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By Jake Johnson
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Progressives in the U.S. Congress on Sunday urged the Biden administration to resist calls for an attack on Iran following the country's retaliation against Israel for the deadly bombing of Tehran's consulate in Syria earlier this month.
Minutes after clearing the gallery of people opposed to pro-gun legislation, the Senate passed a bill Tuesday allowing teachers to go armed at school.
The bill’s passage came a little more than a year after six people, including three 9-year-olds, were killed in a mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian facility in the Green Hills neighborhood of Nashville.
The mass shooting in late March 2023 brought cries for gun control and even a measure to close the autopsy records of children. But Covenant parents opposed the measure to let teachers be armed, which includes a requirement they go through 40 hours of yearly training, psychological evaluations, background checks and approval by the local law enforcement agency and school officials.
The House version is awaiting action after going through committees in April 2023.
About 45 minutes before the Senate vote, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally cleared the gallery as the public hissed, snapped fingers, then started hollering.
Most of the Covenant parents in the gallery opted to leave after the uproar in reaction to comments by Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari of Memphis, who pointed out, “A teacher is not allowed to put a rainbow flag on her desk, but she’s allowed to carry a gun.” She was referring to a House-passed bill restricting flags in schools.
Covenant parents were so shaken by the gallery’s clearing they needed time to gather their emotions afterward.
“As mothers, we’re very disappointed at how things went today, and we can absolutely do way better,” said Covenant parent Mary Joyce.
Yet Covenant mother Melissa Alexander said the group is continuing to have “productive conversations” with lawmakers in an effort to bolster students’ safety. She declined to say what measures the group is supporting.
“All we can do is keep showing up and sharing our stories,” Alexander said, noting she believes her child was spared in last year’s shooting because the teacher made sure students were quiet.
“It is really hard as a new mom to stand here and talk about a piece of legislation that puts my son’s life at risk,” Lamar said.
She noted that some senators had joked as troopers cleared the gallery, in what should have been a somber situation.
Senators turned down amendments that would have prohibited unlicensed staff from being armed at school and would have required de-escalation training.
Democrats argued that the bill could create a situation in which a teacher could shoot a student, whether accidentally or on purpose to break up a fight.
Criticism also centered on provisions in the bill that would keep parents from knowing whether their children’s teacher was carrying a gun. In addition, sheriff’s offices and school districts would be immune to lawsuits in cases of teacher-related shootings.
“What I’m worried about as a parent, I want my child’s teacher to stay with the children and not get involved with a counter-offensive,” state Sen. Jeff Yarbro, D-Nashville, said during debate.
Sen. Paul Bailey, the bill’s sponsor, countered that confidentiality would ensure that someone who wants to commit a school shooting wouldn’t know whether the school personnel they encounter are armed. He also said the training requirements should avert accidental shootings.
Sen. Ken Yager, a Kingston Republican who supported the bill, also argued that the measure is needed in rural areas where counties might have only two deputies on duty.
“We are not trying to shoot a student but trying to protect a student from an active shooter,” Yager said.
This article originally appeared in the Tennessee Lookout on April 10th, 2024.
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COLUMBIA — South Carolina lawmakers could make moves to diversify the state Supreme Court. Or it could become the only all-male, all-white high court in the nation through at least 2028, the next time an opening is expected.
Three female judges — including two women of color — are among six candidates vying to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Justice Don Beatty, the only Black justice on the state’s high court. The other three candidates are white men.
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed two bills Friday morning that would prohibit civilian oversight boards from investigating police misconduct and stop people from getting too close to first responders doing their jobs.
The governor received both bills (HB 601 and SB 184) on Wednesday and held the signing ceremony on Friday in the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office in St. Augustine. During the ceremony, DeSantis portrayed the bills as efforts to protect law enforcement officers from people who wanted to abuse them publicly.
“They’re not free to use law enforcement as political piñatas,” DeSantis said, referring to the civilian police oversight boards. “They’re not free to create false narratives. They’re not free to try to make it miserable to live or to work in uniform, and these things are highly political.”
In Florida, there are 21 such boards and half of them were formed since the protests over the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, according to a 2022 report. The boards are in cities including Miami, Tallahassee, Orlando, and Tampa.
Under HB 601, which will go into effect on July 1, the boards won’t be able to investigate complaints against law enforcement officers or correctional officers. Instead, sheriffs or chiefs of police will have the power to appoint overnight boards composed of three to seven members.
Equal Ground, a social justice organization aimed at protecting the rights of Black Floridians, bashed DeSantis’ approval of the bill.
“By banning independent citizen review boards, Gov. Ron DeSantis and legislators in Tallahassee are once again taking away the freedom of countless Floridians, whose voices are being silenced and whose safety is now at risk,” wrote Genesis Robinson, interim executive director of the group, in a statement.
