Category Archives: human rights

Why did Mike Braun clarify his assertion that states should decide the legality of interracial marriage?

Sen. Mike Braun, a Republican from Indiana, told reporters in his state on Tuesday that states should determine whether interracial marriage is allowed before claiming he misunderstood the questions and condemning “racism in any form.”

Mike Braun is interviewed in Bekah’s Westside Cafe in Lebanon, Ind., in April 2018.


Inquired as to whether or not he thought “interracial marriage should be left to the states, Braun said, “Yes, I believe that’s something — if you don’t want the Supreme Court to weigh in on matters like that, you’re not going to be able to have both your cake and eat it.” But, honestly, I don’t believe that’s right.” In 1967, the Supreme Court ruled in Loving v. Virginia, allowing interracial marriage in the United States.
Afterward, Braun was quizzed on his thoughts on the 1965 case Griswold v. Connecticut, which established a constitutional right to sexual privacy and made the use of contraception for married couples permissible under federal law. The states, according to Braun, should be the ones to decide.
It’s possible to mention a wide range of difficulties, Braun said. But, as far as what they’re going to be, I’m going to suggest that they aren’t going to be all going to make you happy in a particular state but that we’re better off letting forms express their points of view rather than homogenizing it throughout the nation, as Roe v. Wade did.”

“Initially limiting” Braun’s contention that the Supreme Court had seized states’ powers in 1973 with Roe v. Wade, the Times of Northwest Indiana reports. However, he maintained his position when asked about other decisions, such as the Loving v. Virginia case.
Braun afterward issued a statement indicating that he had “misunderstood” the questions asked.
“I misread a line of inquiry earlier at a virtual news conference that turned out to be about interracial marriage. To be quite clear, the Constitution forbids all forms of discrimination based on race. So the issue of racism isn’t even up for question, and I firmly oppose it at every level, from the state to the person. It was Braun’s opinion.
In a short interview on Wednesday, Braun told CNN that he doesn’t think states should decide on interracial marriage.
That’s not the case, Braun said. Even though one may be forgivable, he exposed his true identity. We learn a lot about him through his reaction. When a racist is apprehended, they immediately attempt to paint themselves as victims of their own ignorance since it would be so handy.

Reference

Mike Braun clarifies his assertion that states should decide the legality of interracial marriage. https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/23/politics/mike-braun-interracial-marriage-comments/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0jpCRaI0ml0-B9YMxOUafjGrKhdb8fxcqJcMgqxLw7BywL4207X-0bq-s

Did you know that a mysterious superyacht docked in Italy has a crew that may include Putin’s bodyguards, according to activists working with Putin opponent Alexei Navalny?

According to activists working with imprisoned Putin opponent Alexei Navalny, a mystery superyacht whose owner has not been publicly identified is manned by numerous personnel of a Russian state agency entrusted with defending Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images

The Scheherazade, one of the world’s biggest boats of its type, is a private superyacht, according to The New York Times. According to a personnel roster received by Pevchikh and Alburov in December 2020, all permanent crew members are Russian except for the ship’s commander. The United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union have imposed economic sanctions on Russia and confiscated several Russian billionaires’ luxury assets, including superyachts, in response to Russia’s continuing military attack on Ukraine. Navalny’s team is pleading with Italian authorities to confiscate the yacht if they discover that Putin owns it. Guy Bennett-Pearce, the superyacht’s skipper, told The Times that Italian investigators boarded the vessel early this month as part of an investigation launched by the Italian financial police. As a result, he was “forced” to turn over paperwork disclosing the owner’s name. Bennett-Pearce, a British native and the ship’s only non-Russian employee, would not rule out the possibility that the superyacht’s owner is Russian but could not comment more owing to a “watertight nondisclosure agreement” and said that the superyacht’s owner is not on any sanctions list.

Reference
Superyacht docked in Italy was outfitted by Putin’s …. https://soggros.com/index.php/2022/03/22/superyacht-docked-in-italy-was-outfitted-by-putins-protection-agency-activists-say/.

The Avalon Project: The Moscow Conference, October 1943. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/wwii/moscow.asp

Condemnation or Russian President

US President Joe Biden has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin for his country’s invasion of Ukraine. He then referred to Putin as a “murderous despot” and “pure thug.” Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, says he is “prepared for conversations” with Putin. The concern today is what Biden’s views — and those of others — signal for the future of the Ukraine conflict. What does President Putin anticipate when he behaves adolescent-like? The Ukrainian people have historically been fearless. Some Ukrainians have relatives in Russia, but they cannot obtain accurate information due to state-controlled media. The Ukrainian people and the Russian people in Russia should be free to think for themselves. Why should one individual dictate what they should consider? One day, the Russian people will rise up against such activities and liberate themselves from their ignorance.

