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Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell testified before the Senate Banking Committee Wednesday. Last week the Fed ordered the largest interest rate increase since 1994. Powell acknowledged the rate hike could lead to a recession and would not lead to lower gas and food prices. Powell was questioned by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: Chair Powell, will gas prices go down as a result of your interest rate increase?

Jerome Powell: I would not think so, no.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: OK. And that matters because gas prices are one of the single biggest drivers of inflation. Chair Powell, will the Feds interest rate increases bring food prices down for families?

Jerome Powell: I wouldnt say so, no.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren: The reason I raise this and the reason Im so concerned about this is rate increases make it more likely that companies will fire people and slash hours to shrink wage costs. Rate increases also make it more expensive for families to do things like borrow money for a house. And so far, the cost this year of a mortgage has already doubled.

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Elizabeth Warren Blasts Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Hiking Interest Rates - Democracy Now!

For Isatou Ceesay and Tombong Njie, the term witch hunt is not metaphorical. Under the regime of former dictator Yahya Jammeh, they were both literally condemned as witches.

He held people in custody, tortured them, and that was the end of them, says Ms. Ceesay. We were so embarrassed to go out. We are not witches, adds Ms. Njie.

During his 22 years in power, former President Jammeh severely weakened the countrys institutions and security apparatus. The regime was characterized by harassment; torture; the murder of political figures, journalists, activists, and students; and significant sexual and gender-based violence against women and children.

Ms. Ceesay, Ms. Njie, and many other Gambians still carry the scars of the abuses of the witch hunt campaign, which began in 2009 and lasted several years. Victims struggled to escape the stigma associated with witches.

UNDP Gambia

Isatou Ceesay, a victim of the Gambian 'witch hunt' campaign.

In 2016, the Gambians voted out President Jammeh, and the new President, Adama Barrow, was sworn into office in February 2017. However, the nation of two million people faced a severe political and social crisis with the absence of independent or effective justice institutions and rampant human rights abuses.

The political transition required urgent reforms to overhaul the country's institutions, promote democratic governance, address past human rights abuses and establish respect for the rule of law.

One of the ways that the UN has helped to support this transition is through the UN Secretary-Generals Peacebuilding Fund, which provided funds aimed at critical areas, such as security sector and justice reform.

The UNs close collaboration with the authorities, under President Barrow, laid the foundations for two major institutions in December 2017: The National Human Rights Commission and the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC), which is made up of eleven people, and designed to reflect the diverse ethnic, religious, and gender make-up of the country.

UNDP Gambia

Tombong Njie suffered as a result of the 'witch hunts' instigated by former President of The Gambia, Yahya Jammeh.

In January 2019, public truth and reconciliation hearings began, with victims and perpetrators giving their personal testimonies. The hearings and outreach activities generated great public interest and broad popular participation, including youth and civil society.

"The TRRC is very important. I have seen how it has helped people empathize with us, knowing that we were deliberately and wrongfully accused," said Pa Demba Bojang, a victim of the witch hunt campaign.

"People now aspire to live in peace in this country. Victims' lives have become better thanks to the help they got from the project. The project has brought back hope in The Gambia," said another victim.

The hearings were broadcast live to on television, radio, and online platforms such as YouTube and Facebook. They would not have made for easy viewing, covering incidents of human rights violations, including torture, enforced disappearance, arbitrary arrests, unlawful detention/killings, and sexual and gender-based violence.

UNDP The Gambia

Ya Jai Bahoum, a victim of the repressive regime of Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh

The UN Peacebuilding Fund played a key role in enabling the hearings to take place. It enabled the Commissions office to open, provided key equipment, technical support to the Commissioners and the staff, and helped ensure victims access to the TRRC proceedings, which involved reaching out to those in the most remote areas of the country.

Some 2,000 people benefitted from the Victim Participation Support Fund, which provided psychosocial support and essential medical interventions. In addition, 30 persons were provided with comprehensive witness protection.

Beyond the hearings, over 34,000 Gambians have involved in outreach missions on the transitional justice process, and taken part in workshops, held in close partnership with civil society organizations, religious and traditional leaders.

