Election fairness bill divides Congress – National & International News- MON 1Mar2021

Election fairness bill divides Congress. Single-dose vaccines coming Tuesday. New charges for Myanmar leader after deadly protests. China viciously targets Uighur sex abuse victims.

NATIONAL NEWS

Election fairness bill divides Congress

Congressional Democrats are proposing a radical nationwide overhaul of voting laws that would strike down voting barriers that disproportionately impact poor and minority voters. The proposed reforms include an end to voter ID laws, reducing restrictions on early and absentee voting, curbing partisan gerrymandering and mandating reporting of “dark money” donors.

Republicans have blasted the bill as an unwarranted federal intrusion into state electoral control. It’s worth remembering that, just weeks ago, Republicans at both the state and federal levels were mounting dozens of legal challenges to state-level changes in election procedures across the country.

The bill comes at a critical moment for both parties. With Republicans in control of most state houses, the party will have immense influence on the upcoming redrawing of Congressional voting districts. Further gerrymandering alone could alter the equation just enough for the GOP to regain control of Congress. Republican-controlled states are also weighing further restrictions on voting, including eligibility for early and absentee voting as well as new voter ID laws. Democrats say these new laws will place the greatest burden on minorities, whose votes were decisive in putting Democrats in control in Congress.

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White House: single-dose vaccines coming Tuesday

Over the weekend, the single-shot COVID vaccine from Johnson & Johnson won approval from the FDA. The Biden administration now says that distribution of the shots will begin tomorrow. Officials in the US and abroad have high hopes for the vaccine. The fact that it doesn’t require freezing like the Pfizer vaccine should make distribution and storage easier.

When announcing the deliveries, the White House also took the opportunity to urge minorities to get vaccinated. Whether due to long-standing suspicions of the US medical establishment or because of inequitable distribution, data shows that vaccinations among minorities are “not where we ultimately want them to be”. About 400 vaccination centers are going to open across the country in communities with high minority populations to increase access. Officials are also using mobile units to reach more remote communities.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Myanmar: new charges for Suu Kyi a day after deadliest protests

Yesterday, Burmese police killed 18 protesters in several cities across Myanmar. Police used live rounds and tear gas against demonstrators in the deadliest day of protests since the Feb. 1 coup. 

Today, deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court via video. Suu Kyi has not appeared in pubic since her arrest. The military junta previously charged Suu Kyi with an import violation for owning two walkie talkies. They subsequently charged her with an violation of environmental laws. In court today, two further charges were added. The first charge is a violation of a colonial-era penal code prohibiting the distribution of information that may “cause fear or alarm” or disrupt “public tranquility”. The second was a telecommunications violation.

Suu Kyi’s lawyer said she appeared healthy in the video.

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Uighur genocide: Beijing viciously targets Uighur women alleging sex abuse in camps

About a month ago, numerous Uighur and Kazakh minority women came forward to speak out about horrific systematic rape and sexual abuse in China’s Uighur “re-education” camps. Among the allegations were organized gang rapes of young Uighur women by guards and ethnic Chinese men. Women who had spent time in several different camps gave strikingly similar and specific testimony of other forms of sexual torture and abuse they and others suffered in the camps.

Recently, the US government and Canadian and Dutch parliaments officially declared Chinese treatment of the Uighurs to be a genocide. In response to the allegations and genocide declarations, Chinese officials resorted to hideous personal attacks against some of the abuse victims.

The officials named some of the women, disclosing private medical data and purported information on the women’s fertility. They accused some of the women of having affairs and one of having a sexually transmitted disease. This, they said, showed that the women were of bad character and invalid witnesses.

This echoes comments by an official in Xinjiang Province last month, speaking of one witness: “Everyone knows about her inferior character. She’s lazy and likes comfort, her private life is chaotic, her neighbors say that she committed adultery while in China”.

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