Suchergebnisse

 I spent part of last week in Kingston, which has been my Canadian home away from home.  It was far from my first KCIS, but the first one in a while thanks to the pandemic.  The Kingston Consortium on International Security is a product of a partnership between Queen's Centre for International and Defence Policy, NATO Defence College, the US Army War College's Strategic Studies Institute, and the Canadian Army. Thanks to Stéfanie von Hlatky, nearly all of these folks (not quite the Army) became CDSN partners with KCIS becoming part of the CDSN's efforts to build various bridges. These days, Stephanie Martel runs CIDP, and this was her first KCIS, and
she got a heap of assistance from Howard Coombs and the one consistent
actor in all of this-Maureen Bartram, who is CIDP's main staff person.KCIS was at a new location which had bulk candy!Each year, the partners pick a theme.  This year's was the unchanging nature of war with the Ukraine-Russia war hanging over most of the sessions, one way or another. Oh, and Clausewitz was cited a lot. The conference had a bunch of Canadian senior officers present, mostly army, and very few American officers, unlike the old days.  The panels focused on a variety of issues from human security to changes in hybrid warfare, to women, peace, and security in conflict zones, to a special panel of US AWC SSI folks zooming on to share their lessons from the Ukraine-Russia War, to technology and the new wars.  RAdm (ret) Patterson There were also some speeches with Q&A: Retired Rear Admiral Rebecca Patterson, now a Senator and guest on the Battle Rhythm podcast; Charlotte McGlade of the Canadian Red Cross; BG John Errington, Strategic Joint Staff, and CDS Wayne Eyre.  I was the moderator for the last one, so that is what I will discuss below.First, a caveat--people kept mentioning Chatham House Rule, so I am not sure what I can say.  The speeches are going to be streamed, but the Q&A was to be Chatham-ed.  Not sure how the moderated chat part of the talk is supposed to be discussed.  So, I will try to be vague, focusing mostly on my questions and less on Eyre's answers.  Not sure if that does the trick.  I will say that Eyre was engaging both before and after the talk, meeting with a variety of interested folks.  It is not my first chat with him as I first met him at a KCIS in 2019, that he was on the podcast in 2021, he contacted me about another BR podcast (he didn't recall that until I brought it up during our session), and we bumped into each other at a reception at the Korean Embassy in Ottawa. He knows me well enough that his Star Wars references in his talk (greatest teacher failure is) were aimed at me.So, I asked him:

mike fejes
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How is civil-military relations at
the top different than whatever you learned in your professional military
education? 

Which
barriers/challenges in recruitment/retention are the hardest to address?

How are you
thinking about the sustainability of the Latvia mission?

How do we know we
are making progress in culture change? 



What is the first thing you will tell your successor when
you hand things over? The civ-mil question led to Eyre discussing Eliot Cohen's book Supreme Command, which focuses on teh unequal dialogue between civilian leaders and the military--that both sides should be open and honest with each other, but that at the end of the day, after a decision is made by the civilians, it is the job of the military to carry on with the civilians' intent.  I am pretty sure his two immediate predecessors didn't read or heed this book.The recruitment/retention question led to some discussion of some of the successes, like allowing permanent citizens to join, and an acknowledgement that the traditional recruiting demo is getting smaller---white straight dudes like himself.  I don't want to misremember what Eyre said on culture change progress, but if I remember correctly, the sense of it was on whether retention improves, whether the folks in the force report that things are getting better.The successor question was most interesting as, well, Vance had reportedly tried to eliminate potential successors so that he could stay a long time, and that worked.  Eyre discussed how he is already training the cohort of possible replacements by giving them time with and exposure to folks like the Defence Minister, the Defence Committee, and the Prime Minister.  They will have far more experience with the key civilian actors (plus parliament) than Eyre had, as he famously had no handover--he just got a call to show up as Acting CDS and had to start doing the job immediately. And, yes, I had a good time while I was there.  The opening reception was a great chance to meet folks I had met at previous KCIS's and at other CDSN events as well as meet new folks. To the right are Aditi Malhotra, editor of Canadian Army Journal and a veteran of our Summer Institute, and Melissa Jennings, the CDSN Chief Operating Officer.  I got a chance to meet all kinds of interesting folks over the 2+ days. So, if you can get to a future KCIS, do so.  You learn a lot, you meet sharp people, and Kingston is lovely in the fall.  

As its legal woes mount, once again the Bossier
City Council violated the city charter, although on this third occasion one
councilor decided it was time to cut his losses.

At its last meeting,
once again Republican Mayor Tommy Chandler placed on the agenda an item to put
on the Nov. 18 general election runoff ballot a referendum on a three-term lifetime
and retroactive limit on elected officials. A petition, following the charter's
stipulations, was certified by the registrar of voters to force the Council to
do this if it did not itself resolve into an amendment this change within 30
days of certification.

It has 90 days after that to call the election or
piggyback onto another. And it failed to follow the charter for a third time,
which had the practical effect of pushing the matter off the Nov.
18 ballot and now placing it on the Mar. 23, 2024 presidential preference
primary ballot. Given the presence of the certified petition, legally it must
do so by early November, although the same majority bloc of the Council that so
far has blocked this muscled through a resolution to go to court to try to declare
the petition invalid because it didn't follow the letter of the law in its
format although it had all the information required by law.

That's not working out so great so far. The
Council majority bloc – then comprised of Republicans David Montgomery,
Jeff Free,
and Vince
Maggio, plus Democrat Bubba Williams
and no party Jeff Darby
– also passed a resolution asking the registrar to rescind the certification on
that basis. The Attorney General's office, which acts as legal counsel to the
registrar, decisively
rejected that, pointing out that which both other councilors and the public
had noted repeatedly that the law contains no provision to do this.

Matters became worse when it leaked that at least
Montgomery and Darby were contemplating changing public comment regulations
after the bloc's actions had drawn stinging rebukes. The problem was that this closed-door
session, captured on audio, appeared to violate open meetings law, which drew
an investigation from the Attorney General. Worst of all, this happened to
a backdrop of a contentious
previous meeting where the presiding officer Free at the prompting of
Montgomery may have stepped over the line with illegal content restriction on
citizen Wes Merriott's expression rights. Merriott then blew the whistle
bringing the AG's intervention.

With the potato not just hot but on fire, and
already having comment
regulations that if more than barely enforced invited just such complaints like
Merriott's, apparently Montgomery, Darby, and their ilk at least
temporarily dropped the proposed changes that apparently had been intended for
the latest, Sep. 19, meeting. This was confirmed when in the audio it was
mentioned Free would not be attendance for a vote Montgomery polled at 4-2 –
with Republicans Chris Smith
and Brian
Hammons, who have voted consistently for getting term limits on the ballot,
assumed to be against – and he was absent for the Sep. 19 meeting.

This meant the 5-2 majorities previously refusing
to carry out the charter imperative would be down to 4-2 – which then became
3-3 as for this vote Maggio, the only of the five who if the petition's
contents were approved by voters could run for reelection, flipped this time. Maggio
has been under fire for giving only lip service to term limits even as he
alleges that he supports the concept, and in a sense that remains the case as a
tie vote doesn't pass a matter.

That outcome also damaged the term limits cause in
another way. It now cannot make the high-stimulus Nov. 18 ballot, where in 2019
Bossier Parish turnout for that general election runoff was about 40 percent
for statewide elective offices, but is relegated to the Mar. 23 one – assuming
the reduced majority actually decides to quit violating the charter and passes
the enabling resolution in time as by the charter just before the general
election runoff date – where 2020 turnout in those presidential preference
primaries was about half that. Since term limits are widely popular, the lower
the turnout, the greater the chance that opponents can hold their own against
that.

Further complicating the matter, the group that spearheaded the
petition is relaunching its efforts just in case all the legal wrangling either
defeats their purposes or drags things out so long that they miss the ballot
for next year's presidential elections, which would mean limits would not be in
effect for 2025 city elections. Given the tremendous boost to momentum for
limits that all the stalling has sprouted, and with plenty of mass gathering
opportunities ahead such as high school football games and polling places,
possibly that could be completed before even the legal wrangling has played out
that could put the contents of an airtight petition on that fall ballot (deadline
Jun. 19, 2024) where the guaranteed high turnout then will make voter approval almost
a formality.

Regardless, the recalcitrance by the council graybeards
only makes any victory they might achieve resemble more closely a Pyrrhic one
that sinks their reelection chances. That's why Maggio flipped his vote, cutting
his losses in public relations terms while bolstering his open alliance with the
graybeards and secret desire to deny term limits because the graybeards alone have
enough numbers to keep the measure from moving onto the ballot. Term limits
organizers can determine whether this is hypocrisy by making attempts to have
Maggio sign the new petition.

As for the graybeards, it's all or nothing to
them: even if they delay the popular vote's consequences past the 2025 election
cycle, the ill will they continue to generate endangers their reelection
chances. But because they are so interested in clinging to power and the privilege
that provides, above and beyond any other consideration including the broader
public interest, they will sacrifice all in its pursuit.

Foreign policy issues typically don't bring the house down during presidential debates, but the event Wednesday night certainly broke with that tradition, leaving proverbial blood on the floor amidst the Republican primary contenders for 2024.


In this case, it was pretty much Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy who took the biggest body blows from the traditional hawks, who, sounding right from central casting (or the year 2002), said Vladimir Putin is an evil murderer, and continued aid to Ukraine to keep fighting was the only moral and right thing to do.


