From Another Old Woman:  http://anotheroldwoman.blogspot.com/2011/11/police-under-duress-forced-forced-i-say.html

By Tina
November 19, 2011

Reposted with permission

Activist were peacefully protesting on their campus at University of California, Davis Quad.

Friday afternoon police showed up in riot gear to disperse the protesters by using pepper spray at point-blank range.

The officer who pepper-sprayed UC Davis students is Lt. John Pike. Give his PD a call. 530-752-1727

This from “Occupy All Streets” – please follow link to original
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From everything I’ve heard from and about Elizabeth Warren I would much rather have her as a future Democratic Party candidate for President than Hillary Clinton.  Especially retrospectively viewing neo-lib Bill Clinton’s Presidency.

From Salon:  http://www.salon.com/2011/11/15/elizabeth_warren_future_white_house_prospect/

Yes, talking about 2016 is an absurd, cart-before-the-horse exercise. But let’s do it just this once

Jerusalem mayor battles ultra-orthodox groups over women-free billboards

From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/15/jerusalem-mayor-battle-orthodox-billboards

Female models erased from advertisements across city after religious lobby brands the images as offensive

Phoebe Greenwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 15 November 2011

Jerusalem’s secular mayor, Nir Barkat, has pitted himself against the city’s swelling ranks of ultra-orthodox extremists by demanding that local police enable women to reclaim their position in the public domain.

Over recent months, women’s faces have disappeared from billboards across the city amid mounting pressure applied by the powerful ultra-orthodox lobby, who find the female image offensive.

Several advertisers have erased female models from their posters in Jerusalem. Elsewhere in Israel, the winter campaign of Israeli clothing brand Honigman features a model cosily dressed in winter knits. In the capital, the woman’s head has been removed from the image, leaving just her arm and a handbag.

Companies that do not fall in line with the standards of the extreme ultra-orthodox have frequently fallen victim to direct action. Across Jerusalem, female figures have been blacked out of billboards with spray-paint, or vandalised with graffiti branding the image “illegal”. Other posters are simply torn down.

On Sunday, Barkat wrote a letter to district police commander Niso Shaham in which he said: “We must make sure that those who want to advertise [with] women’s images in the city can do so without fear of vandalism and defacement of billboards or buses showing women.”

Police have confirmed an increase in vandalism on the borders of Jerusalem’s closed ultra-orthodox neighbourhoods. Spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police would be stepping up patrols to prevent further acts of hooliganism and ensure it is investigated.

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/15/jerusalem-mayor-battle-orthodox-billboards

Saudi women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover even them up, if resolution is passed

From The Daily Mail UK: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063143/Saudi-women-attractive-eyes-forced-cover-resolution-passed.html

• Islamic state fears effect of ‘tempting’ eyes on men
• Says it ‘has the right’ to issue repressive edict
• Women must already cover their hair and wear full-length black cloak

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 1:50 AM on 19th November 2011

Women with attractive eyes may be forced to cover them up under Saudi Arabia’s latest repressive measure, it was reported yesterday.

The ultra-conservative Islamic state has said it has the right to stop women revealing ‘tempting’ eyes in public.

A spokesperson for Saudi Arabia’s Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Motlab al Nabet, said a proposal to enshrine the measure in law has been tabled.

Women in Saudi Arabia already have to wear a long black cloak, called an abaya, cover their hair and, in some regions, conceal their faces while in public.

If they do not, they face punishments including fines and public floggings.

One report on the Bikya Masr news website suggested the proposal was made after a member of the committee was attracted by a woman’s eyes as he walked along a street, provoking a fight.

From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/17/370727/defense-science-board-climate-change/

By Stephen Lacey
Nov 17, 2011

Defense Scientists Want Climate Change Intel

The United States’ Department of Defense needs to know more about how climate change affects global security, recommends a report by the the department’s science advisers, the Defense Science Board (DSB).

