Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

5 - 11 August 2019

by Bjinse Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:36:50 PM EST

Your take on this week's news


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by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:40:04 PM EST
EU border force Frontex accused of allowing abuse of migrants
Citing internal documents, the report said Frontex had allowed guards to use dogs to hunt down migrants, as well as to deploy pepper spray and batons, particularly along EU borders in Bulgaria, Hungary and Greece.

The investigation accused local guards of using force or threats to return migrants back across the EU's external borders, thus obstructing the basic right to seek asylum.

archived
Opinion: Europe is walling itself in, 2015
Frontex erected an invisible wall along the Mediterranean coast a long time ago...
Special meeting of the European Council, 23 April 2015
Strengthening our presence at sea, Preventing illegal migration flows, Reinforcing internal solidarity and responsibility

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:33:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
German police say 71 officers injured during deportations
Germany's federal police have said that "of the 284 officers attacked during repatriations, 71 were injured" in 2018, according to a report Sunday in the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

The figures only pertain to incidents related to deportation flights, for which the federal police are responsible. Germany's state-level police handle transportation to the airport for people slated to be deported.

There were 274 recorded instances of officers being attacked in 2017.

China denies entry to German Greens party, one free Uighur prophet

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:38:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Seine-Saint-Denis, the suburb left behind
In Seine-Saint-Denis, the administrative department northeast of Paris that takes in a number of proches banlieues (inner suburbs), four mayors have decided to take the French State to court for breaching the principle of republican equality, a right guaranteed under the constitution.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:48:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Transport companies fear growing number of stowaways post-Brexit
On Tuesday, 27 Vietnamese were found in a refrigerated lorry at Hook of Holland, including a number of children. An Irish lorry driver was arrested on suspicion of people trafficking. A day earlier a Polish driver was arrested for trying to smuggle two Iraqis into Britain while at Eijsden in Limburg, 20 people, thought to be from Eritrea, were seen to jump off a lorry. Three of them could be detained, the paper said.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 04:31:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Von der Leyen gets pope's blessing
"Yes, also because a woman can be well-suited to reviving the strength of the founding fathers. Women have the ability to bring people together, to unite."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 11:03:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
wut: "'No one had any intention of insulting anyone,' said Mike Van den Bosch, who attended the party in a safari costume he rented for €25."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 11:10:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Lot of fun in Politico Europe those days; must be the summer vacations.
From the same piece:
"It's important to understand this is not an Africa-themed event -- this is a colonization-themed event," said Dominique Day, vice chair of the U.N. Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, who visited Belgium on a fact-finding mission in February.

"This party involves you getting excited about immersing yourself in cultural stereotypes ... It's a glorification of ways African bodies, resources, land, the lives of Africans were both stolen and exploited for individual gain and national gain."

The controversial event, she said, was "quite consistent" with the U.N. group's finding published earlier this year. "There's this structural and endemic pattern of racism and cultural stereotype that exists very much unacknowledged not just within institutions but within society as a whole," she said.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:09:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
2015-2025 Decade for People of African Descent

Happy Black History Y5 D222

archived
Well, I don't know about that
UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, US edition
Mark Twain on censorship
Do any of them really compare with King Leopold? This is how he dealt with him.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 06:48:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Danish capital hit by second blast in four days: police
"'These were attacks against [government] buildings, not people,' [Chief Police Inspector Jorgen Bergen Skov] said."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 09:01:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
And the Danish government is rightly trying to shore up the border against Sweden before the disease spreads.
No help should be expected from the Swedish government.
by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 09:44:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Swede suspected of Copenhagen blast to be EXTRADITED to Denmark
"The Malmo district court on Friday formally detained the 22-year-old Swede after Swedish police arrested him on Tuesday at the request of Denmark, the public broadcaster said."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:01:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Norway mosque shooting an 'attempted act of terror'
"'We are looking at an attempted act of terror,' acting chief of the police operation Rune Skjold told a press conference. Skjold said the investigation had shown that the man appeared to hold 'far-right' and 'anti-immigrant' views."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 11:10:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Denmark mulls tighter border checks with Sweden after Copenhagen bombing
kind of a variation of the ASF hog fencing intiative? m'k.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 05:21:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Apologies, shouldn't have posted my duplicate above, you had it covered!

Yes, it's the only way. Sweden is patient zero.
Norway and Finland can and will do the same.

by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 09:46:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"'humankind must treat nature with care and show some ...'

< pick teeth, suck vigorously >

"'humility,' the chancellor stressed."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 11:08:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Smoke from Burning Amazon Turns São Paulo Afternoon into Midnight

Humanity and the planet, an abusive marriage

by das monde on Wed Aug 21st, 2019 at 06:37:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Unease in Scotland over Spanish embassy's monitoring of Nicola Sturgeon
The monitoring of the Scottish prime minister, Nicola Sturgeon, by the Spanish embassy to the UK, revealed by El Nacional, has caused surprise in Scotland. Scottish newspaper The National has reported the details in an article entitled Revealed: Spain's secret dossier on Nicola Sturgeon's speech.
Could the Catalan pro-independence leaders be pardoned?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 11:06:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 04:22:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oma Upee Afro
"The sense of belonging woven around hair is reminiscent of the affinity and kinship that people of the African diaspora recreate in hair care establishments the world over."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 09:07:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
about those Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories
Gibraltar releases Iran supertanker that US sought to seize
Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo said the U.S. was still on time to request a new legal procedure for seizing the Grace 1, but that provisions under the European Union's sanctions regulations were ending Thursday after the Iranian government assured him in writing that the ship will not send its 2.1 million barrels of crude to a sanctioned entity in Syria. ... Picardo's office released copies of communications with the Syrian Embassy in the U.K. shortly after the British overseas territory's Supreme Court decision to release the tanker.

The court had delayed its decision after the [US] Justice Department made a last-minute application to extend the detention of the oil tanker, the Gibraltar government had said earlier Thursday. But there was no U.S. application to the court when the hearing resumed in the afternoon, the Gibraltar Chronicle newspaper reported, quoting the court's chief justice, Anthony Dudley. Picardo said that any U.S. request to detain the Grace 1 would now to be examined under bilateral agreements and outside of the EU sanction mechanism. ... On Thursday, Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement that the "investigations conducted around the Grace 1 are a matter for the government of Gibraltar," and that it couldn't comment further.
[...]
Signaling preparations for the expected release of the ship, the captain, an Indian national, and three officers of the Grace 1 were released from detention, the Gibraltar government said. The whereabouts of the crew, none of whom are Iranian, were not immediately known. The crew of the Grace 1 includes sailors from India, Pakistan and Ukraine, according to Iranian state television.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 05:05:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
President T is not gonna be happy
by asdf on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 12:31:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Greenland's government tells President Donald Trump the island is 'not for sale'
Greenland's government told President Donald Trump on Friday that the island was "not for sale" following reports the president entertained the idea of buying the Danish territory.

"We are open for business, but we're not for sale," wrote Greenland's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a tweet

The Wall Street Journal first reported on Thursday that Trump had floated the idea of buying Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory, though it was unclear if Trump was joking or not, based on other reports.

archived post-colonial mischief
a raft of documents addressing tax avoidance and evasion
"Grey": Anti-BEPS Regimes
A new deal emerges?
And your point is?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 12:40:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
With the amount it costs Denmark, why would Trump want to buy it? Wouldn't it be a better deal to sell Hawaii to China?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 12:56:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
~ California Cohort of Petty Landlords

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 01:18:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
priorities
A turbulent 20 years for Greek banks
M&A, radically abridged
North Macedonia applies deal with Greece to statues
cultural misappropriation

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 07:08:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Alexander of North Macedonia.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 08:04:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 08:33:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
PwC to manage remnants of Britain's 'bad bank'
The auditor, criticised by politicians for failing to flag problems at Northern Rock in audits prior to its failure in 2007, has been awarded a 16.5 million pound ($20 million) contract to manage UK Asset Resolution's (UKAR) remaining business, according to a government contract notice posted online.
[...]
Following a string of asset sales, UKAR's balance sheet was slashed [from 100B pounds] to 8 billion pounds by April this year and it was later able to repay the last of the 48.7 billion pound of state loans it used to fund the bailouts. ..."Using the Official Journal of the EU (OJEU) process, we have agreed to outsource this work to PwC once UKAR has completed its objective," the spokesman said.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:27:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Fewer Banks in African American Neighborhoods Contribute to the U.S. Racial Wealth Gap*
A new study published by McKinsey & Co [!] on Tuesday found that one [!] of the contributing factors to the U.S. racial wealth gap is the lack of banks [NO] in predominantly [?!] African American communities. Lack of access [NO] to mainstream [!] financial services [NO] makes it difficult for African American's to accumulate savings.
Stop. What the fuck is the first prerequisite of "savings"?
Stop. What the fuck is the first prerequisite of bank profitability?

--
* "I reached out to Margaret Kimberley, Editor and Senior Columnist, Black Agenda Report for a comment and she stated ..." wtf. Wrong premise. Wrong evidence. Wrong informants. Wrong venue. To whom it may concern: In my experience, BAR contributors possess little to no subject matter expertise about economic, financial, or *law marketing, much less "pan-African" political solidarity. Search it and weep. After more than 15 years weekly patronage, I quit BAR earlier this year, when the editorial team (Kimberley, Dixon, Ford) launched a multi-channel campaign specifically to discredit "mainstream" empirical research and political activists supporting US entitlement to financed reparations for descendants of US slaves. From the crater of the Washington Post's propornot revenue destruction, where they've idled, the editors alternately ascribed to those persons "nativist" FFS, Russian bot, "divisive," and, ironically, ill-informed motives: "neoliberal" talking points all. Obversely, flogging to ill-repute of #ADOS "conversations" reveals little more than the masthead's figurative death as an "opposition", "left," or "progressive" polemic publisher. I am not agreed with every independent social media actor or tactics to "poison the tree" of so-called justice claims, but I sure as shit am not on the side of bullshit --That's the technical term for "There have even been rumors that mathematics is used in economics (and in other social sciences) either for the deliberate purpose of mystification or to confer dignity upon commonplaces as French was once used in diplomatic communications." (J.R. Newman 9ed. The World f Mathematics. 1956). There was and is not call for that.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 04:38:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ethnic and racial disparities in saving behavior

I'm not even working to "discover" or "study" variable data values. The evidence is all around us.

P > R - C
never expresses an equality. Balance the fucking equation.

I hate losing my cool.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 05:47:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by asdf on Wed Aug 21st, 2019 at 02:32:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Gibraltar decides to free seized Iranian tanker, US threatens sanctions on crew
"The 25-member crew will start their journey after preparations, including refueling [reflagging, and renaming]," [Iran's Ports and Maritime Organisation Jalil] Eslami said. The television report did not identify the tanker's owner.

The Grace 1 was seized by British Royal Marine commandos in darkness off the coast of the territory at the western mouth of the Mediterranean on 4 July on suspicion of violating European Union sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a close ally of Iran.
[...]
The tanker remains anchored, Reuters witnesses said, though its prow has moved around by at least 180 degrees. It was unclear whether that was due to the strong sea currents off Gibraltar or if it could be preparing to sail.
[...]
Tanker pawns

Erik Hanell, CEO and president of the owner of the Stena Impero, Stena Bulk, said "any event which contributes in any way" to getting the crew of its ship free in Iran "must be viewed as positive".

free uighurs

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 03:33:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Uyghurs in the Netherlands call on Dutch gov to defend their rights
in China

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 11:12:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
U.S. warrant issued for seizure of Iranian oil tanker in Gibraltar
"The warrant for the seizure of the tanker, which carries 2.1 million barrels of oil, was issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and addressed to 'the United States Marshal's Service and/or any other duly authorized law enforcement officer.'"

well, alrighty then.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 11:57:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Big Tech sets the story straight: Uighur with USD 1,000 iPhone walks into a bar ...
Apple says Uighurs targeted in iPhone attack but disputes Google findings
Google Project Zero researchers said last week that five security flaws led to a "sustained effort to hack the users of iPhones in certain communities over a period of at least two years."

The researchers did not specify the communities, but CNN, TechCrunch and other news organizations reported that the attacks had been aimed at monitoring Uighurs. Reuters recently reported that China hacked Asian telecommunications companies to spy on Uighur ["]travelers["].

uh huh
Apple said on Friday the attack "was narrowly focused" and affected "fewer than a dozen websites [?] that focus on content related to the Uighur community" rather than the "en masse" hack of iPhone users described by Google researchers. Apple also said it fixed the issue in February, within 10 days of being notified by Google.
China braces for 'uninvited rhetoric' at top UN rights body

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 03:36:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sailing team to fly 2 crew to US to bring Thunberg boat back
"but that the carbon emissions from their flights will be compensated for."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:28:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Couldn't she just have taken a freighter? They may pollute a lot, but the pollution is the same whether they take passengers or not.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:31:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Somehow I don't think Thunberg on a container freighter would have had created quite the same PR impact.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 01:23:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I don't know about that.

I'm not in the life any longer, however.

There are three plots of human story ("discourse"). I might have mentioned. In the time I spent posting that "news" item, I outlined in my mind alternative devices (schemes, designs, scripts, production crew) to communicate dramatically two of those three plots to Ms Thunberg's imagined or putative humanity.

To persuasively demonstrating birth (of) is somewhat problematic given terms and conditions at hand, so to speak, to importune alternative vehicles of transportation (transformation, transmogrification) notwithstanding. I will further consider  solutions.

For private amusement or public vindication, whichever occurs first.

archived
How should I act?

 

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 05:34:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Teen activist picked up two sailors
Swedish teen climate activist Greta Thunberg, who crossed the Atlantic on a zero-emissions sailboat to attend a conference on global warming, approached New York City's shores on Wednesday.
[...]
The boat carrying Thunberg, the Malizia II, encountered rough seas that slowed it down for a day. Taking turns steering the 60-foot (18-meter) racing yacht were yachtsman Boris Herrmann and Pierre Casiraghi, the grandson of Monaco's late Prince Rainier III and American actress Grace Kelly.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 28th, 2019 at 06:51:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]

happened to the plaboys wut brung her to NYC?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 06:26:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Also how does she get back
by asdf on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 07:19:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Nearly three million people in the Netherlands live alone, says CBS
"By 2018, 17.4% of the country's population lived alone, up from 15.7% in 2008 and continuing a trend which developed in the 1970s."
Waiting lists for nursing home places grow as population gets older

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 16th, 2019 at 08:18:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Poland to hold parliamentary election on 13 October
The European Coalition, a then newly established pro-European bloc comprising the Civic Platform (PO), formerly led by European Council President Donald Tusk, and a group of leftist and rural parties ... collapsed following defeat in the EU elections, burying plans to use a similar model on the national stage.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:53:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
European Citizens Initiative
"BY SIGNING THE PETITION, YOU DEMAND... that the European Commission creates better legal and financial conditions in order to enable affordable housing for all in Europe. This includes: ..."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 06:26:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Italy's Salvini says government is finished, calls for elections
The train, not on time.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:03:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
wut: "The 'institutional government' would include left and centre-right parties for the sake of national unity, Renzi said on Sunday (11 August)."

wut: "Party secretary Nicola Zingaretti issued a call for unity Monday, reiterating that the key decision on whether and when to call an early election is in the hands of President Sergio Mattarella."

wut: "The draft bill cutting the number of lawmakers is at an advanced stage, with a final vote due next month, but such a measure would have to follow a lengthy constitutional procedure that would make new elections unlikely for another year."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 04:42:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Italian PM Conte denounces far-right Salvini as he resigns
Metternich is alive, ALIVE, I tell you!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 05:12:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
wut: "On Friday, Di Maio said the talks would go nowhere unless the PD agreed to cut the number of lawmakers to 600 from 945."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 26th, 2019 at 02:47:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Shut OUT! Game
"The parties in this government will do their utmost not to quarrel with Brussels, not to have pointless fights or rows, but rather to put forward new ideas," said the new minister, Vincenzo Amendola, a member of the pro-European PD.

The PD has taken charge not just of the EU affairs ministry but also the economy ministry, which has been in the frontline of recent battles with Brussels, and former PD prime minister Paolo Gentiloni was named as Italy's next EU commissioner.

Portfolio Ask: Economic and Financial Affairs
Conte's new government will have 21 ministers, 10 from the M5S, nine from the PD and one from the small left wing Free and Equal (LeU) party. ...The prospect of improved EU relations has cheered investors and Italian bonds have rallied this past week, with 10-year yields falling below 1.0%, meaning that heavily indebted Italy's borrowing costs should also fall.
[...]
The administration will not be fully operational until it wins confidence motions in the lower and upper houses of parliament slated for Monday and Tuesday respectively. Monti Conte is expected to win both votes, but his government will have a only slender majority in the upper house Senate, which could pose difficulties for him when particularly sensitive legislation gets put before the house.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Sep 10th, 2019 at 02:33:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Berlin could cap housing rents at under €8 per square meter
In June, Berlin's governing coalition -- the Greens, Social Democrats (SPD) and Left -- froze rents for five years. City officials have tried to facilitate new construction and considered buying units from landlords. Lawmakers will vote by October 15. The measure could take effect in January.

The plan could hit large property concerns the hardest. With more than 115,000 flats in the German capital, Deutsche Wohnen has become Berlin's biggest landlord. Vonovia owns more than 42,000.
[...]
The average basic rent in Berlin is €6.72, cheaper than in Hamburg or Munich, but some landlords charge €16-18 per square meter. At the national level, the Left and Greens -- opposition parties to the government led by Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats and facilitated by the SPD -- have recommended expropriating rental flats from companies that lease more than 3,000 units. That has also proved popular with renters, who have also called for companies to be stripped of rental flats.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 02:01:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
When you rent an apartment in Berlin, what is included? Is it just an empty shell that you have to furnish, or is it complete with fridge, cooker, microwave, washer, dryer, etc? What about utilities like gas and electricity?

For comparison, "nice" apartments in the US typically come with those features. The renter provides furniture, kitchen equipment other than those things that are built in, and all the linens: blankets, towels, etc.

Rent for a 100 square meter apartment with one garage space, in a medium-sized city (not NYC or LA) might be around $1200 per month, not including utilities, which would be perhaps another $200 per month.

by asdf on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 01:51:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
My understanding is, buy or rent in Germany, appliances are customarily excluded from price of the property. personalty does not convey with title or lease as in the US. And , "furnished" rental property in the US is uncommon, ie. marketed for corporate tenancy or SRO lessees.

The article coyly notes customary surcharges extinguished or, perhaps, amortized by statutory limit on rents/m2 collected:

The total would "cover charges for furniture and equipment," adding a layer of protection for residents currently forced to pay fees on top of the advertised rental sums.

As for "affordable housing development" in the US, I was drawn into a story about the latest cockroach alert placating commercial developers of multifamily housing. Of course, the tragic hero is a person appointed director of a municipal "public housing authority" (PHA), well-versed in epic HOPE I-VI investment hurdles; and the re-location is from South Carolina to Annapolis, MD.
The Trump administration's plan for Charleston's public housing: Take it away from HUD

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 02:35:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
IMF executive board recommends scrapping age limit for Georgieva
"It would bring the IMF in line with the World Bank Group, which has no leadership age limit."

< wipes tears >

archived
And it's... GEORGIEVA!
Europe splits over IMF leadership. Not really.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 06:56:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Polish official: Deadly lightning storm like terror attack
"Local prosecutors have opened an investigation to determine if anyone was responsible for allowing a situation in which lives were lost."
Poland and Slovakia: Lightning strikes leave several dead in Tatra Mountains
"More than 100 people are injured," Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said after arriving in the nearby mountain resort town of Zakopane.
[...]
A bolt hit a 15-meter-high (49-foot-high) metal cross at the mountain's 1,894-meter peak and is believed to have been the principal cause of the fatalities. The cross was installed in 1901.
[...]
"There were a lot of incidents involving lightning strikes today in the Tatras," [TOPR chied Jan] Krzysztof added. "We heard that after lightning struck, people fell... the current then continued along the chains securing the ascent, striking everyone along the way. It looked bad," Krzysztof said.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 10:48:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Von der Leyen offers Poland agriculture portfolio, candidate withdraws
"I decided to withdraw my candidacy. We did not expect Poland to assume the portfolio of agriculture," Szczerski said in an interview with Polish radio RMF FM.
d'fuque?
Before the summer break, Warsaw had publicly expressed an interest in an economic portfolio [?!], potentially energy [?!].


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 02:45:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Some further details, from the horse's mouth:

Von der Leyen wants Poland to have agriculture portfolio, ex-candidate says

"I think this portfolio is so important for Poland that it should go to someone who has been dealing with agriculture their whole life," he said on Polish radio RMF FM.

Szczerski suggested the candidacy of Janusz Wojciechowski, and Warsaw later confirmed that it has nominated Wojciechowski to be a commissioner.

When earlier this month Szczerski met von der Leyen, they discussed the portfolio on infrastructure and regional policy. "They were areas of my interest and expertise," he said. Poland has always stressed it wants to get an "economic" portfolio.


Emphasis mine.
by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 06:29:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
France postpones announcement on its EU commissioner candidate
A French official said on July 17 that France was eyeing a "strong economic portfolio" in the new Commission, such as trade or overseeing climate and energy policy.
oops. Did Mutti seeks greater EU role for Poland, Italy and Spain?
According to [Heiko Maas - SPD], following Brexit the EU cannot be based solely on German-French authority, which needs to be complemented with other important states, such as Poland.
on-the-job training
"For countries such as Italy and Spain in the South and Poland in the East, we need to give a greater share of responsibility. And this cooperation needs to be pragmatic," Maas said.
[...]
Szczerski is an advisor to Polish president Andrzej Duda and specialises in foreign and security policy, not in agricultural issues. (Łukasz Gadzała), EURACTIV.pl)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 09:30:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Welcome to the European Drought Observatory!
Drought in Europe: Member States agree on support measures proposed by the Commission
The actions Member States agreed on today in a committee meeting include the possibility for higher advance payments and several exceptional derogations on greening rules to help farmers provide sufficient feed for their animals. Affected farmers will be able to receive a higher percentage of their Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payments to improve their cash flow. ...
buh-bye, Phil!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 05:49:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Romania ruling coalition collapses as junior partner quits
The disagreement between the PSD and ALDE arose after Dăncilă announced her decision to run in November's presidential elections, angering ALDE.

While the PSD has dominated Romanian politics for the last three decades it has not managed to win the presidency since 2000.

