence.com.

While this requires a reliable internet connection, Mugford said that using the Axon cameras and uploading videos to their storage system hasnt been an issue, particularly given the citys policy of uploading all videos at the end of each shift.

With the logistical obstacles cleared, the question for many departments then becomes whether or not the cost is worth it.

Its a really complicated question, said Malm.

Despite the growing number of studies done into the effectiveness of body-worn cameras, Malm says there havent been many that have done a cost-benefit analysis.

In cities like Las Vegas, the cost-benefit of body-worn cameras comes in the form of reduced litigation against the police, says Malm.

But in Nunavut and across Canada, that wouldnt be the case.

You dont have legal suits against the police that they do down here, so your [financial] benefit is likely to be reduced, said Malm.

The other challenge around the cost-benefit analysis of the cameras is putting a dollar amount on goals.

How much value does the department of the community put on increasing trust in police and how do you accomplish that? asked Malm.

Is it always worth it? No. Should all departments implement body-worn cameras? No, but you should carefully consider what the issues are and if body-worn cameras could help.

When Qamaniq brought up the topic of body-worn cameras again during the winter sitting of the legislature, Ehaloak advised him that although the RCMP and the Department of Justice at this time will not be looking at those options, the Kativik Regional Police Force in Nunavik are doing a pilot project in their territory.

Once that pilot projects results are received, we will be looking at their results and the research, and the pilot project itself, and we will be reviewing our [options], she said.

In May, the KRPF said that the pilot project has seen some success.

KRPF Chief Jean-Pierre Larose reported that the six cameras worn by different officers during the pilot project have recorded video footage from 48 police interventions, with 15 of those videos later used as evidence in criminal files.

Most recently, on June 12, KRPF officers equipped with body-worn cameras arrested an intoxicated man outside the Kuujjuaq hospital for obstruction of a peace officer and for resisting arrest after he refused to cooperate with the officers instructions to leave, and was putting his cell phone near the officers face, said a KRPF news release.

Ive viewed the body-camera footage and the actions of the police officer are appropriate and within our policies, said Capt. Maxime Mercier in the release.

The recording shows that the individual was waving his camera within inches of the officers face, even though the officer repeatedly told the person to stay at a reasonable distance.

The release also states that the recording of the incident has been submitted as evidence to a Crown attorney.

While this may satisfy one of the KRPFs goals of the pilot project, providing additional evidence to the court, it may be harmful to others, said Erick Laming, a Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation Ph.D. candidate in criminology at the University of Toronto.

The other goals of the KRPF body-worn camera pilot project include increasing police accountability, transparency, public trust, confidence and the efficiency of resolution of complaints against police officers while reducing use of force incidents by and against the police.

Most of the research [on body-worn cameras] suggests that complaints against officers do decrease [when theyre used], said Laming.

But theres a problem with that, because we have no way of knowing if thats a change in officer behaviour, citizen reporting behaviour, or something else.

In his experience researching police use of force and oversight, Laming has asked Indigenous community members if they would be willing to file a complaint against the police after body camera implementation. They said no way.

While this cant be generalized, Laming said that part of the reason behind that may be because theyre already targeted to begin with.

Now if they put in a complaint, everything is going to be captured in the camera. The police have that. Its a little bit more power. Its more surveillance for the police. So that person is going to feel even more vulnerable, especially if it comes back and its found that the police are investigating, said Laming.

So thats not going to really increase any trust. It actually pushes those people away from reporting.

Laming also ties this issue to transparency.

If somebody doesnt want to make a complaint or theyre fearful or they distrust the system to begin with, and its captured on video, are we ever going to know whatever happened if the RCMP dont release it? he asked.

The issue also extends to policies governing the use of the cameras and disciplinary actions if those policies arent adhered to.

In Calgary theyve had cameras for over a year on all officers and we cant even get access to that policy publicly, wed have to go through an FOI [freedom of information request], said Laming.

So if we dont even know what the policy says publicly, how can we trust whats going on?

The KRPF policy regarding camera use is also not publicly available, though when asked via email, Mercier stated, police officers wearing the body cameras must record every intervention involving violence, impaired driving and any other extraordinary circumstances. The goal, as the project progresses, is to eventually record every intervention.

Mercier also noted that Failing to respect the internal procedure on body cameras can result in disciplinary sanctions going from a warning to a dismissal.

For both Laming and Malm, community involvement in the creation of body-worn camera policy is critical.

