POLITICO NIGHTLY: How the all-you-can-eat buffet explains the pandemic

BY TYLER WEYANT Presented by Facebook With help from Joanne Kenen A Golden Corral restaurant in Pittsburgh, Pa. | Photo by Can Pac Swire/Flickr IS THE CORRAL OK? If journalists swamped Midwestern diners to the point of absurdity to understand America in 2016, perhaps they should travel to a Golden Corral to understand 2021. Nightly ventured outside of the Beltway — literally, 0.2 miles outside in Largo, Md. — to visit Golden Corral, a nationwide chain of all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants known for homestyle cooking and portions-a-plenty. What we found was a restaurant in the same place as the country: Coming out of a huge economic crisis, using confusing levels of Covid protocols and trying to return to a normal that may never be coming back. I am not someone who’s just jumping to a Golden Corral for a singular lifetime stop. I grew up going in summers with my grandmother and friends, sometimes weekly. I know my way around the salad bar, and have dipped many a dessert in a chocolate fountain. To this day, our family has an inside joke about someone nearly breaking a tooth on a hardened Rice Krispies Treat covered in ice cream. Golden Corral today feels like a different place than the restaurant I grew up with . At the Largo location, you enter by signing a contact tracing page. We sat at tables exceptionally distanced by multiple blocked off areas. We were handed a glove, then a plate, and then we headed for the somewhat limited buffet options (enough mac & cheese to fill a tray, yes; self-serve ice cream, no; chocolate fountain, yes, but an employee dips the dessert for you). “Our business model is forever affected by the pandemic,” Golden Corral President and CEO Lance Trenary said in an interview with Nightly. When federal and local guidelines forced Golden Corral to close all its restaurants in March 2020 (a move Trenary felt was unfair, due to what he called the chain’s “good safety and sanitation” measures), the company started deferring franchisees’ royalty payments, working with suppliers to bring down costs, and immediately started to reimagine the future of buffet dining. Today, you’ll find the locations across 42 states at various levels of operation: Some, like Largo, are open more or less normally. In states like California, New Mexico and Kentucky, local regulations have kept buffets closed. And in some spots, the restaurants have turned to a cafeteria style, with all items served by employees. To adapt, Golden Corral has become a little more unfamiliar to its core audience, the 35 percent of customers who eat at the restaurant 70 times or more a year. To-go and curbside pick-up. A la carte entrée options. The testing of alcohol options. Trenary believes limited alcohol offerings will be a part of the future of the company, while still attempting to maintain a family atmosphere. Golden Corral recently partnered with Icee for a frozen Jack and Coke drink. Maintaining the spirit of the chain is something “we literally talk about every day,” Trenary said. “We do believe that we have to evolve. We do believe we have to innovate and disrupt. Dining habits are going to be forever changed,” he said. “But that does not mean that we give up our DNA.” Experts aren’t as optimistic about the restaurant’s future, however. John Gordon, a San Diego-based restaurant analyst, said traffic trends for buffets had been falling since the late 1990s. “In nearly all restaurants currently, you can’t even get salt or pepper shakers,” Gordon wrote in an email to Nightly. “My opinion and that of my analyst peers is that the buffet model is dead for now,” he added. Does Gordon see a Golden Corral Summer for a nation of hungry people eager to gorge themselves after a year living indoors? “I never say never in this business, as trends come back, but it seems to me much time must pass before the health boards and customer attitudes are forgiving.” So that’s a no. But don’t tell that to the woman asking if she could have extra gloves at the plate station, or the kids enjoying a brownie and maskless moment. I had walked into Golden Corral thinking it would be the riskiest thing I’d done in the last 15 months. I left with a sense that Americans everywhere are just looking to grasp onto life before Covid any way they can. And, if they have the chance, maybe some buttery rolls. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. You won’t find me in the buffet line this weekend. Rather, I’ll be decked in Baltimore Orioles gear all weekend for the Nats-O’s series here in D.C. I’ll be the one shouting about how Chris Davis should be in the team’s Hall of Fame. Reach out with news, tips and ideas for us at tweyant@politico.com and rrayasam@politico.com , or on Twitter at @tweyant and @renurayasam. A message from Facebook: The internet has changed a lot since 1996 - internet regulations should too It's been 25 years since comprehensive internet regulations passed. See why we support updated regulations on key issues, including: – Protecting people’s privacy – Enabling safe and easy data portability between platforms – Preventing election interference – Reforming Section 230   WHAT'D I MISS? — White House cuts infrastructure proposal to $1.7 trillion, but GOP rebuffs: The Biden administration today said it was slashing the price tag on an infrastructure proposal by more than $500 billion in an attempt to win Republican support. But the offer was received with scorn by Senate Republicans, who argue it’s still too high and accused the White House of accounting gimmicks, leaving the two sides far apart and drifting even further as an informal deadline for a deal nears. — Union: Dozens of U.S. Capitol Police have left since Jan. 6 attack: More than 70 U.S. Capitol Police officers have left the force in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and the department’s union says that the $1.9 billion supplemental funding package is insufficient to stave off further departures. — Dems plead for more security cash as threats rise: House Democrats this week tried to do something about the rise in personal safety risks for lawmakers after the insurrection, approving a roughly $2 billion package to bolster the Capitol Police, fund the National Guard and secure the sprawling complex. Congress’ most forceful response yet to the Capitol siege also includes what many members have sought for years: more help paying for their protection. — Ethiopia expels journalist who reported on atrocities in Tigray: Early this morning, the Ethiopian government expelled Simon Marks, a journalist for the New York Times, POLITICO and other outlets, who recently reported on atrocities allegedly committed by the Ethiopian military and its allies in the northern Tigray region. Ethiopia, led by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, gave no explanation for the sudden deportation of Marks, a dual British and Irish citizen, who had worked in the country for nearly two years.   