In May, it was thrashed in European Parliament polls -- scoring 23 percent compared to 37 percent in 2014 -- and its leader, Liviu Dragnea, was jailed for corruption, leaving Dăncilă to take over the leadership.

mandate from heaven
Thousands of people rallied in Bucharest earlier this month calling for the government's resignation, exactly one year after security forces and protesters clashed violently at a similar demonstration. ...
"EU Presidency priorities 2019-2020 SURVEY: Romania, Finland, Croatia

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 02:54:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Poland's ruling party plans to allow arrests of MPs and judges
constitutional evolution continues

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 16th, 2019 at 08:25:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Spain to hold fourth election in four years on November 10
"Although Spain's economy has not suffered greatly, financial analysts say further delays in implementing reforms in areas such as labor and pensions could finally start to bite."

wut

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 06:23:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Ukrainian hryvnia to weaken on lower dollars inflows, wide trade deficit: Reuters poll
"Strengthening is not the result of structural changes in the economy when we begin to export more and import less, or when we significantly change the investment climate, which attracts direct investments," said Serhiy Fursa, a Kiev-based investment banker from Dragon Capital.

It is the result of an influx of portfolio investors which "is not a stable trend, sooner or later it will end and the hryvnia will have to return to its usual state".
[...]
Non-residents have invested $3 billion since the start of the year into local Ukrainian government bonds, which offered yields at 16-18% amid annual inflation at about 9%.

Clearstream
"The European Central Securities Depositories Regulation (CSDR) is one of the key regulations adopted in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis."

archived
Ukraine Exit Poll Results

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 06:16:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump accuses France's Macron of sending 'mixed signals' to Iran
"I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself," Trump said in a series of tweets.
....I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself. No one is authorized in any way, shape, or form, to represent us!

    -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 8, 2019

It was not immediately clear what Trump was referring to and the White House declined to comment, but a report earlier this week said Macron had invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to this month's G7 summit to meet Trump.
France doesn't need US approval to act on Iran, says foreign minister
"We don't do diplomacy on Twitter, we are discussing a serious crisis ... we don't do Twitter polemics, it is not how we will achieve our goals," said a high-level French diplomat in an apparent diss [!] of Trump's style of diplomacy.

archived
US extends Iran nuke sanctions waivers but hits FM
Instex
G7 summit, Biarritz, France, 24-26/08/2019
an opportunity for the EU to defend the rules-based order and its organisations


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 04:59:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Shorter Le Drian (French FM, who was snubbed by Brazil president Bolsonaro last month):
Nobody speaks for France but France itself.

BTW, Macron didn't invite Hassan Rouhani to the G7 summit in Biarritz; not that anyone cares in Trumpistan.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:15:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Note that DJT doesn't speak for a pretty good fraction of the US of A either.
by asdf on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:49:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
umm, when you've lost euractiv ...
G7 leaders to rethink capitalism as risk of recession looms
We are experiencing a "deep crisis of democracy," he told reporters this week. He urged his fellow leaders to reinvent multilateralism and rethink capitalism, as its finance minister Bruno Le Maire already told EURACTIV.com in an interview.
[...]
The exceptional circumstances will be visible for everybody around Biarritz, as Paris has deployed "unprecedented" security measures to shield the [G7 heads of state], causing discomfort among residents.
To ensure troublemakers are rapidly brought to justice, 17 prosecutors have been called upon and 300 police custody places freed.

Amnesty reports that a migrant detention centre in Hendaye has been emptied to use a hundred rooms as police custody rooms. In Bayonne, prefabricated cells have been set up in front of the courthouse. NGOs now fear there will be "massive and arbitrary arrests, as well as accelerated legal proceedings."

"No one reads the communiqués, let's be honest," [Macron] argued on Wednesday. "I know the points of disagreement with the US," he added, so trying to sign a joint statement is "pointless."

France says it wants to "transform the G7 to restore its relevance and effectiveness, in the spirit of strong multilateralism, with no second thoughts about shaking up working habits and opening it up to key partners," according to its G7 priorities.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 02:34:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hrmn, he didn't mention synergy, thinking outside the box, or a blue sky vision. I'm not sure if he's really serious about doing nothing or not.
by Zwackus on Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 07:55:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
CNN | Thousands gather at G7 protests
Hendaye 9K-15K:"Police told CNN they had no figures yet on arrests on Saturday, but 17 protesters were detained the day; Mortar fire [?!] and other projectiles were hurled at police and four officers were injured on Friday; Police responded with flash grenades."
AP | 68 arrests reported at protest near not-Hong Kong summit
"Police fired tear gas, water cannon and dispersion grenades at a crowd of about 400 mostly peaceful anti-capitalism demonstrators Saturday in the town of Bayonne...some yellow vest protesters angry at the French president and economic injustice have threatened action Sunday."

DW | G7 in Biarritz: First day takeaways

"Mr BREXIT No-Deal" announced that he would tell Trump to pull back from his trade war with China, which is having major repercussions on the global economy. Trump had announced additional duties on Chinese imports one day before he arrived in France.

POLITICO.eu | Trump storm hits Macron's G7 seaside summit
"Senior U.S. officials opened fire on arrival, with one of them accusing Macron of seeking 'to fracture the G7.' The official accused Macron of trying to shift focus away from trade to issues such as climate change, which will play well in France and leave the U.S. looking isolated."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 04:03:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

AP/PHOTO: Andrew Harnik, Pool. Top Iranian official lands at G-7 summit in surprise visit



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 03:03:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
'We're already at war economically,' Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif tells FRANCE 24, A/V (EN, FR)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 12:24:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 04:51:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ryanair Irish pilots back industrial action as unrest spreads
Members of Ryanair's British pilots union voted this week to follow Portuguese cabin crew to the picket line, with two strikes planned from Aug. 22. The action in Ireland was backed by 94% of those who cast a ballot among the 180 eligible pilots.
[...]
The company's main pilots union in Spain will vote in the coming days on possible industrial action, including strikes, in direct response to planned job cuts, the local SEPLA trade union said.

archived "Amazon of airlines"
gee. that's strange.
the question of the status of workers posted abroad
Ryanair strike fear eases with Portugal pilot deal
EU orders Ryanair to meet European rules on local contracts

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 09:12:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ryanair Spanish cabin crew unions threaten 10 days of strikes
uh oh

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 01:48:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The surprising thing there to me is that they have unions, but I understand Spanish labour law may be different than Irish/UK. (As in, it acknowledges that workers exist.)
by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 09:48:59 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Irish pilots union are striking on Ryanair at some stage shortly and the cabin staff are also unionised.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 11:18:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Cool. Cool cool cool.

(Seems to have got in an ampersand loop with the subject.)

by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 03:09:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Alright. This is a reach. For what, other than imminent Forsa CYA cut out from the allied Ryanair strike, I'm uncertain.

Thousands face travel chaos as Norwegian Airline axes its North American flights
"The loss of the Norwegian North American routes came to light as thousands of Ryanair passengers are facing the threat of strikes next week...."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:56:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Uber shifts intellectual property to Amsterdam, potentially saving €6.1bn in tax
10-Q provided to the US financial services authority SEC show the company's structure was amended in March, before the company's May IPO. The tax break will only kick in if the loss-making company turns a profit.
[...]
The Dutch company which controls Uber's intellectual property is owned by another subsidiary in Singapore. The company's headquarters for all its non-American activities have been based in Amsterdam since 2013.

archived
Ireland to appeal Apple Ruling

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 10:59:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Apple €13bn tax appeal hearing next month
"The EU's General Court, its second-highest tribunal, will hear arguments from the iPhone maker and Ireland over two days set for September 17-18. ... Ms Vestager received a setback in February when Belgium won a bid to overturn an order to recoup about €800m from 35 companies, including brewing giant Anheuser-Busch."

Happy Vanuatu Day!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 01:00:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Google, Amazon, Facebook slam French digital tax as 'discriminatory'
The so-called GAFA companies appeared at a USTR hearing on possible countermeasures and were unanimous in their complaints, calling the tax a "troubling precedent."
CA Cohort "Subsidy" classic wtf. Wait for it ...
The proposed three percent tax on total annual revenues of companies that provide services to French consumers applies only to the largest tech companies, which are MOSTLY US-based.

'Double taxation', says Amazon

For Amazon, where France represents the second largest European market for e-commerce, the levy "creates a double taxation," said Peter Hiltz, director of tax planning for the online retail giant.

< wipes tears >
Some 58 percent of Amazon's sales are through ["]partner companies["], which stand to take the hit.
meeeeaning shareholders or subsidiaries or clients or customers or ...POC?

archived privatizing profits 101
Amazon Says French Clients to Bear Cost of France's New Digital Tax
a threat of new taxes [sic] on French wines [sic] ...
PLUS
IRS | US Multinational Enterprises (MNEs)
the implementation of transfer pricing ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 05:38:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
EU antitrust regulators raise concerns about Facebook's Libra [Association]: sources
Facebook has linked up with 28 ["]partners["] in a Geneva-based ["]entity["] called the Libra Association, which will govern its new digital coin, which is due to launch in the first half of 2020.

"The Commission is in particular concerned about the possible competition restrictions that may result from the Association, especially with regard to information that will be exchanged and the use of consumer data," the questionnaire said.

The Commission, which can fine companies up to 10% of their global turnover for breaching EU antitrust rules and order them to change their business practices, declined to comment. Facebook was not immediately available for comment.

< wipes tears >

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 06:49:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
`Green Deal' supporters resist idea of splitting energy and climate portfolio
"Incoming Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is expected to send out mission letters to the 27 commissioner nominees in two weeks, which will contain their portfolio assignments. Then, the European Parliament will begin its confirmation hearings on 13 September."

File ## Misplaced precision

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 02:18:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Commissioners assemble: Deadline day, nominee list by EU28 + Other Info (Secretary-General of the Commission)

"Von der Leyen will now hold meetings with the prospective candidates and EURACTIV understands a full list will only be released once that [confirmation] process is over."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 26th, 2019 at 02:44:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
super crabby poll by euractiv: Which commissioner candidates will be rejected by the European Parliament?

Commissioners assemble: Class of 2019-2024
"Parliamentary hearings will begin on 30 September with two candidates in the spotlight. Six more will face the music on the 1, 2 and 3 October. Three will follow on 7 October, with the three executive VPs concluding proceedings on 8 October."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Sep 16th, 2019 at 08:29:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The new cabinet in figures
pie chart demographic description of "the college"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Sep 17th, 2019 at 03:24:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Romanian, Hungarian Commissioner nominees rejected
"Plumb's head was the first to roll, as the Parliament's JURI committee gave her the thumbs-down in a secret vote, with Trócsányi being sunk barely an hour later."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 26th, 2019 at 07:32:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
< pick teeth, suck vigorously >
"what we are seeing is a very strong and a very clear signal of wanting to find a multilateral solution."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 08:39:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
oops

Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products

The adjustment, which the world's biggest online retailer hasn't publicized, followed a yearslong battle between executives who run Amazon's retail businesses in Seattle and the company's search team, dubbed A9, in Palo Alto, Calif., which opposed the move, the people said.
[...]
Amazon said it has for many years considered long-term profitability and does look at the impact of it when deploying an algorithm. "We have not changed the criteria we use to rank search results to include profitability," said Amazon spokeswoman Angie Newman in an emailed statement.
uh oh
Amazon's lawyers rejected an initial proposal for how to add profit directly into the algorithm, saying it represented a change that could create trouble with antitrust regulators, one of the people familiar with the project said.
[...]
Amazon declined to say why A9 engineers considered the profitability emphasis to be a significant change to the algorithm, and it declined to discuss the inner workings of its algorithm or the internal discussions involving the algorithm, including the qualms of the company's lawyers.
standard silo operating procedure
The change could also boost brand-name products or third-party listings on the site that might be more profitable than Amazon's products. And the algorithm still also stresses longstanding metrics such as unit sales. The people who worked on the project said they didn't know how much the change has helped Amazon's own brands.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Sep 21st, 2019 at 10:41:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No One Could Have Predicted.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sun Sep 22nd, 2019 at 03:57:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Google pays France over $1 billion in tax fraud case
French investigators have since 2015 been investigating Google for declaring profits from activities in France in Ireland instead, where taxes are much lower.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 12th, 2019 at 06:57:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Apple says $14 billion EU tax order 'defies reality and common sense'
Apple's arguments at the General Court, Europe's second-highest, came after the EU executive in 2016 said the tech giant benefited from illegal state aid due to two Irish tax rulings which artificially reduced its tax burden for over two decades.
[...]
"The activities of these two branches in Ireland simply could not be responsible for generating almost all of Apple's profits outside the Americas."
although Ireland is the tax domicile selected by Apple to report origin of "almost all its profits outside the Americas."
[Apple atty Daniel] Beard dismissed criticism of the 0.005% tax rate paid by Apple's main Irish unit in 2014, which was cited by the Commission in its decision, saying the regulator was just seeking "headlines by quoting tiny numbers".


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 06:59:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
2019 a difficult year for tourism but no need to panic, Deputy Minister says
"We continue working on reintroducing some of the flights that we lost over the last months. More news is expected in the next weeks".

This, according to Perdios, would help to improve the situation next year. He said that Cyprus should target other sources of tourism than traditional markets such as the UK and Russia where the serious competition facing Cyprus was evident. The Deputy Ministry, he noted, has taken every possible action to attract new airlines or new flights.

Global economy is probably in recession
"Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has quipped that expansions do not die of old age, they are murdered - most often because of policy mistakes."

archived
One in 4 Europeans cannot afford holidays away

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 11:20:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 10:18:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Low and negative interest rates: remedy and threat for Europe's public finances
Negative interest rates are turning out to be a surprising, yet welcome recipe for the French budget. In 2019, France has saved [sic] €2 billion and is on course to potentially save [sic] €4 billion in 2020, and up to €12 billion by the end of 2022.

Last June, interest rates on the French debt went into the negative territory, similarly to the interest rates on German government bonds, as investors' lack of confidence in the future of the global economy drove them to seek refuge in the safest [EURO DENOMINATED] assets.

interest income LOL

archived
Sing me the NIRP song!, 2019
Italian industry has gone backwards since Euro , 2018
Everybody in. Except paul singer.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 07:12:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lufthansa offers climate-friendly fuel, but at a price
"Lufthansa's Compensaid service comes at a steep price. A single economy-class ticket from Frankfurt to New York is 374 euros ($414) more expensive if customers buy SAF, a synthetic form of kerosene. Passengers who opt to donate toward reforestation measures instead pay a 165-euro surcharge for the same flight."

archived alternative fuel
If you aren't buying petroleum, natural gas, and coal ...
AP | France to slap new 'ecotax' on plane tickets from 2020
Palm oil no longer considered `biofuel' in France
France: Farmers Block Refineries to Protest Palm Oil Import

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 at 03:06:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
under the radar

French city of Dunkirk tests out free transport - and it works,31 Aug

The study will officially be released on 11 September, but some of its initial findings have already been published. They show that ridership has spiked over the last year, more than doubling on weekends and increasing by around 60 percent during the week.
[...]
Meanwhile, several cities closer to Dunkirk's size are testing out their own versions. Among them is Calais, less than 50 kilometers down the coast. Mayor Natacha Bouchart, of the right-wing Républicains party, presented the measure as a response to the Yellow Vest movement's demands for greater purchasing power and better public services. It was voted for unanimously by the local government and will take effect in 2020, affecting 100,000 residents. As well as Calais, Chateauroux (population 44,000) and Niort (population 59,000) in central-western France have also made their buses free in recent years, although without necessarily improving the service.
French power output down 10% as over a third of workforce strikes, 19 Sep
EDF said about 23,700 workers in France had joined the industrial action by Thursday evening in one of the biggest strike turnouts at the company in eight years.
[...]
EDF workers are protesting plans steered by the French government to restructure and potentially split the heavily indebted group, with its nuclear power generation business set to one side.
French police fire tear gas, arrest yellow vest protesters, 21 Sep
More than 7,000 police officers were deployed in central Paris and authorities banned protests in an area including the presidential palace, government and parliament buildings, the Champs-Elysees, the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame Cathedral.

French authorities said Saturday that around 1,000 "radical protesters" first marched with yellow vests and then joined a separate climate change rally, where they provoked clashes with police.
[...]
The climate march organizers urged protesters to go home to avoid violence in the city. French police in riot gear have arrested at least 150 demonstrators. ... The hard-left Workers' Force union is also holding a separate march against planned pension reforms.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Sep 21st, 2019 at 11:03:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Free transportation seems reasonable. Freedom of movement in an agrarian society where everybody lives in villages with high streets only a couple of hundred meters long is one thing, because few people bother to go to Paris or London. But when it's three km from your urban apartment to the nearest grocery store...

In benighted Colorado Springs, an unlimited monthly bus pass costs $63 ($31 for youth, disabled, elderly), which is pretty close to free. The limitation is the poor coverage of the routes. It's ok if you live in the older sections of town, but in the far-flung new suburbs, forget it.

For example, the terminus of Route 9 is the local university. The nearby neighborhood was built in the 1950s. The massive population growth since 1960 is almost entirely in neighborhoods beyond that radius from downtown. Few buses out there.

by asdf on Sun Sep 22nd, 2019 at 05:16:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ukraine's new parliament approves top Cabinet officials
Zelenskiy called a snap parliamentary election in July that gave his Servant of the People party the parliament majority.
[...]
The Verkhovna Rada on Thursday quickly named Oleksiy Honcharuk, 35, as the nation's new prime minister. In his speech in parliament, Honcharuk pledged to focus on encouraging economic growth, raising living standards and combating corruption.

"No one will be allowed to steal in the new government," he said.

m'k
"The new prime minister will have to do dirty and unpopular work, reducing state subsidies and social assistance as required by the International Monetary Fund and other Western lenders," [Razumkov Center analyst Volodymyr] Sidenko said.
alrighty then
Ivan Bakanov, who directed Zelenskiy's campaign, was named the chief of Ukraine's Security Service, the SBU ... Dmytro Razumkov, who served as Zelenskiy's campaign adviser  ... adim Pristaiko, who previously served as Ukraine's ambassador to Canada and NATO ...Two of the members of former President Petro Poroshenko's Cabinet kep their jobs -- Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and Finance Minister Oksana Markarova.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 10:39:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lagarde pledges to continue with Draghi's loose monetary stance LOL
Speaking before the European Parliament's Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs, the outgoing International Monetary Fund's managing director stressed that price stability is the "main anchor of the ECB".
Agility®
And while the net benefits of the expansionary monetary measures [formerly-known-as quantitative easing] are on the positive side, she said she will be "mindful" of the negative consequences, in response to the criticism coming from savers and pensioners [NIRP! ALERT] in some countries, especially in Germany [NIRP! ALERT].
gestation
She welcomed the member states' agreement to create a budgetary instrument to support the euro area's competitiveness and convergence as an "embryo" of the fiscal capacity. But she added that it would be "extremely helpful" if it also helps to protect the euro members against shocks and liquidity issues, provided the conditions are met.

archived
And it's... BCP

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Sep 5th, 2019 at 05:04:09 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Did you know 2017 news
Bloomberg | LIBOR Funeral Set for 2021 as FCA Abandons ["]Scandal-Tarred["] Rate
well, There is an understatement of WHO-PAYS-FOR-THAT? frauds and subsequent $350-400T adversity around the world. oops! Subscriber only info.
GUARDIAN | LIBOR interest rate to be phased out after ["]string of scandals["]
"Index will not be used after 2021 despite reforms put in place because banks no longer want to participate in setting it"
Their activities led to fines totalling billions of pounds. Several senior bankers lost their jobs as a result of the manipulation, and one trader, Tom Hayes from the Swiss bank UBS, was jailed for 11 years for ["]distorting["] the index.

The scandal prompted a change in the way the rate was set. Previously it was an estimate of the price a panel of banks would pay to borrow from each other, in a number of currencies and over different time periods. The rate was changed to more accurately reflect the actual price the banks paid.

But [CEO of the FCA, UK, Andrew] Bailey said that not enough activity was taking place for the benchmark rates to be priced under the new format.

2019 UPDATE | PRESS RELEASE (PR placenent)
AP |Less than Half of Financial Services Firms Confident in Their Ability to Meet LIBOR ["]Transition["] Deadline, Accenture Report Finds
"While regulators have urged for a prompt transition away from LIBOR, respondents seem to believe that the 2021 WHO-PAYS-FOR-THAT? deadline might be flexible." A decade is not enough,

studies find.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 05:08:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
German finance minister backs plans for wealth tax: Handelsblatt
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz is backing plans for a wealth tax that his Social Democrats (SPD) want to introduce, the online edition of business daily Handelsblatt reported.

Leading members of the SPD, junior partners in the ruling coalition, will meet on Monday to discuss plans to reintroduce the tax, which have developed in a working group led by Thorsten Schaefer-Guembel, who heads the SPD in Hesse state.

The plans forecast revenues nationwide of up to 10 billion euros ($11.14 billion).

"I have closely worked with the SPD working group and I'm supporting the result to follow the Swiss model," Scholz, running for leadership of the SPD, was quoted as saying.

Switzerland is one of a small number of developed economies that still impose a wealth tax, which is charged on cash, securities, real estate, cars and art.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 07:57:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Economic Downturn-Germany May Abandon Its Beloved Black Zero

Chancellor Angela Merkel is still clinging to her policy of a balanced budget, but it is becoming increasingly clear that Germany's economic downturn could soon usher in a return to deficit spending. Government ministries are already signaling a willingness to abandoned years of cautious fiscal policy.

For years now, a balanced federal budget, known here in Germany as the "schwarze Null," or black zero, without any fresh borrowing, has been a permanent fixture of German fiscal policy. After four decades of chronic borrowing to finance the German national budget, the shift stood for the renunciation of the debt state and became a symbol of sound policy.
....
The two most senior members of the German government expressing their commitment to a balanced budget is by no means self-evident. The idea of forgoing any new borrowing in the future has increasingly come under pressure in recent weeks, particularly among Schulz's fellow Social Democrats, which are the junior partner in Merkel's coalition government. The party is currently searching for a new leader and candidates for the SPD's top job no longer want anything to do with a balanced budget, which is enforced in the form of a so-called "debt brake" that has been part of the German constitution since 2011. They see it as an obstacle to implementing their policies.

Efforts to loosen fiscal policy in Germany have broad support from many prominent economists across the country. For months now, economists from all sides of the fiscal spectrum -- from Marcel Fratzscher, head of the economic think tank DIW Berlin, to Michael Hüther from the employer-friendly German Economic Institute -- have been calling on the country to take out more loans. To many, the debt brake's requirement that the federal government's cyclically adjusted new debt not exceed 0.35 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or about 12 billion euros, is increasingly viewed as a corset that constrains the economy.


