#State Language Protection Commissioner

[dontforgetukraine]

"Russian-ruined cultural and educational institutions urgently need fiction, educational and historical literature. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russian forces have destroyed or damaged nearly a thousand libraries, resulting in the loss of over 200 million Ukrainian books. Our mission is to restore these library collections as fully as possible and make it a national priority."

—Taras Kremin, State Language Protection Commissioner

Source: Ukraine's language commissioner reveals number of libraries destroyed by Russia since the start of full-scale invasion

[mollyjimbly]

🚨🚨🚨RED ALERT🚨🚨🚨

if you care about trans folks please take a few minutes to read through this post and share.

They are not even trying to hide their true intentions with KOSA...

"Top of the agenda is to go after providers of gender affirming care, including for adults. The FTC could also go after online platforms for displaying LGBTQ content which would be supercharged under KOSA."

This is catastrophically bad.

There is a HUGE push to pass KOSA rn at the end of the year.

Real quick summary: Blumenthal and Blackburn "rewrote" KOSA to appeal to the right more. They worked with ELON MUSK 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♂️ to push this bill "protecting kids". Tomorrow, many orgs are bringing groups of parents to speak to congress. This is coming at a time when FTC commissioner admitted their agenda is straight transphobia:

There are two ways KOSA can be passed right now. Either from the House or attaching it to an end of year spending bill. They will try both.

Republican leadership (Scalise and Johnson) are surprisingly what is stopping thia from going through. They wont admit it out loud but they dont like the bill.

WE NEED TO PUSH BACK NOW!! Tomorrow those phones need to be ringing OFF THE HOOK while they meet with parents.

PLEASE SPREAD THIS EVERYWHERE!! ADD THESE LINKS TO TWITTER, REDDIT, INSTA, TIKTOK!!

USE THESE CALLING TOOLS AND SCRIPTS TODAY AND TOMORROW ALL DAY!!!

SCRIPTS:

🔴 If your rep is GOP:

"I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA, the Kid’s Online Safety Act. This is a dangerous bill that will harm children.

Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them.

We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution.

The bill let any state attorney general and the FTC to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online?

Big Tech is already censoring us. That’s why they support KOSA. This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects children by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship.

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language.

KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies, which would put them in further danger. How is this protecting children’s privacy?

What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger.

Do NOT support this bill. Thank you."

Also,to note, Biden supports KOSA: You could try asking your GOP rep why they would support a bill that has Biden's support,and that he could use it to his advantage somehow (we know GOP does not like Biden,so it should be utilized somehow). We need to ensure the bill doesnt pass at all.

🔵 if your rep is DEM:

"I am urging you to VOTE NO on KOSA. Nearly 200 human rights and LGBT organizations total came out in an open letter opposing it. The ACLU is against it. Hundreds of thousands of Gen Z, who actually live online, are against it.

We know the harms of social media, and we know this is not the solution. The new language does NOT meet any concerns brought up, in fact many organizations were ignored.

Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. We do not want this. The rewritten bill would still allow any state attorney general, and now the FTC, to sue any website for “harmful” content. When you have Republicans calling anything LGBT “sexual exploitation” or anything about race “CRT” to successfully ban books and teachers, then they will use any justification to censor the internet.

The Missouri attorney general used “mental health” successfully to ban gender-affirming care with backed up research. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content. Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language.

KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. Furthermore, updated language threatens encryption the same way the Earn It Act does.

How is this protecting children’s privacy? KOSA actively harms kids. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you."

Tell them you'll vote for your reps if they vote no on KOSA, anything goes. But most importantly it's crucial that KOSA is not being brought at all for any vote.

Thank you, remember to stay calm and stay strong. We've got this!! ♡

[pintadorartist]

Musk and House Republicans are still pushing KOSA

The bill is still being pushed at the end of the year. We need to keep up the pressure to stop KOSA from passing.

This is more pressing with FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson (whose agenda has been revealed to be very transphobic) being selected as Trump's nominee for Chairman of the FTC. If KOSA passes, this will give him and the Trump administration the power to attack online platforms that "harm children," making it harder to share progressive content and organize online.

So this week, keep making calls, emailing, and faxing your Representatives and these House leaders as well.

In addition to your House reps, call the House Leaders, especially the Republican leaders since they’re majority leaders:

Republican:

⭐Steve Scalise

        (202) 225-3015

Fax 202-226-0386

⭐Mike Johnson

        (202) 225-2777

fax: (202) 225-8039

Democrat:

⭐Hakeem Jeffries

            (202) 225-5936

Ayanna Pressley

(202) 225-5111

Ilhan Omar

(202) 225-4755

Jamaal Bowman

(202) 225-2464

Cori Bush 

(202) 225-2406

Call tools:

FFTF:

Fax:

Find your rep:

Here are scripts to use for the calls:

DEMOCRATIC VERSION:

I am urging you not to include KOSA in any end of year spending bills and to keep it from passing. With Trump ascending into office, this bill will give the FTC power to control speech online. FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson just came out with an agenda that will focus on going after online platforms for displaying LGBT content. With KOSA, this would only give them and republican attorney generals even more power to remove any content they deem “harmful”, which we know is an excuse to censor everything they don’t like. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content.

200 human rights and LGBT organizations total came out in an open letter opposing it. The ACLU is against it. Hundreds of thousands of Gen Z are against it. We know the harms of social media, and we do not want this. Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. 

The rewritten bill is still very dangerous, and giving any more power to Donald Trump to silence people he deems his “enemies” is a horrible move. With people like Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk supporting KOSA, this is enough of a sign to not push it forward. 

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. The updated language threatens encryption. How is this protecting children’s privacy?  KOSA actively harms kids. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

REPUBLICAN VERSION: (pretend you’re GOP)

I am urging you VOTE NO on KOSA, the Kid’s Online Safety Act. Even with the rewritten language, this is still a dangerous bill that will harm children and censor pro-life content on the internet. Even with the new language, this bill still gives state Attorney Generals power to censor any content they don’t like. This bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans, why else do you think Democrats are pushing it so hard? Why else would Biden and Kamala Harris support it?

Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them. We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution.

The bill let any state attorney general and the FTC to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online? Big Tech is already censoring us. That’s why they support KOSA. This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects children by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship to everyone. 

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third-party companies, which would put them in further danger. This also exposes everyone else. How is this protecting children’s privacy? What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger. It censors our freedom of speech. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

——————————————————————————

Make sure to share this around to get more people involved.

I also ask that if you have an account with these other sites, you share and upvote these posts(they're different posts):

-Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Fight For The Future (@fightfortheftr)

-Bsky:

-Twitter:

-Tiktok: (i dont have tiktok so i cant link a kosa video here, my bad)

-Tumblr:

[misfitwashere]

More of Trump's descent into dictatorship

Two illegal firings that will increase prices for consumers and concentrate more power in Trump's hands — unless the courts stop him. 

ROBERT REICH

MAR 19

Friends,

I would not impose on you for a third time today unless it was particularly urgent. 

This afternoon, Trump illegally fired the two Democratic commissioners on the five-member Federal Trade Commission — Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya. 

