pinknewsuk--2019-04-30--Iowa Republicans pass bill to cut off funding for trans peoples healthcare

Iowa Republicans pass bill to cut off funding for trans people’s healthcare

Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world  Iowa Republicans have launched an eleventh-hour plot to cut off funding for transgender people’s healthcare.  Republicans in the Iowa Senate launched a surprise attack on Friday (April 26), quietly slipping in an amendment to a crucial healthcare funding bill taking aim at transgender people.  The amendment, penned by Senator Mark Costello, carves a broad exemption into non-discrimination healthcare laws, stipulating that civil rights measures “shall not require any state or local government unit or tax-supported district to provide for sex reassignment surgery or any other cosmetic, reconstructive, or plastic surgery procedure related to transsexualism, hermaphroditism, gender identity disorder, or body dysmorphic disorder.”  LGBT+ rights campaigners say the provisions are a “deliberate and brazen attempt to quietly rollback the rights of transgender Iowans,” handing officials the power to indefinitely block transgender healthcare provisions.  The bill had already cleared the Iowa House before the amendment was slipped in, meaning the funding bill has been cleared to head to to the desk of Governor Kim Reynolds despite calls for a vote in the lower chamber on stripping the amendment.  ACLU of Iowa executive director Mark Stringer said: “The amendment to the Health and Human Services budget bill is dangerous and harmful. It risks people’s health and lives to score political points.  “Banning Medicaid coverage for gender-affirming surgery would bring significant harm to people who rely on Medicaid and who desperately need this surgery. This is a matter of life and death.  “This cruel amendment has no basis in medicine or science. Every major medical association agrees gender dysphoria is a serious medical condition and that surgical treatment is medically necessary for some transgender people.  “That includes the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Association of Social Workers, and the World Professional Association of Transgender Health (WPATH).  “It is a clear violation of equal protection under the Iowa Constitution because it would discriminate against people simply because they are transgender.”  The bill also seeks to block sex education funding from going to Planned Parenthood, which Stringer warns would “be extremely detrimental for our state and would likely reduce the progress that has been made in reducing the teenage pregnancy rate, among other positive gains in sex education.”  JoDee Winterhof of Human Rights Campaign added: “As a native Iowan, it’s disturbing to see lawmakers in my home state trying to roll back the clock on progress and discriminating against transgender people at the eleventh legislative hour.  “These lawmakers should be focusing on ways to improve the health and wellbeing of all Iowans, not targeting transgender people to win cheap political points.  Reynolds, a Republican, is yet to say whether she will sign the bill.  In a statement to KCCI, a spokesperson said: “The governor appreciates and will consider all feedback from Iowans on the various pieces of legislation that is now on her desk.  “In the coming weeks, she will review each bill with her policy team and then make a decision.”  Earlier this month, gay presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg was met by anti-gay protesters in Iowa who chanted homophobic messages at him.


pinknewsuk--2019-05-04--Iowa governor signs law limiting funds for trans and intersex healthcare

Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world  Iowa governor Kim Reynolds signed a law that will limit public funds for trans and intersex healthcare.  Iowa Republicans introduced a last-minute amendment to the Iowa Department of Human Services (DHS) budget bill on April 26 in an effort to carve a broad exemption into non-discrimination healthcare laws.  The amendment to the law signed by Governor Reynolds on Friday (May 3) stipulate that civil rights measures “shall not require any state or local government unit or tax-supported district to provide for sex reassignment surgery or any other cosmetic, reconstructive, or plastic surgery procedure related to transsexualism, hermaphroditism, gender identity disorder, or body dysmorphic disorder.”  As such, those procedures will no longer be funded under public programs such as Medicaid. The amendment directly undermines a March ruling by Iowa’s Supreme Court, which stated that the state’s Civil Rights Act protects transgender Iowans from discrimination based on gender identity, including in the provision of services via Medicaid.  The law comes into effect the moment the governor signs it. LGBT+ campaigners have condemned the legislation and Governor Reynolds’ decision to sign it.  “It’s deeply disappointing that Gov. Kim Reynolds is caving to the pressure from some radical lawmakers in the Iowa Senate, instead of protecting the rights and dignity of transgender Iowans,” said JoDee Winterhof, senior vice president of policy and political affairs at the Human Rights Campaign.  Winterhof added: “Gov. Reynolds had the option to line-item veto this provision and leave the rest of the funding bill intact, but she did not. This sends a strong message that she is not working for all of her constituents and a craven desire to please Iowa’s most extreme lawmakers. As a native Iowan, Iowa deserves better—and different—leaders.”  LGBT+ rights group One Iowa also condemned the governor’s decisions in a statement on Friday.  “We are deeply disappointed that Gov. Reynolds has ignored medical experts, Iowa business leaders, cost analysis data, and the many transgender Iowans and allies who shared their stories with her to sign this bill into law,” the statement read.  It added: “By signing this cruel legislation into law, Gov. Reynolds has told every transgender Iowan that they are second-hand citizens and unwelcome in our state. Make no mistake, this law threatens people’s lives. Today is a shameful day to be an Iowan.”


politico--2019-01-07--POLITICOHarvard poll Many Democrats back a taxpayer-funded health care plan like Medicare for All

POLITICO/Harvard poll: Many Democrats back a taxpayer-funded health care plan like Medicare for All

More than 4 in 5 Democrats want Congress to enact a taxpayer-funded, national health care plan such as Medicare for All, according to a new Harvard/POLITICO poll gauging the public’s health and education priorities for 2019.  Some 42 percent of Democratic respondents to the poll supported repealing and replacing Obamacare — mostly in the interest of building on the health law's coverage gains and creating a new system so that more Americans have health insurance.  While support for a national, taxpayer-funded plan is concentrated on the Democratic side, 60 percent of Republican respondents backed allowing Americans under 65 to buy into Medicare (71 percent of respondents overall supported the idea, and 83 percent of Democrats).  “What Republicans are saying is, ‘Sure, I think we should have another option,’” said Robert Blendon, a professor of health policy and political analysis at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health who helped design the poll with POLITICO. “In the mind of the person answering it, they're hearing choice. And that's not Medicare for All, which everybody in America has the same card.”  Meanwhile, 65 percent of respondents (70 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans) support a public health insurance option that would compete with private payers. The proposal divided Democrats during the bitter debate leading to passage of the 2010 health care law.  The poll showed most people weren't aware of a Medicare buy-in or public option but were broadly supportive of the ideas when informed about them.  The poll identified efforts to curb prescription drug prices as an area of potential bipartisan compromise this year. Addressing the cost of medicines ranked as respondents' top priority for the new Congress, with 92 percent saying doing so is extremely important (94 percent of Democrats and 89 percent of Republicans).  The two parties were also in overwhelming agreement that lawmakers should make sure insurance companies provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions — a message that Democrats capitalized on in the midterm elections. And the vast majority of Democrats (93 percent) and Republicans (78 percent) also don’t want Congress to cut Medicare benefits.  “Some of the caucuses in the Republican House have made cutting back on Medicare their budgetary strategy for deficits,” Blendon said. “An important finding here is that in a world where Medicare was not really a big issue in this election, how important Republicans feel about not cutting benefits in Medicare.”  The poll found the public is largely unaware there's no longer a penalty for not obtaining health insurance. Only 36 percent of respondents were aware that congressional Republicans used their tax bill to gut the ACA's individual mandate.  The effect of that change on Obamacare enrollment remains unclear. Sign-ups on the federal health exchange saw a modest 3.4 percent dip this year. But Blendon said it’s too soon to tell what the elimination of the penalty does to enrollment, since most consumers don’t know it’s gone.  On education policy, the poll found bipartisan majorities strongly supporting efforts to reduce student debt and increase spending on K-12 public education.  Republicans ranked making it easier for students to attend charter or private schools a higher priority than Democrats, who were more supportive of increased spending on community college.  The poll surveyed 1,013 adults between Dec. 11-16. The margin of error is between plus or minus 3.7 and 5.2 percentage points.


politico--2019-01-27--Newsom makes health care the centerpiece of Californias resistance to Trump