Germany certainly should be able to get favorable rates for financing added debt.

SD members would do well to remember:

GDP = Public Sector + Private Sector + Exports - Imports.

If trade is balanced this means that public debt becomes private savings. With trade included and with Germany running a surplus, then they can spend that surplus on investment or stimulus without adding to debt. But when, as now, trade surpluses contract, so too must government spending unless the government runs a deficit.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 10:30:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Why liberals now believe in conspiracies
https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2019/08/why-liberals-now-believe-conspiracies
"This is why liberals find conspiracy theory attractive. It serves to exonerate them from responsibility for what has gone wrong. Supported by liberals in all parties, a decade of austerity produced cuts in public services and infrastructure that damaged much of the British population. Liberals in all parties also promoted large-scale immigration. Anyone who suggested it might have costs as well as benefits, especially for the working poor, was denounced as racist. The rise of Ukip, and then of the Brexit Party, was the predictable result.

To be sure, liberals will reject any idea that they have brought about their downfall. If they were ever at fault, it was in not being liberal enough. The remedy for the failings of liberalism can only be more liberalism. To think otherwise would be to accept that their view of politics is fundamentally flawed. How could the most rational ruling elite in history - as liberals perceive themselves to be - fail to comprehend the world around them? Like the nativists they attack, liberals find a strange comfort in the belief that their societies are being subverted by external forces."

by Number 6 on Sun Sep 1st, 2019 at 09:14:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Now this is interesting.

Sweden announces bank tax to finance military spending

Swedish Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Saturday the centre-left coalition government would introduce a bank tax to help fund greater defence spending from 2022.

The Social Democrats and Greens said on Friday they had agreed with the Centre and Liberal Parties, which back them in Sweden's parliament, to boost defence spending by 5 billion Swedish crowns ($520 million) a year from 2022 to 2025.

We are on the bare beginning of a revolution in military technology rivaling that of the early 20th century. Drones are going to fundamentally change warfare in ways not clearly evident.  For example, tanks are all nice and cool Big Boy Toys yet if drones blow-up their fuel supplies they'll just sit there.

The course of the Millennium Challenge 2002 war games allows a glimpse of just how ... obsolete, I guess ... the carrier task force centered Navies will become over the next two decades.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Sep 1st, 2019 at 03:52:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sweden has a chance to leap into the new era, vastly increasing its self-defense capabilities.

(hit post too soon)


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Sep 1st, 2019 at 03:54:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Fiery clashes as `yellow vests' revive protests across France - SCMP
French police clashed on Saturday with anti-government protesters seeking to inject fresh momentum into demonstrations calling for social justice and the ousting of President Emmanuel Macron.

The so-called "yellow vest" movement had tapered off over the summer, but its leaders hope to galvanise support for a fresh wave of rallies across the country as the government begins a reform of France's retirement system.

Officials in the southern city of Montpellier said around 2,000 people gathered in the city centre - organisers put their numbers at closer to 5,000.


Interesting development is that protesters have started to bring umbrellas and traffic cones to protect themselves from the tear gas grenades fired by the police: a tactic inspired by the Hong Kong movements.
by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 09:42:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]
(appended above without hyperlink)
Why are China's super-rich excited about buying up vineyards in France?
The word on the grapevine [!] is that Chinese and Hong Kong investors see vineyards in France's prime growing regions, especially Bordeaux, as an ideal way to diversify property portfolios
before the GHG Apocalypse or 2071 land value collapse

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 07:51:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:40:26 PM EST
Boris Johnson has no intention of renegotiating Brexit deal, EU told
"That message has now gone loud and clear to capitals, it was useful to hear it from horse's mouth," the EU source said. "Reality is sinking in."


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 10:22:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
PM Johnson says 39 billion pound divorce bill not due in no-deal Brexit
'"There is no magic world in which the bill no longer exists,' the French official said on Wednesday."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 05:49:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Those French can be so literal. Never heard of magic fairy pixie dust?

Oh, and there is this:

The EU has repeatedly said it will not start negotiating a new trade deal with Britain before the issues of money, the Irish border and citizens rights are settled, so it is likely to return to the fore as a precondition for the EU to start trade talks after Brexit if Britain refuses to pay.

Just sayin'...

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 07:28:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:25:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Sorry got the wrong tweet.
by generic on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:26:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]
undefined

Instead, Brexit means plonking the corpse of post-imperial Britain in a vulture restaurant for US asset strippers, and pretending not to notice that China perches nearby, ready to pluck at whatever it fancies too.

The Great British Asset Striptease isn't new, of course. For decades, the country has mostly stayed afloat in the world by auctioning off the plunder we accumulated through centuries of empire. As Joe Guinan and Thomas Hanna point out, the Treasury has calculated that Britain sold off 40 per cent of all assets privatised across the OECD between 1980 and 1996.

by generic on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 11:28:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]
;y copy template
Britain After Brexit: Welcome to the Vulture Restaurant | naked capitalism

Instead, Brexit means plonking the corpse of post-imperial Britain in a vulture restaurant for US asset strippers, and pretending not to notice that China perches nearby, ready to pluck at whatever it fancies too.

The Great British Asset Striptease isn't new, of course. For decades, the country has mostly stayed afloat in the world by auctioning off the plunder we accumulated through centuries of empire. As Joe Guinan and Thomas Hanna point out, the Treasury has calculated that Britain sold off 40 per cent of all assets privatised across the OECD between 1980 and 1996.

by generic on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 11:36:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Yves says more:

In reality, the brand of Brexit promoted by Tory hardliners has long been about pulling Britain under the shadow of American capital. Not as a 51st state, with votes and constitutional rights, but as an outhouse for US business, a sort of colder, paler version of Puerto Rico.

We will be forced to accept US-style deregulation, with its poor standards for workers and consumers. We will have our assets stripped clean off the bone. Even before Brexit, we are fast becoming a pawn in the Pentagon's global games.

We won't become Americans, though. We'll have no say in the standards that will govern our new Atlantic common market. Nor will we be permitted to help decide who stands in the planet's biggest pulpit. Nor will we have much significant say in our own foreign policy. The UK has chosen to shift from participating in one power block to sitting on the outer edges of another.



Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen
by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 11:38:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Why the leap to the conclusion that it will be Americans that step in? Plenty of English real estate is owned by people and companies from the Middle East and Far East. Plenty of English manufacturing capacity is owned by companies from countries other than the US, e.g., Japanese car factories. The US already has "New England" for property buyers who like old houses and worn-out factories located where it rains all the time; we have no particular need for "Olde England."

Also I would quibble with the use of "UK" in this discussion because it seems pretty likely that there won't be a UK for much longer.

Seems more likely that England will become an outhouse for Chinese business, forced to accept Chinese-style deregulation, with its poor standards for workers and consumers. The English will have their assets stripped clean off the bone, have no say in the standards that will govern their new Atlantic common market. Nor will they be permitted to help decide who stands in the planet's biggest pulpit. Nor will they have much significant say in their own foreign policy. England has chosen to shift from participating in one power block to sitting on the outer edges of another.

by asdf on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 04:46:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 06:30:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]

OK then. I now foresee Schrödinger's Brexit. 31st of October, a legal case in front of the ECJ whether the UK is out or in and no UK government in office to offer an opinion.

by generic on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 11:47:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]
UK food industry looks to avoid shortages in no-deal Brexit
The Food and Drink Federation said Wednesday it has asked the government to direct the Competition and Markets Authority to relax rules that prevent such coordination. It hasn't yet received a response.
antitrust, profiteering, smuggling, famine, bangers, mash, Gresham ...
"We could be in a sort of wartime situation of a limited amount of food rationing," he told the BBC. "Those who can remember the war, that took a long time to put into place and it was pretty haphazard and pretty unfair.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 04:46:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
British ministers in US to `fast-track' post-Brexit trade deal
"Negotiating and signing an exciting new free trade agreement with the US is one of my top priorities," said [US International Trade Secretary Liz] Truss, who was a cheerleader for the leave camp in the 2016 referendum on Britain's membership of the EU."
[...]
Larry Summers [!], who was US treasury secretary under President Bill Clinton, said that Britain could not mask the weakness of its hand. ...
"Britain has no leverage. Britain is desperate. Britain has nothing else. It needs an agreement very soon. When you have a desperate partner, that's when you strike the hardest bargain," he said.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 04:17:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Everybody's favorite, mushy peas!

by asdf on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 02:10:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Incomplete without faggots and chips:



Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen

by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 07:01:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I read: Wings are going to slide, slide in all directions ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 02:14:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Cauliflower, my God, the cauliflower!
by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 09:51:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by asdf on Wed Aug 21st, 2019 at 04:23:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
 Country-by-country permitting will be required for UK business travelers.

Blockquote removed to respect FT's legitimate request.
by asdf on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 02:07:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"Oh, nothing really, just checking to make sure our aircraft carrier island is still heading in the right direction."

John Bolton in UK to meet Johnson

by asdf on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 03:41:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Oceania has always been at war with Eurasia and Airstrip One has been critical to the success of Big Brother's plans.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 07:57:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trenitalia to run trains from London to Scotland
Continua l'espansione di Ferrovie dello Stato negli Regno Unito. Trenitalia Uk, controllata al 100% di Trenitalia, parte del gruppo Fs,  si è aggiudicata insieme al colosso dei trasporti britannico FirstGroup (70% FirstGroup e 30% Trenitalia Uk) la concessione per gestire la tratta ferroviaria della West Coast dal 2019 al 2031, che comprende i collegamenti InterCity fra Londra, Manchester, Chester, Liverpool, Preston, Edimburgo e Glasgow. L'accordo prevede anche lo sviluppo e l'introduzione a partire dal 2026 dei nuovi servizi sulla nuova linea ad alta velocità (High Speed 2) da Londra a Birmingham (160 km) che nei piani dovrebbe collegare 30 milioni di persone
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 08:17:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Scottish court to hear no-deal Brexit suspension case next month*
A group of about 70 lawmakers from opposition parties are backing a bid to have Scotland's highest civil court rule that Johnson cannot ask Queen Elizabeth to prorogue, or suspend, parliament before Britain leaves the European Union on Oct. 31.

The case had its first court outing on Tuesday at which the Court of Session decided that a substantive hearing would take place on Sept. 6, said lawyer Jo Maugham from the Good Law Project which is supporting the challenge.
[...]
In June, House Speaker John Bercow said it was "blindingly obvious" that the prime minister could not sideline parliament.

"That is simply not going to happen," he said.

Can't fault 'em for trying, civil discourse and all that.

--
* Original headline, update/URL overwrite since Mon 08.12. 19 in APNEWS syndicated versions to "Bolton's UK trade-deal promise leaves questions unanswered", burying the lede

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 01:26:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

falling: apple, tree; tree, apple

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 01:49:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Swinson's Lib Dems target Raab's seat as Tory moderates flee no-deal Brexit | Politics | The Guardian
An internal memo from June, written by the party's campaigns director Shaun Roberts, said 76 seats were considered winnable, and a further five percentage point swing brought more than 200 seats into play. However, the party has slipped among some pollsters since the memo was written.

"Of the first 100 seats we can target, most of these seats will come from the Conservatives," it stated. It called for an immediate "expansion of our target seat list" and emergency selection procedures to ensure candidates were in place by the autumn. It told party staff to "revise [the] general election campaign plan" and ordered new research to be conducted earlier than planned at the start of September.

by generic on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 06:19:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Buoyant Lib Dems keep quiet on Brexit in Brecon and Radnorshire | Politics | The Guardian
The lush hills and fields of Brecon and Radnorshire, where sheep outnumber people by 10 to one, are fertile ground for a Liberal Democrat revival. Yet in this deeply split constituency, which voted 52% leave, there is no "bollocks to Brexit" on any Lib Dem leaflet, nor any mention of leaving the EU at all.
by generic on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 06:20:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Philly of the Outer Hebrides

41 people charged over illegal dissident republican parade in Lurgan

A total of, 28 men and 13 women, mainly from across Northern Ireland, but three from the Republic of Ireland, were all jointly accused on a single count of taking part in an un-notified ["Republican"] parade on May 28, 2016.
[...dox call...]
None of the defendants attended court on Friday, where a prosecuting lawyer told Deputy District Judge Peter Magill that for 11 of them, the charge had been withdrawn with a police caution given. In relation to the other 30, the lawyer asked for their cases to be adjourned for two weeks so ascertain whether a caution was suitable and if not, then for the defendants plea to be indicated.
Republic's exports fall amid economic concerns in Europe
Exports from the Republic fell by 14% in June from a year earlier as woes in the eurozone took their toll on the economy and uncertainty over Brexit hit sales to the UK. But despite the poor June export figures, the overall performance in the first half of 2019 was still better than expected.
Belfast Trust ordered to improve after further failings discovered at Muckamore Abbey Hospital
"However, we remain concerned about staffing arrangements, safeguarding arrangements, and the management of patients' finances. Today we have issued three improvement notices to the Belfast Trust in relation to these areas."
[...]
A number of staff were suspended from the hospital and a police investigation into Muckamore is ongoing. Police said they were examining 240k hours of Muckamore CCTV footage as part of  abuse probe. Relatives of patients at the hospital have called for an independent inquiry to be held into abuse there.
'Mistakes made' says arts group after Martina Anderson attends event in loyalist estate
The Eastside Arts group released a statement after the Sinn Fein MEP attended an event last Saturday organised by artist Lise McGreevy in Tullycarnet Library, billed as a showcase for Ulster-Scots and Irish heritage. During the event Ms Anderson, who arrived with a camera crew, quoted IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands. Following Ms Anderson's attendance Sinn Fein posted a video on YouTube.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 10:37:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
MPs debate motions on Northern Ireland Executive formation, not really
Ahead of that ["MPs fighting to prevent a no-deal Brexit"] there will also be motions on the Northern Ireland Executive, which were tabled to prevent an earlier suspension of parliament.
Northern Ireland (Executive Formation etc) Act 2019 - progress reports schedule
(4)If, as a result of Parliament standing prorogued or adjourned, a Minister of the Crown cannot comply with the obligations in subsection (2) or (3), a proclamation under the Meeting of Parliament Act 1797 shall require Parliament to meet on a specified day within the period within which compliance with subsection (3) is required and to meet on the five following days (other than Saturdays, Sundays or a day which is a bank holiday in the United Kingdom or in any part of the United Kingdom) to allow for compliance with subsection (3).
European convention the key to unlock Stormont impasse, says Nesbitt, not really
A former Stormont minister has spoken of his "anger and frustration" at the political situation in Northern Ireland, and accused unionist politicians of failing to learn the lessons of 50 years ago.
[...]
Writing in today's Belfast Telegraph, Dermot Nesbitt, a former Ulster Unionist Environment Minister, urges politicians to consider the Council of Europe's Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities as a means of overcoming the political impasse here. "The convention is part of international law. The idea behind such law is that certain fundamental rights have a higher status than ordinary laws and should not be subject to bargaining among the parties involved," he writes.
Video: Derry residents urged to make overnight arrangements for alert as police attacked with petrol bombs
They have also warned residents affected by evacuations due to the discovery of a suspicious object - found while carrying out searches connected to the New IRA - of the complexity of their operations and how it could take some time.
[...]
Earlier on Monday, the PSNI released pictures of a mortar bomb placed in Strabane they blamed on the paramilitary group. The Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found by a resident in the Church View area of the town.
Belfast International rated worst airport in UK
That should slow down dairy and cattle transfers

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 9th, 2019 at 09:16:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 05:15:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 05:18:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 02:18:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 06:48:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 07:31:12 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 07:53:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Boris Johnson's Week of Weeks has been a thing of wonder. We will not see its like again  Tom Peck  The Independent
To look back now at all those old photographs of Boris Johnson is to become a quantum observer. Under our gaze, the pictures alter.

That black and white, gurning one of him aged 10 - the one that feels like it is actually moving under a rostrum camera - for use in the intro-montage of a Bravo TV documentary on What Turns Men Into Serial Killers.

That psychopathic one, in his Eton Wall game kit, where he looks like he's just done a line of his own ego.

The Bullingdon Club one, the zipwire one, the one where he's rugby-tackling a tiny child at the age of 47: behind all those long decades of eyes, the same thought is whirring. The same scheme is being hatched. They are all snapshot moments in the same colossal journey of self-propulsion.

To look at them now is to know what whirred was this. This. The Shitshow Valhalla. The slow-motion star crash. The grand unified theory of f**king up everything.


Kind of defines 'Bad Press!' Perhaps the Conservatives thought that having a clown as PM would be entertaining. Bet THEY are not entertained.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 01:25:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:42:07 PM EST
The Lynching of Persons of Mexican Origin or Descent in the United States, 1848-1928
On November 16, 1928, four masked men tore into a hospital in Farmington, New Mexico and abducted one of the patients as he lay dying in bed. The kidnappers drove to an abandoned farmhouse on the outskirts of the city where they tied a rope around the neck of their captive and hanged him from a locust tree.1 The dead man, Rafael Benavides, had been admitted to the hospital with a serious gun wound less than twenty-four hours earlier. His wound was inflicted by a sheriffs posse pursuing him for an assault upon a farmer's wife. According to one newspaper, "the fiendishness and brutality of his acts were such that the postal laws will not permit us to print them."2 The abduction and execution of Benavides therefore elicited the approval of many local citizens relieved at the removal from their community of this dangerous menace. ...
A hackneyed plot device indeed.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 03:09:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A normal way of getting people's voices heard
In the 19th century, some of Cincinnati's riots were racially charged [AP STYLEBOOK ALERT], but not all. Residents also erupted in the streets over a bank closing, injustice, corruption, tensions with immigrants and religious issues.

An angry Catholic mob marched on the home of Bishop John Purcell on Christmas 1853 to protest a visit by Cardinal Gaetano Bedini, an Italian emissary of Pope Pius IX. One protester was killed and many "respectable German citizens" were arrested, according to the Enquirer.

Violent civil unrest has been part of this area since the city was founded along the Ohio River in 1788. The first known insurrection was in 1792, four years later, after a merchant named John Bartle was beaten by a soldier, according to Cincinnati -- The Queen City, a 1912 history by the Rev. Charles Frederic Goss. ...

A hackneyed First Amendment exercise.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 03:25:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
JSTOR | The Pearl Affair: The Washington riot of 1848
On board the tiny ship were three men: the captain and part owner, Edward Sayres; the cook, Chester English, and Daniel Drayton, an unlucky, semi-literate bay trader. Drayton--sometimes called captain--had offered Sayres one hundred dollars to charter the Pearl for the purpose of transporting a number of slaves from Washington to Frenchtown, New Jersey and freedom. 5
arrests
Finally in front of the United States Hotel the crowd became so dense and unruly that it was impossible to proceed. The Washington correspondent of the Boston Whig reported that there wer demands to drag Drayton away from his captors, to "knock his d--d brains out!" .."shoot him! shoot the hellhound!" "lay hold of him! hang the d--d villain."16 ...There a large crowd formed, and many--including the Washington correspondent of the New York Herald--agreed that it was "high time that the citizens of this district were proceeding to measures for the security of their property and their rights, under the federal constitution."
press
Only men of an extreme proslaver perspective, such as John C. Calhoun and Jefferson Davis, saw the mob as outraged citizens of the District driven even to protect themselves against abolitionist aggression. On the other hand only antislavery sympathizers described the mob as unruly, vicious, and violent, led by a disreputable Baltimore slave-trader named Slatter. Other witnesses from the North as well as the South were impressed by the orderliness of the mob and by the structurely democratic procedures by which it arrived at its decisions. William W. Wick of Indiana called it a "most polite and law-abiding mob." Joseph Root, a free soil Whig from northeastern Ohio,admitted that "he passed through the mob on Tuesday night without knowing it." 29
price discovery
While Toombs apparently gave encouragement in the House to the mob, his southern colleagues in the Senate were even more forthright in support of vigilantism in defense of southern rights. John P. Hale, the rotund Senator from New Hampshire who was the Liberty pary nominee for President, initiated the confrontation by introducing a bill which would make the municipal corporation financially responsible for damage done to private property by a mob.
Proceedings [investigating the riots of 1848]. Box 586, 1 vol., entry 226

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 05:48:17 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Eyes on the Prize is an American television series and 14-part documentary about the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. The documentary originally aired on the PBS network and also aired in the United Kingdom on BBC2.
[...]
By the mid-1990s, both rebroadcasts and home video distribution were halted for several years due to expiration of rights and licenses of copyrighted archive footage, photographs and music used in the series and increasingly higher rates imposed by the copyright holders.[1] Grants from the Ford Foundation and Gilder Foundation enabled Blackside and the rights clearance team to renew rights.[2]
[...]
The licensing issues from 1993 to 2006 generated what was called Eyes on the Screen, an effort to disseminate the [complete] series by file sharing networks without regard to copyright restrictions.
DVD Vol. II: Currently unavailable
You may also be interested in ... Black Panther, Wakanda nationalism

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:10:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Research into deadly viruses and biological weapons at US army lab shut down over fears they could escape
The army's Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, based at Fort Detrick, says its primary mission today is to "protect the warfighter from biological threats" but its scientists also investigate outbreaks of disease among civilians and other threats to public health.

In recent years it has been involved in testing  possible vaccines for Ebola, after several epidemics of the deadly virus in Africa.

A spokeswoman for the lab, Caree Vander Linden, said despite the CDC suspension order, there had not been any threat to public health or any leaks of hazardous material outside the base.