It didn't matter that the majority of Republican voters don't want to send more aid to Ukraine, or that a compelling argument can be made — and has — that continuing unfettered arms supplies without a diplomatic track for a ceasefire would mean more deaths, more destruction, and more senseless brutality for Ukraine. Or that the war won't be won by giving Ukraine more HIMARS and tanks. These cases just weren't made by anyone on stage Wednesday night.


"The American president needs to have more clarity, they need to know the difference between right and wrong. They need to know the difference between good and evil," charged former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, referring to the two skeptics, DeSantis and Ramaswamy. "This guy (Putin) is a murderer and you are choosing a murderer."


After Ramaswamy chided candidates for making the "pilgrimage" to "their Pope Zelensky without doing the same thing for people in Hawaii or the Southside of Chicago," former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seized the moment. "I went to Ukraine, because I wanted to see for myself what Vladimir Putin's army was doing to the Ukrainian people," he said.


"I want you all to look around this arena tonight. And imagine that every one of these seats was filled and if every one of them was filled, there would still be 2500 more children outside to make over 20,000 who have been abducted, stolen, ripped from their mothers and fathers and brought back to Russia to be programmed to fight their own families," Christie exhorted. "(Russians) have gouged out people's eyes, cut off their ears and shot people in the back of the head… then they go into those homes and rape the daughters and the wives who were left as widows."


DeSantis and Ramaswamy, who have both expressed wariness over unlimited aid for the war (the latter said flat out he wouldn't support more), chose two different approaches around this strong emotional appeal. DeSantis said he wanted "Europe to pull their weight," and that U.S. support should be "contingent" on those partners doing do.


Ramaswamy said he wanted to redirect resources now going to Ukraine to fight the real threat — China.


"The real threat we face today is Communist China and we are driving Russia further into China's arms," charged Ramaswamy. "The Russia-China military alliance is the single greatest threat we face."


Furthermore, he said minutes later, "your first obligation is to defend our country and its people," and by sending billions to Ukraine to fight the invasion across its own border, "you're not doing what we need to do to secure our own border."


But talk like this just opened up space for Vice President Mike Pence to jump in with his now familiar tagline: "Well, let me be clear, anybody that thinks that we can't solve the problems here in the United States, and be the leader of the free world, that's a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth."


Ramaswamy probably took the brunt of the attacks, mostly from Haley, who like a gatling gun interrupted incessantly, accusing him of having no foreign policy experience and not supporting allies, including Israel. He retorted by calling her and other hawks "the same people who took us into the Iraq War, the same people who took us into the Vietnam War," and that he did not want "another no-win war."


But yet, all eight candidates on the stage, which also included former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Senator Tim Scott, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, seemed in agreement that a war on Mexican cartels, on some level, was in order (winnable or not). And, because they believed China was behind the 110,000 U.S. drug overdoses last year (the biggest killer being fentanyl), that country should be a prime target too.


For DeSantis, the war would begin "on day one," with U.S. special forces to ferret out the cartels and drug labs in Mexico. "Here's the thing. The cartels are killing tens of thousands of our fellow citizens. You want to talk about a country in decline? You have the cartels controlling a lot of your southern border. We have to reestablish the rule of law and we have to defend our people," he said.


At times the conversation turned to the influx of undocumented immigrants, the need to complete President Donald Trump's vaunted wall, and putting more security, including National Guard, at the border. But it always came back to China. "China is sending these chemicals to these drug cartels for them to create the fentanyl that is killing hundreds of thousands of our citizens," said Christie.


"The Chinese are engaging in an act of war against us, killing our citizens, we better make that priority one in our conversations with China and to try to straighten that relationship out because if we don't, we're gonna lose more and more of our citizens."


For all the talk about a divided GOP on foreign policy, it should be clear that when it comes to China, these eight candidates are more in agreement about where the country should be training its firepower, than not. Pinning them each down on what exactly they are proposing, and how far they will go to meet the threat, would be an interesting next exercise, sans the bloodletting.

While voters may have little chance to assess Board
of Elementary and Secondary Education members' decision about awarding
high school diplomas to students who don't pass state exams to graduate,
they will be able to comment on the emergent policy – for however long it
lasts.

This spring, BESE
narrowly approved an appeals policy for such students without
exceptionalities, who otherwise wouldn't graduate. All three of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards'
appointees, who highly unlikely will return next year, plus Republican Holly
Boffy and Democrats Kira Orange Jones, who face term limits, and Preston Castille
voted in favor. Thus, only District 8 voters will have the chance to hold a
member accountable, as Castille has given no indication he won't run for
reelection.

Most states don't have end-of-studies exams students
must pass to graduate, and of those that do they have an appeals process. These
tests in Louisiana apply only to English, mathematics, and one of biology or (starting
in academic year 2024) civics.

An attempt
to allow this exception occurred last year, but limited in scope in response
to concerns such as fewer than half of non-native speakers of English being
able to pass the English LEAP 2025 exam, based upon the assumption that somehow
something structural about the tests, or even the entire concept of testing,
didn't validly capture the knowledge base of all takers. That attempt narrowly failed,
but then came back in this year's vastly expanded version.

Testing to graduate originally came about as a
reaction to a significant number of Louisiana students graduating that did
extremely poorly on standardized higher education and military tests, displaying
no mastery of skills generally accepted as part of successful diploma
acquisition. Further proof that schools bear some responsibility for this is in
the persistent significant
differential proportions of students failing among districts with similar characteristics.
For example, while three percent of seniors don't pass statewide tests, some districts
have much higher proportions, with Tensas (18 percent), Morehouse (17),
Bogalusa (10), St. John (8), and Madison (8) having the highest. These districts
have relatively high proportions of students in poverty which is associated with
lower educational achievement, but no more than some districts on the low end in
the cases of St. Helena (less than 2), East Carroll (2), St. Bernard (4), and
Natchitoches (5).

Thus, the appellate addition serves as a way for
flailing districts to avoid accountability. It also permits all districts to do
the same in artificially boosting their proportions of claimed graduates. Not
that the tests do all that much in any event as the score to pass is so low, at
anywhere from 10 to 38 percent of the maximum score depending upon area. As
further proof, an analysis of Louisiana's public high school graduating class
of 2021 revealed that, as determined by standardized college tests, out of the
students who enrolled in a Louisiana public college or university that fall 41
percent required remediation in math and 25 percent required remediation in
English. Indeed,
roughly 46 percent of public schools have an "A" or "B" rating, while only 30
percent of their students can read at their grade level.

The proposed rule
encapsulating the new policy, about which citizens may comment until Aug. 9 (without
an online option to submit, which is an option that should be included if not mandated
by future legislative action), isn't that reassuring that it won't cheapen
diplomas. It doesn't allow any failing student to appeal, with applicants having
to demonstrate minimal performance on the ACT WorkKeys, eligibility for TOPS
Tech Award (which has a low ACT score barrier), or on a standardized industry-based
credential. It also does mandate that schools offer assistance to qualifying
appellants, although it doesn't force them to retake the failed tests during their
senior year (they only can appeal at earliest at its beginning).

But, essentially, appeal success hinges on a satisfactory
"make-up" portfolio presentation of undemanding standards. A school-approved
topic would be covered by a research paper of eight to ten pages, fulfilled by product
or service related to the research requiring at least 20 hours of work,
documentation that reflects the senior project process, and its presentation to
a panel of three to five adults from the community and school. A Department of
Education rubric would be used by local educators to determine whether the
project passes.

If having to have such a rule, several changes
need making to it. First, while it does contain a reporting requirement as to
how many appeals a district gives out past three percent of the cohort, it
doesn't set up a sanctioning structure to discourage high proportions. Second,
it should require retaking the tests where students register deficient scores at
every opportunity, which could remove necessity of some appellants. Third, it
lists several factors such as the grade awarded for the course which the
student did not attain the standard assessment requirement for graduation on
the LEAP 2025 and the score achieved on each LEAP 2025 assessment for which the
student did not attain the standard assessment requirement for graduation which
judges can take into consideration for success of the appeal, but these should
be quantified and add that the appellant must meet the minimum quantified standard
on at least four for a successful appeal, plus drop as a criterion the vague "any
other academic information designated for consideration by the LEA for appeal
consideration."

Yet ideally next year BESE should repeal this
option, or the Legislature if BESE fails to act on this early in the year should
remove this possibility by statute. Students who can't graduate without this have
other opportunities, such as through a HiSET or GED exam. Sacrificing educational
quality isn't worth a cheap attempt by districts to evade responsibility for
their own poor performances.

