While researching "The Boy Crisis," I interviewed a young man from Mill Valley, California, a city with deep Democratic ties. As the interview concluded, he said, "I wish I hadn't been born male."

It's been a week since President-elect Donald Trump's landslide reelection, and some Democrats are using words such as "realignment," "self-reflection" and "regret."

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Democrats for Life of America said Tuesday that 97% of its endorsed candidates won their races in last week's election, which raises the question: Is there such a thing as a pro-life Democrat?

JOAQUIM Forn was Catalonia’s interior minister until he was arrested for his role in the October 2017 independence referendum. He has been in jail since.

THE NATIONAL

18th December 2018

Exclusive by GREG RUSSELL

Forn has also been on hunger strike for two weeks, one of four prisoners taking this drastic course of action. Here, he talks about his incarceration, the forthcoming trials and Europe.

What is your view of events such as the continuing refusal of European leaders to take up your cases; and the way Spain is lurching further to the right almost every day?

I am worried that Europe turns its back on the situation we are in. What is happening is a clear violation of civil rights and liberties. In Spain, an involution is happening as a consequence of a weak left that is being dragged by the discourse of the PP (People’s Party) and Ciudadanos (Citizens) and also due to the rise of the extreme right with Vox.

Europe should not be unconnected to this regression and should position itself in defence of our liberties.

The political prisoners have a huge amount of support with daily protests outside Lledoners – does that support give you more strength?

Absolutely. Some of us have been for more than a year in pretrial and preventative detention. First in prison in Madrid and now in Catalunya.

These last few months have been very tough and we have been able to overcome them thanks to the support from our families and the societal mobilisation that there is in Catalunya.

From the prison courtyard we can hear the chants and shouts of support. Without this great support, the situation would have been more difficult to bear.

You have been on hunger strike now for two weeks, are you not worried that this protest can damage you?

We have not imposed a time limit upon ourselves. Our hunger strike aims to denounce the inaction of the Constitutional Court (TC), which has not reviewed our appeals. Some of these were submitted a year ago. The court, who should be the guarantor of our rights, is acting subordinate to political interests and is denying us access to European justice.

What we are enduring in Spain should not only worry independence supporters. Any democrat should react to this arbitrariness. We are clearly worried about the possible consequences to our health. The medical services from jail check us daily. We cannot forget that our trial is starting next month and that we should confront it in the best possible condition, both physical and mentally.

The TC judges have said they will hear you appeals next month (and will hear some cases before then) – do you believe that they will stick to that timetable?

From the moment we started the hunger strike, the TC made some moves. This week, it has started to resolve five of almost 30 appeals that all the defendants have presented.

Next week it will continue to resolve other appeals. It is clear that the TC knows it has not acted according to the law and should face our complaint.

How do you view the world’s response to what is happening in Catalonia?

I would like there to be a bigger awareness of what is happening in Spain. The governments of both PP and PSOE (Spanish Socialist Party) have dismissed dialogue, which is the political way, and have ended up imposing criminal law solutions against the political demands of millions of Catalans.

The fact that in Europe, in the 21st century, we are talking about exiled and imprisoned politicians should worry the European states and citizens. The crisis being lived in Catalunya should speak to all democrats. The debate about liberties is very alive in Europe and the world, so we cannot turn our backs as if this debate does not concern us.

How worrying is the prospect of not receiving a fair trial?

Without a doubt, we are very worried. In any case, I see the trial as an opportunity. We are not in the pretrial proceedings any more, so now the accusations need to be argued with proof.

The prosecution wanted to create the narrative of rebellion and sedition, based on the police reports from the Civil Guard and the National Police. The German courts have compellingly ruled out these crimes. The trial will be broadcast live, with the presence of international observers.

I have not lost faith and I truly think that with the criminal code in hand, the only possible sentence is absolution.

Is there anything else you’d like to say?

I would like to thank the Scottish people for showing their solidarity and support. We have received hundreds of letters and postcards. We cannot answer them all which is why I want to take this opportunity to thank them for their gesture.

“Either you stand with the powerful oligarchy of our country, or you stand with the working class. You can’t represent both.”