It cant be just the police department sitting down and saying this is going to be our body-worn camera policy because the policy deals with a lot of different things: How often is footage going to be reviewed? [H]ow are we going to release it to the public? How are we going to deal with instances of abuse when we see it on camera? said Malm.

If you dont get the perspective and the voice of the community in those policies and if the policies arent being enforced, if the department isnt accountable to those policies, then youre going to see much less effect on trust and accountability and transparency.

Despite both being police forces in Inuit Nunangat, what works for the KPRF in Nunavik may not work for the Nunavut RCMP, a national police force operating under a 20-year contract in the territory.

Context is everything. We see such dramatically different [body camera] results in different departments, said Malm.

The Arctic is much different than the City of Montreal or the City of Vancouver and those two cities are different from one another as well, and thats really, really important to keep in mind.

Despite this, the policy for body-worn cameras for the RCMP will be used across the country.

Its something that we have to address on a national level, said Jones.

With that said, Malm, who began her policing career in Canada before moving to the United States, does see the advantages of a national police force and a national body-worn camera policy.

The United States has 18,000 police departments that are all independent from one another, and there are no national guidelines for these police departments, says Malm.

I think the RCMP could be a nice uniting force with the understanding that every jurisdiction is going to have its own challenges and should be able to refine that national policy to suit their needs and their problems, she said.

For Laming, the issue isnt so much with a national RCMP policy on body-worn cameras, its with the inconsistencies within and surrounding the RCMP.

You have specific communities in Nunavut that are wildly different from a municipality in B.C., where the RCMP [also] deliver policing but theyre run under the territorial and provincial governments so they have to abide by the policies in those jurisdictions. But at the same time, the RCMP has its own legislation and policies, so it could conflict in a lot of ways.

This is most apparent in police oversight, says Laming.

If the RCMP shoots and kills somebody in B.C. you have the IIO [Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia] who investigates. If an RCMP officer shoots and kills somebody in Nunavut, another police service investigates, he said.

So you have these inequities and that, from my experience and from talking to a lot of residents, doesnt build trust, if you dont even have a consistent way of dealing with police abuse or serious major incidents.

According to Ehaloak, a new model for civilian oversight of the RCMP in Nunavut could be announced at the legislative assemblys fall sitting.

For Laming, this is something that needs to come before the cameras.

If you implement body cameras without a proper civilian oversight agency, its counterproductive because its still the police investigating the police when it comes to reviewing the footage, he said.

Laming also believes that any proper oversight agency needs to consist of members of the community, leaders and Indigenous leaders that investigate all use of force cases from the video evidence, not just those that resulted in injuries or deaths.

That way we have that independence that can come in and say, Yeah, they were justified or theyre werent justified, heres why and heres what we would recommend for disciplinary mechanisms, said Laming.

Thats the only way we can really, truly, at least improve accountability.

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Tax Automation and User Experience – BOSS Magazine

Posted: at 6:42 am

Reading Time: 5 minutes

In the last decade, a wave of technology, specifically artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and automation, has swept over every possible industry. Wealth management and tax are no exception. Gone are the days when advisors and accountants are expected to pore over heaps of data and manually mine through it all.

The introduction of automation tax software has made it easier for financial practitioners to leave repetitive processes to technology and shift their focus to skill-based managerial and administrative roles. The rise of robo-advisors means big things for the industry and is changing the face of tax as we know it. In a few years, its safe to assume that many financial companies will invest in tax automation software to some capacity, so lets explore what this brings to the table:

Tax filing is complex and notoriously time-consuming. And with constantly changing regulations, even the best advisors can find it hard to keep an accurate account with minimal errors or anomalies. This problem of labor-intensive, repetition has plagued the industry for years, and with the development of innovative robotic automation software, the scope for automating everything from data collection to filing returns is immense.

Perhaps the biggest and most impactful benefit of automation software is the accuracy it brings to processes. For accurate reports, calculations and data management, data has to be accurately collected at its source. Manual collection of data is always prey to human error and is one of the biggest banes to tax professionals. An article by Accountancy Age aptly explains how automation can change this.

Automated tools can collect data from multiple systems, store the information in a common format and then scan and check the data for inconsistencies and mistakes. Then, multiple compliance engines can use this data repository to automatically populate forms, thus removing the need for transposition and reducing the capacity for error and financial risk. This is especially useful for business tax filing because accurate data collection ensures accurate tax calculations.

Implementing tax automation software is a huge investment. While statistics from Deloitte show that automation software can save companies anywhere between 15% to 90% of their current advisory costs; a 2017 report from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) states that using robotic process automation (RPA) costs less than 50% of the cost of offshore processing. Additionally, RPA offers up to 80% total cost reduction and results in virtually no money being spent on customizing existing or new systems. Finally, there is also a case for saving in terms of future costs by mitigating errors and therefore saving on the expense of fixing them.