Jennifer Huddleston


Meta launched a new text‐​based social media app called Threads on July 5. The app—which is connected to Instagram—has been referenced by both the media and users alike as an alternative to Twitter. There is much excitement about the latest social media app and Threads tells us a lot about the dynamic nature of the social media marketplace and the potential impact of regulations aimed at leading technology companies.
Threads Illustrates Social Media Remains Dynamic
There has been much handwringing about whether today's social media giants are monopolies. Threads illustrates that there are new entrants into the market and, at a minimum, that there is continued competition between even the most successful tech companies.
Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter was met with applause by some, but left others searching for alternatives following his changes to the product, including the loss of certain features without paying for a monthly subscription to Twitter Blue and changes to content moderation policies. To at least some users, Threads appears to provide an alternative with a similar text‐​focused experience. Some may have avoided leaving for new social media apps out of concerns about a steep learning curve or a requirement to rebuild one's connections on a new app. Threads' connection to Instagram allows existing Instagram users to port over their connections from a platform that they are already comfortable with.
Still, Threads and Twitter are not the only text‐​based social media apps available to consumers. New competitors, including Blue Sky and Mastodon, continue to emerge as alternatives for those dissatisfied with current social media options. While Threads may be tied to an existing social media giant, it is only one of many alternative platforms that are competing for popularity in this format. These platforms all benefit from the United States' light touch approach to regulating social media platforms, giving way to innovative and entrepreneurial efforts toward launching new social media products. This latest launch shows that social media remains dynamic not only with new ideas, but with new products that build on the popularity of certain formats.
What Threads Shows about How Regulation Can Prevent New Entrants
Generally, the European Union (EU) has taken a more stringent regulatory approach to a variety of technology policy issues. These regulations can stand in the way of new entrants being able to enter the market. Though over 30 million users downloaded Threads within a day of its launch, a considerable swath of consumers did not have access to the app.
Regulatory concerns have prevented Threads from currently being available in the EU, unlike its United Kingdom and United States counterparts. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) looms large in this decision, as there remains much uncertainty around its future impact on big tech companies like Meta. DMA restricts how data can be shared between platforms, having an immediate effect on an application like Threads that imports user data from Instagram. The vagueness of the DMA produces extra hurdles to entry that Meta may not want to jump over until the company has more clarity around how to comply with this recently enacted act and whether their adherence is worth the effort.
Unfortunately, the United States has considered similar policies that would change the existing consumer focus from antitrust to something that allows far more government intervention in competitive markets including social media. For example, had the Ending Platform Monopolies Act (H.R. 3825) passed in the last Congress, it could have complicated Meta's U.S. launch of Threads by limiting its integration with the already popular Instagram platform—a feature that gave rise to the instant popularity of Threads.
The FTC's aggressive antitrust scrutiny of tech companies could also deter those companies from launching new products or force them to focus on ongoing litigation instead. For example, the antitrust scrutiny of Microsoft in the late 1990s and early 2000s was a deterrent in its development of a mobile operating system. Microsoft co‐​founder Bill Gates said in 2019, "There's no doubt the antitrust lawsuit was bad for Microsoft, and we would have been more focused on creating the phone operating system, and so instead of using Android today, you would be using Windows Mobile if it hadn't been for the antitrust case." With the FTC engaged in multiple actions against Threads' parent company Meta, it's a relief that the company was still willing to launch this new product in the United States. One can't help but wonder what other products or services from various innovative companies might be waiting or lost out of wariness or the need for direct resources to ongoing litigation instead.
Is Threads the Next Twitter?
For all the excitement and optimism around the Threads launch, some solid caution is also needed. Given the wide array of social media options out there, Threads will have to solidify an audience of users after the immediate novelty of a new platform wears off. It is unclear how its use may fully evolve within Instagram or if ultimately the platform may become an entirely separate form of social media.
While much of Threads is Twitter‐​like, the platform also has unique features, namely the ability to post videos up to five minutes long. In addition, unlike Twitter after the launch of Twitter Blue, all users have access to a longer character count of 500 characters. This may attract a distinct type of content and conversation that separates Threads from other sites. While connection to an existing common tech company may help, as the case of Google's failed social network or Twitter's defunct Vine illustrates, it does not guarantee a home run.
Threads does, however, show that new social media platforms can quickly gather public excitement and consumers are not locked in to only the existing options. The question of if Threads becomes the next big social media app should stay firmly in the hands of consumers and not government regulators.

Known more for being behind the curve, it's
refreshing to see something showing Louisiana ahead of it, providing a lesson
on how to deal with current controversies.

That happened earlier this week as a result of
hearings on Capitol Hill. The Senate
Judiciary Committee, controlled by Democrats, decided to hold a hearing
entitled "Protecting Pride: Defending the Civil Rights of LGBTQ+ Americans,"
which promoted giving privileged position to a small minority at the expense
generally of women and children.

It
backfired when it came to a discussion about the relative physical capabilities
of biological males who assert they are "female" or who have made a medical transition
through drugs and/or surgery to take on some female biological aspects,
relative to natal females in sports competitions. Republican Sen. John Kennedy had an
interest group leader, clearly in over her head, claim that perhaps the
greatest, perhaps aside from her sister Venus, female tennis player of all time
Serena Williams routinely could defeat typical male professionals.

In fact, as pro-equality crusader and
ex-collegiate swimming champion Riley Gaines later noted in testimony, the
Williams sisters had issued such a challenge early in their careers when they
already had started winning titles: that they could beat men outside of the top
200 professionals. So, a 50-year-old man ranked just outside of that took them
up on it, and defeated both.

Years later, on a talk show, Serena herself at the
height of her career observed the vast difference between male and female
champions of her sport. "It's completely different sport. The men are a lot
faster, they serve harder, they hit harder. It's a completely different game. I
love to play women's tennis. I only want to play girls because I don't want to
be embarrassed." She opined that the top male in the world then, Andy Murray, could
beat her "6-0, 6-0 in 5 to 6 minutes."

And if you're looking for a more recent example:
in the world of professional road cycling, teenaged riders compete at various
junior levels, with 18 year-olds at the start of a calendar year the oldest
allowed to participate. One such race was held last week in Belgium where a
number of male juniors in their teens participated.

As did Lotte Kopecky, at
27 one of the premier female road cyclists in the world. With 28 career
victories to her name, this year alone she has won (today) her national elite championship
(the level above juniors for women) and three of the ten most prestigious races
on the women's calendar, finished second and seventh in two others, and added a
stage race (six stages in this case) overall victory to boot. In fact, of the
15 times she has lined up this year, she finished out of the top 10 only twice.

Last week, in the runup to the national
championships and the female version of the Tour de France in July, she wanted
to get in a women's elite race but found it canceled at the last minute,
Undeterred in the quest to build her form, she heard about the GP Brieks
Broodhoek men's junior race, and got herself in it.

It was won by a
16-year-old, his first of the year. Kopecky
finished 50 seconds behind him in 22nd. Anybody who suggests
there isn't a wide performance gulf between natal males and females caused by
their differing physiological developments as they mature, regardless of
whether a male decides to undergo medical interventions to deemphasize male
sexual characteristics in favor of emphasizing female ones, is not a serious
person to debate on the issue and cannot begin to justify that competitions
involving males transitioning in any way to female are in any way fair to the female
competitors involved.

That includes a whole range of fools, on up to
Democrat Gov. John
Bel Edwards, who in 2021 and 2022 fought
against what would become Act 283 of 2022
that prohibited biological males from competing in biological-only female collegiate
and scholastic sports. At the time, these idiots bemoaned how "unfair" it was
to exclude the youthful transgender competitors – who still would be free to compete in
male sports – and how Louisiana would be boycotted for sports events.

That never happened. Louisiana was among the first
states to pass such a law in 2021, only to have Edwards veto it and have that
barely sustained. Over the next year, when Act 283 passed and Edwards, knowing this
time his veto would be overridden, did nothing that allowed it to become law,
20 other states followed suit, and more have done so since.

Louisiana now also finds itself in the forefront
of states trying to protect
children from being goaded into undergoing irreversible medical interventions
that will affect them for the rest of their lives, things that show little
effectiveness in improving mental health particularly for the many who have emotional
difficulties tied to a number of other medical conditions unrelated to some
desire at a given time to be a different sex (a desire most commonly that
evaporates within a couple of years as they mature). Again, a circus of idiots
with evidence and science clearly against their view but full of ideological
fury, much like the testifier Kennedy set up and Gaines finished off, will try
to obstruct this progress.

(And the Democrat Pres. Joe Biden
and congressional Democrats want to reverse this, reports
media backed by far leftist financial forces in coverage of the same
hearings. And, guess what? Somehow, they forgot to mention the humiliating episode
concerning the false assertions about the Williams, happily female, sisters.)

Those who can protect children from harm must not
waver in seeing that bill HB 648 through,
even as Edwards threatens to veto it behind a chorus of those who put ideology
ahead of children. You, not they, have the facts and moral authority behind
you.

At best, it was a joke; at worst, a tool designed to
boost the fortunes of the legislators involved. Meanwhile, Louisianans remain
in the dark about whether Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards and
top officials in the Louisiana State Police hindered justice regarding the death
of black motorist Ronald Greene.

This
week, it was announced that the Special
Committee to Inquire into the Circumstances and Investigation of the Death of
Ronald Greene, a House of Representatives select committee convened two or
so years ago by Republican House Speaker Clay Schexnayder,
had died from neglect, confirmed by GOP Speaker Pro Tem Tanner Magee
with disparagement of the creation he served as chairman. Greene died in LSP
custody after a car chase, low-speed crash, and his manhandling from his vehicle
and on the ground for nearly ten minutes.

At first, the LSP implied Greene died in the
crash, despite an initial media statement to the contrary and conveying information
to Edwards that, with the media reports, made clear the actual circumstances. Despite
that, for well over a year the LSP slow-walked internal and external investigations
into the matter and Edwards and his office did not reveal key information to federal
investigators. Indeed, he continued to propagate in public the discredited death-by-crash
explanation and, according to Schexnayder, continued to insist privately on the
same.

Greene's death occurred in May, 2019, during
Edwards' reelection campaign that he won narrowly. Widespread revelation of
that death in custody after a brutal beating and Edwards' incuriosity about the
matter, if the revealing had occurred prior to the election, not only would
have added the incident to a pattern of questionable use of force by the LSP
over prior years that had continued during Edwards' stewardship but also
Edwards' lack of urgency to spur comprehensive investigation would have cost
him votes, hence providing the incentive for him in the final few months of the
campaign to deflect attention from the incident and his role. Once obscured, even
after he gained reelection to preserve political capital he had every incentive
to continue keeping the matter out of public view.