Commissioner Slaughter had this to say: 

"The President illegally fired me from my position as a Federal Trade Commissioner, violating the plain language of a statute and clear Supreme Court precedent."

Commissioner Bedoya said this: 

I’m a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. The president just illegally fired me. The FTC is an independent agency founded 111 years ago to fight fraudsters and monopolists. Our staff is unafraid of the Martin Shkrelis and Jeff Bezos of the world. They take them to court and they win. Now, the president wants the FTC to be a lapdog for his golfing buddies. Together with Chair Lina Khan and Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter, I spent my time at the FTC fighting for small town grocers and pharmacists and for people in Indian country going hungry because food was too expensive. I fought for workers getting screwed on pay and benefits and overtime. I fought for their right to organize. I fought tech companies who think they can track you and your kids every hour of every day so they can pocket their next billion. Whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat or someone who’s so disgusted with Washington you can barely watch the news, the FTC has worked for you. Who will Trump’s FTC work for? Will it work for the billionaires? Or will it work for you? It was an honor to serve my country at the FTC. It was an honor to work alongside its staff. And to everyone who is watching all of this unfold, don’t be scared. Fight back.

***

The FTC enforces consumer protection and antitrust laws, and has had a bipartisan structure where no more than three of the five commissioners can come from the same party.

I have no doubt that one result of Trump’s illegal firings today will be higher prices for American consumers because the FTC cop is now off the beat. 

In the 1976, President Carter appointed me to run the FTC’s policy team, which advised the commissioners on which corporations were committing the most heinous frauds and were the worst monopolists. I had the honor of doing that for four years. We saved American consumers a huge amount of money. 

Trump’s actions today also pose a direct challenge to settled law. Congress established the Federal Trade Commission as an independent commission in 1914, and gave each of the FTC’s five commissioners a fixed term of office and protection from being fired by a president.

In 1935, in a case entitled Humphrey’s Executor vs. the United States, the Supreme Court upheld the law protecting FTC commissioners from being fired by a president. 

President Herbert Hoover had appointed and the Senate had confirmed William E. Humphrey to be a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked for Humphrey's resignation because Humphrey was a conservative, and was hobbling many of Roosevelt's New Deal policies. 

When Humphrey refused to resign, Roosevelt fired him. But the FTC Act only allows a president to remove a commissioner for "inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office." (Since Humphrey died shortly after being dismissed, his executor sued to recover Humphrey's lost salary.)

A unanimous Supreme Court found that the FTC Act was constitutional and that Humphrey's dismissal on policy grounds was unjustified. The Court reasoned that the Constitution had never given "illimitable power of removal" to the president. 

The Court rejected the government's main argument, which relied on the Supreme Court's prior decision in Myers v. United States (1926). In that case the Court had upheld the president's right to remove officers who were "units of the executive department." 

But in Humphrey’s Executor, the Court ruled that the FTC was different because it was a body created by Congress to perform quasi-legislative and judicial functions. The Myers precedent, therefore, did not apply.

Until Trump’s blatant move today, the Humphrey’s ruling had shielded independent, bipartisan multi-member agencies from direct control by the White House.

Commissioners Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and Alvaro Bedoya are appealing their firings by Trump. I expect their cases will find their way to the Supreme Court, where a few justices may want to overrule Humphrey’s Executor. My betting is that most justices will abide by this precedent. Then the question becomes whether Trump will abide by the Supreme Court. 

Trump’s descent into dictatorship continues unabated. The losers today are not only American consumers. They are all of us who care about American democracy. 

[argumate]

looking at the Nevada ballot paper and it's really fun! you get this humorous juxtaposition of PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES right next to county commissioner and board of fire protection for your local district, then there are ballot questions that read like paragraph long logic puzzles and then almost as an afterthought they ask if you want to add a fundamental right to abortion to the state constitution oh and remove language authorizing the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment 😐

[meret118]

How Americans Are Surveilled During Protests

https://www.wired.com/story/uncanny-valley-podcast-how-americans-are-surveilled-during-protests/

Internet Sleuths Slam Trump for Photoshopping MS-13 Tat on Deported Dad’s Hand

https://www.thedailybeast.com/internet-sleuths-slam-trump-for-photoshopping-ms-13-tat-on-deported-dads-hand/

DOGE Is Just Getting Warmed Up DOGE has tapped into some of the most sensitive and valuable data in the world. Now it’s starting to put it to work.

But in theory, an API for all IRS data would make it possible for any agency—or any outside party with the right permissions, for that matter—to access the most personal, and valuable, data the US government holds about its citizens. The blurriness of DOGE’s mission begins to gain focus.

Even more, since we know that the IRS is already sharing its data in unprecedented ways: A deal the agency recently signed with the Department of Homeland Security provides sensitive information about undocumented immigrants.

. . .

The Washington Post reported this week that DOGE representatives across government agencies—from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to the Social Security Administration—are putting data that is normally cordoned off in service of identifying undocumented immigrants. At the Department of Labor, as WIRED reported Friday, DOGE has gained access to sensitive data about immigrants and farm workers. And that’s just the data that stays within the government itself.

This week NPR reported that a whistleblower at the National Labor Relations Board claims that staffers observed spikes in data leaving the agency after DOGE got access to its systems, with destinations unknown. The whistleblower further claims that DOGE agents appeared to take steps to “cover their tracks,” switching off or evading the monitoring tools that keep tabs on who’s doing what inside computer systems. (An NLRB spokesperson denied to NPR that DOGE had access to the agency’s systems.)

What could that data be used for? Anything. Everything. A company facing a union complaint at the NLRB could, as NPR notes, get access to “damaging testimony, union leadership, legal strategies and internal data on competitors.” There’s no confirmation that it’s been used for those things—but more to the point, there’s also currently no way to know either way.

www.wired.com/story/doge-is-just-getting-warmed-up-data-immigration/

Trump Is Still Trying to Undermine Elections

Now that Trump has installed election deniers throughout his Administration, he has been busy dismantling the guardrails protecting voting and voters.

. . .

As Marc Elias, an elections lawyer who litigates on behalf of Democrats, told me, “When Donald Trump says that he does not believe there should be voting machines, you should believe him. When he says there should only be voting on Election Day, you should believe him.”

. . .

“In claiming to fire a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission, the president violates the law, the separation of powers, and generations of Supreme Court precedent.” He added that the F.E.C.’s commissioners “are confirmed by Congress to serve the vital role of protecting the democratic rights of American voters. As the only agency that regulates the president, Congress intentionally did not grant the president the power to fire FEC commissioners.”

Less than two weeks later, Trump issued an executive order that states, “No employee of the executive branch acting in their official capacity may advance an interpretation of the law as the position of the United States that contravenes the President or the Attorney General’s opinion on a matter of law.”

In plain language, this mandate cancels the independence of independent agencies and, in the context of the F.E.C., gives the President the ability to make and adjudicate campaign rules to his advantage. The Democratic National Committee, along with the Democratic Congressional and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committees, is now suing Trump and Bondi’s office, on the ground that the order violates federal law, but for now it stands.

