Independent News
Abbreviated Pundit Roundup: Sobering news amidst Russian problems with their battle plans
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Nataliya Bugayova/Institute for the Study of War:
THE WEST MUST HELP UKRAINE FREE ITS PEOPLE TO STOP RUSSIAN ATROCITIES
Helping Ukraine liberate its people and territories is the only way to stop Russian atrocities and prevent future ones. The West must rush the military support that Ukraine needs to do so.
Bucha is an observable microcosm of a deliberate Russian terror campaign against Ukrainians. Similar intentional atrocities are happening throughout Russian-occupied areas in Ukraine. Russia’s playbook includes several consistently reported efforts.
Russia revived its “filtration” concept in Ukraine. Russian soldiers are executing Putin’s bogus order to “denazify” Ukraine. They are forcing civilians in the occupied areas to undergo “filtration” to identify so-called “nazis,” which in practice means anyone opposing Russia’s unprovoked invasion.
Specifically, Russians have been searching for, kidnapping, torturing, and executing local leaders, activists, and journalists in the occupied areas.[1] The US government warned about Russian lists of Ukrainians to be killed or sent to camps even before Feb 24 invasion.[2] Russians are continuing to create these lists and target activists.[3]
There’s a great deal to learn from the in depth commentary you can find on twitter and elsewhere form professionals. It goes way beyond what you’ll read in your local paper or see on cable, who repeatedly tend to overestimate Russian competence and preparedness even as they do a stellar job on the humanitarian crisis.
Alessio Patalano/Twitter:
So, what happened, and why does it matter?We know from official sources that 2 Neptune missiles hit the ship and a major fire ensued. The ship was operating incredibly close to shore, which is remarkable given the limited point defence system it has.This raises important questions about familiar themes in this invasion so far:
a. Russian conops;
b. Russian confidence/underestimation of UKR;
c. Russian preparation and readiness.This ship had no real business so close to shore; it clearly underestimated op risk;
Philips P O’Brien/Twitter:
This is a helpful list to understand what the US is sending to Ukraine, and what it indicates about the state of the war and, crucially what we can expect from the Ukrainian armed forces going forwards.
First, US is definitely upgrading Ukrainian capabilities. The MI 17 helicopters are interesting. Multipurpose so can’t say definitely what their use is. My best guess; to allow the Ukrainians to do more SF [special forces] work behind Russian lines.Next, a big stress on protection to minimise Ukrainian casualties. From body armour to NBC protection to counter artillery systems there is stress on protecting Ukrainians. Smart; it’s extremely important to keep Ukrainian casualties down.And, of course more anti air, but you don’t need to hear more from me about that.So a clear package to extend Ukrainian ranged attacks while protecting Ukrainian forces. A sign of where they think the war is going. Ukraine will be expecting to be more offensive as the Russians bog down, but in being offensive they don’t want to suffer high casualties.
Ed Yong/Atlantic:
THE FINAL PANDEMIC BETRAYAL
Millions of people are still mourning loved ones lost to COVID, their grief intensified, prolonged, and even denied by the politics of the pandemic.
The number of people who have died of COVID-19 in the United States has always been undercounted because such counts rely on often-inaccurate death certificates. But the total, as the CDC and other official sources suggest, will soon surpass 1 million. That number—the sum of a million individual tragedies—is almost too large to grasp, and only a few professions have borne visceral witness to the pandemic’s immense scale. Alanna Badgley has been an EMT since 2010, “and the number of people I’ve pronounced dead in the last two years has eclipsed that of the first 10,” she told me. Hari Close, a funeral director in Baltimore, told me that he cared for families who “were burying three or four people weeks apart.” Maureen O’Donnell, an obituary writer at the Chicago Sun-Times, told me that she usually writes “about people who had a beautiful arc to their life,” but during the pandemic, she has found herself writing about lives that were “cut short, like trees being cut down.” On average, each person who has died of COVID has done so roughly a decade before their time.
The reality of redeploying a defeated and exhausted army is now becoming apparent to those who talked about the Russians redeploying their Kyiv forces to the Donbas. It’s now been a [week] since Russian forces were almost all out of Kyiv and Chernihiv.Where are those forces now. Well best intelligence has them on their way from their withdrawal points to around Belgorod, in Russia, for rest and refit. In the US DOD briefing two days ago it was stated that these forces were still on their way.And there are these persistent reports that Russian forces are finding ways to avoid going back to Ukraine.Add this to the fact that these forces, if they can be rested refitted, will need a significant period to deploy into Ukraine, as the road system is still working against them.
Putin had annexed Crimea two years before Trump’s election.
Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden Have Same Problem: Getting the Left to VoteVoter disaffection could prove critical in the French elections. Indeed, turnout among Mélenchon’s supporters could prove decisive. If the right is mobilized and the left does not show, a close race between Macron and Le Pen could tip in the favor of the right-wing leader. This echoes the concern of some Democratic Party leaders in the U.S. who, already facing the uphill struggle that midterm elections usually represent for the party of the incumbent president, are worried that supporters frustrated that key platform priorities of the U.S. left have not passed could stay home. Just as Mélenchon supporters could give the right a shocking victory if they stay home, if core Democratic constituencies do not turn out in November the GOP could win back both the Senate and House and perhaps a very substantial majority in the House.