SUBSCRIBE TO WEST WING PLAYBOOK: Add West Wing Playbook to keep up with the power players, latest policy developments and intriguing whispers percolating inside the West Wing and across the highest levels of the Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.     ASK THE AUDIENCE Nightly asked you: What small pandemic change have you witnessed recently that surprised and delighted you? Your select, lightly edited responses are below: “I got to pick out my own towels at the gym. During the pandemic, the towels were kept behind the counter and the person handing it to you was wearing gloves.” — Sandy Peters, behavior therapist, Cary, N.C. “I am a coffee snob — no fast-food or gas station coffee for me. My morning brew has to come from a small neighborhood coffee shop. And I like it with a very specific amount of sweetener added. I dribble a little sweetener in, then taste it and add slightly more if needed, then taste again, and so on, until it’s ‘Goldilocks just right.’ So imagine my delight when I stopped in for a cup and saw that the sweetener packets are once again on the counter for me to access directly.” — Dave Etienne, marketing and communications director, Fort Thomas, Ky. “Publix has resumed giving kids free sugar cookies at its bakery counter!” — Natalie Shrock, nurse practitioner, Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. “Being able to hug someone and shake hands again. It was like piercing the veil.” — Adam Lees, seminarian, Anchorage, Alaska “At last, I can carry my own reusable grocery bags into the supermarket.” — Carol Watts, retired, Overland Park, Kan. “Tastings (or sampling) at my local liquor store!” — Andrew Bloom, consultant, Minneapolis       PUNCHLINES MASKING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS — Brooke Minters leads us through the Weekend Wrap of the latest in political satire and cartoons on CDC mask guidance, the Jan. 6 commission and the continued reopening of U.S. businesses and institutions. NIGHTLY NUMBER 14 percent The percentage increase in matches of people who are vaccinated or plan to get vaccinated on OKCupid compared to those who don’t plan to get vaccinated, according to research from the dating service referenced by the White House.   JOIN TUESDAY FOR A CONVERSATION ON AMERICA'S MATERNAL HEALTH CRISIS: The maternal and infant mortality rates in the U.S. have been rising, especially for women and babies of color. One year into the pandemic, how have social determinants of health contributed to maternal and child health outcomes for Black women and other women of color? Join POLITICO for a deep-dive conversation for which we'll use Illinois as a case study to understand how social determinants of health and Covid-19 complicate efforts to eliminate maternal and infant mortality. We will also explore the various public health and policy solutions to reduce racial disparities during pregnancy and postpartum. REGISTER HERE.     PARTING WORDS TAKE ME HOME, COUNTRY ROADS — Health care editor at large Joanne Kenen emails Nightly: Each spring since 2006, my family has joined about 100 (!) friends at a state park in West Virginia to celebrate the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. For the world at large, Shavuot is not as well known as Passover or Chanukah. But for our kids, who grew up with this as a highlight of their year, it’s a big deal. We observe the holiday rituals and traditions, but we also walk, hike, bike, paddle boat, swim, do yoga, play frisbee and baseball and have a multigenerational, multilingual campfire singalong. We eat a lot. We have baking contests, so we eat some more. There’s a fair amount of afternoon napping. Covid forced us to cancel last year, of course. It broke our hearts. This year, a scaled back, highly vaccinated crowd returned, and we mostly stayed outdoors. For most of us, it was the first time we had interacted with more than a few people for well over a year. For many, it was the first time they unmasked, and saw smiles. As we watched the kids who once rode around on tricycles and training wheels (they’re mostly now in their late teens and early 20s, with a few outliers on both sides), we realized nothing could possibly have been more healing as they emerge from the pandemic. This is their magical place where, growing up, the girls and boys played nicely, where the seventh graders were nice to the fifth graders who were nice to the third graders. Where kids run in and out of each other’s cabins (in bygone years, sometimes in pajamas) and actually want to spend time with their families. They were so happy to see each other. Two years was a chasm, filled with some pretty traumatic stuff, and yet the chasm vanished in an instant. For the adults, we felt joy and tranquility and gratitude. But there was also a sucker punch. Oh, we were as thrilled as the kids were to be there, to connect, to talk, to pray, to sit on a porch, to savor the fresh country air. Yet for many of us, it was also a moment where the weight of the past year — the trauma and worry and loss and deprivation — made itself felt. We are the lucky ones. We survived. But even the lucky ones were not unscathed. It was, we kept telling one another, a very hard year. A message from Facebook: Why Facebook supports updated internet regulations 2021 is the 25th anniversary of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the last major update to internet regulation. It’s time for an update to set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. See how we’re taking action on key issues and why we support updated internet regulations.   Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here.   Follow us on Twitter Renuka Rayasam @renurayasam Chris Suellentrop @suellentrop Tyler Weyant @tweyant Myah Ward @myahward   FOLLOW US