More at the link.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-lede/trump-is-still-trying-to-undermine-elections

The Battle For American Thought If Trump can control what ideas are allowed to be discussed, he can reshape American life as we know it.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-control-american-thought_n_6802a7e9e4b0afffe5e780bf

[mariacallous]

Elon Musk has called Social Security a “Ponzi scheme” rife with fraud, waste, and abuse. President Donald Trump argued in his State of the Union address that there are millions of people over the age of 100 who are fraudulently on the Social Security rolls, with some receiving government benefits. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffers are calling Social Security Administration workers inefficient and threatening to make major reductions in its workforce based on that argument.

The problem with these arguments is none of them are true and represent only the latest in high-level disinformation directed at federal programs. As Elaine Kamarck and I argue in our recent book “Lies That Kill: A Citizen’s Guide to Disinformation,” disinformation has become rampant in many different areas and threatens public understanding of policy issues. False data claims undermine trust in government and weaken confidence in the effectiveness of public programs.

Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme; it is a government program into which people pay while they are working and later retrieve benefits after they reach retirement age. It is a public fund financed by payroll taxes paid both by businesses and employees that funds around 59.6 million people. While the Social Security Trust Fund faces financial shortfalls, increasing the taxable income cap beyond its current $168,600 limit could significantly extend the program’s solvency.

According to Social Security Administration data, about 89,000 people over the age of 100 receive benefits, and nearly all are legitimate recipients. The agency, along with the General Accounting Office, routinely audits beneficiaries to detect fraud and has found no evidence supporting Trump’s claim of millions of dead or fraudulent beneficiaries. Indeed, Wired Magazine reported on February 17 that computer programmers pointed out how the list of extremely old people on the Social Security rolls is the result of “…a weird quirk of the Social Security Administration’s benefits system, which was largely written in COBOL, a 60-year-old programming language that undergirds SSA’s databases as well as systems from many other US government agencies.”

DOGE investigators suggest Social Security staff are inefficient and wasteful, independent analyses showing the agency is among the most cost-effective in processing claims. For example, Professor Pamela Herd of the University of Michigan notes that the agency’s administrative costs have declined “from 2.2% in 1957 to just 0.5% today”, making it one of the federal government’s most efficient agencies.

These attacks are not isolated, as other agencies have also been targeted by false narratives. Shortly before its budget and personnel were massively slashed, Musk called the U.S. Agency for International Development a “criminal organization” without evidence to support that claim. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was dismantled on the grounds that it harms corporations and no longer protects consumers, while the Department of Education faces substantial cutbacks with critics arguing it does little to advance public education.

The harsh and often inaccurate rhetoric surrounding federal agencies represents a way to delegitimize government and justify deep cuts in agency operations and staffing. If government enterprises are seen as criminal, unlawful, or engaging in fraudulent actions, it becomes easy to justify draconian measures that dismantle those agencies—highlighting the powerful consequences words have on shaping beliefs and actions related to government functions.

The disinformation risks for Social Security are particularly worrisome. As its former commissioner, Martin O’Malley has argued that inaccurate claims about waste and abuse could lead to wholesale employee layoffs and harm the efficiency of agency operations. That may happen soon. Without persuasive evidence, Musk has claimed in a Fox Business News interview that there is over $500 billion in wasteful spending at the Social Security Administration, and the entitlement program could be reduced without any harm to beneficiaries.

That is not likely to be the case because a shrunken agency with fewer workers will likely suffer problems in claims processing and beneficiary payouts. Without experts who understand its IT systems and payout processes, there could be interruptions in services or difficulties for people filing claims who no longer are able to go to local offices to check on their eligibility.

Right now, Social Security is one of America’s most popular government programs. Eighty percent of Americans in a 2023 Kaiser Family Foundation survey held favorable views about Social Security. Around 40% of seniors rely on it as their sole source of income. For Americans who live in three-generational families, cuts or delays in Social Security payments to seniors could impact their children’s ability to support their grandchildren. Social Security is a government success story that serves both taxpayers and beneficiaries quite well. The spread of disinformation about Social Security threatens not only the program’s future but also the sustainability of numerous other government initiatives.

[llyfrenfys]

i must admit i know nothing of welsh history or language. im reclaiming learning the irish language bc i know the history of it and bc i think it's essential to protect native languages of various places. but as someone who doesn't know welsh history, i see "its not like welsh people were beaten for speaking it" and i recoil in a sense of distaste. because while i may not know the history, i very much doubt no one ever in the world has been beaten for speaking welsh, that's a pretty huge assumption to make even if a language isn't being legally oppressed (assuming thats what op really meant). but also, i just loathe the idea that only minority languages are worth saving or caring about if they're being beaten out of people. genocide happens in many ways and only some of them are actually active violence/assault, most are subversive, and purposefully so

idk if i should even be speaking on this bc i dont know the history of welsh but i feel like you literally dont need to know the history behind it to see something very wrong with "speakers of a minority language should shut up if they're not actively being killed for it"

Sorry I took so long in getting to this ask (post anon is referring to) but yeah- that post was gobsmacking to me as a Welsh speaker. I've studied language loss and revitalisation and I can name several endangered languages in which children (and adults) were beaten and abused for speaking their native tongue. For example, we covered the Tlingit language in Alaska (one of the few North American languages I've studied) which is subject to a revival- some Tlingit wanted to learn the language, while others (usually older people) had an aversion to the language. One man said that whenever he speaks Tlingit he can taste soap because he was punished as a boy for speaking Tlingit by having a bar of soap put in his mouth. Language loss via abuse is real and prevalent in many, many endangered languages. The audacity to assume Welsh is somehow immune to that was astounding.

But even if Welsh *was* immune to that somehow (it wasn't) you're right in that we should care about the decline of a language even if it doesn't involve overt suppression. More surreptitious kinds of linguistic genocide lie within the state apparatus. For example, when Wales was merged into the Kingdom of England (see: the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542) the language of the legal system in Wales was changed to English-only, depriving monolingual Welsh speakers (Welsh was spoken in pretty much every part of Wales at this point) of legal services. This meant that Welsh speakers were effectively pressured indirectly to learn English in order to have a chance at any legal services in court. Over time, the privileging of English over Welsh created a pressure to abandon Welsh in favour of English, because there were 'more opportunities' in English than in Welsh.

Similarly, the true Treachery of the Blue Books wasn't that the British Government in 1847 had ordered a review into Welsh schools and found that too many people were speaking Welsh- but that Welsh-speaking parents began to forbid their children from learning Welsh and supported the findings of the inquiry because they too had felt that pressure of English-language supremacy. Believing that there's more opportunities in English than in Welsh. It's an unfortunate legacy and attitude which still persists today- and none of the Commissioners of the Blue Book Inquiry shed any blood in doing so. But the impact was nonetheless dire. It's also a self-creating cycle: There are no opportunities in Welsh -> People learn English instead of Welsh for opportunities -> There's fewer Welsh speakers to create more opportunities in Welsh ->There are no opportunities in Welsh.

But yeah, I have no idea what the OP of that other post was thinking but it was offensively ignorant in any case. I'm glad though that Welsh's struggles are seen by others at least, in this day and age.

