#Assembly District 79

[gonzoduran]

COVID Regs Subside, Our Democracy Must Grow

By Gonzalo Duran, interim District Leader for the 79th Assembly District The coronavirus pandemic has changed many of the dynamics in our lives. A great deal of us isolated ourselves during the pandemic, this changed how we conduct a good deal of our outside activities. Everything from how we choose our employment, education, community events, and voting has been altered. The government…

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#Assembly District 79 #Bronx #Bronx District 79 District Leader #City Council 17 #Democracy #Gonzalo Duran #Gonzalo Duran for City Council #NYC Candidate #Pandemic #Politics #Sergeant Gonzalo Duran #Veterans

[beardedmrbean]

The historic corruption trial of ex-Chicago Ald. Edward Burke restarted Tuesday with the questioning of more potential jurors, who so far have been asked everything from whether they know what ward they live in to the names and breeds of their dogs.

One thing the jury pool did not see as they assembled in the 25th Floor ceremonial courtroom for coffee and donuts Tuesday morning: The large wall display featuring famous public corruption cases at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, including former Illinois governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan.

Per the request of Ed Burke’s attorneys, the display, part of larger montage about the court, was covered up with brown paper and cordoned off by a black screen so Burke’s jurors don’t see it.

It is likely that jury selection will stretch into Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall said from the bench as the proceedings began Tuesday.

Burke’s family, including his wife Anne and at least one of his sons, sat in the front row alongside a priest who attended to support the former alderman. Burke swiveled in his chair and smiled broadly at them as they arrived.

Anne Burke, a former state Supreme Court justice, examined a printed copy of a spreadsheet with details about each prospective juror.

Among those questioned Tuesday morning were a social worker who works for an Alzheimer’s organization and a mother of seven who loves NASCAR. A Wicker Park man in his 20s said he already knew a little about the Burke case.

“I’m not sure how impartial I could be,” he said, a little shyly. The judge said they would discuss that at sidebar.

Jury selection got off to a slow start Monday, with attorneys questioning only 20 of the 53 prospective jurors on Monday’s panel. The rest of that group will be questioned Tuesday before another panel of 50 is expected to get its turn.

Kendall has said they need to get about 44 people who make it through “for cause” strikes before proceeding to the next phase.

Among the citizens questioned so far who could decide the fate of a legendary Chicago political figure: a part-time butcher, a Chicago Public Schools teacher, and a retired IRS agent with a passion for roller skating.

The son of a Democratic ward boss and alderman, Burke, 79, served more than 50 years on the City Council and allegedly ran the Finance Committee like his own personal fiefdom before his office was dramatically raided by the FBI in November 2018.

[ From Chicago machine maestro to indicted alderman, Ed Burke’s corruption trial follows half-century of clout ]

When the judge Monday asked the potential jurors if anyone knew Burke, a woman raised her hand and said she knows him from “the country club,” presumably meaning the Beverly Country Club, which was staked out by the FBI as part of the investigation. Kendall said they would ask about it more specifically when it’s the woman’s turn to be interviewed.

The judge and attorneys delved deep into jurors’ hobbies and personal lives, down to their favorite “Ted Lasso” characters and the names of their pets.

Prospective jurors who live in Chicago were asked if they knew who their alderman was. Generally they answered that they did not. A few said they had heard of Burke, but didn’t know details about his case.

Burke is charged with 14 counts including racketeering, federal program bribery, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit extortion and using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity.

Burke’s longtime ward aide, Peter Andrews Jr., 73, is charged with one count of attempted extortion, one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

The third defendant, Cui, 52, of Lake Forest, is charged with one count of federal program bribery, three counts of using interstate commerce to facilitate an unlawful activity, and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.

All three have pleaded not guilty.

At the heart of the indictment are more than a hundred secretly recorded meetings and phone calls allegedly showing Burke using his elected office to win benefits for himself, mostly through business for his private law firm.

Burke’s defense team, meanwhile, will try to show that Burke’s maneuvering was nothing more than politics as usual. In fact, Burke is not charged with performing a single official act as alderman in exchange for anything of value, and some of the projects he allegedly put his thumb on the scale for weren’t even in his ward, his attorneys have argued.

The crux of Burke’s defense will likely be to knock down former Ald. Daniel Solis, who was caught in his own corruption scheme before agreeing in 2016 to become an FBI mole and secretly record Burke and others over a period of nearly two years.

#nunyas news

[oconnor2023]

Brazoria County Property Tax Trends report

O’Connor assembled this information using the preliminary and most recent tax information provided by the Brazoria Central Appraisal District. Read more @ https://www.poconnor.com/brazoria-county-property-tax-protests-for-2023-have-already-reduced-costs-by-almost-79-million/

#Brazoria County #Property Tax Trends report #O'Connor & Associates #property taxes

[woodenoxhouse]

New Design Detachable House WNX231020 Prefabricated Container Homes

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The price of prefabricated detachable container houses is about US$1,400, which is economical and affordable. The color, size, etc. can be customized according to customer needs. The detachable house has a maximum three-story structure and is designed with a galvanized steel frame structure. It is strong and durable, can be freely assembled, and is quick to install.

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[jenringwrites]

WEEKEND ARTINGS: Fun Set, Banned Books, Flamingo-Themed Crafts and More

11 ways to enjoy the arts in Tampa Bay this weekend.

Artwork by Tricia Tierney Moses for Fun Set.

1. Celebrate Green Bench Brewing’s 10th anniversary with Fun Set, a one-night-only St. Pete-themed art show curated by Chad Mize. Thurs. Sept. 28, 7-10 p.m. 1133 Baum Ave. N., St. Petersburg.

2. Catch a night of art openings at the historic Ybor City Kress building. Thurs. Sept. 28, 6-10 p.m. 1624 E. 7th Ave., Tampa.

3. Go to the Frontiers of Impressionism at the Tampa Museum of Art. Opens Thurs. Sept. 28. 120 W Gasparilla Plaza, Tampa.

4. Explore creativity and aging with Dr. Douglas Dreishpoon at the MFA. Thurs. Sept. 28, 6-7 p.m. 255 Beach Dr. NE, St. Petersburg.

5. Experience Tampa Bay through the eyes of its female photographers at the opening reception for “Through Her Eyes” at The University of Tampa’s Ferman Center for the Arts. Fri. Sept. 29, 5:30-7:30 p.m. 214 N Blvd, Tampa.

6. Go behind the scenes of local choreography with projectAlhemy at Momentum Choreographers Showcase. Fri.-Sat. Sept. 29-30, 7:30 p.m. General Admission $15. The Studio@620, 620 1st Ave S, St. Petersburg.

