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Attorney General James Urges U.S. Senate to Confirm Adeel Mangi to Federal Appeals Bench!

AG James and Coalition of Attorneys General Call for Senate Confirmation of Mangi, Who Would Be First Muslim Judge on Federal Appeals Court

— April 20, 2024

Adeel Abudllah Mangi appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Born: 1977 (Age 46–47) Karachi, Pakistan. Education: Pembroke College, Oxford (BA), City Law School (PGDip), Harvard University (LLM). Adeel Abdullah Mangi is a Pakistani-American lawyer who was nominated to serve as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Joe Biden in November 2023. If confirmed, Mangi would be the first Muslim American to serve on a federal appeals court and the third Muslim-American federal judge overall.

NEW YORK — New York Attorney General Letitia James and a coalition of 11 attorneys general today urged the U.S. Senate to confirm President Biden’s judicial nominee Adeel Mangi to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Mangi has broad support from legal and law enforcement communities and has decades of experience as a litigator, earning him the highest rating for a judicial nominee by the American Bar Association for his integrity, judicial temperament, and competence. If confirmed, Mangi would be the first Muslim American to sit on a federal appeals court.

“Adeel Mangi is an experienced litigator, knowledgeable jurist, and strong defender of justice who would administer the rule of law equally and fairly,” said Attorney General James. “Attacks against Mangi to derail his nomination have been Islamophobic, offensive, and misguided. Our justice system should reflect the rich diversity of our nation. I am proud to stand with my colleagues today to denounce the hateful attacks against Mangi’s nomination and to call for his confirmation.”

In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Attorney General James and the coalition note that despite Mangi’s many qualifications, he is currently subject to an orchestrated campaign of anti-Muslim bias that includes dangerous claims that he is antisemitic and anti-law enforcement. The letter argues that at a time of rising hate against Muslim Americans, unfounded attacks such as those against Mangi are unacceptable and should be rejected outright.

Attorney General James and the coalition conclude their letter to Senate leadership by writing that Mangi possesses the fair-mindedness, commitment to equal justice for all, and temperament befitting of a federal judge. They urge senators to be on the right side of history.

Joining Attorney General James in sending today’s letter are the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Minnesota, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

— Letitia James, New York State Attorney General

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Great Egret In the Desert, 2012 This close up, photographed at J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island in Florida, is juxtaposed against the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes in Death Valley.

The Art of Birds, Revealed Through an Altered Reality

— By Becky Harlan • Published: June 30, 2015 | Saturday April 27, 2024 | All Images Created By Cheryl Medow

At first glance, these birds wowed me. A few seconds later I started to wonder, Are they real?

Well … Yes. And No.

Grey Crowned Cranes Each crowned crane was photographed on an acacia tree near Richards Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya. Mount Kenya was photographed from a Cessna.

Before attempting to explain what’s going on in these images, the artist, Cheryl Medow, might appreciate you taking a similar approach to experiencing her photography as she does to making it. “I don’t think my pictures through,” she says, “I feel them.”

She described this incident to me: Visitors at one of her gallery shows were asking questions about how she creates her work, and she was answering. But then a guest approached her and said, “No, no, no, don’t say a thing. I just want to enjoy these pictures.” It was then that she realized that she was looking for an emotional reaction, for people to enjoy looking at the work without having all the answers.

So please: Look. Enjoy. Feel.

Roseate Spoonbills Each bird was photographed at St. Augustine’s Farm in Florida. This is where they nest in the spring. The waves were shot in Hanalei Bay, Kauai.

Cattle Egret Portrait ”During mating season the cattle egret colors are like a rainbow,” says Medow. This portrait was photographed in Florida, with the pattern of sand dunes from Death Valley in the background.

White Ibis With Fish This white ibis with his seaweed and fish catch were photographed at J.N. Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge on Sanibel Island, Florida. The background clouds and surf were shot in Hanalei Bay, Kauai.

But if you’re like me, you still want to know the story behind these images. So here goes.

These are real birds, photographed in the wild. They are also pictured in real landscapes. And both parts of the images are photographed by Medow. But they weren’t captured at the same time and often not in the same place.

Why does she go to the trouble of capturing these stunning birds in the wild and then transposing them somewhere else?

