Why Domestic Abuse and Anti-gay Violence Qualify as Persecution in Asylum Law

United States (Conversation) – Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently upended decades of U.S. legal precedent by asserting that women fleeing domestic violence will not generally qualify for asylum. To do so, he challenged the principle that women victims of domestic violence are members of a “particular social group.” This phrase – “particular social group” – is critical to the work of immigration lawyers like myself. It allows us to argue that women, LGBTQ people and other vulnerable groups face specific kinds of persecution based on who they are. If left…

Read More

The rise of resistance and resilience to tear gas

(WNV) – All around the world people invent, adapt and share techniques for resilience and resistance to tear gas. In doing so, they care for each other. They transform this weapon into a collectivizing tool. There is a growing transnational solidarity of tear gas resilience, aided by social media and mobile technologies that help protesters circulate relief remedies, gas mask designs and grenade throwback techniques. Displaying what social movement researcher Gavin Grindon has called “grassroots cultural diplomacy,” these tips are tweeted from Greece to New York, from Palestine to Ferguson, from…

Read More

The Administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel Keeps Monitoring Protesters

Chicago, IL (ProPublica) – Even before thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago to speak out against President Donald Trump’s inauguration last year, city police were watching. Recently released police and city records show that officers combed through social media posts and opened a formal information-gathering investigation into the protesters. Then, throughout that day — Jan. 20, 2017 — police and top aides to Mayor Rahm Emanuel closely tracked the movements of protesters, from when they boarded trains and buses in their neighborhoods and continuing through hours of rallies and marches…

Read More

Marine Heatwaves are Getting Hotter, Lasting Longer and Doing More Damage

(Conversation) – On land, heatwaves can be deadly for humans and wildlife and can devastate crops and forests. Unusually warm periods can also occur in the ocean. These can last for weeks or months, killing off kelp forests and corals, and producing other significant impacts on marine ecosystems, fishing and aquaculture industries. Yet until recently, the formation, distribution and frequency of marine heatwaves had received little research attention. Marine heatwaves occur everywhere in the ocean. Eric Oliver/Dalhousie University Long-term change Climate change is warming ocean waters and causing shifts in…

Read More

Why Unschoolers Grow Up to Be Entrepreneurs

(FEE) – Almost by definition, entrepreneurs are creative thinkers and experimental doers. They reject the status quo and devise new approaches and better inventions. They are risk-takers and dreamers, valuing ingenuity over convention. They get things done. It shouldn’t be surprising to learn that many unschoolers become entrepreneurs. Able to grow up free from a coercive classroom or traditional school-at-home environment, unschoolers nurture interests and passions that may sprout into full-fledged careers. Their creativity and curiosity remain intact, uncorrupted by a mass education system intent on order and conformity. Their…

Read More

George Soros Buys Shares in New York Times Newspaper

New York, NY (Sputnik) – Billionaire globalist George Soros has been accused of attempting to meddle in the internal affairs, including elections and other democratic processes, of sovereign nations to suit his own political agenda. Soros’ investment firm, Soros Fund Management LLC, has purchased over $3 million worth of shares in the New York Times, according to recent filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Dan Gainor, vice president of business and culture at the Media Research Center, described the move as a “big step” up from his previous endeavors in journalism and the media. Wikimedia READ MORE: ‘Soros is…

Read More

Preventing Sexual Violence: Lessons from Rebel Armies in Burundi and Uganda

(Conversation) – War zones and conflict sites are incredibly dangerous for anyone living in them, but women are often particularly vulnerable in these spaces. Consider how, in recent years, Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq have systematically abducted and abused thousands of women and girls. This reality may make my research focus seem strange. It deals with wartime sexual violence – but more specifically the absence of it. My focus is on armed political actors that have committed little sexual violence and have a…

Read More

Re-Evaluating Charity: Help Palestinians Through Zeki Learning

I first learned about Zeki Learning from a cousin of mine who currently lives in Jerusalem about a year ago. Back then, it was still called “A Child’s Cup Full,” a non-profit created to provide employment opportunities for refugee women in Palestine.   My cousin interacts extensively with refugees in the West Bank and came across CCF’s operations in one of the remote villages.  My cousin was really excited about CCF’s work, because unlike the vast majority of non-profits operating in Palestine, CCF was run by a Palestinian woman in America, and actually…

Read More

How Racial Profiling Goes Unchecked in Immigration Enforcement

Pennsylvania (ProPublica) – When immigration officers raided a rural Pennsylvania poultry transport company early last year, a lawyer for five undocumented men arrested saw plenty of evidence their rights had been violated. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had no warrant to drive past the company’s “No Trespassing” signs and block the exits with their vans, or to demand documentation on the workers’ legal status. According to witnesses, the officers seemed to target workers solely based on their ethnicity: They lined up Latinos for questioning and asked white employees to lead…

Read More

Fracking linked to increased rates of STIs

(JR) – Fracking is linked to increased rates of sexually transmitted infections in Ohio, according to research published in PLoS ONE by academics at the Yale School of Public Health. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, uses pressurized liquid to penetrate deep into rock and extract natural gas. The practice is controversial, and often met with opposition by residents in communities with planned fracking projects. In May 2018, residents in Colorado protested a proposed project near a school in Weld County. They expressed worries about safety and the environment. Research points…

Read More