Le Pen has dialed back her anti-immigrant, nationalist rhetoric and refocused on the economic issues of core interest to many French voters. She has also distanced herself from her previous embrace of Vladimir Putin, going so far in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine as to destroy a million pieces of campaign material that featured a picture of her and the Russian leader. In American terms, she has Youngkinized herself.
Meanwhile, Macron has reached out to win the endorsement of left-wing leaders. He has also stepped away from a proposal to raise the retirement age that was very unpopular on the left. And he has stepped up criticism of Le Pen as a threat to Europe in a time of crisis, given her historic Euroscepticism, closeness to Putin and proposals to pull France out of NATO’s command structure.
Kaleigh Rogers/FiveThirtyeight:
Why So Many Conservatives Are Talking About ‘Grooming’ All Of A Sudden
For the unfamiliar, “grooming” is a term typically reserved to describe the type of behavior that child sexual abusers use to coerce potential victims without being caught. But now some Republicans are using it against any Democrat (or company)1 who disagrees with them on certain policy issues. This is a deliberate tactic that was promoted as early as last summer by Christopher Rufo, the same conservative activist who helped muddle the language around critical race theory. “Grooming” is a term that neatly draws together both modern conspiracy theories and old homophobic stereotypes, while comfortably shielding itself under the guise of protecting children. Who, after all, can argue against the safety of kids? But by adopting this language to bolster their latest political pursuits, the right is both giving a nod to fringe conspiracy theorists and using an age-old tactic to dismantle LGBTQ rights.
“There is no better moral panic than a moral panic centered on potential harm to children,” said Emily Johnson, a history professor at Ball State University who specializes in U.S. histories of gender and sexuality.
From Trump 2020 to ‘Don’t Say Gay,’ GOP leadership wastes millions of taxpayer dollarsTax money goes down the drain when Republicans wage unwinnable wars on the Constitution, the rule of the law and their fellow human beings.On top of all that, Republicans have triggered an investigation that’s “among the most wide-ranging and most complex” ever undertaken by the Justice Department, according to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco. That would be the investigation into Trump supporters’ deadly attack on Jan. 6, 2021, on the U.S. Capitol, the first time in American history that presidential power was transferred violently instead of peacefully.Sedition, conspiracy, incitement – these echoes of the colonies pre-Revolution are happening right now and eating up resources at nearly every U.S. attorney’s office and field office in the country, Monaco says. Congress has committed almost $1 billion for repairs, the National Guard, the Capitol Police and upgraded Capitol security. That’s about half the $1.9 billion sought last May based on a review of security needs.
Ukraine update: Russian flagship sinks; U.S. escalates weapon deliveries
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Russia’s state-owned news agency has now confirmed that the Russian warship Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, has sunk. The heavily damaged ship reportedly sank during an attempt to tow it back to port. Russia is being less forthcoming about the fate of the crew, thought to number over 500, the number claimed to have been successfully evacuated is far less.
The sinking of the Moskva, allegedly by Ukrainian anti-ship missiles, represents by far the single greatest Russian loss of the war. It will also act as a powerful deterrent, signaling to the rest of Russia’s fleet that approaching the Ukrainian coast is considerably riskier than Russian captains previously thought.
Meanwhile, the floodgates have truly opened on NATO aid, with the United States dropping all its previous trepidation about providing “offensive” or “heavy” weaponry. Artillery systems, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, Javelin missiles, and counter-artillery radars are all included in the latest package, with the Pentagon reportedly working closely with Ukraine’s military to fulfill Ukrainian requests. The deliveries are heavily skewed towards systems that require as little training as possible or ones that the Ukrainian military is already familiar with.
The Russian approach remains the same; throw tanks towards the frontline while using artillery to level what can be leveled. That approach is only going to get more expensive as NATO deliveries arrive tailored to counter exactly those threats.
Here are some of the most recent developments:
- Blowing up the bridge at Borova
- Stunning news as Ukraine reportedly sinks Russia’s Black Sea Fleet flagship
- Russian warship, welcome to the age of missiles
- A hundred little Thermopylae
- U.S. sending another $800M package that includes heavy weapons
- The Trump-Putin axis will continue to haunt the GOP throughout the war in Ukraine
Friday, Apr 15, 2022 · 2:43:01 AM +00:00
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kos
Fascinating.
Note how important it is for them to frame this as “WWIII,” a war against “NATO infrastructure.” Because the thought of losing a war to Ukraine is too much to bear.
Funny, also, seeing the one loon frothing at the mouth as this being a causus belli for war, because they’re still pretending it’s not a war. And as if Ukraine itself doesn’t have an actual, real, glaringly obvious causus belli to do whatever it needs to do to defend itself.
Call for Koscar nominations #6: Outstanding Community Writer
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Daily Kos was born on May 26, 2002. That makes 2022 our 20th anniversary year, and just one of the ways we’re celebrating is by bringing back the Koscars! One of the things that makes Daily Kos special is our open platform, where community members can publish stories alongside staff. The Koscars seek to acknowledge and honor outstanding writing contributions from everyone. The entire Daily Kos membership is “the Academy,” so your votes decide the winners.