He continued: “We know that civilian review boards are often the last line of defense for Black people to hold rogue law enforcement officials accountable for misconduct. Disbanding police review boards contradicts the ongoing efforts to reform policing practices and address systemic issues within law enforcement.”
But DeSantis and the main sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Wyman Duggan of Duval County, insisted that the law wouldn’t abolish the boards and that they could still discuss law enforcement policies.
“What they cannot do is use them as a vehicle to persecute our law enforcement officers, which to many of these organizations is the only utility that they think that organization has. So, when you hear people saying that these boards and commissions are being prohibited or abolished, that’s not true,” Duggan said during the bill signing.
However, the oversight boards can’t subpoena witnesses and documents, and none have any actual disciplinary power.
During the legislative session, HB 601 prompted a protest from activists infuriated with the move to strip civilian oversight boards of their power, of which the activists said the boards had little to begin with.
The other bill DeSantis signed Friday prohibits people from getting within 25 feet of a first responder “engaged in the lawful performance of a legal duty” if the first responder has warned the person to stay away. The infraction would be a misdemeanor. SB184 also garnered backlash from groups such as the First Amendment Foundation, which called the bill blatantly unconstitutional in a statement Thursday.
“We appreciate the importance of protecting first responders but are concerned that the bill prevents citizens from going near or filming first responders within 25 feet if told not to approach,” the First Amendment Foundation wrote. “This bill would undermine citizen journalists and could allow for undocumented police misconduct.”
This article originally appeared in the Florida Phoenix on April 12th, 2024.
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UNC-Chapel Hill is facing a federal complaint filed on behalf of students and faculty members who say the university has systematically discriminated against Palestinian students and their allies in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Palestine Legal filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Justice April 5, on behalf of graduate student Kylie Broderick and professor Elyse Crystall, a member and faculty advisor to Students for Justice in Palestine respectively. In a letter and 95-page collection of exhibits, the group outlines what it says is preferential treatment of Israeli students and their allies and targeting of pro-Palestine students and groups from the attack late last year, through campus protests around the conflict and continuing to the current day.
The group is asking for an investigation into discrimination that may violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The complaint is one of a number of such complaints Palestine Legal has filed on behalf of students and faculty involved in protests revolving around the most recent Hamas-Israel conflict. In the last few months the group has taken action against Emory University in Georgia, Columbia University in New York and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee.
In the complaint against UNC-Chapel Hill, the group said the discriminatory treatment began shortly after the October 7 Hamas attack.
“On October 10, 2023, the Dean of Students’ office sent an email to all current and former students whose birthplaces were listed ‘in or around Israel’ in UNC records to extend support and resources—including mental health counseling and academic accommodation,” wrote Zoha Khalili, senior staff attorney with Palestine Legal, in the letter. “According to students we have spoken with, several Palestinian students received this message because their birthplace was listed as Israel. No other Palestinian students reported receiving this message.
On October 12 and 13, the group wrote, then-Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Chief Diversity Officer Leah Cox met with members of North Carolina Hillel for two hours. They then sent follow-up letters to the campus saying “senseless acts of terror in Israel by Hamas are horrifying.”
University administration sent no similar messages acknowledging “the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians by the Israeli government,” the letter said. Similarly, the group said, the administration said there is “no place for antisemitism or prejudice on our campus” without similarly condemning racism against Muslims, which was also on display as the conflict took shape or offering the same support and resources to Palestinian students who were impacted.
“By reducing the issue to one that affects students based on their religious identities, the chancellor omitted the ways national origin also shapes how people, particularly Palestinians, are affected by the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians, irrespective of their religious affiliation or lack thereof,” the group wrote in its complaint.
In a written statement to Newsline Tuesday, a UNC-Chapel Hill spokesman said the university “has not been notified by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) about a complaint filed by or on behalf of Palestinian students.”
“We will cooperate fully with any requests for information from OCR,” the statement read. “And remain committed to promoting a safe and equitable environment to all members of the Carolina community that is free from harassment and discrimination.”
Objections to comments by UNC-Chapel Hill trustee
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University leaders and members of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees mischaracterized on-campus protests on the issue, the complaint alleges, singling out UNC-Chapel Hill Trustee Marty Kotis specifically.
Kotis, like all members of the board of trustees, are political appointees of the North Carolina General Assembly’s Republican majority. He is also a former member of the UNC System Board of Trustees, whose members are overwhelmingly conservative.
“Kotis said in an October 12 email referencing the campus rally for Palestine that had been held that day that ‘it’s been reported that some of the speeches today were given in Arabic and the need [sic] to translate those to ensure there were not calls for or threats of violence,'” the group wrote in its complaint.