When it comes to certain expenses like healthcare or housing and real estate, the data is large and the documents are many. Automated software can avoid backlog by retrieving data from third parties and uploading it straight into repositories, saving both clients and accountants a significant amount of time. For smaller businesses, hiring a managed payroll service that utilizes automation can prove to be beneficial.

The tax industry is infamous for long hours of manual labor, often resulting in high staff turnover for tax teams. In fact, an ACCA survey found that Across the Big Four, only 25% of respondents thought their role provided a good work-life balance, compared with 38% in mid-tier firms and 49% across all sectors. The survey also found that 85% of respondents viewed technology as a way to free up time so as to focus on more value-added opportunities.

Enter tax automation software: It does the prep work and leaves the skill-based work to the professionals, thereby breaking old perceptions of the tax industrys notoriety for long hours and poor work life balance. In turn, this can attract a younger, savvier workforce.

We now know how tax automation software can do wonders for financial advisors but what about their clients? Considering that many individuals dread the approach of tax season, tax automation software can be a boon to business owners. However, this software is only successful if clients can navigate it, understand it and actually enjoy using it. Heres where UX plays a major role:

Its simple: no one wants to use an app they dont like. If it doesnt make their lives easier, they dont stick around and companies that invest in UX for a seamless user experience, reap the benefits. This article by Appnovation puts things in perspective: Tinder, the dating app designed on the same premise as ex-market leaders OkCupid and Match.com, did one thing the latter two didnt. They made the product easier to use. No longer did you have to fill in long forms for your ideal match, you just had to link your social media and voila a 100 new matches!

Another example in the tax world is that of TurboTax. In an article on Forbes, Eunie Kwon, who is the Director of Design at Intuit, states, When we went out and asked thousands of consumers about their tax preparation, most responded with emotions of fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Once we started to unpack their reasons for these feelings, we found opportunities to influence their experience by applying some basic psychological principles and laws of UX heuristics to simplify through mindful design. This approach has led to great success for TurboTax, with clients feeling 100% confident about their tax outcomes through the platform.

The lesson here is simple: if the user experience of the technology doesnt have the customer in mind every step of the way, it reduces its chances of success almost instantly.

If technology has done anything, its allowed brands and firms to tailor the customer experience. Todays mantra is no longer one-size-fits-all. With unprecedented amounts of data being collected, UX can be designed in accordance with customers preferences.

For instance, taking the data you have and applying it to your UX could mean sending certain customers customized notifications for tax filing or timely reminders, or even allowing customers to be constantly in touch with a chatbot as they file their documents so they clear every query they have.

Automation allows tax professionals to finally turn the spotlight onto adding more value to their client relationships through planning, strategy and problem-solving. Technology and convenience is a welcome change in this sector, and while tax automation is certainly the way ahead for financial advisors, its functionality alone wont determine its success. A UX experience that predicts and meets the needs of customers is the key to the triumph of this technology and a strong determinant of its future success.

By: Indiana Lee, BOSS contributor

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Trump Wanted To ‘Throw Massie Out of Republican Party!’ but the Libertarian-Leaning Congressman Just Won His Primary Anyway – Reason

Posted: at 6:41 am

Libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (RKy.) has crushed his opponent in the Republican primary for the Northern Kentucky seat he's represented since 2012. It was one of two notable victories for GOP primary candidates against more overtly Trump-aligned challengers.

By early evening, Massie had wracked up 88 percent of the unofficial vote against Todd McMurtry, a lawyer who represented Covington Catholic student Nick Sandmann in his lawsuit against media outlets. The official results won't be released until June 30, when election officials have had enough time to count mail-in ballots.

Massie's libertarian streak and willingness to buck Republican leadership have earned him explicit rebukes from President Donald Trump in recent months, something McMurtry did his best to capitalize on.

When Massie held up the passage of the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in Marchinsisting that the pricey legislation receive a roll call voteTrump called him a "disaster for America" on Twitter, and demanded his expulsion from the Republican Party.

Massie, in turn, made much of McMurtry's own social media activity. The lawyer had made several comments that were critical Trump. He'd also approvingly tweeted out a blog post primer on the alt-right and called for resistance to the "demonization of white people."

Those posts saw several Republican House members withdraw their endorsement of McMurtry, and cleared the way for Massie's victory.

