#help they are thinking about chinese labour histories across the americas…

[hesitationss]

reading this LA Times article about chinese americans in Eureka, CA…racism is insane. it’s also interesting to have documentation of the thought process behind specific actions because at the turn of the century when plague his america, they actually were burning down the buildings in chinatown to “kill the disease” and the chinese ppl that white america was scapegoating at the time; and by that point chinatowns were own and built by chinese merchants/clan heads rather than being rented by the white man. but it is hilarious that kicking an entire minority out of a county could by seen a good christian (1st pic) non violence lmfao when 25 years prior they were slaughtering Indigenous ppl (3rd pic).

similar things were happening in canada too esp the part about being kicked out of towns. esp in the prairies, my friend who is Blackfoot was looking in their town’s archives and actually found an ancestor who was a chinese worker. and another friend’s husband who’s great grandfather was a chinese slave in peru. i really wish we were not eradicated from labour history, there is so much survival and so many ways that family has been found despite how christians see our lifestyles…

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | Year of the Dragon (Cimino, 1985)

This review contains spoilers.

There’s a difference between a movie being racist and a character being racist, and I think a scene here between Mickey Rourke and Ariane that illustrates the distinction. Rourke tells Ariane he’s been reading up on the history of Chinese people in America, and shows an awareness of the discriminatory laws they were subject to. He refers to a picture celebrating the completion of a railroad, noting the demographic groups who were present, and points out that the Chinese labourers who did the actual backbreaking work of building them were not in the photo. One might think he’s developed an understanding of their marginalization, but his next line reveals the opposite, as he speculates that it was due to their secretive nature. Rourke’s character, a highly decorated police captain who takes over the precinct in New York’s Chinatown, spews an endless stream of bigotry as he wages his war on the local triads, yet scenes like that illustrate his limited understanding. His Vietnam service is a critical detail, showing that he conflates the Chinese with the Vietnamese as he tries to essentially re-fight the war on his own terms, disgusted by the defeatist, corrupt cops that populate his precinct and try to constrain him.

And while Rourke is our protagonist and much of the film is filtered through his perspective, the movie devotes a sizable amount of screentime to upstart gangster John Lone, who plays the movie in silky smooth drip king mode. And while Lone’s charisma is undeniable, it isn’t eager to either glibly worship him or play up his villainy, but instead drops us into his world, showing his role in the community (offering his help to people whose options are limited in mainstream society), with his peers (maneuvering to oust an elder, more risk-averse triad leader) and running his criminal enterprise (a trip to Thailand to give us supply contacts a bloody surprise). These are not positive images of Chinese Americans, but like William Friedkin’s Cruising, which attracted similar controversy for making a cynical thriller about the gay leather bar scene when LGBTQ representation in Hollywood movies was extremely limited, there’s too much detail and genuine fascination in the portrayal for it to be dismissed as bigotry. Was any other Hollywood movie of this time and with this level of budget even acknowledging that there are multiple Chinese languages (going so far as to reference the Hakka dialect)? I am not of the group being depicted and as a result may not share the same sensitivities, but I can’t agree with the claims that this movie is racist. (It’s worth noting that Victor Wong and Dennis Dun, who have important parts in this, also starred in the following year’s Big Trouble in Little China, another movie about a clueless white guy in Chinatown, although that movie is more overtly satirical in this respect. I also should note that as a Torontonian, I chuckled whenever the villains mentioned the rival triad from Toronto.)

This is also a moody, forcefully directed crime thriller, powered by a electric performance by Rourke, who hurtles through the movie like a natural disaster, leaving everything and everyone he comes across in ruins. (If there’s one issue with Rourke’s role, it’s the weird dye they put on his hair to make him look like a grizzled veteran. Rourke was at the peak of his sex appeal at this point, so the bad dye job clashes extra hard with his good looks.) I just got finished defending the movie for distinguishing its perspective from its hero’s, yet there’s no denying that Rourke’s immense magnetism pulls us into his orbit, and in its most thrilling sequences locks onto his feverish intensity. Look at the scene where a pair of assassins kills his wife, and he takes frantically takes them out, the second one being dispatched with a gruesome headshot and subsequent explosion. Or  the scene where he accosts Lone in a garishly lit nightclub, barging into multiple bathroom stalls where people are doing cocaine (an unexpectedly comedic touch), and then chases after two gunwomen with new wave hairdos, recklessly exchanging gunfire through traffic. Or the showdown with its mixture of car chase and gunplay on train tracks. The movie may be messy (there’s a subplot about an undercover agent that seems forgotten about for much of the runtime, although it too gets a bloody, forceful denouement), but as a fan of Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, I don’t think neatness is always and asset, and scenes like these are bracingly visceral in their impact.

