Tag: Politics

© Jim Watson – AFP via Getty Images President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris discuss border security in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, January 5, 2023.

When Joe Biden makes his first trip to the border as president on Sunday, he will witness a human rights crisis both in his own backyard and in Mexico.

In El Paso, Texas, immigrant families have flooded into the city in recent months from countries ravaged by catastrophic weather, widespread violence and repressive governments. Recent increases have strained the border city's resources, prompting Mayor Oscar Lizer to declare a state of emergency last month.

And on the other side of the Rio Grande, street temperatures in Ciudad Juarez dropped to 40 degrees overnight — with subzero winds — as hundreds of migrant families in need of shelter froze, waiting to cross into America. Hundreds of thousands of people who have appeared at the border in recent months have been returned to Mexico without seeking asylum under Article 42 of the Public Health Pandemic Ordinance. Many are still waiting, waiting to enter the United States.

Biden's visit comes at a politically charged time for the country's immigration policy as well as his own political future. He has not yet announced whether he will run for re-election, but many are hoping. Republicans have often criticized the lack of border controls during Biden's presidency, using the fact that he is not interested in taking the border situation seriously.

"The border is President Biden's biggest weakness after inflation," said Republican political consultant Whit Ayres, adding: "If you watch Fox News, it seems like half the stuff they put out is about the border chaos."

As president, Biden has largely sidestepped the issue of immigration personally without making much of an effort to address it after Congress sent an immigration bill to Capitol Hill on his first day in office and mandated a surge in immigration. Vice President Kamala Harris of Central America. A Harvard-Harris poll in mid-December found that only 40% of voters approved of Biden's words on immigration.

But on Sunday, Biden will meet face-to-face on immigration. He will stop in El Paso on his way to Mexico City, where he will meet with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The three leaders will discuss how their countries can work together to fight climate change, drug trafficking and the millions of migrants who cross Mexico into the United States each year.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday that "the president is interested in seeing firsthand how things are going with border security, particularly in El Paso." "He hopes to speak with Customs and Border Protection officials who are on this mission to get first-hand information."

The administration's immigration policy is embroiled in a legal battle that began under the Trump administration, when Biden administration officials tried to block Section 42. The court insisted that Biden implement the order. Biden administration officials say two years of backlogs and denials of asylum applications have only led to more attempts to cross the border and increased pressure on border agents.

Read more : Hundreds of immigrants arrive in El Paso under Section 42, court order remains in place

To deal with the influx of immigrants, Biden hopes to convince lawmakers to fund more asylum officers and immigration judges to determine who can enter the United States and clear a large backlog. "Instead of a secure and orderly process at the border, we have a patchwork system that's not working properly," Biden said Thursday in one of his first wide-ranging discussions on the border. "We don't have enough asylum officers or staff to determine whether people are eligible for asylum. There is a standard you have to meet."

"We don't have enough immigration judges to hear immigrant lawsuits," Biden added.

Most immigrants trying to enter the US in recent months have come from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, according to the Biden administration. In October, the Biden administration announced a program called Parole that would allow Venezuelans to apply for legal entry into the United States. Along with this, there was a risk that Venezuelan migrants who showed up at the border without first applying for legal entry would be returned to Mexico without permission to seek asylum. The program has reduced the number of Venezuelans trying to cross the border from 1,100 in October to an average of less than 250 a day, according to Customs and Border Protection.

On Thursday, the Biden administration officially expanded the program to include parole offers for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti and Nicaragua. Under a new initiative in which the U.S. plans to welcome 30,000 people a month from four countries over two years, immigrants can download a U.S. government app on their phone while in their home country, show they have an American sponsor and wait for you. . They agreed to buy plane tickets for a trip to the United States. Also Thursday, the Biden administration unveiled a proposed decision that would revoke the right to asylum for immigrants unless they first seek protection from a transit country like Mexico before reaching the U.S. border. .

The new program has quickly drawn criticism from immigrant rights activists, who say it fails to understand what it means for asylum seekers to return to their home countries, use the phone and buy plane tickets to get around and travel. 'saved from bad conditions. Critics on the right accused Biden of creating a new legal route to enter the US.

Congress has tried unsuccessfully for decades to overhaul the nation's immigration system. Their last immediate success came a decade ago when Senate Republicans and Democrats passed an immigration reform package that included $30 trillion in border security and a path to citizenship for people in the country illegally, but that proposal died in the House of Representatives. controlled by Republicans.