Before we can get to voting—a beloved Daily Kos activity, indeed—we need nominees. This week, we are requesting nominations for Outstanding Community Writer. This category speaks for itself: It is to recognize people in the Daily Kos Community who write stories regularly and stand out from the rest. We all have favorite writers at Daily Kos whose stories are consistently excellent. Nominate someone today!
On to this week’s category!
Outstanding community writer
Just as with the actual Oscars, as the time for the celebration gets closer, we are getting to the hottest and most popular categories now. This Koscar will go to someone who writes regularly but is not a member of the paid staff. How can you tell if an author is eligible for this category? Look for the word Community in blue letters under the author’s name at the top of the story just below the title.
This category is intended for people who write stories. (Note: Next week’s category is for people whose writing contribution is mostly in comments.) The honor will apply to the writer’s whole body of work, so you do not have to pick out a single story. Still, you might want to link to a favorite (or two) anyway, to encourage people to vote for your selection when voting begins in a few weeks.
This category is sure to be very hotly contested, so remember that authors who receive multiple nominations have a better chance of making it into the final list of nominees. Nominations will be open as long as this story is accepting comments. And don’t be shy: You can even nominate yourself!
Finalists in all categories will be presented on Tuesday, May 17, when the voting begins! Two winners in each category will be announced on our 20th anniversary: Thursday, May 26!
Foreign and domestic events being what they are, a project like this can be a welcome distraction from talk of war, Supreme Court controversy, and general anxiety over the upcoming midterm elections. Let’s celebrate the best of who we are, the best of what we have to offer, and the best of what we have done to effect progressive change.
here’s how YOU can participate in the Koscars:
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Be on the lookout for the nomination request each week.
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Read, recommend, and comment so it will stay visible on the Trending List as long as possible.
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Make nominations in each category, including seconding nominations made by others (where applicable).
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Vote when the final list of nominees is presented on Tuesday, May 17.
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Congratulate the Koscar winners on our 20th anniversary: Thursday, May 26!
In the comments below, please share your nominations for Category #6: Outstanding Community Writer
it took me years to write, will you take a look?
last call for category #5: OUTSTANDING daily kos SERIES
You have one more day to offer nominations in Category #5: Outstanding Daily Kos Series.
A series is a collection of stories with a similar theme, usually by the same author, although authors have been known to share series writing. There’s no hard and fast rule about how many stories make a series, but it does have to contain more than one story or two. Entries in a series can post every day, once a week, multiple times per week, or on an irregular basis, as long as continuity and cohesion tie the entries together in some way.
There are current series that have been running for years, series that ran for only one election cycle, series that were very popular for a while and then faded away, and brand-new offerings that started just a few months ago. All are eligible to be recognized and nominated.
In this category, the Koscar goes to the series as a whole, so you do not have to pick out a single story. Still, you might want to link to a favorite example anyway as a way of encouraging people to vote for your selection when voting begins in a few weeks.
As usual, series that receive multiple nominations have a better chance of making it into the final list of nominees. Nominate one today!
Previously in Koscars 2022:
- Call for Koscar nominations #5: Outstanding Daily Kos Series
- Call for Koscar nominations #4: Outstanding Daily Kos Group
- Call for Koscar nominations #3: Outstanding Story by a Downballot Candidate
- Call for Koscar nominations #2: Outstanding Call to Activism
- Koscar nominations are still open for Category #1: Outstanding Snark/Satire
- Call for Koscar nominations #1: Outstanding Snark/Satire
- 20th Anniversary Koscars Announcement (includes a list of all upcoming categories)
This Week in Statehouse Action: Spring Sting edition
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Some days I think about renaming this missive “This Week in EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE AND WE’RE DOOMED.”
But that’s not always true, and the terribleness I describe in this space is statehouse-specific, so …
I guess we’re all stuck with the name I came up with almost 10 (!!!) years ago.
(Big ups to the folks who’ve been here the whole damn decade, sorry my jokes haven’t improved)
I’ve spent a lot of time in this space in recent weeks describing the origin and true nature of the glut of anti-transgender and anti-LGBTQ legislation being pushed by Republicans in statehouses this year, but I want to take a quick moment to step back from the state-specific laws-’n’-stuff aspect of this coordinated attack on a specific segment of Americans in specific states to point out that the attitudes and rhetoric accompanying these seeps into other, far less GOP-dominated parts of the country.
Like, say, Washington, DC.
Recently, a transgender woman was harassed on the Metro by someone parroting the hateful “transgender folks are pedophile child-groomers” talking point that’s come to accompany this state-level legislation.
Thankfully, the woman wasn’t physically harmed, but she could have been; DC police report an increase in hate crimes based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression in just the first few months of this year over past years.
Local activists who work with members of the LGBTQ community report that family members have begun spewing the same hateful, fact-free talking points being used to “justify” these bills in Republican-controlled states.
So if you’ve been thinking that the fact that you live in a safely “blue” part of the country that this bigotry won’t infiltrate, think again. It’s everywhere, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
But this week we’re gonna take a moment to catch up with all the ways and places women are losing control over their own bodies.
Measures banning abortions after 15 weeks became law in Florida and Kentucky this very week.
