James48
James48's JournalTraverse City opens formal investigation
City has received multiple complaints regarding bigoted policies of the salon which may be in violation of city ordinance. An investigation is now underway.
“ City Receives Discrimination Complaint Regarding Local Business
The City of Traverse City has received multiple notifications of discriminatory language issued from a local business within the City of Traverse City. Several notifications referenced the City’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance, adopted in 2010, that states; It is the intent of the City of Traverse City that no person be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of his or her civil rights or be discriminated against because of their actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, height, weight, marital status, physical or mental disability, family status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
“We are disheartened to hear of any discriminatory behavior in our region. As a community, we are responsible to take care of one another and speak up for one another. The City of Traverse City has valued itself on providing a safe environment for all people,” stated Traverse City Mayor Richard Lewis.
“The actions of one business owner do not reflect the values of the citizens of Traverse City. Regardless of any court cases decided since then, city residents voted almost two to one in support of protecting LGBTQIA+ rights in 2011. That is who we are. We are a community who welcomes all and stands with neighbors, especially our LGBTQIA+ folks as they find themselves under attack,” said Traverse City Mayor Pro-Tem Amy Shamroe.
The City’s attorney will investigate this matter based upon the relevant legal standards including the City’s Non-Discrimination Ordinance as well as recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and State legislation.”
More-
Details:
https://www.facebook.com/100069236078556/posts/pfbid08qHCML7hPBNADLQBUGzPCRn5pZny7wrKQ8NvR2GJPexW8yJW3vYJQMt2ixMcvgMGl/?mibextid=aE13LE
Detroit-area officer charged with federal civil rights crime after punching Black man
Source: Associated Press
WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit police officer who punched a young Black man in the face and slammed his head to the ground was charged Monday with a federal civil rights crime.
A criminal complaint against Matthew Rodriguez was unsealed in federal court ahead of an afternoon news conference by U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison.
Jaquwan Smith, 19, was being processed at the Warren police station on June 13 after he was arrested on a warrant for multiple felonies.
Video shows Rodriguez exchanging words with Smith before the officer punched him, knocked him to the floor and slammed his head on the ground.
(Caution- brutal video of police officer beating a black man in custody.)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/excessive-force-michigan-officer-charged-2d63e47bc92db7c03c128daf01351730?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&mibextid=Zxz2cZ#ljxhi4dsvxrgwer8u6c
Officer fired, charged with assault, plus federal civil rights violations.
Michigan brings charges in Republican signature scam
Breaking News: Attorney General Dana Nessel is expected to announce charges Thursday related to the fake nominating petition signatures that resulted in the disqualification of five Republican candidates for governor in 2022.
Court records show that charges were filed Tuesday in 37th District Court in Warren against three defendants: Shawn Wilmoth, 36, and Willie Reed, 37. Each face 27 felony counts including conducting a criminal enterprise, false pretenses, computer fraud and election forgery, records show. Jamie Lynn Wilmoth, 36, faces 25 such charges.
Stay with Freep.com as Nessel is expected to hold a press conference in Lansing Thursday morning.
A stack of fraudulent petitions gathered by a company for Secure MI Vote are shown during a press conference for Secure MI Vote in downtown Lansing.
Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press
More: https://www.freep.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/06/22/dana-nessel-charges-fake-signature-scandal-gop-governor-race-wilmoth/70344693007/
And in the Detroit News
Check out this article from The Detroit News:
Charges filed in signature fraud scandal that knocked five out of gubernatorial primary
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/michigan/2023/06/22/charges-filed-in-signature-fraud-scandal-that-knocked-five-out-of-gubernatorial-primary/70345440007/
Aliens have landed.
The UFO’s have finally been identified, and they want to register a complaint.
To Escape Bullies, Military 'Forced to Move' Families with LGBTQ+ Kids
Harassment of children is "detracting from our readiness," says top Air Force manpower official, "because their school will do nothing when their LGBT kid is being bullied."
AUDREY DECKER | JUNE 07, 2023
Troops with LGBTQ+ family members have been forced to move to new bases because of harassment at school, a Department of the Air Force official said.