Former Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath is also leading in Kentucky's U.S. Senate Democratic primary against progressive challenger Charles Booker. Provided she maintains her lead once all the mail-in ballots are counted, she'll go on to face incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell (RKy), who also won his primary tonight.

Trump's endorsement of businesswoman Lynda Bennett also failed to prevent her stunning loss tonight to 24-year-old real estate investor and motivational speaker Madison Cawthorn in the Republican primary for North Carolina's 11th congressional district.

That seat was vacated earlier this year when former Rep. Mark Meadows (RN.C.), one-time head of the House Freedom Caucus, resigned to take up the position as Trump's chief of staff. Despite endorsements from Trump, Meadows, and Sen. Ted Cruz (RTexas), Bennett received 35 percent of the vote in the two-person run-off election.

According to the Charlotte Observer, Meadows' apparent manipulation of the process to make Bennett his handpicked successor angered local Republicans. Cawthorn re-framed Bennett's many high-profile endorsements as proof that Bennett would be beholden to Washington elites.

Provided he beats Democratic candidate Moe Davis in November, Cawthorn will become the youngest member of Congress.

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Google’s warning against the Federalist is why libertarians will lose fight over Big Tech – Washington Examiner

Posted: at 6:41 am

When it comes to the regulation of private businesses, I consider myself a libertarian. But as a realist, I recognize that when businesses become big and begin to be seen as abusing their power, they make it much harder for defenders of a pure free market to prevail in the regulatory debate.

NBC's attempt to deplatform the Federalist was only made possible by the immense power that Google has, with a near monopoly on the search traffic that fuels its advertising business. While it turns out that NBC got the story wrong, Google did put the Federalist on notice that it could lose access to Google Ads revenue if it didn't change its comment section, which has been temporarily removed.

In the debate concerning whether to target tech companies over their bias against conservatives, I've been on the side of arguing that private businesses should have the right to set any rules they want for users. I was critical of a proposal by Sen. Josh Hawley that would have ended the immunity that social media companies have against lawsuits for content posted on their platforms. Under his proposal, companies would have to apply to the federal government for temporary certificates of immunity after demonstrating they've been free of political bias in removing content. On the left, Sen. Elizabeth Warren has proposed breaking up large tech companies though for different reasons.

Arguments in favor of the free market are always weakened when businesses behave in ways that make it easy for people to portray them as the bad guys.

A free market healthcare system has been made harder to achieve by stories of insurers fighting to deny care to those who have insurance, of hospitals issuing exorbitant bills that are hard to justify, and of drug companies that rely on patent protection to charge jaw-dropping amounts for prescription drugs. Manufacturers that recklessly polluted and then tried to cover it up made it more difficult to argue against environmental regulations, and big banks that blew up the economy and then demanded bailouts made it more difficult to make the case against financial regulation.

Google, in trying to explain its threat against the Federalist, stated, "Our policies do not allow ads to run against dangerous or derogatory content, which includes comments on sites." To which many people had the same reaction: Has Google not looked at the comments section of any typical video on its own YouTube service?

This was not lost on Hawley.

On Wednesday, he is introducing legislation that would give "users the right to sue if the big platforms enforce their terms unfairly or unequally." He is being joined by Sens. Marco Rubio, Tom Cotton, and Mike Braun.

In a political world in which most people are more interested in outcomes rather than underlying principles, if the power of Google and other large tech companies is used to disproportionately target conservatives, it's going to be increasingly difficult for those on the libertarian side of the spectrum to win any argument over the freedom of these companies to self-police.

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Texas-based conservative group funding ‘green’ PAC in MT – KTVH

Posted: at 6:41 am

HELENA A political-action committee backing the Green Party candidate in Montanas high-profile U.S. Senate race is being funded by a Texas-based conservative group, records show.

The group, CSG Action, also has ties to a Texas oil-and-gas executive whos donated to the Montana Republican Party and the campaign of Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, and who bankrolled a group that opposed Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester in 2018.

The PAC, Go Green Montana, was formed in early May and last week reported spending $27,000 on digital ads, mailings and a website to support Wendie Fredrickson, the Montana Green Party for U.S. Senate.

Fredrickson, a former auditor for the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, won the June 2 Green Party Senate primary, defeating Dennis Daneke of Missoula.

She will appear on the general election ballot, along with Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines and his Democratic challenger, Gov. Steve Bullock.

The Montana Republican Party financed the effort to qualify the Green Party for the 2020 Montana ballot, enabling candidates to run under that banner. GOP officials said they wanted to give Montana voters more choices.