Also this week, the Republicans running Oklahoma made performing an abortion a crime—a freaking felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In the long ago time of … January of this year, I admonished readers to not underestimate Republicans’ creativity and dedication to the cause of controlling women’s bodies (which is what undermining reproductive rights is about—if it were actually about babies, we’d have free child care, free pediatric healthcare, all manner of stuff that actually helps babies), especially with the conservative SCOTUS majority all but certain to eliminate the rights protected in Roe v. Wade this summer.
- And yes, as an erudite consumer of this missive, you probably recall that, if (sigh WHEN) bans on abortion become constitutional, they’ll go into effect immediately in the eight states that retain enforceable pre-Roe abortion bans in their code:
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- Michigan
- Mississippi
- Oklahoma
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin.
- Also, 12 states have laws on their books that would trigger automatic bans on abortion if Roe were overturned:
- Arkansas
- Idaho
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- North Dakota
- Oklahoma
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah.
And as an erudite consumer of this missive, you also probably don’t need me to point out that the thing that all of these states have in common is a GOP-controlled legislature.
Also back in January, I predicted that GOP-trifecta states not listed above would get to some abortion-banning shit this year.
And wow have they.
I mentioned Florida above, but the Sunshine State is, of course, not alone.
Ohio is currently considering legislation that would make it one of those states where a full abortion ban would be “triggered” by the fall of Roe.
Last month, one of these “trigger bans” became law in Wyoming.
Again, this shit is everywhere … and it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Trump still can't find room in his rotten heart to criticize Vladimir Putin
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How is it possible that Donald Trump has harshly criticized everyone from Twilight actress Kristen Stewart to a Gold Star mother, but he still hasn’t—as far as anyone can determine—even mildly rebuked murderous despot Vladimir Putin?
Fox News host Sean Hannity is such a shameless sycophant he has to check into a Motel 6 whenever Trump gets a colonoscopy, but even he couldn’t get the big ocher disgrace to trash Russia’s bumbling Hitler. Instead, as you’d fully expect from someone who adores authoritarians and despises democracy, Trump reserved all his criticism for NATO. And it’s not like Hannity didn’t give him an opening. This wasn’t even a slow-pitch softball—they were playing T-ball, and Hannity was basically swinging the bat for him.
The Trump-Putin axis is real, folks, and if Trump tries to run for president again, we need to brand Putin as his running mate. That’s if Trump doesn’t pick him on his own, of course.
I honestly wouldn’t put it past him at this point.
You can listen to the rant in the second tweet below. Please note that, stunningly, Trump’s rambling phone audio is initially accompanied by graphic imagery of dead Ukranians—ostensibly in misplaced anticipation that Trump would speak to Hannity’s “evil” prompt, rather than … do what he did instead.
Transcript!
HANNITY: “I asked you the last time you were on whether you think this is evil in our time. Do you think this is evil in our time?”
TRUMP: “I think in 100 years people are going to look back and they’re going to say, ‘How did we stand back and NATO stand back?’ which in many ways I’ve called a paper tiger. Don’t forget, I rebuilt NATO because when I became president, the first thing I noticed when I went there to the first meeting was that most of the countries were not paying or were paying far less than they were supposed to.
“There were only eight out of 28 countries that were paid in full. The United States was not only one of them, we were making up the deficits to protect Europe. We were paying possibly 80% of NATO to protect them, and then they take advantage of us yet on trade. Because on trade, they’re every bit as bad as China. They treated us very badly on trade. We changed a lot of that around but they were very tough on trade. I asked Angela Merkel, ‘How many Chevrolets are you selling this month in Munich or Berlin?’ and she looked at me, ‘Well, probably none.’ I said, ‘You’re exactly right, none.’ And yet we had the Mercedes Benz, and the Volkswagens, and all of them. We had all of the German companies. And the same thing with farmers, our farmers sell virtually nothing to Europe, you take a look at what we sell and yet we take their product. They treated us very badly on trade, and we defended them, and we really, if you look at the real numbers, I bet it’s close to 80% and I said, ‘You have to pay. And if you don’t pay, we’re not going to defend you.’”
Hmm, how about answering the question, Skippy? FFS, every time Trump opens his mouth, you get a rapid-fire series of $100,000 Pyramid clues for “Things a Russian Agent Would Say.”
Of course, Trump’s blather about “rebuilding” NATO is pretty rich considering he undermined it at every possible opportunity. Trying to hector other countries into spending more of their GDP on their militaries (and contrary to what Trump seems to think, NATO countries have no actual dues) didn’t “save” a 73-year-old alliance that was already ramping up defense expenditures before Trump ever took office.
Oh, and not for nothing, Trump planned to withdraw the U.S. from NATO had he won reelection—which, to be perfectly clear, he didn’t. If Trump had succeeded in vaporizing NATO, it would have been the biggest gift Putin ever received, and it would have come from the same guy who is now mysteriously mute when it comes to the Russian tyrant’s war crimes.
Now, if you’re wondering why all this seems familiar, it’s because Hannity tried to get Trump to condemn Putin a month ago—and Trump refused then, too.