The group cites similar emails expressing concern about the use of Arabic from Frederick E. Seller, vice president for Safety & Emergency Operations for the UNC System and former State Rep. Jon Hardister.
“The baseless association of the Arabic language with threats reflects longstanding anti-Arab and anti-Muslim tropes,” the group wrote in its complaint.
References to needing a “threat assessment” were particularly disturbing because students involved in the protest movement had reported receiving their own harassment and death threats online, the complaint reads.
Shortly after the cited email, Kotis called for the university to investigate Students for Justice in Palestine, to end any official university recognition and funding of the student group.
Speaking to Newsline Tuesday, Kotis reiterated his stance, citing the fact that the group recently disrupted a board of trustees meeting. Kotis said he wasn’t surprised to find himself cited in the group’s complaint.
“If I’m at odds with people who call America a colonizer nation or call for death to America, great,” Kotis said. “I’m happy to be at odds with a group that wants to wage a global intifada on American soil because I’m completely opposed to their ideology.”
This article originally appeared in the NC Newsline on April 10th, 2024.
Take a look at my brief bio about my writing life and on social media:
Facebook page: The Brooks Blackboard
Twitter: @_charlesbrooks
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Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday boosting penalties for retail theft, including sanctions for “porch pirates” who steal deliveries from outside people’s homes.
The governor’s office pointed to reports from retailers estimating losses as $112 billion during 2022, with hot spots in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.
By William Ford
A Senate panel recommended several changes Wednesday to resolve differences on separate juvenile justice reform bills that have been moving through the General Assembly.
The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee advanced House Bill 814 to the full Senate with a few provisions that coincide with the Senate version of the legislation — including that children ages 10 to 12 could be sent to juvenile court if charged for a third-degree sex offense, aggravated animal cruelty and certain firearm offenses.
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Louisiana legislative leaders are giving thought to withdrawing money from a state savings account to build and refurbish juvenile justice facilities around the state.
Rep. Julie Emerson, R-Carencro, filed legislation this week to allow lawmakers to withdraw up to $400 million from Louisiana’s Revenue Stabilization Trust Fund before July 1, 2025. Juvenile justice campuses would be prioritized if they tap into the money, said House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice, and state Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid."
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Peace and human rights advocates on Sunday renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an increase in lifesaving humanitarian aid for its starving people as the embattled enclave marked six months since the start of Israel's genocidal retaliation for the October 7 attacks.
Puerto Ricans protested Harris’ visit citing the ongoing US occupation of Puerto Rico and support to Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people
On Friday, March 22, Kamala Harris marked her first visit to Puerto Rico since becoming Vice President of the United States to attend a Democratic Party fundraiser, and was met with mass protests.
In an embarrassing gaff, Harris spent a moment clapping along to a protest song before quickly freezing up after an aide translated it for her. The lyrics called out the longtime US occupation of Puerto Rico: “We want to know, Kamala, what did you come here for? We want to know what you think of the colony.”
This was the Council’s first explicit call for an immediate ceasefire since Israel began a military offensive in the Gaza Strip following last October’s brutal attack by Hamas and other Palestinian groups against settlements in southern Israel, in which over 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.
Israel’s military operation has since reportedly claimed over 32,000 Palestinian lives, mostly women and children, displaced about 1.7 million and left massive destruction across the enclave.
The 15-member Security Council has failed in its four previous attempts to adopt a resolution on the Gaza crisis, most recently this past Friday, when permanent members China and Russia vetoed a proposal led by the United States (another permanent member, along with France and the UK rounding out the so-called ‘P-5’).
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation Wednesday that will prohibit cities and counties from allowing individuals and families to sleep and camp on public property.
“It will help maintain and ensure that Florida streets are clean and that Florida streets are safe for our residents,” DeSantis said at a press conference held at a Greek restaurant in South Miami Beach.
DeSantis once again emphasized that he does not want any community in Florida to resemble cities on America’s west coast that have had problems handling their homeless population in recent years, first and foremost San Francisco.
Yet less than half a decade later, political leaders from coast to coast are embracing a return to “tough-on-crime” policies, often undoing the changes of recent years.
In a letter, the Biden supporters—who according toThe New York Times include some six-figure donors—condemned the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on Israel while also arguing that Israeli military actions are not achieving the goals of eliminating the Palestinian group or freeing hostages.
Respective committees from each chamber must now review some of the differences in House Bill 814 and Senate Bill 744 such as when the legislation goes into effect, specific diversionary programs for children ages 10 to 12, and who would serve on a Commission on Juvenile Justice Reform and Emerging and Best Practices.
If lawmakers pass the legislation with what advocates call “regressive provisions,” then Gov. Wes Moore (D) should veto the bills when they come to his desk, the advocates said Thursday.