The Montana Democratic Party says the effort to promote the Green Party and its candidates, including the Go Green Montana PAC, are part of an ongoing Republican effort to mislead Montanans and meddle in our elections.

The Montana Green Party also has distanced itself from Fredricksons candidacy and the Go Green Montana PAC, saying it has nothing to do with the latter and that Fredrickson hasnt contacted the local party.

Fredrickson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Go Green Montanas first finance report, filed last week with the Federal Election Committee, says it raised $45,500 entirely from CSG Action. Records indicate that CSG Action is the political arm of Citizens for Self-Governance, a group that describes itself on its website as dedicated to motivating a nationwide network of self-governing citizen activists, committed to bring government back to the people.

The president of Citizens for Self-Governance, based in Houston, is Mark Meckler, an attorney who was a national coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots. Its chair is Eric OKeefe, who helped found U.S. Term Limits and has been involved in various conservative and libertarian-leaning groups.

A Texas telephone number listed on the groups website has been disconnected and the group did not respond to an email.

One of the listed directors of Citizens for Self-Governance is Tim Dunn, an oil-and-gas company executive from Midland, Texas, whos been politically active in many conservative groups and causes.

In 2018, he spent $2.2 million backing a group called the Senate Reform Fund, which spent most of its money on ads and other efforts to oppose Montana U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat, when he ran for re-election.

This year and last, Dunn and his wife, Terri, have donated $20,000 to the Montana Republican Party, $11,200 to Daines Senate campaign, and another $15,000 to a committee affiliated with the Daines campaign.

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Morelle with big lead over Wilt but absentee votes still to be tallied – WXXI News

Posted: at 6:41 am

Two familiar names are vying for the Democratic nomination in the 25th Congressional District.

Incumbent Joe Morelle and challenger Robin Wilt ran in a four-way race for the nomination two years ago. It was Morelle who ran away with the nomination, and later won both a special and general election to fill the seat that was long held by Louise Slaughter, who died in office in 2016.

The final results wont be known until after June 30, when all the absentee ballots can be counted, but the most current figures show Morelle leading Wilt by 30% after counting the votes that were made in person today and during early voting. Morelle has already secured the Independence Party nomination. Wilt appears to have conceded the race, posting the following on Facebook during the overnight hours:

While we are still awaiting every vote to be counted, we have fallen well shy of our vote goals to be successful in the contest for the 25th Congressional District Democratic Primary. I am honored by all of those who have supported me, and I will continue to advocate for every voice to be heard. I am humbled to have been part of this movement for change, and I realize we have much work left to do. I look forward to the continued engagement.

The Monroe County Board of Elections says 53,318 absentee ballots were sent out to Democrats in NY-25, with 25,746 returned as of Tuesday; ballots have until June 30 to reach the board of elections in order to be counted.

The winner will move to the general election, where they will face Republican and Conservative candidate George Mitris, Working Families candidate Afua Atta-Mensah, and Libertarian candidate Kevin Wilson.

The district includes all of Monroe County except for the towns of Scottsville, Rush, and Mendon.

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Non-mask wearing fools – The Real Nurse Jackie – McKnight’s Long Term Care News

Posted: at 6:41 am

After watching how some people wear their masks, I now understand why contraception fails! I mean, it really is not protective when the mask is covering your chin, or your nose is hanging out of it.

And I am sorry, but you do not need medical training (unlike some evil troll wrote on my Facebook page) to wear a mask properly. Just cover your nose and mouth for goodness sakes. Wearing a mask is about protecting yourself and others from this infection.

But what really burns my cookies is not wearing a mask at all.

All the studies show that wearing a mask and social distancing will diminish the spread of the virus. But for some very bizarre reason, some people think it is their God-given American right to not wear a mask and believe youre a communist or something if you even suggest it. I dont get it. Do they want to spread this virus FOREVER?

I see the posts they state that COVID isnt that big of a deal, its a media hoax, or its no worse than the flu, or its OK to thin the herd or other wacky ideas. And, besides, youre talking about their business so stay out of it!

But is it really just these non-mask wearing, non-social-distancing peoples business? NO, it is not.

Those of us who work in long-term care know our residents and staff are paying the price for these inane ideas. About 42% of deaths from COVID-19 in the US are from eldercare facilities, yet the population in eldercare facilities is approximately 0.62% of the entire population. And this isnt because eldercare facilities suck! Simply stated, our population is the most vulnerable to COVID-19.

Youve read enough well-written articles in McKnights, so you know all the uphill battles weve been facing from not getting appropriate PPE to asymptomatic spread from staff. (And no, public, we cannot make our employees live in our buildings, so that means that, yes, they will get exposed to you non-mask wearing fools.)