The post Bernie Sanders has some scathing advice for Democrats after the 2024 election appeared first on Boston.com.

Washington – Immigrant workers who report unsafe or unfair work practices would become eligible for a type of visa reserved for victims of criminal activity, under legislation recently reintroduced by House Democrats.

Washington — Federal employees need more comprehensive guidance from the Office of Personnel Management before they return to the workplace amid the COVID-19 pandemic, House Democrats contended during a June 25 virtual hearing convened by the House Government Operations Subcommittee.

Washington — Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Alma Adams (D-NC) are asking Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chair of the House Education and Labor Committee, to convene a hearing on child labor violations.

Washington — Reps. Bobby Scott (D-VA) and Alma Adams (D-NC) are again asking Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chair of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, to convene a hearing on child labor violations.

Washington — Legislation aimed at strengthening Department of Labor civil penalties will be introduced soon, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) announced April 30.

Children's Geographies; 10/01/2023
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Voters really don't like inflation. In fact, whenever there's a sustained jump in the cost of living, the party in power often pays a price.

Brady still hasn't gotten any sleep, but he’s all over dissecting the action that unfolded in Tuesday’s New Hampshire Democratic Primary. A rundown of the three words that defined the day, a deeper look at the politics that ran the race, and favorite reporter moments from the 2016 trail. If you missed it, check out our Republican edition wrap-up episode!

Prof. Eric Posner explains a voting system for protecting the rights of minorities

Voters really don't like inflation. In fact, whenever there's a sustained jump in the cost of living, the party in power often pays a price.

It takes far more guts to confront your ideological compatriots than your foes and a recent book documenting the assault of gender ideology on women’s rights from a leftist perspective exhibits such courage in spades.

"This is a petty, partisan power grab that is absolutely retaliation towards my office," Arizona Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs says of the new law.; Credit: Ross D. Franklin/AP

Arizona Republicans have stripped the secretary of state's office — currently held by a Democrat — of the right to defend the state's election laws in court, or choose not to, a change enacted as part of Arizona's newly signed budget.

The spending blueprint that Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law Wednesday declares that the attorney general — currently a position occupied by Republican Mark Brnovich — has sole authority over election-related litigation.

If the secretary of state and attorney general were to disagree over a legal strategy when Arizona election laws are challenged, the new law states that "the authority of the attorney general to defend the law is paramount."

Republicans also adopted language stating it's their intent for the law to apply through Jan. 2, 2023, coinciding with the end of Democrat Katie Hobbs' term as secretary of state.

Hobbs, the top election official in Arizona who's now running for governor, says her lawyers are looking at whether this change violates the Arizona Constitution.

"This is a petty, partisan power grab that is absolutely retaliation towards my office," Hobbs said. "It's clear by the fact that it ends when my term ends. ... It is at best legally questionable, but at worst, likely unconstitutional."

Republicans have generally cast the law as a cost-saving measure, citing Hobbs and Brnovich's frequent disagreements over how to defend state election laws that have been challenged in court. In 2020, Hobbs filed complaints with the state bar against Brnovich and other lawyers in his office.

Other election provisions in the budget

The budget includes a number of other election provisions, and it comes weeks after Republicans enacted new restrictions on early voting in the state, and as a controversial review of 2020 election results in Maricopa County continues.

Here are some of the other election-related measures in the budget:

• New laws could soon require watermarks, QR codes and other security measures to be printed on ballots.
• There's a new mandate to inspect state and county voter registration databases and create a report on voters who cast federal-only ballots — an option available to Arizonans who don't show proof of citizenship to register to vote in the state, but are still allowed to register under federal law.
• And a new task force would investigate alleged social media bias as an unreported in-kind political contribution.

The ballot security measures, though not mandated by law in the budget, have the potential to be the most cumbersome and costly requirement for county election officials to implement.

The budget amendment provides a list of 10 "ballot fraud countermeasures" for counties to choose from — features like holographic foil, background designs similar to those found on banknotes and ultraviolet or infrared ink. If mandated, counties would have to implement any combination of at least three features from the list on their ballots. The budget provides $12 million to pay for those features, to be split among Arizona's 15 counties.

