Day: April 15, 2024

Larry Kudlow grills Biden’s response to the Israel-Hamas war  Fox Business

Japan’s Finance Minister Warns on Yen Ahead of IMF-G7 Meetings  Bloomberg

Japan’s Finance Minister Warns on Yen Ahead of IMF-G7 Meetings  BNN Bloomberg

Why did some Arab countries appear to help Israel?  The Times of India

Hurry up and wait: Trump’s classified documents case is mired in delays that may run past election  WDTN.com

Scores of “Free Palestine” protesters across the United States took to the streets Monday to block major airports, highways, and bridges. Those who are arrested will receive bail money and legal support from a left-wing dark money behemoth funded by George Soros, an online fundraising page shows.

The protests, which took place in dozens of U.S. cities including San Francisco, Chicago, New York City, and Philadelphia, were organized by A15 Action, a newly formed group that worked to “coordinate a multi-city economic blockade on April 15 in solidarity with Palestine.” The group’s website directs users to a “bail and legal defense fund” hosted through ActBlue, the Democratic Party’s online fundraising juggernaut.

Those who donate to the fund, the ActBlue page says, are sending money to the Community Justice Exchange, which provides “money bail, court fees and fines” and other legal services to “community-based organizations … that contest the current operation and function of the criminal legal and immigration detention systems.” The exchange is a project of the Tides Center, a left-wing dark money network funded by Soros and other liberal billionaires.

The protesters, who organized the global event under the title A15, targeted economic “choke points” with the express purpose of causing as much financial disruption as possible, according to their website.

Southbound 880 at 7th blocked #A15 day if econ shutdown, another shutdown on 880 elsewhere northbound pic.twitter.com/wcBU49wcTV

— Jaime Omar Yassin (@hyphy_republic) April 15, 2024

Ahead of the protests, A15 said it identified “major choke points in the economy” that it would “blockade” to “cause pain.” The group listed more than 50 participating cities, including Chicago, where dozens of protesters shut down access to the O’Hare International Airport for nearly an hour, forcing some travelers to walk with their luggage to the airport.

Similar protests occurred in San Francisco—where protesters held up traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge—and in Oakland, Calif., where protesters blocked all lanes on Interstate 880. Philadelphia and New York City also experienced disruptions.

At the A15 protest on Wall Street, protesters were photographed wearing Hamas bandanas and flying Hezbollah flags. Banks located near the protest were vandalized with red spray paint and graffiti that read “Funder of Genocide” and “Free Gaza.” Those protesters later blocked the Brooklyn Bridge.

 

Outside the New York Stock Exchange for an anti-Israel rally, a person waves the Hezbollah flag.@FrontlinesTPUSA @TPUSA pic.twitter.com/CXEvltfWiC

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 15, 2024

Police across the country made dozens of arrests in connection with the protests, with defendants set to receive support from Community Justice Exchange.

“On April 15th, people from over 30 cities around the world will take action to demand a free Palestine,” A15’s fundraising page reads. “Donate here to support community members who are criminalized in the U.S. for their solidarity with Palestine.”

“Should the actions of the state result in the need for it, these funds will be used for bail, legal defense, and support for defendants.”

The Tides Center houses a variety of left-wing groups, including the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation. It funnels millions of dollars from wealthy donors to those groups.

The center acts as a “fiscal sponsor” to a number of liberal nonprofits, allowing the groups under its umbrella to avoid registering with the IRS. Some of those groups are known for their anti-Israel activism.

The Tides Center, for example, fiscally sponsors the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, which last year organized a “direct action” protest that attempted to block a U.S. military ship bound for Israel from leaving a port in Washington. It also sponsors the Adalah Justice Project, one of America’s most vocal Hamas apologists.

Soros and fellow liberal billionaire Pierre Omidyar are among the Tides Center’s major donors.

“The Tides Center is as liberal and politically active as they come; its entire purpose is to create new activist groups,” Scott Walter, president of the Capital Research Center, previously told the Washington Free Beacon.

The Tides Center, ActBlue, Community Justice Exchange, and A15 did not respond to requests for comment.

ActBlue’s website says its fundraising platform is only open to groups whose “work is not at odds with values including, but not limited to, social equality; women’s rights; LGBTQIA2S+ rights; racial justice; diversity; freedom of speech; disability rights; and respect for scientific inquiry, discovery, and data.”

A15’s “mutual solidarity agreement” outlines ways in which protesters are expected to “act in solidarity with each other in the face of attacks from the media, politicians and the police and the Zionist project.” Activists are encouraged to avoid talking to police and are not to “discourage or denounce each others [sic] plans because solidarity means affinity, not ownership.”

“If one city faces police repression, other cities will extend or expand their blockades or initiate other actions in response if able to the best of their abilities and capacity,” the agreement says.

“We will not attack each other or each other’s actions on social media or to the press. We will hold a post-action debrief so that we can raise principled critiques among ourselves in a constructive manner rather than publicly.”

The post Left-Wing Dark Money Behemoth Behind Bail Fund for ‘Free Palestine’ Bridge Blockers appeared first on Washington Free Beacon.

Give us 5 minutes, and we’ll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Every now and again the world produces a great human. Jane Goodall is one shining example. For decades her name has been associated with animal welfare and primatology, principally studying chimpanzees. These days Goodall, who recently turned 90, is a tireless climate activist, spending 300 days a year touring the world talking to young people and generally speaking out about the immediate peril of global warming.

