Tweets irreverent of Jameela Jamil directed to other famous to promote a body image not harmful have become their hallmark. The actress and tv presenter british broke their anonymity in the u.s. industry in 2016, with his role as Tahani Al-Jamil in the series The Good Place of the NBC (also on Netflix). But despite the success of the show, which recently renewed its fourth season, and his recent signing to present the program Misey Index (TBS), the name Jameela is hogging headlines for having been erected as a representative of the activism body attacking strong wherever the tag appears #sponcon (sponsored content) and it advertises some product that promises miracle diets, such as smoothies laxatives or polemics lollipops saciantes promoted by Kim Kardashian. As a twist to the character that has lifted, girl well obsessed with his image, his real self based his talk on defending a positive image of the body, free of charges, pressures or Photoshop. I was the teenager who was killed from starvation during years, they spent all their money on these miracle cures and laxatives and tips from celebrities on how to maintain a weight lower than my body wanted. I was sickshe wrote in a tweet, explaining the origin of their struggle.

Their ultimate aim of trolling vigilante has been Cardi B. The rapper posted on Instagram a video announcing a drink detox and Jameela went to Twitter to point out bluntly: God, I hope that all these celebrities do shit over in public the same way that the poor women who buy these trifles thanks to your recommendation. As if the reality of what to take. Its just that they need more money, satirised. And the response of Cardi B was soon in coming: Im Never going to do that because there are public restrooms and oh, the bushes. Jamil, demonstrating that we do not impose the unwritten rule that getting involved with a celebrity with more followers than you is not a good idea if youre trying to build your personal brand on the internet, threw up a video that is already viral in the that parody explicitly the reality of who consume these slimming products high-fiber content, which in many cases leads to an addiction to laxatives, an eating disorder, about which little is said.

Before that Cardi B came Iggy Azalea or the Kardashian, Kim and Khloe. Both in networks and in interviews, Jameela Jamil had already set his goal in the sisters pointing to the clan as the axis of evil, on question of body image and influence. A title that he has already been granted previously to promote an image of the woman, unreal and unattainable in the guise of empowerment frustrates the other women. No. That you are given. No. You are an influence terrible and toxic for young girls. I admire the ability of your mother to do mark, is a genius, exploitative but innovative. However, this family really makes me feel desperate when I see that reduce women, wrote in may to Kim Kardashian when she starred in the controversial campaign of the lollipops saciantes Flattummy Co. And recently collected several pictures of all these celebrities to denounce in the same line, the promotion of products of this type: Give us the codes off of your nutritionists, cooks, personal, personal trainers, makeup artists and plastic surgeons fucking lying, he wrote.

This entire complaint has been channeled through your project I weigh, an account on Instagram that arose as a critical response to a publication stars again (though not voluntarily) by the Kardashians. Tagged in an image of a profile of Instagram that indicated in the photo the weight of each one of the sisters to mode ranking, Jameela generated the countertrend: posing in the picture with labels that indicate the skills, characteristics, or passions of the person in question and not your weight. The profile sum of 250,000 followers, and collects most of photos posted under #iweigh by people not famous who want to participate in the project.

With his next move has gone further. Already he had proclaimed before his desire not to be retouched in the images published in magazines and campaigns, defending that saw their stretch marks the natural way of reclaiming the harassment to which she was subjected by the british press, when years before winning international fame sharply increased in weight by the consumption of steroids to treat asthma. Now, in a letter published in the BBC, same media that has been included in its list of the 100 women of the year, and through various tweets, requests that the airbrushing of the images is declared to be illegal. It is a lie to the consumer, is harmful to the person of the image or is even more damaging to the public, especially for young womenthese are some of the arguments that the british brings.

Although its defenders, among them media as the feminist The Cut from where the journalist Mariah Smith wrote: I have never been more happy to see someone threatening my livelihood with this tracking the lies of the celebrities, asking them to sit and be honest for once, the detractors are also there. Users social networking question not to get retouched in the photos that she herself published with messages anti Photoshop but appears made-up, and brightly beautifulsomething that labeled, paradoxically, as very own of the Kardashian-Jenner or his character in The Good Place, Tahani Al-Jamil. Media like the american Vox go further by including it in the sack of the feminism of the cool girls with Jennifer Lawrence. Jamil, as stress makes constant use of expletives and like Lawrence, he boasts of not having been sexy in its adolescence as it represents and perpetuates, in reality, the stereotype of beauty prevailing and will benefit from it: For very good who are the celebrities, the privileges that offers the beauty, wealth and status are simply too great, writes Elisabeth J. Dickson. And Jamil defends himself by appealing to the difficulties for its origin of pakistan and the color of their skin by constantly rinsing without my permission.

I know that I am being a bit extravagant in all of this, but the war against the bodies and the general image of women is ongoing and out of control. Surgery for adolescents, eating disorders and self-harm are on the rise. So the counter attack is going to involve a lot of noise. Do you not like? Cllame challenges from the field of battle tweeter.

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So trolea Jameela Jamil to other celebrities by the activism body | Celebrities, Vips - OI Canadian

Published Apr 22, 2020

7

Little Flower grows out of the folk-rock style of her Mapmaker EP from 2016 but keeps and expands upon the graceful, attentive arrangements of that release. While the piano remains her primary songwriting instrument, this album finds Rockarts gravitating further toward the guitar while fleshing out these songs with a variety of different sounds to suit each mood.

The title track is a blissful, laid-back beach-folk tune about the quiet strength of an introvert. The piano ballad "Margaret" reflects on a character who won't commit to love, emanating with the wounded tenderness of Regina Spektor or maybe even Joni Mitchell. "Stay" is a peppy, electrified indie-pop tune about a breakup that you wish wouldn't have happened, even though you could see it coming almost from the beginning. "Stranger" seethes with a dark, sinister energy, its thick guitars stomping along menacingly as Rockarts excoriates the predatory nature of the reviled catcaller: "I'm scared to go out late at night / And I'm frightened of the dark / You put this fear into my mind / When nobody has the right."

