document
stringlengths 131
267k
| summary
stringlengths 289
3.34k
|
|---|---|
Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| A passenger walks by an American Airlines airplane at a gate at the O'Hare Airport in Chicago, Illinois October 2, 2014.
American Airlines (AAL.O) on Thursday said it was working to get customers in the air after technical problems caused it to halt flights to three of its hub airports.
American, the world's largest airline, experienced hundreds of delays as it stopped takeoffs to Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare and Miami international airports for nearly two hours.
The carrier has fixed the technical problems, which it characterized as "connectivity issues," that started at noon ET, a company spokesman said. International flights and service on subsidiary US Airways were not affected.
Some 525 flights on American Airlines were delayed and five canceled on Thursday, according to flight-tracking website FlightAware.com.
The flight groundings follow several high-profile computer problems that U.S. airlines have faced in recent months. Industry consultants say the impact of computer disruptions will keep growing as airlines automate an increasing chunk of operations, outfit their planes with Wifi and distribute boarding passes on smartphones.
In April, American Airlines delayed flights when an iPad application used by pilots to view airport maps malfunctioned.
Rival United Airlines (UAL.N) in June halted flights when it discovered a problem arising from its dispatch software. And in July a router error locked United out of its reservations records and therefore blocked check-in and boarding.
American's stock was up 2.7 percent at $44.22 in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Andrew Hay and Marguerita Choy) ||||| DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines says it has fixed a technology problem that was grounding flights to and from Dallas, Chicago and Miami on Thursday.
American spokesman Casey Norton said the airline did not immediately know the cause of the outage, which began around 11 a.m. CDT and lasted nearly two hours.
Flights on both American and its regional affiliate, American Eagle, were halted.
The Federal Aviation Administration said that American Airlines planes destined for Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, O'Hare Airport in Chicago and Miami International Airport were held on the ground during the outage.
American did not immediately say how many flights were affected.
The outage comes at an awkward time for American Airline Group Inc., the world's biggest airline. In a month, the company plans to complete combining the reservations systems of American and its US Airways subsidiary and retiring the US Airways brand.
Combining technology systems is a difficult feat that has tripped up other airlines, notably leading to several outages at United Airlines after it merged with Continental Airlines in 2010. United suffered two major outages this summer.
American has made meticulous plans to avoid a similar fate. Among other moves, it will reduce flights to lighten the load on its network while it combines the two reservations systems. ||||| American Airlines resumed flights Thursday after computer problems briefly grounded flights at three of its busiest airports.
The problem affected flights to and from Chicago's O'Hare Airport, as well as Dallas-Fort Worth and Miami. Almost 300 flights were delayed due to the problem, which represents nearly 20% of the daily departures for the world's largest airline.
The ground stop started around 12:41 p.m. ET, according to the FAA. American said in a statement at 2:42 p.m. that its "connectivity issues" had been resolved.
"We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to get our customers on their way as soon as possible," an American (AAL) spokesman told CNN.
American said it has no reason to believe that this is related to hacking. However, its IT team is still trying to figure out a definitive cause.
Problems with computer systems grounding flights are not uncommon.
United Airlines (UAL) suffered a grounding in March that lasted less than an hour.
But these kinds of technical problems have a way of rippling through an airline's schedule, causing problems that can take hours or even days to resolve fully, particularly when it hits three major hubs like O'Hare, DFW and Miami.
Airline schedules are very tight, which makes restoring normal operations and rebooking affected passenger costly and time consuming, said James Record, a professor of aviation at Dowling College, at the time of the United glitch.
Even flights that were able to land as planned at affected airports can be delayed if there isn't a gate available to unload passengers. That can cause many passengers to miss connections.
American had to ground about 75 flights over two days this past April due to problems with an iPad app used by pilots. American pilots now get their flight plans and other technical information over company-issued Apple (AAPL, Tech30) iPads. | – Just a few days ago, American Airlines confessed it had mistakenly allowed an aircraft not certified for long flights over water to make the trip from LA to Hawaii. Today the airline faces another problem: Unexplained technical issues forced it to temporarily ground planes at three of the country's most hectic airports, CNN reports. Chicago's O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and Miami International Airport were all affected during the two-hour glitch, which ended about 2pm Eastern, reports AP. The FAA notes in a tweet that the stoppage was due to a "computer issue." International flights weren't affected, a spokesman tells Reuters. |
Miley Cyrus once had a pet blowfish named Pablow, whom she loved very very much. One day, not too long ago, Pablow the Blowfish died. His death made Miley very very sad, so she wrote a song in his memory. On Monday Cyrus shared a video of herself performing the song as part of her Happy Hippy Foundation’s Backyard Sessions, adding:
Some of you may remember a few months ago my dear blow fish Pablow past away. I wrote this song for him...He made me so happy and I miss him everyday....
Once you get past the absurdity of Miley Cyrus singing a song she wrote about a blowfish named Pablow in her backyard while wearing a cyan unicorn onesie, its easy to be a little moved by her performance. I’m not suggesting she’ll make you cry over the loss of her poor Pablow, but you can easily expect one or two neurons to transmit some kind of low-level “awww” message during the song’s three-and-a-half minutes.
It’s the kind of stripped down vocal performance Cyrus excels at, regardless of lyrical content. Her raspy contralto even manages to turn a line like “but watching my friends eat my friend ruined my appetite” into a sentiment that, though not quite sad, somehow registers as earnest.
I believe Miley truly misses Pablow the Blowfish. And I’m glad she recorded this song (the full lyrics are below), unicorn onesie and all.
How can I love someone I’ve never touched
You lived under the water but I love you so much
You’ve never been on land and you’ve never seen the sky
You don’t know what a cloud is why did everything I loved have to die?
They all wanted to see you be as big as you could be
But I couldn’t let that be
Thought keeping you small meant keeping you safe
If I could do it again I’d release you to sea
Cause I can’t bear to see something so wild just die in a tank
And Pablow the Blowfish I miss you so much
And Pablow the Blowfish I miss you so bad
On Saturday night we all went out to eat
But I can never decide so someone chose sushi
I got soup and I ordered rice
But watching my friends eat my friend ruined my appetite
Oh Pablow the Blowfish if they only knew you like I do they’d love you too
And Pablow the Blowfish I miss you so bad
I won’t forget even one second we had
Cause you might be gone but you could never be dead
I heard of a seahorse named Sadie
I heard that she was quite the lady
Maybe you’ll find her and you could make babies
That would be kind of crazy
If Pablow the Blowfish found love deep in the sea
Then that would mean
Pablow the Blowfish was better off than here with me
Pablow the Blowfish I miss you so bad
Advertisement ||||| See more of Miley Cyrus on Facebook | – Only those with hearts of steel chiseled out of her infamous wrecking ball could watch Miley Cyrus sing about Pablow, her dearly departed blowfish, and not feel all the feels—especially with lyrics like "How can I love / Someone I’ve never touched / You lived under the water / But I love you so much." She also confesses she can't go out with pals anymore for sushi, because "watching my friends eat my friends ruined my appetite." But the video posted for her Happy Hippie Foundation's "Backyard Sessions" isn't without theatrics: she's tickling the keyboards dressed as a unicorn, with a sympathetic-looking stuffed unicorn forlornly watching her performance from a nearby stool. As Bobby Finger writes for Jezebel, "you can easily expect one or two neurons to transmit some kind of low-level 'awww' message" during the song's "earnest" play. Miley's emotional nosedive reaches a head at around 2:55; the video is here. (Miley had a tough time last year dealing with the death of her dog Floyd.) |
A 14-year-old boy is fighting for his life after contracting a deadly brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a lake, according to his family.
Michael John Riley Jr., a three-time junior Olympian, went swimming at a park near Huntsville, Texas with his track team and coach on August 13 and was looking forward to starting high school.
Our sweet boy just being his happy and funny self. Posted by Miracle 4 Michael on Monday, 24 August 2015
But instead, six days after the swimming trip, he started suffering from a headache, according to his Gofundme page.
Read: Girl Gravely Ill From Amoeba In Lake
Then last Friday, he took a "turn for the worse," the family explained. "He was visibly disoriented, had an unbearable headache and his neck hurt much like meningitis symptoms," they said.
His terrified parents rushed him to Texas Children's Hospital, where staff found his brain was swelling.
Through tests, medical staff discovered he had a brain-eating amoeba called naegleria fowleri, which occur naturally in fresh water.
They can cause irreversible damage or death. While the infections are rare, only a few people have ever survived them.
His family explained on Gofundme: "We have now come to understand that the amoeba entered Michael’s body when he JUMPED in the LAKE and WATER was forced into his NOSE.
"Although VERY RARE it is more likely to occur during and after HOT SUMMER MONTHS. The amoeba attached itself to the nerve that goes to the frontal lobe of the brain."
Read: 26-Year-Old Groom Passes Away From Cancer Just 4 Months After Fairy Tale Wedding
The youngster is in a medically-induced coma and his brain is still swollen, according to Facebook posts.
"Coming from a lake, you might think maybe you'd get an ear infection, something like that," his father, Mike Riley, told KTRK. "You wouldn't think that going to the doctor's office that they'd tell you your son only has a couple days to live, which is what they told us."
Michael is a track runner who has qualified three times for the Junior Olympics, according to his family.
They are now raising money towards his care on the Gofundme page.
Most recently, 13-year-old Kali Hardig, from Arkansas, survived the brain-eating amoeba after contracting it while swimming at a water park. She was in critical condition for weeks but miraculously recovered and returned home last September.
Watch Below: Tensions High on Ebola Fear ||||| The disease is generally fatal 3; among well-documented cases, there are only five known survivors in North America: one from the U.S. in 1978 5, one from Mexico in 2003 6, two from the U.S. in 2013 4, 7, 8, and one from the U.S. in 2016. The original U.S. survivor’s condition gradually improved during a one-month hospitalization. The only reported side effect to treatment was a reduction in leg sensation for two months after discharge, which gradually improved. There was also no detection of Naegleria fowleri 3 days post-treatment 5. It has been suggested that the original survivor’s strain of Naegleria fowleri may have been less virulent, which contributed to the patient’s recovery. In laboratory experiments, the California survivor’s strain did not cause damage to cells as quickly as other strains, suggesting that it is less virulent than strains recovered from other fatal cases 9.
The Mexico survivor’s condition did not begin to improve until 40 hours after hospital admission. On day 22 of admission, there was no abnormality shown in the brain scan and the patient was discharged the next day. The patient was followed up for the next 12 months without any recurrence of disease 6.