Since it began holding hearings, the Commission participatory and accessible process has helped to foster national reconciliation. "We were wrongfully accused. Some pointed fingers at us, but TRRC helped us overcome this shame," said another victim of the witch hunt campaign.

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Building peace: Plotting a route towards democracy in The Gambia - UN News

Former Secretary of State and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said in an interview with the Financial Times published Friday that the U.S. is on the precipice of losing our democracy.

We are standing on the precipice of losing our democracy, and everything that everybody else cares about then goes out the window, Clinton told interviewer Edward Luce.

Clinton emphasized her belief that the Democratic Party should focus on the issues that help you win rather than more controversial issues important primarily to minorities.

Look, the most important thing is to win the next election, she said. The alternative is so frightening that whatever does not help you win should not be a priority.

Luce brought up the transgender debate as an activist cause which he says is relevant only to a small minority.

What sense does it make to depict JK Rowling as a fascist? Luce asked, referring to the Harry Potter authors anti-transgender views.

Luce said that Clinton agreed with the premise of his question and pointed to progressives campaign to defund the police as a cause that hurt Democrats.

You need accountable measures. But you also need policing, Clinton said. It doesnt even pass the common-sense politics test not to believe that.

Clinton added, Some positions are so extreme on both the right and the left that they retreat to their corners. Politics should be the art of addition not subtraction.

Clinton predicted that current Democratic President Biden would run again in 2024, saying, He certainly intends to run.

However, she said that the idea that she would run for president after her 2016 loss is out of the question.

Democrats are debating whether Biden, 79, is their best candidate to run for president in 2024 considering his age.

I think its too soon to start that speculation, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said of the question on Thursday. I cant say at this point what I would recommend.

Democratic strategists, including David Axelrod, have said that Biden, who would be 81 at the time of the election, would present a major issue due to his age, while many lawmakers have expressed their support for whatever Biden chooses.

I look forward to working hard for Joe Bidens reelection in 2024, said Biden ally Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.).

The rest is here:
Clinton: US at the precipice of losing democracy - The Hill

No, this is not just about the protests over Agnipath and would-not-be Agniveers that are erupting all over the country. Well, not merely or entirely about them at any rate. We do not need experts or experienced India-watchers to tell us that there is more than meets the eye to these protests.

There are political forces, probably leading parties, not to mention the usual foreign hands at play. Though the evidence is not forthcoming yet, we can surmise that it will be released soon enough.

Because, let's face it, the country is at war. Not only with enemies outside or across its borders, but within too. We suffer from a divided and polarised polity. Given the slew of states announcing concessions, preferences and sops for future Agniveers, we also know that Indian democracy is characterised, more and more, by different shades and degrees of populism.

Protest and populism - these seem to have become the predominant markers of the nation. So too would the irony of terms such as "Agniveer" and "Agnipath" not be lost on the ordinary citizens of the country.

Leaving aside the fiery path to valour, our would-be shining heroes - at least a section of them - actually resemble an incendiary mob, torching trains and buses, destroying public and private property, trying to browbeat the state into giving in to their demands for permanent placement.

Where? In the Armed Forces, which are to defend the country and uphold the honour of their regiments, which represent a code of conduct that protects civilians and non-combatants from being targets of violence. Now, do these arsonists and lawbreakers, by virtue of such actions which ought to disqualify them forever from serving in uniform, seek to bully and intimidate their way into those very forces that are meant to protect the state and its citizens from such elements?

No, such ironies will not be lost on us for they are too obvious and painful to be missed. Instead, the rioters know that once their names get into the police records, they will be no good for the Armed Forces or any state employment. So, isn't it obvious that many of them are paid protesters and operatives rather than genuine "Agnipath" aspirants? Even their faces, as shown in the media, indicate that many are over the age of 23. Much more, as I hinted earlier, is going on behind the scenes, especially if one looks at earlier protests such as that of the farmers, which went on for over a year.