Great Blue Heron With Chicks Balancing on a branch, the great blue heron was photographed at the Venice Rookery in Venice, Florida, along with the chicks in a nest. The background was photographed in Bigfork, Montana.

Greater Flamingo I This flamingo was photographed on Isabela Island in the Galápagos in a brackish saltwater lagoon. The clouds were also photographed in the Galápagos on a different day.

It all started because she was photographing birds with a 600mm lens. And when you shoot birds with a lens that long, the rest of the background becomes blurry—the birds wind up being the only thing in the frame that’s in focus. All context is lost. She wanted to put the birds back into an environment, so she began creating composite images.

At first she was just placing the birds into photos of the landscapes where she’d originally shot them. But then she realized she could take it to another level—she could put the birds anywhere and at any scale.

Saddle-Billed Storks This mother and baby were photographed in the Masai Mara Game Reserve. The landscape was shot by plane in the same area, traveling from Sirikoi Lewa Wildlife Conservancy in Laikipia to Richards Camp in Masai Mara.

“I’m an artist first, and photography is a tool that I use to be creative,” she says. “When I picked up the camera and the computer it opened up new possibilities for me. I can make the birds much larger than life. It draws attention to these guys that if you just saw them in the wild with the naked eye you wouldn’t see.”

She draws inspiration from the Hudson River School painters. “They took their sketchpads and went out, as I take my camera and go out, and they got sketches of all these different things. And when they went back to their studios and made their paintings, they combined the different elements that they had seen out in the field. So when the normal person went to the Hudson River and looked for the pictures they couldn’t find some of them. And that’s because they weren’t out there in the real world. Even the painters had manipulated what they had seen and brought it together and combined different elements to make their paintings,” she says. “They’re redoing nature in their mind’s eye, and I guess I’m doing that too.”

Reddish Egret This bird was photographed at Little Estero Lagoon, Fort Myers Beach, Florida. The landscape was also shot in Fort Myers at a different time.

Her subjects come from all over the world. Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, Los Angeles, New Mexico, the Galápagos, Costa Rica, and Brazil are some of the places she’s traveled to photograph birds. She’ll often photograph at a certain place during a certain season to see, for instance, an egret in its mating plumage. “I’ll pick April and May to go to Florida because that’s when they’re in their mating colors,” she says.

Great Egrets, A Starry Night The egrets were photographed in St. Augustine, Florida, and Devereux Lagoon and Slough, Santa Barbara, California. The night sky was photographed in Hanalei Bay, Kauai.

Some might think that because these images involve Photoshop in their final state that the painstaking work of photographing a bird in the wild is somehow less work. But Medow assures me that capturing these creatures in the wild isn’t for the hurried. “When I go out and shoot birds there’s a real Zen, a meditative state. Patience is something that I think is a wonderful asset to have, and I don’t usually use it in my normal life, so when I go out in the field I can almost zone out. I could sit there for hours waiting for birds to come and go,” she says. “They’re wild. They’re really wild. They can fly away. There’s something about that that’s just intriguing to me.”

#Birds 🐦 🦢 🦅 #Arts #Photography #Proof #Miscellaneous Birds 🦢 🦅 🦜 🦆 #Flamingo 🦩 #Roseate Spoonbills | White Ibis #Great Blue Heron #Saddle-Billed Storks | Reddish Egret #Grey Crowned Crane #Great Egret

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More than 280 million people across 59 countries and territories grappled with food shortages, collectively caused by armed conflicts, economic downturns and extreme weather events as revealed by the new UN report.

Amid Israel's relentless onslaught, the entire population of Palestine's Gaza is food insecure with half a million people on the brink of famine and some 1.2 million - 53 percent of the population - at emergency level of food insecurity.

Although food insecurity is rarely caused by a single shock or hazard, it's evident that conflicts, weather extremes and economic shocks serve as the primary catalysts for the food shortages experienced by all 59 countries, according to the recent UN report.

#TRT World 🌎 #News 🗞️ #Food Insecurity | Hunger #Hunger in Gaza | Around The Globe 🌏

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After more than 200 days of war on Gaza, many of Gaza's Educational Institutions lie in ruins. According to a team of UN experts, there are currently no universities remaining in Gaza due to the devastating bombardment of the “The Terrorist, Fascist, Apartheid, The Illegal Regime of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗, Isra-helli Army.”