Immigration experts say the factors driving people to the U.S. border are more important than any administration policy and include an increase in the frequency of devastating storms caused by climate change, crackdowns by authoritarian regimes, the Covid-19 pandemic and rampant criminal activity. "It's been under construction since 2020," said Josiah Heyman, director of the Center for Inter-American and Border Studies at the University of Texas at El Paso. Linking immigration flows to each administration's policies "puts it in a lot of context for Americans," Heyman said. In 2020, people were unable to move freely due to travel restrictions related to COVID-19. "This has a lot to do with the ability to move around Latin America after COVID-19," Heyman said. "It also reflects the traumatic impact of Covid on many countries in Latin America."

Throughout its history, the American economy has grown thanks to the influx of immigrants into the workforce. Separately, the asylum system was created after the reluctance of the United States to accept refugees from Adolf Hitler's systematic murder of Jews in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. "We have to have a moral debate and a practical debate about what we we need immigrants in the labor market," Heyman said.

Karina Breseda, head of New Wave Feminists, a nonprofit that helps immigrant women in Juarez and El Paso, has seen people fill shelters along the U.S. border in recent months. Breseda noted that more people are traveling to the border with young children, which he says is a sign of the desperate conditions they live in at home.

One evening last week, when temperatures were below freezing, Bresed's team tried to find a warm place to sleep for a Nicaraguan woman and her 3-month-old daughter on the streets of El Paso. The women had already filled out paperwork with the US government and were released to El Paso, but the shelters were full. Breceda said more people could be helped if U.S. Border Patrol notified local groups about the migrant release. "No one deserves to sleep in the cold," says Bresda. "It's not about politics, it's about people."

Biden announced a new border security and immigration plan. How will this work in practice?

Rock legend Jimi Hendrix lived to be 27 years old, but is considered by many to be wise beyond his years. The young rock star often shares his thoughts on topics like politics and spirituality, and many of these quotes have stood the test of time, just as relevant today as they were half a century ago.

© Showbiz Cheatsheet provided by Jimi Hendrix David Redfern/Redfern

Jimi Hendrix Quotes on Politics

• "Politics is old stuff. Anybody can turn around and shake hands with the kids and kiss mom and say it's okay. But you see, you can't do that in music. Music doesn't lie. I agree "That gets misunderstood, but it can't be wrong. When there's a big change in the world, it's usually something like art and music that changes it. Music will change the world next time."
• “You know, when you're young most people are very excited, but then you graduate from law school and you end up in your little plastic cage. You can take over the family business. I want to do it from time to time. Sometimes I want to go to the mountains, but I stay. Something is meant to exist and carry a message."
• “[A]nyone can protest. … For records or whatever you use for music, anyone can complain, but hardly anyone has tried to find a workable solution, at least a temporary one, you know.
• “[It's] waiting to set in, people will start going against themselves, like black against white, yellow against pink and everything in between. But that's not an idea. … The concept was new against old, and the founders played with it, pitting different colors against each other to corrupt the younger generation.

Jimi Hendrix Quotes on Spirituality

• “I think religion is a bunch of bullshit. They are simply man-made, trying to become what one is not capable of being. And there are so many different variations, all trying to say the same thing, but they are so cheeky that they are always adding their part. I am currently working on my religion, which is life."
• “I really don't think… there is more to psychic mediation than daydreaming. If you really believe in yourself, you can do it yourself."

Quotes about the life of Jimi Hendrix

• "There's no age limit; I can't remember, because a man really ages not by the number of years, but by the number of miles driven, you know? How that keeps his mind active and creative."
• “I am a bit quiet, a bit inactive. I don't talk much all the time. What should I say, I say it with my guitar".
• “I am here to communicate. This is the reason why I stay close; This is what it is. I want to get people excited and let them know what's going on. Even if they have a 9 to 5 job and a family and the TV is on, the important thing is that they stay."
• “Your body is simply a physical vehicle that allows you to get from one place to another without much difficulty. … Those who fear death are a case of total insecurity. That's why the world is in chaos right now, because people trust too much what they see and not what they hear."

Read the original showbiz cheat sheet article

Jimi Hendrix Quotes: 50 Quotes About Music And More

After accounting for all unpaid costs, Denver officials estimate the total bill for housing the thousands of immigrants arriving in the city from the southern border in December will be $3 million.