In a recent stop in Canada, Goodall took a stand against that government’s climate change tax. She worries that the fight against climate change has been “politicised … causing people just not to listen,” because the urgency of the crisis demands a universal response.

Goodall further noted that Industrial carbon taxes rarely impose significant financial burdens on major energy companies, which can pay a levy out of their enormous profits and then go right on drilling and mining resources that are damaging to the environment. The key to the problem is to force major oil companies to stop drilling entirely and instead start investing in alternative energy resources.

I would add one more important point to Dr Goodall’s list. The major burden of taxation rests, as ever, on the shoulders of the poor. Trying to tax away climate change is a cheap solution for lazy politicians. It’s really legislative victim-blaming, and is ultimately as ineffectual as trying to tax away obesity.

The principal villains of most of our modern problems are lack of education in critical thinking, huge corporations and billionaires. Monolithic companies and billionaires fund our worst politicians and lobby for self-dealing legislation while burnishing their images with ultimately useless gestures. Ignorance helps them get away with it.

Making the poor pay for fighting climate change is another underlying evil. Meanwhile the rich and powerful use their influence to promote propaganda to advance their money-grubbing agendas.

I commend Jane Goodall and her nonagenarian colleague in the fight against climate change, fellow Briton David Attenborough. It should be an inspiration to us all that such people exist, people who plant trees whose shade they will probably never live to enjoy. In a world of Trumps, it’s nice to pause now and again and think about the good people in the world. I hope you agree. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.

The post This doesn’t even make sense appeared first on Palmer Report.

Phnom Penh — “He brutally used violence against me. … He hit me. He grabbed my neck. I really had a hard time when I was with him, and my mental health was very unstable.”

When Thach Chanty, a 35-year-old woman from the southeastern Cambodian province of Kampong Cham recalls life with her former husband, “My tears almost fall down.”

Chanty, who works as a garment worker, now struggles to support her two children in the aftermath of a marriage she describes as colored with neglect and violence.

Escaping the brutality left her alone in a society that continues to judge divorced women as having failed in their primary social role of wife and mother. Chanty found solace in her family’s support.

“I felt sorry for my two sons after I divorced my husband,” she said. “A lot of people judge me for being divorced, but luckily my parents and sister have been there to support me.”

A recent report titled Separate Ways, released in late 2023 by the small nonprofit organization Klahaan, sheds light on the struggles faced by Cambodia’s divorced women. Beyond enduring significant social shame and judgment, the report says the divorced women are more likely to face financial and mental issues compared to their former husbands.

The report also finds little has changed since a November 2015 study by Cambodia’s statistics ministry in conjunction with a U.N. agency found approximately 20% of Cambodian women faced physical and/or sexual violence from an intimate partner during relationships including marriage. The report also found emotional abuse affected one-third of women, violence often occurred in the presence of children and few victims sought assistance.

Gender disparities after divorce

Conducted online, the Klahaan study involved 40 female and male participants from Phnom Penh, the capital city, and remote areas, including Ratanakiri and Kep provinces. Among the participants, 22 women reported having gone through a divorce.

The study revealed significant gender disparities in the aftermath of divorce. Most participants — 87% — said women bear a heavier burden of shame or stigma following divorce, while only 1% considered men to be more affected than their partners.

The report also highlighted regional differences: 48% of survey respondents believed rural women experience more pronounced effects in the aftermath of divorce, compared to 8% who felt urban women faced social stigma and judgement.

Klahaan founder Mao Map told VOA Khmer the new study, which is based on FPAR methodology, aims to address the controversial choice of divorce for both women and men.

According to Mao Map, the prevailing belief in Cambodia is that women can marry only once in their lifetime — a notion that influences perceptions of divorce. To support women, Mao Map is pushing the government to establish policies that expedite the divorce process, lessening the need for court mediation and increasing protections for women’s health by eliminating victim-blaming by law enforcement.

Sar Sineth, spokesperson for Cambodia’s Ministry of Women’s Affairs, emphasized the government’s commitment to assisting women and girls who have experienced violence, particularly those navigating divorce and coping with post-traumatic stress disorder. She said the ministry coordinates closely with government and the legal system to provide swift support.

“We’re working hard to expedite the proceedings … in providing legal assistance to victims of … divorce due to chronic violence,” she said. “And with this provision of lawyers, the National Women’s Action Council has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Bar Association to support the victims and provide timely services.”

Sar Sineth did not respond when VOA Khmer asked for details about how women could access those services.

Infidelity prompts divorce

The study revealed that infidelity is a significant factor influencing women’s decisions to get divorced, with 81% of survey respondents identifying “cheating and affairs” as a likely cause for women choosing divorce. In contrast, only 68% selected the same response for men.

One participant said that while her husband began cheating on her soon after their marriage, after their children were born “he went too far — he brought her to sleep at the house that we had built together. In the end, I decided to sell that house and get a divorce.”

Thach Chanty said she no longer cares about how others judge her for divorcing to escape violence and focus on her sons.

“Initially, when I contemplated my divorce, I cried and sometimes even considered ending my life,” she said. “But now, I have let go of those thoughts and am living my normal life, driven by my desire to do everything for my kids.”