From a March 10 Newsweek story:
“I think I know you a little bit better than most people in the media,” said Hannity. “And I think you also recognize [Putin is] evil, do you not?”
Trump did not respond directly to the question as to whether or not Putin is evil and launched into a rambling defense of his administration.
“Well, I was referring to the fact that he said this is an independent nation, talking about Ukraine, and I said that this was before there was any attack,” Trump said, referring to Putin’s recognition of breakaway regions of Ukraine that have declared independence.
The only conclusion a reasonable person can draw from these two interviews is that Trump doesn’t think Putin is evil. So if you’d like the stout, brave, righteously defiant Ukraine to be turned overnight into a kleptocratic Chuck E. Cheese, by all means vote for The Former Guy in 2024.
In Wednesday’s interview, Trump also boasted to Hannity about how well he knew Putin, even as the network showed even more shocking images of Putin’s war crimes.
“I knew Putin very well. Almost as well as I know you, Sean,” Trump told his close confidante, Fox News host Sean Hannity, as the network aired graphic images of dead bodies and the damage left by Russian troops in Ukraine.
“I will tell you, we talked about it, we talked about it a lot, he did want Ukraine, but I said, ‘You’re not going into Ukraine,’” Trump continued. “He would never, ever have gone into Ukraine.”
He wouldn’t have gone into Ukraine under Trump, even though he badly wanted to take it? Then why did Putin move heaven and Earth to get Trump reelected—four years after famously fucking with our election in order to install this buffoon in the first place?
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But Trump wasn’t done. In Wednesday’s Hannity interview, Trump also revealed that he’d asked former Attorney General Bill Barr to stick his neck waaaay out in order to buttress Trump’s horrifying campaign to end American democracy.
Trump claimed in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity that Barr did not want to investigate his baseless voter fraud claims because he was worried about being impeached even though Barr has repeatedly said the Justice Department did not pursue the claims because there was no evidence of any widespread fraud that could have affected the election outcome.
“Look, we also had a chance, but Bill Barr, the attorney general, didn’t want to be impeached,” Trump said. “How do you not get impeached? You sit back and relax and wait out for your term to end. That’s what he did. And it was a sad thing and a sad day for our country.”
Trump also lashed out at Barr for writing what he called a “crummy book” that was “so false.” Barr in his book rejected Trump’s debunked fraud claims and blamed him for the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot, arguing that Trump was not fit for office.
So there you are. In summation, Donald Trump ♥s Vladimir Putin, he claims he saved NATO even though he openly planned to destroy it, and he wanted his own attorney general to ruin his career over a barmy lie.
So just another typical day in the fever swamps of our worst president’s moldering brain.
Sheesh, why wouldn’t Americans want him back in the White House?
It made comedian Sarah Silverman say, “THIS IS FUCKING BRILLIANT,” and prompted author Stephen King to shout “Pulitzer Prize!!!” (on Twitter, that is). What is it? The viral letter that launched four hilarious Trump-trolling books. Get them all, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link. Or, if you prefer a test drive, you can download the epilogue to Goodbye, Asshat for the low, low price of FREE.
Biden administration announces DACA recipients can finally renew online
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Young immigrants who are eligible to renew their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protections may now do so online, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced this week. While the program has been in effect for nearly a decade (!), online filing forms have not been an option until this announcement.
“Up until now, that paperwork had to be mailed into the agency and getting a response could take months,” Fronteras reported. “Phoenix resident Jose Patiño was left without DACA protection a few years ago when his renewal was delayed.” Without that approval, applicants can’t work legally. He told the outlet that he remembers the daily anxiety. “I never want to go through that again.”
RELATED STORY: I am one of the DACA recipients who met President Biden. Here is what he told me.
Right now, this new online option is available only to young immigrants who are seeking to renew their protections. The DACA program itself has continued to remain blocked to new applicantsfollowing a right-wing judge’s decision last July. While renewals can continue, tens of thousands of first-time applications that were stuck in USCIS delays have remained in limbo. Adding salt to the wound, CBS News reported that USCIS would not be refunding these first-time applicants their $495 fees.
Listen and subscribe to Daily Kos’ The Brief podcast with Markos Moulitsas and Kerry Eleveld
Since that court decision, the Biden administration has appealed Judge Andrew Hanen’s ruling, and announced a proposed rule to strengthen the policy. While the proposed rule’s public comment period ended in late November, the final rule has not yet been released. Advocates during the public comment period had urged officials to address a provision in the proposed rule that could sever work permits from the program. This would absolutely devastate young immigrants who have thrived under the policy.
“I do expect that we should see a DACA rule within the next several weeks; however, because it is the government, there are no guarantees,” said Maggie Riley, an immigration law and policy analyst at Boundless Immigration. “However, I do expect that we should see a DACA rule at least several months prior to the November 2022 midterm elections.”
National Immigration Law Center tweeted that this new online renewal option “will reduce the burden of the application process on DACA recipients, esp. as our communities continue to feel the impact of #COVID19.” United We Dream celebrated it as “big news”:
“But USCIS still handles most applications on paper,” Bloomberg reported. “An internal watchdog report last year found that USCIS’s reliance on paper documents limited the agency’s ability to process benefits, even after offices partially reopened amid the Covid-19 pandemic.” One report earlier this year detailed how some immigrant applicants have been in limbo because their paperwork has been in largely inaccessible storage caves.
