General officer

Press release - Parliament concerned about the rule of law in Slovakia

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, January 17, 2024

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Need to protect the rule of law

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Need to protect the rule of law
MEPs are particularly concerned about the unjustified use of a fast-track procedure for the criminal code reform and the dissolution of the Special Prosecutor’s Office that handles corruption cases and serious crimes.
These changes threaten the integrity of judicial processes and undermine the EU’s fight against fraud according to MEPs.
MEPs stress that any criminal law reform must ensure the continuation of ongoing criminal cases and the effectiveness of new ones.
Parliament is very concerned by plans to adopt legislation undermining the civic space, restricting the work of NGOs and stigmatising organisations receiving foreign funding.

Why is the universe ripping itself apart? A new study of exploding stars shows dark energy may be more complicated than we thought

Retrieved on:

Monday, January 8, 2024

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Discovered in 1998, this is an unknown form of energy believed to be making the universe expand at an ever-increasing rate.

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Discovered in 1998, this is an unknown form of energy believed to be making the universe expand at an ever-increasing rate.
In a new study soon to be published in the Astronomical Journal, we have measured the properties of dark energy in more detail than ever before.
Our results show it may be a hypothetical vacuum energy first proposed by Einstein – or it may be something stranger and more complicated that changes over time.

What is dark energy?

Read more:
More than 70% of the Universe is made of 'dark energy', the mysterious stuff even stranger than dark matter
However, in 1998, two teams of researchers found the expansion of the universe was actually accelerating.
This implies that something quite similar to Einstein’s cosmological constant may exist after all – something we now call dark energy.
Until now, these results have shown the density of dark energy in the universe appears to be constant.

Exploding stars as cosmic measuring sticks

How do we measure what is in the universe and how fast it is growing? We don’t have enormous tape measures or giant scales, so instead we use “standard candles”: objects in space whose brightness we know. Imagine it is night and you are standing on a long road with a few light poles. These poles all have the same light bulb, but the poles further away are fainter than the nearby ones.

For astronomers, a common cosmic light bulb is a kind of exploding star called a Type Ia supernova.
By measuring how quickly the explosion fades, we can determine how bright it was and hence how far away from us.

The Dark Energy Survey

The Dark Energy Survey is the largest effort yet to measure dark energy. More than 400 scientists across multiple continents work together for nearly a decade to repeatedly observe parts of the southern sky. Repeated observations let us look for changes, like new exploding stars. The more often you observe, the better you can measure these changes, and the larger the area you search, the more supernovae you can find.

The first results indicating the existence of dark energy used only a couple of dozen supernovae.
The latest results from the Dark Energy Survey use around 1,500 exploding stars, giving much greater precision.
Using a specially built camera installed on the 4-metre Blanco Telescope at the Cerro-Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile, the survey found thousands of supernovae of different types.

More complicated than the cosmological constant

To be the cosmological constant, or the energy of empty space, it would need to be exactly –1.
With the idea that a more complex model of dark energy may be needed, perhaps one in which this mysterious energy has changed over the life of the universe.
Read more:
From dark gravity to phantom energy: what's driving the expansion of the universe?

Brad E Tucker receives funding from the Australian Research Council and ACT Government.

What’s on the agenda at September 7th FTC Funeral Rule event

Retrieved on:

Saturday, January 6, 2024

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The FTC is continuing its assessment of how the Funeral Rule is working for consumers and businesses.

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The FTC is continuing its assessment of how the Funeral Rule is working for consumers and businesses.
After introductory remarks from Commissioner Slaughter at 9:30 Eastern Time, the first panel will consider online disclosures.
The FTC is leaving the record open until October 10, 2023, so you can file public comments online.
Life insurance agents can be of great assistance with helping with funeral costs if you have an agent.

Gangsters are the villains in 'Killers of the Flower Moon,' but the biggest thief of Native American wealth was the US government

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

White settlers targeted members of the Osage Nation to steal their land and the riches beneath it.