“Changes in climate patterns and their impact on the physical environment can create profound effects on populations in parts of the world and present new challenges to global security and stability,” wrote Defense Science Board co-chairs, Larry Welch and Willian Howard in a letter preceding the DSB report, Trends and Implications of Climate Change for National and International Security.

“Failure to anticipate and mitigate these changes increases the threat of more failed states with the instabilities and potential for conflict inherent in such failures,” the DSB co-chairs warned.

Continue reading at:  http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/11/17/370727/defense-science-board-climate-change/

From Truth Out: http://www.truth-out.org/welcome-home-building-inclusive-movement-99-percent/1321627883

by: Randall Amster, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Thursday 17 November 2011

I’m on a number of email lists across the activist spectrum, and have noticed an increasing tendency toward what might be termed “ideological opportunism” on the part of some sectors that ostensibly stand in support of the Occupy Movement.

The hallmarks are conveyed in broad claims such as: “The movement must act in this manner…” or “These people are ruining the movement for the rest of us…” or “Why don’t they just leave and find their own movement…” History clearly shows how easy it is for movements to fracture along a number of these sorts of interrelated fault lines, as well as how readily those who wish to derail movements will exacerbate such tensions — and the increasing display of these sentiments plays right into that eventuality.

I would suggest instead that we consider what it means to build a movement, and more broadly a society, for everyone without exception. The idea that certain segments — most viscerally the derogatory and divisive tropes of the “freeloading homeless” or the “violent anarchists” — don’t belong in the movement and should be excised due to their conduct and/or status is offensive, shortsighted, and ultimately contradictory to the aims of the movement.

Achieving the liberation of only those who already “get it” or who are capable of comporting themselves with someone else’s version of what a movement space should look like is simply more of the same “us versus them” thinking that has fomented this moment of global crisis in the first place.

This doesn’t mean that anything goes. People need to work together to establish expectations and evolve mutual understandings about behavior within encampments and out in the streets. Those who contravene these expectations should not, however, hastily be cast aside as “mentally ill” or “violent thugs,” but rather should be viewed as equivalent recipients of the ministrations of the culture of violence (both of the physical and mental varieties) in which we’ve all been inculcated.

Continue reading at:  http://www.truth-out.org/welcome-home-building-inclusive-movement-99-percent/1321627883

From The Independent UK:   http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/it-starts-with-calling-names-but-can-end-in-despair-and-suicide-6261615.html

From The Washington Blade:  http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/11/18/trans-activists-hold-protest-outside-police-u-s-attorney-offices/

By Lou Chibbaro Jr.
November 18, 2011

About 35 transgender activists and their supporters walked in picket lines on Thursday outside the headquarters of the D.C. Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to draw attention to what they say is an unacceptably high rate of violence against transgender people in the city.

Participants in the two protests, which organizers called a Transgender Day of Action, presented a list of demands to District Police Chief Cathy Lanier and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Mechan calling for immediate steps to address the problem.

“This past summer we were able to report 20 incidents where [transgender] people were beaten, stabbed, shot — and this is something that really concerns us,” said Ruby Corado of the D.C. Trans Coalition, who spoke to the gathering through a bull horn.

“The call that we want to make is that people remember that this is happening in your own back yard,” she said. “There’s no way that people in this city can ignore that this is happening to their own brothers and sisters, and we need to take action.”

Corado and others who spoke at the protests have said existing city laws and police department policies that prohibit discrimination against transgender people are among the strongest in the in the nation. But the activists say the city in general and police in particular haven’t adequately implemented those laws and policies.

“This is coming after the terrible outbreak of anti-trans violence in this city this past summer,” said Dana Beyer, executive director of the transgender advocacy group Gender Rights Maryland.