The lyricism is fairly modest, with room to be more evocative and uniquely stylish. Songs like "Without You" and "Right Now" are among those that are perhaps too literal and simplistic to be very powerful, but the pleasantness of the songs may be enough to subdue that desire for more depth. "Vistas" and "Golden Hour," meanwhile, have more of that poet's touch, coupled with dazzling, moving, string-based arrangements that end the album with delicate poignancy especially as Rockarts sings the gorgeous, tearjerker closer about lifelong partners fading away from each other with the onset of Alzheimer's disease and with more beauty than ever.

Particularly for fans of other Canadian indie-rock auteurs like Feist, Andy Shauf, Dan Mangan, Bahamas and Elliot Maginot (as well as non-Canadians like Faye Webster and Weyes Blood), Emily Rockarts' Little Flower is certainly worth a listen. (Independent)

Link:
Emily Rockarts' 'Little Flower' Glows from the Inside Out - Exclaim!

CHICAGO and SANTA ROSA, Calif., April 20, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Leveraging digital channels for always-on, remote access has quickly evolved from a differentiator to a minimum requirement, especially when it comes to consumer finance. To better serve the evolving credit needs of consumers, TransUnion (TRU) has entered into a strategic partnership with CuneXus, a data-driven lending and marketing automation pioneer, to enable financial institutions to extend relevant credit offers to consumers via digital delivery channels.

This partnership delivers tremendous service power in the hands of our customers while providing relevant brand experiences to consumers that are safe and timely, said Sean Flynn, senior director of credit unions at TransUnion. The CuneXus solution allows lenders to harness the power of todays most sophisticated data assets, like trended credit data, and operationalizes that data for maximum consumer impact. In addition, our combined solutions will enable lenders to deploy prescreen strategies that have been optimized based on our companies combined expertise and many years of evaluating best practices in consumer lending.

The strategic partnership combines the cutting-edge technology of the CuneXus Perpetual Loan Approval platform with TransUnions robust data assets not only to enhance the lending experience for credit unions and banks, but also empowering them to serve members and customers more efficiently and effectively through existing digital channels. This enables lenders to deliver offers that are tailored to specific consumer needs, preferences and patterns.

CuneXus and TransUnion have a shared vision of how data and automation will shape the future of lending and digital engagement, making the partnership a natural match. We are thrilled to have found a partner with a long history of customer advocacy to enhance our application-free lending solution, said Dave Buerger, president & CEO of CuneXus. If the CuneXus platform is the engine, TransUnions wealth of data and knowledge is the rocket fuel.

Over the course of the partnership CuneXus and TransUnion will work together to integrate future products and services to deliver even greater capabilities and insights to customers. For more information on implementing digital lending solutions, please visit: https://www.transunion.com/industry/credit-unions.

About TransUnion (TRU) TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing a comprehensive picture of each person so they can be reliably and safely represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.

A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

http://www.transunion.com/business

About CuneXus CuneXus is focused on data-driven application-free lending that helps financial institutions optimize operational efficiency and customer experience. Its pioneering technologies are at the forefront of the transition to a new era of customer empowerment through on-demand lending and borrowing. With more than 130 of the nations largest credit unions and community banks as clients, CuneXus has generated tens of billions of dollars in consumer loan volume by bringing transparent borrowing experiences to over 17 million consumers in every major U.S. market. Among its numerous accolades the company has been recognized as one of just ten startups to watch on KPMGs global report of The 50 Best Fintech Innovators; named the winner of the Best Consumer Lending Company in the 2020 Fintech Breakthrough Awards; named the winner of the Callahan & Associates 2019 Innovation in Lending award, and named Top Emerging Technology Company at the 2019 LendIt Fintech Industry Awards . Visit http://www.cunexus.com for more information.

Read the rest here:
CuneXus and TransUnion Collaboration Delivers Enhanced Digital Lending Capabilities for Financial Institutions - Yahoo Finance

Richner Communications Inc., publisher of Herald Community Newspapers and The Riverdale Press, named Malverne High School senior Olivia Marco as a recipient of the 2020 Wonder Girl Award. Each year, the publication selects one female student from Nassau County for the award and Marco was chosen based on her grades, resume, leadership and dedication to womens health and empowerment.

During her time at Malverne High School, she founded and currently serves as president of the Girls Club, which celebrates female empowerment, and has a fundraising component to benefit Girls, Inc. In addition, this year Marco has started a local chapter of the Menstrual Movement and has organized drives to donate female products to local womens shelters. She is also captain of the color guard and a member of the varsity tennis team.

In addition to this honor, Marco has also received an Army ROTC Scholarship, which will cover full tuition to any university that has a program. Marco has accepted early decision to attend Vanderbilt University and intends to major in business and economics.

Courtesy Malverne School District; compiled by Nakeem Grant

See more here:
Malverne teen honored with Wonder Girl award - liherald.com

Surrender does not equate to inaction. Surrender is a deeply active and engaged process. Its thrown around as commonly as concepts like light and shadow, personal empowerment, and collective consciousness, with little context as to what it truly means. Though its become a sort of spiritual buzzword over the last few decades, it stems from roots thousands of years old in the ancient philosophy of yoga. There surrender is named Ishvara Pranidhana. Ishvara Pranidhana, what does this ancient, seemingly archaic perlocution mean? And how is it even acutely applicable, or relevant today? One might say, in this context it means surrender to God, the divine, the universe, or spirit. Lets trace it back a bit further.

Ishvara Pranidhana is one of the five Niyamas, or personal ethics, that comprise the eight limbs of yoga. These 8 limbs are often referred to as steps on the Raja Yoga path associated with Ashtanga yoga, meaning 8-limbed. This is not the yoga of core power studios and 98 degree sweat lodges, no, this is the yoga of life, a philosophy of values, ethics, and invitations into greater awareness and deeper skills of perception of ones experience and ultimately, of reality.