Newsom makes health care the centerpiece of California’s resistance to Trump

For California under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the resistance to President Donald Trump is about health care.  Much as his predecessor Jerry Brown made climate change the state’s big challenge to Trump, Newsom has embarked on a health agenda that includes extending care to undocumented adults and direct government negotiation of drug prices.  Unlike the other potential and announced 2020 candidates pushing universal health care, Newsom isn't just talking theoretically, so there’s much more at risk. If his innovations in expanding Obamacare, extending Medicaid to undocumented immigrants — itself a jab at Trump’s hard-line immigration policies — and negotiating lower drug prices work, he could emerge as a hero of the Democratic Party. His policies could be templates for candidates pushing ahead on universal health care — an aspiration shared by Democrats even if they are still divided on what specific policies to pursue and how quickly to pursue them.  “In his first day in office, Gov. Newsom established himself as a major force on health care among Democrats and in the states, and that was never true of Gov. Brown,” said Larry Levitt, a senior vice president at the Kaiser Family Foundation.  But the strategy carries a lot of peril. The push to extend care will cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars and could stress health systems by attracting more undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Newsom’s reluctance to make single-payer health care his top priority after campaigning on it could antagonize the political left, including the California Nurses Association, which has thwarted past health legislation it deemed too timid.  The emerging 2020 Democratic field — and governors of other states — will be watching.  "He’s among the first to try to do some of these things," Chris Jennings, who served as a health policy adviser in both the Clinton and Obama administrations said. Even though California's size offers more resources and leverage, "many of the policies he's pursuing can be replicated through individual states or collaborations, and a number of states are starting to think about those things."  Newsom at his Jan. 7 inauguration announced he wants California to be the first state to extend Medicaid coverage to undocumented adults, building on Brown’s 2016 move to cover undocumented children. Newsom also wants to install an Obamacare-style individual mandate, which Congress effectively wiped out nationwide in the 2017 tax law. And he wants the state to harness its buying power to bring down drug prices by creating the largest direct purchaser of prescription drugs in the country.  The 51-year-old former San Francisco mayor and lieutenant governor is tapping into an issue that resonates with Californians. A new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation and the California Health Care Foundation found 45 percent of residents surveyed ranked making health care more affordable as “extremely important” — just behind education and ahead of affordable housing as priorities for the governor and Legislature.  Newsom isn’t the first California governor to elevate the issue. A decade ago, Arnold Schwarzenegger launched an ambitious bipartisan effort to reshape the state’s health system based on a model pioneered by Massachusetts that later became the basis of the Affordable Care Act. It crashed after encountering resistance from single-payer advocates on the left who didn’t think it went far enough and conservatives.  Newsom’s Medicaid expansion, which will cost the state about $260 million a year, has already prompted pushback from Republicans in Congress, where a group of senators led by Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has introduced legislation that would strip a portion of California's federal Medicaid funding if it's determined federal dollars were paying for Medi-Cal services for undocumented adults. But California says that’s moot because it’s using its own funds — which also means it doesn’t require the Trump administration’s approval.  Though the response to Newsom’s plan within the state has been more positive, with interest groups eager not to antagonize the new administration, Republican state legislators have questioned the long-term cost of such an open-ended entitlement expansion — and the wisdom of wading into a high-profile immigration debate.  State Sen. John Moorlach, a Republican from Orange County who was born in the Netherlands, said after Newsom unveiled his budget that he’s troubled the Medi-Cal expansion might benefit those “who didn’t come through the front door like my folks and I did.”  “I’m just concerned with how do we pay for it, how does it work and is it fair.” he said.  The governor’s in-your-face start is “vintage Newsom,” according to Ben Tulchin, a Democratic strategist and pollster, who called it a “clear push-off on the Trump administration’s priorities on taking people’s health care away from them and taking on immigrants.”  Tulchin said Newsom, who implemented San Francisco’s landmark universal health access program while he was mayor and issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples just weeks after he was inaugurated, has a “much stronger track record on social services and caring for people" than Brown, who blocked a number of costly health care initiatives in his last years in office, including legislation to enact a single-payer health system. "It’s how he campaigned and is coming through in how he’s governing.”  "It's almost impossible to do anything in health care and not ruffle feathers,” added Kaiser's Levitt. “The governor is walking quite a tightrope so far successfully in not bringing on significant opposition.”  That could yet change.  Newsom's plan to lower drug prices by having the state negotiate with drug companies on behalf of all state agencies, as well as leverage the power of its Medicaid drug purchasing, is sure to draw strong industry opposition and possibly litigation. Many details still need to be fleshed out, such as whether the state needs a federal waiver to increase its negotiating might for drugs purchased through Medi-Cal.  Newsom also is proposing to reinstate the Obamacare mandate to buy insurance after Congress zeroed out the penalty for noncompliance. Vermont, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., have weighed similar moves, despite the lingering unpopularity of the penalty. In California's case, Newsom is wagering the requirement will prod more middle-class residents into the state's Obamacare exchange, Covered California. Penalties for noncompliance could help subsidize coverage for people with incomes that are 400 to 600 percent of the federal poverty level.  Peter Lee, head of Covered California, said Newsom’s announcement on the mandate demonstrated courage. “Penalties aren’t fun,” the state exchange director told POLITICO. “It really is an act of courage, which was one of the taglines of his campaign.”  Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, said the mandate shouldn’t be the only source of that funding. “Our ideal world is when nobody pays the individual mandate penalty because everybody is signing up for coverage,” he said.  Newsom is also likely to face continued pressure from the California Nurses Associations and other supporters of a "Medicare for all"-style system. Though he supports the concept, Newsom has adopted a go-slow approach that could yet antagonize supporters on the left who want it to remain a signature goal. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said California should pass single-payer legislation before the 2020 election, to establish a model if Democrats pull off a sweep and gain control of the White House and both houses of Congress.  David McCuan, a political analyst and professor at Sonoma State University, said Newsom’s early actions on health appear calculated to draw a contrast with Trump and the climate in Washington.  “It not only marks Newsom as a progressive champion," McCuan said, "it also sends a shot across the bow to Washington D.C."


politico--2019-04-01--Killing Obamacare kills Trumps health agenda too

Killing Obamacare kills Trump’s health agenda, too

President Donald Trump wants to eliminate HIV in the U.S., contain the opioid crisis and lower the cost of prescription drugs — but all of those need Obamacare to be successful. And Trump just promised to kill it.  His HIV plan relies on key pieces of Obamacare to expand access to prevention and treatment services for Americans at risk of contracting the deadly virus. Expanding opioid prevention relies heavily on Medicaid, which expanded under Obamacare. And Trump’s push to lower drug prices would use an innovation program that tests drug cost modeling — and was created by Obamacare.  So while the notion of killing Obamacare altogether arouses the GOP base, the reality is that the decade-old law is so intertwined with the entire U.S. health care system that repealing large chunks of it would destroy the ability to do things Trump actually likes.  Even members of Trump’s team have raised red flags. Outgoing FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said Thursday that overturning Obamacare could thwart an initiative to get cheaper forms of insulin on the market. Carl Schmid, an AIDS Institute leader and co-chair of Trump’s HIV advisory board, called the ACA decision “an unfortunate distraction from ending the HIV epidemic initiative.”  “He’s just completely consigning his own initiatives to the ash heap if the ACA goes down," said Sara Rosenbaum, a health law and policy expert at George Washington University. “It has become the fabric of the health care system.”  If the law is struck down in court, as the president is rooting for, an estimated 25 million people will lose coverage through private insurance and Medicaid expansion, and insurers will no longer be required to cover people with pre-existing conditions like HIV/AIDS.  The HIV and opioid crises are intertwined because HIV infections have increased with people sharing needles for injecting drugs. Any Obamacare changes that hurt one of those efforts will have serious ramifications for the other.  “Trump’s attempt to dismantle the ACA would critically undermine the goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the United States in the near term,” said Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan congressional HIV/AIDS caucus.  “It would be like pulling the chair out from under the initiative,” said Jen Kates, director of Global Health and HIV Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. In the days before Obamacare’s guarantees of coverage despite pre-existing conditions, people with HIV seeking individual insurance were denied 100 percent of the time, she said.  Advocates and lawmakers have similar concerns about the national response to the opioid crisis, which Trump declared a public health emergency in 2017, which Trump declared a public health emergency in 2017. The Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid covers about 1.2 million people getting mental health and addiction treatment, according to a study published in Health Affairs.  Finally, Trump’s plan to lower drug prices to what patients pay overseas depends on various parts of the ACA, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid’s Innovation Center — a vehicle for testing new payment models.  The president last week abruptly shifted his previous position and signaled support for a federal judge’s ruling that the ACA in its entirety should be thrown out, despite objections from his health secretary and attorney general. Obamacare’s fate is likely to once again be settled by the Supreme Court. Trump has promised something better in its place, but no one knows what that might be.  If Obamacare goes, prevention services and screening requirements provided under the ACA’s essential health benefits would be eliminated. This would occur as Obamacare was expected to soon require that PrEP, a drug that can prevent new HIV infections, be made available for free in all health insurance plans.  Without those protections, fewer people could be diagnosed and get care — directly undermining a key goal of the Trump administration’s HIV strategy: to detect infections and treat people more quickly to avoid spread of the disease. Recent CDC data shows about eight in 10 new infections are transmitted by people who don’t know they’re infected.  Public health experts are deeply concerned by any potential rollback in services, particularly in Medicaid, which covers more than 40 percent of all people living with HIV, according to data from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion is credited with increasing coverage of people with HIV — which jumped from 36 percent in 2012 to 42 percent in 2014 and has probably grown since many more states have bolstered their Medicaid rolls.  The Trump HIV plan doesn’t count on states expanding Medicaid, but “they were also not expecting a state to lose access to Medicaid expansion as a result of a court case,” said Bill McColl, AIDS United’s vice president of advocacy and policy.  To make its HIV plan work, the Trump administration planned to rely on non-profit health clinics and hospitals that receive steep discounts on drugs. Obamacare expanded this program, known as 340B, to rural, critical access and community hospitals. That drug savings money is credited with keeping many of these facilities open and alleviating some of the burden on health centers that treat uninsured and low-income HIV patients.  If financially strapped rural hospitals lose their 340B status due to the elimination of Obamacare, it will place a huge burden on other places that treat HIV patients, like the Ryan White Clinics, said Peggy Tighe, the lead lobbyist for Ryan White Clinics for 340B Access.  The cuts to 340B would also hurt anti-addiction treatment because some of the patients treated for HIV infections in rural hospitals and clinics are also opioid users, Tighe said.  More than 170 hospitals were added to the drug discount program thanks to Obamacare in the seven states the Trump administration's HIV plan targets, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration. About 1,000 rural hospitals throughout the country joined the program, according to 340B Health, which lobbies for these health care facilities.  By eliminating Medicaid expansion, reversing the ACA would make Trump’s plan to eliminate HIV vastly more expensive, “although still a worthy goal,” Schmid said.  The billions Congress has appropriated to expand opioid treatment services would be undermined without the health care law’s coverage and consumer protections, such as the requirement that insurers cover addiction care the same way they cover other medical services.  “You cannot strengthen a response to these problems if your foundation is weak,” said Andrew Kessler, founder and principal at Slingshot Solutions.  When it comes to drug prices, ending Obamacare immediately would raise costs for seniors and state governments, while other Americans might see their drug coverage disappear entirely thanks to the loss of the ACA’s mandate that all health plans cover prescription medications.  Seniors would likely spend around $2,000 or more in out-of-pocket drug costs each year without Obamacare, estimates Juliette Cubanski, Kaiser Family Foundation’s associate director of Medicare policy. That’s because the ACA requires drugmakers to provide big discounts to seniors in the coverage gap phase of Medicare Part D. And states would no longer be entitled to the larger discounts on drugs provided to Medicaid programs under Obamacare.  Meanwhile, Trump administration efforts to get cheaper medicines to market could falter. Obamacare created the biosimilar pathway, a way for companies to bring cheaper versions of some of the most costly and complex biologic medicines to market.  Eliminating the biosimilar pathway could cripple efforts to get cheaper versions of insulin to patients. Starting in 2020, insulin will be regulated as a biologic, finally giving companies seeking to make cheaper copycats a way to get a product approved that could be automatically substituted for branded insulin, whose cost has been rising.  Gottlieb, who as FDA chief has made biosimilars a priority, acknowledged at a Senate Appropriations hearing Thursday that if Obamacare is overturned it would thwart FDA’s plan to increase access to them.  “It’s a very important pathway and we fully support it, obviously,” Gottlieb said in response to questions from Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont). “We think it has been profoundly impactful with consumers.”  Other Trump plans to lower the cost of medicines also would be stymied, like the president’s idea to test aligning Medicare payments for pricey doctor-administered drugs to the lower costs paid by other wealthy nations.  This and other similar demonstrations can’t be done without Obamacare's Innovation Center, which gives the government broad powers to test new health policies without congressional approval.