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KATIE PORTER

 

Katie Porter CALLS OUT GOP Rep. for lecturing her

California Representative Katie Porter calls out Texas Representative Louie Gohmert for lecturing her on bankruptcy, during a Natural Resources Committee hearing.

Katie Porter Slams Fossil Fuel Exec on Taxpayers & Oil Industry

‘You wanna destroy our planet? Do it on your company’s own dime’ — Watch Rep. Katie Porter shut down this fossil fuel executive who claims taxpayers don’t subsidize the oil industry.

RSN: FOCUS: The Squad Is Pissed About Biden's Sale of Bombs to Israel

 

 

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911 CALL FOR DONATIONS — We are way behind where we should be for June. We need everyone who can make a donation to step up now. It is critical now. / Marc Ash – Founder, Reader Supported News

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FOCUS: The Squad Is Pissed About Biden's Sale of Bombs to Israel

Paul Blest, VICE
Blest writes: "A group of progressive House Democrats are breaking with Joe Biden on selling U.S. weapons to Israel, introducing a resolution Wednesday to block the Biden administration's million arms sale to Israel after a week of airstrikes on Gaza."

The Biden administration has submitted a $735 million arms deal to Congress.

 group of progressive House Democrats are breaking with Joe Biden on selling U.S. weapons to Israel, introducing a resolution Wednesday to block the Biden administration’s $735 million arms sale to Israel after a week of airstrikes on Gaza.

The resolution from Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Mark Pocan would prohibit the “proposed transfer” of different types of bombs and technical data to Israel that would create precision-guided weapons for the Ministry of Defense, according to a draft of the resolution.

These explosives being sold in the deal are manufactured by Boeing, according to Jewish Currents, which first reported news of the resolution. Israel has purchased the weapons from the U.S. before, and it’s believed that the Israeli military is currently using them in its bombardment of Gaza, CNN reported.

“At a time when so many, including our President, support a ceasefire, we should not be sending ‘direct attack’ weaponry to Prime Minister Netanyahu to prolong this violence,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a statement Wednesday. “It is long past time to end the US policy of unconditional military arms sales, particularly to governments that have violated human rights.”

The arms sale was formally submitted to Congress on May 5. Congress has a 15-day window to oppose the deal. Other members who intend to co-sponsor the resolution include Democratic Reps. Ilhan Omar, Cori Bush, Ayanna Pressley, Betty McCollum, Pramila Jayapal, and Andre Carson, according to a press release from Ocasio-Cortez’s office.

There’s overwhelming Congressional support for aid to Israel, which makes the resolution’s passage unlikely. But the effort represents an organized break from some House progressives with the Biden administration on the issue, even if the effort is virtually guaranteed to fail.

“The harsh truth is that these weapons are being sold by the United States to Israel with the clear understanding that the vast majority of them will be used to bomb Gaza,” Tlaib said in the statement. “Approving this sale now, while failing to even try to use it as leverage for a ceasefire, sends a clear message to the world – the U.S. is not interested in peace, and does not care about the human rights and lives of Palestinians. You cannot claim to support human rights and peace on Earth and continue to back the extremist Netanyahu regime, it’s that simple.”

The resolution comes after a week in which hundreds of Palestinians, including dozens of children, have been killed by Israeli airstrikes. Israel has said the airstrikes are in retaliation for rocket attacks from Gaza, which have reportedly killed 10 Israelis. The sharp spike in rocket attacks came after Israeli police injured hundreds of Palestinians in a raid on the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Over the weekend, the IDF also destroyed a Gaza office building which housed the offices of international media outlets including the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, claiming the Palestinian militant group Hamas was operating in it. Both the AP and Hamas have denied that they shared office space,Israel has not provided proof, and Secretary of State Tony Blinken said he hadn’t seen any evidence.

House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Gregory Meeks reportedly told committee members on Monday that he would send a letter to the Biden administration requesting a pause in the sale. But he backed down the next day in favor of a meeting with administration officials, according to Roll Call.

Biden is already well aware of progressive opposition to his policy on Israel. On Tuesday, Tlaib—whose grandmother lives in the West Bank—confronted Biden about the administration’s support for Israel on an airport tarmac while he visited Michigan, according to the New York Times.

Later, during a speech at a Ford factory in Dearborn, Biden praised Tlaib, though he referred to her as “Rasheed.”

“I admire your intellect, I admire your passion and I admire your concern for so many other people,” he said. “From my heart, I pray that your grandmom and family are well. I promise you, I’m going to do everything to see that they are in the West Bank.”

But after the speech, as Biden sat behind the wheel of a Ford truck preparing to test drive it, a reporter asked if she could ask “a quick question on Israel before you drive away,” Biden responded: “No, you can’t—not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it.”

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KATIE PORTER: BIG PHARMA FAIRY TALE!

Rep. Porter grills Big Pharma CEO for putting profits before patients

During a recent committee hearing, Congresswoman Katie Porter called out a Big Pharma CEO for spending 3 times as much on stock buybacks than lifesaving research—to the tune of $28,600,000,000.

Drug Exec Tries to DEFEND Charging $763 PER PILL

Rep. Katie Porter grills former Celgene CEO Mark Alles for the stunning rise in price of his company's cancer drug, Revlimid.

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) questions the CEO of Abbvie, a pharmaceutical company, about the massive amounts of money spent on stock buybacks and dividends while increasing drug prices during a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday.

\

Congresswoman Katie Porter dismantles the argument that high drug prices help fund research and development for new and better drugs. “It’s true that pharmaceutical companies spend money on research and development, but it is not correct that that is the primary reason that they double, and triple and quadruple raising the prices of these drugs - it’s to profit their shareholders,” she says.

A group of mostly Democratic House lawmakers pressed drugmaker AbbVie’s CEO on Tuesday over the increased prices of anti-inflammatory drug Humira and cancer drug Imbruvica in the U.S. in the years since they first became available. AbbVie's Richard Gonzalez faced tough questions from the Oversight and Reform Committee, with Democrats accusing the company of taking advantage of patients and the health care system to charge more for medicine and bring in billions of dollars for revenue and executive bonuses. READ MORE: http://hill.cm/Efh6Cax

 This week, Katie took out her white board to hold a powerful Big Pharma CEO accountable.

This CEO tried explaining that the reason his company’s drugs were so expensive was because of "research and development costs".

So Katie took out her visual aids to show exactly where most of the company’s money was really going: directly into the pockets of investors, shareholders, and executives.

As long as Katie is in Congress, Big Pharma CEOs will always be held accountable for price gouging and putting their paychecks before the American people. Can you add your name to support Katie Porter for Congress and help keep this seat blue?

For far too long, billionaire companies, big banks, wealthy CEOs, special interest groups, lobbyists, and corrupt politicians have used money and influence to bend the rules and call the shots in their favor.

That’s why Katie has always used her time in committee hearings to make members of the public—and the consumers and patients that have been cheated by these companies—feel heard.