After 35 years without a Naegleria survivor in the United States, during the summer of 2013, two children with Naegleria fowleri infection survived. The first, a 12-year-old girl, was diagnosed with PAM approximately 30 hours after becoming ill and was started on the recommended treatment within 36 hours. She also received the investigational drug miltefosine, and her brain swelling was aggressively managed with treatments that included therapeutic hypothermia (cooling the body below normal body temperature). This patient made a full neurologic recovery and returned to school. Her recovery has been attributed to early diagnosis and treatment and novel therapeutics including miltefosine and hypothermia 7.
The second, 8-year-old, child is also considered a PAM survivor, although he has suffered what is likely permanent brain damage. He was also treated with miltefosine but was diagnosed and treated several days after his symptoms began. Therapeutic hypothermia was not used in this case 8.
In the summer of 2016, a 16-year-old boy was reported as the 4th U.S. PAM survivor. This patient was diagnosed within hours of presentation to the hospital and was treated with the same protocol used for the 12-year-old 2013 survivor. This patient also made a full neurologic recovery and returned to school.
Overall, the outlook for people who get this disease is poor, although early diagnosis and new treatments might increase the chances for survival. ||||| Michael John Riley, Jr., the exuberant incoming freshman at Cy-Ridge High School, died Sunday morning at 12:15 a.m., August 30, after a week-long battle against an extremely devastating brain infection. He was 14 years old. Riley contracted the brain-eating Naegleria fowleri amoeba on Thursday, August 13 while swimming with his cross country team on an outing in Sam Houston State Park. The deadly amoeba, known to live in warm freshwater ponds, lakes and rivers, entered his nasal passages when he jumped into the lake and water was forced into his nostrils. This deadly amoeba infiltrated the nasal tissue and made its way into his brain creating an infection known as PAM, primary amoebic meningoencephalitis. Riley Family Photo less Michael John Riley, Jr., the exuberant incoming freshman at Cy-Ridge High School, died Sunday morning at 12:15 a.m., August 30, after a week-long battle against an extremely devastating brain infection. ... more Photo: Riley Family Photo Photo: Riley Family Photo Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Cy-Ridge High teen dies from brain-eating amoeba illness 1 / 1 Back to Gallery
The teenager who fell ill after a swimming outing earlier this month with his high school track teammates has died.
The family of Michael John Riley Jr. announced that the 14-year-old died after contracting a lethal disease caused by a brain-eating amoeba after swimming in the warm waters at Sam Houston State Park.
"It is with a heavy heart that we tell you, Michael John Riley Jr. lost his battle on this earth but won a victory for his place in the arms of our Lord Jesus Christ," according to the family's Facebook post. "Michael fought a courageous fight over the past week, allowing him to move on to be with the Lord for future heavenly tasks, a beautiful set of wings, and a pair of gold running shoes."
The family vows to honor Riley's legacy by supporting scientific efforts to better understand primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (or PAM, as it's better known) along with an awareness campaign to prevent others from contracting the disease.
PAM is caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba which flourishes in warm water. Children who play in freshwater lakes or rivers are typically the most commonly affected.
"They get water up their nose with those organisms in there," Dr. Luis Ostrosky, medical director of epidemiology at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center and UT Health, told the Houston Chronicle last week. "They start invading the nasal tissues. They basically go all the way to the brain and you get a brain infection."
The amoeba, which normally feeds on bacteria, begins to multiply which causes the brain to swell. Victims usually die within seven to 10 days.
One of the difficulties of treating PAM is that it is rare. During the past five decades, there haven't been more than eight cases a year in the United States.
However, Texas Children's treated another patient for PAM three week before it treated Riley. That patient did not survive either.
Riley got sick a few days after swimming in a freshwater lake at Sam Houston State Park with his new Cy-Ridge High School track team on Aug. 13. He was an incoming freshman.
At first, doctors didn't know what was wrong with the accomplished long-distance runner. His headaches, however, continued to worsen and, a few days later, became unbearable. His neck was painfully stiff and he became disoriented.
But a physician at Texas Children's Hospital-West Campus recognized the symptoms from another case he had seen and Riley was transferred to the Texas Medical Center. A 2013 case from Arkansas gave the Riley family hope as well as a guide to treatment methods because that patient, who had contracted the disease from a water park, was one of only two U.S. survivors.
Doctors put Riley in an induced coma and monitored his brain activity.
But Saturday night, the test results weren't good, according to the family's Facebook post.
"Family and friends from all over the world have shown tremendous support both in presence and from far distances," according to the family. "Our family continues to find comfort in your prayers and love, please keep them coming. From the bottom of our hearts we thank you for your outpouring of love."
Read Full Article ||||| See more of Miracle 4 Michael on Facebook | – A 14-year-old Houston boy who contracted a brain-eating amoeba while swimming in a Texas state park with his cross-country running teammates died over the weekend, reports the Houston Chronicle. Michael John Riley Jr. died 17 days after he contracted primary amoebic meningoencephalitis (PAM) while swimming in a freshwater lake at Huntsville State Park. Michael's family wrote on Facebook that the three-time junior Olympian "fought a courageous fight over the past week, allowing him to move on to be with the Lord for future heavenly tasks, a beautiful set of wings, and a pair of gold running shoes." PAM is caused by the Naegleria fowleri amoeba. "They get water up their nose with those organisms in there," an epidemiologist told the Chronicle. "They start invading the nasal tissues. They basically go all the way to the brain and you get a brain infection." Experts advise against allowing warm, still water—found in lakes, ponds, and pools—to go up one's nose to decrease the chance of infection. Symptoms include headache, fever, nausea, stiff neck, and seizures, according to the CDC. Only two Americans have survived PAM, including 13-year-old Kali Hardig of Arkansas, who pulled off a miracle recovery last September, Inside Edition notes. |
Early on the morning of Nov. 9, 2016, Republican President-elect Donald Trump addressed supporters in New York, declaring victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. Here are key moments from that speech. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Donald J. Trump will be the 45th president of the United States.
Let that sink in for a minute.
Donald Trump, a man who has never run for any elected office before.
Donald Trump, who made his name nationally as a flamboyant billionaire turned reality TV star.
Donald Trump, who built a primary campaign on a pledge to build a wall along our southern border and make Mexico pay for it.
Donald Trump, who, in the wake of terrorist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino in late 2015, proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country.
Donald Trump, who faced allegations of sexual assault from a dozen different women in the closing weeks of this campaign.
Donald Trump, who said and did 1,000 things in this campaign that would have lost any other candidate the race.
Yes, that Donald Trump is going to be the most powerful person in the United States — and maybe the world — for the next four years.
What Donald Trump has done is nothing short of cataclysmic. He has fundamentally reshaped the political map. He has broken the Republican Party into pieces — and its shards still remain scattered everywhere. He has proven that the political polling and punditry industries need a deep re-examination.
But, even more than all that, Trump's victory reveals that many of the assumptions that people have long made about who we are as a country and what we want out of our politicians, our political system and each other are, frankly, wrong.
Trump's candidacy was premised on the idea that everyone — politicians, reporters, corporations — is lying to you, and lying to you to to feather their own nests. It was a Holden Caulfield campaign: Everyone, except Trump and his supporters, were phonies.
In short: Trump played on the deep alienation and anxiety coursing through the country. Globalism, immigration, a growing chasm between the haves and the have nots, a rejection of political correctness in all its forms. A prevailing sense that things were so screwed up that radical change — and make no mistake that is what Trump cast himself as in this contest — was the only option left.
Consider this: Just 38 percent of voters in the national exit poll said that Trump was qualified to be president. (52 percent said the same of Clinton.) And yet, he won the White House on Tuesday night.
That disconnect can only be explained by a desire to blow up the whole system. And I don't just mean the political system. I mean every elite and establishment institution that's ever assumed they know best — the media very much included. Trump is the collective middle finger from all the people who think the elites have laughed them off and dismissed them for too long. It is the average man's revenge — made all the more remarkable by the fact that the vessel of this rage against elites and the establishment is a billionaire who tells anyone who asks how smart and rich he is.
How Trump happened then, while remarkable, can be understood and analyzed. What Trump will do as president is a far more difficult question to answer.
Donald Trump (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Trump's policy positions were loosely defined, at best. His lone consistent position throughout his life is on trade, where he has long favored a more protectionist view, suspicious of broad trade deals like NAFTA or the Trans-Pacific Partnership. His immigration stance — build a wall and make Mexico pay for it — seems far-fetched. His plans on taxes, on education, on energy are all sketches of ideas as opposed to specific policy proposals.
How does Trump relate to the GOP congressional majorities he is going to enjoy? He ran against the Republican establishment — in the primary and general election campaigns. He vilified them as tone-deaf to the changes happening not only within their party but also in the country. What now? Trump sits in the catbird's seat. Republican leaders need to come to him — but is he willing to accept them into the new Republican Party he has forged?
And what of the Democratic Party? Hillary Clinton began the 2016 campaign as the strongest non-incumbent front-runner in the history of modern politics. Her presumed strength glossed over the fact that a) a significant amount of liberal unrest — represented in the primary by Bernie Sanders — remained toward her and b) the Democratic bench is remarkably thin.
What does it mean for world markets, that plunged as the likelihood of a Trump victory shaped up? Or the U.S. relationship with foreign countries? Or our involvement in foreign conflicts?
There are many questions that Trump's victory creates. And more I can't even think of.
Here's what I do know: Trump's victory is the single most stunning political development I have ever witnessed. And it's not close. This is the equivalent of dropping a refrigerator — or maybe 10 refrigerators — into a smallish pond. There are obvious, giant waves. But there are 1,000 other ripples that we might not even see today — or might not even exist today.
Cataclysm. Plain and simple. ||||| Anger trumped hope.
Donald Trump’s astonishing victory over a heavily favored Hillary Clinton on Tuesday is the greatest upset in the modern history of American elections – convulsing the nation’s political order in ways so profound and disruptive its impact can’t even be guessed at.
Story Continued Below
Trump was too crass, too much of a brazen sexist, too much a blustery orange-maned joke, too ill-informed about the operations of a country he wanted to run, too much of a threat to markets and the security establishment – too pessimistic -- to ever win the White House. Underestimated at every turn, spurned by his own party, the former reality-show star was able to defeat a better-funded better-organized Clinton by surfing a tsunami of working-class white rage that her army of numbers crunchers somehow missed.