Who cares for the facts - or in this case - for the figures? The amount of money spent on pension exceeds the salary bill of the Armed Forces for the year 20202021. Nearly half the enormous defence budget of USD 77 billion or Rs 6 lakh crore - something in the range of Rs 3 lakh crore - is being spent on salaries and non-combat costs each year on serving or retired personnel, many of whom may have lived through their entire career only in peacetime duties.

That a large part of the present budget of the forces is "non-productive" by any standards is a sad truth that we do not like to face. Ours, which is the second-largest standing force in the world, with close to 1.5 million soldiers in uniform, will soon cease to be fighting fit and competitive if we carry on like this. We need to invest in equipment, technology, and upgrade weaponry, infrastructure, and so on. But no, the Armed Forces too must be turned into a gigantic employment agency to satisfy the needs of the agitators who seek permanent government jobs.

The starting salary of Agniveers will be over Rs 30,000 per month, rising to Rs 40,000 per month by the fourth year. Only 25 per cent will continue in the services while the others will get an exit package called Seva Nidhi to the tune of Rs 11.71 lakh each. Additionally, several states have also announced other employment possibilities for them. So what is wrong with the scheme? How is it not in the nation's interests or not beneficial to the youth?

The truth is that every reform in India hits the same roadblocks - a divided polity and the compulsions of populism. That is why I said at the outset that this column is not just about the Agniveer protests. Instead, it is about what I would call democracy's dark matter. Like dark matter, which hypothetically occupies 85 per cent of the universe although it lacks luminosity nor interacts with the electromagnetic field, India's divided polity and culture wars occupy so much space in our democracy.

This means that any opportunity to bring down the Narendra Modi-led BJP sarkar or to show India in poor light, whether domestically or internationally, will not be missed. This, in turn, also makes the members and supporters of the government more vehement, aggressive and unforgiving of the opposition. As with the farm bills, neither Parliament nor the opposition, let alone the young stakeholders, press and the broader thinking public, have been taken into confidence in matters of national importance such as the newly announced Agniveer scheme.

Unilateralism, rather than consultation or consensus, is the chosen methodology, with the instruments of state power commissioned to bludgeon through policy or manage the narrative afterwards. This is not how a government "of the people, by the people, for the people" ought to operate. But as the protests mount, more and more concessions and dilutions are likely to be announced, weakening the scheme. What, then, is a brute majority good for if it does not demonstrate moral strength and electoral resilience, but impose "reforms" followed by populist roll-backs and concessions?

What is the way forward? Reduce divisive issues and policies that alienate sections of the populace. Reach out to all sections of the citizenry. Rather than only blowing the trumpet of government schemes, apply the healing touch. Invite all sections of the political spectrum for discussions and consultation. Ensure a peaceful daily life for most Indians rather than simmering discord and constant conflict.

This government has achieved much for which it should be proud. Most importantly, it managed the economy in a way that kept the country afloat unlike other countries in the neighbourhood that have been reduced to a sorry state almost of disgraceful beggary. The Agniveer scheme, too, is meant to make our Armed Forces much more economically viable and globally competitive.

But with all these accomplishments, the legacy of Modi@8 is also a disturbing sense of a divided society and country at war with itself. It is this that must change before 2024. It is time to pay attention to, and even mitigate, democracy's dark matter. Especially if India@75 is really supposed to be an Amrit Mahotsav - the grand celebration of the elixir of liberty, instead of the dark age of a fractured polity and divided society.

(The writer is a professor of English at JNU and tweets @MakrandParanspe)

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Agnipath and the dark matter of democracy - The New Indian Express

From a lack of horses, we always saddle dogs, or cows, or even the ugly, scaly-backed alligator (aglnt abara hh). We do it every four years in the name of democratic elections. We choose bile as leaders then lament soon after that we are orphaned by the government.

The Arabs tell us that to understand a people, we should acquaint ourselves with their proverbs. As we lament the woes of being Nigerian and try to figure out who to vote for next year between crippling identical candidates, some snakes are providing guides across the north. They come in the form of Hausa proverbs. A friend who speaks the language forwarded them to me last week. One isKoman lalachewan akuya, ya fi kare daraja(no matter how useless the goat is, it has more value than a dog). Another ismushin rago yafi alade da an yanka(a dead ram is better than a slaughtered pig).