Palestine has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, but the war on Gaza has devastated the education sector, killing thousands of students, and leaving hundreds of thousands others out of school for almost seven months. "It may be reasonable to ask if there is an intentional effort to comprehensively destroy the Palestinian education system, an action known as 'scholasticide'" the experts said in a recent press release.

The experts called on the international community to condemn attacks on education and support the reconstruction of Gaza's education system to ensure the right to education for Palestinian children. Israel's targeting of Palestinian academic institutions is nothing new.

"It's always been a strategy of “The Terrorist, Fascist, Apartheid, The Illegal Regime of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗, Isra-hell," Samia al-Botmeh, an Assistant Professor of Economics at Birzeit University, told MEE. "For the Palestinians, [Education] is a survival mechanism. We survive colonisation through becoming more and more educated."

The 17-year siege on Gaza has hamstrung its universities through restrictions on movement in and out of the strip. Gaza's students struggle to travel abroad for their education, while international scholars are unable to visit universities in the strip."Teaching is about broadening your horizons, it's about interaction. It's about working together and of course, Israel tries to curtail all of that," said al-Botmeh.

Middle East Eye takes a look at the effect of Israel's war on Gaza's Education System in numbers:

#Middle East Eye 👁️ #News 🗞️ #Destruction | Gaza | Education System | Infrastructures #“The Terrorist Fascist | Apartheid | The Illegal Regime of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗 Isra-hell” #Destroyed | Schools | Colleges | Universities

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Human Rights Experts Say “The Terrorist, Fascist, Apartheid, The Illegal Regime of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗, Isra-hell” Is Systematically Targeting Gaza's Education System, Calling It A "Scholasticide." They Say It Will Likely Take Years To Rebuild All The Schools.

#Al-Jazeera English #News 🗞️ #Forever Palestine 🇵🇸 | Gaza | Gaza Genocide #Destruction | Education System | Infrastructures #School | Universities | Colleges #Scholasticide #Years | To Rebuild #“The Terrorist | Fascist | Apartheid | The Illegal Regime of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗 Isra-hell”

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Gaza A 'Repeat Of Auschwitz Without The Gas Chambers'—Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Maung Zarni Says

It Is Clear That “The Tetrorist, Fascist, Apartheid, Illegal Regime Of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗’s Isra-hell” Is Committing Genocide In Gaza.

— TRT World | Saturday April 27, 2024

Palestinian children, deprived of the basic necessities of life, including basic food supplies, wait in line to receive food distributed by charity organisations as Israel blocks aid. Photo: AA

Palestinian children, deprived of the basic necessities of life, including basic food supplies, wait in line to receive food distributed by charity organisations as Israel blocks aid. / Photo: AA

What is happening in Gaza is a “repeat of Auschwitz” and a “collective white imperialist man’s genocide,” a prominent human rights activist and genocide scholar has said.

Maung Zarni, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his lifelong pro-democracy work and research on genocides, believes it is clear that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

The activist and scholar from Myanmar, who has studied genocides and Nazi concentration camps extensively, said he has “paid close attention to what has been done by Israel, not just since Oct. 7 … (but) for decades.”

Genocide is simply the “destruction of a population or populations under occupation,” he explained in an interview.

“Palestinians have lived under Israeli occupation for over 50 years,” said Zarni, who has been nominated for a Nobel by 1976 winner Mairead Corrigan Maguire.

“Not just in Gaza, but in all occupied territories ... There are 3 million Palestinians in West Bank also under occupation,” he added.

Referring to the case against Israel brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) by South Africa, Zarni said the court normally makes “very conservative judgments or rulings.”

However, an “overwhelming majority of the judges on the ICJ decided that the case presented by South Africa met their bar of plausibility of genocide,” he said.

“The court was convinced by the evidence presented,” he emphasised.

“On the face of the evidence presented in a single day, (the court) was convinced that Israel is very likely, very plausibly violating its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”

‘Repeat of Auschwitz’

Zarni said what has been happening in Gaza for more than 200 days now “is only the latest episode,” asserting that “Israel has institutionalised the destruction of the (Palestinian) population.”