[sarkariresultdude]

Provincial Civil Service (PCS): A Pillar of State Administration

 The Provincial Civil Service (PCS) is a vital thing of the executive equipment in India, gambling a crucial function in the governance and development on the state stage.  PCS officers are key to imposing country guidelines, maintaining regulation and order, and making sure the shipping of critical public offerings. This essay explores the shape, recruitment system, roles, demanding situations, and the significance of the Provincial Civil Service within the Indian administrative framework.

PCS interview questions and tips

Structure and Organization

The PCS operates under the control of the respective State Public Service Commissions (e.G., UPPSC in Uttar Pradesh, BPSC in Bihar, etc.). These commissions are liable for accomplishing competitive examinations, interviews, and different choice tactics for recruitment into the kingdom civil services.

PCS officials are appointed to numerous administrative posts consisting of Sub-Divisional Magistrates (SDMs), Block Development Officers (BDOs), Tehsildars, Deputy Collectors, and District Development Officers, among others. With seniority and revel in, they will also be promoted to better administrative posts inclusive of District Magistrates, Commissioners, and Secretaries in kingdom departments. In a few cases, PCS officials are also promoted to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) after a certain duration of service and primarily based on performance and availability of vacancies.

Preliminary Examination – This is an objective-type screening check protecting popular research and flair.

Main Examination – It is a written exam that includes essay-kind questions in subjects including Indian records, polity, economy, geography, and optional subjects chosen by using the applicants.

Personal Interview – This final degree assesses the candidate’s personality, conversation abilties, and general suitability for public service.

Candidates who qualify all 3 ranges are decided on primarily based on their average benefit and possibilities for unique offerings and posts.

Roles and Responsibilities

PCS officers are entrusted with a wide variety of duties that directly impact the day by day lives of residents and the general improvement of the state. Their number one obligations include:

Law and Order Maintenance: As magistrates and executive officers, PCS officials help in keeping peace and public order within their jurisdictions. They coordinate with the police and different enforcement businesses to save you and control crises.

Revenue Administration: Many PCS officials are published in the sales department wherein they cope with land statistics, sales series, and determination of land disputes.

Developmental Work: Officers play a crucial position in implementing state and valuable authorities schemes related to training, health, rural development, women’s welfare, and poverty alleviation. 

Election Duties: PCS officials are imperative to the behavior of elections, serving as Returning Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, or Presiding Officers during elections.

Disaster Management: In instances of natural or guy-made failures, PCS officers lead remedy and rehabilitation efforts, running with more than one departments to restore normalcy.

Policy Implementation: They act as the crucial link among the state authorities and the grassroots, translating rules into movement and ensuring their powerful implementation.

Significance in Governance

The importance of PCS in kingdom governance can't be overstated. While the IAS officers frequently serve at strategic policymaking degrees, PCS officials function at the operational stage, imposing guidelines at the floor. Their deep know-how of neighborhood problems, familiarity with regional languages, and non-stop interplay with the public lead them to greater effective in positive administrative contexts than their IAS counterparts.

PCS officials are frequently the first point of contact among the authorities and the citizens. Their presence in neighborhood management ensures responsiveness, duty, and green provider transport. They make a contribution appreciably to social development, financial making plans, and rural transformation.

Limited Autonomy: PCS officials frequently paintings below the direct supervision of IAS officers and senior bureaucrats. This sometimes limits their choice-making authority and hampers their potential to behave independently.

Political Interference: Excessive political strain and undue interference in administrative work can compromise the integrity and neutrality of PCS officials. This is specially complex in regions inclusive of land acquisition, regulation enforcement, and appointments.

Delayed Promotions: Unlike IAS officers who're promoted rapidly, PCS officials frequently face substantial delays in promotions and appointments to better posts. This creates frustration and impacts morale.

Workload and Resources: Many PCS officers perform in hard environments with inadequate workforce, previous infrastructure, and heavy workloads, which could preclude their effectiveness and lead to burnout.

Corruption and Accountability Issues: Like different branches of the civil offerings, PCS is not immune to corruption. Inadequate structures for tracking and overall performance evaluation can cause inefficiency and misuse of electricity.

Reforms and Way Forward

To make stronger the Provincial Civil Services and decorate their contribution to governance, several reforms may be taken into consideration:

Transparent Promotion Policy: Establish a clean, time-bound merchandising device to reinforce morale and motivation amongst officials.

Capacity Building: Regular training programs need to be conducted to improve competencies, introduce technological equipment, and divulge officers to exceptional administrative practices.

Digital Governance: Encourage using e-governance tools to reduce corruption, improve transparency, and beautify carrier shipping.

Autonomy and Accountability: Provide PCS officers with purposeful autonomy whilst also instituting strong duty mechanisms to ensure integrity.

Performance-Based Incentives: Introduce incentives for high-acting officials to encourage innovation and determination.

[trumpsfinalcountdown]

There Are 1,447 Days Left Of The Trump Regime

Friend!!!

You did it!!!

You've now tackled TWO WHOLE WEEKS OF THIS MESS.

I'm so so happy you stayed!! Look at you go!

Have you eaten yet? Go grab something nutritious! You've earned it! You're body has earned a reward of hydration and vitamins for getting you here to today!!

While you're up, go tell yourself this:

My imperfections are what make me unique and beautiful.

Because you are!

So incredibly unique and absolutely stunning might I say.

I really am so happy that you're here.

Sending you the biggest virtual hug.

I love you.

Here are your info nuggets for the day!

YOUR DAILY RESOURCE: The Immigrant Legal Resource Center has printable cards that you can use to know your rights when ICE tries to approach you or your home. You can find them at the bottom of the page in a multitude of languages.

YOUR DAILY QUOTE: "Mainstream feminism had been insisting that some women had to wait longer for equality. That once one group, usually white women, achieves equality, then that opens the way for all other women. But when it comes right down to it, mainstream white feminism often fails to show up for women of color. While white feminism can lean in, can prioritize the CEO level at work it fails to show up when black women are not being hired because of their names, or fired for hairstyles. It's silent when schools discriminate against girls of color." - Hood Feminism: Notes From The Women That A Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

DELAWARE UPCOMING ELECTION:

Delaware State District 1 has an upcoming election on February 15th. Sarah McBride resigned to go to the House of Representatives, leaving her seat vacant. Your Candidates are Dan Cruce (Democrat) Steve Washington (Republican) and Riley Figliola (Nonpartisan).

Delaware State District 5 has an upcoming election on February 15th. The seat is vacant due to Kyle Evans Gay resigning to become Lieutenant Governor of Delaware. Your candidates are Raymond Seigfried (Democrat) or Brent Burdge (Republican)

I tried to figure out what specific counties but the county system there is confusing to me, so anyone that has further input is welcome to explain!

S.344 - A bill to require the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection to identify and conduct recurrent vetting of evacuees from Afghanistan found not to be properly vetted before entering the United States.

Senate Bill 344, was introduced on January 30, 2025, by Senators Rick Scott (R) and Joni Ernst (R), aims to enhance the security screening of Afghan evacuees who entered the United States without thorough vetting.

The bill mandates that the Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) identify all Afghan evacuees who were paroled into the U.S. without proper vetting. Once identified, these individuals would undergo recurrent vetting to ensure they do not pose a threat to national security or public safety.