ipolitics--2019-05-28--Renting vacant space at RCMP NS headquarters to cost 161400 annually Casey

Renting vacant space at RCMP NS headquarters to cost $161,400 annually: Casey

The federal government is losing out on over $160,000 each year because prime office space in the headquarters of the Nova Scotia RCMP remains vacant, says Liberal MP Bill Casey.  The Nova Scotia MP shared with iPolitics parts of a redacted copy of the 2017 internal RCMP feasibility study on relocating its emergency communications centre for Nova Scotia from Truro to its headquarters in Dartmouth that he received through an access-to-information request.  One page in the report analyzing the “status quo” arrangement states that if the 306 square metres of excess space in the building remains unused, the Nova Scotia RCMP will have to reimburse the lost rental costs to Public Services and Procurement Canada — the landlord for federal properties. Based on current rental rates, this would cost the police force $161,400 annually over 10 years, which would collectively total over $1.6 million, according to the report.  In a letter sent last week to RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki, Casey asked why the police force was considering maintaining the excess space for the next decade instead of seeking out other federal tenants.  “Why would the RCMP have a plan to continue to rent this empty space for 10 more years at an additional cost of 1.6 million dollars?” Casey wrote in the letter, which he shared with iPolitics.  “None of this makes sense to me and I look forward to your explanations,” he wrote.  Casey, whose riding includes Truro, has been a vocal opponent of relocating the communications centre, arguing it creates unnecessary safety risks as it would place the two largest police emergency communications systems in Nova Scotia within a few blocks of each other.  Dartmouth is already home to the emergency call centre for the Halifax Regional Police.  An outside examination of the relocation was announced last week after Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale asked the RCMP to examine Casey’s concerns.  In a Facebook post earlier this year, Casey said he was told by some RCMP officers that the facility was being moved largely to fill vacant space in the public works building that houses the police force’s provincial headquarters.  The RCMP is paying rent for the entire building, despite it being larger than is needed, Casey said, and moved the centre to prevent other departments or agencies, namely the Fisheries Department, from assuming the space.  The Nova Scotia RCMP confirmed to iPolitics that it currently plans to house the relocated communications centre — starting in 2021 — in vacant space at its headquarters, saying it will allow for an “optimal space layout and accommodation” of all current employees, managers and administrative staff.  The police agency also said it has a “responsibility to maximize the use of our space at headquarters.”  Casey, though, has said multiple reports from emergency planning bodies warn against closely concentrating sensitive police communication services, with the two centres responsible for fielding 96 per cent of emergency calls in the province. If the communication facilities are brought closer together and simultaneously knocked out, he warned that ambulance, fire and 911 calls, as well as police dispatches, will go quiet for all of Nova Scotia.  The Nova Scotia RCMP said the police agency undertook an “extensive study” of the Truro communications centre, and the decision to relocate the facility to Dartmouth came after considering “employee health and wellness, operational requirements and fiscal responsibility now and into the future.”  Other local politicians in Truro are joining Casey’s call to halt the planned relocation, including the town’s provincial representative and a military veteran seeking to replace Casey as the federal Liberal candidate in his central Nova Scotia riding in 2019.  Truro NDP MLA Lenore Zann publicly released a letter Friday she wrote to Goodale and Lucki asking for the relocation to be suspended pending the results of the probe ordered by the minister.  She said she observed “several substantial errors in the data” in the 2017 RCMP feasibility report that led her to believe its conclusion to support moving the centre to Dartmouth “appears to be based on incorrect information.”  “If the correct data had been applied it is my belief that a completely different conclusion would have been reached,” she wrote.  Jim Hardiman, a retired colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces seeking the Liberal nomination in Cumberland-Colchester, released a letter he wrote to Lucki outlining his concerns with the proposed relocation.  A former senior operations officer for Canada’s military mission to Afghanistan, Hardiman echoed Casey’s concerns about clustering sensitive communication infrastructure and Halifax hosting nuclear powered vessels, also stressing that the city’s coastal location made it more vulnerable to serious storms.  “It is my opinion that the proposed move from Truro to Burnside is poorly considered,” he wrote, referencing the community in Dartmouth where the RCMP headquarters is located.  *This story has been updated to clarify how the outside examination of the planned relocation came to be.

disaster, accident and emergency incident


sputnik--2019-09-07--Dorian Theres No Universal Model That Can Predict Category or Impact of Hurricane Former UN Expe

Dorian: There's No Universal Model That Can Predict Category or Impact of Hurricane – Former UN Expert

