MicroWave

MicroWave OP , 16 days ago (edited 16 days ago) to news in There’s been a major shift in demographics at the border. Here’s what’s behind the change.

Yeah, even Homeland Security acknowledges it too:

“Fundamentally, our system is not equipped to deal with migration as it exists now, not just this year and last year and the year before, but for years preceding us,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in an interview with NBC News. “We have a system that was last modified in 1996. We’re in 2024 now. The world has changed.”

But guess who in Congress don’t want to change that?

The position of Mayorkas and the Biden administration is that these problems can only be meaningfully addressed by a congressional overhaul of the immigration system, such as the one proposed in February in a now defunct bipartisan Senate bill.

“We cannot process these individuals through immigration enforcement proceedings very quickly — it actually takes sometimes more than seven years,” Mayorkas told NBC News. “The proposed bipartisan legislation would reduce that seven-plus-year waiting period to sometimes less than 90 days. That’s transformative.”

These guys:

Now, after a hard-negotiated bipartisan Senate compromise bill has been released, Republicans are either vowing to block it or declaring it “dead on arrival,” in the words of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

MicroWave OP , 17 days ago to news in 3 bodies in Mexican well identified as Australian and American surfers killed for truck's tires

Can confirm that Chichén Itzá is now roped off. And Yucatán is now the safest state in Mexico:

Mexico’s lowest-crime region is strengthening its reputation as an oasis of calm in a country roiled by drug killings. Yucatán, the southeastern state known for its Mayan ruins, has a homicide rate more than 90% lower than the national average.

bloomberg.com/…/how-did-yucatan-become-mexico-s-s…

MicroWave OP , 18 days ago (edited 18 days ago) to news in Southeast Asian Americans face the brunt of racist attacks among Asians in U.S., new study finds

From the article, it’s likely because they live and work in lower income areas:

He said it’s hard to give one reason why Southeast Asians are feeling the brunt of this hate, but he thinks financial status might play a role. A 2020 report by the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center said that all Southeast Asian ethnic groups have a lower per capita income than the average in the U.S.

“It depends on socioeconomics,” Chen said. “Where these people are living, where they’re commuting, where they’re working. That may be a factor as well.”

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in Biden Administration sets higher staffing mandates. Most nursing homes don’t meet them

What you’re saying tracks with the article as well:

Charlene Harrington, a professor emeritus at the nursing school of the University of California-San Francisco, said: “In their unchecked quest for profits, the nursing home industry has created its own problems by not paying adequate wages and benefits and setting heavy nursing workloads that cause neglect and harm to residents and create an unsatisfactory and stressful work environment.”

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to world in US, Philippines kick off combat drills amid China tension

I don’t think so. There are other important parts in the article:

For the first time, the annual event will also involve troops from the Australian and French military. Fourteen other countries in Asia and Europe will attend as observers. The exercises will run until May 10.

…

The 2024 exercises are also the first to take place outside of Philippine territorial waters.

“Some of the exercises will take place in the South China Sea in an area outside of the Philippines’ territorial sea. It’s a direct challenge to China’s expansive claims” in the region, Philippine political analyst Richard Heydarian told DW.

He added that some of the exercises this year will also be close to Taiwan.

This year’s exercises have a “dual orientation pushing against China’s aggressive intentions both in the South China Sea but also in Taiwan,” he added.

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to world in Netanyahu's outraged response after report of pending US sanctions on IDF

According to ProPublica, it’s commonly done using Leahy Laws:

The recommendations came from a special committee of State Department officials known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum. The panel, made up of Middle East and human rights experts, is named for former Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chief author of 1997 laws that requires the U.S. to cut off assistance to any foreign military or law enforcement units — from battalions of soldiers to police stations — that are credibly accused of flagrant human rights violations.

…

Over the years, hundreds of foreign units, including from Mexico, Colombia and Cambodia, have been blocked from receiving any new aid. Officials say enforcing the Leahy Laws can be a strong deterrent against human rights abuses.

propublica.org/…/israel-gaza-blinken-leahy-sancti…

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to news in FBI says Chinese hackers are inside US infrastructure to cause ‘devastating blow’

Oh you mean the post summary. Yeah, that’s the article’s verbatim linked URL. Check the article’s source and see for yourself.

In any case, thanks for pointing that out. I’ve stripped the tracker link and updated the post summary portion.

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in FBI says Chinese hackers are inside US infrastructure to cause ‘devastating blow’

Huh? That’s the exact same link as the post’s.

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to world in Marcos says he’s ‘horrified’ by Duterte sea deal with China

Archive link: archive.ph/7mQ8M

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in EPA imposes first national limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

FWIW the most recent analysis I came across from a law professor makes me think the emergence of the “major questions doctrine” is more concerning:

In https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/desktop/document/LoperBrightEnterprisesetalPetitionersvsGinaRaimondoSecretaryofCom?doc_id=X1Q6OHE0D7O2, the US Supreme Court will decide whether to overrule one of its most frequently cited precedents—its 1984 opinion in https://www.bloomberglaw.com/public/document/Chevron_U_S_A_Inc_v_Natural_Resources_Defense_Council_Inc_467_US_?doc_id=X5CAVA. The decision in Loper may change the language that lawyers use in briefs and professors use in class, but is unlikely to significantly affect case outcomes involving interpretation of the statutes that agencies administer. In practice, it’s the court’s new major questions doctrine announced in 2021 that could fundamentally change how agencies operate.

…

I am much more concerned about the court’s 2021 decision to create the “major questions doctrine” and to apply it in four other cases than I am about the effects of a potential reversal of Chevron in Loper. Lower courts are beginning to rely on the major questions doctrine as the basis to overturn scores of agency decisions. That doctrine has potential to make it impossible for any agency to take any significant action.

news.bloomberglaw.com/…/courts-new-chevron-analys…

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in EPA imposes first national limits on 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

No, the case is still pending: www.oyez.org/cases/2023/22-451

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in Eclipse 2024 pictures: An eerie darkness descends

So cool!

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to world in Havana syndrome: Report links mystery illness to Russian intelligence unit

It wasn’t me!

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago to news in Oregon city can't limit church's homeless meal services, federal judge rules

Kudos for doing additional research and sharing it with sources!

MicroWave OP , 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to news in Supreme Court signals it is likely to reject a challenge to abortion pill access

Standing is a specific legal term that defines whether a party is allowed to sue, and injury is also a legal term in this case. Cornell Law School has a great intro on the legal requirements to establish standing using a 3-part test:

• The plaintiff must have suffered an “injury in fact,” meaning that the injury is of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) actual or imminent
• There must be a causal connection between the injury and the conduct brought before the court
• It must be likely, rather than speculative, that a favorable decision by the court will redress the injury.

In this case, seems to be the Supreme Court is skeptical that these doctors have satisfied this 3-part standing test, especially the injury in fact one. If SCOTUS decides that these doctors don’t have standing, then the lawsuit is dismissed.