01 June 22
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01 June 22
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ALSO SEE: Russia Says US 'Adding Fuel to Fire'
With Weapons for Ukraine
As the war goes on, I want to be clear about the aims of the United States in these efforts.
America’s goal is straightforward: We want to see a democratic, independent, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine with the means to deter and defend itself against further aggression.
As President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine has said, ultimately this war “will only definitively end through diplomacy.” Every negotiation reflects the facts on the ground. We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table.
That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.
We will continue cooperating with our allies and partners on Russian sanctions, the toughest ever imposed on a major economy. We will continue providing Ukraine with advanced weaponry, including Javelin anti-tank missiles, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, powerful artillery and precision rocket systems, radars, unmanned aerial vehicles, Mi-17 helicopters and ammunition. We will also send billions more in financial assistance, as authorized by Congress. We will work with our allies and partners to address the global food crisis that Russia’s aggression is worsening. And we will help our European allies and others reduce their dependence on Russian fossil fuels, and speed our transition to a clean energy future.
We will also continue reinforcing NATO’s eastern flank with forces and capabilities from the United States and other allies. And just recently, I welcomed Finland’s and Sweden’s applications to join NATO, a move that will strengthen overall U.S. and trans-Atlantic security by adding two democratic and highly capable military partners.
We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia. As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow. So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked, we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces. We are not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders. We do not want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.
My principle throughout this crisis has been “Nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine.” I will not pressure the Ukrainian government — in private or public — to make any territorial concessions. It would be wrong and contrary to well-settled principles to do so.
Ukraine’s talks with Russia are not stalled because Ukraine has turned its back on diplomacy. They are stalled because Russia continues to wage a war to take control of as much of Ukraine as it can. The United States will continue to work to strengthen Ukraine and support its efforts to achieve a negotiated end to the conflict.
Unprovoked aggression, the bombing of maternity hospitals and centers of culture, and the forced displacement of millions of people makes the war in Ukraine a profound moral issue. I met with Ukrainian refugees in Poland — women and children who were unsure what their lives would be, and whether the loved ones who stayed behind in Ukraine would be OK. No person of conscience could be unmoved by the devastation of these horrors.
Standing by Ukraine in its hour of need is not just the right thing to do. It is in our vital national interests to ensure a peaceful and stable Europe and to make it clear that might does not make right. If Russia does not pay a heavy price for its actions, it will send a message to other would-be aggressors that they too can seize territory and subjugate other countries. It will put the survival of other peaceful democracies at risk. And it could mark the end of the rules-based international order and open the door to aggression elsewhere, with catastrophic consequences the world over.
I know many people around the world are concerned about the use of nuclear weapons. We currently see no indication that Russia has intent to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, though Russia’s occasional rhetoric to rattle the nuclear saber is itself dangerous and extremely irresponsible. Let me be clear: Any use of nuclear weapons in this conflict on any scale would be completely unacceptable to us as well as the rest of the world and would entail severe consequences.
Americans will stay the course with the Ukrainian people because we understand that freedom is not free. That’s what we have always done whenever the enemies of freedom seek to bully and oppress innocent people, and it is what we are doing now. Vladimir Putin did not expect this degree of unity or the strength of our response. He was mistaken. If he expects that we will waver or fracture in the months to come, he is equally mistaken.
An anti-scaling fence surrounds the U.S. Supreme Court on May 5, 2022 in Washington. (photo: Alex Brandon/AP)
Citing three sources with knowledge of the efforts, CNN reported some clerks have begun exploring hiring outside counsel in response to the probe. The specifics of the records requests and affidavits remain unclear.
The Hill has reached out to the Supreme Court for comment.
Chief Justice John Roberts directed the marshal of the Supreme Court to launch the probe after Politico on May 2 published the leaked draft opinion, which would effectively eliminate federal abortion protections and hand authority over abortion access to states.
“This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust that is an affront to the Court and the community of public servants who work here,” Roberts said in a press release on May 3.
The court is expected to issue its final ruling on Mississippi’s abortion law — in the case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — in the coming weeks.
The court is notoriously secretive, and prior to the Politico story, no draft opinion in the court’s modern history had leaked to the public before its official release.
The Supreme Court has not issued any public update on the probe since it was launched on May 3.