This legislation responds to concerns that some Afghan evacuees were admitted into the U.S. without complete background checks during the evacuation process. By implementing ongoing vetting procedures, the bill seeks to address potential security risks associated with these individuals.

This bill concerns me due to the current way the administration is handling deportations and screenings regarding immigrants. While this bill only speaks on Afgan evacuees, and only targets those evacuated, I cannot help but be skeptical of the way this will be implemented, as well as the precedent that it sets.

The other concern for me stems directly from the fact that Rick Scott was Elon's pick for majority leader. A bill coming from him concerns me as he is loyal to Donald Trump's agenda.

That said, I do not feel comfortable enough on this bill to ask you to contact your senators in favor or against this bill. I believe this is entirely a judgement call for your own to make.

If you would like a script please let me know and I will supply one in agreement and calling for support, as well as in opposition.

Song of the Day:

[ausetkmt]

https://x.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1703407420515442919?t=KZA9wU6ZOvHpoTyQobuXKQ&s=09

For over 230 years, Gullah-Geechee people called Georgia's Sapelo Island home County commissioners voted to remove zoning restrictions & to strike language stating it should prevent “land value increases which could force removal of the indigenous" folk

For more than 230 years, a small community of Gullah-Geechee people have called Sapelo Island off the coast of Georgia home. Hogg Hammock, the area on the island where these descendants of enslaved people live, is a 427-acre coastal community of 40 residents and has been designated as a historic site since 1996. That means that the construction of houses more than 1,400 sq ft and any road paving or demolition of property are strictly prohibited to preserve the island community.

On Tuesday, McIntosh county commissioners, who preside over Sapelo, voted to remove zoning restrictions in Hogg Hammock. Gullah-Geechee residents fear that wealthy transplants who want to develop larger homes and who could force a rise of property taxes there will displace them and upend their livelihoods.

The county, which is 65% white, has voted to remove official language that acknowledges Hogg Hammock as an area with “unique needs in regard to its historic resources”. It will also strike language that states it should prevent “land value increases which could force removal of the indigenous population”.

Last Thursday, dozens of residents gave hours of testimony to the county’s zoning board arguing against the proposed changes, warning that the county had hastily made changes without community consideration. Reginald Hall, a landowner whose family had roots in Hogg Hummock, told the Associated Press the county’s approval would amount to “the erasure of a historical culture that’s still intact after 230 years”.

Residents and state lawmakers called for the county to delay their vote and to reflect on proposed changes for 90 days. “We will not allow our cultural history to be erased or bought at the price of land developers,” the state representative Kim Schofield, who represents Atlanta, told reporters. “This is our history and our heritage, and we will fight to protect it.”

Hall warned the county’s vote to remove development limits would give Gullah -Geechee residents in Hogg Hammock just “two to three years at most” to survive in the county before they scatter elsewhere, as 200,000 Gullah-Geechee people have already done across the south-eastern corridor of the United States. “If you talk about the descendants of the enslaved,” she said, “90% of us will be gone.”

[pintadorartist]

Final Push for KOSA

Keep up the pressure, the Republicans are pushing for this bill and we need to push back harder.

Fax, call, and email your house rep and tell them not to include KOSA in any end of year spending bills:

In addition to your House reps, call the House Leaders, especially the Republican leaders since they're majority leaders:

Republican:

⭐Steve Scalise

        (202) 225-3015

Fax 202-226-0386

⭐Mike Johnson

        (202) 225-2777

fax: (202) 225-8039

Democrat:

⭐Hakeem Jeffries

            (202) 225-5936

Ayanna Pressley

(202) 225-5111

Ilhan Omar

(202) 225-4755

Jamaal Bowman

(202) 225-2464

Cori Bush 

(202) 225-2406

Here are scripts to use for the calls:

DEMOCRATIC VERSION:

I am urging you not to include KOSA in any end of year spending bills and to keep it from passing. With Trump ascending into office, this bill will give the FTC power to control speech online. FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson just came out with an agenda that will focus on going after online platforms for displaying LGBT content. With KOSA, this would only give them and republican attorney generals even more power to remove any content they deem “harmful”, which we know is an excuse to censor everything they don’t like. Suicide rates will skyrocket for marginalized youth with this bill restricting content.

200 human rights and LGBT organizations total came out in an open letter opposing it. The ACLU is against it. Hundreds of thousands of Gen Z are against it. We know the harms of social media, and we do not want this. Major news have reported that this bill actively harms kids. 

The rewritten bill is still very dangerous, and giving any more power to Donald Trump to silence people he deems his “enemies” is a horrible move. With people like Donald Trump Jr. and Elon Musk supporting KOSA, this is enough of a sign to not push it forward. 

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third party companies. The updated language threatens encryption. How is this protecting children’s privacy?  KOSA actively harms kids. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

REPUBLICAN VERSION: (pretend you’re GOP)

I am urging you VOTE NO on KOSA, the Kid’s Online Safety Act. Even with the rewritten language, this is still a dangerous bill that will harm children and censor pro-life content on the internet. Even with the new language, this bill still gives state Attorney Generals power to censor any content they don’t like. This bill would be weaponized by unelected bureaucrats to censor Americans, why else do you think Democrats are pushing it so hard? Why else would Biden and Kamala Harris support it?

Many news organizations have reported that this bill actively harms kids by exposing their private data to strangers under the guise of protecting them. We need to hold Big Tech accountable, but KOSA is not the solution.

The bill let any state attorney general and the FTC to sue any website for “harmful” content. Do we really want blue state lawyers deciding what can and can’t be allowed online? Big Tech is already censoring us. That’s why they support KOSA. This is massive government overreach. We need a bill that actually protects children by creating better security measures instead of bringing about more censorship to everyone. 

Multiple experts agree this bill pushes age verification, even with the new language. KOSA hands more private data of children to third-party companies, which would put them in further danger. This also exposes everyone else. How is this protecting children’s privacy? What parent would want their child’s private data in the hands of strangers like this? KOSA is actively putting kids in danger. It censors our freedom of speech. Do NOT support this bill. Thank you.

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I also ask to share this around to get more people involved.

I also ask that if you have a reddit account you share and upvote these Reddit posts:

TUmblr as well:

[ace-in-a-shopping-cart]

Comfort Character Letter Commissions

This is an example of a letter you can commission me to do for you, done in the standard style I would be doing it of a character writing to you (either having a previous message from you to them or it being a standalone message that is not connected to you writing to them first).

The letter will be in what I think the character's handwriting would look like, or as close of a font as I can find to it and will be as in their voice as I can make it. This one is for Brachium from the Redacted Audio fandom. Thus, the handwriting is neat and the language is slightly old. He’s a very methodical character, planning what he wants to say before doing it. 

Below are the qualifications that would come with the letter: The fandom and character requested, the word count relative to the price paid ($.25 per every 10 words), and the payment. This is only to be shown on the email the commissioner receives.

Fandom: Redacted Audio; Character: Brachium Subject: Moving to College; Genre: encouraging, friendship Word Count: 963 Payment required: $24

(Image reads the following:

My dear Little One,

Your last correspondence stated that you are anxious about the change. I may not have any experience in college, nor moving, but I am familiar with change. It is a constant in the River. The change from life to death, water to shore, struggle to acceptance, nothing to something, and something to nothing.