"By everyone's admission, there is only one company that can do any of this," said Jennifer Marson, executive director of the Arizona Association of Counties. "And so now, we can't have a competitive bid process or a traditional procurement process at the county or state level to use these countermeasures because we're locked into one company."

That company is Authentix, a Texas-based firm that provided Republican Rep. Mark Finchem with a sample ballot that included watermarks, QR codes and other security measures. Finchem had the sample ballot on display at the Capitol in March. According to the Yellow Sheet Report, it could be five times more expensive to print ballots with those security measures as it is to print paper ballots currently in use.

Marson said Finchem has acknowledged the security levels required of companies in the budget amendment could only be met by Authentix, and has vowed to mandate the ballot security measures in the "very near future."

Finchem defended the company in a brief email. He wrote that Authentix "offers these countermeasures to governments around the world for document and tax stamp security."

As the budget was being considered, Democrats like Sen. Tony Navarrete said the amendment is part of a broad effort to solidify conspiracy theories of election fraud.

"It's important for us to make sure we vote down conspiracy-laced amendments that are going to hurt the integrity of our election system in the state of Arizona and encourage other states to have these bad copycat laws spread like wildfire," he said.

This content is from Southern California Public Radio. View the original story at SCPR.org.

Expanding access to insurance is crucial for strengthening our country’s social safety net, addressing inequality, and building a more resilient society.

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The timing of the Red Sea attacks could not be worse for Democrats (Politico)

Senior research fellow Joseph Glauber is quoted in a Politico story about how the growing military conflict in a key trade corridor is threatening to unleash economic havoc on the global economy ahead of November. “If energy prices go up and remain high, you’d see food inflation persisting,” said Joe Glauber. He added that potential […]

The post The timing of the Red Sea attacks could not be worse for Democrats (Politico) appeared first on IFPRI.

The following is a list of University of Toronto experts who can comment on the Democrats staging a sit-in for gun reform. Jennifer Carlson, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology (U of T Mississauga) Expertise: Gun culture in the U.S., Strength of the NRA Tel: (312) 391‑1433 Email: jennifer.carlson@utoronto.ca Jooyoung Lee, Assistant Professor of Sociology Expertise: Gun violence, Gun […]

To show their support of a future Madame President, Gov. Tim Walz and others in the party are publicly relinquishing male power and privilege.

Marjorie Kelly's new book critiques the U.S. economy's embrace of "wealth supremacy," and explores alternate models of democratic economies.

Washington, D.C.— The future of the film industry is more democratic. That’s the idea behind a Main Stage panel discussion at the 2024 NAB Show in Las Vegas. The team behind “Holy Smokes,” the winner of the Decentralized Pictures Kevin Smith Comedy Short Film Screenplay Award, will dive into the challenges aspiring filmmakers face and explore the groundbreaking shift towards audience-driven filmmaking. The panel features Decentralized Pictures (DCP) Co-founder Roman Coppola (“Moonrise Kingdom,” “The French Dispatch,” and “Darjeeling Limited”), and Actor Mena Suvari (“American Beauty,” “American Pie,” HBO’s “Six Feet Under”), followed by a screening of “Holy Smokes.”

BELGRADE, 4 March 2016 – The Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ambassador Peter Burkhard and the Deputy Head of Mission, Michael Uyehara visited the House of Human Rights (HHR) in Belgrade today, and met representatives of the Civic Initiatives and the Policy Centre, two of the five civil society organizations based at the House.

The meeting completes a round of consultations with civil society actors, which also included the other tenants of the HHR: the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights.

“Civil society organizations play an important role in any modern society and significantly contribute to the quality of democratic processes in Serbia,” said Ambassador Burkhard. The Mission’s leadership noted that the engagement of civil society organizations will also benefit the monitoring of upcoming elections and the electoral campaign.

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KYIV, 15 July 2016 – The OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine today opened a new sphere of project assistance to Ukraine – improving democratic control of defence and security sectors – with a presentation of international experience and best practices at a conference in Kyiv.