Clinton had fully expected to make history when her motorcade sped from Chappaqua to Manhattan, had planned fireworks to celebrate her being elected the first female president in the 240-year history of the republic. Instead her legacy is one of tragedy, futility and squandered opportunities – proof that a conventional candidate can do practically everything by the numbers (win debates, raise the most cash, assemble the greatest data and voter outreach effort in history) and still fall to a movement impelled by raw emotion, not calculation.
When you wake up on Wednesday morning the United States will be a different place.
The markets will tank, but they will recover. World leaders will shudder, but they will adjust as they always do. Half of the country that viewed him as a dangerous demagogue, even a neo-fascist, before the election will wonder, probably for the first time in their lives, if their country is the same one they were born in.
His tens of millions of inspired supporters will awake to a hopeful new dawn, content in having finally torn the rotten establishment they had long loathed, and wondering how he plans to make their America great again.
And in about two months Donald John Trump – the man who has said he’s smarter than any of the men who will now be his generals – will be wrapping his fingers around the nation’s nuclear football.
As a French diplomat said Tuesday, reflecting on Trump, the stunning Brexit vote and the rise of right-wing parties in Western Europe: “This is a world we do not know anymore.”
Can he do anything to bring a divided, terrified country together? Will he try? There is real fear in many parts of the country tonight. Trump’s remarkable victory was gained by waging total war on his enemies, lukewarm allies, the “dishonest” media and the very idea that he had to be civil or respect the norms of American politics.
Trump himself had trouble believing he could actually pull the thing off (an aide told CNN early Tuesday that he would need a “miracle” to win). So his final rallies had a screw-it quality, returning to a provocative pattern of his underdog days – calling out the “rigged game” he seemed certain to lose and goading his supporters into a state of fury that made dissenters and reporters feel endangered.
There was a time, earlier in the campaign, when he refused to join his backers in chanting “Lock her up!” Toward the end, he was joining them in that chant.
Democratic consultant Stephanie Cutter, who worked on President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign, described how many Clinton supporters feel: “He’s about rejecting immigrants, he’s about keeping your foot down on people, women.”
Clinton, in her upbeat closing message had emphasized that she would be a president for all Americans, and would try to reach out to Trump’s voters; he never reciprocated and the demographic groups that backed her overwhelmingly rejected him with fewer than 7 percent of blacks backing his candidacy, under 25 percent of Latinos earning his vote and a gender gap that led women to support Clinton in 10 to 20 percent greater numbers.
The question now is whether he will do anything meaningful to reach out to them – to assure Democrats, women, blacks and Hispanics that he views them as co-equal members of the American family. And will they believe him?
Hillary Clinton is a footnote in history. As Tuesday night dragged into Wednesday morning, as the thousands of would-be revelers turned into marble-eyed mourners, some of the younger women in the crowd looked up at the roof of the joyless Javits Center, its glass ceiling very much intact.
The shocking result ended a lot of dreams, and one of the most extraordinary and extraordinarily polarizing careers in American politics.
At 69 – having suffered the most humbling upset imaginable to a deeply, nearly fatally flawed opponent believed to be the only Republican contender she could actually defeat – is spent as a political force. Clinton will forever be known as one of the worst closers in political history, a woman who was never capable of selling a wary public on herself, on account of her own shortcomings and paranoia or perhaps as a result of a sexism so ingrained in American culture that women as well as men suffered from it.
The good news for Democrats: Clinton is now out of the way, clearing the road for a new generation of leadership with far less baggage. Despite her loss, the Democratic Party’s ideas remain more popular than the Republican platform on global warming, social issues, infrastructure spending, taxes and even immigration, Trump’s signature issue.
The bad news: What would have happened if the party had nominated Bernie Sanders – the 74-year-old socialist who Clinton dismissed as unelectable?
White voters finally found someone who spoke their language. The most telling comment of the entire election came when a pollster buttonholed an early Trump supporter, and asked her how she could possibly believe in a novice rabble-rouser with no distinct plans other than a slogan on a red hat. “We know his goal is to make America great again,” she said. “It’s on his hat.”
That wasn’t a small thing. Clinton had the whiff of Ivy League arrogance and spoke with the technocratic complexity of the Federal Register, coming across as a liberal given to lecturing Americans not inspiring them. For all his flaws, Trump speaks with gut-punch directness and an earthy, sledgehammer humor that succinctly channeled their anger.
Trump made his fame as a reality TV star but, in reality, he speaks the language of right-wing talk radio, which reflects the raw rage of working-class whites (who still make up about a third of the country’s population) who feel squeezed by globalization, left out of the Starbucks-and-Snapchat prosperity of the coastal elites and really, truly need to have America be great again. It’s noteworthy that Clinton and her staff circulated academic studies documenting the life-span decline of poorer whites – and Clinton’s communications director Jennifer Palmieri, pointing to a map of the country in her office, ran a sympathetic finger over Appalachia and promised that Clinton would work hard on behalf of them after the election.
But Clinton, opting for the Obama strategy of focusing on maximizing turnout among her core constituencies, never made a serious pitch to working-class white men (who backed Trump by a record 48 percent margin) and she paid a terrible, terrible price.
The Clinton campaign got its numbers wrong. Forget the public polling of the election – which was all over the map, but backed an aggregated surmise that Clinton had a 70 to 85 percent chance of winning the presidency on the eve of the election.
When I emailed a senior Clinton strategist for their internal polling data on Tuesday morning, I was told her lead was in the 4-to-5 percent range and that the campaign was feeling “very good” about its prospects. There were, I was told, internal tensions within the campaign over the dissemination of polling data and voter-file analytics, but there appears to have been some major miscalculation that blinded her team to the massive turnout of white voters in exurbs and rural areas in the Midwest and Florida.
Clinton’s vaunted ground game was supposed to give her a one-to-two point advantage, and while it helped boost turnout in Hispanic areas (and brought some underperforming African American neighborhoods up to a respectable level), Brooklyn failed to account for the wave of Trump-stoked anger that rendered its painstakingly created model of the electorate so off-base.
James Comey is Public Enemy No. 1 (To Democrats). The evidence is mixed, but Clinton staffers and many Democrats blame the FBI director’s unprecedented announcement, 11 days before the election, for throwing the race to a man they deem unfit to serve in the nation’s highest office. Clinton’s internal numbers tanked in the days after the director announced he would examine thousands of new emails found on the laptop of Anthony Weiner, the husband of Clinton’s aide-de-camp Huma Abedin. “He f---d us, and he f----ed the country,” a senior Clinton campaign official told me late Tuesday.
The incident – to Trump’s delight – rekindled doubts about Clinton's character and trustworthiness. And even Comey's announcement, on the Sunday before Election Day, that the emails were deemed innocuous, couldn’t save her. ||||| Americans have no choice but to hope for the best from the president-elect—and to prepare for the worst by reviving the constitutional system’s checks and balances.
When Donald Trump takes office on January 20, 2017, he will arguably present more unknowns than anyone who has ever been elected to lead the executive branch and serve as commander in chief of the United States military. He has no previous experience in government. His relationship to the Republican Party is complicated, his stated positions on any number of policy issues are extremely vague, and he has shown over the course of this election that he is unconstrained by many norms that every major-party nominee in my lifetime have accepted as a matter of course. His most fervent supporters believe this makes him uniquely positioned to “Make America Great Again,” a message emblazoned on the red hats of his supporters early Wednesday as Trump took the stage to deliver his victory speech. “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans,” he said, adding that he would reach out to Americans who opposed him for their advice and help. The speech was pitch-perfect––easily the classiest moment of his campaign.
Hopefully, Trump will surprise his detractors and behave better in the White House than he has in the 2016 campaign, his business career, and his personal life. For the sake of the nation and the world, I hope he rises to the occasion, and that he respects the civil liberties of every American regardless of their identity. In any project that benefits the nation while safeguarding civil rights and liberal norms, I wish him success. And for my part, as a frequent critic of the president elect, any new criticism of Trump will spring from what he does going forward, not backward-looking resentment at a campaign I hated. I want Trump to have every incentive to serve honorably. Still, I worry that the worst sides of Trump will resurface. For critics, the risk he represents to the United States was summed up months ago by Josh Barro, who described Trump as a tail-risk candidate. "The most likely outcome is that Trump would be neither good nor disastrous as president, but simply bad," Barro wrote. "For example, he might mismanage the country's finances, needlessly inflame racial tensions, undermine the rule of law, confuse and antagonize our allies, and hurt the economy through erratic policies that punish and reward investors based on his political whims. This is the most likely outcome, and an undesirable one, but not the most important one to consider. America has survived bad presidents before, and we could survive a bad Trump presidency along these lines."
Though unlikely, tail-risk scenarios scared him more. What if President Trump starts behaving like one of the several authoritarian leaders who he has repeatedly praised, or starts using federal law enforcement to target Hispanics, Muslims, or any other group he dislikes, or even starts a nuclear war? The Constitution is meant to provide protections even if a man unfit for the presidency wins it. Congress and the Supreme Court are co-equal branches, even if they're not always treated that way by the Washington establishment and the media. The American system vests significant power in the states and the people, though less today than at the time of the Founders, for better in some ways and worse in others. And the character of the employees who staff the bureaucracy matters, too. Would the American republic stand up to a stress test? For years, I have been urging President Obama and Congress to tyrant-proof the executive branch as best they can, before it’s too late. With an unknown quantity headed for the Oval Office, that project is more vital than ever. Current precedents give Trump the ability to wage war under an Authorization to Use Military Force that’s been stretched to cover half the globe; to order drone killings in a dozen countries; to preside over mass surveillance on American citizens; to indefinitely detain human beings without trail at Guantanamo Bay; and much more. ||||| Donald Trump's unpredicted and unprecedented victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election has launched the nation’s capital into a zone of uncertainty. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib discusses the political shakeup and what needs to happen next. Photo: AP
The deplorables rose up and shook the world.
“Deplorables” was, of course, the disparaging term Hillary Clinton at one point applied to some supporters of Donald Trump. Many of his loyal followers proudly embraced the insult and used it as a motivating tool.