For awhile, politicians like Schexnayder and Magee
had the opposite incentive. After suppressed audio, then video, recordings came
out exposing the beating and therefore the coverup that followed, Schexnayder
formed the panel and put his second-in-command Magee at its head. Schexnayder at
the time was casting around for another office, with term limitation ending his
time in the House at the end of this year; earlier this year he settled on
contesting the secretary of state post. Magee, finishing his second term, also
had his eyes on another office, an appellate court judgeship. One other panel
member, Republican Richard Nelson,
eventually would declare a run for governor.

Certainly, this committee service would boost the
profile of the assigned representatives, at the very least as a forum to
demonstrate reformist and anti-racist credentials (the law enforcement officers
recorded pummeling Greene were all white), at most as a catapult to another office.
In the case of Magee, it didn't work; he lost decisively his contest last year.

That the motivation to attract votes seemed present
in his case is reflected by cynical, if not hypocritical, remarks Magee made
when asked about the demise of the panel. After his failed attempt, it met
without having provided to it much new information and without Edwards after a
series of half-hearted, barely serious efforts to have him appear in front of
it. That was its final breath.

Magee summarized the whole endeavor as "We only
make $17,000 a year, and as much as I want to get to the heart of the Ronald
Greene matter for justice, I also want my kids to have dinner tonight. We're
not the feds with unlimited resources. Behind the façade, it's a Mickey Mouse
organization trying to do its best."

But his disparagement of his own doings and those
of the legislative chamber he serves in as the second-ranked officer, contrary
to his assertion of commitment to justice, betrays a lack of seriousness. Magee
is no political innocent eyes opened wide with what happened; his legislative experience
and knowing the investigatory capacity at hand would had clued him in that it
all was, according to his assessment, a "façade" and "Mickey Mouse" before the
first meeting. If he truly had felt that, he would have declined panel service
knowing it was all show without the possibility of having enough substance to
matter.

And it ignores his own culpability in emasculating
the panel. It actually had considerable powers to compel production of
information that Magee himself, or a panel majority, could have exercised. For
example, upon Edwards' refusal to testify, the panel could have subpoenaed him
with the power to punish him had he refused. That Magee nor they never took
such steps proves they never were serious about the pursuit of justice, at
least insofar as Edwards' role in the matter, in the first place. (Schexnayder
became speaker only through almost-unanimous Democrat support undoubtedly
blessed by Edwards, and Magee only subsequently could have been elected his
chief deputy with the same.)

For his part, Schexnayder blew it off as deferring
to the federal probe – which predated the panel by nearly two years, so that's
no excuse – and criticized Edwards for refusing to participate. Of course, had
he cracked the whip with the panelists, Edwards would have been made to
participate.

Thus, it all was a dog and pony show designed with
the political futures of the participants in mind, not a genuine attempt to oversee
the executive branch. Voters need to remember that when they evaluate whether
to satisfy the political ambitions of the likes of Schexnayder and Nelson, and
to allow the likes of Magee and others on the panel to continue in their present
legislative offices.

An alliance between those that don't want to see
smaller government in Louisiana and who understand the little use the state's
Quality Jobs Program has might form over Republican state Sen. Bret Allain's SB 1 and SB 6.

His
two bills rest a just a step short of legislative completion, now ready for
the House floor. SB 1 would phase out the corporate franchise tax, which few states
have and, because it taxes the total worth of a corporation it depresses
investment and can cause cash flow problems, if not failure, when businesses
don't turn a profit. Of those states with one, Louisiana's is the most punitive
as it has the highest rate without a cap. The bill lops off a quarter of the
tax over six calendar years starting in 2025 annually when the Revenue Stabilization
Trust Fund has an inflow in the associated fiscal year, which occurs when
corporate income and franchise taxes together exceed $600 million annually.

Present law formulaically reduces the rate
whenever the amount is exceeded. At last
week's Revenue Estimating Conference meeting, economists described as
likely under current law the franchise tax rate would decline significantly if
current forecasts manifest into reality. Given that testimony, SB 1 should also
trigger a reduction, although it's uncertain whether that would be as much, but
trends suggest it would eliminate the whole thing by the 2031 end and perhaps
as early as 2029.

That means a nearly billion-dollar reduction in
revenues through 2028. But the bill is paired with SB 6 that would halve a
quality jobs tax credit reduction relative to the franchise tax rate every time
the latter falls by a quarter, or an eighth to the rebate rates. If and when
the latter disappears, the former will end up half of its current level, with
each of the latter's three components adjusted separately: a 4 to 6 percent
rebate depending upon firm size, job pay (above $18 per hour), location,
industry, and out-of-state sales on at least 5 to 15 new jobs' payroll; a state
sales tax rebate for construction materials related to such jobs' creation (and
eligible for similar local tax relief upon local governments' assent); and, if
not taking the sales tax rebate, instead a 1.5 percent rebate on the cost of
capital expenditures related to the created jobs.

Any cutback in QJB rebates is desirable, for the
credit rivals that of the Motion Picture Investors tax credit for most
wasteful in the state, according to the numbers. A 2020
analysis of it revealed some sloppiness in verifying job creation, but
mainly that the credit paid out according to overestimates of creation more
than double actual numbers, many parishes accrue few or no jobs through it even
as they have lower average wages and higher unemployment, that most jobs created
would have come about without program intervention, costs far exceeded net
return to the state, and even if the program helped boost household incomes the
overwhelming majority of that would have come without the program's
intervention.

While the current version
of SB 1 would reduce state revenues just shy of a billion dollars through fiscal
year 2028, the current
version of SB 6 eventually would mitigate a fifth of that (so a tenuous
forecast predicts), or a savings of about $200 million over that span.
Mathematically, if the franchise tax disappeared, half of the QJP rebate would
disappear, meaning that using FY
2022 numbers the state would save $90 million annually, but with revenue of
$329 million in franchise taxes forgone.

Big spenders won't like that number, but consider
the alternative. Should the House version of the operating budget HB1 that
doesn't bust the state's spending cap prevail, with excess dollars floating
about it would leave the Budget Stabilization Fund would be filled to where it
triggers automatic franchise tax and individual income tax cuts. The latter won't
look to be substantial, but the former will be, to the point in a couple of
years it likely will be wiped off the books completely. That means, without the
SB 1/6 combination in effect, the entire $329 million in revenue will
disappear, and sooner, instead of eventually settling at $239 million fewer.

This gives fiscally conservative legislators
another tool to keep the cap in place. They could offer to trade out the franchise
tax reductions currently in statute for SB1/6 and keeping the cap in place, by
first passing HB 1 adhering to it to send that product to the guy whose colon
will tighten by all of this, Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards, then
pass along to him SB 1/6. Senate leadership, who with Edwards have wanted to
breach the cap, should take such a deal instead of risking House resistance to pushing
higher the cap. As only a third of its membership can stop that, they could halt
any progress and leave the fiscal profligates with nothing at session's end.

While this overcomes Senate big-spenders, there
still is Edwards. But this year right-sizing legislators have an extra tool in
their arsenal to force him, as well as other legislative profligates, to
capitulate. In election years, any special session dealing with appropriations
except for legislative expenses requires a three-quarters majority to pass. The
concessions they could extract dramatically increase with this kind of
leverage, so Edwards won't want to have it come to that.

Thus, fiscal conservatives who realize the uselessness
of the QJP and big spenders frightened at the leverage the former can exercise
may come together to get rid of that – and the franchise tax over time – and thusly
make progress towards right-sizing state government. Considering Louisiana's
neighbor to the north is lapping it this year in positive policy developments,
a modest victory like this would be most welcome.