Please, wearing a mask is not a political statement. It is not a Democrat versus a Republican, versus a libertarian thing. Healthcare advocates from all sides of the aisle are begging you to wear your masks.

We are trying to save lives here. Our staff are putting their lives on the line every day. Is wearing a mask really that difficult?

Save a life, wear a mask.

Just keeping it real,

Nurse Jackie

The Real Nurse Jackie is written by Jacqueline Vance, RNC, CDONA/LTC, Senior Director of Clinical Innovation and Education for Mission Health Communities, LLC and an APEX Award of Excellence winner for Blog Writing. Vance is a real-life long-term care nurse. A nationally respected nurse educator and past national LTC Nurse Administrator of the Year, she also is an accomplished stand-up comedienne. The opinions supplied here are her own and do not necessarily reflect those of her employer or her professional affiliates

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Lockdown easing analysis: Boris Johnson’s libertarian instincts returned… and he went further than anyone really expected – Evening Standard

Posted: at 6:41 am

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For all his talk of caution, there is no disguising the massive scale of the changes that Boris Johnson set out today.

In almost every area, the PM went further than anyone really expected . Dinner parties and sleepovers albeit without hugs or handshakes are a big stride towards normality. So too is the announcement that restaurants can serve indoors, not just al fresco, which will allow venues around the West End to reopen their doors.

Moreover, the Prime Ministers libertarian instincts returned to the fore in another key area, which is over the concept of risk. As he told MPs: Our principle is to trust the British public to use their common sense in the full knowledge of the risks, remembering that the more we open up, the more vigilant we will need to be.

This is a really fundamental change from the idea of safety first which underpinned his March announcement of the closure of the British economy. Then it was enforced by heavy-handed policing and the issuing of spot fines, now it is to be policed by old fashioned common sense and people will be responsible for their own mistakes.

Two things are clear. The first is that this is more true to this Prime Ministers natural political instinct, which is a laissez faire philosophy around social issues and a natural antipathy towards elf n safety laws. The second is that the great easing from lockdown is too complex and too varied for blanket rules to be applied in the way they were when the only imperative was to stop everything.

For example, Londons many thousands of restaurants come in all shapes and sizes. Some have medieval stairways, some sit in modern office foyers; some are in basements, others aloft in skyscrapers; some even move around on trains. Closing them was easy. But where to draw the line on which can open? A blanket two-metre rule would kill most. A one metre rule would invite danger. So, Johnson has chosen on a formula that also fits his Tory nature, which is a very flexible one metre plus rule that puts the onus on managers to assess the risks in their premises and take appropriate measures.

The PM's announcement was a big stride towards normality(via REUTERS)

The PM calculates that restauranteurs do not want to kill their customers, and diners will walk out if their tables look too close. My duty is to guide the British people, he said. Note the word guide and not tell.

Did he have Chis Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallances blessing for the changes? Johnson pointedly did not claim their backing but instead said they had been confident that todays changes would not cause an upsurge. In other words, it was his decision, guided by experts but not led by them. The PM no longer feels the need to use scientists as cover.

It was therefore fascinating that todays huge announcements were used as cover for slipping out another one, that the 5pm daily coronavirus press briefings will end today . No more daily questioning of Whitty and Vallance and senior ministers to see if they all agree.

It was also telling that the PM, who does not always look a picture of health nowadays, was on ebullient form in the Commons. He teased Sir Keir Starmer (who welcomed the statement broadly) with a joke about U-turns, clearly unabashed at his own recent record of three handbrake swivels. He openly scoffed at the devolved Welsh government rule of staying within five miles of home and had a dig at Nicola Sturgeon. To holiday regions, he urged them to roll out the welcome mat" and not the "not welcome here sign. Clearly, Boris Johnson feels more comfortable in his skin announcing freedoms rather than rules.