7. Celebrate the arrival of flamingos in Tampa Bay at the Studios@5663 with flamingo-themed crafts. Make flamingo block prints with John Gascot, flamingo earrings with Gianna Pergamo, flamingo magnets with Tricia Lynn Bush, pink woven bookmarks with Emily Stehle, or flamingo ornaments with Urban Dog Studios for $10-15 each. Or, try all five for $45. Sat. Sept. 30, 1-6 p.m. 5663 Park Blvd., Pinellas Park.

8. Watch Tampa Bay muralists battle for a $500 prize at the 2nd Annual St. Pete Art Battle. Sat. Sept. 30, 12-6 p.m. 15 18th St S, St. Petersburg.

9. Try your hand at mosaics with Teresa Sullivan at ArtsXchange in St. Pete. Sat. Sept. 30, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. 515 22nd St S, St Petersburg.

10. See Tampa Rep’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible at Stageworks. Opens Fri. Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m. 1120 E. Kennedy Blvd suite #151, Tampa.

11. Celebrate the arrival of Banned Books Week at Shuffle with readings from the top 13 most challenged books of 2022. Sun, Oct. 1, 5 p.m. 2612 N. Tampa St., Tampa.

#TampaBayArt #ArtEventsTB #TampaArtScene #TampaBayCulture #TampaBayArts #ArtistsInTampaBay #TampaBayWeekend #CreativeCommunity #TBWeekendArt #TampaArtists #TampaBayArtists #TampaArtLife #TBArtsCommunity #ArtistsOfTampaBay #TampaBay #StPetersburg #Instagram

[mariacallous]

September 8 is the first day of Russia’s regional and municipal elections in Russia and in annexed territories of Ukraine. Voting in many places will last three days, September 8–10, according to Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) head Ella Pamfilova. Elections began Friday in 54 regions, including Crimea, the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics,” and the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. Residents in about 30 other regions will also go to the polls this weekend, ending with the country’s unified voting day on September 10. (There’s also early voting, which began on August 20.)

Russia’s CEC will hold more than 4,000 elections at various levels over the next three days. These elections are being held in 79 regions of Russia and six occupied regions of Ukraine. According to officials, 21 regions, including Moscow, will choose governors; 16 regions will select regional legislators; and 12 regional capitals will vote on municipal deputies. Three regions — Karachay-Cherkessia, Krasnoyarsk, and Lipetsk — will hold by-elections for the State Duma, and the city of Khabarovsk will elect a mayor. The Russian authorities have postponed two elections in areas in the Belgorod region that frequently come under attack from across the Ukrainian border.

Twenty-five regions will have an option for online voting, including Moscow, the Moscow region, the Chuvash Republic, the Altai region, the Vladimir region, the Voronezh region, the Tomsk region, and others. Altogether, as many as 22 million voters may take part in online elections. According to Commissioner Pamfilova, electronic voting systems were targeted by more than 5,000 cyberattacks in the hours after they went live this year.

While the results of many of this weekend’s elections are foregone conclusions, there are a few races whose outcomes are still anybody’s guess. Local parliamentary elections in Yakutia and the Nenets Autonomous District (NAO) are worth watching, as these are the only regions where the Communist Party beat the ruling United Russia party in 2021. Additionally, less than half of NAO’s voters supported amending the Russian Constitution in 2020 to extend Putin’s presidency. There’s also the Irkutsk region, where the Communist Party traditionally receives a high percentage of the vote. In the last Zabaykalsky legislative assembly election, United Russia won 28.3 percent of the vote, while the Communist Party and the far-right Liberal Democratic Party of Russia won 24.6 percent each.

This weekend’s vote will also be the first time Russia’s CEC holds elections in the annexed Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” and Ukraine’s annexed Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, each of which will elect members to its Russian-installed “parliaments.” The CEC reported on September 7 that 45 percent of voters cast their ballots early in the “DNR,” 26 percent voted early in the “LNR,” 28 percent voted early in the Zaporizhzhia region, and 53 percent voted early in the Kherson region. Russia is also holding elections for “city councils” in Donetsk, Luhansk, Melitopol (Zaporizhzhia region), and Henichesk (Kherson region). According to the head of the occupation administration in the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, foreign observers will monitor the elections, including from “friendly countries” outside the former Soviet Union.

Occupation authorities in newly annexed regions decided to hold elections despite ongoing fighting, and they reported artillery attacks on the first day of voting. On the morning of September 8, CEC Deputy Commissioner Nikolai Bulayev reported that members of the “regional election commission” in the Kherson region moved to a different location due to the risk of a missile attack. CEC head Ella Pamfilova reported that the “local election commission” was moved twice the same day for security reasons. The agency also reported that Russian air defenses downed two drones attempting to attack a polling station in the region. A commission representative blamed the attack on Ukrainian troops.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Washington will never recognize the results of elections conducted by Russia on annexed territories in Ukraine. He added that the U.S. may impose sanctions and visa restrictions against “any individuals who may support Russia’s sham elections in Ukraine, including by acting as so-called ‘international observers.’”

The election most likely to pose problems for the Kremlin this year is the gubernatorial race in Khakassia. State Duma deputy and United Russia member Sergey Sokol withdrew from the race one week before the start of voting, citing health problems. Meanwhile, Valentin Konovalov, the head of the region who won by picking up the protest vote in 2018, is running for reelection.

Elections in Moscow are being held from September 8–10. Residents will vote for a mayor and deputies in the 13 municipalities that make up New Moscow. Voting began online and at more than 2,000 polling sites at 8:00 a.m. on September 8 and will last until 8:00 p.m. on September 10. More than 2 million cash prizes ranging from 1,000 rubles ($10) to 5,000 rubles ($50) will be raffled to online voters. More than 500,000 people cast their votes in the first four hours of online voting, according to state media.

Incumbent Mayor Sergey Sobyanin faces off against State Duma Deputy Speaker Boris Chernyshov (LDPR), State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladislav Davankov (New People party), Moscow City Duma deputy Leonid Zyuganov (Communist Party), and Dmitry Gusev, the first deputy head of A Just Russia’s faction in the State Duma.

Jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny has urged voters to cast ballots for “any candidate against United Russia.” In a post on his blog, Navalny wrote: “Go to the elections with the goal of doing the maximum amount of harm possible to the party in power and its candidates.”

