Daily News Brief for Tuesday, November 28th, 2023

This is Garrison Hardie with your CrossPolitic Daily News Brief for Tuesday, November 28th, 2023. 
 
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/27/talks-under-way-to-extend-israel-hamas-ceasefire-as-return-to-fighting-looms
 
Talks under way to extend Israel-Hamas ceasefire as return to fighting looms
 
Talks are under way to extend the temporary ceasefire in Gaza, with Hamas and Israel both saying they would like to see further releases of hostages in return for freedom for more Palestinians held in Israeli jails.
 
But the ceasefire is due to expire, threatening a return to the bloody fighting and bombardment that has devastated swaths of Gaza, killed many thousands of civilians and caused an acute humanitarian crisis.
 
The third release of prisoners and of mostly Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas took place without major problems on Sunday night.
 
Israel and Hamas have each raised concerns over the lists of hostages and Palestinian prisoners due to be released on Monday, which Qatari mediators are now working to resolve.
 
“There is a slight issue with today’s lists. The Qataris are working with both sides to … avoid delays,” an official briefed on the matter said.
 
Seventeen hostages were released by Hamas on Sunday, including a Russian national and three Thai nationals. The Israelis were all women or children. Thirty-nine Palestinian prisoners, mostly children, were freed from Israeli jails, authorities said.
 
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has said he did not want to end the ceasefire but pledged that Israel would resume its military offensive in Gaza at the end of the truce.
 
Netanyahu, who has promised Israelis he will “crush” Hamas, said he would welcome an extension to allow the release of 10 additional hostages every day in return for freedom for 30 Palestinian prisoners, as agreed under the original deal.
 
Israeli officials insist they will not call off their offensive until they are certain that Hamas no longer poses a threat to Israel.
 
Joe Biden said on Sunday that his administration would “continue to remain personally engaged to see that this deal is fully implemented and work to extend the deal as well”.
 
Local media in Israel reported optimism among senior officials that the truce, which was the result of several weeks of complex indirect negotiations mediated by the US, Qatar and Egypt, would be extended.
 
Sixty-two of the more than 240 hostages held by Hamas since last month have been released, one hostage was freed by Israeli forces, and two were found dead inside Gaza. A total of 117 Palestinians have been freed since the truce began.
 
Between 13,000 and 15,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli offensive launched after the Hamas attack, roughly two-thirds of them women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza. More than 1 million people have been forced from their homes.
 
The UN says the truce has made it possible to scale up the delivery of food, water and medicine to the largest volume since the start of the war. But the 160 to 200 trucks a day is still less than half what Gaza was importing before the fighting, while humanitarian needs have soared.
 
Details have emerged of the conditions of the detention of some hostages. Local media has reported shortages of food and medicine, and cramped accommodation possibly underground, but no physical mistreatment. According to one report, a former hostage has told his friends that his captors had brought other children to play with him while he was in captivity. Some learned of the fate of relatives from Hebrew-language radio networks they could listen to. Two teenagers learned that their mother had been killed and their father remained missing only when released.
 
Calls from the hostages’ families to prioritise their release have sharpened the dilemma facing Israel’s leaders as they seek to reconcile the military offensive with the goal of freeing all of the captives.
 
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/11/23/new-biden-rule-reveals-transgender-movements-endgame-no-dissenting-parents-allowed/
 
Lack of ‘Affirmation’ Is Child Abuse: New Biden Rule Applies Transgender Standard to Foster Care
 
The transgender standard is set to become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden.
 
A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly.
 
The rule would reinterpret the Social Security Act, which requires agencies to ensure that each child in foster care receives “safe and proper” care. The rule would lay out steps agencies must take to meet that requirement for “LGBTQI+ children,” defined as kids who “identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, as well as children who are non-binary, or have non-conforming gender identity or expression.”
 
Before agencies place a child with a foster parent, known as a “provider,” that person must “establish an environment free of hostility, mistreatment, or abuse based on the child’s LGBTQI+ status;” receive training “to be prepared with the appropriate knowledge and skills to provide for the needs of the child related to the child’s self-identified sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression;” and must be able to “facilitate the child’s access to age-appropriate resources, services, and activities that support their health and well-being.”
 
As the Ethics and Public Policy Center’s Rachel Morrison pointed out for The Federalist Society, the rule does not define “hostility,” “mistreatment,” or “abuse.” However, it does clarify that “a provider who attempted to undermine, suppress, or change the sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression of a child, including through the use of so-called ‘conversion therapy,’ would not be a safe and appropriate placement.”
 
The proposed rule cites medical associations such as the American Psychological Association to claim that efforts to “undermine, suppress, or change” sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression “are not supported by evidence and have been rejected as harmful.”
 
The rule does not acknowledge that gender ideology has infiltrated these medical associations and that many doctors—including those who once embraced gender ideology—have warned against confusing children on their gender and putting them on a path to mutilating their own bodies.
 
Dr. Stephen B. Levine, a psychiatrist and early proponent of transgender medical interventions, joined and briefly helped lead the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, which later became the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the central medical group that organizations such as the American Psychiatric Association rely upon.
 
European countries, long considered more “progressive” than the U.S., have found a lack of evidence for medical interventions on children and are recommending a “watchful waiting” approach for minors.
 
Yet Levine argues that “affirming” a transgender identity is a “powerful psychotherapeutic intervention” that will set kids on the path to mutilation and sterilization—long before they have any concept about what their own fertility means.
 