The pace at which refugees have continued to arrive — 166 more arrived between Thursday night and Friday, according to the city's latest update, bringing the total since Dec. 9 to nearly 3,000 — there is little reason to believe these costs will slow down. Significantly in the new year.

"We're currently on hold until the end of January," said Mikayla Ortega, spokeswoman for the city's emergency department. And this is what we have planned as a city," he said.

This means providing emergency shelter, food, sanitation and other basic needs to people sleeping rough in the city. Two recreation centers in the city are offering overnight accommodations, one has been set up as a reception center for new arrivals and another public building has been designated as a refugee shelter until at least Sunday, Ortega said. The city asked news organizations not to list the facilities used because of security and privacy concerns.

Budgeting for what comes next is almost impossible.

"The associated costs are also unknown," Ortega said. "We won't have a solid answer to that until we know how many are coming and how we're going to get them to the next stage of their journey."

The influx of migrants this month has coincided with several dangerous winter storms, further straining the city's housing system. That includes a blast of arctic air that forced the city to open an emergency shelter at the Denver Coliseum four days before Christmas. The event was paid for by the American Red Cross, according to the city's finance department. But this is not an immigration crisis.

The city said the estimated $3 million cost would cover a wide variety of categories, including staffing, transportation, Denver Metro bus tickets and meals.

So far, the city has provided jobs for more than 100 people working in its shelters, Ortega said. More than half of them agreed. They are called temporary.

This number grows. The city is looking for more professionals to help homeless refugees decide their next steps here.

"We want to help these people directly understand plan B … and how we can help them integrate into the country for the long term," Ortega said.

The city initially spent money from the general fund on emergency shelters. That's a plan for the future, but the city is hoping for federal and state help after Mayor Michael Hancock declared a migration emergency earlier this month.

The state Department of Environmental Affairs has already agreed to reimburse Denver $1.5 million, but the grant must go through the City Council process before approval, officials said. Ortega said $2.5 million in federal funding for the American Rescue Plan Act has been set aside to support refugee services, but the money will be distributed regionally instead of going entirely to Denver.

The city is working as quickly as possible to find nonprofit partners or other government agencies that can host short- and long-term refugees, Ortega said. Housing 1,400 to 1,500 people per day, combined with city and partner facilities, is considered sustainable. Mayor Hancock, at a press conference last week, described Denver's support network as fringes.

"We are looking at all options to make sure there is no humanitarian crisis on the streets of Denver," Ortega said.

© Sophie Garcia/AP Supporters of captain Ibrahim Traore wave the Russian flag in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, October 2.

This month's US-Africa Leaders' Summit brought leaders from across the continent to DC for several days of activities, culminating in the announcement of America's $55 billion financial commitment. This unusual level of attention to African affairs points to recent developments in relations between the continent's fast-growing markets and the United States, which lags far behind China in terms of investment and ownership in Africa. It also encourages us to reflect on what we have learned from and about Africa this year.

Coups and conflicts make headlines

Conflict and political instability across the continent continued to dominate the headlines this year. There have been six successful coups in Africa since 2020. The political analysis we publish here at TMC includes Kristen Harkness' views on the 'coup epidemic', while Erica De Bruyne and Maggie Dwyer explain how this wave of coups in Africa differs from previous ones. ie warlords who come to power through coups are now more likely to turn to elections.

Attempted coups have often had mixed results, and removing military leaders from power to restore civilian rule can be difficult. Dwyer's analysis also helped us understand how the coup in Burkina Faso drew on broader grievances within its own ranks to successfully seize power. Jory Breslavsky and Madeleine Fleischmann discussed the possibility that ECOWAS, the West African regional bloc, could help the country return to civilian rule. And Aoife McCullough answered a big question: why coup supporters in Burkina Faso were waving Russian flags.

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Joseph Waldens explained what the failed coup attempt in March meant for Guinea-Bissau politics. And Salah Ben Hamu discussed the (slight) chance that the Sudanese military leaders would resign.

While the end of 2022 brought tentative good news of a cessation of hostilities in northern Ethiopia, the impact of the war on millions of civilians will continue for years. Lauren Carruth and Lahra Smith examine the causes of Ethiopian flight abroad and the impact of irregular migration on women. Sally Sharif researched the most effective (and least) effective ways to demobilize and reintegrate Tigrayan soldiers into civilian life.