I do think the movie suffers in its portrayal of its female characters, with Rourke’s wife and Ariane coming off less like fully formed people than as plot devices and extensions of Rourke’s psyche. The idea of the long suffering wife seems more important than who the wife really is. And the idea of Ariane, with her cultural identity and her fancy apartment with a view to die for (which Rourke transforms into a police clubhouse of sorts in one of the movie’s funnier scenes) seems more important than how she really thinks and feels. I understand Ariane’s performance was frequently cited as one of the movie’s weaknesses, but I think the writing lets her down more than actual deficiencies in her acting, and the last line of the movie concludes their relationship on a completely wrong note. (I understand that Cimino was forced to put this in at the studio’s request after they didn’t like the original closing line: “Well, I guess if you fight a war long enough, you end up marrying the enemy.” In my opinion, the original line would have been clumsy but still greatly preferable to what we get in the finished film.) But I suppose the fact that these characters don’t feel like three dimensional characters is true to how Rourke sees them, being so caught up in his crusade that it’s withered away his empathy.

In short, this is undeniably messy, but also very good.

[warninggraphiccontent]

6 August 2021

The sun is shinin', come on get mappy

Ever found yourself floating aimlessly around the alphabet soup of UK government departments doing data, wondering who's responsible for what? Or lost track of all the interesting initiatives that you might be able to get involved with or learn from?

I'm delighted to be running a new project with the ODI that tries to help with that. We're mapping data responsibility and initiatives across the UK government here, so please do tell us what we've missed and comment on what we've already got. It'll be open for comments until Friday 10 September, so you have all summer to contribute.

There's a launch page explaining everything here, and we're also going to be publishing a blogpost a week focusing on a particular area of the ODI manifesto. This week is infrastructure week. Keep an eye on the ODI blog for future ones.

In other news:

A date for your diary - the 22nd Data Bites will be taking place on Wednesday 8 September at 6pm, thanks to ADR UK and the ESRC. Details will appear here in due course - which is also where you can catch up on the previous 21 events.

I'm also chairing an event for IfG at this year's Labour Party conference - more here.

I'm really sad to see this news about Understanding Patient Data (full disclosure - I'm doing some work for them at the moment). Natalie has done a terrific job, and I really hope their work is able to find a home elsewhere - it's more important than ever, given recent events.

Nick Timmins' new report on how the Department for Education handled the pandemic is well worth a read. Warning: contains mutant algorithms. Diginomica pull out some lessons on those here; my piece from last summer on that is here; and there are more links below.

If you enjoyed this account of what allegedly happened to that Spectator piece on Marcus Rashford (h/t Alice), pour yourself a cup of tea and enjoy this story of something similar from my time at the Media Standards Trust.  

I did it - my first half marathon since 2019. There's still time to sponsor me and donate to the excellent Tommy's, here.

Warning: Graphic Content will now be taking a break until September. I'll be posting some things on Medium as well as on Twitter in the meantime, so do follow me there. If you need some other data-related newsletters, podcasts or event series to tide you over, there's a list for that. And if you know anyone else who should subscribe, encourage them to start the new school/parliamentary term in September the right way by signing up.

Enjoy the summer, thanks for subscribing, and see you in September

Gavin

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Graphic content

Tokyo shift

Olympic records are being broken at a record pace* (The Economist)

How the Olympics became bigger and more diverse* (The Economist)

What the Tokyo medal table tells us halfway through the Games (BBC Sport)

Russia and Kenya take the podium in the athletics doping contest* (The Economist)

Tokyo Olympics: Will Team GB beat its record-breaking performance in Rio? (Sky News)

20 Chinese gold medal contenders at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics (South China Morning Post)

Olympians are probably older — and younger — than you think* (Washington Post)

The Fastest Men In The World Are Still Chasing Usain Bolt (FiveThirtyEight)

