Category Archives: Viva!

Targets of Russian airstrikes in Syria called into question

Russia carried out its first airstrikes in Syria on Wednesday, claiming it had struck militants of the Islamic State (IS) group. However, French and US officials quickly raised questions about the military operation.

Kevin McCarthy, House Speaker Favorite, Under Fire for Benghazi Comment – The New York Times

“This stunning concession from Representative McCarthy reveals the truth that Republicans never dared admit in public,” said Representative Elijah E. Cummings, the lead Democrat on the committee. “The core Republican goal in establishing the Benghazi Committee was always to damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and never to conduct an evenhanded search for the facts.”

Source: Kevin McCarthy, House Speaker Favorite, Under Fire for Benghazi Comment – The New York Times

You’ve Seen This Before: Planned Parenthood Hearings and the Hyde Amendment

At yesterday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, some members of the committee spent their allotted time for questions asserting that there are plenty of places that can do the same tests and exams that Planned Parenthood does for 2.7 million women every year and that federal funds should just go elsewhere.

cecil-richards-screenshot-via-youtube-36What these members of the House were really saying, though, is that if you are young, low-income, or disabled and you get Medicaid, they should control your choice of the health care provider you see. Whether you feel comfortable with the person who feels your breasts for lumps is irrelevant. Whether you feel comfortable with the person who inserts a speculum into your vagina to be able to get a sample of cells from your cervix is irrelevant. Who you trust to examine your body and advise you on your health doesn’t matter. They should control that choice.

This isn’t new. Taking control of women’s bodies, particularly the bodies of low-income women and women of color, is a tactic that has been used in this country and even before it was a country. And today we mark the 39th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment, the cruel federal restriction on abortion coverage and yet another way some members of Congress seek to control women’s bodies and health care options.

Yesterday’s display in the House Oversight Committee is proof positive that some members of Congress aren’t just perfectly comfortable continuing this terrible part of our history, but want to expand their control over women’s health, bodies, and lives. 

An Important Announcement about Guernica Daily – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

Dear readers, contributors, and friends,For more than ten years, with your generous support, Guernica has grown and thrived. It has not always been easy, but it has always been exciting. No

Source: An Important Announcement about Guernica Daily – Guernica / A Magazine of Art & Politics

US court takes important step in resolving human/wildlife conflict at sea

UK Human Rights Blog

Sea Otters Sea Otters

California Sea Urchin Commission, et al. v Michael Bean, et al, US District Court, Central District of California (September 18 2015) – read judgment

A Californian court has upheld the protection of marine otters over the interests of commercial fishing.

Sea otters are remarkable marine mammals who live their entire lives at sea, giving birth in the water and clutching their cubs to their bellies as they float in rafts of up to a thousand, holding hands while they sleep to avoid drifting off in the ocean’s currents. But they are not just picturesque; they are essential to the health of the seas. A main component of their diet is the ubiquitous sea urchin, which feeds on kelp. As sea otters have been hunted and killed as by-catch over the centuries, their diminishing numbers have led to the proliferation of the sea urchin population and the consequent disappearance…

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