“The expansion of online filing is a priority for USCIS as we make our operations more efficient and effective for the agency and our stakeholders, applicants, petitioners and requestors,” said USCIS Director Ur Jaddou. “The option to file DACA renewal requests online is part of USCIS’ ongoing move to minimize reliance on paper records and further transition to an electronic environment.”
RELATED STORIES: Biden calls for permanent relief, including through reconciliation, after judge rules against DACA
DHS secretary announces rule to protect DACA, urges permanent relief through reconciliation
‘I deserve citizenship’: DACA recipient makes power plea for relief in new ad
Caribbean Matters: The lights are back on in Puerto Rico—but for how long?
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For those paying attention to events and conditions in the U.S. colonial territory of Puerto Rico, yet another massive loss of power on the island affecting its approximately 2.8 million residents came as no surprise. The island-wide power failure on April 6—reportedly caused by a fire at the Costa Sur power plant outside the town of Guayanilla—dragged on until April 10, when LUMA Energy announced that full power had been restored. LUMA is the private U.S.-Canadian corporation contracted to start distributing electricity on June 1, 2021, and to make upgrades to the badly out-of-date and damaged power grid.
While multiple news outlets reported that LUMA had restored power, fewer addressed the question in many folks’ minds: “For how long?”
It is now April, and hurricane season starts in June. Moderate to heavy rainstorms already cause outages around the island daily, to the point they’re tracked on an online map. In fact, Puerto Rico was home to the largest blackout in U.S. history in 2017, due to Hurricane Maria.
Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.
Unlike most of the island’s happenings, this most recent blackout managed to garner coverage in the mainland mainstream media, and even got “Puerto Rico” trending on Twitter. Sadly, mainstream media does a piss-poor job, for the most part, of covering the island, from current events to its history, politics, and challenges. Now that it is being reported that “power has been restored,” Puerto Rico will likely drop from the headlines … until the next disaster strikes.
Yet a days-long, island-wide loss of electricity, powering not just lights and appliances like refrigerators but also water pumps and medical equipment is a disaster. It’s not a “natural” one, like hurricanes or earthquakes, but this one is manmade, attributable to both island and mainland politics, as well as corporate greed and corruption.
Intrepid independent journalists and bloggers on social media highlighted not only the frightening and life-threatening crises, they also provided coverage of the ongoing anger and protests against LUMA and the government on the island who are not just the problem, but also clearly not the solution.
For those reading who use Twitter and have an interest in the ongoing situation in Puerto Rico, these folks are an invaluable resource. For those who don’t speak or read Spanish, I’m highlighting some English-language reporters.
For the history of how Puerto Rico wound up with LUMA Energy, a good start is Ed Morales’ in-depth 2020 story in The Nation, “Privatizing Puerto Rico.”
On June 22 of this year, Puerto Rico’s Public-Private Partnerships Authority announced that LUMA, a consortium between Houston-based Quanta Services and Canadian-based ATCO, two firms previously involved in the Keystone XL pipeline, would operate PREPA’s distribution and transmission systems. The contract also includes the retention of North Carolina–based Innovative Emergency Management, a company involved in the responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, apparently to manage the massive input of Federal Emergency Management Agency funds—as much as $18 billion—for repairing and renewing the authority’s systems.
The LUMA consortium was chosen over three other bidders (Duke Energy, Exelon, and PSEG Services) that were announced in January 2019 by the Puerto Rican government. After the cancellation of the disastrous Whitefish contract—the tiny Montana company was awarded $300 million to repair the island’s electrical infrastructure after Hurricane Maria, a task it was apparently unequipped to carry out—and a recent revelation that fossil fuel companies have for years been charging PREPA exorbitant fees for low-quality oil, the opaque process by which LUMA won the contract has done little to improve public faith in the future of the utility.
The awarding of the LUMA contract has drawn a sustained outcry, not least because of the veil of secrecy that obscured the full scope of the arrangement from public view. “There has been no stakeholder engagement and no public participation, to the point that the documents related to this transaction have not been available until after the transaction was concluded,” said Cambio’s Vila. In an interview with The Nation, Figueroa Jaramillo said that he became aware of LUMA’s selection only on June 12, when a local reporter asked for his reaction, and that the Puerto Rico Energy Board, an independent regulatory body, had knowledge of the agreement as early as May 18 and “had not informed the public.”
Freelance journalist Carlos Berrios Polanco covers island protests and movement activities, including this event on Friday.
Polanco has also been a frequent contributor to Latino Rebels, which provides consistent coverage of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rican issues.
New York city-based filmmaker Andrew Padilla tweets daily about both Puerto Rico and the diaspora, also translating news items from the island press from Spanish to English.
Independent journalist Bianca Graulau can be found on Instagram and YouTube, in addition to Twitter. She does short, informative explainers about a whole host of issues, including sustainable agriculture, gentrification, the junta, and Puerto Rican history.
Not even six months ago, Graulau was tweeting about another outage.
And (not quite) three months before that?
Graulau also covers community groups working to build a self-sufficient Puerto Rico.
