Current Events March 20-23

nycfan

nycfan

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New thread for general current events.

I left the last current events thread open to continue to use as focused on news about the Trump Administration transfer of immigrants to an El Salvador prison without due process and the related legal battle related to that.
 


“… Though the memo emphasized that all contractors—whether or not they work for the government—are “still covered by existing United States laws on civil rights/nondiscrimination,” it instructed agencies not to include a number of FAR provisions and clauses in future solicitations and contracts.

…
FAR Clause 52.222-21 defined segregated facilities to include locker rooms, waiting rooms, recreation areas, transportation, and housing “that are segregated by explicit directive or are in fact segregated on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or national origin because of written or oral policies or employee custom.”

Segregation still ostensibly remains illegal under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but civil rights lawyer Ben Crump said the GSA memo “sends a CLEAR message.”

… A federal employee who works on contracts told NPR that making such changes without the typical public notice period of 45 to 90 days is typically reserved for national emergencies.

“The way that they’re implementing this in the contracting field is essentially subverting democracy — you’re supposed to allow agencies to comment on this, contracting officers to comment on it, and think through the implications carefully," the source said.

“By doing this, they’re essentially ramming things through hoping no one’s going to notice.” …”
 

“The Trump administration is crafting plans to reorganize the U.S. Agency for International Development, which had been dismantled by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, according to a memo detailing the plans.

The agency would be renamed the U.S. Agency for International Humanitarian Assistance and fall under the control of the State Department to help enhance national security and counter adversaries like China, according to the memo, viewed by The Wall Street Journal. USAID had long operated as an independent agency with its own administrator.

… It is unclear whether a federal judge’s ruling earlier this week that DOGE’s dismantling of USAID was unconstitutional will have an impact on the administration’s new plans.

The order from Judge Theodore D. Chuang in Maryland directed DOGE to halt its work to close the agency and reinstate access to electronic systems for employees and contractors who were shut out.

The judge also took aim at Musk himself, spending pages wading through White House comments and social-media posts about the role played by the billionaire, an adviser and close ally of President Trump.

… The proposed new structure aims to project American soft power and enhance national security, with a focus on countering competitors such as China. Multiple USAID bureaus, including those for Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East would be eliminated, according to the memo.

Politically oriented programs, including the promotion of democracy, empowering women, religious freedom and combating human trafficking, will be redirected to other sections of the State Department, according to the memo. …”
 

University of California Will Stop Requiring Diversity Statements in Hiring​

The statements had risen in popularity as colleges sought to improve campus culture, but they drew criticism from conservatives who argued they were a political test.

www.nytimes.com

The University of California Will Stop Requiring Diversity Statements in Hiring

The statements had risen in popularity as colleges sought to improve campus culture, but they drew criticism from conservatives who argued they were a political test.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“…
Diversity statements typically ask job applicants to describe in a page or so how they would contribute to campus diversity. The move away from them, by one of the biggest higher education systems in the United States, comes as the Trump administration escalates an attack on higher education over diversity programming.

For a decade, the 10-campus system was a national leader in using such statements, as universities increasingly came under pressure from those who wanted more diverse student bodies and faculties.

“Our values and commitment to our mission have not changed,” Janet Reilly, the chair of the system’s Board of Regents, said in a statement late Wednesday. “We will continue to embrace and celebrate Californians from a variety of life experiences, backgrounds and points of view.” …”

——
This is something I thought needed a course correction. It is one thing to state the Universities policies and goals, another to require from employees what looked more and more like a loyalty pledge to a particular outlook.
 

As Debt Ceiling Looms, the Fed Tweaks Its Portfolio Runoff​

Process of shedding assets and draining bank reserves could collide with dynamics related to raising the federal debt limit​



“…For the past three years, the Fed has been shrinking the portfolio of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities that it accumulated during previous stimulus campaigns, including one to stabilize dysfunctional markets when the Covid-19 pandemic upended commerce in 2020.

… The Fed is trying to avoid a rerun of a situation that occurred in 2019 when it was also shrinking the asset portfolio, sometimes called its balance sheet. Back then, the balance-sheet runoff prompted strains in overnight funding markets that forced the Fed to make a U-turn and expand its holdings.

The potential for a market hiccup will rise in the coming months because of the interplay between the Fed’s balance-sheet runoff and the need by Congress and the White House to raise the federal debt ceiling.

…
When it reverses this process, the Fed doesn’t sell any of the Treasurys or mortgage-backed securities outright. Since last June, the Fed has allowed as much as $25 billion in Treasurys and $35 billion in mortgage bonds to mature every month without reinvesting the proceeds into new securities. When it shrinks those holdings, it also drains reserves.