“When I'm forced to move families from installations, because their school will do nothing when their LGBT kid is being bullied—that worries me, because that's distracting from the mission, that's detracting from our readiness,” said Alex Wagner, assistant Air Force secretary for manpower and reserve affairs.
Wagner’s comments come amid escalating attacks by right-wing politicians on the LGBTQ+ community. For instance, in Florida, home to several Air Force and Space Force bases, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill bans public school teachers from talking about sexual orientation or gender identity in the classroom. Hundreds of other anti-LGBTQ+ laws have been introduced or passed elsewhere in the country.
The Air Force could not immediately say which military bases Wagner was referring to.
“If servicemembers are thinking and concerned about the experience their kids are having, they're not going to be focused on their jobs. They're not gonna be focused on their mission,” Wagner said Tuesday at the Center for a New American Security’s annual National Security Conference.
Conservative lawmakers have also argued that “woke-ism” is causing the military’s recruiting woes—despite top military leaders saying there is no evidence that diversity policies have harmed recruiting or readiness.
Diversity and inclusion, Wagner said, is “core” to U.S. national security, because diverse groups always outperform “carefully selected teams of homogenous individuals.”
More:
https://www.govexec.com/defense/2023/06/escape-bullies-military-forced-move-families-lgbtq-kids/387226/
Debt Ceiling Furloughs Are Unconstitutional, Union Will Argue Before Court Next Week
The lawsuit seeks to force the Biden administration to take unilateral action to avoid a default.
By ERIC KATZ , http://govexec.com
MAY 24, 2023
A federal judge will next week hear a case, brought by a federal employee union, on the constitutionality of the debt ceiling structure and the impact it could have on civil servants, potentially providing a last-minute opening to avoid a catastrophic default.
Judge Richard Stearns, from the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, on Tuesday scheduled arguments in a lawsuit brought by the National Association of Government Employees for May 31, the day before the government could default on its debts for the first time ever. The Biden administration must submit its written argument against NAGE’s position that a debt default is unconstitutional by May 30, placing it in a difficult position as it has so far declined to pursue unilateral action that would stave off a scenario of missed government payments.
The lawsuit is seeking an emergency injunction preventing the Biden administration from no longer borrowing money to pay the government’s debt, as is expected to occur under a default, and to prohibit any related layoffs or furloughs of federal employees. NAGE filed the complaint on behalf of its 75,000 federal employee members.
Congress sets funding priorities, the group said, and a default scenario that requires the president to pay down some obligations and not others undermines that constitutional structure. Complying with the debt ceiling is inherently unconstitutional, therefore, unless and until Congress sets a roadmap for the exact spending schedules during a default. Similarly, NAGE said, the president cannot simply cease making all payments during a default because the 14th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from failing to pay its debts. The debt ceiling has placed President Biden in an “impossible situation,” NAGE argued, “without legislative permission or constitutional authority as to how to proceed.”
More:
https://www.govexec.com/management/2023/05/debt-ceiling-furloughs-are-unconstitutional-union-will-argue-court-next-week/386753/
Just saw a mess of satellites floating by
Was outside, and it looks like a string of 50 or more satellites passed overhead, south of me, from west to east, at a very high azimuth. I’m in northern Michigan and it is in orbit south of me.
You can see the whole train of multiple satellites stretched out. Cool sight!
Must be STARLINK again?
Conservative Think Tanks Are Preparing a List of 20K Potential Political Appointees in Hopes
Conservative Think Tanks Are Preparing a List of 20K Potential Political Appointees in Hopes of Reviving Schedule FA coalition led by the Heritage Foundation has launched a massive recruitment effort that would grow the ranks of federal political appointees from 4,000 to 20,000 in the next Republican presidential administration.
By ERICH WAGNER, http://govexec.com/
Link:
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2023/04/conservative-think-tanks-are-preparing-list-20k-potential-political-appointees-hopes-reviving-schedule-f/385545/
A coalition of conservative activist groups last week launched a massive recruitment campaign for prospective political appointees in the next Republican presidential administration and joined the growing GOP chorus calling for reinstatement of Schedule F.