Ironically, on the first day of the latest blackout, the newest La Borinqueña graphic novel from Edgardo Miranda-Rodriguez was released; it was about fixing the power grid.
Still wondering what the answer might be to the question of “For how long?” The short answer: As long as the island has a privatized energy consortium wedded to the use of natural gas instead of wind and solar, who keeps raising the rates, and whose inept and exploitative system is supported by elected officials on the island and mainland politicians who are allied with them, Puerto Ricans can’t rely on their power grid.
The people of Puerto Rico crying out “Fuera LUMA” (“LUMA get out”) won’t see improvements until they kick out of office those responsible for—and benefiting from—their suffering.
Join me in the comments for more about Puerto Rico, and for the weekly Caribbean Twitter News Roundup.
Meet Zack Tahhan, the Syrian immigrant who helped police arrest the Brooklyn shooter
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The phrase “immigrants get the job done” proves true time after time. New York City is celebrating a new hero this week after a 21-year-old Syrian helped find the suspect associated with the recent heartbreaking Brooklyn subway shooting. A citywide manhunt started Tuesday morning after the suspect opened fire into a crowded subway in Sunset Park during rush hour, injuring over 10 individuals.
Zack Tahhan identified the shooter, Frank R. James, on the street and alerted police officers in the East Village on Wednesday. Tahhan, who lives in Jersey City, moved to the U.S. five years ago. (Fun fact: He speaks at least five languages.)
Tahhan was repairing a camera system at Saifee Hardware and Garden Store when he spotted James. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is the guy, we need to get him,’” Tahhan told reporters near the scene after James’ arrest.
“I see him, he have bag and he was walking on the sidewalk, he put the bag in the street,” Tahhan said. “People was walking behind him. I told them, ‘Guys, keep far from him. Please, this guy is going to do something.’ These people think that I am crazy. Nobody tries to believe me. I told them, ‘Guys, trust me, this is the guy.’ And I see the police walking from over there. I told the police, ‘This is the guy, he did the problem in Brooklyn, this guy, catch him, guys, catch him.’ And they catch him, thank God, we catch him.”
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The arrest was celebrated nationwide. Even Mayor Eric Adams celebrated the arrest Wednesday, acknowledging the efforts made by “NYPD, federal and state partners, first responders and everyday New Yorkers” in a tweet.
James is expected to face federal terrorism charges. Police noted that they also arrived at the scene due to a tip to the department’s Crime Stoppers hotline. It was not immediately clear whether Tahhan was the Crime Stoppers caller as callers are confidential.
READ RELATED: Brooklyn subway shooting suspect’s videos reveal a Black man in the grip of far-right extremism
At this time, the hashtag #ThankYouZack is trending on Twitter, with people sharing photos and videos of Tahhan’s impromptu press conference. Many noted his Muslim background and how highlighting incidents like this help combat stereotypes and profiling of Muslim Americans.
Capitol rioter using Trump-made-me-do-it defense found guilty on all counts, jailed until sentencing
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It was a longshot for Dustin Thompson when he asked a jury to acquit him for his obstruction of congressional proceedings on Jan. 6 because Donald Trump told him to do it. And sure enough, on Thursday, a jury in Washington, D.C., found him guilty of that and five other charges, including theft of a coatrack and bottle of bourbon that he snatched from inside the Capitol as his trophies.
It was the third jury trial verdict that was reached unanimously in the Department of Justice’s sweeping prosecution of those who stormed the Capitol nearly 500 days ago.
It only took jurors a few hours to find Thompson guilty, and presiding Judge Reggie Walton was quick to tell Thompson his conduct was so “reprehensible” on Jan. 6 that he would remain in jail until his formal sentencing this July.
RELATED STORY: ‘I was just enjoying the house being quiet,’ wife of Jan. 6 defendant tells jurors
Thompson’s attorney Samuel Shamansky argued that the 38-year-old Ohio man was susceptible to Trump’s lies about fraud in the 2020 election and that he was encouraged by the president to storm the building. He also tried to call Trump and others as witnesses, but in what should have been a clear sign to his attorney that their scheme was likely doomed, Judge Watson rejected the requests.
The judge said their testimony would have been inadmissible since it was not Trump’s intent that was on trial.
According to Politico, during closing arguments, assistant U.S. attorney William Dreher emphasized that jurors didn’t have a complicated decision to make.
“Defense counsel wants you to focus so much on what President Trump said on the morning of Jan. 6. He wants you to forget what his client did on the afternoon of Jan. 6,” Dreher said. “He wants you to think you have to choose between President Trump and his client, Mr. Thompson, right? That you can only find that one of them committed a crime that day or that one of them is worse than the other.”
At trial, Shamansky did not deny what Thompson had done. He conceded that the unemployed exterminator breached the Capitol, rushed inside, took a bottle of bourbon, went into the Senate Parliamentarian’s office, and stole a coatrack.
When he went on the stand Wednesday, Thompson told jurors when he was breaching the building, he felt he had to do it.
He was convinced the results had been stolen and that a rigged election had snatched a righteous victory away from Trump.
“We’re going to lose our country today if we don’t put a stop to these election results,” Thompson recalled thinking to himself that day.