On 5 September, Hurricane Dorian brought heavy rains, strong winds and tornadoes to the Carolina coast leaving more than 200,000 people without power. Despite being downgraded to Category 2 on Thursday morning it was still dangerous, resulting in the closure of airports and harbours in the region.  But as Dorian slowly loses steam the question arises as to how early one can predict a natural disaster and its direction.  "A catastrophe arising from natural causes is a 'declared disaster' based on number of deaths and a declaration by a state and/or federal authority," says Dr Waheed Uddin, a professor, consultant, and former UN expert. "In the case of Hurricane Dorian in this first week of September 2019 on the south Atlantic coast of the US, disasters have been declared for all counties of Florida and affected counties in other states by the respective State Governors and the White House."  "NASA/NOAA satellites series GOES are used to scan the tropical storm and monitor the hurricane path in real time helping to predict the trajectory path and its impact zone" which helps "the state and local authorities to provide adequate warning to the affected population, mobilise emergency personnel, and execute emergency management plans," Uddin said.  But he added that "there is no universal weather or climate model that can predict precisely what category of tropical storm or hurricane will impact when and it's precisely location of landfall."  Peter Gleick, an American scientist working on issues related to the environment, says that "scientists are getting better and better are forecasting and seeing hurricanes in advance."  "Each year, an estimate of how many hurricanes may form in the Pacific is issued, and our satellites and other remote sensing now sees tropical storms and hurricanes form very early, given more and more advanced warning to areas threatened," Gleick says. "There is still, and will always be some uncertainty about strength, speed, and direction of hurricanes, but emergency planning for them has greatly improved in recent years."  As of July 2019, there have been six weather and climate disaster events which each cost the US over $1 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). In 2018 the cost of US disasters amounted to $91 billion with only 2017, 2005 and 2012 being more expensive.  In 2017, the total economic loss from hurricanes Harvey and Irma reached $125 billion, while in 2012 Hurricane Sandy and 2005 Hurricane Katrina exceeded $100 billion each.  According to Uddin, 47% of the billion-dollar declared disasters in the US are caused by floods and coastal hurricanes. Citing the FEMA database of declared national emergencies in the US from 1953 to 2016 the professor notes that a total of 2,198 national emergencies were declared including:  Natural disasters usually have a dramatic human and economic impact resulting in multi-million dollar losses: so far, Dorian has claimed the lives of 30 people and could cost the Bahamas $7 billion in insured and uninsured losses, as Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing catastrophe insurance specialist Karen Clark & Co. According to the National Hurricane Center, Dorian has become "the strongest Atlantic hurricane landfall on record with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane".  "This tragic event reminds us to question that where should be the priorities for international disaster aid," said Uddin. "One of the United Nation’s priorities is for year 2100 climate change speculations of carbon dioxide induced global warming hypothesis that has not been proven by physical evidence."  According to Uddin, the UN-operated Green Climate Fund bank should provide $500 million from its "climate fund" to help communities in the Bahamas and build disaster resilient infrastructure assets.  American scientist Peter Gleick holds a different view, and believes that the best way to address the natural disaster issue and cope with losses is to act proactively and focus on the climate change problem.  "The smartest investment is to reduce the risk of disasters, rather than to have to respond to them after they happen," says Gleick. "This is 'prevention' rather than 'response'. For example, we must slow the rate of climate change, or extreme events will become stronger and more frequent. The costs of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases are far less than the cost of failing to do so and paying for the consequences."  In June 2019, the US Congress passed a disaster relief bill envisioning the provision of more than $19 billion to US regions that had been hit by natural disasters. However, judging by the record of previous disaster events in the country in years 2018, 2017, 2012 and 2005 the sum seems likely to be insufficient.  "Congress regularly passes disaster relief bills and when disaster costs rise above them, they sometimes pass additional bills to provide more funds," said Peter Gleick.  Uddin echoes Gleick by saying that "the Congress can process a special supplementary aid bill like in the case of the 2017 Hurricane Maria disaster of Puerto Rico."  Gleick is warning that "the costs of disasters are growing," urging American politicians "to pay more attention to addressing climate change, extreme events, and the growing risks of human disasters." Uddin, meanwhile, has outlined a roadmap which, in his view, can help tackle the problem.  "To effectively utilise disaster resilience funding the following workflow is recommended for a specific region:  ·         Identify and prioritise the top two to three natural disaster risks based on the frequency of occurrences.  ·         Make simulation models and risk maps using the current topographic data and hazard forces.  ·         Prioritise specific locations and infrastructure assets which are more prone to disaster risks and design and harden the infrastructure for longer life".  Meanwhile, according to the National Hurricane Centre, Dorian isn't the only event that deserves monitoring given that three other disturbances are emerging in the Atlantic, including post-tropical cyclone Gabrielle, a disturbance off the coast of Africa that can morph into a cyclone within the next 48 hours and a potential cyclone near the Caribbean.  The views and opinions expressed by the speakers do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.


usatoday--2019-01-18--Shutdown panics domestic violence shelters despite temporary eleventh-hour reprieve

Shutdown panics domestic violence shelters despite temporary, eleventh-hour reprieve

Domestic violence shelters got an eleventh-hour reprieve Thursday as the Department of Justice announced its offices that distribute essential funding for victims' advocates would remain funded through March 1 despite the partial government shutdown.  Unease had given way to panic and exasperation at many shelters as the clock ticked down to when DOJ's Office of Justice Programs and Office on Violence Against Women were set to close Friday, and pre-approved funds that nonprofits count on would no longer be processed.  "People are freaked. They are so panicked," said Cindy Southworth, executive vice president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV). "The emotional rollercoaster is inhumane."  Though grants for 2019 have already been awarded to nonprofits that work with victims of domestic and sexual violence, recipients spend against those awards then submit reimbursement requests to the government on a monthly basis. If those funds are not processed on time, organizations can be left scrambling to finance payrolls, rent and utilities with private donations or local funding.  More: Security, immigration controls fray as impasse over Trump's wall stretches into its fourth week  More: White House tries to bypass Pelosi on shutdown talks, but moderate Democrats rebuff offer  "It's great to get a six-week reprieve. But that's not a budget," Southworth said. "Let’s get spending bills passed, and victim advocates back to survivor safety and not worrying about having to stay afloat."  For many in the field, the shutdown has kept directors up at night wondering how they will manage operations if federal funding falls through.  Donna Kelly, director of CEASE Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Shelter in eastern Tennessee, said in an emergency meeting Monday, she and the nonprofit's board decided to cut half the program's staff in order to prioritize keeping clients currently in the 26-bed shelter safe.  "Staff were alerted on Tuesday, with four days notice, that we'd be laying 17 people off," Kelly said. On Friday morning, Kelly received word that they'd continue to receive funds through February. "Layoffs will not happen on Monday, but the uncertainty is still there. Feels like we received a reprieve, but won't be able to continue without stress and worry until this is resolved."  CEASE, like many similar programs across the country, receives grants through acts including the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).  For weeks, grantees were told to submit payment requests by 6 a.m. on Jan. 18 before DOJ staffers who process payments would be furloughed. On Friday morning, the Office of Justice Program website (which, like all of DOJ's pages, is not being regularly updated during the shutdown), still contained a disclaimer that the office would not be operational after 5 p.m.  At 4:50 p.m. Thursday, minutes before their offices began to close for the day, grantees began receiving word that the offices would continue to be funded.  Wyn Hornbuckle, deputy director of DOJ's Office of Public Affairs, confirmed to USA TODAY Thursday that the offices would remain funded through March 1.  Rep. José Serrano (D-NY), chairman of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations Committee, said while DOJ has found a temporary way to continue funding these efforts, "they may still run out of funding as long as the shutdown continues."  “We need a full funding bill to make sure that funding doesn’t run out for important VAWA, VOCA and other grant programs intended to help and protect victims of domestic violence and crime.”  Shelter and program directors were able to exhale as the notice came through, but say the state of uncertainty is taking a toll on their ability to render life-saving services and on morale for already underpaid staff.  "Listening to some of the most courageous but also heartbreaking stories" is part of everyday work for shelter and hotline staff, she said. "Then the same heroes who do this work every day are being told ‘You’re going to be laid off Monday — no wait, you have six more weeks.' It’s the toll on the psyche that makes me angry."  Southworth says many organizations in NNEDV were looking to credit and loans as options to ride out a lapse in funds, but interest charges and late fees can't be paid with grants so organizations would have to eat those costs.  More: The most dangerous place for a woman? Her home, UN study shows  More: Five generations of domestic violence prompts campaign to break cycle for young women  "Advocates are squirreling away their private money, they're cutting anything extra like meals for victims or bus tokens," Southworth said. "And all the hours we’re spending emergency planning we're never going to get back."  Alice Skenandore, director of Wise Women Gathering Place in Green Bay, Wisconsin, says four of its 12 grants come directly from the federal government to help pay for the nonprofit's Native American culturally-specific services for all victims of violence, including current rent payments for five families. If those were to be held up, Skenandore says she was prepared to cover payroll for Wise Women’s 21 employees through mid-February using a combination of credit, other grants and possibly taking out a loan.  Turning Point, the only agency dedicated to services for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in Macomb County, Michigan, a part of metro Detroit, began voicing concerns about the impact of the ongoing shutdown earlier this month. CEO Sharman Davenport said the shelter was at capacity, and if promised federal funds aren't paid out, she's unsure how long they'll be able to pay for necessities like heat and electricity.  Larger organizations, like the Sojourner Family Peace Center, the largest provider in Wisconsin, typically have reserves that can help tide them over until reimbursements are cleared. But none are immune from the painful decisions of what programs would be axed in order to keep their most vital functions solvent.  "I’m having to be very clear on a day-to-day basis, and having to forecast what I’m going to have to do when. It's familiar territory, but this is at a different level, it's threatening to choke off really vital services," said Sojourner president and CEO Carmen Pitre. "It's pretty incredible pressure in an area where there was already extreme pressure."  Unlike Soujourn, CEASE has no reserves, and little opportunity in their rural pocket of Appalachia to independently raise $100,000 to make up for the federal funds they rely on as two-thirds of their monthly $150,000 budget.  “We never turn anyone away that’s in a safety-need situation, we may put people on a couch for a night or two, but we try not to ever turn them away," Kelly said. "That’s where it's going to be really, really hard.”  CEASE ran at slightly over capacity last year as demand for services has remained high. Sojourner also saw an increase in clients in 2018.  NNEDV, citing a 2013 report from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, says an average of three women are killed every day by a current or former intimate partner. Nearly 1 in 5 adult women and about 1 in 7 adult men report having experienced severe physical violence from an intimate partner in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  That dire need hasn't helped break the stalemate in Washington, where lawmakers let the Violence Against Women Act lapse as negotiations around the federal budget hit an impasse over Trump’s demand for $5.7 billion for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.  Proponents of VAWA rang the alarm in June, proposing an amended reauthorization, but it was caught up in partisan politics.  Advocates lament the loss of bipartisan support they've historically received. But say the hardest part of the political standstill has been the impact on staff.  “A lot of our staff live paycheck-to-paycheck, several are single mothers with multiple children that they’re taking care of. But just as hard as 'what are they going to do financially' is 'what are their clients are going to do without them?'” Kelly said. “I think that’s hitting them harder than their own loss. It’s the fear. We deal with life and death, and the clients that we work with depend on that advocacy. We literally could be putting peoples' lives in danger by not being easy to access.”  If you are experiencing violence or in need of help, you can chat with someone from the National Domestic Violence Hotline live at thehotline.org or if you are afraid your internet usage might be monitored, call them at 1−800−799−7233 or TTY 1−800−787−3224.


