u/farouq22

>Federal agencies that terminated more than a thousand research grants at the University of California last year admitted that they used keywords related to diversity, gender, vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 to screen for projects that ran afoul of the Trump administration’s priorities.

>It’s an admission that lawyers for the research professors say is proof that the agencies illegally cancelled nearly $2 billion in grants. And that’s a major development in a lawsuit filed by UC researchers against the Trump administration to permanently get their grants back. The researchers’ legal team is now asking the judge in the case to skip a trial and formally declare that the White House repeatedly violated the constitution, including the First Amendment. A court hearing on whether that’ll happen is scheduled for Oct. 20.

>...

>The Department of Transportation identified six grants for projects worth about $42 million to terminate because they sought “transportation equity,” prioritized “disadvantaged communities,” or focused on “diversifying the transportation workforce” and “equity.”

>...

>The National Institutes of Health admitted to using an internal search tool to flag UC grants that mentioned “health equity,” “work force diversity,” “structural racism,” and “sexual orientation.” The NIH alone suspended or cancelled more than 1,000 UC grants, including nearly 700 at UCLA, related to vaccines, cancer research and disparities in health outcomes.

Hello, everyone.

The mod team has decided to create a weekly newsletter featuring news relevant to our sub. Every week, between Thursday and Friday (hopefully), we will post a list of news items that were not previously shared in the sub. We'd like to encourage discussion about them, so feel free to comment here. Don't forget to mention the specific news item you're referring to, for example:

>RE: Hummus prices continue to fall worldwide
Hummus is delicious, I think we should celebrate that.

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms, please, tell us.

Friday, 10/07

Cuba projects internal unity after Raul Castro's grandson offers to negotiate with US

[UK] The Guardian view on disability benefits: Pip must not become another route for cuts

[US] What to know about the fatal shooting of a Houston man by an ICE officer

Thursday, 09/07

[US] Democrats think data centers are a problem. They disagree on the solution

English court set to rule on final challenge to Trinidad’s gay sex ban

Wednesday, 08/07

French lawmakers back police shootings law dubbed 'licence to kill' by critics

[UK] How a rise in ADHD benefits claims is adding to welfare spending challenge

Oil prices rise, and stocks drop worldwide after Trump says ceasefire with Iran is ‘over’

Pentagon seeks to rally Latin America behind new Monroe Doctrine

Trump leaves NATO united on paper, uncertain in practice

Tuesday, 07/07

Colombia’s president-elect suspends transition after Petro alleges fraud

Ebola continues to spread in DRC as death toll passes 500, WHO warns

Monaco bomb attack suspect found dead in Ukraine

Nine countries commit to global defence bank, Canada says

What is the new Gaza administration as Hamas dissolves government?

Monday, 06/07

Afghanistan among the world’s largest displacement crises

Celtic leaders doubt Burnham’s devolution drive will go beyond England’s borders

Occupied Palestinian Territory: Aid restrictions in Gaza, ‘senseless’ infant deaths in the West Bank

[UK] University gets £25.8m donation for autism research

Sunday, 05/07

[UK] Ofsted drops ‘clumsy’ and ‘offensive’ guidance linking autism and extremism

Pioneer of ‘extreme male brain’ theory of autism now says phrase unhelpful

Disclaimer: I'm talking about religion in the broadest sense, not exclusively Christianity.

There was a controversy at a public school in my country recently. The teacher conducted an activity in which the students painted some orixás (deities from Afro-Brazilian religions). This activity was based on federal laws that promote the teaching of Afro-Brazilian and Indigenous history and cultural traditions (for those that don't know, these topics were vastly ignored in formal education until recently, even though they are an essential part of the country's history and culture). The teacher also used books provided by the state government.

However, a parent, who's a military police officer, called the cops because he did not like the idea of his child being indoctrinated. 12 armed police officers went to the school, intimidating the school staff, claiming that it seemed to be a case of religious intolerance against the parent and the child.

I studied my whole life in public schools, and for a long time everyone was expected to recite Our Father and to sing the city and the national anthem everyday before class. I've never been a Christian, though, so I didn't pray with them, and the school staff would frequently call me out because of it. I've lost count of how many times they told me that Our Father was "universal", so they were not violating the secular nature of the State. So this whole tantrum around some children drawing orixás made me pissed. I'm also a teacher now, I can imagine how the teacher must have felt. It was a huge injustice in my opinion.

I also know that some states in the US are making Bible reading in public schools mandatory, such as in Texas. I imagine the same can be happening in other parts of the world. So I was wondering: do you think religious topics (in general) should be addressed in public schools? Should they be forbidden? Why (not)? And how could they be addressed in a way that students who follow a minor religion or no religion at all don't feel discriminated?

>Disclaimer: talking about left, center and right in Latin America can be difficult, so I'll try to use these terms in a broader sense. Please, feel free to explain why you disagree with calling President X "left wing" for example.

Some countries in Latin America are currently seeing a second wave of right-wing politicians winning general elections.

In the beginning of the 21st century, there was a rise of center-left and left governments. Lula in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia, Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Néstor Kirchner in Argentina and Pepe Mujica in Uruguay became prominent leaders in the region. Their administrations improved some social and economic aspects of their countries. Still, we may question many aspects of these governments, and even people in the left frequently criticize them.

The 2010s saw a revival of the right after these left/center-left experiences. The controversial impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the subsequent governments of Michel Temer and Bolsonaro are probably the most famous examples of the rise of the Latin American far-right. A similar case was Paraguay, with the also controversial impeachment of Fernando Lugo, the first president who wasn't affiliated with the conservative Colorado Party in more than 60 years. Center-right Mauricio Macri in Argentina also ended the Kirchner era.

Since then, the left and the center-left got good results again: Lula in Brazil, Boric in Chile, Petro became the first left-wing president in Colombia, López-Obrador and Sheinbaum in Mexico...

But the last and next elections will likely turn the tables again. Besides Milei and Bukele, recently more far-right and right populist politicians were elected as heads of state. Kast in Chile and Delgado in Costa Rica, for example. Keiko Fujimori apparently will win the elections in Peru. De la Espriella has good chances of beating Cepeda in Colombia. Brazil will also have general elections this year, and even though the gap between Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro is getting bigger each month, the difference is not big enough to be 100% sure.

I'd like to hear what you think of this scenario. I know we have some Latin Americans here. Do you think these new presidents are really a new wave or are they part of the same wave from the 2010s? How do you feel about the government in your country? What are probably the reasons for the changes there? Or, if that's the case, why do you think they/their successors got reelected?

For those who do not live in the region: do you have any questions for us? And do you think such changes are positive or negative to the relations between our countries?