Change is an inevitable part of life, but that does not make it any less daunting. Anxiety about something is also a normal part of life. I cannot say that what you are experiencing is something I have ever known but I can say that there are times in life where the unknown is before you. You asked for advice that is different from that of those around you. I cannot give the same advice as someone else as I do not know what they said. However, I can give the advice that I have, the experiences I lived and those I watched as others lived or remembered.

Change is unavoidable, so embrace it. Make certain everything you have to prepare is prepared. Be open to new experiences but do not push yourself to do something you are uncomfortable with. Try to meet new people but trust yourself. Your instincts are there to protect you, listen to them about others. Try new things but do not forsake your old ways. Grow and change but remember where you came from.

Let yourself be afraid. Fear is a natural reaction to the unknown and should be listened to. After all, anxiety and fear are just your body and mind taking care of you and keeping you safe. Acknowledge the fear, thank your body for having the anxiety, and attempt to push past it. Do not force yourself too far out of your comfort zone. Rather, slowly expand that which you are comfortable with. In a similar way, do not immediately jump into the depths of the freezing river. Rather, slip into the shallow end and work your way to the middle where it’s deepest. This is the best way to keep yourself safe.

College, like anything else, is work. So, make sure to put your best foot forward. Just, don’t put your entire efforts into studying. Take time to lift your head and see what is around you. Experience all you want to, do all you want to. College, I’ve been told and have seen, is a very exciting part of your life and there is much to do there. Take advantage of all there is and do not hide away in your room, only coming out for classes. If you take on a job while in college, whether it be on campus or something else, make certain that the job does not make your studies suffer.

Too many people come through the River and seem to regret their days at college. Others seem to live in the nostalgia of what they thought of as their “Glory Days”. Do not live for your college experience but remember to live during that experience. Let yourself come out of it with no regrets, having done everything you wanted to do and learned all you could. Take opportunities, seize chances, make mistakes, but most of all enjoy your time there. College is a limited experience, you only have so much time during the pursuit of a degree. If you choose to go back for another degree, the same advice applies.

Little One, take your time. Life is not a race, nothing happens at everyone’s pace. Your life happens at your own pace and college is no different. Take it slow or fast, so long as it is at your own pace. Make sure to leave free time in your day and leave a day open in  your week or month for relaxing. As much as I cherish you, I do not want to see you come down this River too soon. To live a long and happy life, one needs to put in the work to make it so. Please, take care of yourself above all things. If something is going too fast and you can’t keep up with it., let it go ahead. You can catch up with it when you get there. And if you never catch up with it, that might be alright too. There is always something else that can replace it. You are the one who guides your life. Not the Sovereigns, not the Department, nothing. Nothing but you commands your life and guides it. So, take the reins and make what you want out of your life.

Nothing you do makes you fall behind in life. It might make you fall behind in your classes but that is something you must manage on your own. Even so, nothing makes you fall behind, nothing makes you come late. You take your life at your own pace and ignore those around you who claim that you are behind compared to your peers. So many lives have come through the River, so many people’s entire stories spread out for me to listen to and see. Not one of them took the same path, not one had the same achievement at the same time. Nothing is on a set path, nothing is forever defined.

Life is malleable, let it be. Let yourself be flexible and open to new things, but don’t break. Don’t give in too much. Don’t let others wear you down or walk over you. Stand your ground and cling tightly to your morals. Take a stand for what you believe in. College is the first time you live without supervision; this is the time to live life to the fullest and live it the way you want to.

Wishing you a peaceful and smooth move,

Brachium)

If you would like to commission something like this, my commissions are currently open! Any money I am paid goes directly into paying for college/ university so any amount is helpful.

[labourcompliance]

Understanding the Employees’ Compensation Act in India: A Guide for Corporates

The Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, is a cornerstone of India’s labour welfare legislation, designed to protect workers by ensuring fair compensation for workplace injuries or deaths. For corporates operating in India, compliance with this Act is not only a legal obligation but also a commitment to employee well-being and ethical practices. This blog explores the key provisions of the Act, its significance, challenges in implementation, and how businesses can ensure compliance as of June 2025.

Why the Employees’ Compensation Act Matters

The Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, mandates employers to provide financial compensation to employees or their dependents in case of work-related injuries, disabilities, or fatalities. Unlike insurance-based schemes, the Act places direct liability on employers, ensuring workers receive timely support without lengthy legal battles. Its importance lies in:

Worker Protection: Provides financial security to employees and their families during crises.

Legal Compliance: Shields employers from penalties and lawsuits by adhering to statutory obligations.

Workplace Trust: Demonstrates a commitment to employee welfare, boosting morale and retention.

Social Responsibility: Aligns businesses with ethical practices, enhancing corporate reputation.

The Act applies to a wide range-ass="language-markdown"> of industries, including factories, mines, construction, and transport, covering employees engaged in hazardous or manual work, as well as certain clerical roles.

Key Provisions of the Act

The Employees’ Compensation Act outlines clear guidelines for employers and employees. Some critical provisions include:

Coverage: Applies to employees in specified industries, including contract workers, but excludes those covered under the Employees’ State Insurance Act, 1948, for similar benefits.

Employer Liability: Employers are liable to pay compensation for injuries or deaths arising “out of and in the course of employment,” including occupational diseases listed in the Act’s schedules.

Compensation Calculation: Compensation depends on the employee’s wages, age, and the nature of the injury. For death, a lump-sum amount is paid to dependents, while for permanent or temporary disabilities, payments vary based on the extent of disability.

No-Fault Liability: Employers must pay compensation regardless of whether the injury resulted from employee negligence, except in cases of intoxication or willful disobedience.

Time Limits: Employees or dependents must file claims within two years of the incident, with provisions for condoning delays in exceptional cases.

Dispute Resolution: Commissioners appointed under the Act resolve disputes, ensuring quick and fair settlements without lengthy court processes.

Penalties: Non-compliance, such as failure to pay compensation, can result in fines or imprisonment.

The Act also allows employers to opt for insurance policies to cover compensation liabilities, reducing financial risks.

Challenges in Compliance

While the Employees’ Compensation Act is straightforward in intent, corporates face several challenges in ensuring compliance:

Awareness Gaps: Many employers, especially in smaller firms, lack full understanding of their obligations under the Act.

Complex Calculations: Determining accurate compensation amounts based on wages, age, and injury type can be intricate.

Documentation Burden: Maintaining records of employee details, incidents, and compensation payments for audits and claims.

Contract Labour Issues: Ensuring compliance for contract workers, where liability may be shared between principal employers and contractors.

Dispute Management: Handling disagreements over compensation amounts or liability, which may require legal expertise.

Evolving Regulations: Keeping up with amendments or integration with newer labour codes, such as the Code on Social Security, 2020, which may impact the Act’s application.

How Corporates Can Ensure Compliance

To navigate these challenges, corporates can adopt proactive measures and leverage professional services to ensure compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Act:

1. Employee Awareness

Educate workers about their rights under the Act through training sessions and accessible resources, fostering transparency and trust.

