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Seattle City Council Added Caste To The City’s Anti-discrimination Statutes

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(CTN NEWS) – SEATTLE –  The Seattle City Council added caste to the city’s anti-discrimination statutes on Tuesday, making Seattle the first American city and the first city outside of South Asia to approve such a measure.

The South Asian diaspora populations in the United States have become more vocal in their calls to abolish caste-based discrimination, which divides people according to birth or heritage.

However, some Hindu Americans have opposed the movement, claiming the legislation unfairly targets their community.

Tuesday’s noisy hearing at Seattle City Hall resulted in a 6-1 vote.

With the majority of the council agrees that caste discrimination transcends national and religious boundaries and that those who experience caste discrimination in the United States will be left without protections if such laws are not passed.

Supporters and opponents, such as Livi Nivarthi, center pointing, attempt to out yell each other during a rally at Seattle City Hall regarding a of a proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Supporters Cheers For Their Win

The crowded room exposed the significant contrasts over this topic within the South Asian diaspora as it was filled with activists from both sides carrying banners, chanting slogans, and questioning speakers and city officials as they made their views.

The ordinance was supported by most people in attendance, with opposition from a loud minority.

The chamber exploded into cheers of “Jai Bhim,” which means “success for Bhim,” when council members voted to support the law. This is a rallying cry used by admirers of B.R.

Ambedkar, an Indian Dalit rights icon whose real name was Bhimrao. Dalit organizations and those who support them claim that caste prejudice is pervasive among American diaspora communities.

Manifesting as social exclusion and prejudice in areas like housing, education, and the IT industry, where South Asians play important roles.

Seattle Council Member Kshama Sawant speaks to supporters and opponents of a proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws at a rally at Seattle City Hall, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Seattle Becomes The First U.S. City To Ban Discrimination

Yogesh Mane, a resident of Seattle who was raised in India as an untouchable, sobbed when he heard the council’s decision.

I’m moved since this is the first time a law like this has been passed outside South Asia, he remarked. “This is a historic occasion.”

The council vote was “a culture battle that has been won” by Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of Oakland, California-based Equality Labs, whose advocacy work continues advancing caste discrimination laws and community partners.

Around 200 organizations from Seattle and across the nation supported us, she claimed. “It sends a strong message that Dalits are not the only ones. The South Asian community has come together to declare that we wish to get past the caste trauma.

The only Indian American on the City Council and socialist Council Member Kshama Sawant stated that the legislation she sponsored did not target any one community but considered how caste discrimination transcends national and religious boundaries.

Sawant claimed that more than 4,000 emails favoring the rule were sent to the council.

Supporters and opponents of a proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws attempt to outvoice each other during a rally at Seattle City Hall, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.(AP Photo/John Froschauer)

“Over the last two weeks, we’ve heard hundreds of heartbreaking experiences that have demonstrated to us that caste discrimination is very real in Seattle,” she stated.

The lone dissenting council member, Sara Nelson, concurred with opponents and referred to the legislation as “a reckless, damaging answer to an issue for which we have no data or research.”

She warned that this would increase anti-Hindu prejudice and discourage firms from hiring South Asians. There is a significant rift within the affected community regarding this matter.

In response to Nelson’s comment that the ordinance would also drag the city into legal disputes, Sawant said, “Bring it on.” According to Sawant, avoiding lawsuits is not the best method to bring about advancement or change.

Councilwoman Lisa Herbold questioned the claim made by the law’s opponents that it unfairly targets Hindus and individuals of Indian origin.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan, founder and executive director of Equality Labs, speaks to supporters and opponents a of a proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws rally at Seattle City Hall, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.(AP Photo/John Froschauer)

She argued that declaring laws against gender discrimination single out all men. And the fact that only a small portion of the population experiences caste discrimination doesn’t make it any less significant.

A coalition of Hindus of North America representative Shobha Swamy expressed her disappointment with the council’s discussions and line of questions. About 100 organizations reportedly supported the group, according to the group.

Swami arrived by plane from Atlanta and claimed that “due diligence wasn’t done.”

A San Francisco Bay Area IT worker named C.H. Srikrishna expressed concern about the effects this ordinance would have on the South Asian population.

He added, “I also want discrimination to stop. Yet, we must first confirm the existence of pervasive discrimination.”

Hindu Srikrishna feels that the regulation specifically targets his religion.

Councilmember Kshama Sawant speaks at a rally at Westlake Park in Seattle, Tuesday, May 3, 2022. (Jennifer Buchanan/The Seattle Times via AP)

He said you indirectly condemn Hinduism when you claim that it started 2,000 years ago. “It irritates me. I feel cheated.

Sanjay Patel, a tech business entrepreneur from the Seattle area, claimed that he has never experienced caste-based prejudice while living in the United States and that the ordinance hurts him since it makes him think of a caste identity, which he believed to be extinct.

I worry that firms won’t want to hire South Asians because of this rule, he remarked.

Several activists lined up outside City Hall on Tuesday morning in the chilly weather and blustery winds to address the council before the vote.

Almost 300 people had asked to speak in person and remotely at the meeting, but the council limited public comment. Before debates and the vote, they listened to around half of the remarks.

A social hierarchy based on one’s profession and place of birth, the caste system in India dates back more than 3,000 years. Under Muslim and British administrations, this structure has developed over the years.

Those at the bottom of the caste system, known as Dalits, have continued to suffer. Since 1948, after India’s independence from British rule, caste discrimination has been prohibited.