The draft opinion, authored by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, would have been circulated to the nine justices, their clerks and key staffers within each justice’s chambers and administrative offices, potentially about 75 people in all, CNN reported.
It’s unclear if others working at the court who would have had access to the document are also being asked to provide phone records.
Some legal experts argue that the Supreme Court leaker may have committed a federal crime by leaking the draft decision, but others say it was an ethical breach more likely to result in the leaker’s firing or disbarment.
There are varying theories on the source of the leak. Some conservative lawmakers have suggested it was a liberal clerk seeking to stir up resistance ahead of the decision, while other pundits have said it was likely a conservative clerk seeking to lock in the five votes in support of Alito’s opinion.
A group of 12 House Republicans on Tuesday introduced legislation that would plainly criminalize leaks of nonpublic Supreme Court information, including draft opinions. Some Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had called on the Department of Justice to probe the issue.
The draft opinion’s leak has thrust abortion back into the political spotlight, with liberals hoping to galvanize abortion rights supporters ahead of November’s midterms.
And with the court’s final ruling nearing, Democrats and Republicans are also fighting over abortion legislation at the state level. Twenty-two states have laws that could be used to restrict the legal status of abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) signed the strictest anti-abortion law in the nation last week, immediately banning abortion at any point during pregnancy unless it is necessary to save the woman’s life or the pregnancy is the result of rape, sexual assault or incest that has been reported to law enforcement.
Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer at Farwell Community Center in Detroit, on Monday, August 16, 2021. (photo: Mike Mulholland/MLive.com)
Opponents argue the language of the proposed amendment to the state constitution, which would also codify rights to autonomous decisions about contraception, childbirth, miscarriage management and other reproductive concerns, is too broad.
“I don’t think we can make any assumptions that there’s a middle ground here,” Whitmer said in response. “You’re either all in to ensure that women have the ability to make their own decisions, or you’re trying to take that away. And that’s how high the stakes are.”
Whitmer was speaking Wednesday, May 25, at Dodge Park Coney Island in Sterling Heights. There, she met with a select group of mostly women to discuss reproductive rights. The participants spoke openly about their personal experiences with abortion, about childbirth and their fears for a future without legal abortion.
“I think that we’ve got to be using every tool to protect women and our own health care,” Whitmer said. “And so, I’m glad for the effort around collecting signatures to amend our constitution, I’m glad for the Planned Parenthood lawsuit. I’m glad that we seem to have gotten the Supreme Court’s attention. We are all working toward the same goal.”
Threats to abortion rights in the United States, recently confirmed by a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion published by Politico, have inspired a flurry of activity in Michigan, which has a 91-year-old law unenforced for nearly 50 years that makes abortion illegal in almost all circumstances.
The Michigan Supreme Court agreed last week to consider Whitmer’s pending lawsuit against prosecutors in the 13 state counties with abortion clinics.
In a separate but related case filed by Planned Parenthood, the Michigan Court of Claims granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking any abortion ban until the case against the state attorney general is resolved.
Meanwhile, the Reproductive Freedom for All coalition, formed by Planned Parenthood and others, is hoping to ask voters to change the Michigan constitution to say, in part: “Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.”
It continues: “An individual’s right to reproductive freedom shall not be denied, burdened, nor infringed upon unless justified by a compelling state interest achieved by the least restrictive means.”
The most profound decision a woman will make in a lifetime is when and whether to have a child, Whitmer said.
“And only she knows the circumstances that she is confronting, where she is at, (what) her abilities are… these are heavy, hard decisions,” she said.
As it is now, full reproductive health care is safe. “We want to make sure it continues to be safe, rare and informed,” Whitmer said.
“And that’s precisely what we have right now in Michigan. And all that is being threatened and being ripped away from women.”
Whitmer urged the people gathered to take a weekend to gather signatures or register voters. She encouraged them to inform others.
“I do think we’re on the right side of the issue,” she said. “The majority of people see the world the same way we do on this issue. But they don’t know, because they’re just trying to keep their head above water and live their lives and get their kids back on track. They don’t know what the real threat is.”
Whitmer spoke Wednesday to a receptive group.
“I think my biggest fear is the type of environment and the message that we’re sending to our daughters, their importance in life, their importance to be able to contribute to their households. It is such a huge financial and emotional decision to start a family. And that should be an if and when decision for everyone,” said Danielle Vivio, a White Lake teacher.