Here's how Sydney McLaughlin of the U.S. won the 400-meter hurdles at #Tokyo2020, breaking her own world record (New York Times - more here)

Katie Ledecky's historic week, day by day* (Washington Post)

The Climber: Adam Ondra | The Hurdler: Dalilah Muhammad | The Gymnast: Sunisa Lee | The Swimmer: Simone Manuel (New York Times)

Viral content

Why are Covid cases falling in the UK?* (FT)

Excess deaths in your neighbourhood during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (ONS)

COVID-19: Sewage surveillance reveals 'widespread increase' of coronavirus in England last month (Sky News)

Covid travel: which countries are on the green, amber and red lists? (The Guardian)

Tim Spector: the data explorer who uncovered vital clues to Covid* (FT)

Which Americans are against the jab?* (The Economist)

Chart: Less than 0.1% of vaccinated Americans tested positive for COVID-19 (Axios)

America is plummeting down the global vaccination league table* (The Economist)

Florida’s hospitals set a bleak pandemic record* (FT)

How Europe, After a Fumbling Start, Overtook the U.S. in Vaccination* (New York Times)

Side effects

Why the pandemic is not making your rent cheaper* (New Statesman)

New York City Homebuyers Are Back, and They’re Looking for Deals* (Bloomberg)

Net worth

How Google quietly funds Europe’s leading tech policy institutes* (New Statesman)

Explore different settlements on the balance of power and what they mean for the future of the Internet (Demos)

Ransomware attacks rise despite US call for clampdown on cybercriminals* (FT)

Environment

Planetary ‘vital signs’ show extent of climate stress — and some hope* (FT)

How heat dome has sparked worst wildfires in a decade across parts of Southern Europe (Sky News)

Beyond human endurance: How climate change is making parts of the world too hot and humid to survive* (Washington Post)

Race

The 'ethnic data gap' on voters - and why it matters to parties and pollsters (Sky News)

Hollywood reaps the rewards of becoming more diverse* (The Economist)

UK

The first ever machine generated map of the @UKParliament treaty procedure (UK Parliament)

Favourability towards Boris Johnson falls to lowest level since October (Ipsos MORI)

Productivity: firing on all cylinders (IfG)

Mathematician Hannah Fry: ‘I’m sure there’s lots of tutting — but not to my face* (FT)

Everywhere else

‘It’s Huge, It’s Historic, It’s Unheard-of’: Drug Overdose Deaths Spike* (The Upshot)

Elon Musk’s Outrageous Moonshot Award Catches on Across America* (Bloomberg)

Police shootings continue daily, despite a pandemic, protests and pushes for reform* (Washington Post)

People in the West are least worried about hurtful speech* (The Economist)

An Inca highway still benefits people living nearby* (The Economist)

German election 2021: The New Statesman’s poll tracker* (New Statesman)

Meta data

Information health

Statistics informing quarantine requirements for arrivals to England (Office for Statistics Regulation)

Review of NHS Test and Trace (England) and NHS COVID-19 app statistics (Office for Statistics Regulation)

What we mean by trustworthy use of patient data (Understanding Patient Data)

The future of Understanding Patient Data (Understanding Patient Data)

Lord Bethell’s new phone (Good Law Project)

UK government defends deleting all trace of job vacancies after appointing Matt Hancock's lover to health department board (Business Insider)

Education, education, education

Schools and coronavirus: The government’s handling of education during the pandemic (IfG)

The UK A-Level ‘COVID-19 algorithm fiasco’ and lessons for the enterprise (diginomica)

Four things government must learn from the A-level algorithm fiasco (me from last year for IfG)

More from last summer (W:GC)

Even more from last summer (W:GC)

Ensuring statistical models command public confidence: Learning lessons from the approach to developing models for awarding grades in the UK in 2020 (Office for Statistics Regulation, from March 2021)

AI got 'rithm

Hundreds of AI tools have been built to catch covid. None of them helped.* (MIT Technology Review)

I’m sorry Dave I’m afraid I invented that: Australian court finds AI systems can be recognised under patent law (The Guardian)

Bias in Artificial Intelligence (Harvard Magazine)

The ethics of recommendation systems in public-service media (Ada Lovelace Institute)

Britain can set 'gold standard' in ethical artificial intelligence - industry report (BCS)

ICO baby

The Information Commissioner's Office is letting us down*  (Telegraph)