How does this serve us during a global crisis? With all the sources of input and information right now, our ability to perceive with clarity is of the utmost importance to our mental and spiritual well being. As we sit inside our homes, we are faced with a certain thundering uncertainty and so, we must sit with ourselves. Our hidden thoughts, emotions, ideas, positive and negative, in totality. Our instinctual inclination is to numb, distract, tune out, and engage in something that eases or soothes discomfort. There is absolutely a time and place for this. But what of the fact that we are ALL being asked to consider ourselves?

As we are needfully and necessarily shut in, many are wishing for things to return to the way things were and are actively awaiting the emergence of life as we knew it. *Cue the entrance of the title line Surrender*. The truth is, we cannot expect things to return to the way they were, and more than that, it is naive to believe so. Surrender invites us not only to accept that we can only emerge from the current global happenings as different it asks us to recognize and assimilate the fact that we have a role in how we emerge, individually and collectively. Surrender is the energy of full acceptance of what is and release of the grasp of what so many fiercely cling to.

Surrender is not inaction it is an active process of dissolution dissolution of false perceptions, untruths, programs that are no longer serving or protecting us. Surrender is allowing emotions to surface and finding spiritually mature ways to process, release, and assimilate them and the information they carry. Surrender is allowing ourselves to let go of outdated beliefs that are no longer useful and no longer offer us the protection they once did.

Allow me to offer lived example. In surfing, one of the least productive things a surfer can do when being tossed around in the ocean under a wave is to resist, to tense, to hold on. It will tire him or her out, send the nervous system into a state of panic, and can have grave repercussions. The best thing a surfer can do is surrender to the flow of the ocean, actively release and relax, and trust that they will surface, as they are attached to a board. The instinctual response for many is to tense, tighten, resist. To trust in something greater and more powerful feels utterly insane, and yet, its the quickest way back up to the surface. To trust that this collective shut-in is an opportunity to re-examine our inner lives and landscapes is the path of least resistance and most empowerment.

In short, we are not only being asked to practice letting go of what has been, but to actively and consciously disengage, so that we may re engage with the unlimited potentiality of what can be next. So we can call upon our imagination and our deep inner wisdom to pull us back up to the surface and emerge with gratitude and a kind of doe-eyed wonder about what comes next.

See original here:
What Most People Misunderstand about the Magic of Surrender - Thrive Global

Catherine Hover will tell you that, before moving to Saratoga, she had never experienced what it was like to live in small town USA. A native of New Orleans, she and her husband, Mark, came to Saratoga after living and working in New York City.

After being here for nearly 10 years, you can still hear faint wisps of that languid Big Easy drawl creeping into her conversation. We are sitting in the comfortable members only Palette Upstairs co-working space, part of her newest venture, Palette Caf, which opened last summer.

My goal was to learn more about this spritely young woman with seemingly boundless energy and her latest venture at 493 Broadway. By the way, dont let her youthful looks, bubbly manner and business title, Purveyor of Fun, blind you to the fact that she is a business powerhouse. In the relatively short time she has been here, Catherine has introduced the region to the paint and sip phenomenon, and Palette Caf is the next step in her journey of what she calls empowering women.

Catherine recalls first moving into town in 2011 with Mark, whose career as a hydrographer had brought them here to work on the Hudson River dredging project.

We had an apartment on the top floor of the Algonquin building and I remember watching the 4th of July parade on the street below. It was a totally new world to me!

The couple originally planned to live and work in Saratoga for five years and then return home. Not one to ride on her husbands coattails, as she puts it, Catherine began searching for an entrepreneurial adventure. Growing up in New Orleans, she and her mother would often frequent paint and sip cafes in and around the city, and she soon realized that there was nothing of the sort to be found in the Capital Region.

Now, I dont know one woman who doesnt drink coffee or wine, she says in that slow and easy cadence. A year after moving here, Catherine opened Saratoga Paint and Sip Studio on Henry Street, with two more locations in Burlington and Latham opening in the next few years.

It totally changed the trajectory of our lives. Today, Mark is her business partner and co-caregiver of their three young daughters.

So, we all know how successful her Paint and Sip Studios have been. But I wanted to know what makes Palette different from other coffee venues and why the focus is on women.

Its about bringing women together in a safe environment, she begins. Catherines sense is that, for many women, once we get to a certain point in our lives, we forget to try new things and often we become our own worst enemies.

The genesis of Palette Caf came about after Catherine heard of Sky Oro, a co-working community and event space in Bozeman, Montana, dedicated to advancing the personal and professional lives of women. Catherine realized that, like the paint and sip studios, there really wasnt anything like Sky Oro available to women in Saratoga.

However, Catherine is quick to point out that Palette Caf is open to everyone and kids, guys and puppies are always welcome! Even so, the focus of the space is on helping women in a variety of ways, and the vibe is one of inclusiveness and opportunities that may be lacking in other environments.

What Palette offers that no one else does is a community where patrons are encouraged to make new friends, team up for new ventures or learn something new, says their website.

Catherines vision for Palette Caf and Palette Upstairs, which opened in November, is to offer workspace to the mobile workforce, as well as programming and classes that will be offered by women (and an occasional dude) from the local community. Workshops are geared to women at all stages of their lives, from early career women, to stay at home moms, or those looking to re-invent themselves in a new career trajectory or personal lifestyle.

There are also book clubs, moms meetups, courses in financial literacy, all geared to bringing women together for dialogue, interaction and empowerment.

Women dont ask for help, says Catherine. By creating a space where support systems for women can flourish, Catherine feels she is bringing something unique and necessary to the area.