Starting in April, the Fed will slow the pace of runoff for Treasury securities to $5 billion per month. …”
 


“… The Canadians were dual citizens and faced “charges linked to criminal activities, according to China, linked to drugs,” Joly said Wednesday.

China doesn’t recognize dual citizenship and takes a tough stance on drug crimes, though it is rare for the death penalty to be used against Westerners. Under Chinese law, the smuggling of drugs is punishable with prison—including a life sentence—and the death penalty, depending on the severity of the offense.

… Responding to Joly’s comments, China’s Foreign Ministry said it treated defendants of all nationalities equally. “Canada should respect the rule of law and stop interfering in China’s judicial sovereignty,” spokesperson Mao Ning said, without providing details on the specific cases cited by Joly.

China executes more people than any other country, according to Amnesty International. While the exact number is unknown, in its last global death penalty report the charity reported China executed thousands of people in 2023. …”
 
nycfan said:
SWATING and setting cars on fire is not the way…

Click to expand...

This no doubt will backfire and should stop, but I do have serious doubts as to just how widespread or frequently this is happening. My guess is that it's very rare, and right-wing media is playing it up as being worse than it is to gin up more outrage against liberals and Trump critics. And how do we know it's coming from liberals? Given that a good number of Trumpers have been fired from government positions it could just as easily be coming from disgruntled Republican or simply apolitical fired federal employees. And I'll add that as more and more people lose their jobs and have their welfare net cut and real suffering starts to settle in over the next year or so that, given human nature, these types of events are likely to escalate, not subside. It doesn't justify them, but to make drastic cuts to the social safety net and fire hundreds of thousands of people the way they're doing makes it foolish and naive not to know that there is going to be some real ugliness in the future.
 
Mulberry Heel said:
This no doubt will backfire and should stop, but I do have serious doubts as to just how widespread or frequently this is happening. My guess is that it's very rare, and right-wing media is playing it up as being worse than it is to gin up more outrage against liberals and Trump critics. And how do we know it's coming from liberals? Given that a good number of Trumpers have been fired from government positions it could just as easily be coming from disgruntled Republican or simply apolitical fired federal employees. And I'll add that as more and more people lose their jobs and have their welfare net cut and real suffering starts to settle in over the next year or so that, given human nature, these types of events are likely to escalate, not subside. It doesn't justify them, but to make drastic cuts to the social safety net and fire hundreds of thousands of people the way they're doing makes it foolish and naive not to know that there is going to be some real ugliness in the future.
Click to expand...
I don’t disagree — but aside from being wrong, each such episode will be exploited by the Trump Administration to their advantage.
 


“… The rap sheet against the Houthis is unchallenged. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, the Houthis declared that they would shut down shipping through the Red Sea to protest Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Houthi terrorists targeted many Western maritime vessels that they claimed had Israeli ties transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (often exempting Russian and Chinese shippers), forcing shipping companies to bypass the Suez Canal and sail around the Cape of Good Hope, adding significant costs to each journey.

The Houthis hijacked a ship and kidnapped its crew, holding them for over a year. They sank two ships, murdering several mariners and causing grave environmental damage. And their terrorist anti-shipping campaign caused grave harm to their Red Sea neighbors, endangering shipments of aid to Sudan and Somalia and depriving Egypt of critically needed hard currency from Suez Canal transits.

As 2024 wore on and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed to the tens of thousands, the Houthis increasingly turned their weapons—including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—against U.S. warships patrolling the Red Sea. Due to the skill and tenacity of American sailors and aviators, these Houthi attacks were defeated and no U.S. ships were struck. But there were close calls, and U.S. Central Command leadership emphasized that the risk of a U.S. warship being struck—when U.S. forces had to be perfect in defense every time, while the Houthis needed to get lucky just once—was increasing.

…
In our discussions with regional partners, both Arab and Israeli, we heard one common refrain: to stop the Houthis, you must kill their leaders. The top Houthi commander, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, sees himself as a rising regional strongman, not a mere proxy of Iran. Kill him and his top lieutenants, we were advised, and perhaps Houthi aggression will abate.

That kind of targeting is easier said than done, especially in a remote, rugged place like Yemen. Houthi leaders take precautions with their personal safety, operate underground and embedded in civilian populations, and are protected by sophisticated air defenses that the U.S. military acknowledges have downed American MQ-9 surveillance drones. …”
 
nycfan said:


“… The rap sheet against the Houthis is unchallenged. Following the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel, the Houthis declared that they would shut down shipping through the Red Sea to protest Israel’s operation in Gaza.

Houthi terrorists targeted many Western maritime vessels that they claimed had Israeli ties transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait (often exempting Russian and Chinese shippers), forcing shipping companies to bypass the Suez Canal and sail around the Cape of Good Hope, adding significant costs to each journey.