2. Robust Safety Measures

Implement stringent workplace safety protocols to minimize accidents, aligning with the Factories Act, 1948, or Mines Act, 1952, as applicable.

3. Accurate Record-Keeping

Maintain detailed records of employee wages, work schedules, and incident reports to facilitate quick compensation calculations and audits.

4. Insurance Coverage

Opt for workmen’s compensation insurance policies to cover liabilities, ensuring financial preparedness for unforeseen incidents.

5. Professional Support

Engage legal or compliance consultants to handle claims, calculate compensation, and represent the company before Commissioners during disputes.

6. Regular Audits

Conduct periodic compliance audits to identify gaps in safety practices, documentation, or compensation processes.

7. Contractor Coordination

Clearly define responsibilities for contract labour in agreements, ensuring contractors comply with the Act to avoid shared liability.

Benefits of Compliance

Adhering to the Employees’ Compensation Act offers corporates several advantages:

Risk Mitigation: Reduces legal and financial risks from non-compliance or disputes.

Employee Loyalty: Builds trust among workers, improving retention and productivity.

Reputation Enhancement: Positions the company as a responsible employer, attracting talent and investors.

Operational Stability: Minimizes disruptions from labour disputes or regulatory penalties.

The Role of Professional Services

Professional compliance services can significantly ease the burden of managing obligations under the Act. These services include:

Claims Management: Assisting with filing and processing compensation claims efficiently.

Legal Guidance: Advising on compliance with the Act and related laws, including dispute resolution.

Training Programs: Educating HR teams and employees on rights and responsibilities.

Insurance Liaison: Coordinating with insurers to ensure adequate coverage and timely payouts.

Documentation Support: Maintaining compliant records for audits and inspections.

Conclusion

The Employees’ Compensation Act, 1923, remains a vital tool for protecting workers and ensuring corporate accountability in India. For corporates, compliance with the Act is not just a legal requirement but a strategic opportunity to build a safe, ethical, and productive workplace. By understanding the Act’s provisions, addressing compliance challenges, and leveraging professional support, businesses can safeguard their operations and contribute to a fairer labour ecosystem.

Ready to strengthen your compliance with the Employees’ Compensation Act? Partner with trusted experts today to protect your workforce and enhance your corporate reputation in India!

[peaceinbosnia]

Bosnian Displacement and Refuge -- "How did you get here?"

“Each time I meet a Bosnian, I ask: “How did you get here? The stories they tell me are often long, fraught with elisions, edited by the presence of the many new-life-in-the-new-land modalities. People get overwhelmed while telling them, remember things they didn’t know they could or would want to remember, insist on details that are both extremely telling and irrelevant, soaked with not always apparent meanings” (Hemon 2018).

The Bosnian War of 1992, with its copious human rights transgressions and violations, produced a massive refugee crisis. However, even prior to the Serb Forces’ ethnic cleansing campaign, a displacement crisis was well underway. Following Slovenia and Croatia’s successive secessions from Yugoslavia, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported 2.3 million people fleeing their homes and republics given the imminent disintegration of the federation. The majority of those displaced were from Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, particularly vulnerable at this time because of their countries’ deteriorating relationships with Serbia during their independence movements (Kamm 1992). The U.S. Department of State reported that by September of 1996, “about 2.3 million Bosnians remain in refugee or internally displaced status”; and that “of these, more than 1 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) are in Bosnia and Herzegovina” (U.S. Department of State 2024). From this 2.3 million estimate, 450,000 Bosnian refugees were living in neighboring countries such as Croatia, Serbia, and Montenegro, while over 600,00 others sought refuge in countries throughout Western and Central Europe. The vast majority of those who fled to non-federation states were Muslim Bosniaks, as Bosniaks and Bosnian-Croats who escaped to other former Yugoslav republics were subject “ to more ethnic conflict and violence” (Barslund et al. 2017; Hageboutros 2016, 50).

The Bosnian refugee crisis forced European countries to “revise their asylum policies, specify their vague regulations on refugees, and attempt to develop a unified policy in response to the pressing issue” (Hageboutros 2016, 50). Indeed, during the early days of the displacement crisis, countries such as Germany and Austria outright denied most Bosnian asylum applications, citing a novel legal interpretation of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention (Hageboutros 2016, 52). However, at least in part because of the public outcry these blanket rejections elicited, European states began to design and rely on Temporary Protection Status (TPS) policies instead as a less costly way of managing the mass exodus out of Bosnia (Hageboutros 2016, 53). In effect, TPS could deny asylum seekers “certain financial and social services that would otherwise have been accorded to them [by international law] under the 1951 Convention definition” (Franz 2005, 60).

Later down the line, some countries would end up infusing this TPS status with pathways for permanent protection and residence for Bosnian refugees (Hageboutros 2016, 53). Countries that converted their programs in this way were then obliged to provide Bosnian refugees with the full scope of services and opportunities needed to facilitate full integration, such as “access to employment, housing, education, and language training” (Valenta and Strabac 2013, 4). That being said, other European countries decided that the signing of the Dayton Peace Accords meant that Bosnian repatriation programs could begin. 

For host countries, part of the incentive to repatriate refugees was geopolitical: “offering resettlement or a permanent status to the displaced would have appeared as an acceptance of the ethnic cleansing and genocide project in Bosnia. Resisting or reversing the results of ethnic cleansing and genocide was clearly a goal of the architects of the Dayton Agreement and specifically its Annex 7, which outlined the right of refugees and displaced persons to return to their pre-war homes” (Adna Karamehic-Oates and Ajlina Karamehic-Muratovic 2021). However, for Bosnians themselves, “the ethnic aspect of the war meant that return was often complicated. Even after the peace agreement, many internally displaced Bosnians could not, or were not willing to, return to their former homes in so-called minority areas where they feared persecution” (Barslund et al. 2017). Additionally, “Economic conditions for the returnees were also difficult, with the official unemployment rate around 40% for most of the post-war period” (Barslund et al. 2017). 

Repatriation programs, therefore, harmfully lacked nuance. For example, scholars find that ‘success’ or sustainability of Bosnian repatriation, both voluntary and involuntary, varies according to the condition of the return. For instance, “individual returns,” where small clusters of individuals repatriate, tend to struggle to “re-establish their pre-war communities and institutions” – a crucial indicator of return longevity, peace, and stability (Metivier, Stefanovic, and Loizides 2017, 3). In contrast, “group return[s], with large groups of organized returnees [are] able to recreate their major educations, political and social institutions” (Metivier, Stefanovic, and Loizides 2017, 3). Those who are unable to ‘successfully’ or ‘sustainably’ repatriate, particularly ‘minority returns’ (displaced people who return to areas where they belong to the minority group) are vulnerable to internal displacement (Forced Migration Review 2024). There have been more than 120,000 minority returns since 1996, and there are over 800,000 internally displaced persons (IDP) in the country (Forced Migration Review 2024). A significant portion of displaced populations are elderly, ill, or otherwise unable to care for themselves, live in underfunded collective centers,  and lack adequate levels of state support that they need for “social housing, geriatric and mental health institutions or hospitals” (Human Rights Watch 2019; Pohl and Hussain 2023). All together, these observed patterns and post-1995 difficulties suggest that the three understood phases of UNHCR, internally assisted post-conflict return – “1) creation of safe conditions [for return], 2) return of property, and 3) reconstruction of property and reintegration [of returnees]” – were not adequately met by the peace agreement (Porobić and Mameledžija 2013, 4).