Although Palette Upstairs has only recently opened, Catherine held a live event at the Caf in July, where people could tour the space and learn more about Catherines and her teams vision for it. Forty-five women showed up for the event, with ten joining that first night. Now, there are 60 founding members, including several corporate founding members who contribute services to the caf and its patrons.

Each new member has an hour and a half onboarding session to learn about the features of Palette Caf and Palette Upstairs and the opportunities for enrichment, networking and collaboration amongst members. Palette also offers a concierge service for its members. If youre starting your own business and need someone to run for office supplies, or you forgot to buy a birthday gift for your childs teacher, Kiki, the virtual concierge is there to get the job done.

Catherine hopes that Palette Caf and Palette Upstairs will grow along with the rest of the community and provide the experiential resources necessary for that growth, which she believes is lacking in the lives of so many women.

Theres nothing in life that we shouldnt feel comfortable controlling or taking charge of.

Here is the original post:
From Paint and Sip to Empowering Women; An Interview with Catherine Hover - Saratoga TODAY Newspaper

Philip Pacheco/AFP via Getty Images Carroll Fife, director of the Oakland chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and a representative of Moms 4 Housing, in front of a homeless encampment in Oakland, California, January 28, 2020

In late February, before the Covid-19 lockdown confined me to the phone, I traveled to northern California to report on a growing movement against corporate housing speculation. The resulting story, Moms 4 Housing: Redefining the Right to a Home in Oakland, published by the Daily on March 9, was about a collective of African-American mothers who had occupied, and were then dramatically evicted from, a vacant house in the west of the city. Though the mothers later negotiated to buy the property with the help of a community land trust, their larger campaignfor the human right to housinghas only become more urgent with the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the time of publication, I was waiting on responses to several public information requestsfiled with the office of Libby Schaaf, the mayor of Oakland; the Oakland Police Department; and the office of Gregory Ahern, the sheriff of Alameda County, who oversaw the eviction. Neither Mayor Schaafs office, care of Rose Rubel, an analyst in the city administrators office, nor the Oakland Police Department, care of Alisha Banda, a police records supervisor, have responded to my requests. But on April 9, I received a batch of one hundred and seven emails, in PDF form, from Cynthia Wilson, a technician in the Sheriffs Office.

My primary goal in contacting Alameda County was to learn more about the eviction, which took place on the morning of January 14. As I recount in the original story:

[The mothers] found the street overrunnot only by a throng of supporters, thanks to a text-message blast, but also by a ballistic vehicle and sheriffs vans from Alameda County. A dozen men were dressed infatigues and helmetsandwielded machine guns. Under orders from Sheriff Gregory Ahern and Commander Shawn Sexton, they used a battering ram to knock down the front door of the housewhich the moms say was unlocked but the Sheriffs Office says was fortified. Everyone inside wasarrested

Alameda County declined to pursue criminal charges against the moms and their allies, but the Sheriffs Office has refused to apologize for its show of force. Sergeant Ray Kelly, the agencys public information officer, told me that the Sheriffs Office has no regrets and that the AR15s and ballistic vehicle were commensurate to the threat posed by anarchist and criminal elements among the moms allies, based on social media and tips from an informant. [Carroll] Fife believes that the Sheriffs Office was targeting Fred Hampton Jr., a Chicago-based activist who had flown in to offer support. Hamptons father, a prominent Black Panther, was murdered by the FBI in 1969.

I also wanted to understand the relationship between the Sheriffs Office and Wedgewood LLC, which owned the house the mothers had occupied. A lingering question was why Wedgewood had believed it to be within its rights to discard the mothers belongings after the eviction. Again, as I wrote in March:

The next day, the mothers returned to the house to gather their furniture and other belongings, as Wedgewood had promised they couldthough Wedgewood disputes this. Cross told me that they arrived to find everything thrown onto the street, in a broken, muddy pile.

The emails provided by Alameda County, while incomplete, help answer three crucial questions:

Did the Sheriffs Office try to persuade the mothers to leave the occupied house before the eviction?

Sheriffs Office personnel have repeatedly stated that they tried to prevent a confrontational eviction by offering to help the mothers, only to be rebuffed. Just hours after the eviction, Sheriff Ahern himself wrote in emails to concerned citizens:

We have offered assistance and services, but they were declined. We must follow the order of the court.

We made offers to the group through their attorneys to assist with various programs. Our offers and suggestions were refused. They told us They want the fight,

The mothers and their representativesattorney Leah Simon-Weisberg and Carroll Fife, director of the Oakland chapter of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowermenttold me that they never heard from anyone at the Sheriffs Office.

This contradiction may be explained by an email sent by Kelly on January 10. He emailed Ahern and five others:

I spoke with the moms group attorney, Francisco Gutierrez, and he was very amicable. He wants nothing more than to resolve this issue without a confrontation. I asked him if his clients would sit down with us and come up with a solution that was in their best interest. We also offered resources and access to assistance. He went to the moms [sic] group and they told him there will be no negotiating and they are not leaving. They were very adamant! The attorney was very complimentary of Sgt. Kong and the civil unit and understood our position.

Francisco Gutierrez is an attorney for Wedgewood LLC, not the mothers. It thus appears that Kelly was brokering a negotiation with only one party. When I recently asked Kelly whether he had ever communicated with a lawyer for the mothers, he said yesthat he had spoken with a man. The mothers have had only one attorney: Simon-Weisberg, a woman.

Why did the Sheriffs Office stage such a dramatic eviction?

On December 6 and 9, in response to a reporters query about the timing of the eviction, Kelly said in an email:

We are not looking for a confrontation or to escalate community tension.

I think these folks are looking for a showdown with law enforcement. Thats not going to happen.

This was reiterated a month laterjust three days before the evictionby his colleague, Sergeant Kenrick Kong, in an email to Emma Ishii, a staff member of a county supervisor:

As always it is the intention of the Sheriffs Office Civil Section to enforce Orders from the Court in as peaceful of a manner as possible. We are going to treat the enforcement of this order like any other order.