Katie will never stop using her voice and her platform to ask questions on behalf of the American people—especially when it comes to holding special interests’ feet to the fire. Sign on to support Katie Porter for Congress and defend her seat against the GOP in 2022.

Thank you for your constant support—and don’t worry, we’ll let you know when the white board comes out again.

—Katie Porter for Congress

PAID FOR BY KATIE PORTER FOR CONGRESS

 

SEE ALSO REEL WAMPS

WAMPALEAKS

GLADYS KRAVITZ
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MIDDLEBORO REMEMBERS

Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe elects Brian Weeden as new tribal council leader

Jessica Hill Cape Cod Times 

Published May 18, 2021 

MASHPEE — The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has a new chairman who aims to unite tribal members, promote economic development and preserve the tribe’s culture. 

In its May 16 election, members of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe elected 28-year-old Brian Weeden as chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council.

“I feel ready to get to work,” Weeden said. “There’s a lot of things that need to be done for the tribe and the community.” 

Weeden won by 20 votes, garnering a total of 241 votes to 221 for Nelson Andrews Jr.. Aaron Tobey Jr. received 167 votes, and Robert “Kyle” Bassett had 20. Carlton Hendricks Jr. was elected vice-chairman, Marie Stone elected treasurer and Cassie Jackson elected secretary. 

“I hope the tribe’s future is bright with the newly elected leadership,” Bassett said. “I know everybody that got elected, and I hope that they’re up for the challenge.” 

Weeden is the youngest person to serve as Tribal Council chairman, the head of the tribe’s executive and legislative government branch.

Weeden graduated from Mashpee High School in 2011 and attended Cape Cod Community College. He works for the Mashpee Department of Public Works as a custodian at the K.C. Coombs School. 

For years, Weeden has been involved in both tribal and town organizations, such as the Mashpee Conservation Commission and the Mashpee Historical Commission. He was most recently elected to the Mashpee School Committee. He is also on Mashpee’s Town Seal Design Committee, and is representing the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on the state seal commission.  

In 2009, Weeden founded the Youth Council, and created the Mashpee Youth Commission in 2019 to give young people a voice and experience in tribal and local politics. 

Weeden said his main priority is to restore unity in the tribal community by talking with members and listening to them, he said. He said he plans to organize more unity conferences and ceremonial gatherings. Hendricks, the vice-chairman, also wants to have an open, transparent government where members are aware of what is going on, he said.

Weeden said another goal is to preserve and emphasize the tribe’s culture through more language classes and cultural programming, such as summer camps and Quahog Day for children. He said the tribe used to have a toddler hour at the tribal museum, where day care providers would come in with their children, and a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe would host a cultural activity. 

Weeden and Hendricks say they also want to find ways to improve the tribe’s financial status through the implementation of a finance committee as well as find new streams of revenue.  

The tribe has been in a dire financial situation for years, and with the plans to build a Taunton casino halted, there is a serious need for economic development.

Weeden’s past two predecessors, Cedric Cromwell and Glenn Marshall, were both indicted on felony charges while in office. Cromwell is currently facing bribery and extortion charges, and Marshall pleaded guilty to several charges in 2009, including embezzling nearly $400,000 from the tribe.

Weeden said he hopes to turn the tide and restore the tribe’s integrity.

“The Cromwell administration left the tribe devastated,” said Hendricks, who has a couple of plans to bring economic development to the tribe, although he declined to provide specifics until he shares them with tribal members and the Tribal Council. He hopes to see two viable economic plans bringing in revenue to the tribe within two years. 

One of Weeden’s ideas is to create a deer farm in Mashpee. The tribe could replenish the woods and restock the Cape’s game, he said, as there are a lot of tribal members who still hunt. The tribe could sell venison to local distributors, tan the deer hide and make traditional clothing. Another idea is to do canoe tours along Mashpee’s rivers and waterways, Weeden said. 

Now also president of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Gaming Authority, Weeden plans to get input from members of the tribe and the Tribal Council about what route the tribe plans to take with its casino projects. 

Weeden said he plans to put policies and procedures in place so the tribe “can never be in this situation again.”

“I think people that do wrong by the tribe should not be allowed to receive services” or be a part of the tribal government, he said. 

As someone who attended White House gatherings as a tribal youth delegate, Weeden said he plans to continue making sure the tribe is represented on a national level and build relationships with potential economic partners, he said. 

And at a local level, Weeden said he will also negotiate with the Town of Mashpee and review their intergovernmental agreement, and make sure the town is consulting with the tribe on matters such as development projects. 

Tribal members continue to get harassed for practicing their aboriginal rights to fish and hunt, Weeden said. Members have been arrested for trespassing while trying to access waterways. The Mashpee Pond, for instance, is locked, and Weeden plans on working with the Town of Mashpee to improve treatment and access to waterways. 

He also wants to work on the tribe’s land-in-trust status and continue land and restitution negotiations with the commonwealth. The tribe’s constitution also needs to be reformed, he said. Certain clauses about Tribal Council requirements and tribal enrollment should be amended to give more power to tribal members, he said.

“The constitution took away the voice of the people and gave a lot of power and authority to the chairman and the council,” Weeden said. 

“This administration is going to lead the way for future generations and get everything back in order around here, culturally, spiritually, physically, mentally,” Weeden said. “And do what’s right by our people.

RSN: Marc Ash | Hamas's Negotiating Demands Seem Reasonable

 

 

 

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REVELATION: FUNDING THE ORGANIZATION IS NOT A CRIME: What all this hoopla over fundraising is all about is a basic budget for the organization. It's a simple thing, a straightforward thing, and something that, when ignored, creates large immediate problems. It’s funding — getting it squared away is not a crime, it’s a necessity. In earnest. / Marc Ash, Founder, Reader Supported News

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RSN: Marc Ash | Hamas's Negotiating Demands Seem Reasonable

Marc Ash, Reader Supported News
Ash writes: "It is important to consider Hamas's demands carefully, but for real progress to be made there must be a fair and impartial judicial process to resolve land and property disputes between Israelis and Palestinians."

n the surface Hamas’s cease-fire negotiating demands, seen in context, seem reasonable: “That Israeli forces and police agree to never again enter the al-Aqsa mosque, as they did earlier this month, and that Palestinians living in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood in disputed east Jerusalem not be evicted by Jewish settlers from homes their families have lived in since the 1950s.”