Continue reading at:  http://www.washingtonblade.com/2011/11/18/trans-activists-hold-protest-outside-police-u-s-attorney-offices/

From Think Progress: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/17/371510/sen-gillibrand-introduces-bill-allowing-sec-to-prosecute-members-of-congress-for-insider-trading-it-has-to-be-illegal/

By Tanya Somanader
Nov 17, 2011

With his ear to the ground in Massachusetts, Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) is bolstering his Wall Street reform cred with a new bill to stop members of Congress from participating in insider trading. Responding to a 60 Minutes report citing lawmakers who earned thousands from trading on information learned in private briefings, Brown’s Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2011 requires lawmakers to report transactions of at least $1,000 in bonds, commodities or stocks within 90 days. Today, Sen. Kristin Gillibrand (D-NY) took it one step further with a bill that will not only ban insider trading for congressional members but will “empower the Securities and Exchange Commission to prosecute lawmakers for insider-trading cases as well as make insider trading against the rules of the House and the Senate.”

Complete article at:  http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/17/371510/sen-gillibrand-introduces-bill-allowing-sec-to-prosecute-members-of-congress-for-insider-trading-it-has-to-be-illegal/

From The US Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/opa/OPA20111679.htm

News Release

OPA News Release: [11/18/2011]
Contact Name: Joshua Lamont
Phone Number: (202) 693-4661
Release Number: 11-1679-NAT

Statement by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on Transgender Day of Remembrance

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis issued the following statement today on Transgender Day of Remembrance, memorializing transgender Americans who have lost their lives as a result of violence:

“The Transgender Day of Remembrance will be commemorated this Sunday, Nov. 20. I am proud to stand and be counted as an ally to the transgender community and to every person and family impacted by anti-transgender violence.

“What began as an online project in 1999 to memorialize the murder of a transgender person will this year include hundreds of vigils and events throughout the country and around the world. I hope that this year’s commemoration will serve as an opportunity to shine a brighter light on both progress made and the challenges ahead.

“The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality recently joined me at the U.S. Department of Labor to present a comprehensive study on the experiences of transgender people in America. More than 90 percent of transgender people experience harassment and mistreatment in the workplace, with nearly half being fired or denied a promotion. This is unacceptable.

“And while my department focuses on the nation’s workforce, I am equally troubled by the experiences of transgender people in their homes and in our schools and hospitals that promise to shelter, educate and heal.

“This administration has taken specific steps to protect our transgender citizens. In 2009, the president signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, expanding the 1969 United States federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s gender identity. The following year, our federal government updated its nondiscrimination policy on USA Jobs to explicitly include protection on the basis of gender identity.

“I am proud to say that the Department of Labor this year joined other executive branch agencies in updating its policy on equal employment opportunity and its policy on harassing conduct in the workplace to specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity. And I am also proud that transgender individuals serve openly at the U.S. Department of Labor.

“To address the pervasive issue of bullying among our youth, including those targeted due to their gender identity or expression, the administration hosted the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention, and the president and many of us in the cabinet recorded “It Gets Better” videos to assure our youth that they are not alone.

“On this day of remembrance, as we pause to reflect on the lives that have been lost, we renew our commitment to an America that celebrates and values every person.”

From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment

People taking up work experience places – providing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour – face losing benefits if they quit

Shiv Malikguardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 November 2011

Britain’s jobless young people are being sent to work for supermarkets and budget stores for up to two months for no pay and no guarantee of a job, the Guardian can reveal.

Under the government’s work experience programme young jobseekers are exempted from national minimum wage laws for up to eight weeks and are being offered placements in Tesco, Poundland, Argos, Sainsbury’s and a multitude of other big-name businesses.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says that if jobseekers “express an interest” in an offer of work experience they must continue to work without pay, after a one-week cooling-off period or face having their benefits docked.

Young people have told the Guardian that they are doing up to 30 hours a week of unpaid labour and have to be available from 9am to 10pm.

In three such cases jobseekers also claim they were not told about the week’s cooling-off period, and that once they showed a willingness to take part in the scheme they were told by their case manager they would be stripped of their £53- a-week jobseekers allowance (JSA) if they backed out.

The Guardian has also learned that lawyers are mounting a legal challenge to a separate work experience scheme known as mandatory work activity, which they argue represents a form of slavery under the Human Rights Act (HRA).

Continue reading at:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/nov/16/young-jobseekers-work-pay-unemployment