It is “horrifying” that a rollback is even under consideration, she said.
How will the state law be enforced? Michelle Halsband, an Oakland County engineer, asked. How will it be known who is or is not pregnant?
“I mean, just the entire idea of this invasive monitoring of women,” Halsband said. “It’s upsetting to me.”
Life at conception is a “religious opinion,” she said. “It should not be legislated.”
Law enforcement is seen outside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on May 24, 2022, in an image taken from a video made by a bystander. (photo: Jesse Ortiz/ABC)
Texas officials are probing law enforcement's response to last week's massacre.
The Uvalde police chief and a spokesperson for the Uvalde Independent School District did not immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.
According to sources, the decision to stop cooperating occurred soon after the director of DPS, Col. Steven McCraw, held a news conference Friday during which he said the delayed police entry into the classroom was "the wrong decision" and contrary to protocol.
Reached by ABC News, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety said, "The Uvalde Police Department and Uvalde CISD Police have been cooperating with investigators. The chief of the Uvalde CISD Police provided an initial interview but has not responded to a request for a follow-up interview with the Texas Rangers that was made two days ago."
Last Tuesday's attack, one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history, left 19 children and two adults dead.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police display seized firearms in Surrey, British Columbia, last year. (photo: Darryl Dyck/AP)
It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in country, Justin Trudeau says
“We are capping the number of handguns in this country,” said the prime minister, Justin Trudeau. The regulations to halt the growth of personally owned handguns is expected to be enacted this autumn.
“It will be illegal to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” the prime minister said.
Canada already has plans to ban 1,500 types of military-style firearms and offer a mandatory buyback programme that will begin at the end of the year.
Trudeau said if someone really wanted to keep their assault weapon it would be made completely inoperable.
Canada had already expanded background checks ahead of this total ban. Trudeau has long had plans to enact tougher gun laws but the introduction of the new measure comes after mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, NY, this month.
Bill Blair, minister of emergency preparedness, said Canada was “very different from the United States”. “In Canada, gun ownership is a privilege, not a right,” he said. “This is a principle that differentiates ourselves from many other countries in the world, notably our colleagues and friends to the south. In Canada, guns are only intended to be used for hunting and sport purposes.”
Canada has had far fewer mass shootings than the US in part because of a lack of easy access to guns, though the US population also is far larger than Canada’s.
Blair said guns were often smuggled in illegally from the US, which he noted had one of the largest small arms arsenals in the world.
The Canadian government plans to fight gun smuggling and trafficking by increasing criminal penalties, providing more tools to investigate firearms crimes and strengthening border measures.
Trudeau said increased funding already helped border officials double the amount of smuggled guns confiscated at the US border. His government also said the bill would allow for the removal of gun licences from people involved in acts of domestic violence or criminal harassment such as stalking.
The bill would create a new “red flag” law allowing courts to require that people considered a danger to themselves or others surrender their firearms to police. The government said the measure would guard the safety of those applying through the process – often women in danger of domestic abuse – by protecting their identities.
Rifle magazines would be permanently altered so they can never hold more than five rounds, and the bill will ban the sale and transfer of large-capacity magazines.
“Canada can teach us a lot,” tweeted Bruce Heyman, a former US ambassador to Canada under the Obama administration.
Trudeau said his government recognised that the vast majority of Canadians who owned guns were responsible, but the level of gun violence was “unacceptable”. “This is a concrete and real national measure toward keeping Canadians safe,” Trudeau said.
The new measures are likely to pass in Canada’s parliament as the ruling Liberals and leftist opposition New Democrats have enough votes.
Pierre Poilievre, who is running to be leader of the Conservative party, said law-abiding gun owners should be respected and dangerous criminals should be jailed.
Trudeau said: “Other than using firearms for sport shooting and hunting, there is no reason anyone in Canada should need guns in their everyday lives.
“We need less gun violence. We cannot let the gun debate became so polarised that nothing gets done. We cannot let that happen in our country. This is about freedom. People should be free to go to the supermarket, their school or their place of worship without fear.”
Rashida Tlaib held a sizable lead ahead of other primary candidates, according to a January poll. (photo: AFP)
Urban Empowerment Action PAC says it wants a congresswoman that 'doesn't have varying distractions'
The Urban Empowerment Action PAC announced on Friday that it was looking to spend the amount in support of Tlaib's primary opponent, Janice Winfrey, ahead of the 2 August Democratic primary, claiming that it wants to support a candidate "that doesn't have varying distractions".