Yet it seems that, by mid-December, the Sheriffs Office was preparing for a clash. On December 16, after observing a court hearing on the mothers eviction, Lieutenant Patrick Jones wrote to Sexton and another colleague:

Moms for Housing came to Room 104 today. They filed six Claims of Right to Possession [RTP] for the Magnolia property. They had a crowd of 60 to 70 supporters with them. Once they exited the Civil Section Lobby, they announced the RTPs had been filed and we accepted them, causing their group of supporters to begin yelling and screaming. They then began to yell and chant, The people united will never be divided. I exited the Civil employee door, walked to the hallway next to the Courthouse Food Vendor, activated my BWC [body-worn camera] and I announced that yelling and screaming in a courthouse is unacceptable. There was a black male adult who immediately engaged me asking why I was being aggressive. I told him that yelling, screaming and chanting within the courthouse is unacceptable behavior. A white female, who appeared as though she might be their legal counsel, advised they were all leaving peacefully.

The Sheriffs Office deployed more than forty personnel and a BearCat armored vehicle to carry out the eviction on January 14, according to Kelly. A few hours after the eviction, Captain James McGrail emailed forty-five colleagues to provide instructions on how to file overtime hours and what to do if you rode home in the BearCat. He congratulated them for being superstars and attached two notes of praise from local citizens.

When I asked Kelly about these emails, he told me that its common for law enforcement to identify people by their gender and race, even outside of investigations, and that race had nothing to do with the nature of the eviction, adding that there were more whites than African-Americans among the mothers supporters. He said that the BearCat and other equipment were necessary because of aggressive conduct observed inside and outside of the occupied housewhich the mothers and their attorney deny.

Kelly told me that the Sheriffs Office spent more than $40,000 on personnel costs alone to carry out the eviction, all at taxpayer expense. In emails he sent to reporters between January 14 and 16, however, he stated that the cost was over $10k and would be billed to Wedgewood LLC. The company was never charged for any law enforcement expenses.

Why did Wedgewood LLC dispose of the mothers belongings the morning after the eviction?

Sam Singer, the spokesman for Wedgewood, told me in March that the company only ever agreed to put the mothers belongings on the sidewalk in front of the house. According to the mothers and Oakland City CouncilmemberNikki Bas, however, Wedgewood had promised to provide access to the house the morning after the eviction.

It appears that the Sheriffs Office told a Wedgewood attorney that the company was obliged to return the mothers belongings. On January 10, Captain Melanie Ditzenberger wrote to five of her colleagues and Scott Dickey, an attorney for Alameda County:

I received a call from Anthony Pacheco, the attorney who represents Wedgewood. I have spoken to him before, and he is very appreciative of our efforts He asked about the womens property, I told him that once the property was turned back over to Catamount [a Wedgewood subsidiary], they should secure the womens personal property for the amount of time required by law; and if assistance was needed; to work with OPD [Oakland Police Department].

She reiterated this in another email less than an hour later, to a different group of employees at the Sheriffs Office:

[Pacheco] was also concerned about the womens personal property and getting it out of the home. I said that once the Civil Unit affected [sic] the eviction; and returned the property to Catamount, it is their responsibility to secure the womens personal property for the amount of time required by law; and if they needed assistance removing it; to work with OPD.

When I asked Singer about these emails and what Wedgewood understood its obligations to be, he said, I never heard of this conversation.

Taken as a whole, the emails released by Alameda County reveal an agency struggling to coordinate a response to mass protestin the context of an otherwise ordinary eviction. And while the Sheriffs Office continued to exchange information with Wedgewood LLC and its attorneys, it did not communicate directly with Moms 4 Housing. Representatives of Moms 4 Housing told me that the mothers have had no contact with either the Sheriffs Office or Oakland police in recent weeks, but are currently making visits to homeless residents, in violation of the Bay Areas shelter-in-place order. As Carroll Fife explained, We cant shelter in place and say that we care about the community when theyre out living in the streets.

Read more from the original source:
Moms 4 Housing: A Dramatic Eviction Revisited - The New York Review of Books

Significant national media attention has focused in the last week on a slew of right-wing protests, in states like Ohio, Idaho, and Michigan (among others), demanding that the country reopen in the midst of the worst pandemic in modern history. But we should understand what forces are driving these protests, and how they differ radically from demonstrations organized by individuals on the front-lines of the Covid-19 crisis who are engaged in their own progressive rebellion against corporate power and neoliberal politics.

To be clear, these recent right-wing demonstrations are largely a reiteration of old populist campaigns in support of limited government rhetoric and free market politics. They provide cover for reactionary efforts to enhance corporate power and profits via massive business bailouts during times of crisis, coupled with opposition to policies with the potential to benefit the many. The emerging right-wing protest narrative is a repetition of protest narratives about citizen empowerment that draw momentum from the saturation coverage that was afforded to the Tea Party movement and the Trump rebellion.

First things first. The economic and health-related protests that have occurred across the country are motivated by very real concerns for the lives of those on the frontlines of this crisis. The worker walkouts at Instacart, Amazon, and Whole Foods are driven by two primary concerns: a lack of sanitation and safety in workplaces amidst facilities with Covid-19 outbreaks, and the lack of adequate compensation (hazard pay) for working-class and working poor Americans who are risking their lives to provide vital goods and services to the public.

The protests and demonstrations that health care workers have engaged in across the country are motivated by a lack of access to adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) for medical professionals, who are the worst exposed in fighting the Covid-19 outbreak, and who have received little to no support from the Trump administration in terms of providing for potentially life-saving medical equipment.

Those engaged in rent strike activism throughout the country are demanding political action and rent moratoriums out of a direct concern with being evicted, through no fault of their own, in a time of rapidly rising unemployment, and when millions of Americans worry about not being able to pay for basic necessities such as food and shelter. All of the above motivations are substantively different from what were seeing in protests demanding to reopen states and end stay-at-home orders.