“What we are seeing in Gaza is simply mass extermination without the gas chambers,” he said, referring to the brutal Nazi method of killing prisoners in concentration camps during World War II.

“You don’t need to destroy a population with gas chambers only. If you are able to carpet bomb … 80 percent of the living space, the residential area, most schools, hospitals, you are destroying the population.”

Zarni also pointed out Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s statement that “no one in Gaza is innocent.”

“That’s 2.3 or 2.4 million Palestinian people, including infants. Half of the 2.3 million Palestinians are children and youth,” he said.

“So, what we are seeing is the repeat of Auschwitz in Gaza.”

What is happening in Palestine's Gaza is a "repeat of Auschwitz" and a "collective white imperialist man's genocide," a prominent human rights activist and genocide scholar has said.

Maung Zarni, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for his lifelong pro-democracy work and research on genocides, believes it is clear that Israel - assisted by Western nations - is committing genocide in Gaza.

Genocide is simply the "destruction of a population or populations under occupation," the activist and scholar from Myanmar explained in an interview.

"Palestinians have lived under Israeli occupation for over 50 years," said Zarni. "Not just in Gaza, but in all occupied territories ... There are 3 million Palestinians in West Bank also under occupation," he added.

Zarni said what has been happening in Gaza for more than 200 days now "is only the latest episode," asserting that "Israel has institutionalised the destruction of the (Palestinian) population."

"What we are seeing in Gaza is simply mass extermination without the gas chambers," he said, referring to the brutal Nazi method of killing prisoners in concentration camps during World War II.

"You don't need to destroy a population with gas chambers only. If you are able to carpet bomb ... 80 percent of the living space, the residential area, most schools, hospitals, you are destroying the population."

‘Collective Punishment’

Zarni said he has visited Auschwitz four times for research on one of the biggest Nazi death camps, where some 1.5 million people were killed.

“I made a documentary for the Burmese about Auschwitz. In Auschwitz, the calorie intake was minutely calculated by the SS (Nazi elite death squads),” he explained.

When Jewish prisoners killed 4 SS officers and blew up a crematorium with the help of Polish workers from a nearby village, the Nazis “responded with collective punishment, killing the entire barracks of 500 Jewish inmates in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest camp,” he said.

“That is what we are seeing today because Hamas resisters killed 1,000 civilian and Israeli soldiers in the areas where 11 original Palestinian villages were erased to the ground, and Zionists moved in and settled,” said Zarni.

“So, what did Israel, the IDF, and the Netanyahu government do? They adopted the SS strategy of collective punishment.”

‘White Man’s Genocide’

Zarni also emphasised the role of Western nations in Israel's war on Gaza, criticising their support of the Israeli government.

“This isn’t simply Israel’s genocide. This is a collective genocide,” he said.

“This is the white imperialist man’s genocide, the white man’s genocide. Just look at the amount of money and weapons provided to Israel, by firstly the US, second the UK and third Germany, and there were so many European states that have stood up for the Nazi-like Israeli government,” the rights activist added.

#Youtube #TRT World 🌎 #News 🗞️ #Forever Palestine 🇵🇸 | Gaza #Nobel Peace Nominee | Maung Zarni #“The Tetrorist | Fascist | Apartheid | Illegal Regime Of The Zionist 🐖 🐷 🐖 🐗’s Isra-hell” | Committing Genocide In Gaza. #Gaza | Gas Chambers

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He Replaced Mickey Mantle. Now Baseball’s Oldest Living Major Leaguer, Art Schallock, Is Turning 100

— By Janie McCauley | April 25, 2024

Art Schallock poses for a photo in Sonoma, Calif., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Schallock, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, will celebrate his 100th birthday on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Wendy Cornejo, Cogir on Napa Road via AP)

San Francisco (AP) — Whether at home or on the road, Art Schallock would begin each day by taking the elevator down to the lobby and collecting the latest comic books for roommate Yogi Berra.

“Every morning,” Schallock recalled, chuckling at the thought decades later.

Schallock never minded. It was all worth it.