Photo by u0414u043cu0438u0442u0440u0438u0439 u0422u0440u0435u043fu043eu043bu044cu0441u043au0438u0439 on Pexels.com

Reference

Calling Putin a war criminal is a bigger deal than you think. https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/21/politics/putin-war-criminal-ukraine-russia-what-matters/index.html?fbclid=IwAR0gr6FalS9OzEebI80a2u9_3kO4v81lnPPzuz1jK60NU-9mAhmUpwPNmSg

March on Washington for Voting Rights

Voting rights are essential for all individuals. The March on Washington for Voting Rights commemorated the 58th anniversary of the March on Washington. Marchers are urging Congress to enact voting-rights legislation to halt the implementation of restrictive voting laws in states around the country. The John Lewis Voting Act would reinstate the 1965 Voting Rights Act’s pre-clearance provisions, lower in the 2013 Supreme Court case Shelby County v. Holder. The Rev. Al Sharpton, one of the march’s organizers, contended that the filibuster could not obstruct progress. Democrats currently dominate the Senate but have been unable to overcome filibusters on voting-rights legislation.

Washington march voting rights
With the Washington Monument in the background, the Rev. Al Sharpton, center, holds a banner with Martin Luther King, III, and Democratic Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green of Texas, during the march to call for sweeping protections against a further erosion of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 on August 28, 2021. AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana


To enact voting rights legislation, moderate senators have resisted attempts to weaken or remove the filibuster. The organizers planned to bring attention to problems such as reparations for slave descendants and a $15 minimum wage. The march was led by New York Rep. Mondaire Jones, who has advocated for the filibuster’s removal.

Reference
‘Old battles have become new again’: Thousands march in Washington, DC, and across the US to push for voting-rights legislation. https://www.businessinsider.com/march-voting-rights-legislation-washington-dc-cities-filibuster-2021-8

Judicial aspect of race in the America

Judicial Aspects of Race in the United States: A Nation Fighting for Minority Rights by [Kenneth Dantzler Corbin]
New book on Amazon

This book is about the Judicial aspect of race in the America. In the United States, legislation aimed at regulating interactions between racial or ethnic groups has grown through various historical periods, beginning with European colonization of the Americas, the triangular slave trade, and the American Indian Wars. Racial legislation has been linked to immigration laws, which have sometimes contained explicit clauses targeting certain nations or ethnic groups, such as the Chinese Exclusion Act and the 1923 US Supreme Court decision the United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind. In the antebellum period, all slave states and a few free states enacted similar legislation. Ozawa v. the United States and the United States v. Bhagat Singh Thind are the two most notable instances. Takao Ozawa, born in Japan and lived in the United States for 20 years, sought citizenship but was rejected because he was not deemed white. Americans of Italian and German ancestry and Italian and German citizens were also imprisoned, although on a far lesser scale, even though Italy and Germany sided with Japan in the war against the United States. In 1954, in Hernandez v. Texas, a federal court determined that Mexican Americans and all other ethnic or “racial groups” in the United States may have equal protection under the 14th Amendment.

Pope Francis’ call for legal acceptance of same-sex relationships

Pope Francis’ call for legal acceptance of #same-sex relationships has raised both hope and worries among #LGBTQ Catholics.

“What we need certainly to create is a civil union law,” the pontiff said in “Francesco,” an upcoming documentary from Russian American filmmaker Evgeny Afineevsky. “That way, these are typically legally covered. I stood up for that.”

Image: Pope Francis delivers "Urbi et Orbi" Christmas Day message from main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica

The remarks are a departure from earlier church messaging. Inside the last book, “Memory and Identity,” Pope John Paul II suggested same-sex marriage was “part of an innovative new ideology of evil.”

In 2003, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, wrote that respect for gays and lesbians “cannot lead in any solution to the approval of homosexual behavior or even to legal recognition of homosexual unions.”

“Legal recognition of homosexual unions or placing them on a single level as marriage will mean not only the approval of deviant behavior,” Ratzinger wrote, “but would also obscure basic values which fit in with the normal inheritance of humanity.” It has not been long ago that African Americans and Whites could intermarry. At that time, some Whites believed that Blacks would destroy the white race. Now, we see that the Pope is making a bold statement. Why are some people concerned about others’ marriage when their marriage ends in divorce because of an unfaithful partner who may be practicing deviant behavior with an individual of a different gender or that same-gender, which leads to adultery? Why get in other people’s business if your business is not perfect? Who gives a person the right to tell others who to love when your Christian bible say, “save yourself”? What would G-d say about one’s prejudice toward a sister or brother who may not share the same beliefs? Are we better than the other person because we know scriptures and many times misquote them without knowing the historial context that time in which scripture was written? If we take the scriptures literally, should we be stoning people?There are gay people in our families, pulpits, professional life who are doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses, firefighter, ministers, essential workers, and in the church serving in every ministry whether known or unkown. There are just questions to think about.