osce--2019-04-03--Humane return policy critical to well-functioning immigration system say OSCE parliamentarians in B

Humane return policy critical to well-functioning immigration system, say OSCE parliamentarians in Brussels

BRUSSELS, 3 April 2019 – The Return Policy of European Union Member States and Belgium’s practices in this area were the focus of a visit by members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Ad Hoc Committee on Migration to Brussels on Tuesday, led by Chair Nahima Lanjri (Belgium).  The delegation of parliamentarians stressed that both solidarity towards people in need of protection and the return of irregular migrants are key issues for a balanced and effective migration policy, and that return policies should be based on the principle ‘voluntary if possible, forced if necessary.’ With the proposals for a reformed EU Directive on Returns currently being debated in the European Council and the European Parliament, the delegation called for an emphasis on promoting alternatives to detention.  The delegation also stressed the importance of safeguarding the dignity and fundamental rights of all migrants, with special regard for vulnerable categories of migrants, especially children and families with minor children.  “Whether we are talking about ‘regular’ or ‘irregular’ migrants, accompanied or unaccompanied minors, refugees or asylum seekers, or any other category, we must remember that we are first and foremost talking about people and that the best interests of the child must always be given primary consideration. In any decision affecting children, including the implementation of return policies, it is vital that certain principles are upheld, such as the right to family unity and education.”  She stressed that unaccompanied minors should never be detained and children should be granted access to adequate education and, as far as possible, be allowed to finish the school year before being repatriated. In that context, she also drew attention to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, as it is celebrating its 30 years anniversary this year.  Lanjri also called for a more rigorous monitoring of forced returns to ensure that the principle of non-refoulement is not violated. Furthermore, she noted that voluntary returns should always be given preference, and preferably with prior preparatory groundwork through a social work approach. The experience of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also clearly points to increased sustainability of returns when reintegration assistance is provided. Indeed, she called for re-examining the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of returns which currently relies to a great extent on statistics on the number of persons returned without further follow-up.  Members expressed concern that the detention of children with families was now a reality both on paper and in practice in Belgium. Taking note of legislative changes in July 2018 and the construction of closed family units, they emphasized that these should be used only as a measure of last resort. Members also called for limits on periods of detention to be counted on a cumulative basis rather than on individual periods, in order to prevent abuse.  The first part of the programme consisted of briefings on the current status of discussions within the EU on how to make returns more effective as well as on the basic principles which should underpin return policies. The OSCE parliamentarians met with officials from the IOM, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and non-governmental organizations working with vulnerable children. The second component of the programme examined current practice in Belgium, seeking to identify lessons learned and examples of good practice.  In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Steenokkerzeel repatriation centre in the vicinity of Brussels airport which is an immigration detention centre which, since the summer of 2018 also includes a number of ‘family units’ intended for the detention of families with minor children.  For more information on the work of the OSCE PA's Ad Hoc Committee on Migration, please click here


21stcenturywire--2019-09-14--The Turkish Rap Attack Fighting the Status Quo with Loaded Words