The Bible says that with Jesus at the Golgotha were two gentlemen: one to his right; the other to his left. Between the two, I have heard the question being asked: who was the better thief? You may have to find an answer to that question now if you intend to vote next year to elect a president for Nigeria. Up north, the above Hausa proverbs of goat and dog; of ram and pig have come handy. I am a Muslim, so I have no problem knowing that goat meat is a delicacy in Muslim homes while dog meat is haram. Again, I know that a ram not properly slaughtered may be unclean for consumption but then, it is better than a pig properly slaughtered. That is the graffiti on the political skies of the north. Some candidates attract metaphors of pig and dog; some are goat and ram. Proverbs provide hidden contexts and kicks for actions, positive and negative. In politics, they are the horses on which guns are mounted. Everyone should listen to what the proverbs are saying and to what they will say going forward to the elections.

Another cycle is here. While dark imageries of region and religion rule electoral choices in the far north, dirty naira notes thumbprint for the electorate in the south. The Ekiti election has come and gone. For me, the most interesting spectacle there was the man in a viral video who said, with all innocence, that he took N5,000 bribe from a candidate before voting. He insisted he did it for posterity(ntor oj iwj ni) and that the N5,000 was even small. They were supposed to give us N10,000. He would use the money to farm, he told his interviewer. He said so with a straight face before a rolling camera. He was not alone but he was the only one stupid enough to speak the truth. And payment for votes in that election was not about any particular party. They all did it according to the strength of their muscles. Vote buying poisons our democracy and it is reprehensible. For the voters, what I have for them is not straight condemnation; it is pity. With a very heavy heart, I understand their problem and the harlotry in their decision. Prostitutes sell what they have to have what they lack. Whatever happened in Ekiti on Saturday will happen in Osun State next month (July 16). When people heard that a vote went for as much as ten thousand naira in Ekiti, I could hear expectant palms itching in other states. This house has fallen; it collapsed a while ago. People will collect money and choose their leader; if there are reasons to lament government negligence six months later, let that time come, the reasons will take care of themselves. It is a cycle, vicious and sad.

The Ashanti of the Republic of Ghana say a good farmer will not cook the seed yam. The Yoruba of Nigeria counsel their farmer not to eat his yam seeds because next season is just one night away(mdn k jnn kni m h b sun je). But that remonstration is for the farmer who will be alive to see the next harvest. Everyone in Nigeria is sure only of the present. How do we convince very down people without hope not to sell anything within their powers to sell, including their votes? People are hungry and abandoned; they are very unsafe at the same time; none of the poor millions with PVCs is sure of being alive to enjoy whatever the new government may bring. Some will be killed by hunger; some others by herdsmen without cows; many more by princely bandits who are beyond the short arms of our law. Those who manage to be alive will become displaced, abandoned citizens. The people are convinced by their circumstances to eat the food of tomorrow in the womb of today. They will sell their votes while they wait for Nigeria to bring whatever affliction it has. If we want democracy to work, we should first take hunger and fear off the menu of the Nigerian voter. Only the living sing the praise of the Lord.

The factors of money, region and religion did their thing in 2015 and 2019 and the result is todays government of dead ducks and sinking floaters. Governments are like ducks; they exist to protect their flocks from kites and hawks. A duck that is mortally absent and exposes its children to predators is called a lame duck. Can we check what users of the English language mean when they describe a government as lame duck? Could that be what our president has become so soon? Not even the media remembered to ask why President Muhammadu Buhari was not part of the grand finale of his partys campaign in Ekiti. He was not there; in his stead was Senator Bola Tinubu, the man positioned by APC and its governors to replace Buhari in 345 days time. And were we not told that presidential democracy has no space for two presidents at a time? Nigerian politicians are foisting that on us. But that really is not my bother here. My thoughts are on how our conditions are affecting our choices and how our choices are affecting our conditions. My thoughts are also on how helpless Nigerians struggle to live through these very bad times. It is like being boxed in a troubled plane with a pilot that is not there.