Those really should not be insurmountable obstacles to peace.

It should be noted that the Israelis argue that the properties in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood were owned by Israeli Jews prior to the 1948 Balfour realignment. Perhaps, but who is to say?

The larger problem, a problem that lies at core of the long, bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is the lack of a fair and impartial Judiciary to resolve land disputes. Which is critical because most Israeli-Palestinian violence can be traced back to land or property disputes.

The Israeli courts have historically leaned heavily in favor of the rights and arguments of Israelis in land and property disputes. While that’s no surprise, it leaves those who dispute land and property issues without a peaceful means of resolution, the cornerstone of a civil society.

It is important to consider Hamas’s demands carefully, but for real progress to be made there must be a fair and impartial judicial process to resolve land and property disputes between Israelis and Palestinians. Fair and impartial to Israelis and fair and impartial to Palestinians.

Truly fair and truly impartial being the only standard that will bring lasting peace. Hint: The Palestinians will agree to this, but the Israelis will likely be very resistant.

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Marc Ash is the founder and former Executive Director of Truthout, and is now founder and Editor of Reader Supported News.

Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.

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A home in Gaza City that was bombed by Israeli warplanes on Monday. (photo: Samar Abu Elf/The New York Times)

A Cease-Fire in the Holy Land, for Now
Merrit Kennedy, Becky Sullivan and Laurel Wamsley, NPR
Excerpt: "Israel and Hamas have accepted a cease-fire plan that was to take effect at 2 a.m. local time Friday after 11 days of fighting in Gaza."

The Israeli Cabinet voted to accept an Egyptian initiative for a cease-fire, according to a statement from the Cabinet. A Hamas spokesman said, "The Palestinian resistance will commit itself to this deal as long as the occupation is committed."

President Biden said his administration held "intense, high-level discussions hour by hour" with the Israelis, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt and others toward the agreement. In remarks at the White House, Biden said he sees a "genuine opportunity" to make progress.

Biden emphasized his continued support for Israel's right to defend itself and said the U.S. would replenish Israel's missile defense system.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said in a statement Thursday that he had spoken with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and thanked him for U.S. "support for Israel's actions to protects its civilians and expressed his hope that the ceasefire will be honored."

Fighting has not yet ceased. After Israel's cease-fire announcement, air raid sirens went off in southern Israel warning of rocket fire, and Israeli strikes were heard in Gaza City.

The damage was vast in Gaza, where authorities say Israeli airstrikes and artillery have killed at least 230 people, including at least 60 children. Gaza's water and electric grids were damaged, and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes.

Israel says militants fired some 4,000 rockets into the country, killing 12 people, including two children, and sending people repeatedly into shelters.

The conflict was the fourth major outbreak of this kind of fighting – rockets and airstrikes — between Hamas and Israel since Hamas took over the Gaza Strip about 15 years ago.

The announcement came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his Cabinet ministers.

On Wednesday, Biden increased pressure on Netanyahu to move toward a cease-fire. "The President conveyed to the Prime Minister that he expected a significant de-escalation today on the path to a ceasefire," the White House said Wednesday.

International officials and aid organizations have expressed alarm at the scale of the destruction and loss of life in Gaza, where about 2 million people live. Gazans are unable to flee Israeli airstrikes amid an Israeli blockade, and Egypt keeps its border with Gaza almost entirely closed.

"If there is a hell on earth, it is the lives of children in Gaza," U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres  said before the cease-fire announcement. "The fighting must stop immediately."

In the south of Israel near Gaza, where rocket alarms have gone off daily for more than a week and thousands of Israelis have evacuated, those who remain expressed support for the ongoing campaign Thursday, even as most anticipated an imminent cease-fire. Israel said its airstrikes were working to degrade the capabilities of militant organizations.

"Even though we're not people who are warmongers, we are definitely in favor of the ongoing campaign," said Eyal Hajbi, a security official for the regional council that governs the rural communities east of the Gaza Strip, whose council leader had recently met with Netanyahu to urge him to continue the bombardment.

"What has been going on in the last 20 years, and especially in the last decade, is something which we cannot tolerate anymore," Hajbi said.

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Handy Kennedy, a farmer in Cobbtown, Georgia, and founder of a cooperative of Black farmers. Debt relief approved by Congress in March aims to make amends for decades of financial discrimination against Black and other nonwhite farmers. (photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty)

Banks Fight $4 Billion Debt Relief Plan for Black Farmers
Alan Rappeport, The New York Times
Rappeport writes: "The Biden administration's efforts to provide $4 billion in debt relief to minority farmers is encountering stiff resistance from banks."

Lenders are pressuring the Agriculture Department to give them more money, saying quick repayments will cut into profits.

he Biden administration’s efforts to provide $4 billion in debt relief to minority farmers is encountering stiff resistance from banks, which are complaining that the government initiative to pay off the loans of borrowers who have faced decades of financial discrimination will cut into their profits and hurt investors.

The debt relief was approved as part of the $1.9 trillion stimulus package that Congress passed in March and was intended to make amends for the discrimination that Black and other nonwhite farmers have faced from lenders and the United States Department of Agriculture over the years. But no money has yet gone out the door.

Instead, the program has become mired in controversy and lawsuits. In April, white farmers who claim that they are victims of reverse discrimination sued the U.S.D.A. over the initiative.