News outlets like the New York Times are repeating clichs about how right-wing shutdown protests are another manifestation of working-class resentment against the system. For example, the paper speculated on April 17 about Trumps efforts to foment dissent among Republicans in states with shutdown orders: openly supporting those who challenge the stay-at-home orders could help the president re-energize the coalition of conservative Republicans and working-class populists who agree with the anti-government sentiment that helped power Mr. Trumps election victory in 2016. This narrative persists, despite a comprehensive review of the research on Trumpism demonstrating that his working-class base was never financially insecure, and is not motivated by concerns with poverty and economic vulnerabilities.

The Guardian and Associated Press have now published detailed profiles on the political actors involved in these protests. These news outfits have spotlighted three types of groups at the forefront of the campaign to reopen American states: 1. Astroturf national pro-business groups, including Freedom Works and Americans for Prosperity; 2. Radical quasi-fascist and white nationalist groups, including the Proud Boys and militia activists; and 3. Conservative-Republican citizens groups that are primarily concerned with enhancing corporate power and promoting small government principles, rather than with helping those suffering most from Covid-19. I provide a detailed investigation of the groups below.

Astroturf National Groups

Faux citizens groups have been active for decades hoping to build support for a pro-business political agenda. For example, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and Freedom Works both played instrumental roles in the Tea Party rebellion of the late 2000s and early 2010s. But as Ive documented at length, the Tea Party was an anemic movement. There was little evidence of active mobilization across the nation in local chapters, even at the height of the movement in 2010. Rather, pro-business groups like AFP and Freedom Works, operating under the billionaire Koch activist umbrella, were the primary face of a movement with goals of promoting free market politics and corporate power, and limiting potential government efforts to combat poverty and inequality.

Now these groups are leading the reopen America movement. AFPs motivations are clearly profit-related, as the group explicitly draws on concerns with lost economic activity, which are its primary motivation for trying to end state stay-at-home orders. As AFP argued in a recent press release: rather than blanket shutdowns, the government should allow businesses to continue to adapt and innovate to produce the goods and services Americans need, while continuing to do everything they can to protect the public health. Notice that concerns with public health were cited as secondary to profit interests, in AFPs own words.

As another Koch-network plutocratic business group, Freedom Works has adopted a similar approach. Its website laments state shutdown orders, which it argues contradict longstanding conservative principles of profit-making and limited government. Freedom of assembly, they argue, has been under attack due to the shelter-in-place orders. Weve essentially seen civil and economic liberties suspended in response to Covid-19. As Freedom Works argues: States must begin to reopen their economies and this disregard for civil liberties must end. One thing past crises have taught us is that when government whether its federal or state exerts new powers, its very difficult to wrestle them away. Its a question that comes up after every crisis, but some have wondered what America will look like after Covid-19.

That these groups have become some of the most visible political actors in the reopen America movement speaks poorly of these protests as a representation of citizen-based grassroots empowerment. AFP and Freedom Works have one primary goal: creating a suitable political environment thats conducive to private investment, profits, and unrestricted corporate power. By their own admission, they are not seeking to represent the interests of Americans including health care workers and low-paid service workers who are being hardest hit by the Covid-19 crisis.

Reactionary State Citizens Groups

Operating as an appendage to the larger plutocratic movement to reopen state economies are highly visible right-wing citizens groups. These groups are comprised of residents of the individual states affected by the stay-at-home orders. But their fringe views about reopening the economy, which are not shared by the vast majority of Americans (Republican or Democratic), are being strongly amplified by the heavy news coverage devoted to these protests. And these groups are primarily speaking on behalf of wealthy business interests, not the public, considering that the Covid-19 crisis will intensify if states reopen with a business-as-usual approach.

Among the groups most active in the push to reopen states, as the Guardian and AP report, are the Idaho Freedom Foundation, the Michigan Freedom Fund, and the Michigan Conservative Coalition, among others. These groups, like AFP and Freedom Works, value economic profits, growth, and a free market personal freedom agenda over concerns with public health and safety. In its press release against Idahos initial three-week stay-at-home order, Idaho Freedom Foundation (IFF) lambasted the shutdown as imposing counterproductive government burdens that hurt individual rights and hamper economic growth. Residents of Idaho were being forced to surrender their freedom for the notion of security. Among the main points of protest against the shutdown, IFF includes that it was too sudden, too vague, too sweeping, that it overrides local control, and that it offers no exit strategy. Notice that concerns with the public health, with the dangers faced by health care workers, and with the rising desperation of poorer Americans who have been worst hit by Covid-19, are nowhere to be seen in this list of grievances. Rather, IFFs interests lie elsewhere, as seen in this declaration of principles, which is attached to its protest letter about Idahos Covid-19 shutdown: free market principles work and have served our state and country well. We maintain that our God-given rights, protected under the state and U.S. Constitutions, matter especially during a crisis.

The politics of other business-front citizens groups match those of IFF. The Michigan Freedom Fund (MFF) announces as part of its mission statement that it fights to champion conservative policies on behalf of Michigan taxpayers. We are committed to the principles of limited government, transparency in government, and the freedoms found in the Constitution. As related to Covid-19, the group has served as a sounding board for reactionary activists who were involved in the spearheading of the recent protests in Michigan, labeled Operation Gridlock, against Governor Gretchen Whitmers stay-at-home order. In a new interview posted on MFFs website, Operation Gridlock organizer and Michigan Conservative Coalition Chairwoman Meshawn Maddock explained the motivations behind her protest effort, which sought to spotlight Michigans managed economic disaster. The word managed is revealing, not only because it conspiratorially implies that the state governor is actively working toward destroying the states economy, but also because it runs contrary to widespread recognition among economic experts that, without stay-at-home orders that are needed to get the Covid-19 crisis under control, a return to normal economic activities is effectively impossible.