We use a mixed methodological strategy based on ethnographic records, interviews, natural semantic networks, and surveys with Likert-type scales, to construct a series of ethnographic images on the sea and artisanal fishing on the coast of Chile. Our theoretical approach incorporated conceptual axes of structuralist and hermeneutical anthropology, referring in particular to the problem of the profound symbolic configurations that condition, at least in part, its dynamics of representation and signification. We also based on the critical perspectives of Karl Polanyi on economic liberalism, a fundamental reference for socio-anthropological analyses of the economy as a cultural fact. The investigation took place in a complex economic-cultural context (the artisanal fishing space), of special interest in a country with more than 4,000 km of coastline and where neoliberal dogmas have become deeply entrenched as the result of a series of structural reforms introduced from the mid-1970s. Our results, situated in three coastal territories on the coasts of southern and north-central Chile (Calbuco, Valdivia, and Los Vilos), enable us to relativize the ideological determinism of the self-regulated market as the backbone and axis of local economies. On the one hand, in the imaginaries of the littoral societies investigated the sea appears signified as the space that provides sustenance, and in second place as life and happiness. The people only assign it a marginal signification linked to making money. On the other, artisanal fishing is represented as work, sustenance, and way of life. Here too the references that connect artisanal fishing with the idea of business are only marginal. Once again, the assumption that speaks to us of the predominance of a capitalist, rational-instrumental ethos seems to be an unfounded suspicion, and this forces us to re-think how in Chile and other parts of Latin America we conceive the ideo-material rootedness of neoliberalism as a political and ideologic-cultural project. Likewise, a logical consequence of the evidence collected is a return to debate on the relative nature of what we call economic facts. ; Recurriendo a una estrategia metodológica mixta, basada en registros etnográficos, entrevistas, redes semánticas naturales y encuestas de escala tipo Likert, construimos una serie de imágenes etnográficas sobre el mar y la pesca artesanal en el litoral chileno. El enfoque teórico integró ejes conceptuales de la antropología estructuralista y hermenéutica, referidos en particular al problema de las configuraciones simbólicas profundas que condicionan, al menos en parte, sus dinámicas de representación y significación; pero también se basó en las perspectivas críticas sobre el liberalismo económico formuladas por Karl Polanyi, referente fundamental para los análisis socio-antropológicos sobre la economía como hecho cultural. La investigación tuvo lugar en un contexto económico-cultural complejo, de especial interés en un país con más de 4000 kilómetros de costa y donde los dogmas del neoliberalismo calaron hondo a partir de una serie de reformas estructurales impulsadas desde mediados de la década de 1970: el espacio pesquero artesanal. Situados en tres territorios costeros del sur y centro-norte del país (Calbuco, Valdivia y Los Vilos), nuestros resultados permiten relativizar el determinismo ideológico del mercado autorregulado como eje vertebrador de las economías locales. Por una parte, en los imaginarios de las sociedades litorales investigadas, el mar aparece significado como espacio que provee el sustento y luego como vida y felicidad. Solo marginalmente se le asigna un sentido vinculado a la generación de dinero. Por otra parte, la pesca artesanal es representada como trabajo, sustento y forma de vida. También aquí las referencias que entroncarían a la pesca artesanal con la idea de negocio son marginales; nuevamente el supuesto que nos habla del predominio de un ethos capitalista, racional-instrumental, parece más una sospecha infundada que nos obliga a repensar cómo en Chile y en otras latitudes latinoamericanas concebimos el arraigo ideo-material del neoliberalismo como proyecto político e ideológico-cultural. Asimismo, una consecuencia lógica de estas evidencias es el retorno a los debates sobre el sentido relativo de los hechos que llamamos económicos. ; Por meio de uma estratégia metodológica mista, baseada em registros etnográficos, entrevistas, redes semânticas naturais e pesquisas do tipo Likert, construímos uma série de imagens etnográficas sobre o mar e a pesca artesanal na costa chilena. A abordagem teórica integrou eixos conceituais da antropologia estruturalista e hermenêutica, em particular, referindo-se ao problema das configurações simbólicas profundas que condicionam, pelo menos em parte, suas dinâmicas de representação e significação; mas também se baseou nas perspectivas críticas de Karl Polanyi sobre o liberalismo econômico, uma referência fundamental para análises socioantropológicas da economia como um fato cultural. A investigação decorreu num contexto económico-cultural complexo (o espaço pesqueiro-artesanal), de especial interesse num país com mais de 4000 quilómetros de costa e onde os dogmas do neoliberalismo penetraram profundamente numa série de reformas estruturais promovidas a partir de meados de 1970. Localizados em três territórios litorâneos do sul e centro-norte do país (Calbuco, Valdivia e Los Vilos), nossos resultados permitem relativizar o determinismo ideológico do mercado autorregulado como a espinha dorsal das economias locais. Por um lado, no imaginário das sociedades costeiras investigadas, o mar aparece significado como espaço que proporciona sustento e, depois, como vida e felicidade. Apenas marginalmente é atribuído um significado ligado à geração de dinheiro. Por outro lado, a pesca artesanal é representada como trabalho, sustento e modo de vida. Também aqui as referências que ligariam a pesca artesanal à ideia de negócio são marginais; novamente o pressuposto que nos fala da predominância de um ethos capitalista racional-instrumental, mais parece uma suspeita infundada que nos obriga a repensar como no Chile e em outras latitudes latino-americanas concebemos as raízes ideo-materiais do neoliberalismo como um projeto político e ideológico cultural. Da mesma forma, uma consequência lógica dessas evidências é o retorno aos debates sobre o significado relativo dos fatos que chamamos de econômicos.

The recent history of protecting the territorial independence of Ukraine in the face of growing danger and uncertainty includes the potential for social conflict, which requires the formation of the fundamental foundations of a possible model of value-semantic measurement of its results. The aim.A special approach of moral and political understanding of the paradoxical relationship between the implementation of the canons of state justice in relation to its citizens - the ethical fuses of military operations - the personal understanding of good and evil by each participant in current events is being formed, therefore the purpose of this article is to try to analyze the planetary problem of keeping humanity from tragic armed conflicts and the catastrophes of world wars due to military parity and the authoritatively recognized leadership of certain countries in the world order. The research methodology is basedon comparative, analytical, dialectical, historical-logical analysis provide the possibilities of the theory of morality for the analysis of the basic components of the socio-philosophical dimension of military conflict. The statement of basic materials. The study results in the substantiation of the ethical concept of planetary consensus for the sake of love of life as a socio-cultural phenomenon, it includes the practice of historical selection of an ideal understanding of the world based on the interaction of religious-ethical and political-ideological dimensions of human existence. The ideal of peace acquires in its meaning the foundations of a functional system of balancing between the ideas of social utopia and social life of achieving order and prosperity, so after the end of the Cold War and the situation of a further increase in the number of countries of the nuclear club, in fact, the idea of eternal peace was destroyed forever, but the following ideas of its preservation arise.Today there is an understanding of such a situation as the "diminishing usefulness of war", its recognition helps the methodological formation of effective relationships between members of certain alliances for the sake of improving the quality of life of the world community in connection with the reduction of unprofitable military spending. On the other hand, all the best intellectual forces in the world were thrown to achieve an effective result between the use of material and technical resources and the most accurate execution of military operational tasks - its result is the use of the capabilities of modern high-precision weapons.We can assert that any humanity is preserved in the mental definition of individual situations, because "ethics in general" does not exist, it is present only in individual cases - this is the ethics of processes with the help of which the possibilities of the situation are used. The conclusions prove the idea that the planetary consensus still remains an ideal reference point for the relationship of countries with different cultural, religious, political preferences, and only an appeal to the ethical principles of coexistence and understanding of the eternity of the life of the person himself in the generic sense can contribute to the achievement. The dream of an international order today can only be strengthened in parallel with the growth of the asymmetric nature and threats from the wars of the fourth generation, therefore, how this paradox of modernity will be resolved remains an open question, and the ideal of peace as a creative project of the Ukrainian state's defense power is a practical task for our young country. ; Новітня історія захисту територіальної незалежності України в умовах зростаючої небезпеки й невизначеності містить у собі потенцію соціального конфлікту, який вимагає формування принципових засад можливої моделі ціннісно-смислового вимірювання його результатів. Формується особливий підхід морального і політичного осмислення проблематики парадоксального співвідношення між реалізацією канонів державної справедливості відносно своїх громадян – етичних запобіжників військових дій – особистісного розуміння добра і зла кожним учасником теперішніх подій, тому метою даної статті є спроба проаналізувати планетарну проблему утримання людства від трагічних збройних конфліктів і катастрофи світових війн завдяки військовому паритету та авторитетно-визнаного лідерства певних країн у світовому порядку. Методи компаративного аналізу, аналітичного, діалектичного, історико-логічного забезпечують можливості теорії моралі для аналізу базових складових соціально-філософського виміру військового конфлікту. Результатами дослідження стає обґрунтування етичної концепції планетарного консенсусу заради любові до життя як соціокультурного феномену, вона включає в себе практику історичної селекції ідеального розуміння миру на засадах взаємодії релігійно-етичного та політико-ідеологічного вимірів людського існування. Ідеал миру набуває у її межах значення основи функціональної системи балансування між ідеями соціальної утопії та суспільної практики досягнення порядку та добробуту, так після закінчення холодної війни та ситуації подальшого збільшення кількості країн ядерного клубу, фактично назавжди була знищена ідея вічного миру, але виникають наступні ідеї його збереження. Сьогодні з'являється розуміння такого положення як «убывающая корисність війни», його визнання допомагає методичному формуванню ефективних взаємовідносин між членами певних альянсів заради покращення якості життя світової спільноти у зв'язку зі скороченням неприбуткових військових витрат. З іншого боку, всі найкращі інтелектуальні сили світу було кинуто для досягнення ефективного результату між використання матеріально-технічних ресурсів і максимально-точного виконання військових оперативних завдань – результатом стало використання можливостей сучасної високоточної зброї. Можемо стверджувати, що будь яка людяність зберігається у мисленому визначенні одиничних ситуацій, тому що «етика взагалі» не існує, вона є присутньою тільки в окремих випадках – це етика процесів за допомогою якої використовуються можливості ситуації. У висновках доведено ідею того, що планетарний консенсус дотепер залишається ідеальним орієнтиром для взаємовідносин країн з різними культурними, релігійними, політичними уподобаннями і тільки звернення до етичних принципів співіснування і розуміння вічності життя самої людини у родовому значенні може сприяти його досягненню.Мрія про міжнародний порядок сьогодні може укріплюватися тільки паралельно із зростанням асиметричного характеру та погроз з боку війн вже четвертого покоління, тому яким чином буде відбуватися вирішення зазначеного парадоксу сучасності залишається відкритим питанням, а ідеал миру як креативний проєкт оборонної могутності української держави є практичним завданням для нашої молодої країни.