"UEA PAC's premier race will be in Michigan's 12th Congressional District, where the group plans to spend upwards of $1 million on TV, digital, mail, radio, and print advertising to support Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey in her campaign to restore infrastructure, improve educational opportunities in the district, and support the Biden-Harris agenda in D.C.," the new group said in a statement given to Politico.
Bakari Sellers, a TV pundit with progressive leanings but who also supports AIPAC, has endorsed and is fundraising for the PAC.
Sellers said that Tlaib's criticism towards Israel is "definitely high up on the list" of reasons he is working to support Winfrey, but said it wasn't his primary focus.
The PAC, which said its supporters "include a broad coalition of Black and Jewish business, political and civic leaders", said that it is supporting Winfrey, citing "dedication to the educational empowerment and economic uplift of Black communities".
The money would be a significant funding boost for Winfrey, who as of February only raised a little more than $236,000 and had just over $220,000 cash on hand, according to the latest federal election commission records.
Tlaib, on the other hand, has raised more than $2.3m and still has $1.6m cash on hand, which also dwarfs the extra million dollars being funnelled into Winfrey's campaign.
In a January poll, Tlaib held a sizable lead ahead of other primary candidates, with 62 percent favourable, while Winfrey was only polling at four percent.
Denzel McCampbell, spokesperson for Tlaib's reelection campaign, told Middle East Eye that the congresswoman was calling on Winfrey to disavow the PAC, saying she should condemn a "big money attack on our democracy that only seeks to mislead voters and distort reality".
"This is yet another sad example of out-of-state billionaire interference in local races, spending millions to peddle lies and distortions, and pushing a pro-corporate agenda on a district that has consistently stood against the corporate greed hurting our families," McCampbell told MEE.
"Voters in Michigan's new 12th district can see right through these desperate schemes, and we're laser-focused on returning Congresswoman Tlaib to Congress to continue building on her impressive record of delivering life-changing services and legislation for her residents."
Pro-Israel influences
The UEA PAC's announcement also reveals connections to groups aiming to back pro-Israel candidates across the US in the midterms.
Federal Election Commission records show that the group has received more than $75,000 from New York-based hedge fund, Third Point LLC, founded by billionaire investor Daniel Loeb.
Loeb has also backed the New York Solidarity Group, which is encouraging donors to support pro-Israel candidates in state legislative and local elections.
He reportedly donated $125,000 to the Democratic Majority for Israel and has also given grants to pro-Israel groups including the Birthright Israel Foundation, Passages America Israel, and Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces.
Tlaib has made headlines for her strong support of Palestinian rights, and also recently introduced a bill in Congress to commemorate the Nakba - which refers to the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians at the hands of Zionist paramilitaries in 1948.
Her criticism of Israel has repeatedly drawn the ire of pro-Israel groups, and Winfrey said it was one of her reasons for running against the incumbent Democrat.
"When you don't support the one ally that we have in the Middle East, then I feel you have another agenda, and that agenda is not conducive to the citizens of the 12th Congressional District," Winfrey told Jewish Insider in April.
The left-wing group, Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee founded by former leaders of Senator Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign, attacked Sellers for supporting Winfrey.
"With Islamophobia on the rise, it is disgraceful to single out the *only* Palestinian member of Congress, who is a civil rights lawyer and represents one of the most Arab-American districts," said spokesperson Waleed Shahid.
Mike Casca, communications director for Sanders, also criticised the move.
"In the middle of a ton of important fights that desperately need funding, some Democrats making clear they only care about defeating the progressive agenda. This is just the latest," he tweeted.
Infrastructure bill
Tlaib easily defeated her 2018 and 2020 primary opponent, Detroit City Council President Brenda Jones. However, the August primary race will take place in Michigan's newly redrawn 12th Congressional District.
The area includes parts of Detroit, suburbs with larger populations of white voters, and areas including Dearborn, which boasts significant Arab and Muslim populations.
Winfrey highlighted Tlaib's vote against the bipartisan infrastructure bill last year as the "last straw" in her decision to challenge her.
The progressive two-term congresswoman has said she voted against the infrastructure bill because Democrats were walking back a promise to pass the measure alongside the expansive climate and social spending bill known as Build Back Better.