Supporters and opponents of a proposed ordinance to add caste to Seattle’s anti-discrimination laws attempt to out voice each other during a rally at Seattle City Hall, Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023.(AP Photo/John Froschauer)

According to the Migration Policy Institute, which forecasts that the U.S. diaspora will grow from about 206,000 people in 1980 to roughly 2.7 million people in 2021, the U.S. is the second most popular destination for Indians who are living overseas.

According to the organization South Asian Americans Leading Together, there are now 5.4 million South Asians living in the country, an increase from the 3.5 million recorded in the 2010 census.

The majority can trace their ancestry to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, and Pakistan.

Some college and university systems have taken action to forbid caste discrimination over the last three years.

In its nondiscrimination policy, Brandeis University in the Boston area became the first college in the United States in December 2019.

Similar policies have been enacted by the University of California, Davis, Colby College, Brown University, and the California State University System.

By its agreement with the graduate student union, Harvard University implemented caste protections for student workers in 2021.

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Trudeau’s Gun Grab Could Cost Taxpayers a Whopping $7 Billion

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Trudeau's Gun Grab
Trudeau plans to purchase 2,063 firearm from legal gun owners in Canada - Rebel News Image

A recent report indicates that since Trudeau’s announcement of his gun buyback program four years ago, almost none of the banned firearms have been surrendered.

The federal government plans to purchase 2,063 firearm models from retailers following the enactment of Bill C-21, which amends various Acts and introduces certain consequential changes related to firearms. It was granted royal assent on December 15 of last year.

This ban immediately criminalized the actions of federally-licensed firearms owners regarding the purchase, sale, transportation, importation, exportation, or use of hundreds of thousands of rifles and shotguns that were previously legal.

The gun ban focused on what it termed ‘assault-style weapons,’ which are, in reality, traditional semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that have enjoyed popularity among hunters and sport shooters for over a century.

In May 2020, the federal government enacted an Order-in-Council that prohibited 1,500 types of “assault-style” firearms and outlined specific components of the newly banned firearms. Property owners must adhere to the law by October 2023.

Trudeau’s Buyback Hasn’t Happened

“In the announcement regarding the ban, the prime minister stated that the government would seize the prohibited firearms, assuring that their lawful owners would be ‘grandfathered’ or compensated fairly.” “That hasn’t happened,” criminologist Gary Mauser told Rebel News.

Mauser projected expenses ranging from $2.6 billion to $6.7 billion. The figure reflects the compensation costs amounting to $756 million, as outlined by the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO).

“The projected expenses for gathering the illegal firearms are estimated to range from $1.6 billion to $7 billion.” “This range estimate increases to between $2.647 billion and $7 billion when compensation costs to owners are factored in,” Mauser stated.

Figures requested by Conservative MP Shannon Stubbs concerning firearms prohibited due to the May 1, 2020 Order In Council reveal that $72 million has been allocated to the firearm “buyback” program, yet not a single firearm has been confiscated to date.

In a recent revelation, Public Safety Canada disclosed that the federal government allocated a staggering $41,094,556, as prompted by an order paper question from Conservative Senator Don Plett last September, yet yielded no tangible outcomes.

An internal memo from late 2019 revealed that the Liberals projected their politically motivated harassment would incur a cost of $1.8 billion.

Enforcement efforts Questioned

By December 2023, estimates from TheGunBlog.ca indicate that the Liberals and RCMP had incurred or were responsible for approximately $30 million in personnel expenses related to the enforcement efforts. The union representing the police service previously stated that the effort to confiscate firearms is a “misdirected effort” aimed at ensuring public safety.

“This action diverts crucial personnel, resources, and funding from tackling the more pressing and escalating issue of criminal use of illegal firearms,” stated the National Police Federation (NPF).

The Canadian Sporting Arms & Ammunition Association (CSAAA), representing firearms retailers, has stated it will have “zero involvement” in the confiscation of these firearms. Even Canada Post held back from providing assistance due to safety concerns.

The consultant previously assessed that retailers are sitting on almost $1 billion worth of inventory that cannot be sold or returned to suppliers because of the Order-In-Council.

“Despite the ongoing confusion surrounding the ban, after four years, we ought to be able to address one crucial question.” Has the prohibition enhanced safety for Canadians? Mauser asks.

Illegally Obtained Firearms are the Problem

Statistics Canada reports a 10% increase in firearm-related violent crime between 2020 and 2022, rising from 12,614 incidents to 13,937 incidents. In that timeframe, the incidence of firearm-related violent crime increased from 33.7 incidents per 100,000 population in 2021 to 36.7 incidents the subsequent year.

“This marks the highest rate documented since the collection of comparable data began in 2009,” the criminologist explains.

Supplementary DataData indicates that firearm homicides have risen since 2020. “The issue lies not with lawfully-held firearms,” Mauser stated.

Firearms that have been banned under the Order-in-Council continue to be securely stored in the safes of their lawful owners. The individuals underwent a thorough vetting process by the RCMP and are subject to nightly monitoring to ensure there are no infractions that could pose a risk to public safety.

“The firearms involved in homicides were seldom legally owned weapons wielded by their rightful owners,” Mauser continues. The number of offenses linked to organized crime has surged from 4,810 in 2016 to a staggering 13,056 in 2020.

“If those in power … aim to diminish crime and enhance public safety, they ought to implement strategies that effectively focus on offenders and utilize our limited tax resources judiciously to reach these objectives,” he stated.

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Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

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Google

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

google

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

google

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

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The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

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(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

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