Despite tons of out-of-state money flowing into his campaign Sheehy apparently thinks the increasingly befuddled Donald Trump will come to his rescue in Bozeman next week.

What’s puzzling, of course, is why any of this is necessary. Just look at the facts. Every statewide elected office in Montana is held by Republicans except Tester’s Senate seat.  One might think, given the obvious, that Mr. Sheehy could probably settle for doing his own campaigning and presenting himself to Montana’s voters without the brash accompaniment of Trump’s tidal waves of lies, insults and threats.

But apparently this “American hero” as Trump calls him, isn’t confident that he can pull this one off on his own and needs another out-of-stater to tell Montanans how to vote.

Or maybe it’s to convince us that Sheehy, who has never run for elected office and remains in far too many ways, an unknown quantity, should replace Montana’s senior Senator because his total lack of experience at public policy or governing will serve the state so much better than Tester.

Whether you like Tester or not, one has to acknowledge that he was a State senator for eight years, during which time he rose to be elected President of the Montana Senate by his colleagues. After winning in 2006, Tester has now been negotiating the sharp teeth of the U.S. Senate for 18 years.  If there’s one thing Tester lacks, it’s certainly not extensive experience in making law, appropriating funds, implementing programs, and overseeing the vast spectrum of the federal government.

But here’s the rub — Sheehy’s hoped-for reinforcement has been having a rather rough go of it lately.  Trump’s pick of J.D. Vance as his vice president candidate has not exactly thrilled the GOP’s top dogs.  In fact, just the opposite as Vance keeps stumbling over his own words and positions, including his incredible statement that the country is being run by “childless cat ladies.”

They say when you find yourself in a hole, quit digging.  But Vance has in fact, dug the hole much deeper by doubling down on his belief that unless you have kids, you’re a liability to society because you won’t care as much about the future.  Apparently that would include Dolly Parton, who made a conscious decision not to have children but is certainly one of the most accomplished, caring, generous, and much-loved women in the world.

Yet, while Vance brings unneeded negative coverage to the campaign, Old Donald is having a very rough ride of his own. Just this week he had what can only be described as a disastrous interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in which his racism and sexism were on full display.

There may be places an increasingly confused Donald Trump feels he can get away with claiming Vice President Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black” several years ago — but not at a convention of Black journalists. Since Harris’ mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican, she is rightfully both Indian and Black — and assailing her race is just another low in the very low life of the ex-president.

One thing Sheehy should hope is that Trump actually remembers what seat he’s running for.  Just this week in another bid to prop up a candidate in Pennsylvania, Trump’s old and tired brain mis-fired again, and he twice claimed his support for “the future governor” of Pennsylvania.  But the candidate, David McCormick, is running for the Senate. It would be funny were it not so pitiful — and just another in the growing evidence of Trump’s declining faculties.

The post Shaky Sheehy Calls for Dubious Reinforcements appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by George Ochenski.

Faced with a rise in the number of criminals in Papua New Guinea who are now armed and shooting at the police, Police Commissioner David Manning says “all gloves are off”.

“We will not be practising any leniency and we will neutralise the criminals through any means — meaning they will be shot and killed,” he said.

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Last month in Northern province, a policeman was shot and killed by armed 16-year-olds who had access to firearms and were committing crimes in the province.

This week settlers who were allegedly evicted opened fire at police officers with a stray bullet wounding a female reporter.

The escalating law and order problems even got Prime Minister James Marape and former prime minister Peter O’Neill “yelling” and blaming each other over daily killings nationwide.

O’Neill challenged Marape to explain what the government’s plans were on tackling the escalating law and order situation nationwide.

Countering aggression
However, Manning said: “The RPNGC [Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary] is moving from what had been an overarching emphasis on crime prevention over recent decades to focus on responding to criminal activity and countering aggression head-on.

“Standing orders for police officers to neutralise violent offenders through the escalated and reasonable use of force are being reinforced across units.”

The RPNGC, with the support of the Marape government, is repositioning police personnel and assets to take a harder stand against violent offenders and domestic terrorists.”

“The ‘soft glove’ approach as the frontline policy has not worked, and now the gloves are off and the frontline is the confrontation and neutralisation of criminal activity at its roots,” Manning said.

Police officers were trained in the escalated use of force when confronting criminal activities — up to and including the use of lethal force — and they had sworn an oath to fulfil this duty, he added.

Empowering commands
Commissioner Manning said that an important component of this direction included further empowering provincial police commands to engage with provincial administrations to respond to local crime problems.

“Legislation is being developed that clearly articulates actions of domestic terrorism, and the changes in our police force counter-terrorism approach will be reflected in this policy development.

According to information received, the estimated number of firearms possessed by civilians stands at “tens of thousands”.

With the high number of the proliferation of firearms since 2022, the number of firearms has increased to an unknown figure.

Republished from the PNG Post-Courier with permission.

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

Located in Northern Brazil, the region is home to roughly 200 Xipaya people who have faced displacement by the construction of a hydroelectric dam and violence. For over a decade, illegal gold mining has led to mercury-contaminated waters, deforestation, murders, rape and sex-trafficking in Indigenous lands and communities. Recently, a group led by other Indigenous people, armed by miners, killed two Yanomami people and wounded five others.

Last week, the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin, or COICA, which represents Indigenous organizations across nine countries in the Amazon basin, declared a state of emergency for Indigenous land defenders. Citing over 200 murders of Indigenous rights defenders, the declaration calls on governments and the United Nations to help secure the right for Indigenous people to protect their land. 

According to a new report by the Hutukara Yanomami Association, an Indigenous advocacy group, illegal gold mining has increased across the Amazon and skyrocketed on Yanomami land, the largest Indigenous territory in Brazil and north of Xipaya territory. Known as Garimpos, the relatively small-scale, illegal mines destroyed more than 8,000 acres of rainforest in 2021 representing a 46 percent increase in mining from 2020. 

In the first three months of 2022, deforestation in the Amazon has set a new record according to the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research. From January through March of this year, the rainforest saw more than 360 square miles of deforestation — a 64 percent increase from last year and the highest total during that time period since data collection began in 2015.

Earlier this month, thousands of Indigenous people marched in the capital of Brasilia to demand a halt to legislation put forward by President Jair Bolsonaro that would open Indigenous land to commercial mining and agriculture. According to opinion polling, Bolsonaro is trailing former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for the upcoming presidential election this October with 80 percent of voters saying that protecting the Amazon should be a priority for candidates and that plans to protect it would increase their chances of election. 

Lula, who spent 580 days in prison over a corruption scandal, has been touting his environmental platform as a contrast to Bolsonaro, who many Indigenous groups see as a threat. 

This story was originally published by Grist with the headline Amid illegal Amazon gold mining, Indigenous land defenders get reinforcements on Apr 19, 2022.

This content originally appeared on Grist and was authored by Joseph Lee.