The Turkish Rap Attack: Fighting the Status Quo with Loaded Words

It’s been said that art has the power to change the world, but does it have the power to reverse Turkey’s current Islamist trajectory?  The New Turkey is all but an Islamic state in the making, a modern country caught between a seductive yet escapist modernity and a strict yet prayerful authoritarianism, caught between pleasure and duty, as it were.  And somewhere in the middle is Turkey’s youth, busily participating in the digital world like their peers elsewhere while listening to Rap music and partaking of other licit and illicit pleasures . . . And, lest we forget, the majority of Turkey’s population of nearly 84 million at present is young, with the “median age . . . at 30.9 years . . . [and with] 27% ranging from 0 to 14 years of age,” and “12.97 million people aged 15-24,” according to the TÜİK (or the Turkish Statistical Institute) – that means that young Turks (aged between 0 and 24) make up about 40% of the country’s total population. And these young people are basically no different from young people elsewhere.  Last April, the unemployment figure in Turkey was at a staggering 14.7%, with the “youth unemployment rate [at] 20.3%,” or one fifth of Turkey’s youngsters are experiencing joblessness.  The TÜİK research furthermore indicated that “[m]ore than half of young people in the country (55.4%) said [nevertheless that] they were happy last year,” which also means that nearly half of Turkey’s young population last year experienced some kind of discomfort and felt that they were not reaching their full potential in the country. Arguably, prospects of impending joblessness, and resultant hopelessness leading to escapist stratagems involving video games, drug abuse, and other harmless and less innocent pastimes – factors that could very well transform these young Turks (arguably about 20% of the population) into rebels with a cause, particularly if we keep in mind that “[o]fficial figures . . .  showed that 93% of [the] young population had internet access in 2018,” opening the prospect of the nowadays much-vaunted and -feared ‘internet radicalisation.’  In contrast. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (or the Prez), the Islamist politician who has been leading his party (the Development and Justice Party or AKP) and the country into the current post-Kemalist century, seems happily oblivious of these young people and their proclivities. After all, Erdoğan belongs to a very different demographic – born in 1954, at present 65 years of age. Rather than thinking about integrating his country’s younger generations into a global network of young people and their hopes and cares, since 2012, he has been adamant about his desire to rear pious generations that will work and pray for the benefit their home country and their god (Allah). For that reason, the 19th National Education Council (or Şura), held in December 2013, issued a momentous 179 “recommendatory decisions,” in line with the Prez’s desire for future generations of pious Turks. These recommendations “included the introduction of religious courses into the curriculum of primary schools. Whereas, middle school pupils undergoing training to memorize the Quran (known as hafızlık in Turkish) would be able to leave school for the duration of two years but will still be allowed to sit exams. At the same time religious instruction in high schools will be doubled, while the teaching of the history of Turkey’s reforms and the principles of Kemalism in middle and high schools will be subjected to a critical revision more in line with a contemporary understanding and current needs. But the most spectacular ‘recommendation’ or decision was arguably to turn the instruction of the Ottoman language (Osmanlıca, in Turkish) into a compulsory course for vocational religious high schools as well as social science high schools.”  In January 2015, I put forward the notion that “these classes in the Ottoman language are more like a backdoor to learning the Arabic alphabet, which is a prerequisite for reading the Quran.” And that is indicative of the new Turkish status quo that has replaced the Kemalist version of secularism that kept Islam hidden from view yet alive and well behind the scenes.  In reality, these recommendations were all but following the facts on the ground, as already in 2012 religious or “Imam Hatip education was extended to middle schools for pupils aged 10 to 14,” as noted by Reuters‘ Daren Butler. The Turkish state had originally founded İmam Hatip Lyceums or High Schools to educate young men to be imams (or prayer leaders) and preachers. And according to statistics recently released by the Ministry of National Education (or Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, commonly acronymsed as MEB), a grand total of 3, 286 İmam Hatip Middle School are at present active in the country, of which 427 are İmam Hatip Lyceums or High Schools (İHL). In time, the Prez and his henchmen would arguably like to turn all educational establishments in the land into religious establishments. These educational policies are in stark contrast to those originally espoused during the Kemalist years, when “religion was banned altogether from the schools for fourteen years between 1935 and 1949,” as remarked by Marmara University’s Dr Aylin Akpınar.  On the other hand, the social scientist Turan Bilge Kuşcu conducted some research of his own into the matter of İmam Hatip Lyceums; and, his “results . . . show that 50% of parents indicated that they had chosen to send their children to “İHL” because of their desire for their children to receive a “religious education,” as published in the periodical Derin Maarif (or ‘Deep Education, ‘a name and word choice suggestive of the conservative and Islamic nature of its editorial line).  Around the world, today’s youth culture seems centred around the phenomenon known as Hip-hop.  As explained by National Geographic‘s Tom Pryor: “hip-hop culture has [currently] metastasized from its urban American roots into the global juggernaut it is today, [and]  that’s largely thanks to the insistent, irresistible appeal of rap.”  Nowadays, artists rap in English, in French, in Filipino, in any possible language, including Turkish. And last Friday, 6 September 2019, the Turkish public was exposed to a veritable rap attack targeting the nation’s youth (in the form of the rapper Ezhel‘s song/clip ‘Olay,’ released on YouTube), a musical assault on the status quo with the potential to rival the Friday Prayer (a weekly event that embodies and reinforces the status quo with governemnt-approved sermons).  Ezhel’s  ‘Olay’ is a musical release that caused a real storm in a tea cup (or maybe not) across Turkey’s computers and virtual landscapes. The Turkish writer and music critic Barış Akpolat queries whether the day will go down in history as the day a “revolution in Turkish Rap music” occurred . . . On Twitter, the University of California, Santa Cruz-PhD Candidate Kenan Sharpe stated that the “newest song by #Ezhel & crew is out. This bold music video features news clips/footage from the last 10-ish years of traumatic events in Turkish/world history. However you read the use of these images from our collective past, this video is certain to stir up discussion” (11:19 pm, 5 Sep 2019). The clip accompanying Ezhel’s track ‘Olay’ shows a wide variety of scenes of social unrest and protests in Turkey and across the wider world – visuals of the Ankara Massacre (10 October 2015), as well as of the 2013 Gezi protests and 2016‘s Coup-that-was-no-Coup, and many other instances of national and international outrage and unrest. Watch:  .   In fact, the previous day (Thursday, 5 September 2019), a collective of 17 Turkish rappers, under the wing of Şanışer, “one of the best rappers of the last years,” according to the ekşi sözlük user breuer, had released their own rap attack: “Rapper #Şanışer is causing a sensation in #Turkey with an epic video, #Susamam – “I can’t stay silent” – featuring more than a dozen other artists decrying injustices, environmental destruction, violence against women, inhumanity, and apolitical inaction,” as tweeted by the Istanbul-based journalist Jennifer Hattam (10:47 am. 6 Sep 2019). This nearly 15-minute epic rapfest includes a grand variety of words dealing with things and situations that are going wrong in the New Turkey. For instance, the female rapper Deniz Tekin deals with the issue of violence against women and sexual harassment, while Şanışer himself tackles the issue of street animals and animal rights, while others deal with topics like nature, the rule of law and justice (or the lack thereof in the country), education … All in all, #Susamam purports to be a real critique of the state of affairs in AKP-led Turkey, though never explicitly and definitely not openly referring to anything or anyone specific. And, as pointed out by Akpolat, conspicuous in its absence are LGBTİ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender/Transsexual and Intersexed) concerns and matters – asking rightfully, “[w]hich non-homosexual rapper could do justice to this topic with his/her words?” Watch:  The timing of both releases seems very deliberate, or maybe it is just the result of fortuitous marketting. Ezhel’s song was released on a Friday, and as is probably well-known by now, the last day of the West’s working week carries a exceptional status in the Muslim world: “On Fridays, Muslims gather for a special congregational prayer in the early afternoon, which is required of all Muslim men . . . It replaces the dhuhr prayer at noon [one of the five prayer sessions Muslims are meant to observe]. Directly before this prayer, worshipers listen to a lecture delivered by the Imam or another religious leader from the community,” as can be read on the educational website Learn Religions.  In Turkey, the Directorate of Religious Affairs (also known simply as Diyanet, in Turkish) has been taking care of these sermons since 1924, when Mustafa Kemal (later known as Atatürk, 1881-1938) abolished the Caliphate in conjunction with the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam (or Meşihat/Şeyhülislamlık, in Turkish), which also included Ministry of Pious Endowments. The Sheikh-ul-Islam had been responsible for all aspects of religious life in the Ottoman lands, given that Islam had been the official religion of the state. And following the establishment of the Republic of Turkey (1923), the Office of the Sheikh-ul-Islam was simply replaced by the Diyanet or Directorate of Religious Affairs (1924), as a branch of government attached to the office of the prime minister.  During the Kemalist period (1923-2002), the influence of the Diyanet was limited at best, and Friday Prayers were only sparsely attended. Particularly, as the day had become the end of the working week in 1935, with the “weekly holiday [commencing] from 1 p.m. Saturday until Monday morning,” centred around Sunday, as expressed by the eminent (yet Arab-hating) Islamic studies specialist Bernard Lewis (1916-2018). In January 2016, the official Turkish news agency Anadolu Ajansı released the following statement: in Ottoman times, “there was no defined weekend for officials living in the Ottoman Empire. The overall tendency was to have a day off on Fridays for Muslims, on Saturday for Jews and on Sunday for Christians — holy days for each religion.” In Kemalist Turkey, by contrast, and particularly, during the years of One-Party Rule (1923-59), “Islam was literally crowded out of the public sphere,” as worded by E. S. Çarmıklı. But in the New Turkey, led by the Prez and his AKP henchmen, Islam has made a not-so sudden comeback to the public sphere and private as well as political life, and “on 8 Jan 2016, to be precise, [then-Prime Minster Ahmed Davutoğlu] issued the Friday Prayer circular that allows male public servants to attend the obligatory Friday prayers (Salatul Jumu’ah) without interrupting their office hours (female believers are obviously exempt from fulfilling this religious duty, as it would lead to a mixing of the sexes at the mosque),” as I related in March 2016. Hence, Friday has again acquired sacred and sacrosanct properties amongst many Turks, with men now regularly and fastidiously attending Friday Prayers to listen to AKP-sanctioned sermons, delivered by their local Imams emanating from the Diyanet‘s Ankara offices.  As a result, public displays of personal piety have now become rather commonplace. And, many pious people thus tend to regard Thursday night equally sacred and sacrosanct, as it is but the preamble to Friday. As wordsmiths, clearly cognizant of what is happening all around, Ezhel and Şanışer released their visual and verbal assaults on the new status quo on symbolically charged days of the week  The reaction was not slow in coming: in the Islamist propaganda rag Yeni Şafak, the columnist Ali Saydam published his response to these sounds ostensibly challenging the nation’s faith and political system. Saydam starts off his piece by indicating that “this type of music,” referring to Rap and Hip hop, “emerged as a product of black subculture in the western world.”  And he continues that as a result, “characteristics of ‘protest’ constitute a large part of its identity.” He even utilises the term ‘counterculture’ in his argument, stating that in Scandinavian countries where the GNP is “high” and the “distribution of income balanced,” musical products of this nature do not find the same amount of “consumers” (or “buyers”) as in the United States, where “income injustice” is rife and social protests widespread. These insights lead Saydam to declare that Rap (and Hip hop music) is an “imported cultural artifact,” with its roots in “America’s Lumpenproletariat,” that as a natural consequence cannot fulfill an “oppositional function” in Turkey. Saydam literally declares that the “words used,” oftentimes “in broken Turkish, [and] sometimes in need of subtitles,” display a “mechanical understanding of protest,” and that, “in a way,” these songs therefore constitute “the most primitive dimension of protest.”  In contrast, nowadays Rap music and culture is highly popular in Turkey, particularly among young and younger Turks. In other words, as a whole the country appears to possess a large potential audience for Rap and Hip hop music. And as a result, Şanışer and Ezhel do have a large market for their message. In fact, various members of the opposition CHP (or Republican People’s Party), recently on a high as a result of Ekrem İmamoğlu’s entry to the offices of the İBB (or İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality) in İstanbul’s Saraçhane district, quickly realised the explosive potential harboured by the Rap songs: the social media account of the Şişli Municipality in İstanbul, as well as those handled by the municipalities of Datça, Borçka, and the city of Eskişehir shared the “epic video, #Susamam” with their followers. Even Eskişehir’s Mayor Yılmaz Büyükerşen and İstanbul district Maltepe’s mayor Ali Kılıç shared the track on their personal social media accounts. In contrast, the lawyer and AKP member Hamza Dağ took to Twitter to criticise the rappers and their songs, saying that “[a]rt should not be [used] as a vehicle for provocation and political manipulation,” adding that “we know very well how those who say #Susamam [“I can’t stay silent”] remained voiceless during Turkey’s most critical eras,” insinuating that opponents of AKP rule are people who have in the past welcomed military interventions, a slur oftentimes used in connection with the CHP and its members. As such, Dağ also posted a link to a video on the YouTube channel Gayri Resmi Hesap, showing an anonymous man vocally criticising the Rap song, its singers and listeners. In addition, the speaker on the YouTube video easily manages to insert the PKK into his monologue, insinuating that the Kurdish terror group is responsible for most of the violence and unrest in Turkey. On Sunday, 8 September, the propaganda rag Yeni Şafak directly targeted the rapper Şanışer, calling his track #Susamam a “joint PKK/FETÖ production,” using the two favourite slurs used by AKP henchmen to slander enemies and malign malcontents.  And now, Turkey’s television channels and internet broadcasters are busily discussing the songs and its contents, while the underlying message seems all but lost. Though the tracks are invigorating and stirring, the likelihood that these rappers will have an actual impact on the wider population of the New Turkey seems distant . . . Ezhel and Şanışer are all but preaching to the converted, Turkey’s voiceless urban youth mired in video games and 24-hour internet access – “this nation’s hopeless youth.”  The one-time Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, now famously infamous for supporting the guardian angel of the free press, Julian Assange, joined in the mood, tweeting Şanışer’s track to a much wider and non-Turkish audience.  The journalist Burak Abatay seems optimistic: “[i]n a place like Turkey, where the youth’s life has been taken out of its hands for the past 17 [AKP-led] years, such a young ‘thing’ like Rap’s flag of rebellion should be flying very high.” Abatay sees Rap as a “raised first” moving into the future “with hope.”  And, while it is true that the songs communicate a spirit of rebellion and youthful revolt, Ezhel and Şanışer hardly are the New Turkey’s Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious. Their words may be loaded with a strong message, but will these heavy words manage to penetrate the intolerable wall of silence surrounding the Prez and his AKP henchmen.  Still, as tweeted by Pamela Anderson, “[a]rtists can change the world – artists are #freedomfighters.”  Then justice died, and until it touched me,  I just shut up, became complicit  Now I think twice before I tweet  Find myself fearing my own country’s police  I’m sorry, your legacy is this nation’s hopeless youth  ***   21WIRE special contributor Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent historian and geo-political analyst who used to live in Istanbul. At present, he is in self-imposed exile from Turkey. He has  a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans, the greater Middle East, and the world beyond. He attended the VUB in Brussels and did his graduate work at the universities of Essex and Oxford. In Oxford, Erimtan was a member of Lady Margaret Hall and he obtained his doctorate in Modern History in 2002. His publications include the revisionist monograph “Ottomans Looking West?” as well as numerous scholarly articles. In Istanbul, Erimtan started publishing in Today’s Zaman and in Hürriyet Daily News. In the next instance, he became the Turkey Editor of the İstanbul Gazette. Subsequently, he commenced writing for RT Op-Edge, NEO, and finally, the 21st Century Wire. You can find him on Twitter at @theerimtanangle