[opedguy]

Bass Takes Out Big Guns in Mayor’s Race

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Oct. 29, 2022.--Bringing out all the big guns in the Democrat Party,  69-year-old former Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif.) starts to see the handwriting on the wall, her big lead over 63-year-old billionaire developer Rick Caruso has evaporated heading into Nov. 8.  Bass has the endorsement of every big wig in the Democrat Party, current and past.  Los Angeles voters, at least some, resent the meddling from out-of-state politicians that can’t fathom the depth of the problems left to the City of Los Angeles by 51-year old Mayor Eric Garcetti, who rode his way to mayor largely on his father’s reputation as District Attorney Gil Garcetti.  But for years, since taking office July 1, 2013, Eric had his eyes on higher office or at least an appointment, which he finally received in 2020 after 79-year-old President Joe Biden took office Jan. 30, 2022.  Garcetti got his sought-after appointment as ambassador to India, only to get stalled in the Senate.

Garcetti, a liberal Democrat, created through his own negligence and incompetence, a cesspool in Los Angeles, with homeless encampments and trash proliferating on Los Angeles streets.  Things got so bad in 2015, Cholera hit certain homeless encampments where Garcetti didn’t have the decency to provide port-a-potties to homeless encampments where street people were living, breathing, and sleeping in their own human waste.  “I am asking Los Angeles to vote for Karen Bass for mayor,” former President Barack Obama said in a video message released by the Bass campaign.  “I know Karen, she was with me in supporting my campaign from the beginning, and Karen bass will deliver results . . “ Obama said, knowing, Garcetti, another liberal Democrat, did nothing but leave the City of Los Angeles in a rubbish heap.  Bass has zero private sector experience dealing with housing and the homeless.

National brand name politicians don’t have a clue what’s happening in Los Angeles. They go to fundraisers in Beverly Hills, Bel Air or Brentwood, having no idea what’s happening on Los Angeles streets.   Over Garcetti’s eight year term, the City has been buried in trash and homeless encampments with the Mayor and City Council working with nonprofits to buy homeless tents to pitch on the streets, under overpasses, and anywhere where there’s a place to put them.  Garcetti agreed with San Franciso’s Ninth Circuit Court ruling Sept. 20, 2018 that municipalities must let homeless live on the streets when there’s no alternative housing. Garcetti fully embraced the Ninth Circuit Court ruling allowing homeless to proliferate on Los Angeles streets like the plague.  Bass holds exactly the same views as Garcetti and other liberal Democrats and will do nothing to fix the problem.

    Bass has been a career politician, doing nothing in her time in the California State Assembly to work on the homeless problem.  Bass was elected the head of the Congressional Black Caucus in 2019, presiding during the George Floyd murder and four months of rioting around the country.  Bass watched federal buildings around the country torched, neighborhoods seized and she did nothing, other than agree with Black Lives Matter to de-fund the police. How’s that suppose to work in Los Angeles where inner city crime is at it highest level in years?  Bass doesn’t talk about law-and-order because she favors de-funding the police and re-allocating city resources to social services, another failed Democrat strategy.  So, when it comes to Obama’s endorsement, or that of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, what’s that going to do for the trash-heap known as Los Angeles?

Bass wants all the big endorsements, including the Los Angeles Times, because her campaign is failing, with Caruso methodically telling his story to the voters of Los Angeles.  Caruso actually told the public of his plan of building thousands of units to accommodate the growing homeless population.  Bass would take the baton from Garcetti and do nothing to fix the horrendous problems facing the city.  Obama says Bass will deliver “results,” but what kind of results?  De-funding the police, buying more tents and outhouses for homeless encampments?  If you take national endorsements seriously, Bass wins City Hall without much resistance.  But voters in Los Angeles are onto the fake endorsements knowing nothing about what the city faced under Garcetti and what it would face under Bass.  Karen has always been on the right side of the issues we care so deeply about . . “ said Obama.

Bass finds her campaign sinking because voters figured out that things got worse under the last liberal Democrat Mayor Eric Garcetti.  Garcetti has been kept off the campaign trail for mayor because he’s radioactive.  Bass wants the public duped with all her national endorsements, without recognizing that things have become intolerable on Los Angeles streets under Garcetti.  Caruso gives Los Angeles residents hope that someone with a known reputation for beautifying the city can make a difference finally, after years of neglect at City Hall. Caruso has a proven track record of urban renewal and taking run down neighborhoods and turning them into special places.  Bass has a track record of only serving her own community or whatever causes advance her agenda.  Los Angeles is lucky to have a person of Caruso’s caliber and character willing to sacrifice to help improve lives in Los Angeles.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.

[phroyd]

In Pennsylvania, President Trump and Republicans loyal to him have sought to overturn his defeat by making false claims about widespread voting fraud in Philadelphia.

In Georgia, they have sought to reverse his loss by leveling similar accusations against Atlanta.

In Michigan, Republicans have zeroed in on Detroit, whose elections system the president has falsely portrayed as so flawed that its entire vote should be thrown out.

Lost on no one in those cities is what they have in common: large populations of Black voters.

And there is little ambiguity in the way Mr. Trump and his allies are falsely depicting them as bastions of corruption.

“‘Democrat-led city’ — that’s code for Black,” said the Rev. William J. Barber II, the president of the civil rights group Repairers of the Breach. “They’re coupling ‘city’ and ‘fraud,’ and those two words have been used throughout the years. This is an old playbook being used in the modern time, and people should be aware of that.”

Mr. Trump’s fruitless and pyromaniacal campaign to somehow reverse President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory in the election rests on the wholesale disenfranchisement of hundreds of thousands of voters, a disproportionate number of them Black Americans living in the urban centers of Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Notably absent from the effort has been any focus on predominantly white suburban areas where the president performed better, but where he lost ground compared with four years ago and arguably lost the election.

The campaign is not Mr. Trump’s alone. He has had help from supporters and allies throughout the country, as well as from the Republican National Committee and its state branches.

And, in a year in which the nation elected its first Black vice president, Senator Kamala Harris of California, the push represents a newly conspicuous phase of a decades-long effort by the Republican Party to expand power through the suppression of voters of color. Those voters have largely remained loyal to the Democrats while Republicans consistently win the white vote.

Over the past several years, that Republicans’ effort has consisted mostly of new state and local election laws that, in the name of combating fraud, have restricted voting in ways that often place a disproportionate burden on Black and Latino voters. Civil rights leaders and Democrats have cited these laws as not-so-subtle efforts at voter suppression, and, in several court cases, judges have agreed.

Mr. Trump has frequently maligned Black leaders and cities. He applauded Black voters who chose not to vote in 2016 even as he has claimed to have done more for Black Americans than any president since Abraham Lincoln. And he has not flinched in pursuing what Vanita Gupta, the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, called “a return to very blatant Jim Crow tactics — to just try to throw out validly cast ballots and targeting certain cities that are Black-majority.”