Response: ICO’s priorities and impact of our work (ICO)

New guidance on direct marketing and the public sector (ICO)

Thread (Tim Turner)

Information Rights Strategic Plan: Trust and Confidence - annual tracker (ICO)

UK government

Introduction to Data Quality course launched (Government Data Quality Hub)

A new model for modelling (Actuaries in government)

Six reasons why digital transformation is still a problem for government (NAO)

govcookiecutter: A template for data science projects (Data in government)

Radar – more than just wave detection (Defra digital)

Driving technology convergence and reuse in our Future Borders and Immigration System (Home Office Digital, Data and Technology)

The longlist (Civil Service Data Challenge)

Cabinet Office eyes ‘geographical capability map’ for civil servants (Civil Service World)

Next step in plans to govern use of digital identities revealed (DCMS)

Building a single sign-on for government: What we’ve learnt so far (Services in government)

ESRC launches opportunity to inform data infrastructure strategy (UKRI)

Keeping old computers going costs government £2.3bn a year, says report (BBC News - CSW had this last week)

2021 Deane-Stone Lecture: Ambitious, Radical, Inclusive and Sustainable: How a National Statistical Institute evolved through Covid-19 (Sir Ian Diamond for NIESR)

Taking the wiki

Left-leaning Wikipedia is no match for my shelf of dictionaries* (Telegraph)

There are 11,656 athletes at the Olympics. Guy Fraser wanted them all on Wikipedia (The Guardian)

A sense of place

‘X’ Marks the Spot: Officials Map a Route Out of the Pandemic* (New York Times)

What 3 Words is a Mess

Dis and that

Disinformation: It’s History (CIGI)

Why Generation Z falls for online misinformation (MIT Technology Review)

It's a jungle out there

Why Amazon’s £636m GDPR fine really matters* (Wired)

The slow collapse of Amazon’s drone delivery dream* (Wired)

Open for the best

Natalia Carfi to carry the torch of openness (Open Data Charter)

Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall (The Register)

The promise of open-source intelligence* (The Economist)

Private parts

Estonia says a hacker downloaded 286,000 ID photos from government database (The Record)

Here’s how police can get your data — even if you aren’t suspected of a crime (Recode)

Everything else

The social value of data (Bennett Institute)

BIG TECH’S DUTY OF CARE (New Economics Foundation)

Inequality just went stratospheric. Can we bring it down to earth?* (Prospect)

A New Tech ‘Cold War?’ Not for Europe. (AI Now Institute)

THE TIME TAX: Why is so much American bureaucracy left to average citizens?* (The Atlantic)

Can data cooperatives sustain themselves? (LSE Business Review)

medConfidential note on the PRUK green paper and DARE project (medConfidential)

Measuring internet poverty (Brookings)

Data don’t lie, but they can lead scientists to opposite conclusions* (The Economist)

Opportunities

JOB: Head of Digital Data & Digital Democracy (London Borough of Newham, via Martin)

JOB: Executive Director (Digital Freedom Fund)

JOB: Senior Data Analyst (Common Wealth)

JOB: Visuals Project Editor - Visuals (The Guardian)

JOBS: Data for Science & Health team (Wellcome Trust)

JOB: Data Journalist (Tech Monitor, New Statesman Media Group)

JOBS: Data and Digitalisation programme (Ofgem, via Owen Boswarva)

JOB: Head of Strategic Communications and Engagement, Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (DCMS)

JOBS: Economic Advisers - The Digital and Tech Analysis team (DCMS)

JOBS: Modelling Hub Analyst Roles, Data & Analytical Services Directorate (MoJ)

JOB: Director of Analysis (MoD)

RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP: Data, Visualisation and Storytelling (The National Archives)

JOB: Product Manager - Data (BBC, via Jukesie)

And finally...

Vennerable

In celebration of John Venn's 187th birthday today, here's a poem in the form of a Venn diagram. (Brian Bilston)

*whispers* that's not actually how they work, but fine, it's funny (@StandingHannah, via David)

[ericfruits]

Vietnam has one of the highest shares of women in work in the world

DONG THI VINH strides proudly across a patchwork of green fields at her farm just south of Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital. Every now and then she pauses to yank up a weed or prune a pomelo tree. Along with a friend, she started an organic fruit-and-vegetable company seven years ago. Since then, the annual tonnage of produce sold has increased tenfold, partly thanks to contracts the firm has won to supply nearby schools. Women are the financial “pillar of the family”, says Ms Dong. She employs 19 full-time workers, all women. Her daughter has quit a job in the civil service to join the family firm.

