Government

"More than at any other point in recent history, the principles at the heart of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s work – and the entire United Nations – are being challenged. Russia is currently carrying out a premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified attack on Ukraine, violating international law, flouting the core principles of international peace and security, and creating a human rights and humanitarian crisis. Reports of Russia’s human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law mount by the hour. Russian strikes are hitting schools, hospitals, and residential buildings. They are destroying critical infrastructure, which provides millions of people across Ukraine with drinking water, gas to keep them from freezing to death, and electricity. Civilian buses, cars, and even ambulances have been shelled. Russia is doing this every day – across Ukraine." more »

According to the QWI data based on unemployment insurance wage records for the third quarter of 2020 (the most recent national data), women in the United States earned 30% less than men and that pay gap increased with age. Women are over-represented in lower paying jobs and, as they age, the pay gap widens even more. The gender gap has narrowed for younger women as they increase their education level and break into occupations traditionally dominated by men. Although the gender pay gap has narrowed since the signing of the Equal Pay Act of 1963, women earned 82 cents for every dollar a man earns according to 2020 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The gender gap has narrowed for younger women as they increase their education level and break into occupations traditionally dominated by men. While women have a growing presence in higher paying industries like Information or Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services, they are still over-represented in lower paying industries. more »

Jo Freeman writes: Her description of Donald Trump and his dysfunctional administration is consistent with that of other authors. Trump was addicted to flattery and adulation. A chapter section is called “Me, Me, Me.” Hill says he suffered from “autocrat envy.” He didn’t just admire Putin; he wanted to be like him. Trump was angered by mere rumors that someone had said something negative about him. He wanted to just snuff them out, with the alacrity of Putin and other autocrats. Although Hill worked for the Bush, Obama and Trump administrations, we only get details about Trump. Since it’s not a short book, perhaps the publisher didn’t think reading about the earlier Presidents would generate sales. Too bad. Her other comparisons are illuminating; how these three men ran their domains should be as well.    more »

A report published in October 2020, offered an overview of the responses, but the authors of the new study sought to gain deeper insight into the role that specific factors played in determining a business’s resilience during the pandemic. "The team’s findings are based on responses from more than 1,350 businesses to a survey NIST and NOAA distributed from July to August in 2020. A third of those returning surveys were from underrepresented groups. "It is critical that we understand how climate events amplify existing social and economic vulnerabilities,” said Ariela Zycherman, a co-author of the paper in NOAA’s Climate Program Office. more »