Ms. Gupta, who was the chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division under President Barack Obama, added: “People will say this isn’t the intent, the intent is more partisan. But I think what we are seeing through this election cycle is that in many instances it can appear motivated by partisan politics, but in the end the victims are Black voters.”

Over the weekend, Mr. Trump shared on Twitter his hope that the courts or state lawmakers would throw out the popular vote entirely in states he lost, effectively allowing legislatures to submit their own, pro-Trump slates of electors to the Electoral College.

His lawsuits trying to scuttle the state-by-state certification process that will cement Mr. Biden’s presidency at the Electoral College have failed miserably — including in a stinging dismissal on Saturday by a federal judge in Pennsylvania — and he has put more pressure on local officials to intervene on his behalf.

His effort faces two tests on Monday. Pennsylvania counties are set to submit their certified vote totals. And Michigan’s four-member state canvassing board has its deadline to certify the state’s election results. At least one of its two Republican members has indicated he may not do so because of minor irregularities in Wayne County, which includes Detroit.

State officials and election lawyers say it is highly unlikely that even a failure by the canvassing board to certify would ultimately cost Mr. Biden the state in the Electoral College. But the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the nation’s oldest civil rights law firm, is not taking any chances with the votes from Detroit, with a population that is 79 percent Black.

In a lawsuit it filed against Mr. Trump and his campaign over the weekend, the firm said, “Defendants are openly seeking to disenfranchise Black voters,” adding, “Defendants’ tactics repeat the worst abuses in our nation’s history, as Black Americans were denied a voice in American democracy for most of the first two centuries of the republic.”

The firm said Mr. Trump’s attempt to pressure the Michigan canvassing board and the State Legislature was a violation of the provision against voter intimidation in the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

That provision, initially devised to crack down on tactics meant to drive Black and Hispanic voters away from the polls, stipulates that it is illegal “to intimidate, threaten or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote.” The NAACP Legal Defense Fund is asking the Federal District Court in Washington to order the party to cease its pressure campaign.

“The Voting Rights Act of 1965 flatly prohibits defendants’ efforts to disenfranchise Black people,” the suit reads. “This is a moment that many of us hoped to never face. But here we are, and the law is clear.”

It was the Voting Rights Act, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson against the wishes of some of his fellow Southern Democrats, that truly started the Republicans on a path to impose limits on voting in the name of fighting election fraud, for which little evidence exists.

The G.O.P. was the original party of civil rights during slavery and afterward. But during the 1960s and beyond it sought to appeal to disaffected, segregationist Democrats through a so-called Southern strategy.

As the percentage of nonwhite voters in the country grew, Democrats began to gain an edge. Republican governors and legislatures enacted a raft of new voting laws, such as requirements that voters at the polls show types of official photo identification that Black and Hispanic people were disproportionately less likely to have.

Mr. Barber said the victory by Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris was all the more remarkable given that it came in the face of those changes in voting laws, showing that “when people have an opportunity to vote, they will clearly vote their interests.”

Mr. Trump’s campaign against the results has focused on moves by state and local officials to make voting easier during the coronavirus pandemic, particularly mail voting.

But the degree to which the president is now pinpointing voters of color for disenfranchisement is striking even by modern Republican standards, especially after he performed better with Black voters this year than he did four years ago.

Mayor Tom Barrett of Milwaukee noted in an interview that Mr. Trump was hyper-focused on his city, which is about 39 percent Black and 19 percent Latino, and not on the predominantly white and Republican-leaning suburbs outside it, which had the same regulations that the Trump campaign was challenging in Milwaukee.

“We are absolutely witnessing in real time an effort to disenfranchise people of color throughout Milwaukee County,” said Mr. Barrett, a Democrat. (The president is also pressing for a recount in Dane County, a predominantly white area of Wisconsin with a considerable college student population.)

In Pennsylvania, Mayor Jim Kenney of Philadelphia, also a Democrat, pointed to the Republican-led General Assembly’s refusal to allow election officials to begin processing absentee ballots early as a direct attack on the vote in his city, which would struggle under the sheer volume of votes while more rural and white counties would have a much easier time processing votes.

“There were efforts right from the very beginning,” Mr. Kenney said.

Perhaps nowhere was the targeting of Black votes more explicit than in Wayne County, Mich., home to Detroit. Though Republicans pressured the Wayne County board of canvassers not to certify the vote, the number of precincts with slightly mismatched data was lower than it was in 2016, when Mr. Trump won the states by a smaller vote margin that was certified unanimously.

In initially resisting the certification of Wayne County’s votes, one of the Republican board members, Monica Palmer, said she was willing to certify every municipality in the county except Detroit, even though some cities, like the largely white Livonia, had worse irregularities. (Ms. Palmer and her fellow Republican on the board, William Hartmann, did vote to certify but have since said they were unfairly pressured into doing so.)

The Republican effort this election cycle, and its focus on disenfranchising so many Black voters, threaten to have a lasting effect on the party, current and former party members said.

“The totality of what Trump is doing and the party is supporting, combined with having the first African-American female vice president — I think it’s difficult to comprehend how much this is going to have an impact,” said Stuart Stevens, a former Republican strategist for Mr. Bush and Mitt Romney who is now an adviser to the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project.

Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said, “How do any of the reported candidates for 2024 come back and say, ‘Oh well, we were silent while the president was trying to throw out the votes in Detroit and Milwaukee and Philadelphia, but overlook that, and support the party and support us now’?”

“It makes no sense,” he added, “for getting support in the Black community going forward.”

Phroyd

#gop #election2020 #disenfranchisement #racism

[phoenixresidences6-blog]

Phoenix Residences

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For those whom had enlisted on the web, you will be ensured of making the most of our Direct Developer Price with NO COMMISSION payable by you.

In the event that you had enrolled an online meeting with us, you don't need to enlist again to maintain a strategic distance from duplication. It would be ideal if you be guaranteed that we will reach you in 1-hour time to affirm your arrangement. An email will likewise be sent to you once enlisted with us.

We are right now in the Phase 1 of Registration of Interest for our VVIP Preview. Register your Interest ahead of schedule to be the first to see our delightful Showflat once its prepared for review.

We will refresh Phoenix Residences Balance Units Chart and Phoenix Residences Pricing in this official site once the undertaking is propelled.

It would be ideal if you note that all equalization units available to be purchased at Phoenix Residences depend on first-start things out serve premise. For any booking of unit, it is liable to the board's endorsement and not over 2 hours.

Kindly don't miss this uncommon new condominium dispatch close MRT. Just 79 elite units are accessible. Register now for Phoenix Residences VVIP Preview.