Under Biden’s proposed new rule, any potential foster parent who aims to protect a child from this confusion and damage may soon face expulsion from the program. That means the process will be designed to weed out guardians who actually would take good care of the kids and enable guardians who would assist in harming them.
 
California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill turning California into a “sanctuary state” for “gender-affirming care,” which the law defines as an absolute right. The law gives California courts the ability to award custody over a child if someone removes the child from his or her parents in another state in order to obtain such “care” for that child despite the parents’ disagreement.
 
https://dailycaller.com/2023/11/27/businesses-diversity-equity-inclusion-economic-uncertainty/
 
Businesses Ditch ‘Diversity’ Initiatives In Droves Amid Economic Uncertainty
 
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives lost steam in 2023 compared to previous years as companies increasingly shift resources due to tightening economic condition
 
The total percentage of American organizations with a DEI budget dropped 4 percentage points, from 58% in 2022 to 54% in 2023, while the number of organizations with a DEI strategy fell 9 points in that same time frame, according to a report from a consulting firm. DEI initiatives in the workplace gained huge traction following the death of George Floyd, which encouraged companies to divert resources to the practice, but now “external forces,” including tightening economic conditions as well as public and judicial pressure, are pushing back on those efforts.
 
“After two years of unprecedented investment sparked by 2020’s racial justice movement, this year, global momentum around DEI slowed,” according to the report from Paradigm. “There are a number of headwinds contributing to this shift: the first is economic uncertainty that not only led to reduced spending across the board, it also firmly shifted the power balance back to employers.”
 
Despite the decline in funding, there was a 6-point increase in the number of companies that had a senior DEI leader and an 8-point increase in organizations that had goals related to representation for women in leadership from 2022 to 2023, according to Paradigm. A total of 20% of companies in 2023 had goals related to increasing employment related to race or ethnicity, which is a 4-point increase year-over-year.
 
The shift follows concerns from companies that the Supreme Court could target DEI and race-based hiring in the workplace the same way it struck down race-based admissions at colleges and universities earlier this year. A pair of decisions by the Supreme Court in June involving Harvard and the University of North Carolina cumulatively ruled that using race as a factor in college admissions is not permissible under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
 
“Over the past several months, we’ve heard from a number of HR leaders who are de-emphasizing data and analytics as a part of their DEI efforts, in response to the changing legal landscape and increased scrutiny on DEI efforts,” according to the report from Paradigm.
 
Only 26% of companies examine the final results of hiring by race or ethnicity, while 33% analyze promotions in the same manner, according to Paradigm. Around 36% of organizations measured the attrition rate of their employees by race or ethnicity.
 
Businesses pulled back from hiring in October, adding only 150,000 jobs for the month compared to 297,000 in September, while unemployment ticked up to 3.9% from 3.8%. The Leading Economic Index predicted that 2024 will only see 0.8% in the U.S. economy due to a possible recession.
 
https://nypost.com/2023/11/26/business/ny-retailers-blast-hochul-over-theft-which-has-cost-stores-4-4-billion/
 
NY retailers lost $4.4 billion due to organized shoplifting rings in 2022: group
 
Retailers across New York state say there’s no end in sight to the rising epidemic of organized shoplifting rings — and warn it could lead to more store closures, increased costs for consumers and threats of violence against store employees.
 
Store owners said they lost $4.4 billion last year as a result of retail theft — which they say adds to the urgency for Gov. Kathy Hochul to crack down.
 
However, Hochul vetoed a bipartisan bill last week — to the chagrin of store owners — that would have created a task force to combat organized theft.
 
Hochul rejected a proposal that would have created a 15-member panel made up of experts appointed by the governor, Legislature and the state attorney general that would have put together a list of recommendations to respond to retail theft.
 
The Retail Council of New York State, the Albany-based lobbying group which represents retailers statewide, said it was “extremely disappointed” by Hochul’s veto.
 
Melissa O’Connor, the president and CEO of the group, released a statement saying that she urged the governor to take “immediate action” so as to formulate “an effective, collaborative response to this problem.”
 
“She made it abundantly clear that retail theft prevention will be a priority for her administration, and we look forward to working with her to achieve results,” O’Connor said.
 
A spokesperson for Hochul said that adopting the proposal would have cost the state $35 million — an expenditure that wasn’t allotted in the most recent budget.
 
Law enforcement officials from New York City to Albany to Syracuse have reported increases in incidents of retail theft — blaming the spike on progressive prosecutors who encourages criminal behavior with lenient punishment for shoplifters.
 
Last month, the chief of police in Syracuse said that the city has seen a 55% spike in shoplifting since 2021 — and that’s a conservative estimate.
 
“That number is likely higher because businesses often don’t report it — but they do continue to express concerns,” Syracuse Police Chief Joe Cecile said.
 
So far this year, the Albany Police Department has fielded 23 calls for larcenies at a single Stewart’s convenience store on Central Avenue — up from 14 at the same time in 2022.
 
The rash of retail thefts at the location forced the owner to shut down.
 
A New York Police Department spokesperson pointed to crime statistics showing that there were more than 93,000 incidents of petty larceny through the end of October — which is 29% higher compared to the same period two years ago but 5% lower compared to the same period last year.
 
Around one-third of all shoplifting arrests in the five boroughs last year involved just 327 people who were collectively arrested and re-arrested a total of more than 6,000 times, according to the NYPD.
 
These 327 alleged shoplifters targeted 18 department stores and seven chain pharmacy locations, which accounted for 20% of all complaints, the NYPD said.