Vietnam has one of the highest female labour-force participation rates (ie, the proportion of women who are in paid work or looking for it) in the world. Some 79% of women aged 15 to 64 are in the labour force, compared with 86% of men. That figure is higher than in all the members of the OECD except Iceland, Sweden and Switzerland, and ten percentage points above China, Vietnam’s northern neighbour (see chart).

In this section

Many scholars believe that Vietnam was a largely matriarchal society before a period of Chinese conquest that began in 111 BC. A long history of wars with China, and later France and America, sucked women into the workforce, as more men than women were maimed or killed. In 1960 there were 97 Vietnamese men aged 25 to 54 for every 100 Vietnamese women. By 1975 the war between north and south had reduced that number to 93. Many survivors find it hard to hold down a job. Ms Dong says the war has left her husband with a weak immune system. Even short periods of manual labour trouble him. There are hundreds of others like him in their village.

Vietnamese-style Confucianism also plays a part. Combined with nationalism fostered by war, it helps to create a feeling that women have a moral duty to make money. Communist ideology reinforces this norm. Government posters exhorting women to work show them wearing hard hats or military uniforms. Supportive government policies help, too. Maternity leave was increased to six months in 2013, high by regional standards.

The different sexes gravitate towards different types of work. Men tend to take jobs in corporations or organisations that confer status, whereas women tend to be more enterprising. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor looks at, among other measures, the sex of new business owners across 54 countries. Vietnam had the highest ratio of women to men: 1.14 to 1. This is partly because mothers still do most child care, so they have to work flexible hours.

Businesses owned by women tend to be informal. Women make up 55% of the self-employed. They typically start a business just to make ends meet. Nguyen Thi Hong chops up and sells chickens for ten hours a day in a sweltering market in Hanoi. Along with her husband, she supports three children, her parents-in-law and her husband’s brother. As she puts it, if she did not work, “How else could we live?”

Even in the formal sector, work is not always smooth. Misogyny is rife. Many women complain about the glass ceiling, even though young Vietnamese women are now better educated than men. Wives still do the bulk of the housekeeping, too.

But as the economy shifts from farming to manufacturing, working women are becoming more independent. A recent report from the Mekong Development Research Institute, a think-tank, finds that new roads in the Mekong Delta over the past decade have made it easier for women to work in nearby textile and packaging factories, while their husbands stay at home and tend the family farm. Women in the region now earn more than men, and the balance of power between them and their husbands has shifted. Divorces have become more common and reported rates of domestic violence have fallen. Vietnamese women’s labour may at last be beginning to work for them. ◼

https://econ.st/2XuMZBb

[newstfionline]

Headlines

Americans think America is in bad shape (Politico) Nearly 7-in-10 voters say things in the U.S. are pretty seriously on the wrong track, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll. Only 31 percent of voters say the country is headed in the right direction, the lowest mark recorded in POLITICO/Morning Consult polling since President Donald Trump took office in early 2017. Sixty-nine percent of those surveyed from May 29 to June 1 say the country is on the wrong track. The poll was conducted amid historic disruption in American life: the continued coronavirus pandemic, the crippling of the U.S. economy, and the widespread protests over police brutality and the unequal treatment of racial minorities.

American retailers have laid off or furloughed one-fifth of their workers (The Economist) America’s retailers have been clobbered by the coronavirus. Gap, a fashion chain, and Kohl’s, a department-store group, each furloughed 80,000 workers as early as March. Macy’s, the country’s biggest department-store chain, issued pink slips to another 125,000. Last month two more clothing chains, Neiman Marcus and J.Crew, filed for bankruptcy. Few have managed to avoid layoffs. Best Buy, a big electronics retailer, paid its workers in the first half of April, even promising wage rises and bonuses to some front-line staff. Eventually, though, it too gave in, and furloughed 51,000 of its 125,000 employees. The retail sector as a whole employs roughly a tenth of America’s labour force.

