March 23, 2022

Paul Manafort, Former Trump Aide, Removed From Plane To Dubai

Former Trump adviser Paul Manafort was removed from a plane at Miami International Airport before it took off for Dubai because he carried a revoked passport, officials said Wednesday.

Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta confirmed that Manafort was removed from the Emirates Airline flight without incident Sunday night but directed further questions to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That agency did not immediately respond to an email Wednesday seeking comment.

A lawyer who has represented Manafort did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment Wednesday.

Manafort, 72, led former President Donald Trump’s campaign for several months during the 2016 presidential race but was ousted in August of that year after revelations about his business dealings in Ukraine.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/paul-manafort-trump-removed-plane-dubai_n_623b38d7e4b0f1e82c51ee6c
_______________________________________________________________________________________
And just why were we trying to skin out to Dubai, Mr. Manafort, hmmmmm?

March 23, 2022

Abbott plant behind baby formula recall was unsanitary, FDA says

Baby formula maker Abbott failed to maintain sanitary conditions and procedures at the Michigan manufacturing plant recently linked to a cluster of infant illnesses, according to findings released Tuesday by federal safety inspectors.

The Food and Drug Administration posted its initial inspection findings from the Abbott plant that's been tied to several infant hospitalizations, including two deaths, due to a rare bacterial infection. Abbott recalled various lots of three popular powdered infant formulas in mid-February after four babies reportedly became sick and were hospitalized. The recall was expanded in March to include some lots of Similac PM 60/40 Powdered Instant Formula. FDA inspectors have been on site inspecting the Sturgis, Michigan, facility since late January.

Abbott didn't maintain clean surfaces used in producing and handling the powdered formula, according to the FDA inspection, which concluded last week. Additionally, inspectors found a history of contamination with the bacteria, known as cronobacter, including eight instances between fall 2019 and February of this year.

The report gives the agency's preliminary findings and is likely to be followed by a formal report and a warning to the company.

Food safety advocates who have followed the recall noted that neither the FDA nor the company has been able to explain what caused the contamination.

"This sheds a little more light on what went wrong, but we still don't have all the answers," said Sarah Sorscher of the Center for Science in the Public Interest. "Abbott and the FDA really need to do more work to get to the bottom of what happened so we can prevent the next outbreak."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abbott-baby-formula-recall-fda-details/
_______________________________________________________________
Article does not go into detail, so we still don't know what kind of "unsanitary conditions"

March 23, 2022

ICE Is Creating A New Policy For Subpoenaing Reporters After Trying To Force BuzzFeed News To Turn O

ICE Is Creating A New Policy For Subpoenaing Reporters After Trying To Force BuzzFeed News To Turn Over Information

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are drafting a new policy that would force agents to get approval from senior leaders for any attempt to gain information from reporters through administrative subpoenas, officials told BuzzFeed News in a statement.

The development of a new policy comes more than a year after ICE issued an administrative subpoena during the Trump administration demanding BuzzFeed News identify its sources — an extraordinary attempt by the government to interfere with a news outlet acting under the protections of the First Amendment.

At the time, the move was met with criticism from media rights organizations such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and even former ICE leaders, who called it a blatant overreach. The agency later backed down after BuzzFeed News published a story detailing the demand.

The new policy, which follows a congressional directive included as part of the most recent government funding bill, would make it so ICE personnel must elevate decisions about whether to issue administrative subpoenas to members of the news media to the “the most appropriate senior ICE official, such as the ICE Director.” The agency must also make sure that its employees know of this new policy through training. ICE officials will also have to provide congressional staffers with a copy of the policy and the associated training details within 90 days.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/hamedaleaziz/ice-policy-subpoenaing-reporters

March 23, 2022

Hero Syndrome in Book Banning Efforts

Two years of pandemic living — whether or not best practices were followed — has left an entire generation trying to navigate what life looks like as we try to shift from pandemic to endemic. We’re not there yet and we won’t be for a while, but the changes in our social lives have absolutely made an impact on how we engage with others.

It’d be inappropriate to draw a line from pandemic isolation to pro-censorship groups. There is a line, but it’s not necessarily a straight one. In fact, there are no straight lines anywhere when it comes to today’s censorship culture. Groups like No Left Turn, Moms For Liberty, and any other “parental rights” focused organizations popping up across the US are uniting under the idea that they as parents have not had the right to see and dictate what their children are learning in school. There are several purposes behind these movements, including a push for vouchers and school choice. Another element to this is the belief among these adults that schools are teaching Marxism, and Marxism is tied up on Alfred Kinsey’s sex research. It’s also connected to critical race theory and social emotional learning, and ultimately, school indoctrinates young minds to become queer if they’re not and/or hate themselves if they’re white.