Just part of being the new guy back in the day, a rite of passage for the latest big leaguer getting promoted. Schallock got the call in 1951, replacing future Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle when the New York Yankees optioned the then-19-year-old to Triple-A. Schallock, then 27, roomed with Berra and was tasked with picking up Berra’s daily delivery of “funnies” as they called them.

The oldest living former major leaguer, Schallock turns 100 on Thursday and is being celebrated in the Bay Area and beyond as the milestone approaches.

The baseball memories are still plenty fresh.

“That was quite a thrill, quite a thrill playing with those guys,” Schallock shared in a video call. “I roomed with Yogi Berra when I got up there and he knew all the hitters. We went over all the hitters on each team. Besides that, I had to run down to the lobby and get his funny books. Every morning. Yogi knew all the hitters, how to pitch to them, whether it’s low, high or whatever, he knew how to pitch to them. And I had to learn from him.”

Art Schallock poses for a photo in Sonoma, Calif., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Schallock, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, will celebrate his 100th birthday on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Wendy Cornejo, Cogir on Napa Road via AP)

The Bay Area native went to Tamalpais High in Mill Valley then College of Marin before becoming the 10,823rd major league player when he debuted on July 16, 1951. He pitched 2 2/3 innings for the Yankees that day at Detroit, then earned his first career win exactly one month later at Washington.

The left-hander won three World Series rings from 1951-53, although he only pitched in the ‘53 Series, retiring Brooklyn’s Jackie Robinson during a two-inning outing in Game 4. He went 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA over five seasons in 58 games and 14 starts with the Yankees and Orioles.

He still wears one of those World Series rings regularly on his pitching hand.

“Here’s a game that I loved, I really enjoyed it and loved the game of baseball and they pay you for it. What more can you ask for?” Schallock said. “I wish I was playing today and getting the salaries that they get, but that’s the way it goes.”

Schallock shakes his head and smiles about the money. He signed with the Dodgers for $5,000, and if he lasted past June 1 he received another $5,000 payment.

“When I got out of the service, I went to junior college for a couple of years and pitched baseball there and then I pitched semi-pro in San Francisco and made a name for myself and Brooklyn signed me,” he shared.

Schallock still has some years to go to set any kind of age records. Negro Leagues pitcher Si Simmons of the 1926 New York Lincoln Giants lived to 111, while another ex-Yankees pitcher, Red Hoff, reached 107.

Though Schallock has a hard time hearing these days, he relishes every chance to chat about baseball. And he offers no real secrets to his longevity — no strict exercise regimen or special diet.

Art Schallock poses for a photo in Sonoma, Calif., on Thursday, April 18, 2024. Schallock, the oldest living former Major League Baseball player, will celebrate his 100th birthday on Thursday, April 25, 2024. (Wendy Cornejo, Cogir on Napa Road via AP)

“Stop having a drink, have two,” he said, laughing. “That’s all I was allowed to drink before dinner, that was it, my wife cut me off. Vodka over the rocks with a little splash of water, vodka and water and a little ice. Only two. I also had a few beers.

"(Yankees manager) Casey Stengel always had beer in the clubhouse after the game. He’d rather see you drink in the clubhouse rather than some bar. ‘Cuz two or three of you go in the bar and sit down, the fans think you’re a drunk because you’re sitting in a bar, so you drink in the ballpark.”

Of course, there’s been some good fortune along the way to make it to 100.

Serving for the U.S. Navy in the Pacific Ocean during World War II after enlisting in 1942, Schallock narrowly escaped harm when the neighboring aircraft carrier USS Liscome Bay was sunk by a Japanese torpedo in November 1943 and 644 were killed — accounting for the majority of the casualties in the Battle of Makin.

“I never thought I would get back to the highest level. I wanted to play baseball, yes,” he said. “I did it in junior college. In those years, the Bay Area was full of baseball. When I say full of baseball, semi-pros. Every town had a team.”

Schallock has been signing his share of baseballs leading up to joining the rare centenarian club. They will throw him a party at his assisted living facility, Cogir On Napa Road Assisted Living and Memory Care.

Perhaps find him an agent now given all the fanfare?

“It’s too late,” Schallock said, laughing, “it’s too late.”

#Associated Press (AP) #Sports ⚾️ #Mickey Mantle #Oldest Living | Former Major League | Baseball ⚾️ Player #Art Schallock