After releasing the findings of the investigation into the abuses at the UN camp in South Sudan, Audrey Comstock said punishments for those who commit sexual exploitation and abuse in UN missions are rare.

But the 2022 TMC articles spoke much more.

Through our partnership with Afrobarometer, a pan-African research network that conducts representative surveys in three dozen African countries, TMC has published many articles on the opinions of ordinary Africans. For example, on the eve of the recent summit of African American leaders, Joseph Osunko, Carolyn Logan and Brian Howard analyzed the main problems and priorities facing Africans: unemployment and government mismanagement. Afrabarometer analysts also wrote about citizens' skepticism about the police, their calls for governments to deal with climate change, and problems with access to clean water and COVID subsidies.

The long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian war in Ukraine have hurt African economies. To boost domestic revenue, Ghana's president announced a new "e-tax" – a tax on mobile money transactions – and Richard Aidu detailed the political debate surrounding the move. George Bob-Billiard and Rachel Sigman describe how Ghana's economic crisis is changing its politics.

Kathleen Klaus and Jane Manga Ungar released a major TMC clarification ahead of this year's Kenyan elections. Priska Yost and Ellen Last explain what vote buying is, where it thrives, and how we can reframe our thinking when the goal is to advance democracy.

Professors: Consult all TMC Advanced Thematic Guides.

New books on African politics

Along with a wonderful group of volunteers, we reviewed 17 books for our summer reading series, which continued into the fall thanks to an unfortunate bout of Covid. All reviews appear in our latest review, which examines three books analyzing migration and asylum policies.

Books in late 2022 that we have yet to review but recommend include Olufemi Taiwo's Against Decolonization: Taking African Agency Seriously, Keith Wehorst's The Origins of Activist Political Ambition: The Opposition Candidate in African Authoritarian Regimes, and Talking and talk "Holly Hanson. Being Heard: The Quest for Good Government in Uganda, circa 1500-2015". Also learn more about Emmanuel Balogun's new book, Regional Building in West Africa, in this interview with Kim Yi Dion.

Special thanks to Robtel Neochai Paley, whose book Development, (Dual) Citizenship and Its Grievances in Africa: The Political Economy of Belonging to Liberia received the Best Book Award at the Africa Policy Conference 2022. Felicity Turkmen presented it to TMC in 2021.

Explanation of the new West African regional peacekeeping force

Other things not to miss Will be released in 2022

Here are some things we found interesting and informative in addition to TMC's analysis and articles on Africa.

TMC has a tradition of finding the political aspects of the World Cup and we regret not publishing this excellent essay by Hisham Eidi. Through the lens of the Moroccan team – the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup – Eidi's wonderful article published in L'Africa è un Paese spoke to us about African migration, 'Third World Solidarity ' and identity.

Nanjala Nyabola wrote a powerful essay in which she called Kenya's 2022 elections boring and instead emphasized the importance of building and cultivating democracy on a daily basis.

The complimentary weekly electronic newspaper, The Continent, is a must. It begins by addressing the political factors behind the energy crisis that has often left many South Africans without power for hours, sometimes days.

If you missed The Woman King, a historical action thriller about a military unit in the West African kingdom of Dahomey, check out this interview with Leonard Wancheken, the film's official historian.

We also encourage you to subscribe to the This Week in Africa newsletter, which covers democracy, development and daily life on the continent. Jeff Paler and Phil Dube also edit special issues, such as this excellent collection of analysis published ahead of Kenya's elections this year.

TMC information around Africa will return after a short hiatus in 2023 – be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to stay informed of our plans for a relaunch!

Will military coups wipe out democracy in West Africa? | inner story

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This photo taken on December 22, 2022 is of the White House in Washington DC, USA. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON/HOUSTON, December 26 (Xinhua) — On the coldest Christmas Eve in Washington's history, some 140 migrants were dropped off in front of the residence of US Vice President Kamala Harris.

The migrants, including women and children, reportedly arrived in three buses late Saturday at the Naval Observatory where Harris lives in the US capital.

FREEZING MIGRANT IN WINTER

The arrivals included asylum seekers from various Central American and Caribbean countries. Some of them weren't wearing appropriate winter clothing as Washington, DC was having its coldest Christmas in over two decades.

According to videos circulating on social media, migrants believed to have been sent from the US state of Texas, are given white blankets to keep warm while waiting to be transferred to a local church.