U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Disease Research Participation Program


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 10:26:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Long After Hiroshima
Seventy-three countries have signed and 23 ratified a new treaty banning nuclear weapons. Every country on earth except the United States has signed and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Most countries on earth, unlike the United States, are party to the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Convention on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights optional protocols, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Convention Against Torture optional protocol, and the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, and the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, and the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities, and the International Convention Against the Recruitment, Use, Financing, and Training of Mercenaries, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and the Principles of International Cooperation in the Detection, Arrest, Extradition, and Punishment of Persons Guilty of War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, and the Convention on Cluster Munitions, and the Land Mines Convention.

archived
UNODA | Treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons
US-UK do. not. do. international law, 'k?
Instances of Use of United States Armed Forces Abroad, 1789-2012

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 10:07:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"1619 Project" by NYT columnist, N. Hannah Jones alias "Ida Bae Wells"

REVEALED: Obama's white mother was 'descended from John Punch, America's FIRST black slave', finds dramatic new study, as interpreted by Daily Mail, 2012
DNA taken from today's white Bunch family suggests Cameroonian roots

She knows her ancestors were enslaved. Were they the FIRST?, as interpreted and illustrated by EXPLOSIVE growth by USAToday, 2019
Angolan Adam, Eve, sin of a nation: REVEALED

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:41:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]

ASSOC: Mommy.
ME: Yes, bunny.
ASSOC: Explain the significance of British settlement of the west Indies for the mainland colonies.
ME: Before 1612?
ASSOC: Yep.
ME: Those territories are Eighty Years' and a couple of Anglo-Spanish War trophies. Privateer and navy finger-quote mariners, commissioned by each of the crown belligerents, trawled the finger-quote new worlds, named African and American continents, for marketable commodities finger-quote booty to fund further hostilities. Besides stealing and scuttling each other's ships, inking gold and silver contracts, they traded GOTT to the finger-quote heathen for slaves meant to cultivate and mine finger-quote plantations seized by ground troups. Barbados is a good model for finger-quote settlement of Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch prior art in Africa and the Americas.
ASSOC: Tell me some English celebrities.
ME: Before Cromwell began deporting finger-quote transporting Irish rebels to the British plantations, Francis Drake and John Hawkins were hot. Hawkins broke out around 1562. They played all sides. Wholesale, finger-quote bespoke, retail, and resale slave trade.
ASSOC: But what about the Treaty of Tordesillas?
ME: US-UK don't do international law.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 02:43:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

DAY 3: Doubling down on Invisible Hand and Acts of GOTT
--
Over the last 12 years, since I visited the Jamestown and Williamsburg, VA, reliquary and historical recreation sites with my child, I've seen the fable EVOLVE from complete omission of this event from a sea search-and-rescue operation to involuntary-servitude penalty to chattel-with-receipt bounty. We've done the official tour in person at Mount Vernon, too. Attendance was low, very low.

Just sayin'.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 08:47:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Art of the Deal: It's not often one finds a film promo portraying the film's distributors.

Film on factory is first Netflix project [sic] endorsed [sic] by Obamas

Filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert said they learned of the Obamas' interest after "American Factory" was shown at the Sundance film festival and they were pitching the film to Netflix. They were told the Obamas had screened it days earlier.
[...]
Bognar and Julia Reichert, who live in the Dayton, Ohio [!], area where Fuyao Glass replaced an abandoned General Motors plant [!], said they were initially interested in exploring a culture clash, but the film deepened into a story about the rights of workers, globalization and automation.

The Fuyao plant, bought by Chinese industrialist Cao Dewang, employs some 2,200 American and 200 Chinese workers. The film gives a close-up look at how the cultures adjust to one another. At one point, a Chinese worker explains that Americans are slow because they have fat fingers. Many Chinese at the plant consider the Americans lazy. The Americans at the plant question what they see as Chinese workers unquestioned devotion to a company that robs them of time to enjoy life.

vibranium
Netflix worked in partnership with Higher Ground to acquire the film from Participant Media earlier this year, and gave no details about the financing. Netflix released a brief clip Wednesday of the Obamas discussing their interest in the project with the filmmakers.
[...]
"It has zero to do with Trump or Obama, or the political scene at all," [Reichert]said. "It's about the lives of average working people in the heartland. It's really a close up and intimate look at what globalization looks like."

archived Becoming Wakanda
Mitch McConnell Doesn't Support Reparations: "We've Elected An African American President"
difficult to determine whom to compensate
leaning into Obama identification
Ich bin ein Berliner
Is Netflix antisemitic?
They don't have morals, they have markets.
Outrage after Netflix pulls comedy show criticising Saudi Arabia
The episode can still be seen in other parts of the world
blockbuster summer for media mergers!
increasingly producing their own [?] programming
The Obamas' exclusive Netflix deal part of an all-conquering streaming strategy
## file in "cargo cult"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 04:14:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Art of the Deal 2017: 'Rat Film' highlights Baltimore's rat warfare, urban planning failures
annual Maryland Film Festival, Baltimore, MD

Art of the Deal 2019: Tweets about Al is latest National Action Network project endorsed by RNC, Fortress Group, and Comcast.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 24th, 2019 at 09:04:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Art of the deal: 2019
Monroeism is the Other Side of Jim Crow, the Side Facing South
wut
Trump, Greenland and Manifest Destiny
wut

Day 4: It was an accident!
American Historical Review, The Constitution and Finance of the Royal African Company of England from its Foundation [1536] til 1720, 1902 narrative
1606-1619: Library of Congress, The records of the Virginia Company of London, 1906 catalogue of manuscripts, public and private libraries US and Britain
1606-1619: University of Virginia, The records of the Virginia Company of London
1619-1627: US National Park Service, narrative 1672: National Archive, Royal African Companydigital record catalogue
1823: James Monroe's Seventh State of the Union Address, 23 Dec 1823, full text
(1846),1865, 1904, 1911, 1915, 1962: Library of Congress, narrative

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 07:19:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"Ida Bae" USAToday: Accidental encounters

Emory University, Intra-American Slave Trade - Understanding the Database

Whereas most twentieth-century slave trade scholarship focused on the Atlantic crossing, in the first decades of the twentieth-first century, historians working on disparate parts of the Americas increasingly document intra-American networks of forced migration, asserting their significance for both the African diaspora and the geopolitics of the Atlantic World. For example, O'Malley's book, Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619-1807, demonstrates that hundreds of thousands of people who arrived in British American colonies from Africa quickly boarded new ships for intra-American voyages--both within British America and across imperial lines to French and Spanish colonies. Similarly, in the American Historical Review, Borucki, David Eltis, and David Wheat estimate that more than twenty-five percent of the two million Africans who arrived in the Spanish Americas, nearly 600,000 individuals, endured transshipment from other American colonies rather than being sent directly from Africa. Older historiographies exist on domestic slave trading in nineteenth-century Brazil and the United States but interest in those topics has also increased in the last two decades. The Intra-American Slave Trade Database seeks to pull data on all such forced migrations [sic] together.
Encyclopedia of Virginia, Indian Enslavement in Virginia
An early mention of an Indian slave appears in the context of the First Anglo-Powhatan War (1609-1614). In his Trewe Relacyon, George Percy recounts an English march on an Indian town guided by an Indian named Kempes, who was "led in a hand locke" and is described as a slave working under the threat of beatings and beheading.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 28th, 2019 at 01:27:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Donnan, Elizabeth, Compiler, Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America, vol I-IV. 1930-1935. $450.00 set.

a product of the US government, WPA

archived markets
Marginalia: quoting my self
upper colonies, lower colonies, deep south

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 28th, 2019 at 01:50:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
o. Look. APsplainin' is cranking up the magical margin of error original sin STAIN gin in case "white" people, "POC," and "Women and minorities" fade from the Anyone Buttrump election.
Analysis: Black votes will define electability for Democrats

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 02:36:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 07:41:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
1954 called: Y'all forgot to tuck in your sheets.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 04:11:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Revolt of the Feminist Law Profs
Gersen's research was met with much resistance. She was denounced at major conferences, accused, she says, of being "dangerous and irresponsible." At one conference, she was called "pro-perpetrator." At another, simply "Hitler."

archived
Yes, but feminism had to start with the middle classes.
And so naturally the inital statements of intent will reflect the concerns and issues that affect white middle class women. ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 10:14:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 10:32:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Once again, developers dodge Baltimore's weak  INCLUSION* housing rules
One of the most upscale projects on the harborfront, the soon-to-open Liberty Harbor East, was exempted from the requirement that 20% of its units be reserved for lower-income families. ... The waiver means that its owners - the Paterakis family and Bozzuto Group - can now apply for special tax credits to reduce the building's property taxes by 80% for the next five years, with reduced credits extending through 2030.

The panel also exempted a second upscale apartment complex, Anthem House II, from the requirement of making eleven [!] of its units affordable to households earning less than the Area Median Income (AMI).

"Democratic" Party legislators: It's not me.
"It is all very difficult to provide affordable housing in Baltimore when the subsidy doesn't come from the developer," said Bill Ariano, chair of the [Baltimore Inclusionary Housing Advisory Board], noting that "we can sit here and never really get any affordable housing done."
Apartheid Baltimore Style: the ResidentialSegregation Ordinances of 1910-1913
"The legal significance of housing segregation laws in the United States was shortlived."
--
* AP STYLEBOOK neologism: all lives matter

archived
"White L vs. Black butterfly"
capital investment, demographic data
Where is Kamala Harris' Baltimore campaign headquarters?
US congressional district MD-3
I promise you, you will be welcomed
US congressional district MD-7

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 04:10:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Talking trash in a Baltimore neighborhood that has plenty of it
The Brew waited for the dust to settle before heading to a community far removed from the tweeters and talking heads of Washington to get the residents' take about trash in the city.

"Sorry, but I think President Trump spoke the truth," said Diane Ingram, president of Concerned Citizens for a Better Brooklyn. "The truth hurts, I realize that, but if it gets the city [MD-2]'s attention, that is a good thing," noting that she doesn't listen to the president otherwise.

Janet Eveland, an attorney and chairperson of the grassroots group Action Baybrook, disagreed with Ingram's assessment of Trump ("I ignore him. He never says anything intelligent, never"), but not necessarily with his message: "We know we have trash and rats."



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 04:50:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Tit For Tat: Baltimore Takes Another Hit, This Time From Uruguay
What was the question?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:33:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
New 'public charge' rule could affect millions of immigrants
Visa and green card applicants already have to demonstrate they will not become public charges, and use of cash assistance is considered during adjudication. But the new rule, set to be published in the Federal Register on Wednesday and due to take effect 60 days later, would significantly expand the types of benefits that could potentially disqualify an applicant to include prior use of Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) or food stamps, and housing assistance like Section 8 housing vouchers, for example.
Hello?!Trump proposal seeks to crack down on food stamp 'loophole': "a way for states to route federal food aid to households that might not otherwise qualify under a strict enforcement of federal guidelines...potentially eliminating food stamps for more than 3 million of the nation's 36 million recipients."
Most noncitizens do not [?!] qualify for public benefits.
If that statement were true, proposed change to charge rule would have no effect. In point of fact 'noncitizens' such as ...
Green card holders and some categories of vulnerable immigrants such as asylum grantees [!], refugees [!] and victims of crime or trafficking [!], can qualify for public benefits under [those] conditions. And some states have allowed some immigrants to receive ["]state-funded["] assistance.
appropriations matching fed block grants that fund federal "entitlement" programs
Language in the new rule explicitly states it "does not create any penalty or disincentive for past, current, or future receipt of public benefits by U.S. citizens or aliens whom Congress has exempted from the public charge ground of inadmissibility."
wait for it ...
And yet, that is exactly what critics fear it will do. Because of misinformation and fear [!], the rule could cause mass withdrawal from public benefits by immigrants eligible for them, and even by some U.S. citizens -- causing widespread hardship among immigrant communities as a whole.
Too late, DCCC in its haste to make hay of Teh Dread Citizenship Question did rue the months they scared the bejeebus out of enumerated "immigrants" as yet hatched.
The National Immigration Law Center, an immigrants' rights group, is already preparing legal challenges to the rule. "This news is a cruel new step toward weaponizing [sic] programs that are intended to help people by making them, instead, a means of separating families [w.t.f] and sending immigrants and communities of color one message: you are not welcome here," Marielena Hincapié, executive director of NILC, said in a statement.
f* crackers

archived
Winner: publisher's deadline
Commerce et al vs New York et al.
Frequently Requested Statistics on Immigrants and Immigration in the United States
"Noncitizens" are eligible for health and income (eg. SSI, disability) benefits in every state.
Supreme Court looks likely to back Commerce Dept. on adding citizenship question
advocates will spend the next 12 months cleaning up the mess of "misinformation" about social services and deportation ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 06:28:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
San Francisco, Santa Clara sue over new immigration rules
"The rules, the counties argued, would result in a 'chilling effect' in which migrants forgo or disenroll from federal public assistance programs to reduce the risk of green card denial."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 08:21:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Migrant kids separated at border faced abuse in foster homes
A review of 38 legal claims obtained by The Associated Press -- some of which have never been made public -- shows taxpayers could be on the hook for more than $200 million in damages from parents who said their children were harmed while in government custody.
[...]
The families -- some in the U.S., others already deported to Central America -- are represented by grassroots immigration clinics and nonprofit groups, along with some of the country's most powerful law firms. They're making claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act as a precursor to filing lawsuits. The FTCA allows individuals who suffer harm as a direct result of federal employees to sue the government.

"It's the tip of the iceberg," said Erik Walsh, an attorney at Arnold & Porter [!], which has one of the world's leading pro bono programs.

abuse in foster care? That's new.

reference
A Critical Look At The Foster Care System: How Widespread a Problem?, 1981-2012
CHILD MALTREATMENT STATISTICS IN THE U.S., 2005-2017
Abuse in Foster Care: The Denial Runs Deep, 2016
Statistics on Child Abuse and Neglect in Out-of-Home Care, 2017

archived f* crackers
HHS: Florida migrant child detention camp emptying out
"expedited the process for sending child migrants to live with relatives already in the U.S. eliminating [!] a fingerprinting requirement for adult siblings and grandparents. It also stopped [!] universally requiring child abuse and neglect checks unless there are special concerns"
surrogate-mother, foster-mother, foster-parent, alloparent
"evidence-based": live births, infanticide, infant mortality (27); child mortality (3); infant survival (41); child abuse and neglect (14); child care, allomothers, and cooperative breeding (108)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 08:29:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
family separations
Federal Ex-Offenders at Risk of Losing Ties to Their Community in DC, A/V, transcript
GRAYLAN HAGLER: ... Well, you've got to keep in mind that when you're arrested and locked up and convicted of a felony in DC, you generally are put into the federal system because there's no prison that DC operates. And that means that you can be out in California, you can be in Colorado, you can be anywhere in the country serving your sentence; separated from your family, separated from any support systems local at home that could help you out get restored. And so, now here you are. You've been away, you've been estranged, and now you're going to be estranged some more. It's a ridiculous thing.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:41:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Watchdog warns of `alarming' conditions in Nebraska prison
Nebraska's prison system has faced a litany of problems in recent years, including persistent overcrowding and struggles to hire and retain employees. A different prison in southeast Nebraska was the site of inmate uprisings in 2015 and 2017. Two prisoners were killed in each of those incidents.
Gee. That's unamerican.
The report also warned of the "rather substantial" prevalence of contraband in the penitentiary, including cellphones [!] and the synthetic drug K2 [!], which mimics the effects of marijuana [!].

Prison officials have identified both as a major security concern. Cellphones allow inmates to communicate illicitly with outsiders and coordinate gang activity within the prison, while inmates under the influence of K2 have been known to have wildly unpredictable outbursts.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 08:37:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DOJ: Immigration facility shouldn't have to pay minimum wage
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson sued The GEO Group in 2017, saying its Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma must pay the state minimum wage to detainees who perform kitchen, laundry, janitorial, maintenance and barbershop tasks. The lawsuit seeks to force GEO to turn over profits it gained by underpaying them -- an amount that could reach into the millions.
[...]
"The State insists that these federal immigration detainees are 'employees' under state law, even though it simultaneously exempts similarly-situated detainees in state facilities from the minimum wage," the Justice Department said. "Basic constitutional principles prevent a State from interfering with the federal government's activities in the way Washington is trying to do here."
[...]
The Northwest Detention Center is a 1,575-bed facility, one of the nation's largest privately run immigrant detention centers. On any given day, about 470 of them perform some sort of work through a voluntary program, earning $1 per day. GEO has the authority to pay more, but Congress will only reimburse it up to that amount.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 11:03:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Measles, Mumps, Rubella (MMR) vaccination: common dosage, USA, UK

Mumps sickens hundreds of detained migrants in 19 states

The virus sickened 898 adult migrants and 33 detention center staffers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its report Thursday.
[...]
ICE has given more than 25,000 doses of measles-mumps-rubella vaccine in the affected facilities.
wut
"This has all the makings of a public health crisis," [TN immigration atty R. Andrew] Free said. "ICE has demonstrated itself incapable of ensuring the health and safety of people inside these facilities."
'Dramatic resurgence' of measles seen in Europe, WHO reports
"'Misinformation about vaccines is as contagious and dangerous as the diseases it helps to spread,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in a statement this week."
US measles cases still climbing, topping 800 for year
"A total of 839 cases in 23 states were reported as of last week [May]. That's the most since 1994, when 963 were reported for the entire year."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 11:06:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
(merits duplication in "Trump's USA HERITAGE" and "The situation here is still psychotic.")

US ["]Revives["] Clause That Kept Nazi-Era Refugees Out of the Country

During the Nazi era, roughly 300,000 additional Jewish refugees could have gained entry to the U.S. without exceeding the nation's existing quotas.

The primary ["]mechanism["]...

beside Morganthau's prodigal influence on christ FDR?
... that kept them out: the immigration law[s'] "likely to become a public charge" clause [sic]. Consular officials with the authority to issue visas denied them to everyone they deemed incapable of supporting themselves in the U.S.
wrong period. wrong venue. wrong "media." wrong question.
As someone who has studied European[!] Jews' attempts to escape Nazi persecution and immigrate to the U.S., the administration's evocation citation of the public charge clause [sic] is chilling. ...
I reckon, sumbuddy "forgot" to repeal and replace that bit, huh, in the ERA before Trump "lawyered up". Was it Clerk of the House or the Senate? I. don't. f* think so.

archived cult classics
US Immigration and Naturalization, 1790-2006, "on the topic of the criminalization of immigrants", abridged

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 07:49:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Fed's Powell, under pressure, likely to stick to 'mid-cycle' message
Last week, Trump called Powell "clueless" and urged the Fed to reduce borrowing costs [for WHOM?] by a full percentage point to boost the economy, which is feeling the drag from the U.S.-China trade war.
currency manipulators!!
"If the Fed cuts rates as Trump demands, that will EASE pressure [?] on the stock [sic] market, which Trump may take as giving him a stronger hand in his trade spat with China," said Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University and one of the authors of the policy uncertainty index.
[...]
The feedback loop between the Fed and BOND markets "might not be broken until the economic data signal very decisively that further EASING is inappropriate," Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius wrote this week.
not near NIRP

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 11:57:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Fed cuts rates again, telegraphs more rate cuts by year end
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut interest rates again by 25 basis points to a new target [CPI] range of 1.75% to 2%, and telegraphed a strong likelihood of one more rate cut by the end of the year.
[...]
Continuing to cite global concerns, the Fed said business investment "weakened" since the Fed's last policy setting meeting in July, when it cut rates for the first time since 2008. The Fed also added NEW! LANGUAGE in its statement noting that U.S. exports have also weakened, underscoring the impact of the trade war on the central banks' reading of the U.S. economy.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 06:56:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
FEC vice chairman resigns, leaving agency unable to vote
The remaining commissioners are Chairwoman Ellen Weintraub, a Democrat; Commissioner Caroline Hunter, a Republican; and Commissioner Steven Walther, an independent. President Trump nominated Republican attorney Trey Trainor to serve as an FEC commissioner in 2017, but the Senate has not voted on his nomination.

Petersen was heavily involved in technology issues, which he highlighted in his resignation letter.

"To ensure promising new technologies designed to encourage voter outreach, small-dollar fundraising, and political association continue to flourish, I have consistently opposed unnecessarily rigid regulatory rulings," Petersen wrote. "I've also been a staunch advocate for protecting the Internet as a VIBRANT medium for disseminating political speech and increasing participation in the democratic process."

Money is speech, right? Speech is money.
In July, Petersen joined the other FEC commissioners in voting unanimously to allow federal political campaigns to accept discounted cybersecurity services from Area 1 Security. He also voted last year in favor of allowing federal campaigns and national parties to accept a package of "enhanced online account security features" from Microsoft.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 26th, 2019 at 11:40:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Orkin Top 50 Rattiest Cities, 2018

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 04:35:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Harris leads a game of bingo in Iowa.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 12:28:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 06:09:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Bibi bars Omar, Tlaib

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 05:57:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
David Frum is still a menace.
Art.1, § 6, clause 1 is the part of speech extending USA jurisdiction to Israel.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 05:38:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Here is another one.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 05:40:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What was the question?


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 05:45:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
LA City Workers Exposed to FILTH and BODILY FLUIDS: State Inspectors

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 11:16:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Seems It Never Rains in Southern California

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 06:11:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Judge orders paper ballot contingency plan for Georgia



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 01:51:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by asdf on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:18:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It's not about the nail.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 01:52:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
LGBT Log Cabin Republicans endorses Trump for 2020
"a far cry from the 1992 convention". Rly?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 04:29:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"If I was him, I would have hired... an old bald guy"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 03:40:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
White House Office on Hate Crimes and White Supremacist Violence

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 04:01:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Rat and mouse plague looms if poison ban goes ahead, experts warn

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 11:14:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
1 commemorative coin" + 1 Tubman Twenty = x

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 09:33:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"maybe you have to swallow a little bit"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 04:45:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 04:58:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
5, high

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 05:03:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 07:24:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

archived
brave

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 02:59:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That was in the cards.  She created too many enemies in the Early Money set, esp. Hollywood, by sticking the shiv into Franken.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 03:21:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
'Well heck, I'm not doing anything'

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 05:57:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lineup cut in half

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 06:13:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Comey

archived
Andrew "Where's muh pension" McCabe

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 09:58:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 04:46:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 04:57:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
(They must be new here.)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 05:04:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
(The NYC Junior League plow, chile.)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 05:07:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

OBSCURE law references
HAITI: Independence Debt, Reparations for Slavery and Colonialism, and International "Aid"
France's 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man
Why The US Owes Haiti Billions - The Briefest History By Bill Quigley
"Haiti was forced to borrow money from banks in France and the US to pay reparations to France."
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Byron Allen sez, "as is enjoyed by white citizens," Comcast.
Jubilee Act for Responsible Lending and Expanded Debt Cancellation

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 05:41:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]

wut


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 05:47:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
this.empowerment(Neera Tanden), A/V annotation w/e 31 Aug 2019

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 31st, 2019 at 06:07:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Republican retirements raise questions about the Senate WHAT NOW?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 03:18:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Baltimore, a once-gilded American seaport

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 13th, 2019 at 06:21:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Felicity Huffman sentenced

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 13th, 2019 at 07:57:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
sort of like a chastity vow

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 07:11:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Rule of Atty #1

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Sep 18th, 2019 at 02:34:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"brownface makeup"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 19th, 2019 at 08:17:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Zelensky: "We want to drain the swamp here in our country."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 25th, 2019 at 09:13:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Steny Hoyer welcomes Modi

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 26th, 2019 at 06:42:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
República bolivariana de Venezuela
El Ministerio del Poder Popular para Relaciones Exteriores de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, sugiere a las ciudadanas venezolanas y ciudadanos venezolanos que tengan previsto viajar a territorio de los Estados Unidos de América, postergar sus viajes o, en todo caso, extremar las precauciones durante los mismos, ante la proliferación de hechos de violencia y crímenes de odio indiscriminado, expresados el pasado fin de semana en las poblaciones de El Paso, Texas y Dayton, Ohio, dejando un saldo de 30 personas muertas y cerca de 53 heridos.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 07:50:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
TRADE WAR gets an AP Stylebook upgrade
A heightened US-China FINANCIAL WAR imperils global economy
AP Explains: "An unpredictable escalation in President Donald Trump's trade war with China, one that spreads the conflict to currency markets, threatens to involve other countries and raises the risk of a global recession."