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Detained immigrants play soccer behind a barbed wire fence at the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, Feb. 20, 2018. (photo: Reade Levinson/Reuters)

ICE Detention Center Shuttered Following Repeated Allegations of Medical Misconduct
José Olivares and John Washington, The Intercept
Excerpt: "Immigrant women held at the private prison alleged a pattern of medical procedures, including hysterectomies, without proper consent."

he Department of Homeland Security announced on Thursday the agency will be shutting down the controversial immigration prison in Georgia where dozens of detained immigrant women were subjected to nonconsensual gynecological procedures, including hysterectomies.

The memo, sent by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, instructs U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to terminate the contract with the Irwin County Detention Center in Ocilla, Georgia, according to the Washington Post, along with another detention center in Massachusetts. Both facilities are under federal investigation for detention practices.

“This victory, brought about through years of organizing and exposing the abuses, is momentous,” said Azadeh Shahshahani, legal and advocacy director of Project South, a civil rights organization based in Atlanta.

The detention center, run by the private prison company LaSalle Corrections, was the focus of widespread criticism last fall when Dawn Wooten, a nurse and subsequently whistleblower at the facility, came forward with allegations of pervasive medical neglect and misconduct.

“For over a decade, LaSalle and ICE have ignored, threatened, and even attacked immigrants at Irwin in an attempt to silence them,” said Priyanka Bhatt, a staff attorney at Project South. “Today matters because the people suffering abuse at Irwin have been seen.”

In her whistleblower allegations, Wooten detailed how the facility’s staff ignored serious medical complaints and failed to take proper precautions against Covid-19 both for the staff and the people detained at the prison. Wooten also alleged detained women were subjected to hysterectomies and other, sometimes unnecessary, gynecological procedures performed without proper informed consent, allegations that spurred widespread international criticism, including congressional investigations.

According to the Washington Post, Mayorkas’s memo said Homeland Security “will not tolerate the mistreatment of individuals in civil immigration detention or substandard conditions of detention.” In a statement to the Post, Mayorkas said, “DHS detention facilities and the treatment of individuals in those facilities will be held to our health and safety standards. Where we discover they fall short, we will continue to take action as we are doing today.” (ICE and LaSalle Corrections did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the closure memo.)

Mayorkas’s memo closing Irwin also instructed ICE not to renew its contract with the Bristol County immigration detention center in Massachusetts. In December, the Massachusetts attorney general said the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the facility, violated the civil rights of detained immigrants last year, when officials fired pepper spray and pepper projectiles and illegally unleashed dogs on detainees who were demanding Covid-19 protections.

The closures of the Irwin and Bristol detention centers come as the total number of people detained by ICE has increased in recent months, to over 20,000 as of May 14, a high for the Biden administration, but still far lower than the more than 55,000 people who were detained at any given time during the peak months of 2019. It is not clear when the facilities will be officially shuttered, but the Post reported that the Bristol contract would be terminated immediately and DHS would work to sever its contract with Irwin as quickly as possible.

“The closure of the Irwin County Detention Center marks a decisive victory in the long war against white supremacy in the U.S. south and across the globe,” said Kevin Caron, a steering committee member of Georgia Detention Watch. “While they have yet to receive justice, today those who suffered at Irwin have been vindicated. The abuses at Irwin are emblematic of our urgent need to end immigrant detention and abolish ICE.”

Last September, Wooten blew the whistle about conditions at the facility amid the Covid-19 pandemic, first reported by The Intercept. With the assistance of attorneys from the Government Accountability Project, Wooten sent a letter to Congress detailing “misconduct and failures to provide medical care in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.” With Project South, she also submitted a complaint to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.

Part of the complaint said that women in detention were being subjected to often unnecessary gynecological procedures conducted without proper consent. Later, in a closed-door meeting with senators on Capitol Hill, attorneys confirmed at least 57 women were subject to the reproductive-system procedures since 2018.

The story, especially the gynecological procedures allegedly performed without consent, was widely covered. Public officials demanded an investigation. A number of the women subjected to the gynecological procedures were subsequently deported, even as advocates demanded that ICE cease the deportations of victims and shutter the facility. The DHS Office of Inspector General launched an investigation into the allegations; its findings have not yet been released. (The DHS OIG also launched an investigation into prenatal and gynecological care in other ICE facilities, the findings of which have also not been released.)

Last December, 14 women filed a class-action lawsuit alleging abuse during their time imprisoned in Irwin. The lawsuit claims that the women received nonconsensual procedures performed by Mahendra Amin, a doctor based in rural Georgia who was sent patients from the nearby detention center. Both Amin and his attorney have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing. The women claim that ICE and Irwin County Detention Center officials were made aware by detainees of alleged misconduct.

“In many instances, the medically unindicated gynecological procedures Respondent Amin performed on Petitioners amounted to sexual assault,” the lawsuit says. “After Petitioners spoke out, or attempted to speak out, about their abuse, Respondents retaliated against them in order to silence them.”

ICE stopped sending immigrant women to Amin after the allegations of nonconsensual and unnecessary procedures came to light. The FBI is currently investigating Amin for a series of unnecessary, rough, or abusive procedures, according to a report in Prism by Tina Vásquez earlier this month.

Last week, a group of 29 formerly detained immigrants sent a letter to President Joe Biden denouncing abusive practices in immigration detention. In the letter, they also demanded that the Irwin County Detention Center be shut down and all contracts with LaSalle and other for-profit detention companies be terminated.

“Many women faced retaliation from ICE, with some even being deported to prevent them from testifying in any investigations, a tactic frequently employed by ICE to silence and disappear its victims,” the letter reads.

The shuttering of Irwin does not mean that people currently detained in the facility will be released from detention.

Another detention center in rural Georgia, the Stewart Detention Center, has received an influx of women detainees since December 2020, many of them transfers from Irwin. Stewart, which has exclusively detained men for over a decade, is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the country. It is also, according to advocates and nongovernmental trackers, one of the deadliest.

