Thursday, August 27, 2020
WASHINGTON – Lezmond Mitchell on Wednesday became the first Native American in modern history to be executed by the federal government over the objections of a tribal government for a crime committed between Native Americans on tribal land.
Mitchell, a Navajo convicted of the 2001 murders of a Navajo woman and her granddaughter, was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Justice Department said. The execution started at 6 p.m. after last-minute appeals to the courts and the White House failed.
The execution had been strenuously opposed by the Navajo Nation, which normally must allow an execution of a tribal member. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer said in a statement Wednesday that, “Our collective voice was ignored.”
“We don’t expect federal officials to understand our strongly held traditions of clan relationship, keeping harmony in our communities, and holding life sacred,” their statement said. “What we do expect, no, what we demand, is respect for our People, for our Tribal Nation, and we will not be pushed aside any longer.”
Mitchell’s attorneys called the execution another chapter in the federal government’s “long history of injustices against Native American people.”
Mitchell, a Navajo convicted of the 2001 murders of a Navajo woman and her granddaughter, was pronounced dead at 6:29 p.m. in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Justice Department said. The execution started at 6 p.m. after last-minute appeals to the courts and the White House failed.
The execution had been strenuously opposed by the Navajo Nation, which normally must allow an execution of a tribal member. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer said in a statement Wednesday that, “Our collective voice was ignored.”
“We don’t expect federal officials to understand our strongly held traditions of clan relationship, keeping harmony in our communities, and holding life sacred,” their statement said. “What we do expect, no, what we demand, is respect for our People, for our Tribal Nation, and we will not be pushed aside any longer.”
Mitchell’s attorneys called the execution another chapter in the federal government’s “long history of injustices against Native American people.”
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Wednesday, August 26, 2020
WASHINGTON – If anyone thought it strange that the top two elected officials in the Navajo Nation were speaking at competing political conventions, Navajo Vice President Myron Lizer said they have not been paying attention.
“There’s no secret we are a split ticket,” Lizer said during a Navajo town hall Tuesday with President Jonathan Nez. “We are working both sides, and we are well represented in Washington.”
Lizer’s comments came as he was getting ready to address the Republican National Convention, just one week after Nez was featured as a “rising star” who helped deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In a prerecorded prime-time speech, with Shiprock as a backdrop, Lizer credited President Donald Trump with improving relations between federal and tribal governments.
“For years, we’ve fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us. That is, until President Trump took office,” Lizer said in his convention address. “Whenever we meet with President Trump, he has always made it a priority to repair the relationship with our federal family.”
“There’s no secret we are a split ticket,” Lizer said during a Navajo town hall Tuesday with President Jonathan Nez. “We are working both sides, and we are well represented in Washington.”
Lizer’s comments came as he was getting ready to address the Republican National Convention, just one week after Nez was featured as a “rising star” who helped deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
In a prerecorded prime-time speech, with Shiprock as a backdrop, Lizer credited President Donald Trump with improving relations between federal and tribal governments.
“For years, we’ve fought congressional battles with past congressmen and senators that were part of a broken system that ignored us. That is, until President Trump took office,” Lizer said in his convention address. “Whenever we meet with President Trump, he has always made it a priority to repair the relationship with our federal family.”
The history of police in America is a story of repeated promises to change from its gatekeepers, yet people of color, adolescents and other vulnerable populations say they continuously bear the brunt of its shortcomings.
Youth in America are criminalized every day, with racial and socioeconomic disparities further increasing their likelihood of being policed, arrested or killed by law enforcement.
Despite overall declines in arrests and incarceration, children of color are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system every step of the way. In 2018, Black youth were arrested more than twice as often as white youth.
“Hispanic/Latino youth are placed in residential facilities at a rate that is 1.3 times greater than their representation in the population,” according to a 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Nearly 730,000 minors were arrested in the United States in 2018, according to federal data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. For thousands across the country, this path is set off by a singular interaction that defines the trajectory of a child’s life: an encounter with police.
Youth in America are criminalized every day, with racial and socioeconomic disparities further increasing their likelihood of being policed, arrested or killed by law enforcement.