Description of hostilities, cease-fire, rapid-fire (amid impasse), tit-for-tat exchange ensues, culminating in the most preposterous statement about FRB market operations so far this week.

In the past, the notion that the United States might intervene in the markets, buying foreign currencies and pushing down the dollar to gain an advantage, would have been farfetched.
## Mental disorder is a communicable disease.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 03:46:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ninth Circuit Advances $35 Billion Privacy Suit Against Facebook
U.S. District Judge James Donato ordered it to alert users about an upcoming trial on claims that it harvested facial data in violation of an Illinois privacy law.
[...]
Facebook argued users lacked standing to sue because the mapping of their facial data did not cause them to lose money or suffer any economic injury.

Writing for the three-judge panel, U.S. Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta, a George W. Bush appointee, wrote that "a concrete injury need not be tangible."

Huawei unveils its rival to Android. It's called Harmony
"open sourced". Whaadat?

archived
Huawei sues the US commerce department over seized equipment
Huawei Pushes Ahead With Trademarks for Own OS in Europe Amid US Crackdown

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:13:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lack of G7, IMF support seen dimming impact of U.S. move on China's yuan
"'There's no chance that any of the G7 countries or any other country would support the United States on this because there is no evidence that China is manipulating its currency,' [former U.S. Treasury Fred Bergsten] said. ...[former U.S. Treasury Philip Diehl] said the Trump administration's actions call into question the legitimacy of the whole process for evaluating currency manipulations.

"'They're not well thought out, they're impulsive and they do not appear to be coordinated with our allies,' Diehl said."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 09:19:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
PRC has 1+ billion people, ~200,000,000 of 'em in the middle of a Middle Class consumer frenzy and an economy growing by ~6%/yr.  

The US has ~320 million with an ever-shrinking Middle Class who already have enough cheap shoddy consumer shit to last them for the rest of their and their children's life and an economy limping its way to recession.

Of course the rest of the G7 gave 'em the raspberry.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 08:01:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It is surprising how good the Chinese stuff is these days. Made of nice durable plastic, usually reasonably functional, shipped in packaging that properly keeps it from breaking in transit, cheap to buy at Walmart.

China can control this whole thing with one simple step: Don't ship the Christmas presents. It would trigger a consumer revolt as has never been seen on Earth.

by asdf on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 08:58:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
White House pushes ban on Chinese-made buses, rail cars
The Senate version of the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill would bar federal dollars from being used to purchase either passenger railcars or buses from such firms. The House version of the [NDAA] would limit the prohibition only to passenger railcars.
< wipes tears > and why is that? Miss Nancy knows better than ANYONE
The Chinese Railway Rolling Stock Corp., known as CRRC, has won contracts to produce subway cars and commuter train cars in Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and Los Angeles since 2014
[...]
According to a June 2019 report by Oxford Economics, the total value of the CRRC rail contracts in U.S. cities is $2.7 billion.

[According to Automotive News China] Chinese electric bus manufacturer, Build Your Dreams, or BYD, meanwhile, has delivered 350 buses in the U.S. since 2014 to cities such as Indianapolis; Columbia, Missouri; and Wenatchee, Washington [and San Francisco, CA]. BYD is privately held, but those pushing for the Senate measure say the company benefits from substantial Chinese subsidies, allowing the company to "double-dip" by using Chinese subsidies to build vehicles and U.S. subsidies to allow cities to buy their buses.

< wipes tears >
[BYD spokesman Frank Girardot] said the company's factory in Lancaster, California, employs 800 union members and complies with federal "Buy America[n]" requirements.
I loved hauling that OBSCURE law out every time the CA Cohort started whining about low quality, cheap "chicom" merch they bought to equip their rental properties.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 03:10:28 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Visa, Revised: Why EB-5 Is Getting Pricier and Harder to Use in Big Cities
Created by Congress in 1990, EB-5 encourages visa-seekers to invest in businesses and real estate projects in high-unemployment areas. The barrier to entry is high. At its lower tier, investors previously had to kick in at least $500,000 to a qualifying development in order to get a green card. Under the new regulations, the minimum investment has risen to $900,000. But in prosperous areas like New York City, EB-5 applicants will now have to put up at least $1.8 million -- a huge increase from the previous upper tier minimum of $1 million. Real estate watchers anticipate that making EB-5 more expensive will reduce the number of people who apply and, by extension, make it harder to raise financing for large developments using the program.
[...]
The number of EB-5 visa applications declined significantly last year, dropping 50 percent from 2017 to 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported in June. Chinese investors, who made up the vast majority of EB-5 applicants for the past decade, have largely retreated from the program because there is now a 16-year wait time for Chinese nationals to get an EB-5 visa. A recent uptick in applications from countries like India and Vietnam has limited the number of visas that the U.S. can approve from China. (The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service, which administers the program, only issues 10,000 EB-5 visas a year, and, with the higher demand, each country is limited to 700 visas annually.)
In Greece, an Economic Revival Fueled by 'Golden Visas' and Tourism

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 11:07:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Even fixing Wisconsin's Foxconn deal won't fix it, says state-requested report
The Foxconn deal, which was signed by Walker and touted by President Trump, was supposed to be transformational for Wisconsin. As the first large-panel LCD factory in the Western Hemisphere, it was supposed to span 20 million square feet and create 13,000 jobs. Proponents of the deal said the benefits more than justified the considerable costs: at least $4.5 billion in subsidies and other incentives that the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimated wouldn't be recouped until 2043.
Make It in America Partnerships
Many of Clinton's proposals, including the Make It In America Partnerships, are a lot like ideas put forward by the Obama administration. But while President Obama's ambitions were hobbled by the Great Recession, Clinton believes she has the opportunity to take the agenda much further. Still, Clinton faces the same reality as Trump. Manufacturers today are so much more productive. They don't need as many workers as they used to.
Why many employees feel ["]]devalued["] even in ["]booming["] job market

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 10:52:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Stocks soar after US delays plans for some China tariffs
"On Tuesday, The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative said it would delay the tariffs on some products, including popular consumer goods, until Dec. 15. A few other products were removed altogether, including certain types of fish and baby seats."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 09:10:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
one survey, two stories

AP | 74% of economists in survey see US recession by end of 2021, 19 Aug
"The economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics, in a report released Monday..."
The Hill | About one-third of economists expect recession in 2020: survey, 19 Aug
"Thirty-eight percent of economists surveyed by the National Association for Business Economics forecasted ..."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 at 11:42:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
USAToday | Wild boars overrun Islamic State position, kill 3 militants
by John Bacon

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 07:07:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What was the question?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:24:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Heated calls for boycott of Equinox, SoulCycle over owner's support for Trump
"'We joined this gym because we believed it shared our values. We believed it was a safe space for people like us,' actor and activist Wilson Cruz said in a Change.org petition. "

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:30:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"people like us"

archived Ratcliffe von der Lyin-Coates
dread "acting director" appointment
lawmakers have privately and publicly urged Trump to put Sue Gordon

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 08:05:57 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Have you not heard of the 30 to 50 feral hogs???
by asdf on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 12:47:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
My glasses need cleaning, I read federal hogs.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen
by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 04:19:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
There are far more than 30-50 of those at the trough.
by rifek on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 11:18:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Link is broken.
by generic on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:31:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's what Google is for.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 06:18:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

archived
Amazon Echo
Re: Trump unraveling in Predictions for 2018
Never forget the lead

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 07:17:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"Racism, hate, white supremacy are not diagnosable mental illnesses."
"The biggest predictor of who is going to commit these crimes is violence, a history of past violence," said Evans.

"That is the single-best predictor of who is going to act in a violent way and commit these kinds of violent acts. In addition, we know that there are other factors - stressors, alienation, disaffection, a history of domestic violence - all of those contribute to people's likelihood to act out in violent ways. Mental illness is in there, but not as strong as some of these other factors."

wut
"The United States has 5% of the world's population but 30% of the world's mass shootings," he said. "We don't have 30% of the world's mental illness. The facts don't bear out that way."


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 07:48:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, awaiting sex trafficking charges, dead of apparent suicide
Wm "Drug Czar" Barr appalled: "It was not immediately clear how Epstein could have killed himself or whether he was under suicide watch. ...Brad Edwards, a lawyer for nearly two dozen other accusers, called Epstein's suicide a 'selfish act' that was 'not the ending anyone was looking for.'"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 05:36:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That's very sad and unfortunate.

I'm sure all of his personal and business associates are extremely upset by this news.

by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 09:32:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Cue in the "Hillary killed him in a pizzeria basement" conspiracy theories in three, two, one...
by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 09:43:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 10:28:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 10:52:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Cat on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 02:38:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Jeffrey Epstein accuser sues companion Ghislaine Maxwell as alleged ["]enabler["]
On Wednesday, Araoz alleged in her complaint in New York that socialite and longtime Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and the other staffers "conspired with each other to make possible and otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape of Plaintiff," NBC News reports.
There will be blood in which to bathe.

archived Mann Act revival
Wilding

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 02:15:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Two new Jeffrey Epstein accusers file $100 million lawsuit against pedophile's estate and alleged madame longtime partner lady of the house bottom bitch enabler recruiter co-conspirator
"The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan cites federal sex trafficking law [?] and names the financier's estate as well as alleged recruiter Sue Roe as the defendants."
Where Is Epstein's 'Lady of the House'? Ghislaine Maxwell Mystery Deepens

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 07:26:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Jeffrey Epstein's gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell spotted at In-N-Out Burger in first photos since his death
"Her job was to jazz up his social life by getting fashionable young women to show up."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 09:50:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Donny: Those are good burgers, Walter.

Walter Sobchak: Shut the f*** up, Donny.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen

by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 02:54:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 01:47:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Gov't wants a [3-digit] number just for suicide hotline
[National Suicide Hotline Improvement Act of 2018] required the Federal Communications Commission to study assigning a three-digit number for suicide prevention, like 911 for emergencies or 311 for city services. The FCC says in a Wednesday report that there is "overwhelming support" for a three-digit number because it would be easier for distressed people to get help.

988



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 05:45:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
NXIVM Cult Corp. Must Pay Private Eye's Legal Bills
A federal judge ordered the now-defunct ["]sex cult["] NXIVM [maj. shareholder, N. Salzman] to foot $1.3 million in legal bills incurred by private investigators that it hired to follow an anti-cult specialist.
(no relation to Clare or Edgar Bronfman Sr., payroll department)
In one such investigation, the group retained Interfor Inc. to investigate the 2003 disappearance of one of its members, Kristin Snyder. Allegations that Snyder was pregnant with Raniere's baby have led some to speculate the woman was murdered or killed herself.

NXIVM sued anti-cult crusader Rick Ross around the same time, accusing that Ross had infringed the group's copyright [!] by publishing several pages of a NXIVM manual on his website. Ross obtained the manual from a former member of NXIVM, then known as [d/b/a] Executive Success Programs Inc. [BWAH!], who had signed a nondisclosure agreement [!].
[...]
Ross later sued Interfor and NXIVM for privacy [!] violations, and Interfor in turn demanded that NXIVM cover the costs of the case.

The Indemnity Agreement

archived tears, sippy cup
Co-Founder Bottom bitch of [NXIVM] Tied to Sex Slavery prostitution Pleads Guilty
prosecutors have recommended a sentence of 33-41 months

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 27th, 2019 at 01:35:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 07:23:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
De Blasio can beat Trump
NYCHA has until October 2024 to reduce heating outages to just 15 percent of apartments during the winter under the agreement City Hall signed with the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development in January.

The agency is under a partial federal takeover because of city mismanagement, including a lead-paint debacle.

State of the Spartacus Crater

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 10:29:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"Booker's campaign spokeswoman Sabrina Singh defended his record."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 10:46:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]

This is a fascinating "conversation." The prompt by Hannah solicits pathos. The responses from readers are decidedly unsympathetic to the particular and generally antisocial connotations of her message. Note that "FC" abbreviates fulfillment center (pack, ship, stow, inventory facility). Note that AMZN strictly prohibits operation of personal devices inside its premises. These are surrendered on entry, retrieve on exit, and if detected immediately confiscated by security personnel.

An "ambassador" is a volunteer, non-supervisory employee position within Tier I employee compensation group (entry-level, floor assembly). It is not a legitimate job title or warranted career pathway. Temps ("indirect hires") are not qualified to apply. Applicants for the position, if accepted by HR and Area Manager(s) consensus, satisfy minimal criteria of functional competence for consideration in a specific work group (pack, ship, stow, inventory) such as PPE safety, performance rate, attendance, seniority > 6 mo., no disciplinary record. AFAIK, the company replicates FC organizational structure x-N.A. if not world. AFAIK,no "ambassador" premium added to wage rate. "Ambassador": regular is 1:100 (e) per facility. Non-cash perqs, however, certainly include but are not limited to relief from regular duty, a branded vest, and special projects such as assigned "process improvement" interventions (on personnel or equipment updates). "Ambassadors" normally have no representative duties outside the company.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 06:58:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 02:25:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
That one sent me off into a utube time/space wormhole, very fine.

Love to Mavis and all the Staples.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen

by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 04:22:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Native American voters, once overlooked, seek ROLE for 2020
Many Native Americans live in "hard-to-count" rural areas and are not reflected in the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, so the census cannot accurately measure their voter registration as it would for black, white, Asian and Hispanic citizens. Census estimates say Native Americans make up around 1.7% -- or 5.3 million -- of the U.S. population, and suggest that more than 3.7 million Native Americans are of voting age.

As more Native Americans gain access to the polls, they may be a powerful asset for candidates. Richard Witmer, a political scientist from Creighton University who specializes in American Indian politics and policy, said the Native American vote can swing a close national election.

reference
BLS | Labor market trends for American Indians and Alaska Natives, 2000-17
BLOOMBERG | Where U.S. Unemployment Is Still Sky-High: Indian Reservations, 2018
NCAI.org

archived f* crackers
Digitizing the 2020 Census
"undercounted" [sic], "overcounted" [sic], and "hard-to-count" [wtf]: Wealthy populations may be overcounted because some families own a second home

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 09:20:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]
[ click, click, clackety, click ]

JUST IN


tribes viewed the young United States as an ENTITY seeking to erase them from existence
30 years of research!
TWO VOLUMES!!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 08:14:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
NRA wants a ROLE when Oliver North meets state investigators
"New York's attorney general's office is questioning Oliver North on Tuesday as it PROBES whether the NRA broke laws governing its nonprofit status."

archived
empowerment(bullshit)
[Immunized felon] Oliver North will step down as president of the National Rifle Association ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 11:02:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Utah woman arrested at Manila airport with newborn in bag
family separation

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 02:48:48 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 06:22:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Give him a break, he's 76 years old.
by asdf on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 03:53:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah, don't rob us of the joys of a "Creepy Uncle Joe" presidential run!
by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 10:43:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Students with a $20 lunch debt won't get a school lunch, N.J. district proposes
"The program had a $200,000 surplus for the 2018-19 school year, but she said it could become a deficit if the district doesn't act."
wut: "We don't want any more Newarks. I mean, Flint was a nightmare for Michigan."
wut: "Do 'bulletproof backpacks' really work, and where can you buy one?"

State Legislature
General Assembly: 54 (D), 26 (R); Fun Fact: $49,000/year
Senate: 26 (D), 14 (R)

37 chamber slaves of the patriarchy
30 (D), 7 (R)
wut: "Unlike most PACs, this is not just for Democratic women or Republican women"

archived
NC
"Every mind matters"
PA, RI, FR
The Groundbreaking Public Health Study That Should Change U.S. Society--But Won't

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 07:42:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 02:56:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 05:47:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Politico
Paul Hardesty didn't pay much attention to President Donald Trump's campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., last month until a third concerned constituent rang his cellphone.

The residents of Hardesty's district -- he's a Trump-supporting, West Virginia state senator -- were calling to complain that Trump was "using the Lord's name in vain," Hardesty recounted.

"The third phone call is when I actually went and watched his speech because each of them sounded distraught," said Hardesty, who describes himself as a conservative Democrat.

Here's what he would have seen: Trump crowing, "They'll be hit so g--damn hard," while bragging about bombing Islamic State militants. And Trump recounting his warning to a wealthy businessman: "If you don't support me, you're going to be so g--damn poor."

To most of America, the comments went unnoticed. Instead, the nation was gripped by the moment a "send her back" chant broke out as Trump went after Somali-born Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, an American citizen. But some Trump supporters were more fixated on his casual use of the word "g--damn" -- an off-limits term for many Christians -- not to mention the numerous other profanities laced throughout the rest of his speech.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 02:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
More likely he will lose the farmers. The evangelicals I know have a pretty solid story about why they support him; it revolves around abortion and supreme court justices. Farmers, on the other hand, are personally going broke. This year's harvest season is going to be tough. Wet spring delayed planting, hot summer reducing yield, tariffs triggering China market collapse, proud independent farmers reduced to taking government welfare money to avoid bankruptcy...

Unrest in Minnesota farm country

by asdf on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 03:22:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Flooding, a trade war and Deere cuts outlook for the year
Deere now anticipates fiscal 2019 earnings of approximately $3.2 billion. Its prior outlook was for earnings of $3.3 billion. Deere still foresees a full-year revenue increase of about 5%.
[...]
Sales of agricultural and turf equipment, Deere's biggest operation, slid 6% in the third quarter, and profits fell 24% the company said. That was partially offset by strong activity in the construction industry. Sales of related equipment rose by a percent and profit rose 35%,

archived
Trade war, heavy rains credit weigh on Deere & Co.*
Catepillar manufactures and sells in China.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:44:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They'll bitch and moan, but they'll still vote straight-ticket Rethuglican.  They can't help themselves.
by rifek on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 11:26:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Mostly, but not all. Some will just stay home. Every little bit helps.


"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 01:03:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 08:18:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Must have been years since I browsed DailKos last.

by generic on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:04:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Good to see DK is still taking the fight to the party's real enemies.
by ThatBritGuy (thatbritguy (at) googlemail.com) on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:19:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
He's bragged incessantly. He was an atty. His true name and state of license was well known in the early days of hustling for FT jobs with the DCCC. When I quit the Orange, I called the ABA  on his ass.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:56:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Wed Aug 28th, 2019 at 05:29:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
How is this still not deleted?
by generic on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 02:07:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 07:05:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
people telling on themselves lately

by generic on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 11:44:26 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 11:58:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 11:12:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Thu Sep 5th, 2019 at 03:27:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]


by generic on Tue Sep 10th, 2019 at 06:46:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Sep 10th, 2019 at 09:41:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Politico
At a mid-August fundraiser in Jackson Hole, Wyo., Ivanka Trump was asked to name the personality traits she inherited most from her parents.

Without much of a pause, Trump told the crowd of roughly 120 high-end donors that her mother gave her an example of how to be a powerful, successful woman.

And her father? He passed onto her his moral compass, she said, according to two event attendees.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Sep 13th, 2019 at 03:30:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Sat Sep 28th, 2019 at 11:29:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
My question would be why is this story from 2012 relevant now? Because she told a story that her mother told her about something that happened in 1932?
by asdf on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 01:35:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean, the relevant part happened when she pretended to have Cherokee roots at Harvard, and Harvard tauted their diversity. I think what brought it up recently is the Current Affairs dug up her old recipes:

by generic on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 09:20:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 09:22:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I think you are applying an overly-strict rule about claims of Native American background. It is well established that strict inheritance rules cannot apply in this case. Virtually all Native Americans are of mixed ancestry due to the white man's perverse activities over the last 400 years. That is not news to anybody.

Therefore, a combination of ancestral and cultural connections are used to define whether one is a Native American or not, and that topic is fraught with complications. You might get elected into tribe membership, or you might not. You might live in an area with significant Native American population or you might not. Your mother might have told you a true story or a wishful-thinking, romanticized fairy story. What are you supposed to do in that case?

Plenty of people in the Southwest are Native American enthusiasts. My grandmother's house was chock full of pots, silverware, jewelry, artifacts, paintings, magical dolls, books, and clothes that she had collected from tours of Arizona and New Mexico, but she made no claim whatsoever to being a Native American. Maybe some other people live in a trailer house in Oklahoma surrounded by Native Americans, having no fancy silver Indian jewelry to show off, but adopt parts of that culture--or maybe they have a tiny amount of Native American ancestry, hazily remembered and undocumented, that encourages them or at least enables them to make some kind of a claim about their heritage.

All you have to do to claim minority status in the US system is to claim it. I could claim to be a Native American on my college application and nobody could do anything about it. That is how it works. You do not need to be a formal member of a federally recognized tribe.

The political right's going after Liz Warren about this is purely a political action. Considering that after she got into college she excelled, while after a certain other guy got into college he was proven to be an idiot, I don't see what the point is other than trying to undercut her.

Please excuse this rant, but Liz Warren is the world's best hope at this point, and any efforts to undercut her need to be squelched.

by asdf on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 04:13:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
All you have to do to claim minority status in the US system is to claim it. I could claim to be a Native American on my college application and nobody could do anything about it. That is how it works. You do not need to be a formal member of a federally recognized tribe.

This statement is not quite incorrect, but it does point to the ease with which some people, say, Warren, have defrauded the US government and enjoy impunity among their true peers for whom culture, heritage, ethical and ethnic character pose only aesthetic dilemmas.

Of course, college and university applicants have long presented themselves for interviews--I remember both quite vividly-- the purpose of which is not exchange of mere pleasantries. But it is somewhat ironic in the Trump ERA that fed regulators are catching on to and have exhibited such keen interest in confidence games played by the least needy like, say, Warren.