Depending on where Bosnians fled to, these political developments impacted refugees' lives in different ways. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s book The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives is a compilation of displacement narratives, including one Bosnia-focused chapter by Aleksandar Hemon titled “God’s Fate [Božja sudbina].” Hermon’s chapter strongly evokes this variable aspect of the refugee experience in its retelling of the harrowing life story of Mr. Kemalemir Frashto, a Muslim Bosniak and former refugee. Frashto’s ‘journey’ to the United States, where he permanently resides, took place over the course of 20-some years, by way of Foča, Sarajevo, Cologne, Utica, Vegas, among other secondary waypoints. As a closeted gay man, Frashto found solace in Cologne, where he was able to explore the gay scene and his sexuality on his own accord in a way he never could in Bosnia. But despite the freedom he experienced in Germany, Fashto still “felt he had to go home, even if his pockets were lined with money. God’s people lived in Bosnia, he believed, while Germany was populated with sinners” (Viet Thanh Nguyen 2018). Frashto’s conflicting emotions here reflect the complexity of notions of home, belonging, and trauma that many refugees grapple with.

Kemal would not have to wait for long to return back to Bosnia. He was soon forced to repatriate by his German host state, alongside 300,000 other Bosnian refugees (AP News 1996). Under Dayton’s Right to Return, “Post-conflict Bosnia saw [a total of] about 1,015,394 of those exiled returning to the country by 2006 including 457,194 returning under minority status in areas administered by another group” (Metivier, Stefanovic, and Loizides 2017). However, this minority return is likely inaccurate: “People returned and registered in their place of origin solely for the purpose of reclaiming and then selling their property, after which they moved back to areas where their ethnic group was in the majority” (Pašić 2025). Kemal’s story aligns with these trends in the data. Kemal’s initial repatriation by Germany was very short-lived, and he would promptly return to Germany illegally. Eventually, he turned back home to Sarajevo again in an attempt to build a new life there, but as Kemal explains it, he had to leave Bosnia for good in 2001 because of the profound economic hardship he experienced in the country post-Dayton.

Members of the Bosnian diaspora like Kemal tend to maintain close links with their homeland, and have had a pronounced role in peacebuilding (Valenta and Strabac 2013). For example, in the Prijedor municipality, a distinct diaspora returns to the land over the summer “to help organize the commemorations of the crimes that took place in Prijedor” (Vilkevičiūtė 2025). This includes storytelling in remembrance of loved ones who have passed away, divulging their concentration camp traumas, and otherwise finding ways to share the burden of their grief together (Human Rights Watch, n.d.). Some local peacebuilding and reconciliation-focused NGOs also rely on support from the diaspora to finance their activities – for example, an interfaith, interethnic basketball tournament in Kozarac  (Vilkevičiūtė 2025). This emotional and financial investment by the refugee diaspora into the future of their homeland is emblematic of the resilience of hope, and an inspiring reclamation of the post-conflict peacebuilding process that largely failed them back in 1995 and keep so many in exile today.

Bibliography

ADNA KARAMEHIC-OATES, and AJLINA KARAMEHIC-MURATOVIC. 2021. “BORDERS and INTEGRATION: BECOMING a BOSNIAN-AMERICAN.” Washington University Open Scholarship. 2021. https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/law_globalstudies/vol19/iss3/6.

AP News. 1996. “GERMANY: GOVERNMENT to FORCIBLY REPATRIATE BOSNIAN REFUGEES.” AP, October. https://newsroom.ap.org/editorial-photos-videos/detail?itemid=940b040f9614b024a1887e6664705370&mediatype=video&source=youtube.

Barslund, Mikkel, Matthias Busse, Karolien Lenaerts, Lars Ludolph, and Vilde Renman. 2017. “Integration of Refugees: Lessons from Bosnians in Five EU Countries.” Intereconomics 2017 (5): 257–63. https://www.intereconomics.eu/contents/year/2017/number/5/article/integration-of-refugees-lessons-from-bosnians-in-five-eu-countries.html.

Forced Migration Review. 2024. “At the Heart of the Return Process: Solving Property Issues in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Forced Migration Review.” Forced Migration Review. August 27, 2024. https://www.fmreview.org/phuong/#notes.

Franz, Barbara. 2005. Uprooted and Unwanted : Bosnian Refugees in Austria and the United States. College Station: Texas A & M University Press.

Hageboutros, Joelle. 2016. “The Bosnian Refugee Crisis: A Comparative Study of German and Austrian Reactions and Responses.” Swarthmore International Relations Journal, no. 1: 50–60. https://doi.org/10.24968/2574-0113.1.12.

Human Rights Watch. 2019. “World Report 2019: Rights Trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina.” Human Rights Watch. January 17, 2019. https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2019/country-chapters/bosnia-and-herzegovina.

———. n.d. “BOSNIA and HERCEGOVINA.” Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/reports/1997/bosnia/Bosnia-02.htm.

Kamm, Henry. 1992. “Yugoslav Refugee Crisis Europe’s Worst since 40’S (Published 1992).” The New York Times, July 24, 1992, sec. World. https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/24/world/yugoslav-refugee-crisis-europe-s-worst-since-40-s.html.

Metivier, Sean, Djordje Stefanovic, and Neophytos Loizides. 2017. “Struggling for and within the Community: What Leads Bosnian Forced Migrants to Desire Community Return?” Ethnopolitics 17 (2): 147–64. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449057.2017.1349636.

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[ao3feed-brucewayne]

Just a Call Away

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/hGw713a by BritishSquidward Whilst pondering the foolish choices of the people of Gotham City, Batman gets a frantic call from the new Commissioner of Police. (Commissioner Riddler AU). Words: 4080, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 1 of Commissioner Riddler AU Fandoms: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (1966) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: Gen Characters: Edward Nygma, The Riddler, Bruce Wayne, Batman, Riddler (Batman 1966), Dick Grayson, The Penguin (mentioned), Oswald Cobblepot (mentioned), Jim Gordon (DCU) (mentioned), Robin (DCU) Relationships: Edward Nygma & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Edward Nygma, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, No Romantic Relationship(s) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Riddler's Questionable Uses of the Batphone, Phone Calls & Telephones, Arachnophobia, The Riddler is a Menace, Batman Played by Adam West, Robin played by Burt Ward, Bruce Wayne is Batman, Edward Nygma is the Riddler, Edward Nygma is Called Edward Nigma, I don't believe that's stated in the fic but the distinction matters to me, Robin's "Holy (x)!" Phrases, Riddles, Edward Nygma's Riddles, Season/Series 02, S2E17 Hizzoner The Penguin, S2E18 Dizzoner The Penguin, Panic, Arguing, Protective Bruce Wayne, Riddler (DCU) Played By Frank Gorshin, Autistic Edward Nygma read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/hGw713a