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Posted on August 6, 2019November 11, 2020 by admin

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DOJ v. DEI: Trump’s Justice Department likely to target diversity programs
on December 10, 2024 at 11:03 am
By Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President-elect Donald Trump is set to challenge policies aimed at boosting diversity at companies and universities when he takes office next month, throwing the weight of the U.S. government behind growing conservative opposition to such practices. The Justice Department and other federal agencies are likely to start investigations and bring lawsuits over diversity, equity and inclusion policies as they argue that many of those practices violate anti-discrimination laws. “DEI is unlawful discrimination,” said Mike Davis, the founder of the Article III Project, a conservative advocacy group, who has advised Trump on legal issues. “It’s illegal for the government to do it. It’s illegal for universities to do it. And it’s illegal for companies to do it.” The plans would turn the power of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division — created in 1957 to enforce laws aimed at stopping discrimination against Black people and other marginalized communities — against policies designed to benefit those groups. Trump signaled his intent late on Monday when he tapped lawyer Harmeet Dhillon as his pick to oversee the division as an assistant attorney general, saying that her career highlights included “suing corporations who use woke policies to discriminate against their workers.” Proponents of DEI policies say they are needed to address longstanding racial inequities in U.S. society, while opponents argue that many of the policies are exclusionary and focus on race and gender at the expense of individual merit. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids racial discrimination in programs that receive federal funds, could empower the Justice Department to challenge university admissions practices and racial equity programs in healthcare. “The argument is going to be to the extent that there’s a consideration of race in any context by any entity that receives federal funds, that’s a problem under Title VI,” said Danielle Conley, the head of the anti-discrimination practice at law firm Latham & Watkins. UNIVERSITIES IN FOCUS Trump vowed in a campaign video to direct the Justice Department to pursue civil rights investigations into universities, saying they had been captured by the “radical left.” “We are going to get this anti-American insanity out of our institutions once and for all,” Trump said in the video, posted in July. The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment. Legal challenges could include claims that universities are not following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling barring consideration of race in college admissions. The Justice Department under Democratic President Joe Biden has defended an exemption allowing U.S. military academies to continue using affirmative action policies, a stance Trump could reverse. During Trump’s first term, the Justice Department sued Yale University alleging that its admissions practices discriminated against Asian American and white applicants. The lawsuit was later dropped under the Biden administration. A BROADER CAMPAIGN Even in situations where the Justice Department does not have direct enforcement authority, the government could still weigh in on existing cases to argue that its interpretation of civil rights laws aligns with others challenging DEI policies. America First Legal, a conservative group founded by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, has brought 15 lawsuits since 2022 targeting major companies like Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms and Amazon.com over their diversity efforts. Seven of those cases, including the complaints against Meta and Amazon, have been dismissed after judges found that the person or group suing did not suffer harm that would allow them to sue. America First Legal has appealed some of those decisions. America First Legal did not respond to requests for comment. ‘BETRAYAL OF THE MISSION’ The America First Legal cases are part of a larger effort to pressure companies to scrap practices aimed at boosting racial and ethnic representation in the workplace. Many of their legal challenges were brought on behalf of white men using laws passed during the post-Civil War Reconstruction era and the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s designed to support Black Americans. “It would be a betrayal of the mission of the Civil Rights Division to turn it into a legal force that protects primarily the interests of white men,” said Thomas Healy, a Seton Hall University law professor who has written about civil rights issues. DEI opponents note that federal anti-discrimination laws are race neutral and generally apply to all forms of exclusion based on race or gender. Civil rights advocates fear that even the threat of government scrutiny will cause companies to back away from prior commitments on diversity. “The risk I see is that employers may be worried about getting sued and roll back their programs,” said Amalea Smirniotopoulos, a senior policy counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. “At the heart of these attacks is fundamentally an attempt to hoard opportunity for a limited group of people.” Walmart in late November became the latest major U.S. corporation to scale back its DEI efforts, following JPMorgan Chase and Starbucks. About half of the American public believes that federal and state governments and powerful U.S. institutions need to do more to address inequities caused by structural racism, according to an October Reuters/Ipsos poll. One in three disagreed with the idea, the poll found. Anti-discrimination lawyers said many DEI policies may be able to withstand legal scrutiny if they’re focused on measures that do not involve explicit consideration of race, such as expanding employee recruiting and setting aspirational goals for diversity. “It is not pre-ordained what the outcome of the various challenges will be,” said Debo Adegbile, head of the anti-discrimination practice at law firm WilmerHale. LEGAL OBSTACLES The Justice Department will face some obstacles in any effort to combat DEI policies. Its Civil Rights Division does not enforce federal laws banning racial discrimination in hiring and contracting against private employers, according to experts in discrimination law. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is the only federal entity empowered to sue companies over employment discrimination. The five-member EEOC is expected to have a Democratic majority until at least 2026, which could stymie some of Trump’s plans. But the Civil Rights Division can bring employment discrimination cases against state and local governments. (Reporting by Andrew Goudsward; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