In Washington, DC, an emergency cold weather warning was issued over Christmas weekend due to a historic winter storm, and government officials asked residents to limit their time outdoors and dress warmly.

Amy Fisher, organizer of the American Immigrant Assistance Network, said immigrants "don't have coats" and are "dressed for the weather and the cold."

© Provided by 新华社

Migrant asylum seekers line up at a checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, U.S., October 9, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

THE GOVERNOR OF TEXAS BEHIND THE SEMI FREE MOVEMENT

The Fisher Network tweeted on Sunday that it was Texas Governor Greg Abbott who led refugee complainants out of Harris's official residence in the freezing cold.

Abbott was among at least three Republican governors who moved immigrants from their states to Democratic-led cities this year to protest US President Joe Biden's immigration policies and what they called the federal government's inaction to protect its southern border. .

Last month, his office said the Texas government was "taking aggressive steps to help border communities," including bringing thousands of immigrants to Washington, DC, New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.

White House press secretary Abdullah Hasan blamed the Abbott administration, calling the bus transportation of migrants a "cruel, dangerous and shameful act".

"Governor Abbott abandoned children on the side of the road in sub-zero temperatures on Christmas Eve without permission from any federal or local authorities," Hasan said.

© Provided by 新华社

A bus carrying migrants leaves a US Border Patrol checkpoint in Eagle Pass, Texas, US, October 9, 2022. (Photo by Nick Wagner/Xinhua)

VICTIMS OF US PARTY POLICIES

While a White House spokesman said the federal government was doing what was necessary to address the immigrant problem, state governments such as the Abbott government continued to complain about the government's failure to address the problem.

"We are ready to work with anyone, Republican or Democrat, on real solutions, such as the comprehensive immigration reform and border security measures that President Biden sent to Congress on his first day in office," Hassan said. "But this political game brings nothing, only endangers lives."

Abbott spokeswoman Renée Eze said in a statement Monday that "The White House is filled with a group of hypocrites, led by a known hypocrite, who fly around the country on immigrant planes, often at night."

Eze said: "These immigrants voluntarily choose to travel to Washington, DC by signing a voluntary waiver of consent, available in multiple languages ​​upon boarding and negotiation of destination."

Abbott wrote to Biden last week demanding that his administration "urgently deploy federal resources to resolve major border crises," especially in El Paso, the border city with Mexico.

"This community and state are not prepared to do the job the federal government should be doing: hosting the thousands of immigrants who flood the country every day," the letter said.

"The need to address this crisis is not the duty of a border state like Texas," Abbott wrote, urging the US president to protect national borders and regulate immigration.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which is responsible for securing the country's borders, said in a statement Saturday: "Individuals and families who attempt to trespass are deported by court order pursuant to the requirements of public health powers section 42", or be subject to due process. deportation."

DHS refers to policies that have enabled the US Border Patrol to expedite the transfer of migrants and asylum seekers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court temporarily suspended the expiration of Article 42.

Abbott's office says thousands of people cross Texas illegally every day and the number is expected to increase when Section 42 deportations end.

"Texas needs to take its share of the border debacle caused by the Biden administration," Abbott said in an interview with Fox News.

Biden has previously accused Abbott and other Republican administration officials of "playing political games with the people".

"What they did was wrong," he said at an event in September. "It is inconsiderate and we have processes in place to process migrants at the border."

There are already 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States, according to Alejandro Portes, a law professor at the University of Miami, and in the past any attempt at any kind of regularization process has been blocked in Congress by the Republican far right. party. . . various administrations. ■

Data leak reveals important new information about China's Uyghur detention camps – BBC News

Standing on the podium in the Astrodome in Houston, Pat Buchanan frowned as he painted a picture of America's greatest enemy of the post-Cold War era: the enemy within.

“My friends, this election is not just about who gets what. It's about who we are. It's about what we believe in as Americans and what we stand for," Buchanan said. “There is a religious war going on in this country. This is a culture war that is as important to the kind of nation we are becoming as the Cold War itself, because that war is at the heart of America.”

Watch NBC News LIVE NOW – July 3

© Mohamed Ibrahim Minnesota Democratic Gov. Tim Waltz, second from right, and former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, second from left, sit next to each other to receive a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

As the coronavirus pandemic approaches its third winter, two studies have revealed an inconvenient truth. The toxicity of partisan politics leads to an overall increase in the death rate among working-age Americans.