aljazeera--2019-02-27--At Indian air raid site no casualties and a mysterious madrassa

At Indian air raid site, no casualties and a mysterious madrassa

Jaba, Pakistan - Indian air raids launched on Pakistani territory earlier this week destroyed parts of a mostly uninhabited forest and a farmer's field, witnesses and local officials told Al Jazeera, although mystery remains around a seminary run by armed group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) near the bombing site.  Four bombs hit a forest and a field in a remote area outside of the northern Pakistani town of Jaba, about 100km north of capital Islamabad, Al Jazeera found on a visit to the site on Wednesday.  Splintered pine trees and rocks were strewn across the blast craters, and there was no evidence of any infrastructure debris or casualties. Metal shrapnel from the bombs was visible at four distinct craters.  India claimed on Tuesday to have conducted air raids against a "Jaish-e-Mohammed training camp" in the area, saying "a very large number of JeM terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis who were being trained for [suicide] action were eliminated."  Pakistan denied that any casualties had occurred. On Wednesday, Pakistan's military said its aircraft launched air strikes on six locations on the India-administered territory in the disputed region of Kashmir.  Local hospital officials and several residents who rushed to the scene said they did not find any bodies or wounded people following the Indian attack, which took place at approximately 3am local time on Tuesday.  "I woke up at the sound of the first explosion, and ran out of bed," said Nooran Shah, 58, a farmer on whose land two of the bombs landed. "The second blast knocked the doors off my house."  When Shah went outside to investigate, he said, a piece of shrapnel or a stone struck him on the forehead, leaving a wound.  Syed Rehman Shah, 50, a neighbour, said he, too, ran outside his home when he heard the explosions.  "I heard four loud explosions, separated by a few seconds each," said Rehman Shah. "It felt like the day of judgement had come."  Shah said he saw "fire and smoke" when he exited his home, and ran to the aid of his neighbour.  Shah was unconscious on the ground with a wound to his forehead, Rehman Shah said. He was moved to safety and later taken to hospital. The walls of Shah’s home appeared cracked, with several holes where shrapnel appeared to have hit them.  "We are just farmers out here, we grow wheat and maize," said Rehman Shah. "Some people keep some livestock."  Following the air raids, India's foreign ministry said it had hit a training camp run by JeM founder Masood Azhar's brother-in-law, Yousuf Azhar.  Founded in 2000, JeM is an armed group that has launched several high-profile attacks against Indian security and government targets, mostly in the disputed region of Kashmir.  Most recently, JeM claimed a suicide attack that killed more than 42 Indian security forces personnel in the Indian-administered Kashmir town of Pulwama, triggering the latest crisis between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.  India accuses Pakistan of offering sanctuary to JeM and other armed groups. Following the Pulwama attack, a top Indian military commander said the country had evidence the attack had been "controlled" by Pakistani intelligence.  Pakistan denies the charge, and says it has been acting against JeM since it banned the group in 2002.  Less than a kilometre to the east of one of the bomb craters, atop a steep ridge, sits a seminary run by JeM, residents told Al Jazeera. A road sign located some distance away confirmed the location of the seminary, and that it was run by the armed group.  The sign for the Madrassa Taleem-ul-Quran lists Masood Azhar as its leader, and Muhammad Yousuf Azhar as its administrator.  Masood Azhar founded the JeM after he was released from Indian custody in exchange for more than 150 hostages after the hijacking of an Indian commercial airliner in 1999. He remains under US sanctions for JeM's alleged links with the Afghan Taliban.  Yousuf Azhar is wanted by India in connection with the 1999 hijacking.  Al Jazeera was unable to visit the site of the seminary.  Residents offered conflicting accounts of the facility's work, with some saying it only offered religious education for local school children, while others alleged it was a training camp for JeM fighters.  "The madrassa there, at the top of the mountain, that is a training camp for mujahideen [religious fighters]," said one resident, gesturing in the direction of the seminary. He spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the subject.  "Everyone here knows there is a Jaish camp there, at the madrassa," said another 31-year-old local resident, also on condition of anonymity. "It is an active training centre, they teach people how to fight there."  Others, however, disputed that claim.  "There is no camp here, and no terrorists either," said Mir Afzal Gulzar, who lives a few kilometres away from the bombing site.  "There was a mujahideen camp here, during the 1980s, but it is gone now," he said.  There is evidence to suggest the seminary was an active recruitment centre, if not training site, for JeM.  In April 2018, Abdul Rauf Asghar - a top JeM commander and Masood Azhar's brother - addressed a yearly religious gathering at the seminary, calling upon those present to join "jihad", or Islamic religious war, according to an article in JeM-affiliated publication al-Qalam.  "This institution is progressing every day in its aim of providing education, and instruction in religion and jihad," reads the article.  Speakers at the event praised the concept of fighting in the name of religion and "offered arguments against certain notions that have been spread against jihad", the article says.  A US Department of Defence memo dated January 31, 2004, leaked by Wikileaks in 2011, indicates the existence of "a [JeM] training camp that offers both basic and advanced terrorist training on explosives and artillery" located near Jaba's geographic location.  The memo detailed the case of Khalil Rehman Hafez, a Pakistani national and member of JeM, who was captured in Afghanistan while fighting US forces and transferred to the Guantanamo Bay prison. Hafez was released and repatriated to Pakistan in 2004.  Back at the bomb site in Jaba, the afternoon sun shines through a thick pine forest, as local residents gather at Nooran Shah's house. Some investigate the crater, under the watchful eye of Pakistani soldiers, while others pose for local news media cameras.  In the shadow of the cracked wall of Shah's house, a defiant group begins to yell patriotic slogans for the cameras.  Shah, a slight man clad in a blue shalwar kameez and still sporting a white bandage around his forehead, turns to face another interviewer.  Asad Hashim is Al Jazeera's digital correspondent in Pakistan. He tweets @AsadHashim


aljazeera--2019-03-30--Irans referendum and the transformation to an Islamic Republic

