wepon | Link Roundup July 2022

The Biden-McConnell Deal to Make an Anti-Abortion Advocate a Federal Judge Is Still On

Meredith is an especially controversial nominee because of his close ties with Matt Bevin, the former Republican governor. He played an integral role in the controversial pardons that Bevin issued after losing reelection in 2019. Most notably, the former governor pardoned Patrick Baker, a man convicted of homicide whose family hosted a political fundraiser for Bevins. U.S. Attorneys later retried Baker in federal court; he was once again convicted by a jury and sentenced to nearly four decades in prison. Meredith assisted Bevins with pardons in his capacity as legal counsel to the governor, recommending which applicants merited clemency. He then withheld records relating to these pardons from the Beshear administration. The Trump administration considered nominating Meredith to a federal judgeship but dropped the plans in 2020 following the pardon controversy, as the Louisville Courier Journal reported at the time. Alarmingly for Democrats, Meredith also defended Kentucky’s anti-abortion legislation, including a law that forced patients to undergo an ultrasound and listen to audio of the fetal “heartbeat” before terminating a pregnancy. Meredith prevailed at the court of appeals. He also defended a law requiring abortion providers to secure “transfer agreements” with hospitals, an onerous burden on clinics with no health benefit to patients. The appeals court upheld that statute, as well.

Are London's Brothel Raids Really About Saving Sex Workers?

When sex workers' walk-up apartments were raided in Soho in 2013, women—mainly Eastern European—were likewise removed as potential trafficking victims. The following year, I sat in an apartment with a Romanian sex worker who described what it feels like when 200 officers in riot gear want to rescue you. "I came to work like normal, and after I see police running up the stairs," she told me. "They had dogs. They were shouting at me, 'Don't move, don't move.' They started yelling at me, asking me if I was trafficked because I'm from Romania. It was scary. I still shake when I see the police." In 2013, the justification for the raids was, again, trafficking. But no evidence of trafficking was found. After a series of court cases and public outcry, 18 of the 20 closed apartments were reopened, though many have now disappeared.

Met police to compensate child slavery victim arrested after reporting ordeal

The Metropolitan police is to pay £15,500 to a victim of slavery who tried to report his traffickers but was instead arrested for immigration offences and sent to a detention centre. The man, referred to in court as KQT, was 15 when he was taken by traffickers from Vietnam through Russia to the UK in a refrigerated lorry. He was arrested on arrival and placed in foster care, but shortly after was collected by his traffickers and forced to work on a cannabis farm, where he was locked inside a storeroom and only fed one meal a day. In January 2018, he escaped his captors and walked into a police station to report his ordeal. Instead of treating him as a potential victim of child trafficking, police officers instead detained him under immigration powers.

British woman repeatedly trafficked for sex after Home Office failures

A young and highly vulnerable British sex trafficking victim was re-trafficked by county lines drug gangs on multiple occasions after the Home Office repeatedly refused to fulfil its legal obligation to provide her with safe accommodation. A high court judge was forced to intervene to compel the Home Office to house the woman, who was about to become street homeless.

Biden intervenes in railroad contract fight to block strike

If the railroads and their 12 unions can’t agree on a contract within the next 60 days, Congress would likely step in to prevent a strike by voting to impose terms or taking other action.

US agencies temporarily barred from enforcing LGBTQ guidance

A judge in Tennessee has temporarily barred two federal agencies from enforcing directives issued by President Joe Biden's administration that extended protections for LGBTQ people in schools and workplaces. U.S. District Judge Charles Atchley Jr. in an order on Friday ruled for the 20 state attorneys general who sued last August claiming the Biden administration directives infringe on states' right to enact laws that, for example, prevent students from participating in sports based on their gender identity or requiring schools and businesses to provide bathrooms and showers to accommodate transgender people.

A million-word novel got censored before it was even shared. Now Chinese users want answers.

First released in 1989 by the Chinese software company Kingsoft, WPS claims to have 310 million monthly users. It has partly benefited from government grants and contracts as the Chinese government looked to bolster its own firms over foreign rivals on security grounds.

Exclusive: Fake Accounts Fueled the ‘Snyder Cut’ Online Army

A simple story written by this reporter about Kiersey Clemons being cast for a Flash stand-alone movie also incurred the wrath of the collective just days before the Snyder Cut release in March 2021. Snyder called to say he wanted several sentences from the story removed. “I’m just telling you what the fans are going to do. Trust me, they are pretty, pretty, pretty rough,” he warned. The sentences stayed, and the SnyderVerse throng descended.

Veterans can now teach in Florida with no degree. School leaders say it 'lowers the bar'

Last week, the Florida Department of Education announced that military veteran, as well as their spouses, would receive a five-year voucher that allows them to teach in the classroom despite not receiving a degree to do so. It's a move tied to the $8.6 million the state announced would be used to expand career and workforce training opportunities for military veterans and their spouses.

Hertz accused of 'ruining innocent lives' by filing false stolen car reports against customers

The information police had was a stolen vehicle report filed by Hertz. The rental car company claimed Seaser rented a 2020 Ford Expedition from a Hertz lot in Woodstock, Ga. The theft report included Seaser’s correct name and address, but the driver’s license number on the complaint was not his. “They got the wrong guy,” Seaser told 13 Investigates. “If Hertz had done even the slightest bit of due diligence, it wouldn’t have happened.”

Who Owns 4chan?

Two former employees allege in the lawsuit that they were told by Enna Hozumi, the vice president responsible for Good Smile’s American operations, “that Aki provided, directly or indirectly, funding for 4Chan.” The employees said in their submissions to the court that they “were even asked if they wanted to collaborate on a fan design contest using 4chan’s mascot, Yotsuba Koiwai.” The lawsuit alleges that two of the now-former employees would “forward articles to Hozumi pertaining to 4Chan,” specifically about its connections to white supremacy and neo-Nazis and domestic terrorism, “to express their ongoing and increasing concern and discomfort with the association. Hozumi never responded to any of these written communications.”

Some factory workers at Amy’s Kitchen allege mistreatment as company closes plant in San Jose

Six workers at the San Jose factory, which had only been open since 2021, told NBC News they have experienced demeaning behavior by supervisors and unsafe conditions. In interviews in the weeks leading up to the plant’s sudden closure, and in additional interviews on Monday, four of those workers said there was an unofficial policy that they could not use the bathroom outside lunch and other designated break times. Employees at the company’s manufacturing headquarters not far away in Santa Rosa, California, have said they were subject to unsafe production quotas and repetitive motion injuries, according to previous reporting by NBC News. In January, one worker filed a formal complaint on behalf of all workers at the Santa Rosa factory with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which said its investigation is ongoing.