A three-alarm brushfire burns in Malibu, prompting mandatory evacuations
on December 10, 2024 at 10:18 am
MALIBU, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters were battling a three-alarm brushfire early Tuesday in Malibu, California, near Pepperdine University, prompting evacuations. It was not immediately known how the blaze, named the Franklin Fire, started but L.A. County Fire Department officials estimated that at least 100 acres (40 hectares) had been burned and structures were threatened, according to KTLA-TV. North to northeast winds were forecasted to increase to 30 to 40 miles per hour (48 to 64 kph) with gusts up to 65 mph (105 kph) expected, The National Weather Service Los Angeles office posted on X. Power to tens of thousands of people had been shut off by Monday night as utilities worked to mitigate the impacts of Southern California’s notorious Santa Ana winds, whose strong gusts could damage electrical equipment and spark wildfires. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for high fire risk with a rare “particularly dangerous situation,” or PDS, designation starting at 8 p.m. Monday into Tuesday for Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The fire department issued a mandatory evacuation order for residents living east of Malibu Canyon Road and South of Piuma Road. University officials said they were monitoring the situation. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
Biden to warn against another Trump tax cut, hail his own economic successes
on December 10, 2024 at 10:04 am
By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will warn against further tax cuts for the wealthy and a reprise of Republican “trickle-down economics” during Donald Trump’s second term in what could be his final speech on the economy on Tuesday, a White House official said. Biden will argue in the speech, which comes a month after bruising election defeats for the Democrats driven by voters’ concerns about inflation, that his push to boost investments in infrastructure, manufacturing and neglected communities averted a bigger economic crisis and laid the groundwork for continued economic growth, the official said. Enacting another major tax cut benefiting rich Americans and cutting government old age and health insurance programs would threaten those gains, Biden will argue, while acknowledging that it will take years to see the full impact of his efforts. In his remarks at the Brookings Institution, Biden plans to highlight the creation of 16 million jobs, the most in any single presidential term, the lowest average unemployment of any administration in 50 years and the smallest racial wealth gap in 20 years, the official said. The speech echoes the message Biden pushed throughout his aborted 2024 election campaign and continued by Vice President Kamala Harris after he dropped out, although neither official was able to win over voters scarred by high food and housing prices. Despite the strength of major economic indicators and a drop in inflation from a peak of 9% more than two years ago to 2.4%, voters punished the Democrats and handed the Republicans the White House and control of both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. Investment banks expect Trump’s return to the White House to fuel a dealmaking revival that could boost investment banking income to $316 billion globally next year, a jump of about 5.7% on 2024, but economists warn that the Republican’s pledge to impose high tariffs could reignite inflation while further tax cuts could swell the already high U.S. deficit. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Kate Mayberry) Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
Suspect in UnitedHealthcare CEO killing charged with murder in New York, court records show
on December 10, 2024 at 6:18 am
ALTOONA, Pa. (AP) — After UnitedHealthcare’s CEO was gunned down on a New York sidewalk, police searched for the masked gunman with dogs, drones and scuba divers. Officers used the city’s muscular surveillance system. Investigators analyzed DNA samples, fingerprints and internet addresses. Police went door-to-door looking for witnesses. When an arrest came five days later, those sprawling investigative efforts shared credit with an alert civilian’s instincts. A Pennsylvania McDonald’s customer noticed another patron who resembled the man in the oblique security-camera photos that New York police had publicized. Luigi Nicholas Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland real estate family, was arrested Monday in the killing of Brian Thompson, who headed one of the United States’ largest medical insurance companies. He remained jailed in Pennsylvania, where he was initially charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm, forgery and providing false identification to police. By late evening, prosecutors in Manhattan had added a charge of murder, according to an online court docket. He’s expected to be extradited to New York eventually. It’s unclear whether Mangione has an attorney who can comment on the allegations. Asked at Monday’s arraignment whether he needed a public defender, Mangione asked whether he could “answer that at a future date.” Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after the McDonald’s customer recognized him and notified an employee, authorities said. Police in Altoona, about 233 miles (375 kilometers) west of New York City, were soon summoned. They arrived to find Mangione sitting at a table in the back of the restaurant, wearing a blue medical mask and looking at a laptop, according to a Pennsylvania police criminal complaint. He initially gave them a fake ID, but when an officer asked Mangione whether he’d been to New York recently, he “became quiet and started to shake,” the complaint says. When he pulled his mask down at officers’ request, “we knew that was our guy,” rookie Officer Tyler Frye said at a news conference in Hollidaysburg. New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a Manhattan news conference that Mangione was carrying a gun like the one used to kill Thompson and the same fake ID the shooter had used to check into a New York hostel, along with a passport and other fraudulent IDs. NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Mangione also had a three-page, handwritten document that shows “some ill will toward corporate America.” A law enforcement official who wasn’t authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the document included a line in which Mangione claimed to have acted alone. “To the Feds, I’ll keep this short, because I do respect what you do for our country. To save you a lengthy investigation, I state plainly that I wasn’t working with anyone,” the document said, according to the official. It also had a line that said, “I do apologize for any strife or traumas but it had to be done. Frankly, these parasites simply had it coming.” Pennsylvania prosecutor Peter Weeks said in court that Mangione was found with a passport and $10,000 in cash — $2,000 of it in foreign currency. Mangione disputed the amount. Thompson, 50, was killed last Wednesday as he walked alone to a midtown Manhattan hotel for an investor conference. Police quickly came to see the shooting as a targeted attack by a gunman who appeared to wait for Thompson, came up behind him and fired a 9 mm pistol. Investigators have said “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were written on ammunition found near Thompson’s body. The words mimic a phrase used to criticize the insurance industry. From surveillance video, New York investigators gathered that the shooter fled by bike into Central Park, emerged, then took a taxi to a northern Manhattan bus terminal. Once in Pennsylvania, he went from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, “trying to stay low-profile” by avoiding cameras, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said. A grandson of a wealthy, self-made real estate developer and philanthropist, Mangione is a cousin of a current Maryland state legislator. Mangione was valedictorian at his elite Baltimore prep school, where his 2016 graduation speech lauded his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things.” He went on to earn undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a spokesperson said. “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest,” Mangione’s family said in a statement posted on social media late Monday by his cousin, Maryland lawmaker Nino Mangione. “We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved.” Luigi Nicholas Mangione worked for a time for the car-buying website TrueCar and left in 2023, CEO Jantoon Reigersman said by email. From January to June 2022, Mangione lived at Surfbreak, a “co-living” space at the edge of Honolulu tourist mecca Waikiki. Like other residents of the shared penthouse catering to remote workers, Mangione underwent a background check, said Josiah Ryan, a spokesperson for owner and founder R.J. Martin. “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints,” Ryan said. “There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” At Surfbreak, Martin learned Mangione had severe back pain from childhood that interfered with many aspects of his life, from surfing to romance, Ryan said. “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back,” Ryan said, but noted that Mangione and Martin often went together to a rock-climbing gym. Mangione left Surfbreak to get surgery on the mainland, Ryan said, then later returned to Honolulu and rented an apartment. Martin stopped hearing from Mangione six months to a year ago. Although the gunman obscured his face during the shooting, he left a trail of evidence in New York, including a backpack he ditched in Central Park, a cellphone found in a pedestrian plaza, a water bottle and a protein bar wrapper. In the days after the shooting, the NYPD collected hundreds of hours of surveillance video and released multiple clips and still images in hopes of enlisting the public’s eyes to help find a suspect. “This combination of old-school detective work and new-age technology is what led to this result today,” Tisch said at the New York news conference. ___ Scolforo reported from Altoona and Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Contributing were Associated Press writers Cedar Attanasio and Jennifer Peltz in New York; Michael Rubinkam and Maryclaire Dale in Pennsylvania; Lea Skene in Baltimore and Jennifer Sinco Kelleher in Honolulu. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com
US defense secretary in Japan to discuss regional security as US military pauses Osprey flights
on December 10, 2024 at 6:18 am
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is in Japan on Tuesday to meet with Japanese officials and reaffirm the importance of their alliance and the U.S. commitment to regional security as threats rise from China and North Korea. Austin’s visit also comes amid growing concerns over the safety of Osprey military aircraft, which have been grounded in the United States following a near-crash at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico last month. The incident, caused by weakened metal components, was similar to a fatal crash off southwestern Japan last year. The U.S. measure has not affected Ospreys operated by Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force. Japanese officials are discussing the issue with the U.S. military and will “respond appropriately,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters Tuesday. Austin is scheduled to hold separate talks with his Japanese counterpart Gen Nakatani and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba later Tuesday, according to Japanese officials. Nakatani told reporters that cooperation between Japan and the U.S., as well as with South Korea and other partners, is important as tensions escalate in the region. The trilateral partnership between Japan, the U.S. and South Korea has significantly strengthened under President Joe Biden’s administration but faces new uncertainty amid ongoing political unrest in South Korea. On Monday, Austin greeted crew members of the USS George Washington, a nuclear-powered flagship aircraft carrier docked at the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, near Tokyo. Austin stressed the importance of U.S. cooperation with allies and partners in the region as he singled out China as the only country in the world with the intent and capability to change the rules-based international order in the Indo-Pacific, according to the U.S. Department of Defense. “We want to see this region remain open to freedom of navigation and the ability to fly the skies in international airways,” Austin was quoted as saying on the defense department’s website. “We will work with allies and partners to ensure we can do just that,” he added. The U.S. carrier, which is under maintenance in Yokosuka, will carry the advanced F-35C stealth combat aircraft squadron currently based in the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Yamaguchi. Brought to you by www.srnnews.com

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