In one study, researchers concluded that people who live in the most conservative areas of the United States bear a disproportionate burden of disease and death associated with COVID-19. Others, who look more broadly at health outcomes, find that the more conservative a country's policies are, the shorter the life of working-age people.

The causes are many, but increasingly, state policies, not just federal ones, are beginning to shape the economic, family, environmental, and behavioral conditions that affect societal well-being. Several states have expanded social safety nets, raised the minimum wage, and introduced income tax credits, using special taxes to discourage behaviors such as smoking that do not have catastrophic health consequences. Other countries went in the opposite direction.

The result of this increased polarization is clear, researchers say. The general health situation of the nation is deteriorating. Americans can expect to live as they did in 1996, 76.1 years, with lower life expectancy due to higher rates of chronic disease, maternal mortality and COVID.

“I did not do this research to be partisan, just to support one side or the other,” said Nancy Krieger, a social epidemiologist at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and an author of one of the studies. “It is about analyzing the behavior of different actors, some having more power than others in setting standards, making inquiries and allocating resources.”

Krieger said it's normal for people to ask elected officials. "Are they doing what they need to do to protect our health?"

Harvard researchers analyzed data from April 2021 to March 2022 on COVID-19 mortality and stress in hospital intensive care units in 435 congressional districts. They also looked at congressmen's overall voting records to see how they voted and whether they voted for all four anti-coronavirus bills. The state governor and the legislature are controlled by one party.

The study, published this month in The Lancet Regional Health-Americas, found that the more conservative the voting record of congressmen and state legislators, the higher the death rate from COVID-19, although characteristics of race, education and income were not affecting congressional preparedness. for vaccination as well as fees.

The death rate from COVID is 11% higher in states with Republican-controlled governments and 26% higher in areas where voters lean more conservatively. Similar results are seen for the capacity of hospital facilities when the concentration of political power is conservative.

Krieger said these findings cannot be explained as characteristics of the economic and social conditions of people living in different regions. “It is kind of above the demographics of the constituency that the members represent. It shows that something is going on in the political processes related to the model of the political choices of elected officials.”

Public policy, along with public opinion about masks, vaccines, and other factors, is helping to change the pattern of COVID deaths in the country.

An analysis of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's COVID data from April 2020 to this summer found that the age-specific death rate from COVID changed. At the start of the pandemic, communities of color, especially black communities, bore a disproportionate burden. But by mid-October 2021, that pattern had changed, as the death rate among white Americans, the core of the Republican base, at times exceeded the death rate among other groups.

However, the disproportionate burden of death and disease extends beyond COVID; Public health experts say inequality puts communities of color at greater risk for chronic diseases that weaken the immune system, a reflection of systemic racism.

“Public health and medical behavior is often understood as behavior at the individual level. Politicians are acting themselves. Institutes are acting,” Krieger said. “If your representative in Congress is encouraging you to wear a mask or not to wear a mask, that's a whole different message.”

Divisions in American politics are becoming increasingly sharp and polarized, but this has not always been the case.

From the 1930s to the 1970s, huge investments were made to improve the lives of vulnerable people across the country. The Social Security Act of 1935 Medicare and Medicaid Act of 1965 Before these federal programs, the nation was part of state programs, said Jake Grumbach, a professor of political science at the University of Washington, who wrote a study on the national policy implications. . on mortality among working-age adults was published in PLOS One in October.

Everyone has seen the benefits, Grumbach said, but federal laws of the past decade have "hit the poorest states hard," and "you see convergence among all states" in terms of health outcomes.

Then came the collapse of the New Deal coalition. Nationalization of the media. Raise money in politics. and the social upheavals of the 1960s and 1970s—the civil rights movement, the women's movement, the sexual revolution, environmentalism.

"All of those things contributed to the polarization," Grumbach said, adding that the divide "began in the 1990s" and has been around since 2010, "which is a period of real radicalization of the Republican Party." . . What is Trump's height?

Studies show that the military police kill more people than any other police force

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There are plenty of political losers in 2022, but perhaps none bigger than Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

Manchin's Permission Reform Bill crashes and burns, he tries a third time and fails to pass the bill. His latest attempt is to add it as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, which requires 60 votes to pass. He only scored 47 goals.