The Houthis hijacked a ship and kidnapped its crew, holding them for over a year. They sank two ships, murdering several mariners and causing grave environmental damage. And their terrorist anti-shipping campaign caused grave harm to their Red Sea neighbors, endangering shipments of aid to Sudan and Somalia and depriving Egypt of critically needed hard currency from Suez Canal transits.

As 2024 wore on and the Palestinian death toll in Gaza climbed to the tens of thousands, the Houthis increasingly turned their weapons—including ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)—against U.S. warships patrolling the Red Sea. Due to the skill and tenacity of American sailors and aviators, these Houthi attacks were defeated and no U.S. ships were struck. But there were close calls, and U.S. Central Command leadership emphasized that the risk of a U.S. warship being struck—when U.S. forces had to be perfect in defense every time, while the Houthis needed to get lucky just once—was increasing.

…
In our discussions with regional partners, both Arab and Israeli, we heard one common refrain: to stop the Houthis, you must kill their leaders. The top Houthi commander, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, sees himself as a rising regional strongman, not a mere proxy of Iran. Kill him and his top lieutenants, we were advised, and perhaps Houthi aggression will abate.

That kind of targeting is easier said than done, especially in a remote, rugged place like Yemen. Houthi leaders take precautions with their personal safety, operate underground and embedded in civilian populations, and are protected by sophisticated air defenses that the U.S. military acknowledges have downed American MQ-9 surveillance drones. …”
Click to expand...

[Risks of the targeting of Houthi leaders includes:]

“… In response to U.S. strikes, the Houthis may launch attacks against Arab partners who host American forces, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain.
… A sustained campaign against the Houthis will come with trade-offs. Forces sent to the Middle East might come at the expense of deployments to the Indo-Pacific, where they would be used to help contain aggression by China.

… Finally, the military tool is necessary but not sufficient to solve the Houthi problem. The Trump administration has already added useful tools by restoring the designation of the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization, opening new sanctions possibilities. Interdicting weapons shipments transiting by land and sea, and toughening U.N. inspections of cargo entering the Hodeidah port, are also key tools. But political measures should not be taken off the table. It is insufficient to say, as U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth did, that we don’t care what happens in the Yemeni civil war. The Houthis’ success in that war brought us to this point. So even if Houthi leaders are removed, there needs to be a “then what?” Support for the Republic of Yemen government—the Houthis’ rivals—and a negotiation to install credible, consensus leadership will be necessary to prevent a replay of these Houthi battles all over again.”
 


“… But despite its soaring fortunes, the $4 billion company continues to resist having to pay detainees more than $1 a day for cleaning facilities where the government has forced them to live.

At the 1,575-bed detention center GEO runs for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Tacoma, Washington, detainees once prepared meals, washed laundry and scrubbed toilets, doing jobs that would otherwise require 85 full-time employees, the company estimated. The state’s minimum wage at the time was $11 an hour. (It’s now $16.66.) In 2017, Washington sued GEO to enforce it, and in October 2021 a federal jury ruled unanimously in the state’s favor.

This year, GEO and Washington are back in court — for a third time — as the company tries to reverse the earlier decision that sided with the state. GEO has brought in contract cleaners at the Tacoma facility while the case plays out, keeping detainees there from paid work and from having a way to earn commissary money.

The legal battle has national repercussions as the number of ICE detainees around the country rises to its highest level in five years.

… At issue in the Tacoma case is the state minimum wage.

“Simply put, we believe the State of Washington has unconstitutionally violated the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution,” GEO wrote in a news release.

…
If eventually forced to pay state minimum wages across the country, the company could decide to pay detainees more or else hire outside employees at all its locations – either of which would potentially eat into its profits, stock price and dividends.

The company also could try to renegotiate its long-term contracts with ICE for a higher rate of reimbursement, Lauren-Brooke Eisen, an expert in incarceration, noted in an article for the Brennan Center for Justice.

Or GEO could respond to higher labor costs another way. After the jury decision against it in 2021, the company paused Tacoma’s Voluntary Work Program, as it is known, rather than pay detainees there minimum wage. Some could no longer afford phone calls to family members. (For such detainees, the program had never been entirely voluntary. “I need the money desperately,” one testified. “I have no choice.”)

… For its part, GEO argues that Washington wants to unfairly — and hypocritically — hold the Tacoma facility to a standard that even state facilities don’t have to meet. The company has noted that a carveout in Washington law exempts state prisons from minimum-wage requirements, allowing the state to pay prisoners no more than $40 a week. The federal government, taking GEO’s side, has made the same point in “friend of the court” briefs under both the first Trump administration and the Biden administration. So did a dissenting judge in the recent 9th Circuit decision. …”
 
I'm torn on this. I think that they have a decent case but I despise anything that makes private prisons more profitable.
 