Race and sex actually constitute US America's hierarchy. The US system (government) which maintains that social structure assigns consideration to protected classes of persons (colloq. "minorities", "the marginalized", "disadvantaged") by statute. Protection supposes abnormal risk of harm or injury, demonstrated by historical, demographic information describing a group (class) of persons at many points in time. I can understand how, say, Warren's ambition caught up to equal opportunity afforded by the CRA of 1965 and exceed her expectations, when she selected Penn employment. Competition for token seats was formidable by the '80s: Why wouldn't she doubled-down, one might ask, to seize an edge. Look at the Obamas' timing. Look at Rachel Dolezal--landssakes, what was her problem?

Females (sex), indigenous nations (origin), and "blacks" (race) are the earliest classes of persons recognized and afforded remedy for probable injury by US civil rights legislation and, notably, treaties between US and "tribal" governments. In theory the US Constitution protects (religion) without qualification, as you know.

To redeem the claim from government--remedy's forms and values are most certainly political and economic--a claimant must in fact attest to injury in the first instance, "minority status" as you say. The truth of that claim can be readily corroborated by government's own vast reserve of documentary evidence such as tribal certs, birth certs, religion certs, visual exam, affidavit, tax files, public charge records, location, etc. Government also requires a claimant to prove an instant offense attributable to they/them/their "minority status" such as elusive discriminatory, and adverse treatment. The frauds always miss that piece!

For these reasons alone I could say, the claim that "Liz Warren is the world's best hope at this point" is unpersuasive. But her judgment in this matter of justice and ROLE MODELS as well as other political enterprises in the senate or campaigning for Clinton  leaves as much to be desired as those of her predecessors. It does not warrant superlative esteem. I'd just as soon wait to be surprised by the 117th congress.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 08:08:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Rant away, this is the season for rants.
I brought it up because someone had unearthed an old newspaper clipping.
Thoughts from Polly's Granddaughter: Bam! Last Nail in the Coffin on that Old Story!
Elizabeth Warren is the granddaughter of Hannie Crawford, daughter of John H. Crawford. Warren says the Crawfords were Cherokee.

According to the Boston Globe,

    "Rosco Crawford, Hannie Crawford's brother, told (his granddaughter) that as a young boy living in the Creek Nation of Indian Territory, the Indians were "pretty mean." Once, when a Creek was hitting Crawford's younger brother, their father shot and wounded the Indian, according to her biography, on file at California State University at Fullerton."

The story Hannie's brother, Rosco, told his granddaughter is true.


That newspaper identifies him as a white man. Not that it matters particularly.
At the start of this sorry affair I would have discounted it as just her having believed old family stories uncritically, though it looked a bit skeevie. But, then there was the DNA test, that showed an incredible bone-headedness. And the loud insistence that she got her position by merit (So who are the people that don't get their positions by merit?).
Frankly, the more I look at her record the less I like it. A member of the Republican party under Reagan,who, despite the unceasing hagiography of the best paid of the chattering classes, was no different than Trump, including the early onset dementia. Yet the only story line I got of why she changed parties is that the dems were better for markets.

I don't have the link now, but the interview where she baldly states that her stance of not taking corporate money is strictly limited to the primaries is what pushed me into the anti-Warren camp.

by generic on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 11:20:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I know, she is not perfect. She taught Sunday School in the 1990s, too, which makes her a Christian, which puts her in the same camp (according to some) as Pence.

I'm just really nervous right now that we are going to get either another run of Trump--or a couple of runs of Pence, which would be a lot more awful than it has even been up to now. People not living in daily contact with dominionists are perhaps not aware of their thinking.

by asdf on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 01:21:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Oh sure, but we are six months out from anyone voting on anything so if there is a time to kick the tires then is is now. And if I can find that stuff then someone who is paid six figures to do just that, or at least the unpaid intern, will also have no trouble there.
by generic on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 06:55:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Though if I'm honest, the biggest red flag about the Warren campaign is what I'm not seeing. All the professional libs tell me she is just as progressive as Bernie Sanders. So where is the Dean Scream? Why isn't the DNA test story played up and down the network channels? If Warren's supposed detailed plans were in any way threatening to the status quo I'd absolutely expect MSNBC to hold panels full of tribal representatives.
by generic on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 07:49:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
But that was the MSNBC thing I was thinking about:

Also here is a link to the "why native Americans are mad at Warren article". I think at least as a list of the specific grievances it will serve.

by generic on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 11:29:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Does the same apply to people who supported Obama over McCain (and his vice-president)? Or Cuomo over Teachout or Nixon? (actually, if they had said that about Teachout, I would have agreed with them. But they didn't)
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 11:54:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
sexist, misogynist, racist: I would think you, I could agree that DNC candidates and "surrogates" have parroted those epithets for every campaign since 2008. That was the first time H.R.M. Clinton ran for office of POTUS, any elected office. 2008 was not the first time that a black man had vied for POTUS nomination by the DNC.

tbh, I cannot immediately recall that Geraldine Ferraro's presence on the ticket generated such volumnous invective from The Machine in 1984. Ironically, Jesse Jackson's National Rainbow Coalition did not stir much controversy from that election that I recall until the convention of DNC superdelegates.

Republican Party ad hominem character assassination is much easier to identify in theory or practice and more simplistic: communist. Anyone can be a communist in the eyes of, well, a cracker dressed as DINO or RINO with neoliberal or neoconservative accessories.

Native American voters, once overlooked, seek ROLE for 2020, according to APsplainin. That ROLE is "asset" off the reservations.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 07:24:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Now that I think about it, there was a cute acronym for HRC voters that went for McCain after the primary. PUMAs?
by generic on Tue Oct 1st, 2019 at 09:34:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 10:53:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This accound is a misrepresentation of what happened. Harvard hired Warren on her merits. Some time later an administrator responsible for ethnic diversity suggested that she might be listed as having American Indian ancestry to improve Harvard's faculty diversity. She did not object, as she had always believed she did have such ancestry. A very large portion of Oklahomans do, myself included. My great grandparents lived in northwestern Arkansas, on a mountain top that Great Granfather Hudson homesteaded sometime after the civil war, in the 1870s. His wife was probably 1/4 Cherokee, but they made no effort to claim Cherokee ancestry in the Cherokee Nation at the time of the Dawes Commission, circa 1892.

Their eldest daughter, Mary, married my grandfather, Jefferson Davis, in 1892 in Salem and the couple moved to Indian Territory. Mary was Jeff's second wife and he was 20 some years her senior. According to family oral history, while Mary was not enrolled in the tribe, her husband Jeff was granted a work permit inside the Cherokee Nation, as he was able to build chimneys that drew smoke. They lived on a rented farm near Wann, Oklahoma, an early oil boom town, and my father was born in 1910, the youngest boy in the family.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 05:04:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Cat on Sun Sep 29th, 2019 at 08:20:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump-Putin phone calls in U.S. Democrats' sights: Schiff

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress is determined to get access to Donald Trump's calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other world leaders, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee's chairman said on Sunday, citing concerns that the Republican president may have jeopardized national security.

"I think the paramount need here is to protect the national security of the United States and see whether in the conversations with other world leaders - and in particular with Putin - that the president was also undermining our security in a way that he thought would personally benefit his campaign," Democrat Adam Schiff said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

It might be time to call the NSA staff that have handled the 'code word' stand alone computer into a closed door hearing before the House Intelligence Committee. Probably they are best equipped to quickly retrieve the most sensitive of Trumps telephone calls.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 04:20:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:42:27 PM EST
Moon calls for `peace economy' with N. Korea, slams Japan
"'Japan absolutely cannot prevent our economy from taking a leap. Rather, (Japan) will serve as a stimulant that strengthens our determination to become an economic power,' he said." Can't argue with that.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 10:11:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
PRC vs UK, US, EU d/b/a Hong Kong LOL

reference
List of Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements (As at 21.11.2018)
Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance - International Cooperation, .ppt
extraditable offenses, No. of surrenders, habeas corpus
FUGITIVE OFFENDERS AND MUTUAL LEGAL ASSISTANCE IN CRIMINAL MATTERS LEGISLATION (AMENDMENT) BILL 2019, full text
"follow the money"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 07:30:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Mexico to open first terrorism PROBE of an event on U.S. territory
Probe is an alternative spelling for extraditon.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 08:21:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I've lost count of transitional gov agreements closed in SUDAN over prior 60 days. iirc, "pro-democracy" protestors and military ahh contemplating No. 3.

Complication No. n + 1: Hemetti regrets bloody attack on Sudan's pro-democracy sit-in

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 05:59:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Maduro halts talks with opponents over US ["]asset freeze["]
"The decision surprised representatives of opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who were already on the Caribbean island of Barbados awaiting what was to be the start Thursday of the sixth round of talks that began in May under the auspices of Norway."

archived peace talks
Diplomats [not really]: Europeans weigh [blockade of] Venezuela's [trade]

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 02:45:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
US warns off Venezuela allies at Lima Group meeting
"We are sending a signal to third parties that want to do business with the Maduro regime: Proceed with extreme caution," said Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton, speaking in Lima. "There is no need to risk your business interests with the United States for the purposes of profiting from a corrupt and dying regime."

He aimed a specific warning at Maduro allies China and Russia, telling them their "support to the Maduro regime is intolerable."

'John Bolton tried to assassinate me': Interview with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 03:59:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Amid rising hunger, Venezuela [, Colombia] plantain crops threatened by fungus - agronomists
"The fungus causes a malady popularly known as Panama disease and can remain in the soil for up to 30 years by attacking the roots of plants."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 06:21:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Read it first on European Tribune: Peak Banana?

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen
by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 07:28:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sudan UPDATE
Sudan to Launch HISTORIC Transition to Civilian Rule
The ceremony will finalize a constitutional declaration inked on August 4 between the country's Transitional Military Council and the opposition coalition of the Alliance for Freedom and Change. ... The deal brokered by the African Union and Ethiopia was welcomed with relief by both sides, with protesters celebrating what they saw as the victory of their "revolution" and generals taking credit for averting civil war.
[...]
On Thursday, protest leaders agreed to nominate former senior UN official Abdalla Hamdok as prime minister.

The veteran economist, who stepped down last year as deputy executive secretary of the UN's Economic Commission for Africa, is to be formally selected on August 20, a statement said.

The cabinet is to be unveiled on August 28, with the newly-appointed ministers due to meet the sovereign council on September 1 for the first time.

Elections must be held after the 39-month transitional period that began on August 4.

OpEd | Sudan's Constitutional Declaration was reduced to absurdity
After paying tributes to the martyrs and hoping healing for wounded and offer sincere greetings to the rebellious Sudanese people who are inevitably victorious, having been supported by their fellow citizens in the villages, districts, towns and cities, one will offer sincere greetings to the makers of glory of the December Revolution where the daughters and sons of the people Sudan did not surrender to injustice one day and did not succumb to humiliation until they reached the height, as the saying goes: "that glory has no limits and will never go into the oblivion. ...
Hamdok nominated Sudan's Prime Minister as his cabinet candidates UNVEILED

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 04:19:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hamdok announces first post-Bashir era government in Sudan
At a press conference on Thursday evening, Hamdok unveiled the names of 18 of the 20 ministers, including four women. He said the two others (minister of infrastructure and minister of livestock and fisheries) will be announced later as they are still conducting consultation on this respect. He went further to disclose that they are looking for two ministers from eastern Sudan and the Blue Nile state to file these portfolios.
African Union lifts suspension of Sudan' membership

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 12:28:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
(merits duplication in _______.)



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 07:28:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
'Mulan' remake facing backlash after star supports Hong Kong police in wake of violent protests
"Disney must be fuming rn."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 07:13:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

lead in the water?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 12:54:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Hong Kong protesters to take their democracy message to U.S. Consulate
The U.S. State Department updated its travel advisory for Hong Kong, warning that U.S. citizens and consular employees had been the targets of a recent propaganda campaign by China "falsely accusing the United States of fomenting unrest".


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 04:10:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Marchers ask Trump to 'liberate' Hong Kong, as clashes erupt
"Hong Kong is at the forefront of the battle against the totalitarian regime of China," said Panzer Chan, one of the organizers of the march. "Please support us in our fight."
[...]
Protesters on Sunday urged Washington to pass a bill, known as the Hong Kong Democratic and Human Rights Act, to support their cause. The bill proposes sanctions against Hong Kong and Chinese officials found to suppress democracy and human rights in the city, and could also affect Hong Kong's preferential trade status with the U.S.
H.R.3289 - Introduced 06/13/2019
Mr. Smith [NJ-4] (for himself, Mr. McGovern [MA-2], Mr. Perry [PA-10], Mr. Suozzi [NY-3], Mr. Fitzpatrick [PA-1], Mr. Sherman [CA-30], and Mr. Yoho [FL-3) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned....
A group of protesters sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" before handing over an appeal letter to a U.S. Consulate official.
[...]
Some American legislators are pressing Trump to take a tougher stand on Hong Kong. But the president has suggested that it's a matter for China to handle, though he also has said that no violence should be used. [...] U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [CA-12] said in a statement Wednesday that Hong Kong residents deserve real autonomy and freedom from fear. She urged an end to police violence against protesters and said Congress looks forward to "swiftly advancing" the Hong Kong bill.
Hong Kong plans to house 1 million people on artificial islands

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 10:54:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
14 Aug
Flights resume at Hong Kong airport as protesters apologize

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 06:22:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hong Kong CUTS TAXES to shore up economy amid protests
Unintended Consequences Accomplished!
Mr T will be pleeeeeesed.Mwahahahahaha.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 02:34:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hong Kong police and protesters clash, ending violence lull
Hundreds of black-clad protesters armed with bamboo poles and baseball bats fought with police officers wielding batons on a main road following a march against "smart lampposts" that was sparked by surveillance fears.
[...]
The protest march started peacefully as supporters took to the streets to demand the removal of the lampposts over worries that they could contain high-tech cameras and facial recognition software used for surveillance by Chinese authorities.
[...]
"Hong Kong people's private information is already being extradited to China. We have to be very concerned," organizer Ventus Lau said ahead of the procession.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 04:20:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
AFP | Lam Says She'll Withdraw Hong Kong Extradition Bill
"The government will formally withdraw the bill in order to fully allay public concerns," Lam said in a video statement released by her office. ...But those hopes were quickly tempered, with pro-democracy activists voicing anger and determination to press on with their broader democracy campaign.

"Too little, too late," said Joshua Wong, a prominent activist who was arrested late last week as part of a police sweep of leading pro-democracy figures.

9 Jul 2019 | Lam says Hong Kong bill is 'dead' but unclear if demand met 'face time'
"Five major demands, not one less. Liberate HK, revolution now"

Then an audio recording emerged this week of her telling business leaders of the influence of Beijing, which viewed the protests as a national security and sovereignty issue.

In the audio recording, Lam said she wanted to quit and take responsibility for triggering the unrest with the extradition plans, but that she was hamstrung by Beijing. ...But after the audio recording was released, Lam held a press conference on Tuesday to insist she had never contemplated resigning.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam in leaked secret recording - BBC News, A/V (EN)
"BBC is a British public broadcast service. Wikipedia"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 5th, 2019 at 02:44:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
HK leader says bill withdrawal own decision, not Beijing's
[1] Withdrawal of the bill meets one of protesters' five key demands, but activists have vowed not to yield until the government fulfills all of them. Those also include an [2] independent investigation into allegations of police brutality during the protests, [3] the unconditional release of those detained, [4] not labelling the protests as riots, and [5] direct elections of the city's leader.
Been reading the Daily Mirror, have thay.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 02:45:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Nation | How Do People in China Really Feel About Hong Kong?
Though hostility against Hong Kong seems overwhelming, overlooking the sensible discussion around it is a disservice. Quite a few members of the Chinese diaspora have diligently battled Beijing's disinformation by writing lengthy posts about the politics and history of Hong Kong that explain the motivations of the protesters.
The follow-up content of this paper is divided into two parts. The first part is to sort out the timeline, and the second part tries to answer some questions that the author thinks are important or are of general concern.

Part I Event Timeline

1858. Section 21 of the Sino-British Tianjin Treaty requires the Hong Kong colonial government [UK, US, FR] to send Chinese prisoners who have fled to Hong Kong to Daqing. The Hong Kong colonial government has enacted the "Chinese Repatriation and Repatriation Ordinance", which stipulates that Chinese prisoners who have not lived in Hong Kong colonies for six months in the past 12 months may be extradited to Daqing after interrogation by the Magistrates' Court and also with Qing government officials. The "Hong Kong Code of Conduct" was enacted as a method of extradition of fugitives to Daqing. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China has submitted an extradition request to the Hong Kong government. The last reference to the Chinese Extradition Ordinance was in 1930. In 1997, the Chinese Repatriation Ordinance was formally abolished because it did not comply with the Basic Law. ...
After news reports surfaced that Chinese students overseas hurled curse words at Hong Kong protesters, concerned Chinese scholars shared academic papers on social media about the vulgar slurs used by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. In mainland China, parents have written about their own experience of explaining what's happening in Hong Kong to their confused children. In a widely shared WeChat post, one Chinese mother said she encouraged her teenage son to read up on different media reports of the protest, respect different views, and not to jump any hardened position before understanding the facts and context the protest.
Treaty of Tientsin-26th June, 1858
"1. The Treaty of Peace and Amity between the two nations signed Nanking on the 29th day of August, in the year 1842, is hereby renewed and confirmed...XXI. If criminals, subjects of China, shall lake refuge in Hong-kong or on board the British ships there, they shall, upon due requisition by the Chinese authorities, be searched for, and, on proof of their guilt, be delivered up."
Treaty Of Tianjin (Tien-Tsin), 1901

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 06:51:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Fitch cuts Hong Kong credit rating, citing protests
Fitch cut the government's credit rating for foreign currency borrowing to AA from AA+, with a negative outlook. It said the territory's creditworthiness was strong but was "at risk of being further eroded."
currency of its own
Instead of financing government spending, most official borrowing is used by the central bank to manage the exchange rate of the Hong Kong dollar, which is linked to the U.S. dollar.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has "ample resources" of $441 billion in foreign currency reserves to maintain that link, Fitch said.

torque
Growing linkages to the Chinese mainland will lead to "greater institutional and regulatory challenges," Fitch said.

It said that change was consistent with narrowing the gap between Hong Kong's rating and that of China, which is lower at A+.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 08:22:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hong Kong thwarts airport protest, but ["]battles["] continue
Hong Kong's airport, the world's eighth busiest, has been a frequent target during a summer of protests sparked by an extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Many saw the bill as a GLARING example of the Chinese territory's eroding autonomy since the former British colony was returned to China in 1997.

autonomous HK references
Fugitive Offenders and Mutual Legal Assistance, international, since Treaty Of Tianjin (Tien-Tsin)
excluding Taiwan

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 06:31:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Protesters' Tiananmen Sq. photo op receding in the rear view. Waiting for APsplainin rebound, Evil Knievel style.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 06:40:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Hong Kong protesters trap [Carrie Lam] for hours in stadium after 'open dialogue'
Activists blocked roads and stood their ground despite police warnings, before beginning to disperse. More than four hours after the ['open dialogue'] talks had ended, a convoy carrying Lam and other senior officials left the building under police guard.
Hong Kong leader rebuked at town hall over protests
Scores of protesters chanted slogans outside the Queen Elizabeth stadium in the Wan Chai area that was locked down as Lam met with more than 130 people, selected randomly from over 20,000 applicants. Speaker after speaker railed against government arrogance leading to increasingly violent youth-led protests that show no signs of abating. They slammed the use of force by police and questioned Lam's sincerity after she rejected protesters' demands. Only 30 of the people were picked by ballot to speak for three minutes each.

Lam, flanked by several Cabinet members, listened quietly during the more than two-hour session. She acknowledged the deep distrust of her government and police and vowed to regain public confidence.
[...]
"To Hong Kong people, it's a joke," said Bonnie Leung of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized several massive rallies. "If she really wants to communicate with Hong Kong people, all she has to do is to open her door, we are right outside."
[...]
The Civil Human Rrights Front has received police approval for a rally on Saturday and has applied for another major march on Oct. 1. Police banned the last two rallies planned by the group, but protesters turned up anyway and the peaceful gatherings later degenerated into chaos.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Sep 26th, 2019 at 11:22:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Uganda: One year of social media tax
Kawenja needs constant internet access, but in the past year that has become difficult. In July 2018, Uganda's government introduced the "over-the-top" (OTT) tax, commonly known as the social media tax, for online services such as WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter.

The 26-year-old boycotted the tax. "I just didn't find it fair," he said. After all, internet costs in Uganda are already quite high. Uganda's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita per day is currently at $1.90 (€1.69 or 7,000 Ugandan shillings), and many live off less. "If you pay 1,000 shillings per day for your internet data of 50 megabytes and you then have to pay an extra 200 shillings tax, that's a big challenge," Kawenja says. For 200 shillings ($0.05, €0.04), you can by a kilogram of maize in Uganda.

price discovery: Uganda to register, monitor social media influencers
Authorities say the scheme, which also levies a $20 fee, is designed to clamp down on immoral or prejudiced content. Critics view it as part of an escalating campaign by President Yoweri Museveni to suppress online content disapproving of him and his government.
[...]
The registration scheme is "not a positive move, it infringes on the rights to freedom of expression. People are able express themselves well when they know that somebody is not watching over them," said the [digital communications rights watchdog Unwanted Witness] chief executive, Dorothy Mukasa.

Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) spokesman Ibrahim Bbosa said the "data communicators" to be registered included individuals with heavily followed social media and other online accounts that carried ads alongside other content on platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

cross and a flag: The Red Flag Laws That Trump Wants to Stop Mass Shooters Already Exist. Are They Working?
"I am directing the Department of Justice to work in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies, as well as social media companies, to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike," Trump said, adding later on, "We must make sure that those judged to pose a grave risk to public safety do not have access to firearms, and that, if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for red flag laws."

archived
&tc.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 05:59:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Uganda's cash-strapped cops spend $126 million on CCTV from Huawei
Opposition leaders say law enforcement agencies are too corrupt and overburdened to use the footage to identify criminals. They worry police may use the cameras, which have facial recognition technology, to target demonstrators in violent clampdowns as an election approaches in 2021.
[...]
In Africa, Huawei has sold CCTV systems to countries such as Kenya, Egypt and Zambia where activists have raised similar concerns over privacy and effectiveness. In Europe, France, Germany and Serbia have small projects with Huawei's initiative.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:22:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Amazon: Facial recognition program for cops detects emotion
"Amazon says Rekognition could be used to monitor unsafe online content and find missing persons on social media."

wut

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 12:25:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sillicon Valley TechBro marketing BS.  