As a self-described small business owner, Maddock is motivated by concerns with the costs that the Michigan shut-down has imposed on economic activities, and the alleged threat it poses to personal freedoms the freedom to move around freely, for example, rather than the freedom not to contract or infect others with Covid-19. She attacks Governor Whitmer for putting a boot on the head of Michigan residents and for engaging in tyranny by restrict[ing] the movement of healthy people in the state. And her attacks on Whitmers shut down order are clearly not informed by any careful reading of the guidelines being issued by medical experts and the CDC. This much is apparent from her attack against medical professionals tracking the rapid spread of the virus, and her statement that it is not worth shutting down our economy based on a line graph. Rather than public health, Maddock is primarily concerned with the effect of the shutdown on business, as reflected in her warning that businesses right now are being bankrupted by bureaucrats here in Michigan.

As an outgrowth of Maddocks agenda, the Michigan Conservative Coalition (MCC) also operates as a pro-business group that opposes the state shutdown. MCC declares in its mission statement support for the principles that our Founding Fathers had laid out in the Constitution, and for shaping policy by helping to elect more conservatives to local elected positions and to the Michigan legislature, while openly allying with groups like Michigan Trump Republicans, who bill themselves as Trump loving Americans who are sick and tired of the political establishment and the political machine that is solely focused on tearing down our President and his agenda. MCCs own advertisement for Operation Gridlock targets Governor Whitmer for driving the state out of business, while spotlighting concerns with economic health, as related to local businesses which are going broke due to the shutdown. Governor Whitmer, MCC announces, is practicing tyranny via her radical and progressive agenda against the people (Covid-19 mitigation efforts are now apparently a radical-progressive agenda), and in blatant violation of state residents constitutional rights. Notice, again, that the primary concerns MCC lists emphasize business profiteering and highly abstract concerns with personal freedoms, based in right-wing principles of limited government.

White Nationalists and Militia Groups

A final front in the reopen America movement includes reactionary fringe groups committed to a variety of causes that are widely shunned by the vast majority of Americans. In Michigan, these include the Michigan Proud Boys and the Michigan Liberty Militia. There is little evidence that right-wing extremist groups are driven by concerns with economic insecurity. As Ive shown in previous research that draws on national polling data, self-described supporters of the alt-right white nationalist cause are not more likely to be economically insecure in their backgrounds, so income insecurity is not driving their political agenda. Rather, I show that these individuals are piped into radical right-wing media echo chambers, which appear to be the primary force that is fueling and reinforcing their extremism.

There is little reason most Americans should take the quasi-fascistic agendas of these fringe groups seriously, particularly in a time of public health crisis. As reports of the Proud Boys have documented, the group is an openly white nationalist/white supremacist force, notorious for its Islamophobic, racist, and misogynistic rhetoric. The group reinforced its fascist politics in Michigan, as news reporting documented their role in ambulance-blocking and shutting down other traffic in the states capitol of Lansing in protest of the states shutdown order. Similarly, the Michigan Liberty Militia is also an extremist group that, according to its own Facebook page, is primarily committed to protecting the unimpeded American right to assault weapons, amidst other positions including the promotion of xenophobia and racism, and support for violent rebellion and vigilante actions against government.

The rapidly rising salience of right-wing protests fits an established pattern that has played out repeatedly over the last decade in the U.S. news media: radically exaggerate the significance of the protests of a very small number of people, who reflect extremist and pro-business opinions that are rejected by most Americans, but who claim to speak in the name of the people. This narrative has been quite harmful to American political discourse, because it obscures the role that pro-business faux citizens groups have played in creating the false impression of a mass uprising against the status quo. The overlap of these right-wing protests with the Covid-19 economic crisis means that many journalists are likely to embrace the lazy argument that economic insecurity fosters right-wing political values. But as the review above suggests, the groups that are leading this small protest movement are not organizing in the name of the vulnerable, poor, or disadvantaged. Theyre mobilizing in favor of elitist principles of profit-making and corporate power, while embracing extremely general philosophical rhetoric about the need for small government and liberty. They do not represent the interests of the large majority of Americans, who embrace state-wide shutdowns to curtail the spread of Covid-19, and who are calling for massive federal intervention to provide financial assistance to Americans due to the Covid-19 crisis. Recognition of the fringe nature of these protests is vital moving forward, as we hear a constant drumbeat from the reactionary right about how Americans want free market and limited government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Coronavirus and Rightwing Rebellion: Retreading a Tired Narrative - CounterPunch

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla., April 22, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ --Thelma L. Williams "Abercrumbia" is a minister, teacher, prayer warrior, and Bible study teacher, who is retired after serving twenty-four years in the US Air Force, the Air Force Reserves, and the Air National Guard. She has published her latest book "Entering into His Oneness": a deeply personal memoir of her spiritual journey toward a closer relationship with God.

Thelma L. Williams wrote the book, "Entering into His Oneness" one day after experiencing a closet conversation with the Holy Spirit. She cried out her soul unto the Lord and asked Him this question, "Lord, how can I know you in the power of your resurrection according to Philippians 3:10?" She had felt years of suffering from the enemy's strongholds, and now after total deliverance, she writes this book, "Entering into His Oneness" to share with her readers how she overcame later obstacles in life.

Thelma believes in unity and sound doctrine. It is what she wants her readers to experience from her book. She says it is like having manna from heaven, and the people who eat (read) will sustain nourishment from His Word, so they can be purposeful as God is edified. She is purposefully equipped with the necessary power, gifts, and calling for a victorious life. Thelma has encouraged many by sharing her testimony. She now wants to share with everyone who will read her book that they, too, can enter into His Oneness and become one with God and obtain His wealth, strength and empowerment, but more importantly, they can discover God's wonderful and perfect plan for their life in this present season. It is incredible and exciting, and it will transform one's life.

