Thursday, July 25th 2019
Civil Rights Act of 2019 won't be voted on before August recess
Senate Majority Leader Cody Riley (R-AL) announced that the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 2019, which would outlaw discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, will not be brought to a vote before the Senate adjourns for its August recess. Riley, in a press conference with Senate Republican leadership, said that the debate and vote on the bill will take place after Congress returns from its month-long recess. "We feel that a bill that many Americans feel is giving extra rights for some at the expense of others' religious liberty would benefit from senators going home and talking to their constituents before casting a vote."
Democrats cried foul. "This is a simple delay tactic," Minority Leader Jimmy Fitzsimmons (D-MA) said. "Nothing more...The majority leader needs more time to corral his caucus into denying civil protections to gay, lesbian and transgender folks and concocted this excuse to justify not bringing [the CRA] up when it was voted out of committee." Ryan Lyndell (D-MA) quote-tweeted Riley's description of the bill with the reply: "Amazing. Every word you just said...was wrong." and in a subsequent tweet, called the delay "inexcusable".
The bill narrowly passed out of the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 16th, and Riley was reportedly furious with Majority Whip James Lancaster (R-KY) and two of the three Republicans (Rob Buchanan of Virginia, and Dylan Garrison of Ohio) who voted for the bill. The Senate will recess from the evening of August 4th until September 9th, allowing senators to return to their home states and meet with their constituents. Both parties' leadership in the Senate will likely spend much time convincing crucial moderates and swing-state senators from bucking the party line.
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Thursday, 25 July 2019
Ahead of the vote, Qumari officials increase security at polling stations after Bahji threats
With the country's first general election since 2014 taking place tomorrow, the interim government of Qumar has increased security at polling stations around the country after threats from Bahji terrorists to "make examples" of those who the Bahji feel are appeasing the West by voting. With Qumari armed forces on high alert, local police have been ordered to station more officers outside of polling stations in urban areas. In some rural areas with a noted Bahji presence, British and American soldiers have been stationed near the polls as auxiliaries.
This has not been without controversy, however. Hassan Farhat, leader of the liberal Democratic Reform Party (DRP), said that the visible presence of many police officers outside of polling places could "create the impression...of intimidation in the mind of many free-thinking voters", while members of the right-wing Conservative and Qumari National Front (QNF) parties have objected to the presence of Western troops near the ballot boxes in several rural areas that are expected to overwhelmingly return votes for those parties. Chair of the Ruling Council Zuben Ahmed, whose Reform Party is expected to win the most seats in tomorrow's election, has said that these concerns are "overreactions", and that police officers have strict instructions about their conduct at the polling sites.
"Intimidation or harassment of voters will not be tolerated," Ahmed said in a statement. "But we cannot ignore the security threat that Bahji terrorists pose...We hope that these elections will provide our nation with a parliament that reflects the viewpoints of all Qumaris who reject the violent, false teachings of the Bahji."
Voting begun Monday, 22 July, for eligible Qumari citizens abroad. The election will decide the membership of the 74-member Parliament, which includes three seats reserved for religious minorities. The new parliament will be tasked with naming a new prime minister and writing a new constitution.
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Thursday, July 25th 2019
Nzele pledges not to run for re-election after months of protests
Bitanga — Bowing to months of protests, President Uzochi Nzele of Equatorial Kundu has pledged that he will not seek re-election when his term expires in 2020. Speaking from the Presidential Palace, Nzele said that he had "heard the voices of the Kundunese people who cry out for a new generation to take the mantle of leadership."
Protests began in March, a result of widespread poverty in the nation and endemic government corruption. Nzele and his wife, Adeola Muzenda, have served as president and vice president since Nzele returned to power in 2005, and have reportedly amassed a large fortune by siphoning money from state accounts to their own private ones. A demand that Nzele not seek re-election quickly became a unifying point among protesters, who have created semi-permanent camps in the streets of Bitanga to voice their demands.
"This is a good first step to rooting out the corruption in this country," Fola Mbaku, one of the protesters, told reporters. "And it is corruption that is the source of all of our economic problems."
But some are not so optimistic that there is a new era on the horizon. Many remember Nzele's broken pledge to Western powers that he would not run for re-election in 2015, and many of the protesters say that their work is not done.
"We have learned long ago not to trust President Nzele," one woman said. "We must keep up the pressure on him, or he will break his promise again and we will have to protest again in six years."
Both Nzele and Muzenda are believed to share responsibility for the Kundunese genocide that saw the killing of over 120,000 ethnic Induye by the ethnic Arkutu government and government-backed militias. Arrest warrants for both have been issued by the International Criminal Court on multiple charges, including genocide, but neither has been to a country that is obligated to enforce the warrants since coming to power in 2005.