How Manchin can give Republicans 'free seats' in 2024

Manchin reached an agreement with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to pass the authorization bill if Manchin passes the Inflation Relief Act, a climate change bill that, according to Democrats, will contribute to inflation. It was clear that the law would increase inflation a bit, but Manchin signed it anyway.

But while Manchin's Inflation Reduction Bill passed in August, his Authorization Bill did not. So Manchin cut a deal to give up the one benefit he was going to give up, then promised to backtrack on the bill to convince Democrats to back the bill. Then the Democrats rejected it.

The West Virginia senator is not a political expert.

Moreover, while Manchin is no longer getting a vote in the Senate, thanks to the new 51-49 Democratic majority, he has actually lost more weight. New Independent Senator Kirsten Sinema (I-AZ), still a Democrat, will now be the deciding vote. Manchin's 50-50 senate split has weakened considerably.

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Due to the issue, Manchin's approval rating also increased in West Virginia. After starting the year with an approval rating of 60 percent, that figure dropped to 42 percent among registered voters in Manxin. He now has a 51% approval rating in his state, the third highest among all senators, with 53% Republicans, 52% independents and 45% Democrats disapproving of his performance.

Any chance of Manchin fighting political gravity in the 2024 election campaign is lost. Manchin, a centrist Democrat from a red state, signed the climate change bill and promised to help push his bill to the finish line by increasing inflation. It was an entirely predictable failure, but Manchin's departure from influence hurt him along the way and could ultimately cost him his job.

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Tags: Zone Secrets, Opinions, Joe Manchin , Senate Democrats, Senate, West Virginia

Original author: Zachary Faria

First up, Joe Manchin is the biggest political loser of 2022.

Progressive has the perfect answer for the parallel chord on the Manchin Pipeline.

© Filed under: Washington Examiner Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY, right) and Sam Brinton of the Trevor Project (center) are seen outside the Capitol during a press conference on the LGBTQ Essential Data Act, which would improve gender mapping . Thursday's violent crime identity information. June 13, 2019

Not surprisingly, the Biden administration fired a senior Energy Department official. Sam Brinton, a (former) member of the government's top duo, has been accused of stealing several bags worth thousands of dollars.

The real question is why Brinton was hired in the first place.

Brinton made headlines after being appointed deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Energy for fossil fuels and waste management for being "gender biased" and publicly courting inappropriate and exotic groups. For example, last month Brinton attended a leather conference and taught a seminar on fists and the science of Cold Red, dubbed NuclearNerd.

In fact, Brinton's highly visible participation in such sexual displays should have been reason enough to refuse him a job with the US government. It may not be government's job to control what people do behind closed doors, but they can at least try to appoint people to represent that government with dignity and respect.

Now Brinton seems to be responsible for something worse than chaining his sex partners like dogs. The suspect, who was arrested in Minneapolis-St. While serving as a member of management at Paul Airport and Las Vegas Airport. The Las Vegas incident reportedly happened in July, 18 days after Biden was hired by the team while the Minneapolis robbery was reported in September.

This is embarrassing for the Biden administration and could have been avoided had officials decided to use common sense in their hiring decisions. The reason they didn't join Brinton's case is clear. they were more concerned with presenting the administration professionally than with which box it ticked on their list of identity politics. .

This is the pattern of the Biden administration. You have promoted many officials whose strongest qualification for office is race or sex. Vice President Kamala Harris, for example, is terrible at her job and was only hired because Biden publicly promised to run with a black woman.

Similarly, Health Minister Xavier Becerra had no training or experience in public health (other than harassing religious health institutions in court), but was appointed head of the Health Board a century later. Because Pandemic ticks two boxes. Of course, the only reason Becerra was considered for the job was because by that time Biden was known to be under pressure from Hispanic activists. Several leading medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, have called on Biden to appoint a "qualified physician" to the post given the unprecedented public health situation.

Instead, the Biden administration installed a health secretary who knows nothing about public health. Ruthless Vice President; And the energy CEO who allegedly stole women's luggage for fun when he wasn't at a crazy conference. If management stopped focusing on looks, maybe they could focus on sending the best instead of apologizing for a lame team.

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Tags : Beltway Confidential , Opinion , Opinion , Identity Politics , Kamala Harris , Xavier Becerra , Department of Energy

Original Author: Kaylee McGee White

Birthplace: Identity politics rages. Why does the Biden administration keep hiring crap like this?

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