Police: Well-coordinated thieves capitalize on protest chaos (AP) Police in a small San Francisco Bay Area community were about to help authorities in neighboring Oakland keep the peace during a protest when a more pressing crisis hit home: groups of thieves had pillaged malls, set fire to a Walmart and stormed a car dealership. By the time San Leandro officers arrived at the Dodge dealership, dozens of cars were gone and thieves were peeling out of the lot in $100,000 Challenger Hellcat muscle cars. Nearly 75 vehicles were stolen Sunday, including models driven through glass showroom doors to escape. It’s one of the most brazen heists law enforcement has seen in a wave of thefts nationwide targeting big box electronics stores, jewelry shops and luxury designers while officers have been busy patrolling protests over the police killing of George Floyd. The thefts have been carried out by caravans of well-coordinated criminals who capitalize on chaos, communicate via messaging apps and use both the protests and other tactics to throw police off their trail. While opportunists have sometimes joined the frenzy, police and experts say there is a sophistication that suggests a level of planning that goes beyond spontaneous acts.

America is awash in cameras, a double-edged sword for protesters and police (Washington Post) On Saturday night, as protests were still taking place in city streets across the country, the Dallas police department put out a call for help on Twitter. It asked anyone who had video from the protests showing “illegal activity” to upload it to its anonymous tip app, iWatch Dallas. What it got was a different kind of protest, in the form of a flood of videos and images of K-pop stars performing. The department later tweeted that the app was down due to technical difficulties. In the tense and escalating standoffs between law enforcement and protesters that have now spread to more than 100 cities in the wake of George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis, photos and video footage are being collected and wielded by all sides. And there is no shortage of cameras to pull from. Law enforcement agencies have existing networks of surveillance cameras and body cameras worn by officers, as well as face- and object-recognition software. Large retail and food chains have similar security systems, and traditionally will share footage with police if it is part of an investigation. Protesters and journalists shoot their own videos, the latter often on smartphones or small cameras such as GoPros. There’s no need to even watch all the videos—many work with apps that automatically detect movement or people. But it was also cameras that helped set off the latest round of protests over police brutality. Without them, Floyd’s death would not have been captured from multiple angles and shared so widely.

Trump administration bans flights by Chinese airlines (Washington Post) In a move likely to inflame tensions between the United States and China, the Trump administration said Wednesday it will ban all commercial passenger flights by Chinese carriers. The change, announced by the Department of Transportation and beginning June 16, is in response to China’s refusal to allow U.S. carriers to resume service to China. U.S. airlines halted flights to China after the Trump administration citing concerns about the spread of the novel-coronavirus, imposed a travel ban that took effect in early February. Delta and United had hoped to resume service in early June, but rules imposed by Chinese authorities effectively prevented them from doing so. The order does not impact cargo flights between the two countries.

Tropical Storm Cristobal makes landfall on Mexico Gulf coast (AP) Tropical Storm Cristobal made landfall in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Campeche on Wednesday, dumping heavy rain on the already soaked region ahead of an expected eventual turn toward the United States, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm’s sustained winds weakened to 45 mph (75 kph) after it moved inland, where it was expected to become a tropical depression by Thursday, before heading back into the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, where it could gather strength again. By Sunday it could move north and threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Nearly two-thirds of Britons struggling to sleep during lockdown, study reveals (Washington Post) Nearly two-thirds of the British population has been battling with sleep problems since the nationwide lockdown was implemented on March 23, according to a study conducted by IPSOs Mori and researchers from King’s College London. Vivid dreams, restless nights and disturbed sleeping patterns are just some of the experiences reported by participants in the study—consequences of the stress sparked by the global health crisis that has claimed more than 386,000 lives worldwide. “Nearly two-thirds of the UK public report some negative impact on their sleep from the covid-19 crisis,” Professor Bobby Duffy from King’s College London said, adding that the lockdown restrictions had unsettled a “very large proportion” of the population.