Thelma writes, "You, too, may know God in this extraordinary power. You can truly understand how God causes us to forget those things that are behind and move toward His glorious Oneness and pass it on to others. God's blessings are constantly flowing for all who are under His covenant and His Oneness. May all be blessed who read this book and enter into His Oneness." Published by Page Publishing, Thelma L. Williams "Abercrumbia"'s thought-provoking book is an invaluable resource for spiritual contemplation. Readers who wish to experience this engaging work can purchase"Entering into His Oneness" at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional, full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors' books, including distribution in the world's largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not mired in logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and so on. Page's accomplished writers and publishing professionals allow authors to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.

SOURCE Page Publishing

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Author Thelma L. Williams's new book "Entering into His Oneness" is a devotional text exploring the role of faith in her life and her...

Princess Hend Faisal Al Qassemi ---Hend as she reminds an interviewer (Hind) means India--- has certainly got India on her toes with a series of tweets that has had powerful businessmen in the UAE scrambling to delete hateful tweets, even as she reminds us of Gandhi, and the power of love. She has got the twitter industry that dominates social media in this part of the world on attention, with the normally aggressive trolls holding theirbreath.

For Qassemi, from the UAE royal stock, is one of the several members of the Arab elite and intellectuals who have taken to Twitter to remind India of her democratic credentials, and warn those indulging in hate speech and threats against the Indian Muslims. But this is not the only reason for the pause, as Qassemi herself is a well known figure in international circles, a recognised name in the fashion industry with her House of Hend, a big name in the magazine world as the editor of Velvet, a Royal herself who was married into royalty until she separated with quiet dignity, an author with short stories in the Black Box of Arabia in her kitty.

Wearing a hijab she is a champion of womens empowerment, bold in her speech, and firm in her views. Her interviews in the past reveal her passion for equality, but not in the strict feminist kind wherein she sees a balanced role for both men and women. She quotes Margaret Thatcher to say that if you want to solve a problem give it for discussion to the men, and for action to the women. She rules the fashion industry without giving up the hijab, but the covers of Velvet do not compromise with the elements that make it a recognised magazine in the exclusive and top end of haute couture.

And yet she does not appear to be a woman of contradiction, secure in herself as her rise in the industry, and her endless interests and passions show. She comes from a family where her mother--Royalty of course---went on to become the principal of a school and her father a medical doctor, moved to establish a chain of hospitals. So as she has told interviewers in the past, she comes from a working family, where her parents were co-dependent on each other, and worked together to create an environment where the girl felt empowered and not discriminated. Interestingly, she got her business flair from her grandmother who was widowed at 19 years with two daughters, started a business and taught herself over the years. Qassemi recalls somewhere that she remembers hearing her grandmother pronouncing words and teaching herself at the age of 50 years, a no mean feat that.

She is bright and fashionable, high end of course but with a passion that is visible on her social media pages and her interviews and speeches across the world. A proud Emirati, she harps on love and peace and humanity even as she rubs shoulders naturally with the top end of nations across the world. She professes a love for India, and as she says in one of her more recent tweets she cannot keep away from Bollywood and cheese naan. In school she had friends from India as well as across the globe, has visited the country, seems to have an insight into its working and yet is not hesitant to say that hate speech will not be tolerated or accepted. That her views have backing from the top is clear from the quiet acceptance of her views within the UAE, and that as other intellectuals joining her in the campaign have pointed out the staggering numbers of Indians working in the Gulf itself should be a reminder of possible consequences. At the same time she takes care to point out in a tweet that the laws against this apply equally to nationals and those working in the UAE.

Princess Hend Al Qassimi @LadyVelvet_HFQ

UAE law applies on nationals and non-nationals in terms of hate speech.

Her The Biack Book of Arabia should have been controversial but was not. As she tells an interviewer, she has been fortunate as while she is drowned in messages very few are negative. The book is a compilation of short stories and as she says in an interview around its release, well, in the black box are all the secrets, the untold stories, the facts. So that why I called my debut The Black Book of Arabia. Theres no fanfare, theyre often just the result of hearing these incredible, sometimes secret, tales and wanting to tell them straight. And she has done that and in the process made it clear to the world that Arab women are not to be trampled upon, they are not submissive, but in their sorrow there is also empowerment.

Born in 1984, Qassemi has established herself as a woman of substance, out there in the world with dignity, and not one to be messed around with. She was married into the royal family, separated with dignity, has a son and is said to be now fighting for his custody. Hers too is a personal tale of some struggle, but one that she has very consciously and deliberately kept out of the public view. She does not come through as bitter in her writings, or her interviews, but positive about moving ahead with the emancipation of women her theme. Those who know her respect her, find her very interesting and firm in her views. A painter, an architect, a writer, a fashion designer, a business woman there is little that she has not dabbled with.

So when Qassemi speaks she is heard. She says it as it is and her decision to warn those using Arab soil to mount a hate campaign is not meaningless. She has virtually led the latest Twitter charge against hate speech and action and without being soppy laid out a bottom line through her tweets. One, that hate is unacceptable, two, that India should remember Gandhi, three, that the UAE will exhibit zero tolerance for such posts from within their region, four, that she loves India and will continue to do so. She takes care not to exult when tweets are deleted and instead tweets, The UAE and India are old friends, the few ignorant extremists will not affect relations between the two rising nations. Let us be an example of love instead of hate. Why demolish what you can build. Besides, I like my Bollywood movies and cheese naan too much to stay away.

She was in India last February (cover photograph) zipping through Chennai in an autorickshaw after inaugurating pilots in hijab' service where women and transgenders join the men to drive this public transport across the city. Her visit did not make the headlines outside the city but the Womens pride icon on the M Auto Pride application that she launched. clearly fits in with her larger commitments.

A Princess to watch out for.

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A Princess to Watch Out For - The Citizen