His cohort during the riot, Robert Lyon, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with authorities before Thompson’s trial began.
Thompson could face up to 20 years in prison just for the obstruction charge alone. Judge Walton explained the decision to keep him in jail without bond.
The judge continued: “The inevitable reality is that whether he does time now or does time later, he’s got to do time.”
The DOJ is now three for three in unanimous jury trial verdicts. Guy Reffitt was the first to stand trial in early March. Prosecutors made their case in three days against Reffitt, using video footage and other evidence to show how he was one of the first to wave rioters into the breach. Jurors also heard damning witness testimony from Reffitt’s son, who recounted how his father threatened him if he went to police.
Reffitt will be sentenced in June.
Thomas Robertson was the second Jan. 6 defendant to go to jury trial and be convicted on all counts. Robertson, a former police officer from Virginia, was off duty when he stormed the Capitol with a fellow off-duty cop, Jacob Fracker. Fracker flipped on Robertson in a bid for leniency.
Roberston maintained he was innocent of the charges, which, like Thompson, included obstruction of the certification of the 2020 election. His attorney didn’t put the blame on Trump, though. Instead, he argued that Robertson never came to D.C. with an intent to stop a peaceful transfer of power.
A trove of text messages, however, suggested otherwise, and even months after the attack, Robertson boasted about his physical prowess on Jan. 6.
Jurors convicted Robertson after 10 hours of deliberation. His sentencing is expected this summer.
RELATED STORY: Guy Reffitt, first Jan. 6 defendant to stand trial, guilty on all counts
RELATED STORY: Ex-cop who stormed Capitol on Jan. 6 found guilty on all charges, including obstruction
State education committee drops guidance on LGBTQ inclusion after handful of adults whine
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We know LGBTQ+ rights are under attack. While some allies relaxed after marriage equality became the law of the land a few years back, the reality is LGBTQ+ people have continued to face oppression, discrimination, and violence—especially queer people who live with multiple marginalized identities, like queer trans people of color and trans unhoused folks. LGBTQ+ youth have also continued to report higher rates of bullying and harassment than their non-queer peers, with trans youth in particular facing an onslaught of hateful legislation based around health care and sports.
Thanks largely to Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and his discriminatory Don’t Say Gay bill, a number of conservatives across the nation are eager to push similar legislation. There’s also an overlap with the critical race theory (CRT) hysteria and the big push to pull and ban books by and about LGBTQ+ people and people of color. These decisions don’t always have to get to the governor’s desk, either. One committee in Colorado, for example, which reports to the state’s board of education, recently made the call to eliminate guidance to direct social studies teachers to cover LGBTQ+ issues at every grade level, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. This decision is the result of a minority of parents making an enormous fuss, by the way.
RELATED: Dad says stranger spewed anti-LGBTQ hate at his young children while trapped on a train
Here’s how this went down: Back in November, the committee proposed that teachers should make an effort to highlight more diverse communities including LGBTQ+ folks, Black, Indigenous, and Latino populations in social studies and civics classes. They also proposed changes to how genocides, including the Holocaust, are covered. Makes sense.
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In Colorado, academic standards are reviewed every six years. These reviews can, of course, involve revisions. And it’s not just social studies and civics; for example, right now art, music, dance, drama, and visual arts are being reviewed. Next up includes health, physical education, languages, and computer science. Overall, these standards are supposed to establish baseline norms for what students will learn at each grade level before advancing to the next, but school districts create their own curriculums. Again, makes sense.
According to the outlet, the committee received “hundreds” of responses via public comment, which were largely submitted online. These comments were reportedly positive, except those from 11 people whose responses made up nearly 50% of replies. About 25% of that feedback did not want to see these moves be more inclusive. In particular, comments said they didn’t want to see LGBTQ+ content taught in lower grades, leading the committee to remove references to LGBTQ+ issues for fourth-graders and below.
Mind you, there were still plenty of respondents who were either happy about the LGBTQ+ inclusion or indifferent to it.
Democrat Karla Esser, who serves the 7th District, told the outlet that removing LGBTQ+ identities and references leads to gender stereotypes. “We genderize kids beginning in preschool,” she told CPR, saying that adults assume girls will play with dolls and boys will play with trucks.
Lisa Escárcega, who serves the 1st District, said they must be “bold” in supporting LGBTQ+ students along with all other students.
Even still, LGBTQ+ content was removed because enough committee members saw it as sex education, not a matter of inclusion or exclusion. Mind you, this comes down to people seeing LGBTQ+ identities and histories as inherently sexual and therefore inappropriate. And that feeds into the dangerous “grooming” rhetoric the right has been pushing lately.
There is nothing inappropriate about being LGBTQ+. Students, teachers, family members, neighbors, and other community members are queer, no matter where you live, or no matter how “out” they are to folks while at work or at school. Children do not “turn” or “become” queer because they see or hear LGBTQ+ people discussed in a positive way—they simply don’t hate themselves or their friends.
But when it comes down to it, conservatives would love nothing more than to teach hate as young as possible, so it’s nice and embedded in the brains of developing children, who they hope will grow up and vote red. And if that sounds overly harsh, remember that conservatives build platforms and win entire elections by weaponizing their hate.