Stewart, which is run by the private prison company CoreCivic, has come under fire by, among others, the DHS Office of Inspector General, for alleged violent abuse against people detained there. Since 2017, eight detainees at Stewart have died. Two men died by suicide after being held in solitary confinement for prolonged periods of time, despite diagnoses of mental health disorders.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, The Intercept reported that detainees in Stewart demanding improved medical care were pepper-sprayed twice in two weeks by a special unit of private correctional officers akin to a SWAT team. The Intercept also reported that three detainees in wheelchairs were hurled to the ground after asking for better medical care amid the pandemic. According to ICE’s tracker, four people detained at Stewart died from complications after contracting Covid-19.

“We will not rest however until Stewart is also shut down,” said Shahshahani, of Project South. “Transfer of women from one corporate-run detention center with a track record of human rights violations to another deadly one is not going to get ICE off the hook.”

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Three Colorado police officers no longer employed after arrest of 73-year-old woman with dementia. (photo: Sarah Silbiger/Reuters)

2 CO Police Officers Charged in Brutal Arrest of 73-Year-Old Woman With Dementia
Pilar Melendez, The Daily Beast
Melendez writes: 

wo former Colorado police officers face charges after they violently arrested a 73-year-old woman with dementia last summer—and then laughed while watching gruesome body-cam footage of the incident back at the police station.

Ex-Loveland Police officer Austin Hopp, 26, has been charged with second-degree assault causing serious bodily injury, attempting to influence a public servant, and official misconduct in relation to the June 26, 2020, arrest of Karen Garner, who was tackled and handcuffed for leaving a Walmart with unpaid goods.

The other cop who assisted in Garner’s arrest, 27-year-old Daria Jalali, was charged with failure to report the use of force by a peace officer, failure to intervene, and first-degree official misconduct, according to online court records.

Surveillance footage released last month revealed that after the arrest—in which Hopp tackled Garner to the ground and handcuffed her against his cruiser—the officers went back to the station and watched their body-cam footage of the incident as Garner sat in a cell for hours.

“Ready for the pop?” Hopp said to Jalali and other officers as they gathered to watch. “What popped?” another officer asked.

“I think it was her shoulder,” Hopp replied, before later adding: “I can’t believe I threw a 73-year-old on the ground.”

While warrants have been issued for both officers, it was not immediately clear if they were in custody as of Wednesday morning. The charges come after the 8th Judicial District Critical Response Team completed a review of the arrest, which elicited national attention. Gordan McLaughlin, the 8th Judicial district attorney, is expected to hold a press conference about the results of the review.

In April, Garner filed a federal lawsuit against the city and the officers who arrested her, claiming they broke her arm and dislocated her shoulder during an excessively violent assault.

According to the lawsuit, the incident began after Garner left a Walmart without paying for $13 worth of items. While store employees had stopped her at the exit and retrieved the items, they “refused to let her pay” and she began to walk home. Hopp, however, caught up to Garner to arrest her, calling out for her to stop.

When she indicated she could not understand him—which is a common side effect of dementia and sensory aphasia—Hopp “violently assaulted her by twisting her arms behind her back, throwing her to the ground and handcuffing her” while Jalali assisted, the lawsuit alleges.

“In their efforts to repeatedly and needlessly injure and subdue the terrified Ms. Garner, Officers Hopp and Jalali fractured and dislocated her shoulder in addition to other injuries (scrapes to face, bloody nose, contusions to knees),” the lawsuit states, adding that a concerned citizen even stopped to question the officers’ “aggression” during the arrest.

“Despite the visible dislocation of her arm from her shoulder, and her repeated cries of pain while on scene and in the several hours she remained in their care and control that followed, neither the defendant officers nor anyone else at the Loveland Police Department sought medical care for Ms. Garner—instead keeping her in extreme pain, in handcuffs, and actively preventing her from access to medical treatment for over six hours,” the suit added.

The surveillance footage from the police station showed that the officers were seemingly too preoccupied reliving the assault to help Garner.

“It’s like live TV... Body-cams are my favorite thing to watch, I could watch livestream body-cams all day,” Jalali said in the footage.

Jalali and Hopp resigned from the Loveland Police Department on April 30 amid an internal investigation. Another officer who was seen watching the footage at the police station also resigned.

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Yemeni children fill jerrycans with water at a makeshift camp for the internally displaced, in Yemen's war-ravaged western province of Hodeida on 7 May. (photo: AFP)

US Senators Demand Saudi Arabia End Its Blockade Starving Yemen
Middle East Eye
Excerpt: "A group of Democratic senators have called on US President Joe Biden to take 'immediate and decisive action' to pressure Saudi Arabia into lifting restrictions on imports to Yemen, which they say are exacerbating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises."

Joe Biden told to take 'immediate and decisive action' to end the blockade that has prevented food, medicine and other crucial supplies from reaching Yemen

 group of Democratic senators have called on US President Joe Biden to take "immediate and decisive action" to pressure Saudi Arabia into lifting restrictions on imports to Yemen, which they say are exacerbating one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The senators, concerned that Riyadh's blockade has prevented food, medicine and other crucial supplies from entering the war-torn country, said it was time Saudi Arabia faced serious consequences.

"Immediate and decisive action must be taken… The United States has diplomatic and economic leverage to compel Saudi Arabia to end its callous blockade of Yemen and we must use it before more lives are needlessly lost," the senators said in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday.

This was the third such letter to be sent to the Biden administration concerning the blockade since he took office in January.

Saudi Arabia and its regional allies, mainly the United Arab Emirates, entered the Yemeni government's war against the Houthi rebels in 2015, and began a wide-ranging aerial bombing campaign.

The coalition also introduced an air and naval blockade that it says is to prevent the Houthis from smuggling weapons into the country. But critics of Saudi Arabia's actions have long accused the kingdom of cutting off basic civilian goods.