In the field tests of face recognition software yields False Positive rates as high as 98%.  In a recent study in California Amazon's software had a 20% failure rate when tested against well known public figures.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 02:43:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I mean the cops would probably like a 100% positive rate so they get what they pay for.
by generic on Sun Aug 18th, 2019 at 02:54:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No deal announced as US, Taliban wrap up latest talks
A Taliban spokesman had said last week that this eighth round of talks would conclude with a deal to end the nearly 18-year war, America's longest. The two sides have been discussing an agreement under which U.S. forces would withdraw from Afghanistan and the Taliban would guarantee the country would not revert to being a launch pad for global terrorist attacks.
[...]
The U.S. has pressed for a cease-fire and a framework for inter-Afghan talks, but so far the insurgents have refused to recognize the Afghan government, dismissing it as a U.S. puppet.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, frustrated at being sidelined, on Sunday rejected foreign interference in Afghan affairs. He insists that elections planned for Sept. 28 will give the next government a powerful mandate to decide the country's future. But [U.S. envoy Zalmay] Khalilzad is seeking a peace deal by Sept. 1, weeks before the vote. The Taliban, who effectively control half the country, have dismissed the election as a sham and warned fellow Afghans to avoid both campaign rallies and the polls.

archived
Trump Foreign Policy: Evolutionary Stance Jan 2019
Trump has asked Pakistan to play its role in the peace talks
World 'SACRED COWS'
recycling news about détente in "liberating" Afghanistan
Transcript: President Trump on "Face the Nation"
MARGARET BRENNAN: That's where 9/11 was launched from.
Lessons from Winston Churchill: Withdrawal from Afghanistan, July 2018
Turkey extends its NATO mission in Afghanistan, June 2017
And Bismark wept.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 03:51:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]

When the Utopia Becomes the Imperialist's Pied-à-Terre
Not to be too cynical or whatever, but when she wasn't otherwise occupied with satiating the hunger for performative reflection on matters of historic racial injustice last week in Ghana, Nancy Pelosi's itinerary suggested a rather portentous truth; namely, that the only thing foreseeably "Pan-" about Africa is U.S. military hegemony on the continent.
DoD Award - Emerging and Dangerous Pathogens Laboratory Network, 2015

archived Wakanda
Speaker Nancy pimping assorted Crayola® colored delegates ...
No sooner had Madames May and Merkel glided home ...
"Sold like a whore! A goat!"
Ghanaians protest over expanded military co-operation deal with U.S.
US Foreign Policy from Crisis to Crisis
Divide and Rule: Balkanizing the Democratic Republic of Congo
It's a good thing that The Nation is erecting its "paywall"
["]Secret["] US Military Documents Reveal a Constellation
The New Scramble for Africa - Al Jazeera English, 2015

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 07:43:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
African leaders join Macron at commemoration of WWII landings in Provence
President Emmanuel Macron saluted Thursday a French army "that emerged from the shadows and exile" during the Allied landings on the Mediterranean coast 75 years ago and the sacrifices by fighters from France's former colonies in Africa.

"The glory of all these soldiers of the Liberation is immense, and our gratitude must never fade. We will never forget anything, nor anyone," Macron told veterans at the Boulouris national cemetery in Saint-Raphael.

He was joined by the presidents of Guinea and Ivory Coast, Alpha Condé and Alassane Ouattara, for a ceremony marking the 1944 operation which saw French forces take a lead role in freeing their country from Nazi Germany's grip.
[...]
France finally agreed in 2002 to increase the payouts to partially make up for the veterans' lost spending power [?] over the subsequent decades -- though they were still far below those of French ex-soldiers. Pressure continued to mount until then president Nicolas Sarkozy announced in 2010 that pensions would be the same for all its veterans, regardless of nationality or place of residence.

archived
Françafrique

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 01:30:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
They still want proper pay? I though France already cured them of that idea.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 03:03:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sarkozy was the first French president who was born after WW II (in 1955) and was still a child when most French African colonies became independent. There is an obvious generational divide between Sarko, Hollande, Macron and the likes of Chirac, Miterrand and Giscard.
by Bernard (bernard) on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 05:47:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump says he canceled peace talks with Taliban over attack
"If they cannot agree to a ceasefire during these very important peace talks, and would even kill 12 innocent people, then they probably don't have the power to negotiate a meaningful agreement anyway," Trump said on Twitter.

Taliban fighters, who now control more territory than at any time since 2001, launched fresh assaults on the northern cities of Kunduz and Pul-e Khumri over the past week and carried out two major suicide bombings in the capital Kabul.
[...]
U.S. Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, who oversees American troops in the region, declined to comment on the diplomatic negotiations themselves.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Sep 8th, 2019 at 04:06:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
President of Japanese National Confederation of Trade Unions visit Seoul on Liberation Day
"'In terms of trade, South Korea and Japan maintain close economic relations, South Korea being one of the top importers of Japanese products. Trade friction has inevitable ramifications for production, while dwindling tourism has a direct impact on workers. It's important to send a strong message to the government to act responsibly,' Odagawa said."
3 out of 4 S. Koreans expect boycott against Japan to continue until economic retaliation is retracted
"The percentage of South Koreans who think the boycott will continue even after Japan rescinds its economic retaliation was 56.4% among people in their 20s, the only age group in which that response exceeded 50%."
S. Korean and Japanese NGOS and activists gather to discuss forced labor issue
"'The biggest problem right now is that Shinzo Abe is lying to the international community, claiming that workers weren't mobilized by force and that the South Korean government is violating international law,' said Kim Min-cheol, an analyst with the Center for Historical Truth and Justice."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 09:31:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
S. Korea cancels Japan intelligence deal amid trade dispute
Many [US?] experts had predicted that South Korea would be unlikely to spike the 3-year-old intelligence-sharing deal for the sake of its ["]relations["] with the United States.
< wipes tears >
"Under this situation, the government has determined that maintaining the agreement, which was signed for the purpose of exchanging sensitive military intelligence on security, does not serve our national interests," Kim You-geun, the deputy director of South Korea's presidential national security office, said in a nationally televised statement.

He said South Korea would formally notify Japan of its decision before Saturday, the deadline for an extension of the pact for another year.

The question of S. Korea's withdrawal from GSOMIA
The likeliest approach currently being considered by the Blue House would involve extending GSOMIA in view of the importance of trilateral security cooperation with the US, while suspending information exchanges for the time being as a means of pressuring Japan. But heavy opposition to renewing the agreement from within the ruling Democratic Party could prove a variable in the late stages. Speaking at a discussion held the same day by the Korea Broadcasting Journalists Club, Kim Sang-jo, Blue House policy chief, explained, "South Korea-US-Japan security cooperation is a very important matter, and this is not a decision that can be made lightly."

"We plan to continue examining things until the very end in terms of the question of whether we should be exchanging sensitive military information with a country that claims not to be able to trust South Korea, and we will be making a careful decision," Kim said.

Japan downgrades importance of security cooperation with S. Korea in 2019 defense white paper

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 06:18:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"Abe's refusal to engage with S. Korea marks end of Japan's status as peaceful country"
"Japanese historian delivers keynote address at academic conference titled "South Korea-Japan Relations: Beyond 'Anti-Japan' and 'Anti-Korea'"
"Moon's behavior contrasted with Abe's constant pressure on North Korea over the issue of the Japanese abductees. North Korea's refusal to negotiate the abductee issue while continuing dialogue with South Korea and the US put Abe into an extremely awkward position." Abe's resentment for these changes, Wada believes, eventually led to his punitive trade measures against South Korea.

Wada stressed that there's no possibility of the Japanese public accepting proposals recently made by some groups in Japan to cut off relations with South Korea or to stabilize relations with China and strengthen the alliance with the US on the grounds that South Korea doesn't matter.

Wada was one of 79 progressive Japanese intellectuals who released a statement titled "Is South Korea the Enemy?" on July 25, shortly before Japan announced that it was dropping South Korea from its white list of countries that enjoy streamlined screening for exports of strategic materials.
[...]
"So far, things like shared benefits for large corporations and SMEs, industry/academia/research collaboration by companies and universities, and government fostering of the component and material industries have been discussed, but we need to look at this is a crucial opportunity to address all at once all the things that haven't been put into practice yet," Kim said.
"With research and development (R&D) policy, we need to go beyond the existing approach of providing research funding and designate specific material and equipment categories, continuing the R&D all the way up to the development stage and expanding it into other areas," he advised.

Arguing that Japan's economic retaliation committed the error of undermining a "Northeast Asian prosperity framework" where South Korea, China, and Japan all gain through a division of labor, Kim proposed that Seoul work to overcome the situation going forward through its New Southern Policy and the inter-Korean peace process.

Repeal and replacing "false narratives"

archived "Asia"
World POST-EDO
Why is Japan so Bitter About Unstoppable Rise of China?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 05:33:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Puerto Rico high court overturns Pedro Pierluisi as governor

archived
Puerto Ricans have no idea who will be new governor Friday
17:01 Hong Kong people's time with Caribbean characteristics

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 05:50:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Modi's plan to "ring-fence" mostly muslim Kashmir may or may not be developing as planned now that Lok Sabha CAMPAIGN 2019 is complete.
Troops Lock Down Kashmir as India Votes to Strip Its Status
"How the 7 million people in the Kashmir Valley were reacting was unclear, because the Indian government shut off most communication with it, including internet, cellphone and landline networks."

free uighurs

archived
Modi surges to victory in India on Hindu-first platform

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 06:11:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
CAMPAIGN 2019

Conservative Giammattei wins Guatemala elections
"The 63-year-old spent several months in prison in 2008, when he was director of the country's prison system, after some prisoners were killed in a raid on his watch. ...But on Sunday, his get-tough approach to crime and his socially conservative values, including his strident opposition to gay marriage and abortion, finally parlayed favor with Guatemalan voters in a presidential runoff."

Argentina's Macri bashed as voters back predecessor's ticket

With 88% of polling stations tallied early Monday, official results gave the presidential slate headed by Alberto Fernández and his vice presidential running mate, Cristina Fernández, about 47% of the votes in a primary vote featuring 10 candidates. Macri and his running mate, Miguel Ángel Pichetto, had 32% -- a wide margin that revealed the considerable depth of Macri's weakness, potentially positioning the Fernández team to win in the first round of a general election voting on Oct. 27.
d'Oh

archived backyard
After Guatemala, U.S. seeks migration deals with Honduras, El Salvador
safe third country
Tens of thousands march in Argentina against Macri's [$57B line of credit], 2019
Macri Settles US Court Action Vulture Funds , 2018

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 04:08:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Had a chat with a taxi driver of unknown-country-of-origin last week. I caught only "KASHMIR" from his radio and invited commentary on ground movements, military, Modi, protests (none) in USA ... in English.

So. Somewhat randomly selected English-language sources to UPDATE Anglo-merican media silence.

Kashmir Times | search results
Indian Express | search results

archived

China and Pakistan link up with fibreoptic cable, 2018. Azad Kashmir state, Jammu and Kashmir state "geopolitical" proximity



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 05:17:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Sep 3rd, 2019 at 12:08:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Families struggle to meet Kashmiris lodged in Indian jail
free Uighurs
'Howdy, Modi!': Trump attends Indian PM's rally in Houston
"We are committed to protect innocent civilians from radical Islamic terrorism"
Imelda who?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 23rd, 2019 at 10:10:46 AM EST
[ Parent ]
wut: "Puerto Ricans braced for more political turmoil Thursday as the third governor in a week took charge of this U.S. territory"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 02:40:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sputnik is funded in whole or in part by Russia government.

Iraqi Parliament Group Calls Alleged Israeli Strikes 'Declaration of War', Demands US Troops Exit

The Fatah Coalition, an influential bloc in the Iraqi Parliament, has called recent airstrikes on the country, allegedly conducted by Israel, a "declaration of war" by the Jewish state and stated that it holds the US fully responsible for Tel Aviv's actions. In light of this, the coalition has called for the withdrawal of the about 5,000 remaining American soldiers from Iraq.
[...]
The last time the IDF officially claimed responsibility for conducting strikes in Iraq was 1981, when the IAF destroyed the Osirak nuclear power plant near Baghdad.

In a separate report by The New York Times, unnamed senior US officials were quoted as confirming that Israel was behind the recent airstrikes in Iraq as it targeted alleged Iranian weapons transfers to Syria - something that Tehran has repeatedly denied doing. The officials also said that Tel Aviv pushed "the limits" with its recent actions threatening the continued US military presence in Iraq.

an accident. fate.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 26th, 2019 at 07:20:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DW is funded... by Germany government.

Treason trial of Cameroon president's arch-rival opens

The 65-year-old [Maurice] Kamto has spent months protesting the outcome of a presidential election in October 2018 that gave Biya a seventh term in office. The charges he and his co-accused are facing carry the death penalty.
[...]
The trial is the culmination of a brutal crackdown on opposition politicians and dissent in the wake of the presidential election of October 2018. Kamto, who leads the Movement for the Rebirth of Cameroon (MRC) and some 200 of his supporters were arrested in January 2019 over regular demonstrations against the vote.
Cameroon: Separatist Leader Threatens Hunger Strike

archived
white Bunch family suggests Cameroonian roots
Many Cameroonians skeptical as elections approach
colonized by the German Empire in the late 19th century
In 1960, when several African colonies, including Cameroun became independent ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 12:23:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Larry Elliott in the Guardian:

The significance of the trade war between China and the US goes well beyond the impact of tit-for-tat tariffs, or which of two self-styled strongmen wins the bragging rights. As was the case in the 1930s, the seemingly inexorable drift towards protectionism is part of a deeper crisis of the international status quo. When Beijing this week accused the US of "deliberately destroying the international order", it was really saying that US hegemony will no longer go unchallenged. Globalisation as we have known it is coming to an end and that's by no means unwelcome.

Hailed as the ultimate in human progress, a model based on loosening the controls on capital and the construction of global supply chains has spawned recurrent financial crises, fostered corrosive inequality and worsened the climate emergency. True, millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in the past 25 years, but most of them live in a country - China - that has kept the market at arm's-length.



Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen
by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 07:21:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Asia Times
President Putin: As for assisting Saudi Arabia, it is also written in the Quran that violence of any kind is illegitimate except when protecting one's people. In order to protect them and the country, we are ready to provide the necessary assistance to Saudi Arabia. All the political leaders of Saudi Arabia have to do is take a wise decision, as Iran did by buying the S-300 missile system, and as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan did when he bought Russia's latest S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft system. They would offer reliable protection for any Saudi infrastructure facilities.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Sep 19th, 2019 at 01:00:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Iran has a plan B thanks to China and Russia - and it just might thwart the Trump administration

"Hassan Rouhani, president of Iran, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, his foreign minister, instead went to Ankara, in a meeting that included Nato member Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, joking with president Vladimir Putin as he mocked US defence systems. Days after the attack, an Iranian official travelled to China to talk about a series of proposed mega deals that would potentially deepen Sino-Iranian economic cooperation and integrate Iran into Beijing's belt and road programme.

With secondary sanctions forcing Europe to abscond from doing much of any business with Iran, the administration of Donald Trump may have believed that by pulling out of the nuclear deal last year it had Tehran cornered, forcing it to return to the negotiating table and hand him "a better deal", or at least a photo op, just in time to herald a major foriegn policy success ahead of 2020 elections.
Iran has a plan B thanks to China and Russia - and it just might thwart the Trump administration
But with Russia providing steadfast diplomatic cover and China possibly considering investments in the country's energy sector and industry, Iran is confident it can ride out Trump, even if he wins a second term in 2020 elections.
....
Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the deal probably takes any kind of tough international sanctions against Iran off the table, and his belligerence on a number of global matters actually provides an incentive for Moscow and Beijing and others to band together with Tehran.

"Iran, Russia, Turkey, and China have something in common in that they have been facing pressure from the Americans," said Aslan. "They think they find common ground. The more cooperation, the more support they can receive from each other whether in the Security Council or elsewhere. As much as the unilateral approach of Donald Trump is a danger to Iran, it's a danger to Russia, China and other countries."

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 04:06:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:42:43 PM EST
"Treating like alike: the principle of nondiscrimination as a tool to mandate the equal treatment of refugees and beneficiaries of complementary protection.." Retrieved Aug 05 2019

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 12:34:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
2:00PM Water Cooler 8/7/2019 | naked capitalism
Transportation: "How Much Traffic Do Uber and Lyft Cause?" [CityLab]. "Today the ride-hailing giants released a joint analysis showing that their vehicles are responsible for significant portions of [vehicle-miles traveled (VMT)] in six major urban centers... Now, the Fehr and Peers memo indicates that [transportation network companies (TNCs)] accounted for nearly twice the VMT in San Francisco than the SFCTA had estimated, said Gregory Erhardt, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Kentucky who has researched Uber and Lyft's effects on public transit ridership. That means the services are likely delaying commuters more, too... On average, between the six cities, just 54 to 62 percent of the vehicle miles traveled by Lyfts and Ubers were with a rider in tow. A third of these miles involve drivers slogging around in between passengers ("deadheading," in taxi-driver argot); 9 to 10 percent are drivers on their way to a pickup."

Same would be true if the cars drove themselves one supposes.

by generic on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 10:06:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Lyft continued to bleed money in its second quarter

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 02:41:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
14 women sue Lyft for alleged 'sexual predator CRISIS' among drivers
In the complaint, the lawyers claim that certain aspects of the crimes could not happen if Lyft "had undertaken simple and basic changes to the app."

Lawyers for Estey Bomberger, the San Diego[Orange County, CA]-based law office that filed the suit, said in the complaint that Lyft should use a more thorough background check process and monitor its rides.

"Mass Tort Complaint", chile
The suit also alleges that Lyft does not cooperate with law enforcement on these cases. It says Lyft has no policy to report such crimes and has failed to provide records "that are critical for law enforcement investigations."

Lyft said it investigates and works with law enforcement when appropriate. ...Lyft said its driver applicants are screened for criminal offenses, and its annual background checks provided by a third-party company includes searching the U.S. Department of Justice sex offender registry.

archived taxi medallion
Supreme Court Upholds Expanded [Registration of] Sex Offenders
SORNA

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Sep 5th, 2019 at 02:15:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
San Francisco has found that Uber and Lyft ADD to traffic congestion in the city.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 04:09:51 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Nobody could have predicted having more cars on the streets would increase traffic congestion, ambient noise, and air pollution.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 03:04:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Well, one might have thought that one Uber or Lyft would replace five or ten personal vehicles and that without Uber and Lyft there would be even more traffic.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 03:14:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm not an Uber or Lyft fan, but how is their congestion any different from regular old taxi congestion?
by asdf on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 04:03:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Tendentially they don't plan ahead and only function for the end user if there is a surplus of drivers on the road. Or that's what I suspect anyway.
by generic on Mon Sep 30th, 2019 at 07:19:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Five French teenagers arrested in Spain over alleged gang rape
"They said they met the French teenagers through social media and then in person in Benidorm, after which the group ended up in the apartment where the suspects were staying."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 05:24:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

by generic on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 01:12:33 PM EST
[ Parent ]

US Workers Are Highly Taxed If You Count Premiums - People's Policy Project

If you want to know what it is like to pay income taxes like they do in Europe, then looking closely at your paystub would be a good start. We don't pay as many formal taxes as they do, but when you bring in payments we are compelled to pay and that are deducted straight out of our paychecks just like taxes are, it really does not look that much different, at least as far as labor taxes are concerned.
by generic on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 01:17:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
WHO says no new Ebola cases in Goma [DRC], vaccinates over 1,300
"Ongoing vaccination activities have reached the majority (98%) of eligible contacts, and 1,314 contacts, contacts of contacts and frontline workers (have been) vaccinated to date," the WHO said in a statement last week.

No new confirmed cases had been reported in Goma since the WHO's previous report on Aug. 2.

The use of an experimental Ebola vaccine, developed by Merck, has proven to be a key weapon against the hemorrhagic fever, although reaching contacts in rural areas beset by violence has proven difficult.

archived
Uganda begins largest trial of experimental Ebola vaccine
Janssen Pharmaceuticals vaccine (Uganda), experimental but effective Merck vaccine (DRC)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 08:57:12 PM EST
[ Parent ]
2 Ebola patients in Congo "cured" with drugs, say doctors
"Ebola kills quickly and Ebola heals quickly. That's the message," said [director of Congo's National Institute for Biomedical Research Dr. Jean-Jacques ] Muyembe, at a press conference in Goma.
[...]
Muyembe said two new drugs "are now be used to treat Ebola patients because, according to the studies and the results we obtained in the lab, these are the two drugs that are effective."
[08.12.19] The early results mark "some very good news," said Dr. Anthony Fauci [!!] of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the study.
[...]
During the West Africa Ebola epidemic several years ago, studies showed a hint that another antibody mixture named ZMapp worked, but not clear proof. So with the current outbreak in Congo, researchers compared ZMapp to three other drugs -- Regeneron's compound, the NIH's mAb114 and an antiviral drug named remdesivir.
[...]
Fauci [!!] said Regeneron and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics [2018], which has licensed the NIH compound, told authorities enough doses are readily available.
Professor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, director general of INRB and one of the scientists involved in the original detection of the Ebola virus in 1976 [See D. Rumsfeld, Zaire], played a key role in discovering mAb114.
One issue researchers will have to analyze: Occasionally people who receive the Ebola vaccine still become sick, including some in the treatment study, which raises the question of whether their earlier protection inflated the drugs' survival numbers.
"People who come from Beni and Butembo (nearby cities where there are many Ebola cases) must be carefully examined," said Muyembe. "All of the 200 contacts we are following are doing well. We are waiting until the end of the 21-day surveillance period. We are at day 13, so there are still 8 days to go before we can say that Goma has won against Ebola."

Health officials have also vaccinated tens of thousands of people in Congo [with WHAT?] and surrounding countries in an attempt to stop the outbreak, but the virus has now continued to spread for more than a year. [?!]

archived
WHO | 13 May 2017
Zaire strain
Congo's Ebola Outbreak Now 2ND LARGEST in History, WHO Says
shiny: rVSV-ZEBOV + mAb114 + PRv1 + 1 NEW!
living lab, May 2018
Trump envoy Nikki Haley on first Africa trip 24 Oct 2017

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 09:03:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
archive: Yesterday I did something unusual. I connected to...