Boris Johnson Pledges to Admit 3 Million From Hong Kong to U.K. (NYT) Prime Minister Boris Johnson raised the stakes in a brewing confrontation with China on Wednesday, promising to allow nearly three million people from Hong Kong to live and work in Britain if Beijing moves forward with a new national security law on the former British colony. At the same time, Britain, no longer insulated by its membership in the European Union, is eager to forge new trading relationships with economic powers around the world, and China is high on that list. Mr. Johnson’s effort to stand up for people with British overseas passports in Hong Kong could threaten his economic agenda. Polls show there is broad popular support for Mr. Johnson’s offer of visas to passport holders. But it is not clear how long that support would last if a huge number of immigrants came to Britain at a time when its economy is reeling under the effects of a coronavirus lockdown. Given all the uncertainty, few analysts expect millions of people from Hong Kong to flood into Britain. In the short run, the policy might be most helpful for students from the city who are studying in Britain on temporary visas.

Thousands in Europe decry racial injustice, police violence (AP) Thousands of people demonstrated in London on Wednesday against police violence and racial injustice following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which has set off days of unrest in the United States. In Athens, police fired tear gas to disperse youths who threw firebombs and stones at them outside the U.S. Embassy toward the end of an otherwise peaceful protest by about 4,000 people. No injuries or arrests were reported. More than 1,000 people protested in Stockholm despite a ban on gatherings of over 50 people due to the coronavirus, and while they expressed solidarity with U.S. demonstrators, participants were keen to emphasize that racial injustice was a problem in Sweden, too. Police cut short a demonstration in the Dutch port of Rotterdam by thousands of protesters when the crowd got too big for coronavirus social distancing measures. About 3,000 people rallied in Finland’s capital of Helsinki, although they dispersed an hour later when the number of participants exceeded the 500 maximum allowed under virus restrictions.

Spain marks 10 days of mourning for covid victims (Washington Post) Spain has been engaged in 10 days of national mourning, dedicated to the more than 27,000 lives lost here to the coronavirus. The mourning period—the longest in Spain’s modern history—is largely symbolic. King Philip VI presided over a minute of silence. More than 14,000 flags on government buildings and naval vessels have been lowered to half-staff. Local authorities have draped black ribbons on public monuments, and people have hung flags adorned with black ribbons from their balconies. But these symbols of shared grief are somewhat discordant at a moment Spain is emerging from Europe’s strictest lockdown and many Spaniards are eager to resume normal life.

New Russian nuke policy (Foreign Policy) Russian President Vladimir Putin endorsed a new policy this week allowing Moscow to deploy nuclear weapons in response to a non-nuclear strike. The policy change was motivated in part by the belief that the development of new conventional weapons in other countries—principally in the United States—could give adversaries the capacity to destroy key assets in Russia and “[threaten] the very existence of the state.” The policy change comes as tensions between Russia and the United States over their nuclear stockpiles reach a low point. Both countries withdrew from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty last year, and they are at loggerheads over the future of the New START treaty.

No spying here (Foreign Policy) Indian police have returned a pigeon to a Pakistani fisherman after it was determined not to be a spy. The bird flew across the contentious India-Pakistan border, causing officials to fear it was engaged in nefarious espionage. Apparently, they realized it was just a pigeon.

‘Simplified’ Olympics (Reuters) It may be necessary to a stage a “simplified” Olympics next year due to the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said. The Yomiuri newspaper, citing government and organizing committee sources, said having fewer spectators, making Polymerase chain reaction tests mandatory for all spectators—in addition to athletes and staff—and limiting movement in and out of the athletes’ village were among the options Japan would discuss with the International Olympics Committee.

[mynicco]

This is America

Question for the lot of you.... I really want to know what everyone thinks here. I'm torn on this issue and I really want a legit dialog about this. So if you have any opinion at all or you wanna call me crazy please post below. I look forward to your inputs.

Soooooo here goes. This is a long one, indulge me...

There has been a lot of talk about immigration lately. The camps. The kids. The blame game goes around and around but no one is talking about the fact this goes so far beyond Trump, Obama or Clinton.

This is systemic, this is America.

On the Statue of Liberty it states- Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!

Yet since 1965, American immigration laws have not reflected that position at all. Infact going back even before the Immigration laws that JFK's Successor LBJ passed this statement is even more obviously true. But lets start here.

So in 1965 LBJ(Lyndon B. Johnson - Democrat) who assumed office after the death of JFK, passed the Hart-Cellar Act which did a lot of great things for immigration. Namely, it gave immigrant applicants the ability to apply for citizenship in a system that wasn't based on quotas'. Instead on the merit of their skills and family connections with current US citizens. This is important, because it was the first clear outline of real change in policy for immigration for who and what kind person the US was willing to publicly accept in many years. A real attempt to take race out of the equation. People were going to be judged on their merits. This decision is widely considered the biggest civil rights change in LBJ's presidency. A presidency that carried on the legacy of America's Golden boy JFK.