Iran's referendum, and the transformation to an Islamic Republic

Qom, Iran - The year was 1979. An Islamic revolution had just overthrown Iran's powerful US-backed king, and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was now in charge of what for centuries had been an ancient empire.  In the months after Khomeini seized power, Iran's revolutionaries began the difficult work of rebuilding government institutions using Islam as a roadmap.  The first major act of the new leaders was to hold a referendum. On March 30 and 31, the shaky leadership asked all Iranians over the age of 16 a simple yes or no question: should Iran be an Islamic Republic?  Looking back, it may seem strange to ask that of a country that had just experienced a successful Islamic revolution. But even though Mohammad Raza Pahlavi - the shah of Iran - was gone, Iranians remained divided about what they wanted the future to look like. At the time, the Islamic Republic of Iran was far from a foregone conclusion.  In one of his first speeches after returning from exile, before the revolution had taken hold, Khomeini seemed to know he would have to put his leadership claim to some kind of vote.  "I must tell you that Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, that evil traitor, has gone. He fled and plundered everything. He destroyed our country and filled our cemeteries. He ruined our country's economy," Khomeini said.  "I shall appoint my own government. I shall slap this government in the mouth. I shall determine the government with the backing of this nation, because this nation accepts me."  But even after Pahlavi's removal, revolutionaries were hit by infighting, the new government was still suppressing anti-revolution dissent in parts of the country, and just weeks before the referendum tens of thousands of women marched in the streets of Tehran to protest against a new mandatory veil law.  For Khomeini and his supporters, the referendum was a way to legitimise their rule. Nearly 99 percent of Iranians voted in favour of abandoning Iran's old constitution and using Islam as the blueprint to write a new one. The vote and its results were scrutinised by critics all over the world. But in December, Iranians voted again in favour of ratifying their new Islamic constitution.  Today, defenders of the Islamic system of government point to the referendum as a democratic mandate for Iran's current theocratic system.  It's one of the lesser known events of 1979, but the referendum was a pivotal moment that fused religion and politics, and transformed Iran's legislative landscape.  Iran's transformation from empire to Islamic Republic began in Khomeini's hometown of Qom in the 1960s. One too many fiery speeches admonishing the royal family forced him into exile in 1964. He spent 15 years away from home, much of it in another city of religious scholars - Najaf in Iraq. But that didn't stop him from criticising the shah of Iran for making concessions to Western powers that he saw as a violation of Iranian sovereignty.  He smuggled letters and bootleg cassette tapes into Iran, using an underground network of mosques and seminaries. His speeches, played in homes around the country, became the bedrock of the revolution to come.  Mahmoud Mohammadi Yazdi is the caretaker of Khomeini's family home in Qom. He was one of Khomeini's students and a young man at the time of the revolution. He was with him during his exile in Najaf and says Khomeini's primary motivation was to improve the lives of ordinary people.  "He was perfect in every way," Yazdi said. "Everyone liked him."  Khomeini's followers remain fiercely loyal. At his request, Yazdi risked his own life to return to Iran as part of a first wave of the revolution.  "We all accepted whatever he said," Yazdi said. "Two years before the revolution, he wanted someone to come to Iran [and] he said it is dangerous but there is no one to go but me. I told him if he is OK with it, I would go.  "I came here and I faced hardships, but it was not a big problem. I was arrested here in Qom and later I was released. But if [the authorities] knew why I was there, they would never have let me go. We believed what we were doing was the right thing. We all thought the same way; it was just for God and Imam [Khomeini]."  Khomeini was becoming much more than a champion for common people. His revolution changed him as much as it changed Iran, transforming him from dutiful cleric to monumental political figure. He may have considered his actions at the time to be a spiritual calling. But the wheels he set in motion decades ago made religion a right of passage for modern-day Iranian political life.  Getting anything done in the capital, Tehran, often means getting the blessing of clerics who oversee elected officials. In place for 40 years, this system has made Qom, Iran's religious heartland, one of the most important cities in the country.  "If before the revolution, very few young people were interested in entering [Islamic seminaries], today many youths that would have been educated in universities in the past are entering [Islamic seminaries]," said Seyyed Ali Mousavi, a professor in one of Qom's many religious institutions.  Before the Islamic Revolution, Mousavi said, religious scholars were primarily concerned with how Iranians conducted their spiritual lives. After 1979, their public role changed drastically.  "After the [1979 Islamic Revolution], other than their social role, clergies took on political roles," he said, adding, "not just in parliament, they even entered other branches of government. So, they became more influential.  "Today, the impact of seminaries and clergies on the social space of Iran, as well as politics, is greater than in the past. It has meant clergies have dual roles, and that both have been expanded. Firstly, in society and secondly in the ruling class."  For Iran's younger generations, religious study has become a precursor to any ambitions of government work. The city is filled with young men and women in their 20s, hoping to someday climb the political ladder in the capital.  One seminary student running between classes was clear in his assessment about the value of a religious education in modern-day Iranian politics.  "The most important issue in any society is its ideology," he said. "The ideology of Islam is the best and the clerics of Qom have the right ideology. So, because it is where the clerics are, Qom is Iran's most important city."


aljazeera--2019-05-21--Jokowi declared Indonesia president Prabowo readies challenge

Jokowi declared Indonesia president; Prabowo readies challenge

Jakarta, Indonesia - Losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto is to legally challenge the official result of Indonesia's election as hardline conservative groups threaten street protests after incumbent Joko Widodo was confirmed as the winner of last month's vote.  The Indonesian Election Commission announced the official results in the early hours of Tuesday morning, bringing forward by more than 24 hours an announcement that had been expected on Wednesday.  The commission's count showed Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, and his running mate, Ma'ruf Amin, had received 55.5 percent of the votes, compared with 44.5 percent for Prabowo and his running mate, Sandiago Uno. The results closely resemble the unofficial "quick count" results carried out by independent election observers on election day last month.  But the official witness from Prabowo's team refused to sign the statement of the official results, while campaign spokesman Danhil Anzar Simanjuntak told Al Jazeera that Prabowo's team did not accept the outcome.  "Officially, we are rejecting the results of the presidential election," Simanjuntak said on Tuesday morning. "Structural, systematic, massive and brutal fraud has taken place, and it has not been dealt with justly."  He declined to go into details about the alleged fraud.  Widodo won more than 85 million votes of the 154 million cast on April 17 in the world's third-largest democracy, the commission said. His party also emerged the winner in the parliamentary elections that took place at the same time.  Prabowo's side said initially they would not take legal action, but legal director Sufmi Dasco Ahmad told reporters on Tuesday that the team would take their case to the Constitutional Court.  Under electoral law, they have three days to lodge the complaint. Prabowo lost a similar challenge to the results after losing the previous presidential election in 2014.  Supporters of Prabowo have said they are planning to hold a rally on Wednesday outside the commission's office in the capital, Jakarta, to protest against the results. They have called themselves the Brotherhood of 212 Alumni, in reference to the December 2016 protests against Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, the first ethnic Chinese governor of Jakarta who was accused and later found guilty of blasphemy.  Members of the group include the Islamic Defenders' Front, known by its Indonesian initials as FPI.  During his campaign for the presidency, Prabowo, a former general who has been accused of human rights abuses, found significant support among conservative groups.  Accusations that Jokowi was not a true Muslim ran rampant. Hoaxes alleging that the president would remove religious education in schools, forbid the call to prayer and legalise extra-marital sex and same-sex marriage if returned to power appeared to resonate among voters in the world's largest Muslim-majority country, even though the claims were false.  "Their movement wants the public to think that Islamic leaders, or leaders supported by Islamic groups, will not win [in elections] because of the fraudulent practices of state actors and the incumbent president," said Titi Anggraini, the executive director of the Association of Elections and Democracy (Perludem). "They want to present themselves as wronged."  The election commission said there was no evidence of systematic cheating in the election, while independent observers have said the poll was free and fair.  In his first comments since the announcement of the official results, Jokowi tweeted his gratitude to those who had voted for him.  "Thank you for having faith in us and giving us a mandate," he wrote in Indonesian. "We will turn your trust into development programmes that are fair and equitable."  Jokowi later told reporters his government would be "the leaders and protectors of all Indonesians".  Dina Afrianty, a research fellow at La Trobe University Law School in Melbourne, said Prabowo's position appeared weak.  "The threat of protest appears genuine, but the call to object to the election result carries far less credibility than the 212 protests," she told Al Jazeera. "This continuing effort to mobilise people power seems to be running out of steam, and appears to be part of an increasingly desperate and hopeless campaign to impugn the election result."  In fact, major groups such as Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's two largest Muslim mass organisations, have distanced themselves from the protest calls.  "This is an important move by Muhammadiyah," Afrianty added. "Many of its members were previously sympathetic to the 212 [movement], and also broadly in the Prabowo camp. However, this time, Muhammadiyah's leadership has advised its members that respecting the election outcome is part of their obligation as Muslims to 'command right and forbid wrong'."  There was heightened security across Jakarta on Tuesday with a heavy police presence at the commission's offices and the National Monument, a popular gathering point for protests.  The Indonesian Police put out a warning over fears of attacks by an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) splinter cell known as Jamaah Anshurat Daulah (JAD). Foreign missions, including Australia and the United States of America, have issued safety warnings for Wednesday, citing heightened risks of "terrorism".  At least 30 individuals have already been arrested over the past week for allegedly planning an attack on the Elections Commission office, located in the heart of Jakarta's business district. The suspected attackers planned to use remote-detonated devices to cause mass casualties in the crowds, police said during a press conference on May 17.  Police announced that multiple pre-assembled explosives and additional bomb-making materials were found during raids. Among those arrested were seven people who had returned from Syria.  More than 40,000 police and military personnel are being deployed in the capital this week to protect the city from potential violence. The number includes thousands relocated from other parts of Indonesia.  Meanwhile, multiple Chinese-Indonesian women in Jakarta told Al Jazeera privately that they planned on staying at home on Wednesday for their own safety, amid fears of a repeat of 1998's violence during the fall of then-President Soeharto when minority Chinese-Indonesians were targeted by rioters.  Perludem's Anggraini believes that even if this week's protests are small in size compared to the 212 protests, which attracted millions of people, they must be seen as part of a larger movement.  "The May 22 protests have a long-term goal," she said. "It's a political investment in future electoral contests. There will be 269 regional elections in 2020, and another presidential election in 2024. Both will be incredibly competitive."