Phoenix Residences Price is liable to change moving forward without any more notification.

.

Writeup

Phoenix Residences the previous Phoenix Heights is a forthcoming extravagance condominium at Phoenix Avenue in the Bukit Panjang Estate. This new apartment suite advancement venture was made sure about through a fruitful delicate of $33.1million in 2018 by the Group's related organization, USB Holdings Pte Ltd at 71-85 Phoenix Avenue. A new multi year rent was allowed by the Authority to Phoenix Residences. It includes 79 units of 5 story private improvement which is minutes' stroll to Phoenix LRT (BP5) and Bukit Panjang MRT station (DT1). Downtown line is very much associated with Central Business District (CBD) and downtown which makes driving to the remainder of Singapore for work and relaxation no sweat.

The advancement highlights 79 extravagance units from 1 room to 4 room units type to provide food the requirements for both clever financial specialists and homebuyers. Phoenix Residences gives different offices, for example, the pool, lap pool, open air structure, BBQ pits, private capacity rooms and vehicle leaves. Attendant Services is likewise solely accommodated the inhabitants of Phoenix Residences apartment suite.

Phoenix Residences Singapore proprietors can appreciate the comfort of shopping, feasting and diversion at the close by shopping centers, for example, Hillion Mall, Junction 10, Bukit Panjang Plaza and Teck Whye Shopping Center.

Concerning guardians' thought of encompassing schools, we have West View Primary School, South View Primary School, Beacon Primary, CHIJ our Lady Queen of Peace, Bukit Panjang Primary, Green Ridge Primary, Kranji Secondary School, Dunearn Secondary, Fajar Secondary School, Assumption English School, Teck Whye Secondary School and Crest Secondary which are close to this new dispatch apartment suite improvement.

Phoenix Residences is under Choa Chu Kang URA Masterplan and Bukit Panjang URA Masterplan. By 2020, forthcoming new peddler community and coordinated human services offices will be prepared at Senja. Encompassing occupants can anticipate a recently overhauled Choa Chu Kang sports complex by 2020 and a recently constructed Safra Clubhouse at Choa Chu Kang town park by 2022.

Inhabitants of Phoenix Residences apartment suite will get the chance to observe every one of these changes and redesigning sooner rather than later.

Every single confident proprietor can peruse and download both Phoenix Residences Floor Plan and Phoenix Residences E-Brochure here.

Engineer Page

In 1966, Mr. Or then again Kim Peow set up Or Kim Peow Contractor drawing in Civil Engineering Works with PWD. With the quick extension of the organization, Or Kim Peow Contractors (Private) Limited was consolidated in 1977 to assume control over the current business of the sole-ownership. OKP kept on growing its business and set up its track records of structural designing and foundation ventures in Singapore. OKP is a pioneer in structural designing and framework industry in Singapore where the gathering ability is in the development and upkeep of interstates flyovers, air terminal runways and runways, air terminal foundation and oil and gas framework for oil stockpiling terminals and petrochemical plants. The gathering has been continually offering effectively in both open and private segments for framework and structural designing and building ventures throughout the previous 50 years. We have differentiated our portfolios to property improvement and speculation. We were recorded in Singapore trade on 26th July 02.

Over the 50 years, we had built up cozy associations with our customers from both private associations and open parts. For open segments, we have JTC Corporation, Urban Redevelopment Authority(URA), Housing Development Board(HDB), Land Transport Authority(LTA) and some more. For Private associations, we have customers from WorleyParsons Pte Ltd, Changi Airport Group, ExxonMobil and numerous others.

OKP's ceaseless endeavors and commitments to the business and Singapore has been perceived by the business and has therefore gotten numerous honors and awards. The Group keeps on maintaining its strategic giving top quality homes to all buyers.

We were highlighted in August 2010 for Forbes Asia's "Best Under A Billion" list, Merit for the Singapore Corporate Governance Award under Mainboard Small Caps classification, Best Annual Report Award (Gold) in the "Organizations with under $300 million market capitalisation", Top 200 firms in the Asia-Pacific locale and some more.

In 2011, OKP fused an entirely claimed auxiliary partnership, OKP Land Pte. Ltd. The vital business exercises of OKP Land Pte. Ltd. are venture holding and property advancement.

In 2012, OKP engaged with an enbloc acquisition of an apartment suite hinder at 8 Amber Road to build up a top notch venture – Amber Skye.

[gonzoduran]

Analyzing the Impact of Free Turkey Distribution in the Bronx

I want to make it clear from the outset that I harbor no animosity towards turkeys or the act of distributing them freely during the holidays. I eagerly anticipate the day when I can significantly contribute to the community by providing turkeys for meals, or even meals themselves on a larger scale, just as I have done over the years. Reflecting on my childhood, my mother never had to request or…

View On WordPress

#Assembly District 79 #Buying your votes #District Leader #Free Turkeys #Gonzalo Duran #Gonzalo Duran 79th Assembly District Leader #Sergeant Gonzalo Duran

[phoenixresidences0-blog]

Phoenix Residences

Phoenix Residences

Phoenix Residences (Former Phoenix Heights) is a key 99-Years improvement eminently acquainted with you by OKP Holdings Limited. Mr. Or then again clearly Kim Peow

started Or Kim Peow Contractor in 1966 pulling in Civil Engineering Works with PWD. With the canny improvement of the affiliation, Or Kim Peow Contractors (Private) Limited

was researched 1977 to see authority over the to and fro development business of the sole-possession. OKP kept structure up its business and set up its track records of key

secluding through and structure encounters in Singapore. OKP is a pioneer in central planning and structure industry in Singapore where far is in the befuddling new unanticipated

turn of events and sponsorship of ways flyovers, air terminal runways and runways, air terminal establishment and petrochemical plants and oil overseeing terminals. The gathering

has been perpetually offering fittingly in both open and private parts for system and fundamental structure and separating through searches for after for the last 50 years.  We have

confined our portfolios to property improvement and speculation. We were recorded in Singapore exchange on 26th July 02.

Phoenix Residences will be OKP Holdings Limited latest private movement in zone 23 along Phoenix Avenue.

Phoenix Residences space suite offers 1 space to 4 room units types that will suit every single money related star and property holders needs. Dazzling buyers can look at forward

for top quality see from OKP Holdings Limited.

Phoenix Residences Pricing is to be tended to soon. Phoenix Residences will be quickly evaluated for all ideal riser picked buyers. The executives will report once the Phoenix

Residences Showroom is set up for study. Do pick unequivocally on time as originator's VVIP guest for direct information, for instance, Phoenix Residences Floor Plan, Phoenix

Residences E-flyer and Phoenix Residences Pricing. VVIP Guest will be invited for the primary day Preview Launch with pulling in fashioner refund.

