Texas governors have been using US-Mexico border issues and the perceived shortcomings of federal border policy as fuel to stoke their re-election campaigns for the past 20 years. Abbotts latest PERFORMATIVE OPTICS of truck inspections at the border is only the latest border SIDE SHOW in the ongoing drama of TEXAS STUPID.
What IS different this time is that the governor’s office now controls HALF of the $3 BILLION dollar TEXAS border security budget. In the past the state’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) managed nearly the entire budget.
Neither Abbott or the responsible state agencies are able to produce any legitimate evidence that the billions spent on border security have stopped drug smuggling, illegal border crossings, or other imagined threats to Texans.
Texas Tribune, is a respected nonpartisan online newsmagazine providing in-depth coverage of Texas politics and social issues as well as political polling of Texans.
“We are increasingly hearing of rape and sexual violence. These allegations must be independently investigated to ensure justice and accountability,” Sima Bahous, executive director for UN Women, told the UN Security Council Monday.
“The combination of mass displacement with the large presence of conscripts and mercenaries, and the brutality displayed against Ukrainian civilians, has raised all red flags,” she added.
Ambassadors for France, Norway, Germany, Gabon, and Ukraine expressed support for an investigation.
Kateryna Cherepakha, president of La Strada Ukraine, a human rights organization, told the UN Security Council Monday that the organization had received information on nine separate cases in which 12 women and girls accused Russian troops of rape, Reuters reported.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Cherepakha said. “We know and see – and we want you to hear our voices – that violence and rape is used now as a weapon of war by Russian invaders in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy echoed the reports, telling Lithuanian lawmakers via video Tuesday there are “hundreds of cases of rape” in areas of the country impacted by Russian troops, Al Jazeera reported.
Russia denied the allegations during the council meeting.
“No convincing evidence has been presented for any of these crimes, but it’s understandable that you have trampled the presumption of innocence a long time ago,” Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russian deputy ambassador to the UN, said at the meeting.
When you think of Russian brutality and war crimes, just remember Republicans will invite these devils into the White House/Oval Office and ban US media from coverage.
That is where we are. The axis of evil includes the Republican Party as a partner.
On this day, 4 April 1935 the bodies of German anti-Nazi activists Dora Fabian and Mathilde Wurm (pictured) were found in their flat in London. They had been poisoned. The flat had previously been burgled twice, and they had received threatening letters. However while many historians believe they were likely murdered, the inquest declared a double suicide was the most likely outcome. The British government and media, who at that point were either mostly appeasers or supporters of German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, were eager to cover up the case and move on.
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Learn more about women in the German resistance in our latest podcast episodes, out now for early listening for our patreon supporters: https://patreon.com/workingclasshistoryhttps://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1956897304495410/?type=3
On this day, 3 April 1948, a left-wing uprising began on the Korean island of Jeju.
Jeju had been largely self-governing following the end of World War II, when North and South Koreas were divided up between the USSR and USA following the defeat of Japan. However, Jeju islanders were angry with violent US-backed police and feared that planned elections organised by the UN in South Korea alone would reinforce the division between North and South.
They attacked police stations and right-wing paramilitaries, in particular targeting those who collaborated with the Japanese imperialists. The US military government sent troops to the island, and the US-backed South Korean authorities brutally suppressed the rebellion, massacring many thousands including women and children. When the uprising was finally crushed the following year up to 10% of the island’s population were dead, and 70% of villages destroyed.
Subsequent US-backed dictatorships in South Korea banned any mention of the Jeju uprising, and speaking of it was punishable by beatings, torture and lengthy prison sentences.
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Learn more about this period of South Korean history in our podcast episode 51, about the South Korean labour movement: https://workingclasshistory.com/podcast/e51-jeon-tae-il-and-lee-so-sun/
Pictured: people arrested during the uprising https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1956181501233657/?type=3
The raids targeted Sanaa, the rebel-held capital, according to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ekhbariya TV, which tweeted “the start of air strikes on Huthi camps and strongholds in Sanaa” around midnight.