Naked Capitalism
Even Larry Summers Denounces World Bank's "PEF" Ebola Bonds That Enriched Investors at Expense of the Sick in the Congo
"And worse, they may actually deter making far more critical investments..."
## Misplaced precision

archived
has "Lagarde made waves"
The odious World Bank is a subsidiary of the IMF. ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Aug 17th, 2019 at 02:01:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ill-conceived headline w/e 17 Aug 2019
Arlo Guthrie sings as Woodstock fans flock to concert site

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 01:37:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Students with different gender identities are 4 times more likely to develop mental health issues, new study finds
With "Gender Minority Mental Health in the U.S.: Results of a National Survey on College Campuses," whose findings were published Friday in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers set out to "describe the mental health inequities and the magnitude of inequities within this population, and then within subgroups of gender minority students," the study's lead author Sarah Ketchen Lipson told the Daily News.

archived WEIRD
"lack of understanding"
Health Disparities at the Intersection of Disability and Gender Identity; Standards of Care for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 07:51:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
New genetic links to same-sex sexuality found in huge study
found that it's effectively impossible to predict an individual's sexual behavior from their genome.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 29th, 2019 at 11:21:00 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Sep 17th, 2019 at 08:37:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Megan McArdle is token libertarian editorialist at the WP
by asdf on Tue Sep 17th, 2019 at 11:48:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:42:59 PM EST
2011. Hmm, that's a lot of hogs.
The Feral Hog in Texass
I sense a business opportunity.
Texas Hunting License Requirements for Feral Hogs, 2012
hmm, either they breed really fast, have bipedal friends in high places, or the price was not right.
Texas Moves to Allow Feral Hog Hunting without License, 2019
"Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott has signed a popular bill that would allow feral hogs to be taken in the Lone Star State without a hunting license."

"taken"? Meaning kidnap (rustling, wrastlin') or export?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 10:58:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
RUNNING INTO MY BACK YARD IN 3-5 MINUTES!
by asdf on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 12:49:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
California's rePlanet closes CRV redemption network
"With the continued reduction in state fees, the depressed pricing of recycled aluminum and PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic and the rise in operating costs resulting from minimum wage increases and required health and workers compensation insurance, the company has concluded that operation of these recycling centers and supporting operations is no longer sustainable," the company states in the news release.
[...]
In response to the closure, Consumer Watchdog, with an office in Los Angeles, released a news release saying the announcement "requires the governor to prioritize recycling reform in the coming months."

The organization also called for CalRecycle, the state's Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, to require grocery and convenience store chains to begin redeeming bottles and cans.

"We warned just months ago that the bottle deposit program was in crisis and today's closure shows consumers are being left in the lurch by the failure of the state to keep recycling centers open," consumer advocate Liza Tucker says in the Consumer Watchdog news release.

wut
A March report by Consumer Watchdog found that consumers get only about half of their nickel and dime bottle and can deposits back each year, despite paying $1.5 billion in 2018.  ..."It is time for California to join other states and European countries that make bottle deposit systems work by making the beverage industry responsible for the products they make, package, distribute and sell," Tucker says, adding that the state's formula for calculating payments to centers is flawed.

archived immense pile of filth
Why China doesn't want your garbage anymore

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 06:06:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Dutch poised to halt importing waste due to crisis at AEB incinerator
Most of the waste produced in the Netherlands is incinerated at the plant but 20% of the total comes from outside the Netherlands. Imports will stop when current contracts run their course, the infrastructure ministry said. The AEB, which was touted as the most innovative waste incinerator complex in the country in 2006, and which also provides city heating for 35,000 households, has been plagued by problems. Despite a capital injection of €16m, four of the six incinerators had to be closed this July, greatly reducing capacity at the plant.
[...]
'If there is no solution within the next 10 days, waste collection will stop the week after,' a VA spokesperson told NOS. The affected areas will be mostly in the Amsterdam region.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 8th, 2019 at 04:26:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Florida, 3rd Circuit
Reversing a judgment in favor of Coral Gables, an appeals court agreed with the Florida Retail Federation that state law pre-empts the city from banning Styrofoam containers.
This appeal concerns the validity and preemptory effect of the following three state statutes, which the trial court concluded were unconstitutional:
  • Section 403.708(9) (enacted  in 19743) provides that "[t]he packaging of products manufactured or sold in the state  may not be controlled by governmental rule, regulation, or ordinance ..."
  • Section 403.7033 (enacted in 2008) prohibits local governments from enacting "any rule regulation, or ordinance regarding use, disposition, sale, prohibition, restriction, or tax of ... auxiliary containers, wrappings, or disposable plastic bags."
  • Section 500.90 (effective July 1, 2016) preempts the "regulation of the use or sale of polystyrene products" by local ordinances enacted after January 1, 2016.
[...]
On April 26, 2016, the City passed Ordinance 2016-28, "exercise[ing] its Home Rule [!] powers under article VIII, section 6 of the Florida Constitution of 1968 [!] to conflict with, modify, and nullify the polystyrene pre-emption and grandfathering provisions of Chapter 2016-61, Laws of Florida (F.S. § 500.90) ..."

State Legislature
House: 47 (D), 73 (R); Fun Fact: $29,697/year
Senate: 17 (D),23  (R)

48 chamber slaves of the patriarchy
29 (D), 19 (R)

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Aug 16th, 2019 at 04:55:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
DW us funded in part or in whole by Germany government.

Germany: Draft bill to ban plastic bags on the way

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze announced on Friday that she plans for the bill to become law in 2020. "I believe that we have the support of the people of Germany," she said. "The time is right for a plastic bag ban."

The Social Democrat politican says that businesses that violate the new regulation could face a fine of €100,000 ($110,000).

Should the bill become law, there will be a six-month "transition period" which will be spent "distributing the remaining stock of plastic bags" and using up the "remaining stock." The ban will also include recycled and ecologically produced plastic bags.

What are odds German local and off-shore refiners, manufacturers, retailers back AK-K?
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the head of the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and expected successor to Chancellor Angela Merkel, said in August that she preferred to start with voluntary reductions in plastic bag usage. "If that does not work, then we can talk about prohibitions," she said.
Humble potato `must go to Africa', Germany insists, 2013

archived investment
How Europe's war on plastics is affecting petrochemicals
'upcycling', 'downcycling', recycling waste plastics
Industry breakthroughs in plant breeding technologies
"particularly in developing countries who stand to benefit most from crops that better withstand the devastating effects of climate change," EASAC said."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Sep 6th, 2019 at 11:55:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
What we see here looks like the denouement of the Pollution Paradox. Because the dirtiest industries attract the least public support, they have the greatest incentive to spend money on politics, to get the results they want and we don't. They fund political parties, lobby groups and thinktanks, fake grassroots organisations and dark ads on social media. As a result, politics comes to be dominated by the dirtiest industries.


Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
L. Cohen
by john_evans (john(dot)evans(dot)et(at)gmail(dot)com) on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 11:08:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That's new, possibly related to "native ads". Duly noted.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 03:53:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Rich Are Committing Crimes Against Nature

If your understanding of sustainable consumption were limited to just this example, you'd come away thinking that rich people must be a much more eco-friendly bunch than poor people. But you'd be missing the forest for the trees. While the wealthy have an ever more dazzling array of green consumer products at their fingertips, the impact of those gadgets is nothing compared to the overall ecological destruction wrought by luxury consumption habits.

A new paper called "Measuring the Ecological Impact of the Wealthy: Excessive Consumption, Ecological Disorganization, Green Crime, and Justice," published by researchers Michael J. Lynch, Michael A. Long, Paul B. Stretesky, and Kimberly L. Barrett, takes a long hard look at the role of the rich's consumption habits in destabilizing the climate.


The Rich Are Committing Crimes Against Nature

The researchers estimate that there are about three hundred superyachts in operation around the world. A person has to have individual wealth upward of $30 million in order to afford even the smallest one; the upper price is close to $1 billion. These things guzzle oil and spew pollution. Tally it up, and the world's superyacht fleet uses over thirty-two million gallons of oil and produces 627 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year -- all of it for the personal enjoyment of the extremely rich. The world's superyachts consume and pollute more than entire nations.

by generic on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 12:29:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah but the poor going to McDonalds and getting hamburgers in excess of the one per week allowance to save Earth's climate...
by asdf on Fri Aug 9th, 2019 at 12:52:44 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Over 160 killed in monsoon-triggered heavy rains in Pakistan
Torrential rains, which was recorded as high as 192 mm per hour, caused urban flooding by inundating low-lying areas and main thoroughfares in the city, trapping people inside their houses and disrupting road and railway traffic, local Samaa TV reported.

Most of the fatalities happened due to incidents of roof collapse and electrocution, the report said, adding that dozens of animals, which people bought to slaughter on Eid, which falls on Monday, have also been electrocuted or washed away in the flash floods caused by rains.

Death toll reaches 51 in Myanmar landslide
Floodwaters have submerged more than 4,000 houses in the state and displaced more than 25,000 residents who have sought shelter in monasteries and pagodas, according to state-owned Global New Light of Myanmar.
Kerala floods claim 42 lives, 100,000 in relief camps; UAE issues advisory
Over 1,000 people have been rescued from the tea plantation village of Puthumala at Meppadi in Wayanad, which was rocked by landslides as portion of a hill came crashing down on several homes and other structures, including a mosque and a temple.
[...]
The heavy rains have also disrupted Eid holiday plans of thousands of Indian expatriates from Kerala due to closure of the Cochin International Airport till Sunday after floodwaters submerged parts of the runway, the Khaleej Times reported.

The deluge continues in the state even as it grapples to fully recover from the extensive damage caused by the floods of August, 2018 that claimed over 400 lives and left lakhs of people homeless.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 11:42:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Greenland Ice Sheet Today, illustrated
"Warm air from Europe's heat wave reached Greenland on July 29 and 30, setting temperature records at Summit Station and melting about 90 percent of the ice sheet surface from July 30 to August 3."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 11th, 2019 at 11:50:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Fatimazehra El Ghazaoui, 27, a woman affected by the disorder called xeroderma pigmentosum, puts on a protective mask she wears outside on sunny days. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy), "Because the disorder is inheritedXP is more common in populations where marriage between relatives is high, Kraemer said. Affected children inherit two copies of a mutated gene, one from each parent. A 2016 Moroccan government study estimates about 15% of marriages are between family members."



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 12:26:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Sea of sludge: The toxic algae swamping Brittany's beaches
... "My family has been coming here for 70 years, and this is the first time we're barred from our cabin!" Morin laments. "I'm used to having my sister, nephews and cousins stay over, but this summer it won't be possible. We'll have to wait for the big winter tides, for the storms and wind, to get rid of all this."

Contacted by France 24, Saint-Brieuc town hall said the piles of sludge on the beach had rendered the soil unstable, making it impossible for municipal workers to clear up the seaweed. It blamed this year's "exceptional" weather for the scourge.

"The influx of green algae began very early, there were few storms and June was a relatively wet month, which caused more water to flow from agricultural areas and thus more green algae," said the town hall's press officer.
[...]
'How do you expect to end this when pig numbers keep rising?'



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 01:38:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Thousands flee from `monster' wildfire on Canary Islands
a PILLAR "50 meters (160 feet) into the air on Monday, forcing emergency workers to evacuate more than 9,000 people"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 19th, 2019 at 03:13:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]

The World Health Organization says the levels of microplastics in drinking water don't appear to be risky, but that research has been spotty and more is needed into their effects on the environment and health. PHOTO CREDIT: Bailey Wright/Record-Journal via AP


"'But just because we're ingesting them doesn't mean we have a risk to human health,' said Bruce Gordon, WHO's coordinator of water, sanitation and hygiene. 'The main conclusion is, I think, if you are a consumer drinking bottled water or tap water, you shouldn't necessarily be concerned.'"

archived wut
WHO: I told you Tedros Adhanom is an empty suit!
&tc

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Aug 22nd, 2019 at 05:14:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 08:33:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
needs moar polar vortex, possibly weed

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Aug 13th, 2019 at 09:20:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Aug 20th, 2019 at 03:23:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 11:57:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
How The Economist Thinks - Current Affairs
Is it fair to trash The Economist? You bet it is.

Current Affairs is well-known for its signature "Death to The Economist" bumper stickers, which have greatly improved the expressive capacities of the American motorist when it comes to demonstrating a discerning taste in periodicals.

by Bernard (bernard) on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 08:06:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Bernie Sanders just declared war on the fossil fuel industry with a $16 trillion climate change plan | Business Insider
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont on Thursday unveiled an ambitious plan to combat climate change that represents a declaration of war on the fossil fuel industry.

At roughly $US16.3 trillion, it's the most expensive proposal to address the climate crisis from any 2020 Democrat. Sanders' blueprint for addressing climate change builds off the "Green New Deal" plan introduced by progressives in Congress.


by generic on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:51:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Yeah the bastard croaked.

Koch money fueled much of the RW propaganda over the past 30 or so years.  AFAIK nobody knows if the brats will continue.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 03:24:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Democrats quash climate debate push from activists
The national party committee voted 222-137 at its summer meeting in San Francisco against a resolution that effectively would have rolled back debate rules set by Chairman Tom Perez and freed presidential candidates to participate in a climate-only debate.
[...]
Perez has said throughout the primary campaign that he opposes making any of the party's official debates revolve around a single issue. Perez said this week in San Francisco that he wants the widest possible audiences for primetime debates, with voters getting to see candidates address a full range of issues. ...[he] has encouraged candidates to participate in issue-specific forums that don't involve multiple candidates being on the same stage together.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 04:16:14 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The DNC rejects a climate change debate and puts virtual caucusing in doubt
in a move that, according to Bloomberg, incensed state party officials, the DNC announced it had commissioned a cybersecurity firm to hack its assets as a means of testing a virtual caucus system set to be used in contests in Iowa and other states next year. The hack was successful, casting doubt on the reliability of those systems, but state leaders claimed the test was unfair and a poor indicator of caucus security. Nevertheless, it raised new concerns about cybersecurity within a party still smarting from a 2016 email leak that sparked bitter acrimony during that campaign's nominating process.

A climate change debate won't happen

Who voted these people into elected office?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Aug 26th, 2019 at 11:15:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Sep 4th, 2019 at 07:30:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump establishes new military Space Command, A/V
"It will ensure that America's dominance in space is never questioned and never threatened because we know the best way to prevent conflict is to prepare for victory," Trump said during a Rose Garden ceremony with his top national security team [29 Aug].

He added that the move "will soon be followed very importantly by the establishment of the United States Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States armed forces. That's really something, when you think about it."



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Aug 30th, 2019 at 12:09:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 12:45:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Steve Pinker scale of mortality as never before seen by human eyes.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 01:41:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Jeffrey Epstein and Steven Pinker
"psychologist"

I can't help myself. It's that time of the month.

archived going to hell
pinker

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 03:35:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
It is not even that it is particularly big; generally they grow larger as they move northward. It is the unusual strength of the wind, close to a record.

by asdf on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 11:17:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
See @splillo on Twitter for more
by asdf on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 11:18:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Sep 2nd, 2019 at 11:47:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Saudi Arabia oil production reduced by drone strikes - BBC News
The Khurais oilfield produces about 1% of the world's oil, and Abqaiq is the company's largest facility - with the capacity to process 7% of the global supply. Even a brief or partial disruption could affect the company, and the oil supply, given their size.

There was a sharp intake of breath as analysts I spoke to today digested the information that reports suggest that half of Saudi Arabia's oil production could have been knocked offline by these attacks.

The country produces 10% of the world's crude oil. Cutting this in half could have a significant effect on the oil price come Monday when markets open.

by generic on Sat Sep 14th, 2019 at 04:51:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This was the second attack on Saudi oil production by the Houthi's.  The first one should have been a Wake-Up Call.  It wasn't.  Of course.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Sep 14th, 2019 at 05:08:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Tue Sep 17th, 2019 at 08:04:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Mon Sep 23rd, 2019 at 07:04:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:43:12 PM EST
Today -100: August 7, 1919: Of hoarders, occupations, and peace terms
The Wilson administration is planning to tackle the high cost of living by pretending it's entirely the fault of "hoarders." So the Justice Dept will charge meat-packing companies under anti-trust laws.
baa baa baaaaaa

History.net claim that Robert Carter III emancipated 500 slaves 7 August 1791 is disputed in Encyclopedia of Virginia.

Robert Carter III's Deed of Gift was a legal document, signed on August 1, 1791, and presented in Northumberland District Court on September 5, that set out provisions to free 452 enslaved men and woman. By the time those provisions were fulfilled, more than three decades later, between 500 and 600 were freed, probably the largest emancipation by an individual in the United States before 1860.
[...]
In 1793, Carter moved to Baltimore, leaving the process in the hands of the Baptist minister Benjamin Dawson. He later sold his remaining slaves to Dawson. After Carter's death in 1804, Carter's heirs sued the minister to stop the manumissions but lost an 1808 ruling by the Virginia Court of Appeals. The scholar Andrew Levy has noted that Carter's Deed of Gift has not simply been forgotten but actively ignored. Perhaps in response to his complaint, a roadside marker dedicated to the deed was erected in Northumberland County in 2016.
[...]

March 24, 1808 - The Virginia Court of Appeals rules in favor of Benjamin Dawson and against the heirs of Robert Carter III. This allows Dawson to continue freeing his slaves.
1826 - Benjamin Dawson appears in court on business related to the gradual emancipation of slaves that once belonged to Robert Carter III.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Aug 7th, 2019 at 04:15:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
NY Cyclops notes:

Today -100: August 11, 1919: Of fair prices, murder leagues, and mad artists
Sweden has arrested or detained 66 Russians believed to be part of a "political murder league"

Today -100: August 10, 1919: La commedia è finita
Ruggero Leoncavallo, composer of the opera Pagliacci (1892), dies at 62.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Aug 12th, 2019 at 12:02:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Border tensions eased....

by generic on Fri Aug 23rd, 2019 at 12:02:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Paris celebrates 75th anniversary of liberation from Nazis
Paris is marking the 75th anniversary of its liberation from Nazi German occupation on Sunday with a parade and ceremonies across the city.

French Resistance fighters, Allied troops, Spanish republican exiles and others are being honored for their part in freeing the city during World War II.

In a ceremony on Saturday, Paris' Spanish-born mayor, Anne Hidalgo, paid tribute to the Spanish republican exiles who were part of the first unit to enter the city on August 24, 1944.

Inaugurating a mural in their honor was "a way of commemorating how foreigners, and Spanish people, took part in the liberation of our city and our country," said Hidalgo, accompanied by Spanish Justice Minister Dolores Delgado.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Aug 25th, 2019 at 07:55:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
by Bjinse on Mon Aug 5th, 2019 at 09:43:31 PM EST
Cooper left AS Monaco in 2018 for "family reasons" and those reasons have been brought into the spotlight by the revelation that he failed a drug test.

Congratulations Donell 'DJ' Cooper ... you are pregnant. Now he's on parental leave until June 2020. :-)

Basketball player fails drug test when it finds he is pregnant

Officials found that the sample he provided contained human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG, a hormone produced during pregnancy.

Hasbara is a dead language

by Oui (Oui) on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 10:18:24 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A$AP Rocky - and co-defendents - was set free on Friday, as the court closed the proceedings. This is generally seen as an indication from the court that there will not be a jail sentence (or a shorter sentence then time already served). Sentencing and punishment (if any) will be delivered on the 14th of August. If they are found not guilty they will be able to get compensation for time in remand.

A$AP Rocky and co-defendents immediately left Sweden on a private plane.

by fjallstrom on Tue Aug 6th, 2019 at 01:03:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]
A$AP Rocky is ["]free["], but thousands like him are still locked up in the US
While the Department of State and President Trump went to bat for Rocky, we must not lose sight of reforming pretrial detention at home. There are nearly half a million Americans in pretrial detention on any given day. Some 62% of those in U.S. jails are pretrial detainees, and the pretrial population grew 433% from 1970 to 2015.

Many of the 12 million Americans admitted to jail every year are released within 24 hours, whether through a simple promise to appear, posting money bail, or pretrial supervision. However, others stay far longer, often because they cannot afford bail, not because they are determined to be too dangerous.

In Mississippi, where more than one third of pretrial detainees are kept 90 days or more, Jerry Sanders sat in jail for more than a year in 2018 while drug possession charges were pending. This was longer than the maximum sentence would be for such a charge.

Do not forget Julian #Assange. Or you will lose him.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Aug 10th, 2019 at 10:28:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
A$AP Rocky found guilty in Sweden assault case, fined $1,300 but will not serve jail time
The courts said Rocky and his two bodyguards "were not in a situation" where they were entitled to self-defense and that they "assaulted the victim by hitting and kicking him."

As a result, the three defendants were "convicted of assault and sentenced to conditional sentences [BWAH!]." That means the three face no prison sentence in Sweden unless they commit a similar offense in the country again.

archived rose by any other name
jail break
habeas corpus
duty to retreat
self-defense

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Aug 14th, 2019 at 01:09:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
... and, once again, the Swedish method of indefinite detention with no charges will receive no scrutiny.

I'd may even be a useful thing to have for governments trying to clear up the current mess, so don't expect a change for the next generation or so.

by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 10:04:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]
"IT may even"
Don't try to think and type at the same time.
by Number 6 on Thu Aug 15th, 2019 at 10:05:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
France moves to lift secrecy on deadly 1968 plane crash | France24 |

Caravelle en route from Ajaccio on the island of Corsica was downed by a missile on Sept 11, 1968, during French military exercises in the area.

Hasbara is a dead language

by Oui (Oui) on Wed Sep 11th, 2019 at 07:33:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
This has been an open secret for a while. Back in the early 90s, a colleague of mine told me that an older co-worker of us, who was nearing retirement, had worked for Thomson-CSF, and was overlooking some electronics equipment on the Île du Levant missile test center during these military exercises in September 1968.

And yes, he reportedly told my colleague, the Nice-Ajaccio flight had been indeed accidentally downed by a missile. Absolute secret was imposed by the authorities: De Gaulle was president and, four months after May 1968, and the overwhelming conservative majority at the National Assembly following the June elections, the military institutions had to be spared any embarasment, or even scrutiny, at any cost. This is the same "protecting the army at any cost" reasoning that led Charles Hernu, 18 years later, to acquiesce to a plan brought to him by the French Navy Pacific command, for sinking the Rainbow Warrior.

by Bernard (bernard) on Thu Sep 12th, 2019 at 08:29:04 AM EST
[ Parent ]
by generic on Mon Sep 16th, 2019 at 03:48:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Would that Bull be named John? A metaphor for our times.


"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 01:04:48 AM EST
Certainly "alias Ferdinand" would satisfice.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Sep 7th, 2019 at 05:02:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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