Wearing such establishment disdain as a badge of honor, the Trump army cut a... | – Donald Trump is now America's president-elect and many commentators are calling it "unthinkable"—but they also admit it is a possibility they should have probably thought a lot more about. Some early reactions to the historic victory: Trump's "astonishing" victory "is the greatest upset in the modern history of American elections—convulsing the nation’s political order in ways so profound and disruptive its impact can’t even be guessed at," writes Glenn Thrush at Politico. He was able to defeat "a better-funded, better-organized Hillary Clinton by surfing a tsunami of working-class white rage that her army of numbers crunchers somehow missed," Thrush writes. What Trump "has done is nothing short of cataclysmic," writes Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post. "He has fundamentally reshaped the political map. He has broken the Republican Party into pieces—and its shards still remain scattered everywhere. He has proven that the political polling and punditry industries need a deep re-examination." But beyond that, Cillizza writes, the victory shows that "many of the assumptions that people have long made about who we are as a country and what we want out of our politicians, our political system and each other are, frankly, wrong." Conor Friedersdorf at the Atlantic says that he hopes Trump will "rise to the occasion"—but to be on the safe side, people should start thinking now about how to thwart Trump "misbehavior." "The most important project in American politics for the next four years is safeguarding the rights conferred by the Constitution and the norms of a liberal society," he writes. "The effort expended by ordinary citizens will determine the odds of that project’s success." Jim Rutenberg at the New York Times sees the media's failure to see what was happening leading up to the Trump win as not just a failure of polling, but a failure "to capture the boiling anger of a large portion of the American electorate that feels left behind by a selective recovery, betrayed by trade deals that they see as threats to their jobs and disrespected by establishment Washington, Wall Street and the mainstream media." Trump didn't just "vanquish" Clinton, writes Gerald F. Seib at the Wall Street Journal. He "instantly remade the Republican party in his own image. He rewrote some of the GOP’s most dearly held policy and philosophical positions." Trump has sent the capital into a "zone of uncertainty the likes of which it hasn’t experienced at least since Ronald Reagan’s conservative revolution in 1980," and is about to become "the most unconventional president in modern American history," Seib writes. |
Executive Pay by the Numbers
Here are the 200 most highly-paid chief executives at U.S. public companies in 2013. The list, compiled by Equilar, an executive compensation data firm, includes only those companies with revenue over $1 billion that had reported through May 31 of this year. Compensation comprises salary, cash bonuses, perks and other forms of cash, and stock and stock options. ||||| Photo by Danny Moloshok/Reuters
It’s not exactly news that CEOs of big companies get paid a lot of money. And everyone knows that the pay gap between the big executives and the average Joe has been growing. The surprise revealed in a great new database of executive compensation—compiled by Equilar on behalf of the New York Times and covering U.S. firms with more than $1 billion in revenue—is the striking lack of method to the madness: America’s CEOs are paid a lot largely because other American CEOs are also paid a lot.
Philippe Dauman of Viacom, for example, is a very rich man—which is what you’d assume about the CEO of a major media firm, with the 100th highest amount of revenue of any publicly traded American company. Dauman brought in $33.4 million in salary, bonuses, perks, stock, and options in 2012. Nice work if you can get it. But then again, there’s Leslie Moonves of CBS. He’s also a very rich man. Given Dauman’s wealth, that’s exactly what you’d expect of the CEO of another large American media company. What you might not expect is that, even though Moonves’ firm is just two spots ahead of Dauman’s on the revenue rank order, Moonves made nearly twice what Dauman did last year: $60.3 million.
Lurking between Moonves and Dauman on the executive pay list is Disney’s Robert Iger, who brought in $37.1 million in 2012. Disney, which is more than twice as big as CBS or Viacom, had $42.3 billion in 2012 revenue, and its stock did better than the other companies in 2012, too.
Advertisement
So is Iger underpaid? Or perhaps Moonves is overpaid? Nobody knows.
It would be wrong to say that compensation for America’s chief executives is handed out randomly, but there’s certainly no clear link to corporate performance, and even the link to corporate size is surprisingly vague. But there are patterns. Despite the seemingly scattershot nature of the pay packages for Dauman, Moonves, and Iger, the one thing they have in common is that they’re all very well-paid—not just compared to the average American, but compared to the average CEO. And that’s the case throughout the media industry, where executive pay is high compared to what you see in other sectors.
This reflects the fact that nobody really knows how to judge a CEO’s worth. Since the executive is hired by a board of directors that’s theoretically accountable to a company’s shareholders, it seems like CEO pay should have something to do with stock price. But nobody wants a CEO to focus exclusively on short-term stock issues and ignore the firm’s long-term strategic position. And even if you do focus on share prices, what’s the relevant issue? Absolute return? Returns relative to the market as a whole? Returns relative to the sector? Tim Cook’s compensation at Apple was recently restructured to emphasize Apple’s share price relative to the S&P 500, which in some ways hitches him less to how well Apple fares against its competition than to how investors view the technology sector as a whole. There’s enough ambiguity that you could argue a given case in many different ways.
In practice, norms tend to dominate. Media CEOs are very highly paid because so are other media CEOs. Nationality matters, too. On the one hand, it might seem strange that John Watson of oil giant Chevron was paid “only” $22.3 million in 2012—less than the CEOs of CBS or Viacom, even though his company is much bigger than either. On the other hand, compare Watson to the CEO of the similarly sized French oil giant Total S.A.: poor Christophe de Margerie earned a mere $3 million in 2011 (the most recent year for which numbers are available). That same year, Watson brought home $18.1 million. The reason for this is both mysterious and epically clear—American chief executives are systematically better paid than CEOs from continental Europe or Japan. CEOs of U.K., Canadian, and other Anglophone firms tend to earn at close to American levels.
Advertisement
These kind of local differences matter so much because, as Ray Fisman has explained for Slate, executive compensation decisions are typically made by peer group comparisons. Media CEOs are compared to other media CEOs and oil executives to other oilmen.
American executives argue—conveniently enough—that their compensation should be compared to what other American executives are paid. This argument has tended to be persuasive to American boards, which—conveniently enough—are made up primarily of American corporate executives. And big American investment management firms—also led by American corporate executives—likewise think this makes sense. Which is all quite nice, but if you tried convincing one of these very same executives that he shouldn’t replace an American factory worker with a cheaper Chinese one, he would laugh you out of the room.
Apologists for this arrangement, such as the University of Chicago’s Steven Kaplan, argue that pay for U.S. CEOs has merely risen in line with pay for other kinds of very highly compensated individuals. Others dispute this math, but one might also dispute its relevance. It is true to some extent that America’s unusually well-paid CEOs are matched by an unusually large and aggressive financial sector and an unusually lucrative legal profession. Compared to the United States, continental Europe and Japan rely much less on lawsuits and much more on preventative regulation. They’re also much less gung-ho about the nonbank financial institutions—hedge funds and private equity shops—that provide for a very large share of the non-CEO element of the superrich. | – It's not exactly breaking news that CEOs make a ton of money. But as Matthew Yglesias at Slate looked through a new database of CEO pay, he also noticed that CEOs' paydays are incredibly arbitrary; there's "certainly no clear link to corporate performance." But there are some constants, like this fascinating one: American CEOs get paid wildly more than their counterparts overseas. Chevron CEO John Watson, for instance, makes $22.3 million, while the head of a similarly sized French oil giant makes only $3 million. American CEOs argue that their pay should be compared to other American CEOs, which is fine by most American boards, "which—conveniently enough—are made up primarily of American corporate executives. … Which is all quite nice, but if you tried convincing one of these very same executives that he shouldn't replace an American factory worker with a cheaper Chinese one, he would laugh you out of the room." CEO pay is a sea of "nonsensical gaps," with compensation chugging ever higher. This should worry us, writes Yglesias. Click for his full column, which specially zeroes in on media CEOs. |
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — Two people have died in an apparent fall from Yosemite National Park's Taft Point a week after a picture taken of the cliff became a social media sensation, CBS San Francisco Bay Area reports.
The National Park Service said rangers were recovering the bodies of the man and the woman Thursday morning. It released few details of the incident, which remains under investigation.
Just last week, freelance photographer Matt Dippel turned to social media in search of two people he inadvertently captured on the cliff. Dippel was waiting to take a picture of his friend when a couple walked out onto the cliff and the man dropped to one knee.
"It's a super-popular place in Yosemite. Really popular for engagements, proposals, weddings," Dippel told CNN. "There were at least three or four different brides and grooms up there doing their post-wedding photos, so it's definitely not an uncommon thing to see up there."
In the photo, it looks like they were really far away, but Dippel said it was only about a two-minute walk.
"I ran over to that point after I took the photo to try to figure out who they were and I asked maybe 20 or 25 people and no one came forward."
Dippel and Josh had spent a few days in Yosemite earlier this month during a road trip down the West Coast from Seattle to Los Angeles. When Dippel got home to Grand Rapids, Michigan, he posted the picture on Facebook and asked the internet to help find them.
"Alright Internet I need your help. Help me find these two," he wrote. "This was taken at Taft Point, in Yosemite National Park on October 6th, 2018. I took this photo and would love for them to find it."
The post has been shared thousands of times and folks have been trying to help Dippel locate the couple.
Taft Point is also where world-famous wingsuit flier Dean Potter and his partner, Graham Hunt, died after leaping from the cliff in 2015. The pair, experienced at flying in wingsuits, the most extreme form of BASE jumping, crashed after attempting to clear a V-shaped notch in a ridgeline. BASE jumping, which stands for jumping off buildings, antennas, spans (such as bridges) and Earth, is illegal in the park.
An investigation concluded that the deaths were accidental. Despite video and photos of the jump, officials consider the specific reason why Potter and Hunt died a mystery. ||||| Yosemite Falls on July 12, 2018, before smoke from the Ferguson Fire filled the Yosemite Valley floor. (Photo: Courtesy of Emerson Lyons)
Two visitors have died in Yosemite National Park after falling from an overlook, the National Parks Service said in a statement Thursday.
Park rangers were trying to recover the bodies of the man and woman who fell from Taft Point, a popular overlook at an elevation of 7,500 feet, as of 2 p.m. ET. The deaths are being investigated, but no other information is available yet, including the identities of the visitors, the statement said. Yosemite is located in California's Sierra Nevada mountains.
This is not the first time this year visitors have faced danger in Yosemite. Tomer Frankfurter, an Israeli teenager, fell to his death from Nevada Fall last month. Two hikers died in June while climbing El Capitan, and another died while climbing Half Dome in May.
Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/10/25/yosemite-visitors-dead-national-park-taft-point/1763424002/ | – A man and a woman are dead after falling from a popular overlook at California's Yosemite National Park. At Taft Point, 3,000 feet above the valley floor, visitors can walk right up to the cliff edge, and there is no railing, the AP reports. The spot is popular for marriage proposals thanks to its dramatic views, and CBS News reports that just last week, a photo of a couple getting engaged there went viral after a photographer inadvertently captured the moment and then tried to figure out who the couple was. Thursday's incident remains under investigation, and park rangers are attempting to recover the bodies. (A teen recently fell to his death off a Yosemite cliff while attempting to take a selfie.) |
(Note: Language in paragraph four may offend some readers.)
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday told U.S. President Barack Obama to “go to hell” and said the United States had refused to sell some weapons to his country but he did not care because Russia and China were willing suppliers.
In his latest salvo, Duterte said he was realigning his foreign policy because the United States had failed the Philippines and added that at some point, “I will break up with America”. It was not clear what he meant by “break up”.
During three tangential and fiercely worded speeches in Manila, Duterte said the United States did not want to sell missiles and other weapons, but Russia and China had told him they could provide them easily.
“Although it may sound shit to you, it is my sacred duty to keep the integrity of this republic and the people healthy,” Duterte said.
“If you don’t want to sell arms, I’ll go to Russia. I sent the generals to Russia and Russia said ‘do not worry, we have everything you need, we’ll give it to you’.
“And as for China, they said ‘just come over and sign and everything will be delivered’.”
China “did not understand the situation”, its Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, however, in a statement sent to Reuters.
Duterte’s comments were the latest in a near-daily barrage of hostility toward the United States, during which Duterte has started to contrast the former colonial power with its geopolitical rivals Russia and China.
In Washington, U.S. officials downplayed Duterte’s comments, saying they were “at odds” with the two countries’ warm relationship and decades-long alliance. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said there has been no communication from the Philippines about making changes in that relationship.
Earnest did not, however, back down from criticism of Duterte’s tactics in his deadly war on drugs.
“Even as we protect the strong alliance, the administration and the United States of America will not hesitate to raise our concerns about extrajudicial killings,” he said at a briefing.
‘HELL IS FULL’
On Sunday, Duterte said he had received support from Russia and China when he complained to them about the United States. He also said he would review a U.S.-Philippines Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement.
The deal, signed in 2014, grants U.S. troops some access to Philippine bases, and allows them to set up storage facilities for maritime security and humanitarian and disaster response operations.
Duterte said the United States should have supported the Philippines in tackling its chronic drugs problems but that instead it had criticized him for the high death toll, as did the European Union.
“Instead of helping us, the first to hit was the State Department. So you can go to hell, Mr Obama, you can go to hell,” he said.
“EU, better choose purgatory. Hell is full already. Why should I be afraid of you?”
At a later speech he said he was emotional because the United States had not been a friend of the Philippines since his election in May.
“They just ... reprimand another president in front of the international community,” he told the Jewish community at a synagogue.
“This is what happens now, I will be reconfiguring my foreign policy. Eventually, I might in my time I will break up with America.”
It was not clear if by his “time”, he was referring to his six-year term in office.
According to some U.S. officials, Washington has been doing its best to ignore Duterte’s rhetoric and not provide him with a pretext for more outbursts.
While an open break with Manila would create problems in a region where China’s influence has grown, there were no serious discussions about taking punitive steps such as cutting aid to the Philippines, two U.S. officials said on Monday.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte (C) clenches fist with members of the Philippine Army during his visit at the army headquarters in Taguig city, metro Manila, Philippines October 4, 2016. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco
Several of Duterte’s allies on Monday suggested he act more like a statesman because his comments had created a stir. On Tuesday, he said his outbursts were because he was provoked by criticism of his crackdown on drugs.
“When you are already at the receiving end of an uncontrollable rush, the only way out is to insult,” he said.
“That is my retaliation.” ||||| Manila, Philippines - Eric Sison was still alive after he fell three storeys from the roof opposite Maria's* house, snagged his shorts on her neighbours' awning, and, in his underwear, crawled underneath her bed.
When the police drew back the yellow curtain that partitions her shanty home from Pasay City's F Munoz street, Maria faced their gun barrels. "I shouted, 'Have mercy on us, don't fire, we don't know who this guy is,'" she told Al Jazeera through an interpreter.
The police told Maria and her family to leave their house. She heard Sison plead for his life. And then she heard the gunshots.
Sison is one of more than 2,500 people to have been killed between July 1 and September 5 during President Duterte's bloody war on drugs, which has had a death rate of about 38 people per day.
His death is also one of a growing number of killings during police operations in which witness reports contradict police versions of events.
While the police report states that Sison shot at officers and was killed when they returned fire, video recorded on a neighbour's mobile phone showed him attempting to surrender while still on the roof.
Scene-of-crime officers who visited Maria's house reported finding two sachets of shabu - the local name for methamphetamine - sachets of marijuana, a glass tube containing marijuana leaves, and the .38 calibre revolver with which Sison allegedly opened fire as police conducted routine "anti-criminality operations".
READ MORE: The Philippines, where bodies pile up, but no one talks
"The police insist that he has a gun and he uses drugs but my husband is not like that," Rachelle Bermoy, Sison's live-in partner, said through an interpreter. "He fell from the roof and his clothes got tangled on something, so he was already half-naked. If he had a gun it would have fallen.The police brought the gun," she said.
Dead bodies, piling up
In the run-up to the Philippines' 2016 presidential elections, Rodrigo Duterte promised to suppress crime, drugs and corruption in government within the first three to six months of his tenure, and to fatten the fish in Manila Bay with the bodies of 100,000 criminals.
At a party to celebrate his election victory in Davao City, where he had been mayor for more than 20 years, the president-elect urged armed citizens to kill drug dealers. "Do it yourselves if you have guns, you have my support," he told them.
After his inaugural speech Duterte again urged citizens to go ahead and kill drug addicts because "getting their parents to do it would be too painful", and said that he didn't care about human rights or due process.
"We will not stop until the last drug lord, the last financier and the last pusher have surrendered or [been] put behind bars or below the ground," he said in his first state of the nation address.
Duterte's war against drugs is being waged from the streets to the senate, but its casualties are almost exclusively small timers in shanty streets like F Munoz. Here, the victims die wearing flip-flops and often with a sachet of methamphetamines - shabu - about their person.
Extrajudicial killings are not new to the Philippines: It has been reported that Amnesty International estimates 3,240 were carried out under dictator Ferdinand Marcos before the People Power Revolution of 1986. However, the intensity of the deaths under Duterte - who has called Marcos the "best president" and pressed for his burial in the country's Heroes' Cemetery - is unprecedented.
According to a national police report obtained by Al Jazeera, from July 1 to September 5, 2016, some 1,027 suspects were killed during police operations. A further 15,055 suspects were arrested and more than 686,000 "surrendered voluntarily" to police. The death toll constitutes a more than fifteen-fold jump over the 68 police killings recorded between January 1 and June 15, a period of more than five months.
There were at least 1,500 further cases listed as "found dead body under investigation" during the same period, according to PNP records.
Such bodies - which have appeared throughout the slums, above ground at Malabon City Cemetery, and even splayed across EDSA, the congested arterial highway through the city's heart - are mostly attributed to vigilantes, or to drug syndicate infighting.
Sometimes the heads of those killed are found bound in duct tape; often bodies are strewn with cardboard signs with slogans reading "I'm a drug pusher, don't be like me".
Whether from police operations, the result of syndicates "cleaning house", or perpetrated by "death squads", the killings show no sign of abating. "I will retire with the reputation of Idi Amin," said President Duterte, whose term is scheduled for six years.
Fear taking over
At around midnight two Wednesdays ago, residents of Tramo gathered for Sison's wake. Friends drank beer from plastic cups and played a card game in which the winnings went to the family. Some peered through the Perspex lid of the casket where Sison lay, his wispy moustache showing through the make-up at the corners of his mouth.
Sison's partner Bermoy kept vigil, watching a white chick on top of the Perspex of the coffin lid hopping among grain flecks. "The chick is a symbol of justice," she said. "So that the death pecks at the conscience of his killers."
READ MORE: Philippines - Death toll in Duterte's war on drugs
The release of video confirming Sison's surrender prompted the opening of a National Bureau of Investigation file on the three police officers involved and their precinct commander, who have been suspended from active duty.
But justice is not the only concern for Sison's friends and neighbours. A 20-year-old friend, who asked to be identified as Boy Negro, showed his smart phone to Al Jazeera and scrolled through backlit threats he had received. One read in Filipino: "Bro, just wait, you'll be next".
Boy Negro dragged from his cigarette and scanned the street where open-air arcade machines jangled under tarpaulin covers and dogs barked over the glug of the canal. Recently, he said, he had noticed a tall man around their neighbourhood carrying out surveillance.
"We're not sure whether the threats are from the police or vigilantes but we're afraid," he said through an interpreter. "Almost all the neighbourhoods in Pasay have had killings to set an example, but now they're coming to our area."
War on a 'national scale'
While fear and muted anger grip neighbourhoods such as Boy Negro's, elsewhere in the Philippines the war on drugs garners widespread support.
According to a survey conducted by Pulse Asia, 91 percent of Filipinos had a "high degree of trust" in their new leader. In July Jennelyn Olaires - subject of a viral image cradling her slain husband Michael Siaron - told Reuters that he had voted for the president.
Senator Leila de Lima, a former secretary of the Philippine Department of Justice, has been a long-time critic of Duterte's approach to criminal justice. De Lima, who investigated the then Davao City mayor's alleged connection with vigilante death squads as chairman of the Commission on Human Rights in 2009, told Al Jazeera: "This was my frustration when I was investigating the Davao Death Squad: the results were welcomed by the public because they think that it's good for peace and order.
"We now have death squads on a national scale, but I'm not seeing public outrage."
Rita*, a woman in her 30s who wanted to remain anonymous, is one of the millions who voted for Duterte. She grew up in Davao City where her father owns a seafood wholesale company. She told Al Jazeera of a childhood experience that typifies some of the fear and insecurity the public felt leading up to Duterte's election.
When she was playing outside as a child, she remembers, armed men held her at gunpoint while they robbed her parents' house. Although Rita is disturbed by the current wave of killings and believes police should abide by the rule of law, she credits Duterte with improving Davao's public services and making the city safer.