Zone

Phoenix Residences is confined at a prime zone in zone 23, along Phoenix Avenue in Bukit Panjang space. This new townhouse suite is in a private enclave of landed houses. 375m

to Phoenix LRT (BP5) 2 stations to Bukit Panjang MRT (DT1) a Downtown line which offers you to downtown and Central Business District.

For inhabitants who drive using their private vehicle, Phoenix Residences Singapore is superbly made near Upper Bukit Timah Road, a chief compose point assistant between both

Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) and Bukit Timah Expressway (BKE), making wandering out to the rest of Singapore a breeze.

Phoenix Residences space suite is under both Choa Chu Kang URA masterplan and Bukit Panjang URA masterplan. By 2020, Upcoming new merchant sort out and connected

with obliging affiliations working conditions will be set up at Senja. Checking inhabitants can imagine a beginning late redesignd Choa Chu Kang sports complex by 2020 and a

beginning late assembled Safra Clubhouse at Choa Chu Kang town park by 2022.

Upbeat buyers looking at continually food supplies shopping, NTUC Fairprice, Sheng Siong, and Giant Hypermart are a short walk and drive away from Phoenix Residences

space suite. For eating and fulfillment decisions, they can go to Hillion Mall, Junction 10, Bukit Panjang Plaza and Teck Whye Shopping Center.

Concerning screens sourcing for solid schools, West View Primary School, South View Primary School, Beacon Primary, CHIJ our Lady Queen of Peace, Bukit Panjang Primary,

Green Ridge Primary, Kranji Secondary School, Dunearn Secondary, Fajar Secondary School, Assumption English School, Teck Whye Secondary School and Crest Secondary

are near this new dispatch space improvement.

Sure owners of Phoenix Residences can analyze truly bounteous solaces in the wrapping with the Phoenix Residences territory map.

Showflat

For Phoenix Residences showflat structure booking, generously register through this site or on an especially fundamental level dial our Developer Sales Hotline [phone]

going before pushing toward point of view Phoenix Residences Showroom.

Contemplating standard of increment together power, Phoenix Residences Showflat won't be accessible to individuals everything considered at any rate through APPOINTMENT

as is by and large said. As requirements be it is perseveringly fitting to ensure about a web approach before coming down to the showflat.

For those whom had singled out the web, you will be guaranteed of benefitting despite much as could be standard from our Direct Developer Price with NO COMMISSION

payable by you.

If you had picked a web meeting with us, you don't have to choose again to keep up a key better than standard ways from duplication. You should be ensured that we will interface

with you in 1-hour time to verbalize your framework. An email will other than be sent to you once picked with us.

We are correct now in the Phase 1 of Registration of Interest for our VVIP Preview. Register your Interest before plan to be the first to see our famous Showflat once its readied

for study.

We will bolster Phoenix Residences Balance Units Chart and Phoenix Residences Pricing in this official site once the endeavor is moved.

You should see that the entire night out units accessible to be bought at Phoenix Residences rely upon first-start things out serve premise. For any holding of unit, it is

accomplished for upon the board's ensuring and not more than 2 hours.

Indulgently don't miss this recognizable new condominium suite dispatch close MRT. Only 79 world class units are open. Register now for Phoenix Residences VVIP Preview.

Phoenix Residences Price is left to change pushing ahead with no warning.

.

Writeup

Phoenix Residences the past Phoenix Heights is a pending excess space suite at Phoenix Avenue in the Bukit Panjang Estate. This new space suite headway experience was

ensured about through a strong perilous of $33.1million in 2018 by the Group's related alliance, USB Holdings Pte Ltd at 71-85 Phoenix Avenue. Another multi year lease was

permitted by the Authority to Phoenix Residences. It joins 79 units of 5 story private improvement which is minutes' walk around Phoenix LRT (BP5) and Bukit Panjang MRT

station (DT1). Downtown line is especially connected with Central Business District (CBD) and downtown which makes scrambling toward the rest of Singapore for work and

slackening up no issue using any structures.

The improvement features 79 extravagance units from 1 space to 4 room units type to give food the necessities to both unstable cash related experts and homebuyers. Phoenix

Residences gives assembled working situations, for instance, the pool, lap pool, outside structure, BBQ pits, private cutoff rooms and vehicle leaves. Authority Services is in like

manner just obliged the tenants of Phoenix Residences space suite.

Phoenix Residences Singapore owners can regard the solace of shopping, eating up and redirection at the near strip shopping centers, for instance, Hillion Mall, Junction 10, Bukit

Panjang Plaza and Teck Whye Shopping Center.

Concerning gatekeepers' idea of including schools, we have West View Primary School, South View Primary School, Beacon Primary, CHIJ our Lady Queen of Peace, Bukit

Panjang Primary, Green Ridge Primary, Kranji Secondary School, Dunearn Secondary, Fajar Secondary School, Assumption English School, Teck Whye Secondary School and

Crest Secondary which are near this new dispatch space suite improvement.

Phoenix Residences is under Choa Chu Kang URA Masterplan and Bukit Panjang URA Masterplan. By 2020, unavoidable new shipper engineer and made human affiliations

working conditions will be set up at Senja. Joining tenants can envision a beginning late redesignd Choa Chu Kang sports complex by 2020 and a beginning late gathered Safra

Clubhouse at Choa Chu Kang town park by 2022.

Occupants of Phoenix Residences space suite will find the opportunity to watch these sudden new developments and reestablishing soon.

Each and every express owner can think about and download both Phoenix Residences Floor Plan and Phoenix Residences E-Brochure here.

Authority Page

In 1966, Mr. Or of course Kim Peow set up Or Kim Peow Contractor pulling in Civil Engineering Works with PWD. With the capable development of the association, Or Kim

Peow Contractors (Private) Limited was taken a gander at 1977 to see authority over the current business of the sole-possession. OKP kept structure up its business and set up its

track records of fundamental separating through and establishment endeavors in Singapore. OKP is a pioneer in head arranging and structure industry in Singapore where past what

many would consider conceivable is in the new unexpected new turn of events and upkeep of interstates flyovers, air terminal runways and runways, air terminal establishment and

oil and gas system for oil gathering terminals and petrochemical plants. The get-together has been continually offering conceivably in both open and private spaces for structure

and central filtering through and storing up endeavors all through the past 50 years. We have restricted our portfolios to property improvement and speculation. We were recorded

in Singapore exchange on 26th July 02.