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

A member of staff prepares to open a branch of H&M in Canterbury, Kent,

PA

Primark in Birmingham

PA

NikeTown Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Shop staff in face masks give a round of applause to the first customers through the doors at the Fenwick store in Newcastle

PA

Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

A doorman in a face mask waits to welcome back customers to the Fenwick store in Northumberland Street, Newcastle

PA

People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Ken

PA

People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Kent

PA

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

A customer dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) in line to shop at Primark, Birmingham

PA

Primark in Birmingham

PA

Primark in Birmingham

PA

NikeTown Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Selfridges

Matt Writtle/Selfridges

Selfridges

Matt Writtle/Selfridges

A Harrod's 'Green Man' welcomes customers back to Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London

PA

Customers wait outside Harrods store in Knightsbridge, London

PA

Primark in Birmingham

PA

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Kathryn Stanczyszyn

Kathryn Stanczyszyn/BBC

People queue ahead of the opening of Primark in Leeds

PA

Selfridges

Matt Writtle/Selfridges

A customer dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) in line to shop at Primark, Birmingham

PA

A customer carrying bags of shopping leaves Primark in Birmingham

PA

Primark Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Primark Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Shoppers in line outside John Lewis in Kingston

PA

Shops and businesses in Chelsea, West London prepare to re-open to customers

Daniel Hambury

REUTERS

REUTERS

REUTERS

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

A member of staff prepares to open a branch of H&M in Canterbury, Kent,

PA

Primark in Birmingham

PA

NikeTown Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Primark in Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Shop staff in face masks give a round of applause to the first customers through the doors at the Fenwick store in Newcastle

PA

Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

Oxford Street

Jeremy Selwyn

A doorman in a face mask waits to welcome back customers to the Fenwick store in Northumberland Street, Newcastle

PA

People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Ken

PA

People queue for outside shops in Canterbury, Kent

PA

Primark in Oxford Street

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Lockdown easing analysis: Boris Johnson's libertarian instincts returned... and he went further than anyone really expected - Evening Standard

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How a fringe sect from the 1980s influenced No 10’s attitude to racism – The Guardian

Posted: at 6:41 am

With pressure mounting from the global Black Lives Matter protest movement, Boris Johnson has put forward his adviser Munira Mirza to lead a new commission on racial inequality. However, her appointment undermines the commission before it has even started. Mirza has previously expressed scepticism about the existence of institutional racism in the justice system and has suggested that anti-racist lobbyists and activists have corroded public trust. She has also suggested that Britain does not have a serious problem with racism. This comes as no surprise: Mirza has long been associated with Spiked, an online magazine increasingly well known for its contrarian takes on current events and for its writers popping up in various places across the media landscape with rightwing views.

Infamous for its right-libertarian and iconoclastic style, Spiked has gained notoriety for arguing against numerous progressive positions, but using a rhetorical style indebted to its earlier incarnation as a Trotskyist group in the 1980s-90s, the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP). With a combative tone, the magazines writers have routinely sought to dismiss many political actions as not dealing with the real issues and put forward their own solutions, which often correlate with a populist right position. Previously dismissed as a fringe group on the outer limits of political discourse, more recently Spiked has become an influential force in shifting the Overton window to the right in the UK.

To understand how it has come to occupy this space and its rhetorical style, particularly concerning issues of race and racism, it is worth looking at the long road from the RCP to Spiked, via the journal Living Marxism (later titled LM). The RCP began in 1977 under the leadership of the sociologist Frank Furedi, and presented itself as the true vanguard of the British working class. The party made a name for itself for taking positions that rankled with others on the left. Among theses were enthusiastic support for the armed struggle in Northern Ireland and calling for a national ballot during the 1984-5 miners strike. Party members also criticised gay activists and were accused of undermining the message of safe sex during the HIV/Aids crisis.

At the end of the cold war, the RCP pronounced that class-based politics was a dead end, with ideas now being the key battleground. The party eventually dissolved in 1997, which left Living Marxism as the primary vehicle for its former cadre. It acted as a halfway house for former leftwing activists now increasingly interested in libertarianism. The journal itself was wound up in 2000 after losing a libel case against ITN over claims made about reporting during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

Its successor was Spiked, under the helm of the former LM editor Mick Hume and involving many prominent RCP members. At the same time, many of the same members were involved in establishing the thinktank the Institute of Ideas, led by Claire Fox, a former RCP member and most recently an MEP for the Brexit party. This is where Mirza entered the orbit of Spiked and its various offshoots, writing semi-regular pieces for the magazine since 2001.

The crossover of many of these individuals between the journal, the website, the thinktank and other endeavours has been referred to as the LM network. It has gained attention not just because many of its members occupy a significant media and political profile, but also for the trajectory of its cohort from the far left to the hard right. While the story of former leftwingers becoming rightwingers is not new, the fact that the leadership of the RCP seemed to transition en masse makes it a compelling story. Some commentators have suggested that this is a coordinated case of entryism (although the end goal of this is unclear). But it is more likely that the politics and activities of the network have a certain appeal (and notoriety), which has seen a number of former members be willing to shift with the changing agenda, from revolutionary communism to a mixture of contrarianism and right libertarianism. In many ways, this owes something to the Leninism of the former RCP and an ideological coherence, even in the absence of the vanguard of the party.