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Kenya has suspended a police deployment to Haiti to be part of a US- and UN-backed mission, shortly after the de facto prime minister and president of the Caribbean country, Ariel Henry, announced his decision to resign on March 11.
Abraham Korir Sing’Oei, the principal secretary of Kenya’s foreign ministry, stated on March 12 that the deployment would be “contingent on the ground situation, and the critical ground situation is that there has to be an authority that can be the basis for a police deployment, that enjoys constitutional authority in Haiti”.
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The following period saw a surge in violence by armed groups in Haiti, causing mass displacement especially in the capital of Port-au-Prince. Even as people in the country were taking to the streets to protest the government’s failure to respond to issues of poverty and insecurity, social and political movements in the country had repeatedly warned that the situation must not be used as a pretext for foreign intervention in the country.
Especially given the role that countries like the US had historically played in undermining Haiti’s sovereignty, through the 2004 coup and direct occupation, and the fact that much of the weapons being used by groups in the country had flown in from the US.
Meanwhile, the 2021 Montana Accord— a product of consultations among hundreds of civil society organizations, popular movements, political parties, and individuals to devise a solution out of the present crisis from within the country— was largely sidelined.
“We have to organize the elections, organize the bases to solve the problem of insecurity in the country and reorganize the judicial system. But the United States and other imperialist powers have blocked the [Montana] agreement because it also provides for the end of interference by foreign powers in Haiti,” Jean Waltés Bien-Aime, a journalist with Radio Resistencia and the Haitian Popular Press Agency, told Brasil de Fato.
In October 2022, Henry requested the international community for a “specialized armed force” to be deployed to the country, sparking protests in the country. In October 2023, the UN Security Council voted to authorize a “Multinational Security Support” (MSS) to Haiti, with abstentions from Russia and China. Kenya offered to lead the mission, pledging to deploy 1,000 police officers.
The MSS would not be a UN mission, which had itself had an over decade long military presence in Haiti through its “stabilization mission” MINUSTAH, which raised concerns of accountability.
The US announced USD 200 million in funding for the mission, announcing an additional USD 100 million on March 11, while the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin and Chad formally notified the UN of their intention to provide personnel for the deployment.
Meanwhile, at the end of January, the High Court in Kenya declared the deployment of personnel to Haiti unconstitutional, ruling that the country’s National Security Council did not have the authority to deploy police officers outside the country. The order was the extension of interim measures first issued by the court in October, which Kenya’s parliament defied to authorize the mission.
Progressive forces within the country, particularly the Communist Party of Kenya (CPK) had vehemently rejected the deployment, reiterating that “Haiti requires no foreign intervention; this crisis is orchestrated by the core group of the US, Canada, and France, aiming to maintain hegemony and settle scores with Haiti for its historic slave revolution against French rule”.
Nevertheless, President William Ruto had declared his intention to proceed with the deployment. At the end of February, Ariel Henry flew to Nairobi to sign “reciprocal agreement” with Ruto to “enable the fast-tracking of the deployment”. In Henry’s absence, armed groups within Haiti launched a major offensive, leaving him unable to return to the country.
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On March 11, an emergency meeting was convened by the regional bloc CARICOM in Jamaica, also involving representatives from Brazil, Canada, France, Mexico, the UN, and the US. The meeting produced a “transitional governance arrangement” which would involve the establishment of a Transitional Presidential Council and subsequently the appointment of an interim Prime Minister.
“The government that I am leading will resign immediately after the installation of [a transition] council”, Henry stated in a video address. The Council will be composed of seven voting members, drawn from seven designated groups including the signatories of the Montana Agreement, and two-non voting observers from the civil society and the InterFaith community.
Importantly, the Council will exclude anyone who opposes the UN Security Council Resolution 2699, which authorized the deployment of the Multinational Security Support mission to Haiti.
Even though Kenya’s deployment seems to be on hold at the moment, the US-sponsored intervention in Haiti remains on the table, in complete defiance of the sovereign demands of the Haitian people.
Meanwhile, the Transitional Presidential Council will also be in charge of appointing an “inclusive Council of Ministers” and set the criteria for selecting an “impartial Provisional Electoral Council (CEP)” to hold the long-delayed elections.
Not only does the un-elected Council go against the demands of the Haitian masses and popular organizations, prominent leaders of armed groups including Jimmy “Barbecue” Chérizier, a former police officer, have warned that Haiti will be plunged into further chaos if the international community “chooses a small group of politicians to negotiate with them on paper to decide who can be president and what kind of government”.
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Please support the news you can use and visit The Brooks Blackboard's website for more news!
Take a look at my brief bio about my writing life and on social media:
Facebook page: The Brooks Blackboard
Twitter: @_charlesbrooks