Project 2025, a Republican presidential transition project led by the Heritage Foundation, seeks to create a database of up to 20,000 potential hires into the next Republican presidential administration by the end of 2024. The effort’s launch was first reported by The New York Times and is being led by former Office of Personnel Management Chief of Staff Paul Dans and former Associate Director of Presidential Personnel Spencer Chretien.
If 20,000 seems like an unusually high number of candidates for the roughly 4,000 political appointees in the federal government, that’s because it is. That’s at least in part because, as part of a nearly 1,000-page policy document, the conservative groups joined the growing number of Republican officials, including former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who have endorsed reinstating Schedule F.
Schedule F was an abortive effort in the final months of the Trump administration to create a new job classification within the excepted service for federal workers in policy-related positions, transfer competitive service employees into the new category, and strip them of most civil service protections, effectively making them at-will employees. Although a few agencies had made preparations to implement the initiative, none were able to convert any employees before President Biden took office and rescinded the policy.
More: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2023/04/conservative-think-tanks-are-preparing-list-20k-potential-political-appointees-hopes-reviving-schedule-f/385545/
OPM Supports Transgender Feds in New Guidance
On International Transgender Day of Visibility, the federal government’s HR agency tasked agencies with updating their policies to ensure they are inclusive toward gender non-conforming employees.
ERICH WAGNER , http://govexec.com | MARCH 31, 2023
The federal government’s HR agency on Friday published new guidance tasking agencies with updating their policies to ensure that they afford a “non-discriminatory and inclusive” work environment to all employees, particularly transgender and other gender non-conforming workers.
The memo was published on International Transgender Day of Visibility, an observance aimed at celebrating transgender people and raising awareness about discrimination and other challenges they face. This year’s iteration comes amid a concerted right-wing effort to marginalize LGBTQIA+ individuals, as Republicans in state governments have advanced legislation targeting drag performances and blocking access to gender-affirming care, particularly for teenagers.
The document outlines how agencies should handle several sensitive matters related to when and how a gender non-conforming employee transitions their gender identity, including name and pronoun changes, privacy, bathroom access, leave usage for gender affirming medical care, and agency supports for transitioning workers.
More:
https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2023/03/opm-supports-transgender-feds-new-guidance/384683/
Federal Asylum Officers Blast New Biden Rule as Contrary to Legal, Moral Obligations
From http://www.govexec.com
Federal Asylum Officers Blast New Biden Rule as Contrary to Legal, Moral Obligations
Management has told employees they understand the concerns, but employees will either have to comply or quit.
MARCH 30, 2023
By Eric Katz
The Biden’s administration’s plan to severely restrict asylum approvals is drawing outcry from the Homeland Security Department employees who would implement the policy, with the staffers calling it unlawful and “contrary to the moral fabric of our nation.”
Asylum personnel said they would have to violate their oaths to carry out the yet-to-be-implemented policy. They have voiced their concerns to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service leadership, who told them at a recent town hall that, assuming the proposal is finalized, they can either follow the guidance or find a new job.
The union that represents USCIS employees—the American Federation of Government Employees Council 119—filed its complaints as a comment on the proposed rule DHS and the Justice Department put forward in February. To be able to apply for asylum, the rule would require immigrants who entered U.S. territory after first traveling through another country to have either applied for asylum elsewhere during their travels, made an appointment at a port of entry through a DHS app or received parole through a limited program.
“At their core, the measures that the proposed rule seeks to implement are inconsistent with the asylum law enacted by Congress, the treaties the United States has ratified, and our country’s moral fabric and longstanding tradition of providing safe haven to the persecuted,” the union said in its comment, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times. “Rather, it is draconian and represents the elevation of a single policy goal—reducing the number of migrants crossing the southwest border—over human life and our country’s commitment to refugees.”
More: https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2023/03/federal-asylum-officers-blast-new-biden-rule-contrary-legal-moral-obligations/384640/
Profile Information
Member since: Sun Jan 3, 2010, 01:16 AMNumber of posts: 4,436