The attacks began shortly after the Iran-backed Huthis announced a three-day truce and offered peace talks on condition that the Saudis stop their air strikes and blockade of Yemen and remove “foreign forces”.
Just a day earlier, the rebels had fired drones and missiles at 16 targets in Saudi Arabia, turning an oil plant near Jeddah’s Formula One track into a raging inferno as aghast drivers looked on.
The flurry of attacks and diplomacy came as Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, on Saturday marked seven years since the Saudi-led intervention against the Huthis, who seized Sanaa in 2014.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people directly or indirectly and displaced millions, creating what the United Nations calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Saturday condemned the sudden rise in hostilities.
He said that eight civilians, including five children and two women, were reportedly killed in retaliatory strikes on Sanaa following Friday’s rebel attacks.
The UN staff compound in the city was also damaged, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
“The Secretary-General strongly condemns the recent escalation of the conflict in Yemen,” the statement said, adding that Guterres is “deeply concerned” about reports of coalition attacks on the lifeline port of Hodeida.
He urged the warring parties to “immediately de-escalate” and reach a “negotiated settlement” with the help of Hans Grundberg, the UN’s special envoy to Yemen.
Thousands of people demonstrated in Sanaa on Saturday, holding placards and chanting, to denounce the Saudi-led intervention which included nine countries when it was launched on March 26, 2015.
Today, it is largely just Saudi Arabia and, to a lesser extent, the United Arab Emirates, which says it has withdrawn troops from Yemen but remains an active player, training militias on the ground.
The coalition’s intervention has stopped the Huthis’ advances in the south and east of the country but has been unable to push them out of the north, including Sanaa.
Living life in the Great Lakes. People outside the area have no idea how much that water affects our world here. From Roll Clouds and micro bursts to Lake effect snow measured by feet to the 25 foot waves of a north easter winter storm. It even effects the planting zones here and supplies all the water we drink.
The music reflects the region's pluri-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles.
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the music from this continent has had a near global audience.
(This is in no way every single genre)
In the USA, California is commonly associated with the film, music, and arts industries; there are numerous world-famous Californian musicians. Hardcore punk, hip hop, country, and heavy metal, surf rock, and regional Mexican have all appeared in California.
Traditional Western music celebrates the lifestyle of the cowboy of Western North America. Directly related musically to old English, Irish, Scottish, and folk ballads, also the Mexican folk music of Northern Mexico and Southwestern USA, as well as music created by the Indigenous people of the area. Modern Western music incorporates more.
The AmericanSouth has a long and rich musical tradition. It is the birthplace of the Blues--a genre that has had a major influence on music ever since--and home to many other musical styles as well.
The genres of Jazz, Rock, Country, Bluegrass, and more have their roots in the South.
The music of the NortheastUSA is very influential in the modern era. This region is the birthplace of disco, hip hop, and salsa. The region gets its influences from all over the world, and continues to be a very influential place for music.
Chicago, Detroit, St Louis, Minneapolis, Kansas City, and Cleveland are all Midwestern USA cities, and are also very important cities for music. Chicago was a historic center for the blues and jazz scene in the USA, as well as creating other genres of music such as House and Drill.
The region that is Northern Mexico and the the Southwest USA is very influenced by Hispanic culture and music. Corridos, Banda, Tejano, Chicano rap, and other genres reign supreme here. These genres were created with Spanish, Indigenous, Black American, and German influences.
The music of Mexico is very diverse and features a wide range of musical genres and performance styles. It has been influenced by a variety of cultures, most notably the culture of the Indigenous people of Mexico, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East.
One of the well-known forms of Central American music is punta, created by the Garifunas who live in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Belize. The marimba, a type of xylophone, is perhaps the most important folk instrument of Central America, and it is widespread.
The diversity in musical expressions found in this region (Colombia, Panamá, and Venezuela) can be seen as the result of a mixture of Indigenous, African, and European (especially Spanish) influences, as well as more modern American. Cumbia, one of the most influential genres in Latin America, is from Colombia.
