UCA is partnering with the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Craft Lake City, and Utah Film Commission on a new initiative, #801creativewomen—a group of Utah women in arts & humanities that advocate, support, and collaborate with each other.
Thanks to financial support from Utah Humanities and Holladay Arts Council, we invite you to attend a FREE TO THE PUBLIC panel discussion on the topic of “The Past, Present, and Future of Women in the Cultural Sector” followed by a sexual harassment training from Utah Coalition Against Sexual Assault (UCASA).
Moderated by Lara Jones of 90.9FM KRCL
Panelists:
Angela Brown (SLUG Magazine/Craft Lake City)
Betsy Wallace (Sundance Institute)
Brittney Nystrom (ACLU Utah)
Celestia Carson (Women in Architecture - Salt Lake City)
Dee-Dee Darby Duffin (actress/singer)
Jena Woodbury (Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company)
Virginia Pearce (Utah Film Commission)
While our nonprofit cultural organizations employ primarily women, work by women is still not equally represented. According to a 2017 study, Utah ranks 50th in the nation for gender equality. In the midst of the #metoo movement that is reshaping the national entertainment industry, perhaps no other place is in more urgent need of meaningful, structured opportunities to discuss gender equity in the cultural sector. As the voice of the arts, humanities, and cultural sector of Utah, UCA and our partners in #801creativewomen have a responsibility to fulfill this need and facilitate this important discussion for workers and organizations in this sector.
Everyone needs training, even if you're a woman or a "woke" man. We invite you to make this panel and training a priority. Share with your colleagues using the #801creativewomen and lets make Utah a more equal place!
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
9/26/2018
Contact: Richard Piatt
Richard.piatt@mail.house.gov
Rep. Love Passes 5th House Bill in 115th Congress
Legislation Increases Oversight of Sanctions on State Sponsors of Terrorism
WASHINGTON D.C. – By an overwhelming bipartisan majority, Rep. Mia Love’s bill to give Congress better oversight into the financial services provided to state sponsors of terrorism passed the House of Representatives today. It is the fifth Rep. Love-sponsored bill to pass the House this session of Congress.
The Banking Transparency for Sanctioned Persons Act of 2018, H.R. 6751 would require the Treasury Secretary to submit an annual report to Congress that would include:
· A copy of any license issued by the Secretary that authorizes a financial institution to provide financial services benefitting a state sponsor of terrorism (Iran, North Korea, Syria and Sudan);
· A list of any foreign financial institutions that knowingly conducted a significant transaction for a person sanctioned by the United States for serious human rights abuses and corruption.
“We need to know more about the transactions the Treasury is authorizing,” Rep. Love said. “In the fight against terror, it makes sense to share this kind of information with Congress since licenses represent exemptions to our sanctions programs.”
H.R. 6751 would require a list of institutions engaged in such activity, and puts foreign banks on alert that Congress will be watching their dealings with human rights abusers and corrupt officials.
Other Rep. Love Bills Passed this Congress:
· Juab County Conveyance Act (H.R. 3777), conveys just over two acres of land from the Forest Service to the county for a wildland fire protection headquarters.
· The Small Bank Holding Company Relief Act, (H.R. 4771), makes it easier for small banks to lend money in their communities. (Signed into law as part of S. 2155).
· STOP Taxpayer Obligations to Perpetrators of Sexual Harassment Act (H.R. 4674), stops the practice of making payments, funded with taxpayer dollars, to settle cases on behalf of members of Congress accused of sexual harassment. It also includes protection for victims, portions of which were adopted into a larger set of reforms in the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 Reform Act (H.R. 4924)..
· Confirming State Land Grants for Education Act (H.R. 2582), allows the state of Utah to acquire land that will be dedicated to raising revenue for the benefit of Utah students.
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Lie and deny
By Steve Klinger
730 words
It is difficult to keep my head from exploding with each new day’s political developments. So now Rod Rosenstein is quitting or may be fired, leaving Mueller’s Russia investigation in grave jeopardy. Or maybe not. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces an increasing number of allegations of sexual misbehavior which may derail his nomination to the high court. Or maybe not. Trump addresses the United Nations and gravely blames all the world’s ills on Iran. Sounds like a recipe for a Trumped-up invasion/October surprise. Or maybe not. In any case the waves of breaking news wash over us with relentless ferocity, keeping us locked in hypnotic distraction.
That said, though the Democrats are not blameless, the Republicans continue to astound me with the temerity they summon to lie to the American people, and mostly get away with it, while Trump spews bombast and orchestrates more distractions. The hypocrisy and the distortion of reality are mind-boggling. After stonewalling Merrick Garland for over a year the GOP now expects us to believe there is great urgency to install Kavanaugh, essentially ignoring and denying credible accusations that would have had them performing exploding flying pinwheels if they had been leveled at a Democratic nominee or elected official at any level.
Mitch McConnell, one of the most immoral and hypocritical human beings to haunt the halls of Congress in recent memory, proclaims the Senate will quickly proceed to an “up or down vote” on Kavanaugh regardless of accusers’ testimony that Kavanaugh may have committed attempted rape and other sexual assaults as a teenager.
Trump boasted a while back that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and face no consequences, and now a comparable range of behavior apparently is permissible to anyone so designated by the Grand Old Party.
What is happening here is the attempted establishment of an authoritarian state, where truth is what the leader(s) declare it to be, and all accusations to the contrary are branded as “unfair” political conspiracies. I have no doubt that if Republicans hold both houses of Congress in the midterm elections, there will be a wholesale purge of White House and Cabinet officials, the dissolution of the Mueller investigation and a full-speed assault on the shreds of our remaining institutions. My fears were echoed by Hillary Clinton last week when she spoke with Rachel Maddow. To wit, how can any rational adult believe Trump will relinquish power under a Republican majority, even if he should lose his re-election bid in 2020? He said he was prepared to cry fraud if he lost in 2016. Ironically, now he would blame the Russians for an unfavorable outcome, as he may well do if the Democrats take back the House (and/or Senate) this November. Is there anything in his past behavior to indicate he would accept a negative election outcome?
All he needs to do then is declare a national emergency (or invent one, such as a war someplace) and take the executive actions to bury Justice Department investigations of his campaign’s or administration’s behavior regarding conspiracy or obstruction of justice.
The Republicans in power have shown zero inclination to block or even seriously object to Trump’s outrageous and perhaps treasonous assaults on the limits of executive power. They have corrupted the process of judicial nominations with arrogance and impunity. Why would anyone believe there is a thread of decency in the moral fabric of any elected official who would any longer bear the Republican label? Is there, as some have asked, a line they would not cross?
The sexual excesses and crimes of men who covet political and entrepreneurial power are very much expressions of their obsession with power, so I suppose it should be no surprise that sexual misbehavior from a Supreme Court nominee is described as “a hiccup” or in other terms by members of Congress implying no consequence. News flash: Even hiccups can have consequences when they increase in frequency and severity.
If Kavanaugh’s nomination is railroaded through, there needs to be a national strike. If Rosenstein is fired, there needs to be a million-strong march on Washington and acts of civil disobedience. Even if nothing similarly egregious happens before election day, there needs to be a national awakening that brings women and youth and minorities to the polls like never before to cast their votes in what truly seems like a last chance to save American democracy.
-end-
Steve Klinger is a veteran community journalist and college English instructor based in southern New Mexico. Frequently skeptical about the capacity of the written word to inspire activism, he also writes songs, hoping to add the power of music to his topical lyrics.