To implement state policy in the fields of civil protection, protection of the population and territories from emergencies and their prevention, emergency response, rescue, fire fighting, fire and man-made safety, emergency services, as well as hydrometeorological activities There is the State Service of Ukraine for Emergencies (hereinafter SES of Ukraine) [1]. 7 emergency rescue formations (central subordination), including aviation, are subordinated to it; 25 emergency rescue teams of special purpose and 1182 district fire and rescue units (territorial subordination) [2]. According to the main capabilities of the units of the Rescue Service of Civil Defense are divided into: 1) units intended for extinguishing fires, rescuing people and property in case of fires, at facilities and territories, regardless of subordination and form of ownership, conducting emergency rescue operations, providing primary medical care to victims. 2) formation (detachments, centers) designed to eliminate accidents (catastrophes) of technogenic, natural and military nature, the consequences of natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, landslides, landslides, mudslides, floods, snow snowdrifts, icing, etc.), search and rescue, fire and rescue operations, international rescue operations, demining activities and civil and territorial defense measures, national and regional in nature. They include: - fire and rescue units - for firefighting, rescue of people and property at facilities and territories, regardless of subordination and form of ownership. - rescue units - designed to deploy and carry out rescue and other urgent work in the shortest possible time, to search (including the use of service dogs) and rescue people who are in destroyed, burning buildings, under the rubble, including excavation of victims from collapsed buildings, as well as to provide first aid to victims; - engineering - for conducting engineering reconnaissance of routes and centers of destruction, clearing of blockages, excavation of victims from under the damaged constructions, creation of special passages in blockages, collapse of designs, detection of damages in utility and energy and technological networks, preparation and maintenance of roads, formation of fencing anti-fire lanes; - radiation and chemical protection - conduct radiation and chemical reconnaissance, carry out dosimetric and chemical control of units, perform degassing, decontamination of uniforms and other material means, areas, roads and structures; - pyrotechnic - detect and destroy unused ammunition, including aircraft bombs and other explosive devices, neutralize the affected structural elements of buildings and houses, as well as pierce passages in the rubble by explosive methods; --water supply - designed for the development of water sources and equipment of water supply points; - communication - to establish and maintain reliable communication, which provides communication between departments, governing bodies and various forces of interaction; - material support - must timely meet the urgent needs of units with special equipment, fuel, products, protective equipment, clothing, medical, technical property and other material means. Units of the SES of Ukraine have at their disposal a significant amount of equipment, which can be divided, depending on its functionality and purpose for fire and rescue vehicles, vehicles for special work in emergencies and special cars. [3] Of the self-propelled vehicles for emergency response, wheeled vehicles for all types of work have become the most widespread. ; Для реалізації державної політики в сферах цивільного захисту, захисту населення і територій від надзвичайних ситуацій та запобігання їх виникненню, ліквідації надзвичайних ситуацій, рятувальної справи, гасіння пожеж, пожежної та техногенної безпеки, діяльності аварійно-рятувальних служб, а також гідрометеорологічної діяльності існує Державна служба України з надзвичайних ситуацій (далі ДСНС України) [1]. Їй підпорядковані 7 аварійно-рятувальних формувань швидкого реагування (центрального підпорядкування), в тому числі авіація; 25 аварійно-рятувальних загонів спеціального призначення та 1182 районних пожежно-рятувальних підрозділи (територіального підпорядкування) [2]. За основними можливостями підрозділи Оперативно-рятувальної служби цивільного захисту поділяються на: 1) підрозділи, призначені для гасіння пожеж, рятування людей та майна при пожежах, на об'єктах та територіях незалежно від підпорядкування та форми власності, проведення першочергових аварійно-рятувальних робіт, дання первинної медичної допомоги потерпілим. 2) формування (загони, центри), призначені для ліквідації аварій (катастроф) техногенного, природного та військового характеру, наслідків стихійних лих (землетрусів, буревіїв, зсувів ґрунту, обвалів, сельових потоків, повені, снігових заметів, обледеніння, тощо), проведення пошуково-рятувальних, пожежно-рятувальних робіт, міжнародних рятувальних операцій, здійснення заходів з розмінування територій та заходів цивільної і територіальної оборони, загальнодержавного та регіонального характеру. У їхньому складі функціонують: - пожежно-рятувальні підрозділи − для гасіння пожеж, рятування людей і майна на об'єктах і територіях незалежно від підпорядкування та форми власності. - рятувальні підрозділи − призначені для розгортання й проведення рятувальних та інших невідкладних робіт у найкоротші терміни, для розшуку (у тому числі з використанням службових собак) та порятунку людей, які знаходяться у зруйнованих, палаючих будівлях, під завалами, зокрема і відкопування постраждалих із завалених споруд, а також для надання першої медичної допомоги потерпілим; - інженерні − для ведення інженерної розвідки маршрутів та осередків ураження, розчищення завалів, відкопування постраждалих із-під пошкоджених споруд, створення спеціальних проїздів у завалах, обвалу конструкцій, виявлення пошкоджень у комунально-енергетичних та технологічних мережах, підготовки та утримання шляхів, утворення огороджувальних протипожежних смуг; - радіаційного та хімічного захисту − проводять радіаційну та хімічну розвідку, здійснюють дозиметричний та хімічний контроль підрозділів, виконують дегазацію, дезактивацію обмундирування та інших матеріальних засобів, ділянок місцевості, доріг та споруд; - піротехнічні − виявляють та знищують невикористані боєприпаси, у тому числі авіаційні бомби та інші вибухонебезпечні предмети, знешкоджують уражені елементи конструкцій споруд та будинків, а також пробивають проходи в завалах вибуховим методом; --водопостачання − призначені для розвідки джерел води та обладнання пунктів водопостачання; - зв'язку − для встановлення й підтримки надійного зв'язку, який забезпечує комунікацію між підрозділами, керівними органами та різними силами взаємодії; - матеріального забезпечення − мають своєчасно задовольнити нагальні потреби підрозділів спеціальним обладнанням, пальним, продуктами, засобами захисту, речовим, медичним, технічним майном та іншими матеріальними засобами. Підрозділи ДСНС України мають в своєму розпорядженні значну кількість техніки, яку умовно можна розділити, в залежності від її функціональних можливостей та призначення на пожежно-рятувальні автомобілі, машини для виконання спеціальних робіт в надзвичайних ситуаціях та спеціальні автомобілі. [3] Із самохідної техніки для ліквідації надзвичайних ситуацій найбільшого розповсюдження набула колісна техніка для всіх видів робіт.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the level and dynamics of victimization of representatives of some professions in Ukraine. The study was based on the official statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine and the results of a survey conducted by the author of the National Police officers. Professional victimization is a type of group victimization, which is distinguished on the basis of a person's occupation in a certain type of activity or profession. This feature is the basis for determining the social status of a person, and can be potentially associated with specific professional - risks of victimization. The following general statistical tendencies of professional victimization in Ukraine have been distinguished: 1) the most vulnerable categories of victims are employees of law enforcement agencies (employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, National Police and military personnel); 2) the second largest group of victims is the heads of enterprises, the third - doctors; 3) the smallest group of victims are employees of bodies, which are exercising the control over tax legislation compliance; 4) during last years there has been a general trend of the number of victims of criminal offenses, identified on the basis of professional affiliation, decreasing. Considering the indicators of professional victimization, it is necessary to take into account that: 1) the statistical representation of its indicators is formed on the basis of a number of professions that are highlighted in the reports of the Prosecutor General's Office of Ukraine; 2) the formation of these data is carried out through the prism of the latency of criminal offenses; 3) the list of professions and the equating of types of employment with professional is a constant and sometimes fleeting process, which is extremely difficult to cover with statistical accounting of criminal offenses. Police officers point to the existence of a connection between a person's occupation and the risk of becoming a victim of a crime (this is the opinion of 70% of respondents). At the same time, as a high risk of becoming a victim of a crime, the respondents singled out: officers of the National Police, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine, military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, medical workers, judges, employees of institutions for the execution of sentences, collectors, private entrepreneurs, etc. As well as having certain professional risks of victimization have been highlighted volunteers, community activists and bloggers. ; Статья посвящена анализу уровня и динамики виктимизации представителей некоторых профессий в Украине. Основой для проведения исследования стали официальные статистические данные Генеральной прокуратуры Украины и результаты проведенного автором анкетирования сотрудников Национальной полиции. Профессиональная виктимизация является видом групповой виктимизации и выделена по признаку занятия лицом определенным видом деятельности или профессией. Такой признак является основой для определения социального статуса человека, может быть потенциально связанным со специфическими – профессиональными – рисками виктимизации. Можно выделить следующие общие статистические тенденции профессиональной виктимизации в Украине: 1) наиболее уязвимыми категориями пострадавших являются сотрудники силовых ведомств (сотрудники органов МВД, Национальной полиции и военнослужащие); 2) второй по количеству пострадавших группой являются руководители предприятий, третьей – врачи; 3) наименьшее количество пострадавших среди сотрудников органов, осуществляющих контроль за соблюдением налогового законодательства; 4) в последнее время в государстве наблюдается общая тенденция к уменьшению количества пострадавших от уголовных преступлений, выделенных по признаку профессиональной принадлежности. Рассматривая показатели профессиональной виктимизации, необходимо учитывать, что: 1) статистическое представление о ее показателях формируется на основе только ряда профессий, которые выделяются в отчетности ГПУ; 2) формирование даже таких незначительных по количеству индикаторов по профессиям осуществляется сквозь призму латентности уголовных правонарушений; 3) перечень профессий и приравнивание видов занятости к профессиональным – постоянный, а иногда и быстротечный, процесс, охватить который статистическим учетом уголовных преступлений крайне сложно. Сотрудники полиции указывают на наличие связи между родом занятий человека и риском стать жертвой преступления (так считают 70 % опрошенных). При этом как имеющие высокий риск стать жертвой преступления респондентами выделялись: офицеры Национальной полиции, офицеры Службы безопасности Украины, военнослужащие Вооруженных Сил Украины, работники медицинской сферы, судьи, сотрудники учреждений исполнения наказаний, инкассаторы, частные предприниматели и др. Также как имеющих определенные профессиональные риски виктимизации было выделено волонтеров, общественных активистов и блогеров. ; Статтю присвячено аналізу рівня та динаміки віктимізації представників деяких професій в Україні. Основою для проведення дослідження стали офіційні статистичні дані Генеральної прокуратури України та результати проведеного авторкою анкетування працівників Національної поліції. Професійна віктимізація є видом групової віктимізації, що виокремлена за ознакою зайняття особою певним видом діяльності або професією. Така ознака є основою для визначення соціального статусу людини, що може бути потенційно пов'язаним зі специфічними – професійними – ризиками віктимізації. Можна виокремити такі загальні статистичні тенденції професійної віктимізації в Україні: 1) найбільш уразливими категоріями потерпілих є працівники силових відомств (працівники органів МВС, Національної поліції та військовослужбовці); 2) другою за кількістю потерпілих групою є керівники підприємств, третьою – лікарі; 3) найменша кількість потерпілих серед працівників органів, що здійснюють контроль за додержанням податкового законодавства; 4) останнім часом у державі спостерігається загальна тенденція до зменшення кількості потерпілих від кримінальних правопорушень, виокремлених за ознакою професійної приналежності. Розглядаючи показники професійної віктимізації, необхідно зважати на те, що: 1) статистичне уявлення про її показники формується на основі лише низки професій, що виокремлюються у звітності ГПУ; 2) формування навіть таких незначних за кількістю індикаторів за професіями здійснюється крізь призму латентності кримінальних правопорушень; 3) перелік професій та прирівнювання видів зайнятості до професійних – постійний, а подекуди й швидкоплинний, процес, охопити який статистичним обліком кримінальних правопорушень украй складно. Працівники поліції вказують на наявність зв'язку між родом занять особи та ризиком стати жертвою злочину (так вважають 70 % опитаних). При цьому як такі, що мають найвищий ризик стати жертвою злочину, респондентами виокремлювалися: офіцери Національної поліції, офіцери Служби безпеки України, військовослужбовці Збройних Сил України, працівники медичної сфери, судді, працівники установ виконання покарань, інкасатори, приватні підприємці та ін. Також як таких, що мають певні професійні ризики віктимізації, було виділено волонтерів, громадських активістів та блогерів.