While the White House has recently called on Saudi Arabia to ease some of its restrictions, the kingdom has not yet made any move to do so.

'Leverage all influence'

At least 16 Democrats, led by Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading progressive within the party, signed Wednesday's letter demanding the Biden administration take more severe action on the issue.

The senators urged the Biden administration to "leverage all influence and tools available", including pending weapons sales, military cooperation, the provision of maintenance for air force planes and other equipment, as well as Washington's general diplomatic ties with the kingdom "to demand that Saudi Arabia immediately and unconditionally stop the use of blockade tactics".

The senators acknowledged the Biden administration's efforts to address the conflict in Yemen, including reversing the Trump administration's designation of the Houthi rebel group as a terrorist organisation, announcing an end to US support for Saudi-led "offensive" operations and resuming critical humanitarian assistance to northern Yemen.

Tim Lenderking, US special envoy for Yemen, this month urged Saudi Arabia to ease "all restrictions" on the port of Hodeidah and Sanaa airport. In addition to the restrictions being lifted, the State Department said it hoped to reach a comprehensive, nationwide ceasefire, and move to inclusive political talks.

Still, the senators called on the White House to do more.

"These are welcome steps, but we must now address the serious harm caused by ongoing blockade tactics," the Senators said.

Last month, a spokesperson from the State Department sparked ire by telling Vox News that Riyafh's practices in Yemen were "not a blockade".

"Food is getting through, commodities are getting through, so it is not a blockade," the spokesperson said at the time.

Referencing that comment, the senators highlighted the ongoing shortages in Yemen.

"A leading driver of the suffering in Yemen, which has exacerbated all other existing issues, has been the air and sea blockade by the Saudi-led coalition," the senators stressed.

"While your Administration maintains that '[this] is not a blockade,' Saudi action is undoubtedly preventing much needed fuel from reaching those in need and is exacerbating an already grave humanitarian crisis; the United States must work to put an end to it," they said.

'Yemen has been neglected'

Wednesday's letter is just the latest effort to come out of Congress in recent weeks aimed at getting the White House to act on the situation.

Last month a bipartisan group of House Foreign Affairs Committee members sent a similar letter to Secretary Blinken, calling on the White House to pressure Saudi Arabia to stop the "outright blocking" of goods and humanitarian assistance into ports in Yemen, which they said had led to increased inflation, "economic collapse, and the failure of public services in Yemen".

"We understand that the conflict in Yemen is complex and affects broader political and security interests, but we nonetheless ask that you stress the need to remove import restrictions immediately on humanitarian grounds," the lawmakers wrote at the time.

"Ending this practice will boost Yemen's economy, de-escalate the conflict, and prevent this humanitarian catastrophe from worsening - all important U.S. objectives," the continued.

Not long before that, a group of 70 Democrats in the House had sent a letter to President Joe Biden calling on him to pressure Riyadh into ending its blockade on Yemen.

"Until recently, the blockade on Yemen has been neglected by Congress despite its catastrophic impact on civilians' lives in Yemen," Dr Shireen al-Adeimi, assistant professor at Michigan State University, said in a statement accompanying Wednesday's letter. "I'm glad to see that this is now shifting, and that U.S. elected officials are calling on President Biden to end his support for the blockade on Yemen. I also hope to see Congress take back its constitutional power by legislating an end to all U.S. involvement in the war on Yemen."

Dr Aisha Jumaan, president of Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, also commented on the senators' letter, saying that the blockade was "meant to starve civilians and destroy their livelihoods" while pushing 16.3 million people "into the brink of a man-made famine".

"We must lift the blockade immediately and unconditionally to prevent mass starvation and save lives. Conditioning lifting the blockade to protracted negotiations between warring parties is unethical as it holds civilians hostages and risks their lives. Yemen can't wait," Jumaan said.

The war has killed more than 230,000 people in Yemen, caused outbreaks of disease, and brought the country to the very brink of famine.

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Philadelphia skyline. (photo: iStock)

Philadelphia Has Dimmed Its Skyline After a 'Mass Collision' Killed Thousands of Migrating Birds
Josiah Ryan, CNN
Ryan writes: "Nearly twenty buildings in Philadelphia are dimming their lights this spring after thousands of birds perished in the city's largest mass collision in recent history."

The voluntary measure has been coordinated by "Bird Safe Philly" and continues until May 30 with the purpose of sparing the lives of some of the 100 million birds passing over the City of Brotherly Love on their semiannual migrations.

To some, it might seem more intuitive to leave the lights on to help birds steer clear of buildings, but Robert Peck, a senior fellow at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, explains most migrating fowl navigate by light; the sun, the moon and the stars.

Fog and rain, which are quite common in spring and autumn, force birds to fly at lower altitudes. When they see the bright city lights, they are often dazzled, disoriented and confused.

"Suddenly they have all these lights coming at them from different directions. It's overwhelming," Peck said. "They get turned around and they will fly into buildings and walls."

The Philadelphia buildings participating in these efforts have agreed to switch unnecessary lights off from 12:01 a.m. to 6 a.m., especially on higher floors, dimming lights in lobbies and atriums.

One catalyst for this year's effort was a mass collision event on October 2 of last year when thousands of birds perished after striking buildings in the city. Their deceased bodies "littering the sidewalks in downtown Philadelphia," said Peck.

"The ground was sprinkled with dead and dying birds," he said.

The effort to lower light pollution is also underway in 33 other US cities, but sadly it will hardly solve the peril faced by airborne fowl. Up to one billion birds die each year when they collide with human structures, according to a news release from "Lights Out Philly." The first bird death from a collision in Philadelphia was recorded in the 1890s, when the Academy of Natural Sciences started collecting "window kills."

"It's a tough trip for the birds either way so the last thing they need to do is encounter brightly lit buildings," notes Peck.

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