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White settlers targeted members of the Osage Nation to steal their land and the riches beneath it.
From the early 1800s through the 1930s, official U.S. policy displaced thousands of Native Americans from their ancestral homes through the policy known as Indian removal.
But it failed to account for these trust funds for decades, let alone pay Indians what they were due.
From my perspective, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is just one chapter in a much larger story: The U.S. was built on stolen lands and wealth.

Westward expansion and land theft

In fact, hundreds of Native nations already lived on those lands, each with their own unique forms of government, culture and language.
In the early 1800s, eastern cities were growing and dense urban centers were becoming unwieldy.
But the most pernicious land grab was yet to come.

The General Allotment Act

Then, in 1887, it passed the General Allotment Act, also known as the Dawes Act.
With this law, U.S. policy toward Indians shifted from separation to assimilation – forcibly integrating Indians into the national population.
The General Allotment Act was designed to divvy up reservation lands into allotments for individual Indians and open any unallotted lands, which were deemed surplus, to non-Indian settlement.
Once this happened, the allotment was subject to taxation and could immediately be sold.

Legal cultural genocide

Indian allottees often had little concept of farming and even less ability to manage their newly acquired lands.
Even after being confined to western reservations, many tribes had maintained their traditional governance structures and tried to preserve their cultural and religious practices, including communal ownership of property.
In total, allotment removed 90 million acres of land from Indian control before the policy ended in the mid-1930s.

A measure of justice

The federal government owns title to the lands, but holds them in trust for Indian tribes and individuals.
These lands contain many valuable resources, including oil, gas, timber and minerals.
But rather than acting as a steward of Indian interests in these resources, the U.S. government has repeatedly failed in its trust obligations.
After 16 years of litigation, the suit was settled in 2009 for roughly US$3.4 billion.

Who are the wolves?

“Can you find the wolves in this picture?” It’s clear from the movie that the town’s citizens are the wolves.
But the biggest wolf of all is the federal government itself – and Uncle Sam is nowhere to be seen.

Trade unions and the new economy: 3 African case studies show how workers are recasting their power in the digital age

Retrieved on:

Sunday, October 1, 2023

In Nigeria they are angry over the rising cost of living and in South Africa, municipal workers are striking for better wages.

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In Nigeria they are angry over the rising cost of living and in South Africa, municipal workers are striking for better wages.
But it’s becoming increasingly difficult to build sustainable worker organisations as companies employ more people on a casual basis in the digital age.
In our new book, Recasting Workers’ Power: Work and Inequality in the Shadow of the Digital Age, we focus on workers’ power.

Three case studies

We found the factory workers were using a range of tools – old and new – to organise.
But they also drew on old practices (institutional power) by taking up cases through the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and the amended Labour Relations Act.
Both offer the possibility of workers being able to get permanent jobs in the company at which they work.
In Kampala, we found that the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers’ Union was also using new approaches to organise workers.
Importantly, where trade unions have taken up the issues of informal workers, unions have also undergone fundamental changes.

What next?

But it also suggests some grounds for optimism in the new and hybrid forms of organisation and the coalitions that are emerging.
The question raised by these findings is whether these embryonic forms of worker organisation are sustainable.

Zelenskyy's meetings with Trudeau and Biden are aimed at winning the long war

Retrieved on:

Monday, September 25, 2023

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“And when we want to win — when we call on the world to support us — it is not just about an ordinary conflict.

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“And when we want to win — when we call on the world to support us — it is not just about an ordinary conflict.
It was his first visit to Canada since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
This North American tour has taken place as the war in Ukraine shows no signs of abating.
Russia is making this outreach as Ukraine receives significant support and aid from the U.S. and its allies.
That’s why Zelenskyy has been seeking support in both the U.S. and Canada.