Parents have always had rights. School board meetings have always been open to the public. But because of how the pandemic forced parents to pay more attention where before they never had to, many found the connections with other like-minded adults gave them a way to rally together behind a cause. They’ve turned to local school boards to stand up for what they believe are just causes.

But these school board meetings have turned into something else, too: an opportunity to be a hero. The louder, the more outrageous, the more backed-by-others-in-blue-shirts/red-shirts/people-with-signs, the more attention those citizens receive. The more their names show up in right-wing social media. The more they’re made templates for how to demand rights and ensure “liberty” and “freedom” in eduction.

In Leander, Texas, a woman brandished a pink dildo — one she “borrowed” — to make a point about the content of books made available as optional reading to high schoolers. Everyone remembers the woman with the pink dildo. That someone could quickly search “book ban” and “pink dildo” and get her name gives her hero status.

https://bookriot.com/hero-syndrome-in-book-banning-efforts

March 23, 2022

Disability advocates say Amanda Bynes' conservatorship case is not the norm

Amanda Bynes' conservatorship was terminated Tuesday without public contention or fanfare. But disability advocates say her case is not the norm, and warn against using Bynes as evidence that conservatorships don't need to be reformed.

Bynes' parents filed to place her in a conservatorship in 2013, following what the former child actor previously described as a dark period in her life. Her case has rarely played out in the public eye and draws a contrast to that of pop star Britney Spears, whose conservatorship was dissolved after a protracted, public court battle and has led to legal reform efforts in California.

Zoe Brennan-Krohn, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union's Disability Rights Program, noted that Bynes' conservatorship, which was apparently dissolved more easily than Spears', is unlike other cases she's seen.

"I do know of cases where where the court is, essentially the holdout that … like in this case, the conservator and the conservatee agree that they want the conservatorship to end, and the court chooses not to end it anyway," Brennan-Krohn said. "And I think there's a real paternalism in that ... view of people with disabilities as not fully adult, not fully human."

In July 2013, Bynes was put in a 72-hour psychiatric hold after reportedly setting a fire at her home. Her parents requested the court to place her under conservatorship after what their attorney described as paranoid behavior fueled by substance abuse, according to the Los Angeles Times at the time.

Bynes herself admitted to substance abuse and serious body image issues affecting her mental health prior to the conservatorship during a 2018 Paper magazine interview.

Ventura Superior Court Judge Roger L. Lund dissolved Bynes' case on the grounds that the basis for her conservatorship no longer exists.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/disability-advocates-say-amanda-bynes-conservatorship-case-isnt-norm-rcna21113

March 23, 2022

Russian invaders have three days of supplies left, says Ukraine military

Russian forces have only three further days of fuel, food and ammunition left to conduct the war after a breakdown in their supply chains, Ukrainian military commanders have alleged.

The claims of major shortages were described as “plausible” by western officials although they said they were unable to corroborate the analysis.

The report from the Ukrainian armed forces general command was said to be consistent with evidence that the Russian advance had stalled, and that they had reverted to using “indiscriminate and attritional” artillery attacks on civilians.

“We do think that the Russian forces have used a lot of material including particular categories of weapons and we have seen isolated reports of particular units that have lacked supplies of one sort or another,” the official said.

“It is consistent with an advance which has ground to a halt. Failures in the logistic chain has been one of the reasons they have not been as effective as they hoped.”

A Pentagon official added there were continuing morale issues among Russian troops, with food and fuel shortages, as well as frostbite due to a lack of adequate clothing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/22/russian-invaders-have-three-days-of-supplies-left-says-ukraine-military
_________________________________________________________________
My, my, supply chain issues? Looks like we're not the only ones!

March 23, 2022

Florida governor says trans swimmer Lia Thomas was not 'rightful winner' of NCAA title

Florida governor Ron DeSantis has issued a proclamation that a resident of his state is the “rightful” holder of the NCAA 500m freestyle title won by trans swimmer Lia Thomas last week.