Reference
Pope’s civil union remarks raise hopes, doubts for gay Catholics. https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pope-s-civil-union-remarks-raise-hopes-doubts-gay-catholics-n1244337?cid=referral_taboolafeed

The early voting place has already generated long, long lines in many states

The early voting place has already generated long, long lines in many states, counties, and with the November election just 11 days away, many states, counties, and cities have imposed security precautions to protect voters and poll workers from contact with the coronavirus.

However, polling places still have the potential in order to become “mass gathering events for people,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention educated and warned the American people in an advisory released on Friday of this week, adding that measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 might be improved.

The C.D.C. based its latest suggestions on a study through 522 poll workers’ experiences in Delaware’s statewide the month of September.

Guidelines and rules issued by the agency in June recommended various ways to attenuate crowds at polling locations in the United States, including absentee voting and extended voting hours.

To cut down on disease transmission of the virus, the C.D.C. also recommended setting up physical barriers, protecting self by wearing masks between voting machines; spacing the machines aside from the other person; indicating 6-foot distances with signs or floor markings for those of you waiting in line to vote for a long time; designating separate entrances and exits for voters; the use of protective gear — masks, face shields, gloves and gowns for individuals — for poll workers assisting sick voters and those who are carriers; and allowing curbside voting for folks who are ill.

“Ensuring that ill or potential voters who may be a carrier can vote while maintaining poll worker and voter safety may be important to minimizing transmission without restricting voting rights,” the report said.
Voting in the Covid-19 Pandemic: Wear a Mask and Bring Your Pen. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/23/health/Covid-voting-safety.html

Judicial system sentence more African Americans for non-offensive crimes

The judicial system sentence more African Americans for non-offensive crimes while whites have committed the worst crimes. African Americans are more likely to spend more time in jail than whites. The judicial system in American is rigged to punish Africans more than whites. African Americans pay more fines than whites. African Americans pay higher fines than whites.

“A 63-year-old man who was serving a life sentence in prison for stealing a pair of hedge clippers has been granted parole, CBS affiliate KLFY reported. The Louisiana Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole voted this week to release Fair Wayne Bryant after he had served 23 years in prison.” This person should take the system to court for unjust sentencing. Do you think the crime is ridiculous and does not warrant 23 years in jail?

Man who spent 23 years in prison for stealing hedge …. https://www.ozarksfirst.com/local-news/national-news/man-who-spent-23-years-in-prison-for-stealing-hedge-clippers-granted-parole/

LGBTQ community

Individuals often refer to the LGBTQ community as “preference.” As a person of color, preference is not an alternative. Using ancient language demonstrates how out of touch this candidate for this judgeship is. Many necessitate education on sexual orientation. One may differ, but that is ok. Since one needs not to judge others’ destiny, one should implement this rule, love your neighbor, and respect who they are. All of us have someone in our family, who is a part of the LGBTQ community. They are in every aspect of professional life. “Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the president’s Supreme Court nominee, apologized on Tuesday for using the widely criticized term “sexual preference” to refer to LGBTQ Americans’ sexual orientations.” If someone mislabelled you, how would you respond or feel about that person?

Amy Coney Barrett apologizes after a Democratic senator called her out for using the ‘offensive and outdated’ term ‘sexual preference’ to refer to LGBTQ people. https://news.yahoo.com/amy-coney-barrett-apologizes-being-221403092.html

Ethnic Inequities Will Grow Unless We Consciously Work to get rid of it

The economic after-effects from the coronavirus pandemic guarantees to affect families throughout the United States and future decades for years to come. The downturn will probably hit African Americans hardest, exacerbating huge, long-standing racial wealth spaces. Because these inequities possess historical roots, looking at how they contribute to intergenerational inequality will help citizens, policymakers, and stakeholders create policies that move the country toward racial collateral.
We cannot start 20, 50, or even a century ago; we need to start. Four hundred years ago, white people trafficked and enslaved African people to build their particular wealth.

Centuries of systemic and structural racism followed, and it was not really until 1865 that the 13th Amendment passed and officially released Black people from bondage. For almost 100 years, Jim Crow laws and regulations and discriminatory practices forced racial segregation and impaired efforts to reduce or eliminate the racial wealth gap.

Limited covenants and redlining avoided Black people from buying homes in many neighborhoods; the Black Codes prohibited many Black people from creating profitable businesses, and white mob violence destroyed the firms of many other Black business owners and being denied entry to better-paying jobs got more difficult for Black family members
to accrue savings to get down payments on homes or accumulate cash about business investments.

Reference:
Racial Inequities Will Grow Unless We Consciously Work to …. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/racial-inequities-will-grow-unless-we-consciously-work-eliminate-them