Over the 50 years, we had made staggering relationship with our clients from both private affiliations and open parts. For open zones, we have JTC Corporation, Urban

Redevelopment Authority(URA), Housing Development Board(HDB), Land Transport Authority(LTA) and some more. For Private affiliations, we have clients from

WorleyParsons Pte Ltd, Changi Airport Group, ExxonMobil and masterminded others.

OKP's unremitting undertakings and obligations to the business and Singapore has been seen by the business and has in like manner gotten distinctive cutoff centers and yields.

[crime--europe]

On 26 July, 2015, dogs sniffed out the remains of 79-year-old Valentina Ulanova at an apartment building in St. Petersburg, Russia. She had been decapitated and her body parts spread out in seven different garbage bags. Parts of her flesh were missing, and police believe Valentina was partially cannibalised. CCTV and blood trails on the floor of the apartment building led police to the door of 68-year-old Tamara Samsonova, who had been working as a caregiver for Valentina. When police arrived at Tamara’s apartment, she confessed to killing Valentina, as well as three others and was detained as the police searched her home and found diaries, written in German, English, and Russian. In one of her diaries, it read: ‘’I killed my tenant, Volodya, I cut him into pieces in the bathroom with a knife and put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away in the different parts of the Frunzensky District.’’ Tamara admitted to drugging her 79-year-old roommate after she explained that she did not want to share an apartment with her anymore. After drugging Valentina, she then cut her up into pieces and boiled her severed head. Security footage of the apartment complex showed Tamara carrying the head of the woman in a large saucepan. Coincidentally, Tamara’s husband supposedly disappeared in 2005 and is, therefore, also a suspect in his disappearance. It is thought that she has killed more than 14 people over the course of two decades. Tamara suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and has been admitted to psychiatric hospitals in the past. In court after being remanded in custody, Tamara told assembled journalists, ‘’I knew you would come.’’ And later blew a kiss to the cameras.  Tamara Samsonova is infamously dubbed as “ Russia’s “Granny Ripper”.

#True Crime #Russia #Cannibalism

[woodenoxhouse]

Container Frame - WOODENOX

Container frames are widely used in the basic assembly of various prefabricated container houses, which can be assembled into residences, labor camps, temporary offices, canteens, hotels, schools, hospitals, etc.

If you have any container frame request, please feel free to contact us. 

Subscribe us NOW to get the latest news!

#container frame #frame #building materials #container house #modular homes #prefab house #building #real estate #construction #steel construction #galvanized #galvanized steel

[bountyofbeads]

Hong Kong protesters defy ban as clashes escalate on key pro-democracy anniversary

By Shibani Mahtani and Timothy McLaughlin | Published August 31 at 9:47 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted August 31, 2019 10:19 AM ET |

HONG KONG — Protesters hurled firebombs and set blazes Saturday across Hong Kong as they defied warnings to stay off the streets on a key pro-democracy anniversary — touching off some of the most dramatic clashes during 13 weeks of unrest over Beijing’s influence on the territory.

Parts of central Hong Kong were thick with smoke after piles of rubbish and debris used to block advancing police were set ablaze by protesters. Some demonstrators armed themselves with metal poles and hammers and carried makeshift shields for protection.

Demonstrators were pursued through the city, chased by riot police using the full arsenal of their crowd control tools: volleys of tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets  and huge numbers of officers wielding batons. Water cannons use blue dye in an apparent effort to mark protesters.

Protesters on Saturday were marking an especially significant day in Hong Kong’s political history: Five years ago, Beijing announced a plan for only limited democracy in the semiautonomous territory, kicking off a 79-day occupation of city streets that invigorated a new generation of Hong Kong activists. 

The intensity of Saturday’s scenes underscored how neither protesters nor Hong Kong authorities are holding back, and the city looks even further from a resolution to the months-long crisis. 

Authorities had banned a march, organized by a group known for their ability to pull off large and non-violent assemblies, but tens of thousands showed up anyway.

“Of course I am not afraid of [the government],” said Eddie Wong, a 62-year-old protesters wearing a black face mask. “They want us to feel fear, but they are totally wrong about who were are.” 

A procession earlier in the day turned violent after several hours when police shot off tear gas to clear the crowd. The main focal point early in the day was Harcourt Road, outside Hong Kong’s legislative complex which protesters occupied some weeks earlier. 

Protesters responded with bricks, home-made gasoline bombs and flashed lasers at officers shooting at them. A forceful police advance sent them into the Wan Chai and Causeway Bay neighborhoods — known for their neon-lit bars and glitzy shopping malls. 

The clashes turned the city’s heart into a dizzying mix of flames, tear gas and deafening shouts from protesters and police alike. Two government helicopters hovered over the scene for hours.

The protesters had gathered despite authorities barring their march and after police arrested almost a dozen prominent activists and pro-democracy lawmakers the day before — widely perceived as a deliberately timed deterrent against further demonstrations.

A now-suspended plan to allow extraditions to mainland China floated earlier this year has again reawakened the sense that Hong Kong does not control its own future, and millions have taken to the streets over past months to protest Beijing’s creeping influence. 

China has responded with hardening rhetoric, branding the protesters rioters and even terrorists, while police have arrested over 800. 

On Saturday, China’s state broadcaster released a video of paramilitary police in Shenzhen conducting armed drills, a city that borders Hong Kong, with the caption: “Able to attack at any time!”

Hong Kong’s government has so far refused to give in to any of the protesters’ demands, including a full withdrawal of the extradition bill and an independent inquiry into the crisis and police use of force, despite widespread support for the two concessions. 

“Five years ago today marked the end of a constructive dialogue with the Chinese government,” said Johnson Yeung, a veteran activist who was arrested at a demonstration last month who was taking part in Saturday’s march. “They took true control of the executive branch of Hong Kong’s government.”

He added, “It really raised the bar for people and it laid the foundation of the civil resistance movement that is happening now.”

On Saturday, apparently responding to protesters’ demands for direct elections of Hong Kong’s leader and lawmakers, a government spokesperson issued a statement saying that universal suffrage is “an ultimate aim” but require constitutional changes which are “extremely controversial.”

“Rashly embarking on political reform again will further polarize society, which is an irresponsible act,” the government said.

The Civil Human Rights Front, the group behind huge, nonviolent demonstrations over recent months, had initially planned a rally through central Hong Kong to mark the anniversary. Police however declined to authorize the march, even after an appeal. The group on Friday said they would be canceling the rally.

“Our first principle is always to protect all the participants and make sure that no one could bear legal consequences for participating in the protests that we organized,” said Bonnie Leung, one of the leaders of the group. “We can see no way that we can keep this principle, and also continue our march and protest.” 