The myth of quick, decisive battles

The fact that Russia has so far failed to defeat Ukraine is a testament to the skill and capabilities of the Ukrainian military.
Western military officials emphasize the importance of quick and decisive battles to achieve victory.
Its success in defeating Russian forces in several battles during the summer and fall of 2022 created expectations that did not match reality.
In protracted wars, mobilizing resources and maintaining morale have greater significance than any individual battle.

Waning support?

One advantage Ukraine has possessed since the outset of the war is the superior morale of both its armed forces and on the home front.
Neither of these factors are fixed and can shift over the course of a war.
The recent G20 summit in India demonstrates the problems Ukraine faces over the long term.

Preparing for the long war

The longer the war lasts, the more likely other priorities may supersede or even replace it among Ukraine’s allies.
Read more:
Ukraine's push for NATO membership is rooted in its European past – and its future
This means Ukraine and its supporters must adapt to the long war.
First, the support the West and its supporters are providing to Ukraine needs to be adapted to meet Ukrainian needs.

US autoworkers launch historic strike: 3 questions answered

Retrieved on:

Saturday, September 16, 2023

The contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2023.

Key Points:

The contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2023.
By midnight, the union posted a strike declaration on its website.
The union is seeking higher pay, better benefits and assurances that large numbers of its members will work in the automakers’ growing number of electric-vehicle factories.

1. How important is it that this strike is affecting all three Detroit automakers?

And in recent years, all workers employed by that automaker had walked off the job.
That’s what happened in the previous UAW strike.
While holding a strike against a few key plants breaks with recent UAW practices, it’s a strategy deeply rooted in the union’s history.
By the time the strike was over, GM had agreed to sign a contract for the first time with the UAW.

2. How would you define success or failure for the UAW’s new strategy?

In the process, we learned what determined the level of success of previous auto strikes.
Workers threaten the company’s viability by withholding their labor, going without paychecks to halt production.
Strikes fail when workers can’t create enough disruption to pressure the company to give in before strike funds run out.
I believe that the UAW is likely to ultimately have more success with this strike than it has had in decades.

3. Is this strike likely to be historically significant?

No Ford workers had gone on strike in the U.S. since 1978.
Chrysler workers, who are now employed by Stellantis, last went on strike in 2007.
If the UAW’s “stand-up” strike strategy succeeds, I think it’s likely that other labor organizers will embrace it too – potentially improving the leverage other workers have in their contract negotiations and strikes.

Special counsels, like the one leading the Justice Department's investigation of Hunter Biden, are intended to be independent − but they aren't entirely

Retrieved on:

Thursday, August 31, 2023

On July 26, the plea agreement was challenged by the judge in the case.

Key Points:

On July 26, the plea agreement was challenged by the judge in the case.
She wanted to know more about any immunity being offered, given that Hunter Biden is under several federal investigations.
From my perspective as a political scientist, I believe that while special counsels are intended to be independent, in practice they aren’t entirely.

Independent and special counsels

President Richard Nixon did this during the investigation of the Watergate break-in, which threatened to implicate him in criminal acts.
On the evening of Oct. 20, 1973, Nixon ordered Attorney General Elliot Richardson to fire Archibald Cox, whom Richardson had appointed to lead the Watergate investigation.
After passage of this legislation, if the attorney general received “specific information” alleging that the president, vice president or other high-ranking executive branch officials had committed a serious federal offense, the attorney general would ask a special three-judge panel to appoint an independent counsel, who would investigate.
That year, then-Attorney General Janet Reno authorized the appointment of special counsels, who could investigate certain sensitive matters, similar to the way independent counsels operated.
In 2020, John Durham – another veteran of the Justice Department – was appointed as special counsel to investigate the origins of the investigation that triggered Mueller’s appointment.