Yet, safety is a relative term. In the run-up to the elections, Davao was often cited as one of, or even as the world's safest city, an achievement credited to Duterte-enforced discipline. The assertion was based on data furnished from an online survey site called Numbeo, which relied on fewer than 500 self-selected observers to rank Davao.
From 2010 to 2015, Davao City, which has a population of about 1.5 million people, had 1,032 killings, more than any other city in the country. Quezon City, a suburb of Manila with a population of 2.7 million, was second, with 961 killings during the same period.
Crimes declined -Robbery 11,106 to 6,630 -Physical injury incidents 4,168 to 2,847 -Rape 879 to 838 -Property crime 11,106 to 6,630 -Theft 7,168 to 4,230 -Cattle rustling 72 to 47 But -Muders rose from 755 to 1271 -Homicides increased from 197 to 214
Senator Alan Peter Cayetano and others have cited Philippine National Police incidents of falling crime this July - to 50,817 in the first month of Duterte's presidency from 56,339 in the same period last year - as evidence that the war on drugs is working on a national scale.
Crime did fall, but not across the board. Reported incidents of robbery, rape, assault, theft and other crimes declined significantly. However, murders rose by 68 percent to 1,271 in July from 755 last year. Homicides - differentiated from murder by the level of intent - also increased to 214 from 197. [See table]
The premise that the Philippines is so lawless that it requires a strongman president to circumvent the rule of law is shaky at best, argue some observers.
Prevalence of crime compared Country / Crime / Population Philippines/232,685 assaults/98mn UK/375,000 assaults/64mn Philippines/10,294/98mn UK/30,000 rapes/64mn Sweden/6,294 rapes/9.5mn
In August, journalist Rishi Iyengar published an article showing that the Philippines is not a particularly crime-ridden country per capita, as compared with other countries such as the UK, Belgium, and other countries. [See table]
The prevalence of drugs
Although methamphetamines are a serious problem in the Philippines, which has the highest usage rate in East Asia, there is disagreement on how pervasive drugs actually are.
The most recent official survey, conducted in 2015 by the Dangerous Drugs Board (DDB), found that about 1.8 million Filipinos use illegal drugs.
However, in his state of the nation address, Duterte said that, based on data from the Philippines Drug Enforcement Agency, there were "three million drug addicts " in the country two or three years ago, and possibly 3.7 million now. In an interview last Thursday, Senator Alan Cayetano, a Duterte backer, said: "We have three to seven million Filipinos who are hooked on drugs."
The phrases "pandemic" and "narco state" have been bandied around, but some statistics actually point to a decline in illegal drug use. Back in 2004, the DDB calculated that there were 6.7 million illegal drug users. This would represent a gross reduction of 4.9 million users, or 73 percent from 2004 to 2015.
"The president, successfully I think, pulled off a kind of wag the dog effect," Senator Risa Hontiveros, a political opponent of Duterte, told Al Jazeera. "He did a judo move so that suddenly the historically most important issue of poverty was no longer the most important. Suddenly, it was this drugs and crime menace."
In Congress last month, Duterte announced plans to cut the budgets for key sectors for poverty alleviation such as agriculture, labour and employment.
READ MORE: Philippines - Who is liable for the mounting death toll?
Meanwhile, the budget for Duterte's own office will increase from 2.9bn Philippine pesos [$618m) to 20.03bn Philippine pesos ($427m), including 7bn Philippine pesos ($150m) allotted for representation and entertainment expenses.
Duterte told congress that the military and Philippine National Police would also receive additional funds "to hire more policemen, buy more guns and patrol vehicles and finance other activities for more effective crime suppression".
The scoreboard
For Derrick Carreon, director of public information at the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the focus on law and order is welcome.
The Philippines' porous borders, weak rule of law, and the crannies of its archipelago structure make it easy for traffickers and smugglers to exploit, he said. According to Carreon, the Philippines is both a drug-consuming nation and a trans-shipment hub for methamphetamines (shabu), the chemicals for which are mostly imported from China and Taiwan, though Mexican drug cartels and West African syndicates have also been involved in smuggling and distribution operations.
In early July Carreon, who wears a sports shirt and sneakers and looks as if he does press-ups during his lunch break, was part of a team that seized a cache of 180 kilogrammes of shabu with an estimated market value of 900 million Philippine pesos ($19m) in an operation in Cagayan in the country's north.
On a granite honour wall visible from Carreon's office window, the names of those killed in the field have been etched in white. Among them are academy classmates Louie Giberson Jr and Pablo Jala.
"This is the scorecard," Carreon told Al Jazeera, handing over a press release. It shows that from July 1 to July 31, 2016, the PDEA participated in 123 anti-drug operations and confiscated more than 2.5bn Philippine pesos (about $53.7m) worth of illegal drugs, almost as much as the 2.86bn Philippine pesos ($61m) seized in the entire year of 2015.
Whether the increased seizures stymy the drug trade long-term remains to be seen. According to PDEA statistics, closure of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories often precipitates a rise in smuggling operations and vice-versa.
Dr John Collins, director of London School of Economics International Drug Policy Project, told Al Jazeera: "Targeting the supply side can have short-term effects. However, these are usually limited to creating market chaos rather than reducing the size of the market."
In Mexico when the government went to war with the cartels it produced a power vacuum and violence spiralled as criminal actors then went to war with each other over control of the trade. Meanwhile, the trade itself continued largely unabated. Collins expects that something similar would happen in the Philippines.
"What you learn is that you're going to war with a force of economics and the force of economics tends to win out: supply, demand and price tend to find their own way," he said.
Recently the PDEA has taken some big scalps: four Chinese nationals were arrested when a sea vessel utilised as a shabu factory ran aground on July 11; Meco Tan a 'big time drug lord' was killed on July 22, and a former mayor and her Army Major husband were arrested on July 23.
Others, however, have got off more easily. In Leyte, a Mayor, Rolando Espinosa Snr, who was accused of drug dealing and "surrendered" to police, stayed at PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa's residence at Camp Crame and then returned to work a few weeks later.
'Rich or poor, my order is to destroy'
When the conversation turned to small-time dealers - who constitute the vast majority of the dead - that sell drugs to escape poverty, Carreon had little tolerance.
"For God's sake, I would rather starve than deal drugs," he told Al Jazeera. "Rather than feed my kids from food that was bought from dirty money, I'll plant kamote [yam] in my back yard."
The president has taken an even harder line stance on allegations that the war on drugs targets the poor: "Just because you are poor, you are excused from apprehension? Rich or poor, I do not give a s****. My order is to destroy," Duterte has said.
At 11pm on a recent Wednesday, press cars skewed across the parking lot of Manila District Police Headquarters. Local reporters tapped pens against dashboards, sipped energy drinks, and scrolled smart phones while they waited for reports of shootings.
The graveyard shift at the District Police Headquarters is a perennial assignment for Manila's crime hacks but it had been especially full since June 30.
At just before midnight, reports circulated of a shooting during a buy-bust operation in Tondo, one of Manila's poorest districts.
Hazard lights flashed as the press convoy passed vulcanising shops and swept beneath the concrete Skyway, they lost each other behind jeepneys and met again at traffic lights; they cut between freight trucks clogging the port road into the shanties of Tondo, where electricity cables stretch between windows billowing with tarp.
From the ground floor of a Tondo stairwell, the calves and feet of the victim, Rolando Bangayan y Cruz, stuck out towards a puddled gulley lit by TV crews interviewing police officers. One foot was bare and on the other hung a blue flip-flop. Blood streaked the shingle beside Bangayan's head, which was shadowed under the stone steps.
The press crowded Police Superintendent Redentor Ulsano, the senior officer on the scene, for quotes. He told Al Jazeera that the buy bust was "consummated" in the alley, where the suspect, "sensing that he looked like a policeman", drew his weapon. "He was the one who first fired upon my police," Ulsano confirmed.
The other flip-flop of the dead man floated in an alley puddle from which the Scene Of Crime Officer (SOCO) team retrieved brass shell casings. A .38 calibre Smith and Wesson revolver rested beneath his curled fingers.
Around 100 residents watched the SOCO team roll Bangayan's body on to a stretcher, pull up his shirt to examine the bullet holes, and photograph his personal effects: two sachets of shabu, the .38 he allegedly opened fire with, and the 553 Philippine pesos ($11) he had collected for the drug sale.
Gunfights and shootouts
Aie Balagtas See, a crime reporter for the Inquirer, has been tracking stings like this since the war on drugs began.
In early August, See got hold of 27 Manila Police Department (MPD) reports from the previous month: 17 pertained to suspects killed during "buy-bust" operations in Manila's poorest neighbourhoods. The other 10 concerned routine "anti-criminality operations", where the suspects ended up dead just the same.
READ MORE: Rodrigo Duterte - 'I don't care about human rights'
The reported sequence of events in the buy-bust cases See examined was startlingly similar, with particular phrases recurring each time: the suspect always "sensed" that they were dealing with undercover cops and thus made that instinctive self-preserving decision to draw their guns.
These tense moments always followed a "consummated" drug transaction and the cops, in turn, always "sensed imminent danger to their lives".
"This line alone cropped up 20 times in the 27 MPD reports," See wrote in an August 7 article about the case.
In each case the suspects had drawn on police first but no officers died in the ensuing gunfights - although one had been wounded on the arm and another saved by his bulletproof vest.
Since the war on drugs began, 12 police officers have been killed during operations, according to PNP statistics.
See visited the scene of one of the alleged "shootouts" between police and suspected drug dealer Eric Caliclic. In the shanty where the police report said the gunfight had taken place, the wall behind where Caliclic had been standing was poked with bullet holes. The opposite wall, where the police stood, was unmarked.
Neighbours of Caliclic told her that he had no job and struggled to pay his 800 Philippine pesos rent ($17). "How could he be firing a gun when he didn't even have a knife? Where would he get the money to buy a gun in the first place? His house didn't even have power supply," one said.
Al Jazeera saw more incidents that set the press racing across Manila: in Sampaloc a man shot his cousin in a fight over a girl, and at around 3am six teenagers showed up worried for the whereabouts of their brother, who had been picked up by police four hours before.
Hearings and testimony
The killing of people such as Sison, Bangayan and Caliclic at the hands of police prompted Senator De Lima to convene a hearing on extrajudicial killings.
On August 22 and 23 witnesses wearing ski masks, hoodies and sunglasses to protect their identities testified to a packed senate on national television.