“… In a string of recent cases, border authorities have detained U.S. tourist and work visa holders for lengthy periods after seemingly minor issues with their cases. Among them: a German national with a U.S. green card, who needed to be transported to the hospital after his mother said he was strip-searched during questioning. Another, a tourist who was shackled and chained, was detained after a routine stop driving into the U.S. from Mexico.

Immigrants with visa issues more often had been required to come back with additional paperwork to resolve their cases, or else put into deportation proceedings. Generally, it is rare that border authorities detain people with visa issues long-term, especially those with relatively minor violations, the lawyers and former immigration officials said.

…
Lucas Sielaff, a 25-year-old plumber from Germany, was driving to the U.S. from Mexico with his fiancée, a U.S. citizen, when immigration officers put him in shackles at a border checkpoint.

Sielaff said immigration officers chained him to a bench, and denied him a translator and a lawyer. They also accused him of living in the U.S. instead of visiting as a tourist. He told them he planned to return to his home country before the 90 days allowed to German tourists were up. Sielaff was sent to a detention center in San Diego, where he was told he couldn’t voluntarily leave the country. After 16 days in detention, the officers allowed him to book a flight home.

… Officials are also now requiring most immigration applicants to submit their social-media handles with applications, and have been increasing searches of people’s cellphone contents at airports.

… Schmidt, who has a U.S. green card but was stopped at Logan Airport in Boston earlier this month and aggressively questioned, according to his lawyer, David Keller. “There were unnecessary interrogation tactics imposed…it broke him to the point where, medically speaking, he needed to be transported to the hospital,” Keller told reporters on Tuesday, outside the detention facility in Rhode Island where Schmidt is being held.

Astrid Senior, Schmidt’s mother, confirmed that Schmidt had a previous marijuana possession charge that had been dismissed. She said her son had been strip-searched and put in a cold shower by immigration officers at the airport. Keller said after nearly two weeks of detention, the government has yet to file charges against Schmidt. …”
 
nycfan said:


“… In a string of recent cases, border authorities have detained U.S. tourist and work visa holders for lengthy periods after seemingly minor issues with their cases. Among them: a German national with a U.S. green card, who needed to be transported to the hospital after his mother said he was strip-searched during questioning. Another, a tourist who was shackled and chained, was detained after a routine stop driving into the U.S. from Mexico.

Immigrants with visa issues more often had been required to come back with additional paperwork to resolve their cases, or else put into deportation proceedings. Generally, it is rare that border authorities detain people with visa issues long-term, especially those with relatively minor violations, the lawyers and former immigration officials said.

…
Lucas Sielaff, a 25-year-old plumber from Germany, was driving to the U.S. from Mexico with his fiancée, a U.S. citizen, when immigration officers put him in shackles at a border checkpoint.

Sielaff said immigration officers chained him to a bench, and denied him a translator and a lawyer. They also accused him of living in the U.S. instead of visiting as a tourist. He told them he planned to return to his home country before the 90 days allowed to German tourists were up. Sielaff was sent to a detention center in San Diego, where he was told he couldn’t voluntarily leave the country. After 16 days in detention, the officers allowed him to book a flight home.

… Officials are also now requiring most immigration applicants to submit their social-media handles with applications, and have been increasing searches of people’s cellphone contents at airports.

… Schmidt, who has a U.S. green card but was stopped at Logan Airport in Boston earlier this month and aggressively questioned, according to his lawyer, David Keller. “There were unnecessary interrogation tactics imposed…it broke him to the point where, medically speaking, he needed to be transported to the hospital,” Keller told reporters on Tuesday, outside the detention facility in Rhode Island where Schmidt is being held.

Astrid Senior, Schmidt’s mother, confirmed that Schmidt had a previous marijuana possession charge that had been dismissed. She said her son had been strip-searched and put in a cold shower by immigration officers at the airport. Keller said after nearly two weeks of detention, the government has yet to file charges against Schmidt. …”
Click to expand...

“…
Jasmine Mooney, a Canadian actress, was denied entry in the U.S. after she tried to apply for a new work visa, which Canadians have been allowed to do at a border port of entry. Before the actress, who has appeared in movies such as “American Pie Presents: The Book of Love,” could return to Canada, an officer approached her to start processing her for detention. She was moved to two different detention centers over 12 days, she told The Wall Street Journal.

“I had a Canadian passport, lawyers, resources, media attention, friends, family, and even politicians advocating for me,” Mooney wrote. “Now imagine what this system is like for every other person in there—people who don’t have my privilege.” …”
 
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