The event, co-organized with the Parliament and the Ministry of Defence, brought together more than 120 parliamentarians, military and civilian representatives of various ministries, experts, and civil society activists to learn about the basic principles in this area, as well as practical examples from other countries.

During the conference, the OSCE Code of Conduct on Politico-Military Aspects of Security and the OSCE Security Sector Governance and Reform Guidelines were presented. Ukrainian translations of these documents can be found at www.osce.org/fsc/41355  and www.osce.org/uk/secretariat/253156, respectively.

The participants discussed in detail the national models of parliamentary and civic control over the defence sectors of Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

“The ability of Parliament, and of society at large, to exercise control over its security services is a true litmus test for democracy and rule of law,” said Jeffrey Erlich, Senior Project Officer at the OSCE Project Co-ordinator’s Office. “Such oversight contributes to a much more effective security sector by rooting out corruption, and by strengthening the bond between society and the armed forces.”

Igor Dolgov, Deputy Minister of Defence, said: “For me there is no question of whether it is possible to simultaneously deal with current crisis and implement reforms in defense sectors, including strengthening mechanisms of democratic control over armed forces. It is needed and it is already happening.”

Until the end of the year, the OSCE Project Co-ordinator will provide expertise in developing a concept paper and implementation plan for democratic oversight; assist in promoting dialogue between the military, parliamentarians, experts and civic activists; and contribute to raising awareness among the public by publishing relevant online resources.  Further assistance efforts will continue after 2016.

In partnering with the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of the Armed Forces (DCAF), the project will also draw on their expertise.

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VIENNA, 21 July 2016 – The mass cancellation of broadcasting licenses, criminal investigations against, and dismissal of, hundreds of journalists at the state broadcaster, and blocked websites are the latest, severe challenges to freedom of expression and media freedom in Turkey, Dunja Mijatović, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, said today.

Fully aligning herself with the statement made by the Chairperson-in-Office and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on 16 July, strongly condemning any attempt to change the democratic order of Turkey through the use of force (statement available at www.osce.org/cio/254431), the Representative said:

“Democratically elected governments must be safeguarded, but they in turn must protect media freedom and support the role journalists play in ensuring and strengthening democracies,” Mijatović said.  “Fully recognizing the difficult times that Turkey is going through, the authorities need to ensure media freedom offline and online in line with their international commitments.”

On 19 July, the Radio and Television Supreme Council of Turkey (RTÜK) cancelled the licenses of radio and television stations that allegedly support the Gulen movement. The following television channels are currently affected: STV, Samanyolu Haber, Samanyolu Haber Radyo, Can Erzincan TV, Kanal 124, Yumurcak TV, Hira TV, MC TV, Dünya TV, Kanal Türk, Bugün TV, Mehtap TV, Berfin FM, Kanal Türk Radyo, Burç FM, Samanyolu Haber Radyosu, Radyo Mehtap, Haber Radyo Ege, Dünya Radyo, Radyo Küre, Merkür TV, Esra Radyo, Tuna Shoping TV, and Radyo Anadolu.

“Using the full force of my mandate, I urge the authorities of Turkey to ensure that pluralistic debate, diverging views and safety of journalists are respected,” Mijatović said, adding that the deteriorating media freedom situation in Turkey have been subject to numerous interventions from her Office in the past few years (available at www.osce.org/fom).

Also on 19 July, the Ankara Public Prosecutor’s Office launched an investigation against 370 staff members of the state broadcaster TRT, for their alleged links to the Gulen movement.  

Further, the Representative expressed concern about the rapidly growing number of blocked websites in Turkey. In the past few days, dozens of websites suspected for endangering national security and public order have been blocked. More than 112.000 websites are reported being blocked in the country today.  

Mijatović noted with deep concern reports about death threats being made in social media against journalists critical to the authorities, and emphasized the importance of journalists’ safety. She also recalled warnings in several major media outlets announcing the possible arrests of members of the media on terrorism charges. She said that Turkey holds more journalists in prison than any other OSCE participating State – a fact her Office continuously raises attention to, by regularly publishing a detailed table on imprisoned journalists.