Thomas made history last Thursday as the first known transgender athlete to win a US college swimming championship when she took the title in Atlanta. However, her victory caused a backlash among right-wing politicians as well as groups that oppose transgender athletes taking part in women’s competition.

On Tuesday DeSantis, who many see as a Republican contender in the next US presidential election, declared that Emma Weyant, a Florida resident who competes for the University of Virginia and finished second to Thomas, was the “rightful winner” of the race.

“It is my determination that men should not be competing against women such as Emma Weyant,” DeSantis wrote in his proclamation. “ … Florida rejects the NCAA’s efforts to destroy women’s athletics, disapproves of the NCAA elevating ideology over biology, and takes offense at the NCAA trying to make others complicit in a lie.”

USA Swimming’s policy states that trans athletes must undergo three years of hormone replacement therapy before being allowed to compete. Thomas is six months short of that target but the NCAA decided not to adopt USA Swimming’s rules and allowed the senior to compete in Atlanta.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/mar/23/ron-desantis-lia-thomas-trans-swimmer-ncaa-title-florida
________________________________________________________________________________________
Now look who's indulging in "cancel culture" again!

March 23, 2022

Russian Troops Are Now Turning on Each Other

Two Russian soldiers have been caught venting about Putin’s “bullshit” war against Ukraine in an intercepted phone call as devastating losses reportedly led one soldier to drive over his colonel with a tank.

“Basically, it’s a shitshow here, I’ll put it that way,” an unnamed soldier near Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine can be heard telling a colleague in a recording released by Ukraine’s Security Service late Tuesday.

After telling his friend that Ukrainian forces “tore apart” a column of Russian forces sent along with his own unit, he described complete disarray among the Russian military, with 50 percent of the unit suffering from frostbite on their feet.

“But they don’t plan to treat them in the [field] hospital,” he said.

On the fourth day of their deployment, he said, the general commanding the unit, General-Lieutenant Yakov Rezantsev, told them it’d be over quickly.

“Do you know what he told us? ‘It’s no secret to anyone that there are only a few hours until this special operation is over.’ And now those hours are still going.”

He said soldiers are complaining about having Kevlar vests that lack the hard-armor panel, but they are ignored.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/russian-troops-are-now-turning-on-each-other-its-a-shtshow-one-soldier-is-recorded-telling-another?ref=home

March 22, 2022

Top Colleges Accused Of Violating Black Athletes' Rights

A group that advocates for college athletes has filed a federal complaint that claims NCAA Division I schools are violating the civil rights of Black basketball players and major college football players by prohibiting compensation.

The National College Players Association announced Tuesday it had submitted a complaint to the Office for Civil Rights in the Education Department. The NCPA says NCAA rules prohibiting schools from compensating athletes disproportionately impacts Black students.

“I believe it’s important to first acknowledge the reality of the business that is college football,” Stanford football player Elijah Higgins said in a statement through the NCPA.

Citing a 2018 study by the University of Southern California’s Race and Equity Center, the complaint said “Black men were 2.4% of undergraduate students enrolled at the 65 (Power Five conference) universities, but comprised 55% of football teams and 56% of men’s basketball teams on those campuses.”

“This multibillion college sports enterprise imposes discriminatory practices that disproportionately harms Black athletes, while predominantly white coaches and administrators make millions of dollars,” said NCPA Executive Director Ramogi Huma, a former UCLA football player. “College athletes throughout predominantly white sports receive fair market compensation, but athletes in the only predominantly Black sports do not.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/united-states-ncaa-athletes-compensation_n_623a16f8e4b046c938e1ba49

March 22, 2022

Disney employees across the U.S. are walking out today. Here's why.

Walt Disney Co. employees at corporate locations across the U.S. plan to get up from their desks and head to the exits Tuesday to protest CEO Bob Chapek's response to Florida legislation that LGBTQ advocates have dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

LGBTQ workers and allies are expected to participate in a general walkout at office locations in California, Florida and elsewhere, a group of employees announced last week on a website that calls out Chapek by name.

In recent weeks, Chapek has come under intense internal criticism and public scrutiny for not having taken a more forceful stand against HB 1557, a bill that would prohibit instruction about "sexual orientation or gender identity" in kindergarten through the third grade in Florida.

Chapek drew pointed criticism for saying in a companywide memo March 7 that the corporation can make the "biggest impact" by "creating a more inclusive world through the inspiring content we produce."

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/disney-employees-us-are-walking-today-rcna20893