Politicizing the process

For instance, while special counsels operate independently of the attorney general, both their appointment and the scope of their investigations are determined by the attorney general.
In contrast, the appointment of independent counsels and the scope of their investigations were determined by a three-judge panel, which in turn was appointed by the chief justice of the United States.
Also, since Congress authorized independent counsels, presidential influence was limited by law.
Sessions was later replaced by William Barr, who previously served as attorney general under President George H.W.

To be or not to be free of partisanship

The independence of the Justice Department rests, in part, on who occupies the offices of president and attorney general.
The second, Robert Hur, is overseeing President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after leaving office as vice president in 2017.
As a result, the perception of political prosecution can be hard to avoid.
This is an updated version of an article published Jan. 13, 2023, which was an updated version of an article originally published Dec. 14, 2022.

How Russian history and the concept of 'smuta' (turmoil) sheds light on Putin and Prigozhin – and the dangers of dissent

Retrieved on:

Monday, August 28, 2023

This is because Russian history has swung back and forth between chaos and autocracy, which have become mutually reinforcing symptoms of the same historical condition.

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This is because Russian history has swung back and forth between chaos and autocracy, which have become mutually reinforcing symptoms of the same historical condition.
Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has come to symbolise a new cycle of this history taking place in Russia today.
Whether or not Prigozhin may have exposed Putin’s vulnerabilities, history suggests that what is to come could well be worse.
By referencing the smuta Putin was reminding Russians of the profound dangers of dissent – and of his mandate to suppress it.

The gathering of the lands

The campaign, begun under his predecessor Ivan III (“Ivan the Great”), is known as the “Gathering of the Lands”.
Ever since, Russian leaders have perpetuated the idea that Russia must dominate its peripheral lands as a defensive act of national survival.
The terror he wrought on his people, economy and lands through years of war and repression sowed the seeds for the smuta to come.

Boris Godunov

Boris Godunov was inspired by a period of crisis that forms the bedrock of Russia’s national mythology.
Pushkin’s play tells the story of Boris Godunov, a Russian nobleman who came to power at the end of the 16th century during the “Time of Troubles”, the first period of smuta – a succession crisis that began in 1598 with the death of Tsar Fyodor I, the last of Russia’s founding Rurikid dynasty.
When Fyodor died childless with no appointed heir, his brother-in-law Boris seized the throne, becoming Russia’s first non-Rurikid Tsar.
Pushkin’s play ends as Boris, haggard in the face of increasing dissent, dies as a result of foul play.

Smuta

Otrepyev was crowned Tsar Dmitry I, but his reign lasted less than a year.
Over the following eight years a brutal struggle for sovereignty took hold.
The smuta thus ended with the founding of a new autocratic bloodline that would rule and expand the Russian Empire for the next 300 years.
It has been used to justify the absolutism and revanchism of Russian leaders from Tsars through to Soviet Commissars and modern-day politicians.

Divine right

Russian Tsars were legitimised by the myth of divine right, meaning their power and authority as “Guardian of Holy Russia” was derived from God, rather than the Russian people.
The General Secretary of the Communist Party was vested by the laws of History to lead Russians and their Soviet comrades along the true path to their glorious future.
Putin has made it his spiritual mission to shield the Russia from the chaos of democratic and liberal freedoms.
Read more:
'Today is not my day': how Russia's journalists, writers and artists are turning silence into speech

The roots of Russian silence

All he asked for in return was “unity”, which in Russian is a byword for passivity and acquiescence.
The passivity of the Russian people often baffles the Western world, particularly in response to the war in Ukraine, which is being waged in their name.
Pushkin describes the narod – the Russian people – as “obedient to the suggestion of the moment, deaf and indifferent to the actual truth, a beast that feeds upon fables”.
The truth is that the Russian ruler’s prerogative as tsar-batiushka or “Father Tsar” can only hold sway over an acquiescent, even infantilised realm.
An old question arises: will the Russian people remain silent?

Proposed Funeral Rule changes under consideration at September workshop

Retrieved on:

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Proposed Funeral Rule changes under consideration at September workshop

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