Despite overall declines in arrests and incarceration, children of color are overrepresented in the juvenile justice system every step of the way. In 2018, Black youth were arrested more than twice as often as white youth.
“Hispanic/Latino youth are placed in residential facilities at a rate that is 1.3 times greater than their representation in the population,” according to a 2017 report by the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Criminal Justice Reference Service.
Nearly 730,000 minors were arrested in the United States in 2018, according to federal data from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. For thousands across the country, this path is set off by a singular interaction that defines the trajectory of a child’s life: an encounter with police.
Tuesday, August 25, 2020
WASHINGTON – It took less than a minute, but Arizona’s delegation to the Republican National Convention cast all 57 of its votes Monday for President Donald Trump, part of a suspense-free nomination that kicked off the four-day convention.
Trump got all 2,550 votes, even though only a fraction of that many delegates were actually in the hall in Charlotte, North Carolina. Like the Democratic National Convention last week, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the GOP event this week to stage a nontraditional convention.
But even though they could not be there in person, Arizona delegates expressed enthusiasm Monday for their candidate.
“He took the time to come to Arizona to show that he cared for our state,” said Alberto Gutier, a delegate and sergeant-at-arms for the Arizona Republican Party who was watching the events from home Monday.
The outcome was hardly a surprise: Arizona was one of a number that opted against a Republican presidential primary this year, leaving Trump as the only candidate.
Most delegates focused their comments on law and order, economic issues and, for Arizona delegation Chairman Michael Ward, “miles and miles and miles of big, beautiful wall.”
It took a little more than an hour and a half Monday for the actual roll call of the states that formally nominated Trump, who followed with a speech that went on for almost an hour on everything from election security to COVID-19 to judicial appointments.
Trump got all 2,550 votes, even though only a fraction of that many delegates were actually in the hall in Charlotte, North Carolina. Like the Democratic National Convention last week, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the GOP event this week to stage a nontraditional convention.
But even though they could not be there in person, Arizona delegates expressed enthusiasm Monday for their candidate.
“He took the time to come to Arizona to show that he cared for our state,” said Alberto Gutier, a delegate and sergeant-at-arms for the Arizona Republican Party who was watching the events from home Monday.
The outcome was hardly a surprise: Arizona was one of a number that opted against a Republican presidential primary this year, leaving Trump as the only candidate.
Most delegates focused their comments on law and order, economic issues and, for Arizona delegation Chairman Michael Ward, “miles and miles and miles of big, beautiful wall.”
It took a little more than an hour and a half Monday for the actual roll call of the states that formally nominated Trump, who followed with a speech that went on for almost an hour on everything from election security to COVID-19 to judicial appointments.
ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power. Click here to read their biggest stories as soon as they’re published.
This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans.
Near the end of a lengthy indictment detailing fraud allegations against Stephen Bannon, former Donald Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist and his associates, federal prosecutors reveal that they intend to seize the assets of a murky nonprofit organization Bannon launched in 2017 to promote “economic nationalism.”
The group is Citizens of the American Republic, a California-based nonprofit that serves as a platform for Bannon’s films and podcasts that promote Trump’s ideology. Throughout the 24-page indictment, the group appears to be referenced as “Non-Profit-1” in a scheme in which Bannon and his partners were allegedly looting a crowdsourced charity, We Build the Wall, for personal gain. The indictment never outright states that “Non-Profit-1” is Citizens of the American Republic, but it describes it as an “organization founded by [Bannon] with the stated purpose of promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty,” which closely matches the nonprofit’s own stated aims.
The indictment alleges that “Non-Profit-1” received over $1 million through the scheme and funneled part of it to Brian Kolfage, the military veteran who raised money to build a privately funded wall to help Trump block off the southern border.
This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans.
Near the end of a lengthy indictment detailing fraud allegations against Stephen Bannon, former Donald Trump campaign CEO and chief strategist and his associates, federal prosecutors reveal that they intend to seize the assets of a murky nonprofit organization Bannon launched in 2017 to promote “economic nationalism.”