On 28 December, 2008, Joe Klein, a columnist with theTime Magazine,published a review of the fading tenure of President George W. Bush whose Republican Party had just lost the presidency to Barack Obama of the opposition Democratic Party. The piece is a full definition of what a duck is supposed to be and what it is when it is lame. I quote Klein verbatim here: At the end of a presidency of stupefying ineptitude, he (Bush) has become the lamest of all possible ducks This is a presidency that has wobbled between two poles overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence. The latter has held sway these past few months as the economy has crumbled. It is too early to rate the performance of Bushs economic team, but we have more than enough evidence to say, definitively, that at a moment when there was a vast national need for reassurance, the president himself was a cipher. Yes, hes a lame duck. Klein described his presidents disappearing act in the very middle of an economic crisis as a fitting coda to a failed presidency. His focus and his judgement sound very Nigerian. But I cannot use those words for my president and his government. I do not have the courage to do so. But day and night, I look with anger and sorrow at what we have. I see Nigerians dying for hope. I imagine a mother duck too hobbled and absent that its ducklings become targets for predators. A certain Ken Greenwald would describe this duck as not just lame but worse a dead duck a thing done up, played out, not worth a straw

Nigeria is like pepper; you pound it, you grind it, its smarting character remains its defining feature. It devalues people and their prized possessions. It is easy for the elite to condemn voters who sell their votes. English writer and Queen of Romance, Barbara Cartland, said when we judge other people, it is always by our own standards and that often prevents us from understanding them or giving them the compassion they deservethat we may denounce a thief, but how can we understand his action if we have never felt the compulsion to steal? And if we have never seen anyone we love hungry, ill and deprived. How many Nigerians will survive or are surviving these very hard times without cutting corners? Businesses are fainting and dying as diesel goes for N850 per litre and this at a time when electricity competes with the absence of government in peoples lives. Elected politicians promised to light up lives; they also pledged to power the country as had never been done before. Now, where are they? NEPA may have changed its name a million times, the name-change adds no value to it. Cost of cooking gas is setting fire to homes. Kerosene has long moved away from its friendship with the poor. Every item of survival is beyond the reach of everyone without access to the public till. Yet, there is no route for an escape. Injured hope is wheeled into the temple of the coming polls. The people are doing a count-down for the Buhari regime 345 days to go. They think the coming election will remark the script of existence for the poor. But they see that 2023 road being narrowed when they hear politicians promise to continue the legacy of this president. You know what that means for the unsafe, the hungry and the jobless? Even if the coming change will bring some progress, the election that will birth it is February next year; this plane has till May 29, 2023 to land. You and I have eleven months, ten days more of grueling turbulence without any reassuring action in the cockpit.

We have had seven years of a hideous game of blames and of overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence. We will have one more year of both, and even more years of the same, if the successor is as wobbled as what we have. And it looks like it. The child of a duck is a floater; snakes always give birth to snakes. I heard Tinubu, the man who wants to lead Nigerias two hundred million for the next eight years after Buhari, say something suggestive of business as usual. In his acceptance speech after his nomination, and in a letter to the president this past weekend, he spoke about erecting his structure on Buharis foundation and that the country is in trouble today because the PDP, in its 16 years, depleted our resources and left us with hunger. Playing the blame game. They all do it. If the PDP wins in February, there is no guarantee that it also wont mint blame as dividend of peoples investment in its election. It is the system we run the fault always lies in others. You know what the toad did when it missed its way to the stream? It hopped into the valley of mirage to fetch illusions for its thirsty community. Robert Kiyosaki, author ofRich Dad, Poor Dadsaid when people are lame, they love to blame.

Those are very true words. We will continue to be ruled by excuses and the country ruined by blames. It is the logical harvest from a field of diseased seeds. This democracy is dying and will die unless we move fast to give the people back their lives. We cannot win the 21st century race of progress with a team of cross-party cripples. Sadly, that is what our democracy offers and we can all feel it.

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Sold votes and a dead-duck democracy - Tribune Online