Concerns about arduous work have increased since the recent debates around pension reforms. These led the legislators to give a legal definition to the notion of arduousness at work in November 2010. In accordance with this definition, the Personal account for arduousness prevention (C3P) entered into force in January 2015. However, the C3P was restricted to the sole constraints linked to physical efforts and painful postures, inadequate work environment and intensity of the work, which largely limited the implications of this reform. Nevertheless, in September 2017, the presidential ordinances establishing the Professional Prevention Account (C2P) to replace the C3P, further reduced the number of hardship criteria considered.Given the disastrous effects of arduousness on workers' health, one of the objectives of this thesis is to offer a broader view of arduousness at work. Thus, after having illustrated how the "hardship conventions" evolve historically and appear as major elements of the wage relation specific to each regulation mode, we identify work constraints which are strongly associated with poor employee health by using data from working conditions surveys (DARES).We have built a battery of synthetic indicators of hardship at work, thanks to which we map exposure to hardship on the French labor market. Among the results obtained, it emerges that certain social groups, such as low-educated workers, endure significant accumulations of hardship. We also underline that the different forms of arduousness are distributed in a markedly heterogeneous manner according to individual characteristics (sex, age, social category, etc.). From these hardship indicators we also show that professional families have extremely specific profiles. More precisely, among the socio-professional categories of low skilled workers, we distinguish five classes of professional families differently affected by hardship at work.In addition, we use these hardship indicators to search for possible compensatory mechanisms using standard salary equations and then using quantile regressions. It emerges that for almost all employees, intense work rhythms result in wage compensation regardless of the quantile of monthly or hourly income considered. For other types of hardship, our research shows that only a few are associated with wage compensation for employees with low levels of income. This is particularly the case for employees with low monthly wages up to the tenth percentile who display compensation in relation to their exposure to a physically aggressive work environment and occupying positions marked by a lack of pride at work. In contrast, exposure to high emotional demands and lack of support from the organization does not seem to be compensated by either monthly or hourly salary.Beyond the general findings based on all employees, in Chapter 4 we seek to highlight the main specificities affecting each professional class previously identified.Finally, we close this thesis with an analysis of the role of the employer's status, focusing on the specificities of the voluntary sector. On this occasion, we add other dimensions to measure the employment quality. ; L'intérêt suscité par la problématique de la pénibilité au travail s'est renforcé depuis les récents débats autour des réformes des retraites. Ceux-ci ont contribué à la formulation d'une définition légale de la notion de pénibilité au travail en novembre 2010. C'est conformément à cette définition que le Compte personnel de prévention de la pénibilité (C3P) est entré en vigueur en janvier 2015. Toutefois, la restriction du C3P aux contraintes liées aux efforts et postures pénibles, à un environnement de travail inadéquat physiquement et à l'intensité du rythme de travail limitaient les implications de cette réforme. Or les ordonnances de septembre 2017 instaurant le Compte professionnel de prévention (C2P) en remplacement du C3P ont rétréci encore le nombre de critères de pénibilité pris en compte.Compte tenu des effets délétères de la pénibilité sur la santé des travailleurs, l'un des objectifs de cette thèse est de proposer une vision élargie de la pénibilité au travail. Ainsi, après avoir illustré comment les « conventions de pénibilité » évoluent historiquement et s'inscrivent comme des éléments majeurs du rapport salarial propre à chaque mode de régulation, nous identifions les contraintes du travail fortement associées à un état de santé dégradé des salariés en exploitant les données des enquêtes Conditions de travail (DARES).Nous construisons une batterie d'indicateurs synthétiques de pénibilité au travail grâce auxquels nous effectuons une cartographie de l'exposition à la pénibilité sur le marché du travail français. Il en ressort notamment que certains groupes sociaux, comme les travailleurs peu diplômés, présentent d'importants cumuls de pénibilités. Nous soulignons également que les différentes formes de pénibilité sont réparties de manière nettement hétérogènes selon les caractéristiques individuelles (sexe, âge, catégorie sociale, …). A partir de ces indicateurs de pénibilité nous montrons également que les familles professionnelles présentent des profils bien spécifiques. Plus précisément, parmi les catégories socioprofessionnelles d'employés et ouvriers, nous distinguons cinq classes de familles professionnelles différemment affectées par la pénibilité au travail.De plus, nous mobilisons ces indicateurs de pénibilité pour rechercher l'existence d'éventuels mécanismes compensatoires grâce à des équations salariales standards puis en recourant à des régressions quantiles. Il en ressort que pour la quasi-totalité des salariés, les rythmes de travail intenses font bénéficier d'une compensation salariale quel que soit le quantile du revenu mensuel ou horaire considéré. Pour les autres formes de pénibilité, quelques-unes seulement sont associées à une compensation salariale pour les bas niveaux de revenu. C'est notamment le cas pour les salariés percevant de faibles rémunérations mensuelles jusqu'au dixième centile en ce qui concerne leur exposition à un environnement de travail physiquement agressif et à l'occupation de postes marqués par une absence de fierté au travail. En revanche, l'exposition aux fortes exigences émotionnelles et au manque de soutien de l'organisation ne semble pas être compensée aussi bien en salaire mensuel qu'horaire.Au-delà des constats généraux observés sur l'ensemble des salariés, nous cherchons dans le chapitre 4 à souligner les principales spécificités affectant chaque classe professionnelle précédemment identifiée.Enfin nous terminons cette thèse par une analyse du rôle du statut de l'employeur, en nous focalisant notamment sur les spécificités du secteur associatif. A cette occasion nous ajoutons d'autres dimensions liées à la qualité de l'emploi.