In recent years, Spiked has been at the forefront of perpetuating the idea of the free-speech crisis on university campuses and elsewhere. Some at the magazine also disagree with laws against racial discrimination (particularly against racist speech) and with the Equality and Human Rights Commission, viewing both as overreach by the state into peoples lives. This approach to racism, free speech and the state are intertwined, and can be traced back to the days of the RCP.

Throughout the 1980s, some at the magazine opposed the no platforming of fascists and racists, stemming from an objection to state bans and censorship. Furthermore, use of racial discrimination legislation was seen as a call for state intervention in working-class and migrant communities. In reality, this meant that while the RCP (and its front, Workers Against Racism, or WAR) were involved in a number of anti-racist campaigns, it denigrated the work being done by other activist groups. One of the constant tropes of the RCP/WAR was to argue that while the rest of the left concentrated their efforts in one area, they really should be concentrating in another (which coincidentally was where the RCP dedicated their attention). This notion that everybody else is wrong and just tilting at windmills persists in the writings of Spiked today.

Actions against non-state racism in the 1990s, such as those by anti-fascists against the British National party, were often dismissed or framed as attacks on the legitimate concerns of the (white) British working class. The end point of this rhetorical stance has seen a writer in Spiked dismiss the threat of the far right, suggesting that the BNP could appear moderate and level-headed when compared with the anti-fascist left; and the magazine publish an article titled The Myth of Bigoted Britain. Simultaneously, while its predecessor had abandoned class politics in favour of ideas in the 1990s, Spiked has also criticised the rise of identity politics as pure ideology and an attempt to divide the working class.

These preoccupations have proven to be well suited to a moment in which the right has reduced racism to a component of a culture war being waged by the woke left. Mirzas previous comments on Spiked about institutional racism, diversity and multiculturalism reveal the mindset in which this new proposed commission on racial inequalities has been cast. They also reveal how the fixations of a contrarian, right-leaning, libertarian website, established by disillusioned leftists, has become part of the mainstream discourse in the UK.

Evan Smith is a research fellow in history at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia. He is the author of No Platform: A History of Anti-Fascism, Universities and the Limits of Free Speech

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The myth of the ‘model minority’ – Los Altos Town Crier

Posted: at 6:39 am

If you are South Asian American and perpetuate anti-Blackness, you have fallen prey to an oppressive tactic of the United States government, the concept of model minorities.To combat anti-Blackness, we need to understand the history behind the term model minority. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson enacted the Immigration and Nationality Act, prioritizing individuals with specialized skills in the immigration processes. Consequently, the only South Asians allowed to immigrate to America were exceedingly intelligent and/or talented in a specific discipline. By only allowing the best South Asians to enter the country, the U.S. government predetermined the South Asian immigrant population to be successful.On the other hand, people from the African diaspora were forcibly brought to the U.S. through the transatlantic slave trade. They had no choice to come to America, let alone indulge in the opportunity to learn and develop special skills to prove their worth. Therefore, South Asian Americans were systematically supported to be more successful, making the U.S. government consider them a model minority. However, this detrimental approach to immigration policy allowed our government to rest on their laurels and believe that their work in supporting South Asian Americans was advancing the mission of all inclusivity and diversity in the U.S.Meanwhile, African Americans, who were forced into immigrating and were not given the right resources to become successful, continued to be oppressed and struggled to survive. The African-American community fought through chattel slavery, Jim Crow, redlining and now police brutality, while the media painted South Asian Americans as good, law-abiding citizens. When African Americans engaged in protests to merely exist as equals in U.S. society, South Asian Americans benefited off of their model minority status, playing into the governments hands, even if it meant turning a blind eye to the continued oppression of their fellow peoples of color.You might be thinking, Just because Im not Black doesnt mean I dont experience racism. The difference here is that the racism that we, as South Asian Americans, have faced and continue to face is not institutionalized and not as rampantly widespread and maintained across U.S. government policies as racism that Black Americans face.Now, more than ever, the South Asian-American community has the opportunity to reject the model minority messaging. One of the officers abetting the murder of George Floyd was Asian American, and we, as a minority population and a part of the larger Asian community, have a responsibility to strongly condemn this anti-Blackness and racism. The Asian-American population has long played a major role in the United States systematic racism: Now is the time to fight back.

Anushka Srinivasan was born and raised in Los Altos.

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The myth of the 'model minority' - Los Altos Town Crier

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