The group is Citizens of the American Republic, a California-based nonprofit that serves as a platform for Bannon’s films and podcasts that promote Trump’s ideology. Throughout the 24-page indictment, the group appears to be referenced as “Non-Profit-1” in a scheme in which Bannon and his partners were allegedly looting a crowdsourced charity, We Build the Wall, for personal gain. The indictment never outright states that “Non-Profit-1” is Citizens of the American Republic, but it describes it as an “organization founded by [Bannon] with the stated purpose of promoting economic nationalism and American sovereignty,” which closely matches the nonprofit’s own stated aims.
The indictment alleges that “Non-Profit-1” received over $1 million through the scheme and funneled part of it to Brian Kolfage, the military veteran who raised money to build a privately funded wall to help Trump block off the southern border.
WASHINGTON – Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, joined a chorus of Republicans defending the changes to the Postal Service and accusing Democrats in a sometimes-heated hearing of conspiring to create problems with this fall’s presidential election.
“I want to clear up some obvious political disinformation that the majority is putting out,” Gosar said at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting where Republicans defended cost-cutting moves by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
But Democrats said DeJoy’s decisions to remove some mail equipment, cut back on overtime and other changes have directly affected the delivery of mail, which they fear could hamper mail-in balloting this fall.
“Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of Mr. DeJoy’s actions,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-New York, and chairwoman of the committee.
The hearing came two days after the House, in a largely partisan vote, approved the “Delivering for America Act” Saturday 257-150, with the no votes coming from 149 Republicans and one independent member.
Arizona lawmakers followed suit, with all five Democrats in the House voting for the bill and all four Republicans opposing it.
Maloney’s office said the bill would provide the Postal Service with $25 billion “to help weather the coronavirus crisis and returns operations to the way they were before the Postmaster General recently caused nationwide delays in the mail.”
“I want to clear up some obvious political disinformation that the majority is putting out,” Gosar said at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee meeting where Republicans defended cost-cutting moves by new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
But Democrats said DeJoy’s decisions to remove some mail equipment, cut back on overtime and other changes have directly affected the delivery of mail, which they fear could hamper mail-in balloting this fall.
“Our entire country is experiencing these delays as a result of Mr. DeJoy’s actions,” said Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-New York, and chairwoman of the committee.
The hearing came two days after the House, in a largely partisan vote, approved the “Delivering for America Act” Saturday 257-150, with the no votes coming from 149 Republicans and one independent member.
Arizona lawmakers followed suit, with all five Democrats in the House voting for the bill and all four Republicans opposing it.
Maloney’s office said the bill would provide the Postal Service with $25 billion “to help weather the coronavirus crisis and returns operations to the way they were before the Postmaster General recently caused nationwide delays in the mail.”
Photo by Bytemarks/Creative Commons
Record numbers of Americans are receiving unemployment insurance during the pandemic. That’s because of the enormous scale of jobs lost — but also because Congress greatly expanded the number of workers eligible for benefits. For the first time, thanks to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, part-timers, independent contractors and gig workers qualify for unemployment payments. Black workers are overrepresented in these nontraditional positions, which in the past has contributed to making them less likely to receive unemployment payments than other groups.
Yet despite the expansion of eligibility, a smaller percentage of unemployed Black workers are receiving unemployment benefits than white workers during the pandemic, according to national survey data from NORC at the University of Chicago: 13% of jobless Black workers received such payments between April and June, compared with 22% for Hispanic workers and 24% for white workers.
Courtesy photo
"It is because of my conservatism, and because of my belief in the Constitution and the separation of power, and because I am gravely concerned about the conduct and behavior of our current president, that I stand here today, proudly and wholeheartedly, to endorse Joe Biden as the next president of the United States of America," Flake said.
Flake has been a longtime vocal critic of Trump, decrying his moral ambiguity and childish behavior in an op-ed in 2017.
"These former members of Congress cited Trump's corruption, destruction of democracy, blatant disregard for moral decency, and urgent need to get the country back on course as a reason why they support Biden," the Biden campaign said in an announcement.
Flake summarized his decision with this: "After the turmoil of the past four years, we need a president who unifies rather than divides."