Some participants couched their procession in religious songs and paraphernalia, hoping that a religious gathering was a way to get around the police ban. Some carried bibles, posters of Jesus and Moses, and repeatedly sang: “Sing Hallelujah to the Lord,” a song that has become among the unofficial protest anthems. 

A separate group gathered in Causeway Bay, one of the main shopping districts in Hong Kong. They found creative ways of advertising their gathering — a day of mass shopping, a day of “viewing flowers” in neighboring parks — to get around the police ban. Among the marchers in Causeway Bay was Joshua Wong, a prominent activist and the face of the 2014 protests, who had been arrested and released on bail Friday. 

By midafternoon, police issued multiple warnings telling protesters to stop their “illegal acts” and repeated that protesters were participating in an illegal assembly, raising the specter of more arrests and clashes. Authorities had heavily fortified multiple points across the city — particularly Beijing’s liaison office just west of central Hong Kong, a planned focus of Saturday’s demonstration — with water-filled barricades and a heavy presence of riot police. 

The subway station closest to the liaison office was also closed Saturday afternoon as a “prudent measure,” said the MTR Corporation which runs the transportation network.

Saturday’s protests also came alongside what appeared to be a coordinated attack on the LIHKG messaging board, a website that has been essential to protest organizing and taking the public’s temperature on actions over the past months. Earlier in the morning, the website was hit by a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack “on an unprecedented scale,” according to a statement from the site. The site’s mobile app was most affected by the attack. Another message board also said it experienced a similar cyber attack Saturday morning.

In June, encrypted messaging platform Telegram, which is also popular among protesters, suffered a DDoS attack. Telegram’s chief executive, said the cyberattack was traced to “IP addresses coming mostly from China” and that it “coincided in time with protests in Hong Kong.” 

One 30-year old participant, who was also photographing the protest, said he felt “kind of afraid” before coming out on Saturday afternoon but was comforted by the large number of people on the streets. 

“People are still here, look at how brave Hong Kong is,” said the man who wanted to be identified only by his first name, Samuel. “They can’t fight against our freedoms.” 

Yeung, the veteran activist, said that it was a testament to the determination of the Hong Kong people,” that so many were willing to show up for an illegal rally. 

Five years ago, “only a small portion of the population as willing to risk punishment from the police,” he said. “Now, everyone on the street is at risk of arrest.” 

Gerry Shih in Beijing contributed to this report.

#worldpolitics #world travel #world news #international news #us politics #politics #hong kong protests #hong kong #hongkong #china news #china #bejing #u.s. news

[humanrightsupdates]

Urgent Action: Final ‘Umbrella Nine’ Activist Sentenced (Hong Kong)

https://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent-actions/urgent-action-update-final-umbrella-nine-activist-sentenced-hong-kong-ua-191-18/

Lawmaker Tanya Chan has been sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, for using a loudspeaker to urge participants to join the 2014 Hong Kong pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protest. Tanya Chan is one of nine protest leaders who have been convicted of vague and ambiguous “public nuisance” related charges, four of which were sentenced to imprisonment. Their conviction and sentencing set a dangerous precedent, paving the way for the Hong Kong government to use vague and ambiguous charges for blanket prosecution and imprisonment of peaceful protesters.

Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming co-founded the "Occupy Central” campaign in 2013. The campaign advocated for the democratic election of the city’s head of government (the “Chief Executive”) and was intended to be a civil disobedience action to block roads in the Central District of Hong Kong. It became part of the large-scale pro-democracy Umbrella Movement protests, which were carried out in an overwhelmingly peaceful manner over 79 days between September and December 2014. 

Among the eight protesters sentenced on 24 April were the co-founders of the “Occupy Central” campaign – legal scholar Prof. Benny Tai Yiu-ting and sociologist Prof. Chan Kin-man, who each received 16 months’ imprisonment. The other two imprisoned are political party leader Raphael Wong Ho-ming and lawmaker Shiu Ka-chun, each sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment. 

Another co-founder of the “Occupy Central” campaign, retired pastor Rev. Chu Yiu-ming, student leader Eason Chung Yiu-wa and political party leader Lee Wing-tat were sentenced to suspended imprisonment; student leader Tommy Cheung Sau-yin to community service. Lawmaker Tanya Chan’s sentencing was postponed to 10 June due to her health condition. Lawmaker Shiu Kar-chun could be disqualified from his elected position if absent from meetings in the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s legislature, for three months. He applied to attend the meetings, but the prison authority rejected the request, even though Shiu indicated that he was willing to follow the authority’s arrangements and guidance such as being handcuffed whenever he went to the Legislative Council building for meetings. 

The four imprisoned activists have continued to express their concerns about Hong Kong’s human rights protection, such as by writing public letters urging people to protest against the government’s bill to amend the extradition laws that would allow the government to hand over people in Hong Kong to mainland China authorities, which brought over 1 million peaceful protesters to march in the streets on 9 June 2019 and almost 2 million on 16 June. 

The Hong Kong government has arrested many peaceful protesters since the Umbrella Movement, usually on vague charges related to “unlawful assembly”, “unauthorized assembly” and “public disorder”. Those charges are based on the Public Order Ordinance, the provisions and application of which have been repeatedly criticized by the UN Human Rights Committee – the body monitoring implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political rights, which is binding on Hong Kong – for failing to fully meet international human rights law and standards on the human right of peaceful assembly.

 By the end of the protests in December 2014, the government had arrested 955 people who had taken part in the Umbrella Movement protests over the course of the 79 days and another 48 after the protests had ended. Many were soon released, but police notified them that criminal investigations were still ongoing and that they would be re-arrested and charged should there be sufficient evidence to prosecute them. A pattern of long intervals between initial arrests and the decision to prosecute has meant that only a small proportion of the protesters who were arrested have faced trial. 

By continuing to prosecute prominent figures of the Umbrella Movement protests after long delays, hundreds of other protesters are left uncertain if the government is planning to pursue charges against them as well. This uncertainty, together with the use of vague and ambiguous charges and the prosecution’s pursuit of harsh sentences, is having a chilling effect on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and expression in Hong Kong.

Take action - please write to the authorities in Hong Kong before 4th August 2019

#hong kong #urgent action #human rights #umbrella nine #umbrella movement

[odishaphotos]

Dharmagarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency)

Dharmagarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency) \

Assembly constituency

Dharmagarh (serial number 79) is an assembly constituency in Kalahandi district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. The constituencies are: Dharmagarh block, Koksara block, Kalampur block and parts of Jaypatana block.

In the last 2014 elections, Biju Janata Dal candidate Pushpendra Singdeo was elected with 16,158 votes more than Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Rabindra Pattayoshi.