International Carpathian School is a fast-growing volunteer project in Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Ukraine, designed as a local centre of non-formal education to address youth adaptation to the globalized world. It intended to overcome the existing gaps in the education of socially conscious youth, finding optimal ways of skill-sharing activities to local communities. Among others, the school is oriented for delivering knowledge, skills and attitudes of the EU best practices in the field of municipal solid waste management (MSWM). In a broader meaning, the Carpathian School Agenda serves for the environmental protection of the vulnerable mountain landscapes to meet the Sustainable Development Goals Ukraine-2030 (hereof and after SDG), entered in force by the Decree of the President of Ukraine in order to ensure the national interests of Ukraine in relation to sustainable economic development [1]. The School activity is aligned with both SDG-4 "Quality education" and SDG-11 "Sustainable cities and communities". It has an interdisciplinary approach to learning where academic concepts of geoscience are coupled with real-world lessons. Carpathian Winter School hosted researches from Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia together with five educational entities from Baltic Sea Region (BSR). Scholars were exposed to a cross-cultural experience that facilitates connections between the classroom and the world around them. Simultaneously, the School is providing a prospect to local scientists in maintaining professional links with their foreign colleagues and obtaining hands-on scientific information on MSWM. Having a central geographical position and well-developed informal tuition activities, the Carpathian School may have a good chance to become a placement for students' mobility, people-to-people contacts and promoting youth employability that is coherent with The Eastern Partnership (EaP) policy [2]. The educational project of the Swedish Institute LASUWAMA [3], which was considered at the Carpathian Winter School, combined researchers from Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia with five educational institutions of the Baltic Sea region. Representatives of EU universities, involved in the development of educational programs, provided the relevant knowledge and skills, needed to students for gaining an in-depth understanding of the sustainable development concept [4], including, inter alia, access to further vocational training in EU countries ; Международная Карпатская школа – это быстрорастущий волонтерский проект в Косовской районе Ивано-Франковской области, Украина, разработанный как локальный центр неформального образования для решения проблем адаптации молодежи к глобальной среде глобализированного мира. Он был направлен на преодоление существующих пробелов в образовании социально сознательной молодежи, поиск оптимальных способов обмена навыками с местными сообществами. Среди прочего, школа ориентирована на передачу знаний, навыков и отношения к лучшим практикам ЕС в области управления твердыми бытовыми отходами (ТБО). В более широком смысле, Карпатская школьная программа служит защите окружающей среды уязвимых горных ландшафтов для достижения Целей устойчивого развития (ЦУР) Украина-2030 (далее и далее ЦУР), вступивших в силу Указом Президента Украины в целях обеспечения национальных интересов Украины относительно устойчивого экономического развития [1]. Деятельность Школы согласована как с ЦУР-4 «Качественное образование», так и с ЦУР-11 «Устойчивые города и сообщества». В нем используется междисциплинарный подход к обучению, в котором академические концепции геонаук сочетаются с уроками реального мира. Карпатская зимняя школа собрала исследователей из Украины, Грузии и Армении вместе с пятью образовательными учреждениями из региона Балтийского моря (РБМ). Ученые познакомились с межкультурным опытом, который способствует установлению связей между классом и окружающим миром. Одновременно Школа предоставляет местным ученым возможность поддерживать профессиональные связи со своими зарубежными коллегами и получать практическую научную информацию о ТБО. Имея центральное географическое положение и хорошо развитую неформальную учебную деятельность, Карпатская школа может иметь хорошие шансы стать местом для мобильности студентов, контактов между людьми и содействия трудоустройству молодежи, что согласуется с политикой Восточного партнерства (ВП) [2]. Образовательный проект шведского института LASUWAMA [3], который рассматривался в Карпатской зимней школе, объединил исследователей из Украины, Грузии и Армении с пятью учебными заведениями региона Балтийского моря. Представители университетов ЕС, участвующие в разработке образовательных программ, предоставили студентам соответствующие знания и навыки, необходимые для получения глубокого понимания концепции устойчивого развития [4], включая, в частности, доступ к дальнейшему профессиональному обучению в странах ЕС ; Міжнародна карпатська школа - це швидкозростаючий волонтерський проект на Косівщині (Івано-Франківська область, Україна), задуманий як місцевий центр неформальної освіти для вирішення питань адаптації молоді до глобалізованого світу. Він мав намір подолати існуючі прогалини в освіті соціально свідомої молоді, знайти оптимальні способи обміну навичками для місцевих громад. Серед іншого, школа орієнтована на надання знань, компетентностей і навичок та поширення кращих практик ЄС у сфері поводження з твердими побутовими відходами (ТПВ). У більш широкому значенні, Карпатська школа служить для захисту вразливих гірських ландшафтів для досягнення Цілей сталого розвитку Україна 2030 (далі ЦСР). впроваджених Указом Президента України з метою забезпечення національних інтересів України щодо сталого розвитку економіки [1]. Діяльність школи узгоджується як із ЦСР-4 "Якісна освіта", так і із ЦСР-11 "Сталі міста та громади". Школа впроваджує міждисциплінарний підхід до навчання, де академічні концепції геоекології поєднуються з практичними прикладами. Одночасно вона надає перспективу місцевим науковцям у підтримці професійних зв'язків із закордонними колегами та отриманні наукової інформації щодо поводження з ТПВ. Маючи центральне географічне положення та досвід впровадження неформальної освіти, Карпатська школа може мати хороші шанси стати місцем для мобільності студентів, контактів між людьми та сприяти працевлаштуванню молоді, що відповідає політиці Східного партнерства, спільної політичної ініціативи, спрямованої на поглиблення та зміцнення відносин між Європейським Союзом (ЄС), його державами-членами та шістьма східнимисусідами: Вірменією, Азербайджаном, Білоруссю,Грузією,Молдовоюта Україною [2]. Освітній проект Шведського Інституту LASUWAMA [3], діяльність якого була розглянута у Карпатській зимовій школі, поєднав науковців з України, Грузії та Вірменії, з колегами із п'ятьох навчальних закладів регіону Балтійського моря. Представники університетів країн ЄС, які брали участь у розробці освітніх програм, забезпечили здобуття належних знань та навичок, необхідних студентам для поглибленого сприйняття концепції сталого розвитку, затвердженої документом Саміту ООН Ріо-92 "Порядок денний на ХХІ століття» [4], включаючи, серед іншого, доступ до подальшого професійного навчання в країнах ЄС

Background Although there is no proof that older people become infected by SARS-CoV-2 more than younger people do (WHO 2020), "[e]xisting literature suggests that age is an important predictor of poor outcomes among patients with COVID-19" (Mills, Kaye, Mody 2020: 1). This leads to older adults (globally agreed upon as people aged 60 years and older, WHO 2018) having converted into an even more vulnerable social group during the 2019- global pandemic. To the physical and psychological fragilities connected with ageing, an entire new set of issues has indeed added itself to their conditions, as the virus impacted on this population harder. One such problematic aspect is the economic disadvantage at which high numbers of seniors have found themselves to be, for instance in the United States of America, "according to estimates from the Elder Index, a county-level measure of the income needed by older adults to meet basic needs" (Li, Mutchler 2020: 478). Nursing homes and long-term care institutions, by definition inhabited by elderly citizens, also contributed to making them subject to early, sudden and repeated outbreaks of the disease (Chen, Chevalier, Long 2021). Yet another demographic datum is that the older population that was either killed or severely affected, at various levels, by COVID-19 was mostly represented by women (Peterman et. al. 2020). Aims and methods Whether female seniors fell victim to the pandemic more than their male counterparts due to force majeure, since women over 60 are a statistically larger group than men (UN 2019), is one of the research questions this study intends to address. Another thesis will be explored, though, according to which "COVID-19 has exacerbated issues that already left older women at a significant disadvantage compared to men" (Zycher 2020). In order to investigate and evaluate the two differing positions, a discursive analysis of information about older females who have been and are being affected by the pandemic will be carried out. The depictions and representations of this specific social group shall be reconstructed and compared against hard data, from a perspective that definitely stems from Critical Discourse Studies (e.g. Wodak, Meyer 2015; Flowerdew, Richardson 2018), but will not hesitate to delve into research from other fields such as economics, sociology, health(care) and medicine, statistics and more, whenever necessary. Studies on ageing and (female) gender (e.g. Ylänne 2012, Anderson 2019) will necessarily also be consulted. Material The relationship between older women and COVID-19 will be explored in English-language a) academic research; b) texts authored, edited, published, distributed or ultimately endorsed by governmental and supra-governmental organisations (the US, the UK and other English-speaking developed countries, the EU, the WHO, etc.); c) mass media news, when reporting data and information stemming from a) and b). Due to the ample variety of text types and genres considered, and to the fact that the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic at the time of writing is far from over, though it has entered the mass vaccination phase in early 2021, the texts for analysis are expected to be collected and thus scrutinised following quality- more than quantity-based criteria. Expected results and relevance The research behind this proposal is currently work-in-progress. Results are expected to contribute, firstly, to ageing studies, at the beginning of the United Nations Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030); secondly, to women-focused studies – a wording suggested as preferable to 'Women's Studies', because it includes not only Women's Studies as such but also Sex and Gender Medicine (Grego et al. 2020) and socio-economic disciplines when they focus on women. The latter, non-linguistic perspectives will of course be drawn upon only insofar as they prove functional to producing remarks on the discursive constructions and social critique conveyed by language. Methodologically, it is hoped this study may add itself to those contributing to the consolidation of trans-disciplinary approaches, which by today no longer need to be considered innovative and desirable but a necessity, if research is to address increasingly complex phenomena affecting people at a global level and creating and modifying social vulnerabilities at an unprecedented pace worldwide. Select bibliography Anderson, C. 2019. Discourses of Ageing and Gender. The Impact of Public and Private Voices on the Identity of Ageing Women. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Chen, K.M., Chevalier, A.J., Long, E.F. 2021. "Nursing home staff networks and COVID-19". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Jan 2021, 118 (1) e2015455118. Flowerdew, J., Richardson, J.E. 2018 (eds). The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies. London and New York: Routledge. Grego, S., Pasotti, E., Moccetti, T., Maggioni, A.P. 2020. "'Sex and gender medicine': il principio della medicina di genere". G Ital Cardiol 2020; 21(8): 602-606. Li, Y., J.E. Mutchler 2020. "Older adults and the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic". Journal of Aging & Social Policy, 32:4-5, 477-487. Mills, J.P., Kaye, S., Mody, L. 2020. "COVID-19 in older adults: clinical, psychosocial, and public health considerations". Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight, 5(10): e139292. Peterman, A., Potts, A., O'Donnell, M., Thompson, K., Shah, N., Oertelt-Prigione, S., van Gelder, N. 2020. Pandemics and Violence Against Women and Children. Working paper 528, April 2020. Center for Global Development. UN 2019. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Population dynamics. "Population by age and sex 2020". https://population.un.org/. WHO 2018. "Ageing and health". 5 February 2018. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health. WHO 2020. "Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) advice for the public: Mythbusters. Older people, younger people". 23 November 2020. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters?gclid=CjwKCAiAm-2BBhANEiwAe7eyFI6bpBFOHEbuA3HGK2JlxWtn5TYLFTt-hqNXNXRA87z73-gNvVBk5BoC24AQAvD_BwE#older-people. Wodak, R., Meyer, M. (eds) 2015. Methods of Critical Discourse Studies. 3rd ed. London: SAGE. Ylänne, V. (ed.) 2012. Representing Ageing. Images and Identities. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Zycher, A. 2020. "The impact of the pandemic on older women". Pro Bono Australia. 7 September 2020.