Why is this important?(Promise we will get there but first some more history)

The immediate effect of this was the increase in skilled workers obviously. The majority of those skilled workers were from European countries. Which was part of the reason Conservatives at the time were so welcoming to this change. There was a cultural shift going on across the midwest and west coast of the country. There was a lot of unrest and racial tension in those areas. They had seen a mass influx of Chinese(before 1882) and Mexican migrant workers during the western expansion or "Manifest Destiny". This was a hot topic race issue at the state level at the time because those areas had been dominated by Irish settlers previously nearly 40% of American citizens at that point were of Irish descent alone. Their hope was to see more European immigration of skilled workers in those areas. Returning to a "better time" when there were more jobs for citizens. This all sounds antiquated right?! Lol... But we are building a pattern here. So if you're still indulging me, I'll continue.

Before Hart-Cellar passed this issue was debated for nearly 85 years at the state and federal level with only small change... Think about how fast things change now for a second. I swear if we are still complaining about peoples bathrooms in 83 years I'm gonna just start peeing on people...

I'll continue.

In the 1880's the economic situation across the western region of America was showing some very clear signs of inequality. By today's standards people would be lighting themselves on fire in the streets. There was a massive divide happening between migrant workers that were essentially living in slave camps and even the lowest economic class of citizen. Wage inequality was at an all time high at the time. So to help the American citizens suffering the most they developed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which banned immigration of Chinese workers for 10 years that could not prove in they were "skilled". This was enforced by requiring they receive certification from the Chinese Government. At the time "mining" was not a skilled class. (This law was passed by Chester A. Arthur - Republican)

This law was followed by the Alien Contract Labour Law of 1885 (passed by Grover Cleveland - Democrat). It stated:

“It shall be unlawful for any person, company, partnership, or corporation, in any manner whatsoever, to prepay the transportation, or in any way assist or encourage the importation or migration of any alien or aliens, any foreigner or foreigners, into the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia, under contract or agreement, parol or special, express or implied, made previous to the importation or migration of such alien or aliens, foreigner or foreigners, to perform labor or service of any kind in the United States, its Territories, or the District of Columbia.”

A long winded way of saying its illegal to assist would be immigrant workers to migrate. Unless you are family and already a citizen. This was amended several time but some form of this law remained on the books well into the 1920's.

All of this leads to my point. Which is this.

These are just a few of the examples and there are many more of how "America First" is not a new policy. The romanticism of American exceptionalism was crafted since its inception and is both part of what makes America beautiful, but also Hideous. Its never been the home for making your dream. Its been the best option for people if they suit the needs of the system. Both parties have propagated this position since America's inception.

I've seen a lot of posts about the children suffering in cages...

I'm trying to make this example without referencing the kids. I hate the idea of using people as a currency for a viewpoint. Taking children away from their parents is horrible sure. But this is a bigger issue than some kids sitting in some cages for a few days. Cages exist even if you can't see them. This notion is foolish and a blatant manipulation of people's emotional states to persuade us away from a debate that is far more important. This is a battle of ideology where both sides are ignoring the facts. Even worse they are ignoring their own actions that lead us here.

One side wants to paint every immigrant as a villain and one side seems to want to paint every immigrant as a hard working do gooder. This isn't the case. Neither side is fully right or wrong. This issue is incredibly complex and everytime it comes up we defer to the emotional response instead of considering our history, and having a real conversation about what people want immigration to look like. The laws should be better, yes. But why are we so quick to blame the other side when every side has done wrong by someone. This isn't about us vs them or anything. This is about recognising this pattern and fixing it.

There still isn't immigration reform that works. There are still thousands of people breaking the law everyday at the expense of others. This is not the fault of any single administration and the sooner both sides realize this the sooner we can really dive into fixing the situation.

I've got a whole buncha feelings on immigration but I'm saving it for another day. Sometimes we just gotta get stuff off our chests and my gf is sleeping so enjoy, and thanks for listening... Maybe I should make a podcast or something. Have a good one. If you made it this far thanks. I've been typing this for like 45 mins I'm going to bed.... Do better.