Harra Kazuo, 26, told the senate that her partner, Jaypee Bertes, and his father, Renato Bertes, were both killed in police custody after officers raided their shanty home on July 7.
Both men used shabu, she admitted, and Jaypee sold it in small amounts - in 2015 local police took a 10,000 Philippine pesos ($214) bribe to turn a blind eye.
Pasay police claimed that the father and son were killed because they tried to grab a cop's gun, but forensic examinations revealed that both men had been incapacitated by beatings before they were shot: Jaypee had a broken arm.
A second witness, 23-year-old Mary Rose Aquino, told the hearing that police routinely delivered illegal drugs for "repacking" to her father Rodelio Campos at their house in Antipolo.
Campos was a police "asset" until they killed him on June 20, Aquino said. Rosalie Campos, Rodelio's wife, was found dead the following day.
Fear for personal safety, lack of access to legal counsel, and a dearth of forensic pathologists mean that few such witnesses come forward, according to De Lima, who plans to continue contesting extrajudicial killings.
Such findings are important even at this early stage in the process. "It exposes the reality that in certain localities - and I've always believed this - the drug problem would not have proliferated if there was not the protection or involvement of the police," De Lima said.
The practice of "recycling" whereby corrupt law enforcement officials resell drugs they have confiscated during operations or, as in the case of Rodelio Campos, turn small-time dealers into personal "assets", has been going on since the 1990s, a source in intelligence told Al Jazeera. He suggested that recycling was widespread and police might kill assets to prevent exposure.
At the Senate hearing, PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa confirmed that in a recent internal cleanout drive, 130 police tested positive for drug use, 20 had been arrested, six administratively charged, and seven faced criminal charges. Dela Rosa said that a total of 284 PNP personnel believed to be involved in illegal drugs had been transferred to new assignments.
In the aftermath of De Lima's hearing on extrajudicial killings, Duterte released a "drug matrix" which described her as connected to drug lords through a driver she had allegedly had "sex escapades" with and who allegedly collected bribes on her behalf.
The "drug matrix" is the latest in a series of bizarre personal attacks by Duterte on De Lima; he has previously demanded she "eat" a CD recording of her linking him to the Davao Death Squad, told press she was "finished", and advised her to resign and hang herself.
Other politicians have used the focus on law and order to advance hard-line policy proposals. Bills currently under consideration in congress include one to bring back the death penalty, and another to reduce the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to nine.
Surrenders and treatments
Targets for police operations are often selected from locally compiled drugs watch lists, which are in turn derived from information provided by local government officials or submitted by community members using confidential forms.
Those on a drugs watch list that want to avoid being targeted by police - or by vigilantes - can "voluntarily surrender" themselves to local authorities through a programme called Tokhang. So far the PNP has registered almost 700,000 such "surrenderers".
Treatment for drug users who register under the Tokhang programme can include activities such as zumba classes, soap-making classes, and "value formation" sessions. But according to Benjamin Reyes, Chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board, implementation of such programmes can vary between regions.
The DDB is hoping to promulgate new regulations so that all local governments will use the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) manual on community based treatments as their guideline, but Reyes said that this was unlikely to happen before the end of the year.
"The confusion right now is because there's a gap, there is no guidelines on what to do, where to go, who will handle whom," he said.
Some of those who surrender through the Tokhang programme are referred to inpatient facilities such as The Department of Health Treatment and Rehabilitation Centre Bicutan, the country's largest public drug treatment centre. The Philippines' total combined public and private capacity for in-patient drug treatment is about 10,000 and such facilities are seriously stretched.
On a rainy Friday morning Dr Bien Leabres toured Al Jazeera around Bicutan Rehabilitation Centre, located on the police Camp Bagong Diwa. On the top floor of one of the centre's dormitories, posters reading "acceptance", "no free lunch", and "hang tough", had been tacked to the walls, and an activity called pull-ups was underway.
A patient whose seniority status was denoted by his white shorts asked the group: "Who among my family is not doing his job properly in the maintenance unit?" Six men wearing red shorts stood to receive instructions on how better to perform maintenance tasks.
WATCH: Can Duterte win the war on illegal drugs?
Bicutan Rehabilitation Centre, which uses a range of therapeutic methodologies in line with UNODC guidelines, has an approved capacity of 550 patients but currently accommodates around 1500. Although the facility was overcrowded before Duterte took office, daily admissions have gone up from about seven to eight per day to 15-30 per day, according to Leabres.
"If this keeps on going, we might have to take out all the beds so that everyone sleeps on the floor," he said.
But Leabres' most pressing concern was finding qualified staff to deal with the influx. "It's overburdening the staff. We're prone to burnout," he said. Currently, Bicutan has only 12 doctors, of which four are addiction medicine specialists.
The Duterte administration plans to build an additional five public rehabilitation facilities for addicts. In July, he announced that the Armed Forces of the Philippines had made its bases available to house them.
Leabres confirmed that a PNP colonel had come to Bicutan Rehabilitation Centre to observe the treatment practices there. The new facilities, he said, would be staffed by medical personnel from the PNP, with department of health oversight.
But some in the NGO sector and the few politicians who advocate a harm reduction approach to drug treatment have questioned whether the proposed rehabilitation facilities would actually respond to drug users' needs.
"We have to hear the voices of the drug dependents themselves. We have to talk with them. Let them be part of telling us what the problem is and how we address it," Senator Risa Hontiveros told Al Jazeera. "That is so totally not in our mind as a public right now."
The words of the president provide no indication that such needs will be considered. "Give a little space, in the mountain, not here [in the city]. You cannot rehabilitate these guys there if they remain [here]. You have to isolate them," Duterte said.
When questioned on breaches of human rights, he told reporters: "I'd like to be frank with you, are they [drug users] humans? What is your definition of a human being?"
Before leaving Bicutan Rehabilitation Centre, Al Jazeera spoke with MJ*, 36, nearing the end of his six-month treatment programme there.
MJ had dabbled with shabu as a university student but managed to kick it after he graduated. He worked for HSBC for five years and then launched his own business. After MJ's company tanked, and a period of depression and unemployment, he took a night-shift job at a call centre to support his wife and children.
Many of MJ's colleagues at the call centre used shabu, "probably for the same reasons: being able to endure the time", he said. But his use became more and more frequent: MJ's weight dropped from 210 pounds to 155 pounds in a year, and around 70 percent of his salary was going to support his drug habit.
DDB figures indicate that shabu users are overwhelmingly male, and three in four of them earn less than 11,000 Philippine pesos ($235) per month.
A supportive family and sound treatment programme has helped MJ to overcome his addiction.
While he said he was confident of staying drug-free, he conceded that he was not in the clear. "There's a small amount of fear that some of my using friends would pinpoint me or make some stories that I'm one of the pushers or suppliers of drugs, because they say that I look like a Chinese," he told Al Jazeera. "I would be worried but I have to let go of it. My main priority is to get back [out there] and move forward."
War of attrition, lessons from Thailand
In 2003 Thailand found itself in the grips of a pill that mixed methamphetamine and caffeine. Yaba, which translates as "crazy drug", was said to be eating the country from the inside out.
Thailand's then Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a war on drugs, purportedly aimed at the suppression of drug trafficking and the prevention of drug use. Some 2,800 people were killed during the first three months of Thaksin's campaign - it would later be revealed that less than half were actually involved in drugs - and thousands more were forced into coercive treatment programmes that exacerbating existing public health issues.
Initially the gains made in Thailand appeared impressive: by the end of 2003, 73,231 people had been arrested, more than 23 million drug pills had been seized, and 320,000 drug users surrendered to undergo treatment. With the price of yaba doubling, availability and consumption declined.
But the victories were to prove hollow.
"The world has lost the war on drugs, not only Thailand," the country's Justice Minister Paiboon Koomchaya said in an interview last month. "We have clear numbers that drug use has increased over the past three years. Another indicator is there are more prisoners."
As of June, the Thai government was considering decriminalising methamphetamine.
Kasia Malinowska, Director of Open Society Foundations Global Drug Policy programme, told Al Jazeera: "We know how futile and destructive these strategies can be, yet only 13 years later another Asian country - the Philippines - is deploying this horrific approach with a similar justification."
The war on drugs has failed in Thailand, in Colombia, in Mexico, and in the US; it has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths, millions of incarcerations, and trillions of dollars of wasted expenditure.
Senator Cayetano and others in the Philippines cite Singapore as an example of a country in which strict repression has beat the drug trade, but London School of Economics' Drug Policy Programme Director John Collins argues that a city state where drug markets never became established is an inappropriate example for the Philippines.
"The frontier of expertise on this is that if you have existing drug markets, the best way to deal with them is a harm reduction approach," Collins said. "You minimise the interaction with society, you strengthen rule of law, community relations, and everything that makes it easier for the community to stand up to and be less impacted by the trade.
"History and economics from around the globe highlight a policy certainty: the Philippines' new 'war' will fail and society will emerge worse off from it."
At Pasay Municipal Cemetery, pall bearers wearing T-shirts that said "Overkill" and "Kill drugs, not people" hefted Eric Sison's coffin over a concrete wall to a spot hemmed by other graves beneath a palm tree.
Twenty-five-year-old Joker stood among the gathered mourners. He had been friends with Sison for five years. "I only have one daughter, no boys. That's why I want to adopt Eric's son. Everyone here wants to guide his son because he was really a kind person," he told Al Jazeera. "Eric earned 200 pesos ($4.3) a day as a pedicab driver. Imagine, they say he fought back with a .38 Gloc."
That morning, Joker had received news that another friend, Lloyd Rodrigo, had been killed. Rodrigo had been at Sison's wake and left at around 4:30am - nobody had seen him since. There had been rumours of another killing and eventually news came that the victim was Rodrigo.
"Our neighbourhood is kind of hot now - it's a hot spot," he said. "We're not really afraid of the police. If they do their job well then its OK with us, but if they do something wrong, that's when it gets scary."
As Joker spoke, friends and relatives placed Sison's favourite possessions inside his coffin: a music player with headphones and a pair of Nike flip-flops, along with the live chick for justice.
Family and friends passed Sison's one-year-old son back and forth over the ground where his father lay. A corrugated-iron roof section was set over Sison's coffin and then dark grey cement was poured on top.