Tlaib's campaign is calling on Winfrey to disavow the PAC's spending, saying "it seeks to mislead voters and distort reality".
ISRAEL is the largest US WELFARE RECIPIENT....WHY? The US could employ the $$$ for more constructive purposes.
NONE DARE CRITICIZE ISRAEL!
The US/UN vetoes global condemnation of ISRAEL's genocide, torture, killings, illegal settlements, land grab, bulldozing the homes of Palestinians.....
AIPAC has long worked to defeat any candidate who dares to SPEAK THE TRUTH ABOUT ISRAEL'S GENOCIDE.
Zuckerberg bannned Palestinian reporting.
Who is commenting on the ISRAEL'S MASSACRES?
Never expect Corporate Media Vultures to report the TRUTH. It's out there for those who seek to inform themselves.
Please support RASHIDA TLAIB!
ISRAEL does not own US ELECTIONS!
The WHO accused the tobacco industry of various means of environmental damage, from widespread deforestation to spewing out plastic and chemical waste. (photo: Pys.org)
The World Health Organization accused the industry of causing widespread deforestation, diverting badly needed land and water in poor countries away from food production, spewing out plastic and chemical waste as well as emitting millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide.
In its report released on World No Tobacco Day, the UN agency called for the tobacco industry to be held to account and foot the bill for the cleanup.
The report, "Tobacco: poisoning our planet", looks at the impacts of the whole cycle, from the growth of plants to the manufacturing of tobacco products, to consumption and waste.
While tobacco's health impacts have been well documented for decades—with smoking still causing more than eight million deaths worldwide every year—the report focuses on its broader environmental consequences.
The findings are "quite devastating," Ruediger Krech, WHO director of health promotion, told AFP, charging that the industry is "one of the biggest polluters that we know of."
Poison
He slammed tobacco companies' frequent efforts to rehabilitate their image through beach cleanups and funding environmental and disaster relief organisations as "greenwashing".
"The tobacco industry dumps toxic waste into communities and depletes natural resources," he told a press conference.
"Tobacco is not only poisoning people, it's poisoning our planet."
The industry is responsible for the loss of some 600 million trees each year—or five percent of global deforestation—while tobacco growing and production uses 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tonnes of water annually, the report found.
It also emits around 84 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, it said.
In addition, "tobacco products are the most littered item on the planet, containing over 7,000 toxic chemicals, which leech into our environment when discarded," Krech said.
4.5 trillion cigarette butts
He pointed out that each one of the estimated 4.5 trillion cigarette butts that end up in the oceans, rivers, sidewalks and beaches every year can pollute 100 litres of water.
And up to a quarter of all tobacco farmers contract so-called green tobacco sickness, or poisoning from the nicotine they absorb through the skin.
Farmers who handle tobacco leaves all day consume the equivalent of 50 cigarettes worth of nicotine a day, Krech said.
This is especially worrying for the many children involved in tobacco farming.
"Just imagine a 12-year-old being exposed to 50 cigarettes a day," he said.
Most tobacco is grown in poorer countries, where water and farmland are often in short supply, and where such crops are often grown at the expense of vital food production, the report said.
UN agencies have launched a project to try to help farmers transition to other crops.
Plastic pollution
At the same time the processing and transportation of tobacco account for a significant share of global greenhouse gas emissions—with the equivalent of one-fifth of the global airline industry's carbon footprint.
In addition, products like cigarettes, smokeless tobacco and e-cigarettes also contribute significantly to the global build-up of plastic pollution, WHO warned.
Cigarette filters contain microplastics—the tiny fragments that have been detected in every ocean and even at the bottom of the world's deepest trench—and make up the second-highest form of plastic pollution worldwide, the report said.
Stressing that there is no evidence filters provide any proven health benefits over smoking non-filtered cigarettes, the UN agency urged policy makers worldwide to consider banning them.
The WHO also called for governments to immediately halt the some $500 billion in subsidies the tobacco industry receives each year, and also urged them to stop allowing taxpayers to foot the bill for cleaning up the industry's mess.
Each year, China for instance dishes out around $2.6 billion and India around $766 million, while Brazil and Germany pay some $200 million each to clean up littered tobacco products, the report found.
It is important, Krech said, that "the industry pay actually for the mess that they are creating."
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