“Freedom of expression does not stop at views deemed appropriate by the government,” Mijatović said. “It remains the role of journalists to inform people of public issues, including highly sensitive ones, and it remains the role of the authorities to ensure that journalists can do so freely and safely.”

The Representative offered the continued assistance and expertise of her Office to the authorities in Turkey ensuring that media freedom and freedom of expression are protected, even under difficult circumstances.

The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media observes media developments in all 57 OSCE participating States. She provides early warning on violations of freedom of expression and media freedom and promotes full compliance with OSCE media freedom commitments. Learn more at www.osce.org/fom, Twitter: @OSCE_RFoM and on www.facebook.com/osce.rfom. 

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The Democratic National Committee names the 20 presidential candidates who qualified for the first pivotal debate at the end of June. A sitting U.S. governor and a congressman are among the four left off the stage. - REUTERS

Readers offer a variety of reasons Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris -- gender bias, the presentation of Harris' policies and Democrats' track record under Joe Biden.

Roofing contractors should pay attention to efforts being made in states and at the federal level to increase paid family and medical leave programs.

Pamela Falk, CBS News Foreign Affairs Analyst, discusses the latest with the US response to ISIS and how the rest of the world is reacting.

President Joe Biden giving up his reelection bid and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris makes her the prohibitive favorite to be nominee in November.

The post Democrats promise an ‘orderly process’ to replace Biden. Harris is favored, but questions remain first appeared on Federal News Network.

Assyrian Democratic Movement - ADM, Zowaa - visit NSW Parliament in Sydney, Australia

A recent poll showed that large numbers of Democrats and young people would rather flee the United States than “stay and fight” if the nation were attacked. This alarming revelation has caused many to criticize Democrats, but the bigger focus should be on why they are wrong.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reflected on last week’s bruising electoral defeats in which Republicans flipped four seats, giving them a 53-seat majority in the Senate, emphasizing Democrats must do a thorough autopsy to understand “the things we did wrong.”  “We have to understand the things we did wrong and we must change,” Schumer […]

I've actually written a lot, but haven't wanted to publish most of it. So many reasons why the Dems lost. Maybe I should just list them.

1. Biden shouldn't have run again. There would have been a primary. Given the result of the election this week, we should have found out what support each candidate had with voters. We didn't get to choose the candidate. That said Harris ran a fantastic campaign.
2. Biden should not have shut down his campaign website. Rather than using it to raise money to feed to the media industry, they should have organized and listened, to develop new channels of communication with voters that were not dependent on journalism. Every time the Dems run a campaign, win or lose, they shut down their connection to the electorate. The voters' only role in the party was when they needed our money and our vote. We were not part of governing. Huge mistake. And I'm not just saying that now, I've said that about every Democratic campaign since Obama. This is probably the biggest single mistake the Dems keep making.
3. We needed a prosecutor at the top of Justice. I don't know what Garland actually did, but I'm sure it will all be swept out by whoever is Trump's AG.
4. Men's votes need to be sought and welcomed, specifically. So much has been done to alienate male voters, which is why so many voted for Trump. We could have had a bunch of them this year, if we had only spoken to them with respect.

I don't know if we can reboot the Democrats as an opposition party given all these problems. Whatever comes next is going to perform very differently from the party that lost this election. If we try to do it again the same old way, it will fail even worse. I think everyone knows this by now.

Rows of armed agents were deployed around the protests in Washington, D.C. this past week, but it was not obvious who they were: They had no name tags, no badge numbers and no emblems to identify which agencies they worked for. Their arrival sparked shock and alarm. Now, Democratic lawmakers are calling for legislation that would make it illegal for these officers to not identify themselves. In the Senate, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) are cosponsoring a bill that would require officers to identify themselves while "engaged in crowd control or arresting individuals involved in civil disobedience or protests in the United States." In the House, Virginia Democrat Don Beyer, whose district is just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is working on similar legislation. "How do we tell these alleged federal police officers from white supremacist militia groups?" Beyer said in an interview Sunday with NPR's Weekend Edition . "How do you ever