*Names changed to protect identity | – Perhaps teeing up his next apology, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte continued his string of inflammatory, anti-US statements by telling President Obama to "go to hell" Tuesday, Reuters reports, after the US refused to sell him weapons to continue his violent crackdown on drug dealers. "If you don't want to sell arms, I'll go to Russia," Duterte said. "I sent the generals to Russia and Russia said 'do not worry, we have everything you need, we'll give it to you.' And as for China, they said 'just come over and sign and everything will be delivered.' " Duterte previously called Obama a "son of a bitch," and a State Department rep calls his latest stance "at odds with the warm relationship" the two countries have long enjoyed. Duterte's bloody campaign is averaging 38 deaths a day, Al-Jazeera reported in September, and his methods have drawn harsh criticism from the international community, including the US. Duterte on Tuesday expressed frustration at this slight, saying: "Instead of helping us, the first to hit was the State Department. So you can go to hell, Mr. Obama, you can go to hell." He then threatened to "break up" with the US, then added, for good measure: "EU, better choose purgatory. Hell is full already. Why should I be afraid of you?" (On Sunday, he was busily apologizing to the Jewish community for a jab about Adolf Hitler.) |
The Queen has broken her silence about the potential break-up of the United Kingdom by warning Scots to think “very carefully about the future” before casting their votes in the independence referendum.
With only four days to go to the polls and the contest on a knife edge, the monarch made a hugely significant intervention by stating she hoped Scots would consider closely what their “important” votes would mean.
Buckingham Palace insiders insisted her remarks were politically neutral but on Sunday night they were being viewed as the clearest sign yet she hopes for a No vote on Thursday. Henry Bellingham, a Tory MP, said Royal observers would be “in no doubt about her views.”
The Queen's comments were made after she broke her usual protocol and spoke with well-wishers outside the church she attends near Balmoral Castle.
In an extremely rare move, police invited press to observe the exchanges after she and other members of the Royal Family left a service that had included a prayer asking God “to save us from false choices”.
Her exhortation to “think carefully” came after Prince Harry said on Saturday that “only the British could have pulled off” the Invictus Games for injured service personnel and he would love to keep the event in the UK, including hosting it in Glasgow.
Buckingham Palace has previously rejected calls from Labour and Tory MPs for the Queen to say something, insisting she would not intervene, as she did in 1977 when Scotland and Wales were voting on devolved national assemblies.
She used one of her Silver Jubilee speeches to deliver a clear warning against breaking up the realm, saying: "I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of Northern Ireland.”
However, Alex Salmond appeared to suggest last week she supported Scottish independence by stating she would be “proud” to be “Queen of Scots”.
The Queen is currently on her annual holiday at Balmoral, in Aberdeenshire, where she is expected to remain for another three weeks.
She and other members of the Royal Family attend around 20 Sunday services per year at Crathie Kirk, a small Church of Scotland parish church, and visitors often gather outside to see them come and go.
Although she usually walks between her car and the church without speaking to bystanders, she decided to do so after she left the church on the final Sunday before the referendum.
Unusually, a police sergeant invited members of the press waiting 200 yards away to come up to the church to see the royal party depart, enabling them to hear her exchanges.
She was photographed in conversation with a small group of three four Scots, and a similar number of English visitors. It is understood a well-wisher joked they were not going to mention the referendum, in response to which she remarked: “You have an important vote on Thursday.”
The Queen, who was dressed in green with a black handbag, is then reported to have said: “Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future.”
Asked what the Queen had said to the group, a woman who asked not to be named, replied: "She was lovely and said she hoped everybody would think very carefully about the referendum this week".
The Rev Ken MacKenzie, the minister at Crathie, said he did not hear what the Queen had said, but confirmed that it was unusual for her to speak to members of the public when coming or going from the kirk.
He added: “The Queen did go on a bit of a walkabout, which is a really quite unusual thing for her to do. I don’t know what she said, but I heard something similar reported. I think it was a recognition of the fact that this was an important time for the nation.”
Donald Stewart, a photographer who covers royal visits to the kirk, said the last time he could remember being invited to photograph the Royal Family leaving the church was in 2006 on the first anniversary of the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall.
The Queen was at church with the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, who are known as the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay in Scotland, the Duke of York and the Duke of Cambridge, who is known as Earl of Strathearn north of the Border. The others did not speak to the public.
They had earlier heard the Rev Prof David Fergusson, the guest preacher at the kirk, speak of the need for reconciliation between the two sides in the debate whatever the outcome of the vote.
A Buckingham Palace spokesman said: “We would never comment on a private interchange." An insider added the comment was “completely spontaneous” and in response to a remark from the crowd.
"Clearly the Queen being the most experienced of the lot of us knows where the line is drawn and in some ways it reinforces her view that it is for the Scottish people to decide,” the insider said.
But Mr Bellingham, was a Coalition Foreign minister from 2010 to 2012, said: “Anyone who has been a follower of the queen has said over the years should be in no doubt about her views, her incredible support for the Union.”
Simon Danczuk, a Labour MP, said: “She means that the people of Scotland should stay with England and the rest of the United Kingdom. I am pleased that she has made a contribution to the discussion.”
But a spokesman for the pro-separation Yes Scotland campaign said: “Her Majesty is echoing the message from Yes Scotland to all voters – to think very carefully about this one opportunity that Scotland will have on Thursday to choose our future.
“Of course, Buckingham Palace has been at pains to stress that the Queen has no position on the independence referendum.” The pro-UK Better Together campaign declined to comment. ||||| GLASGOW Scotland Thousands of independence supporters took to the streets of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, on Sunday as polls showed the rival camps running desperately close just five days before a referendum which could bring the break-up of the United Kingdom.
Separatist and unionist leaders worked across the country to woo undecided voters among the four million people Scots and Scotland residents who will vote on their future on Thursday.
Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, who has spearheaded the drive for independence, said he was confident the "Yes" campaign would win.
"We're not aiming to win by one vote. We're aiming to achieve a substantial majority if we can," he said on the BBC.
Alistair Darling, a former British finance minister and leader of the "Better Together" campaign, warned that if Scots vote to split from the United Kingdom, it would be an irreversible decision that would bring economic doom and gloom.
With promises from British political leaders of greater powers for Scotland in the event of a "No" vote, Scots could have the best of both worlds, Darling said.
And Queen Elizabeth, coming out of a Sunday morning church service near her Scottish residence Balmoral, told a well-wisher she hoped Scots would think very carefully about the future.
In Glasgow, the blue badges of the "Yes" to independence campaign dominated central Buchanan Street, with a convoy of cars driving through the downtown waving "Yes" banners and tooting horns. Buskers also sang in support of independence and a bagpipe-and-drum band drew a large crowd.
The Glasgow vote will be crucial to the result, given the city's size.
Thousands of people marched to the BBC headquarters, complaining that the state-run broadcaster was biased against the "Yes" campaign.
"We pay our license fees. We don't want them to favour us - we were just marching for an impartial state broadcaster," said Liz, a teacher.
Salmond has frequently accused the BBC - which could be carved up if Scotland votes for independence - of siding with the unionists. A BBC spokesperson said the corporation has been "rigorously impartial".
But the incident showed the high emotions and divisions stirred by the referendum, which could result in the end of the 307-year-old union with England and the break-up of the United Kingdom.
"No one wants to forget what we achieved together during the two World Wars. But where's the vision for the future?" said Ian, an IT manager from Glasgow who had been on the march.
Independence supporters say it is time for Scotland to choose its own leaders and rule itself, free of control from London and politicians they say ignore their views and needs.
"No" campaigners say Scotland is more secure and prosperous as part of the United Kingdom and the end of the union would destroy three centuries of bonds and shared history as well as bring in economic and financial hardship.
More than 4 million Scots as well as English and foreign residents, from the Highands and Islands to Glasgow's gritty inner city estates, are eligible to vote. The question on the ballot paper will ask simply: "Should Scotland be an independent country?"
Out of four new polls, three showed those in favour of maintaining the union with a lead of between 2 and 8 percentage points. But an ICM poll conducted over the Internet showed supporters of independence in the lead with 54 percent and unionists on 46 percent.
RELOCATION PLANS
Last week, Scottish–based banks including RBS (RBS.L) said they had plans to relocate should independence happen, big retailers spoke of possible price rises north of the border and Germany's Deutsche Bank warned of economic meltdown.
Salmond has dismissed this as a London-contrived campaign of bullying and scare-mongering. However, the pound had dropped on market concerns of a "Yes" victory and investors have pulled billions out of British financial assets.
The biggest financial question is what currency an independent Scotland would use. Salmond insists it would keep the pound in a currency union with the rump UK, but Prime Minister David Cameron and others have ruled this out.
Until September, all polls but one in 2013 had shown the unionists with a comfortable lead. But such is the gravity of the situation that finance minister George Osborne cancelled a trip to the G20 meeting in Australia after the vote. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney will leave the G20 meeting early.
The Queen's comment was taken by unionists as a sign of support for Scotland remaining within the United Kingdom. A Buckingham Palace source stressed that the queen was constitutionally above politics and would express no view.
Salmond has said she should stay on as Queen of Scots if independence happens.
Meanwhile the head of the Church of Scotland appealed for Scots to put their differences aside and reconcile after the referendum, whatever the outcome.
In a nationally-broadcast sermon at Edinburgh’s St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral, Reverend John Chalmers urged Scots to vote.
But he added: "The real success of next Thursday will be that...every voice will continue to play its part in shaping the kind of Scotland that people in Scotland vote for," he said.
(Additional reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, Writing by Angus MacSwan, Editing by Ralph Boulton) ||||| The Queen made a rare intervention on the political stage when she expressed the hope that voters will "think very carefully about the future" before the Scottish independence referendum on Thursday.
As David Cameron prepares to issue a warning in Scotland that a vote for independence will lead to a permanent split from the UK, campaigners for the union welcomed the Queen's remarks as a reminder of the monumental decision facing voters in Scotland.
The comments by the Queen came as she left Crathie Kirk near her Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire after the Sunday morning service. The Queen told a well-wisher: "Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future."
The Queen's remarks were interpreted by no campaigners as helpful to their cause. They were seen to tally with a warning the prime minister will deliver in Scotland on Monday, on his final visit north of the border before Thursday's vote, that a vote for independence would lead to an irrevocable break with the UK.
The prime minister will say: "This is a once-and-for-all decision. If Scotland votes yes, the UK will split, and we will go our separate ways for ever."
Downing Street sources said that Cameron would also have a positive message about the benefits of remaining in the UK. He may refer to a decision by David Beckham to put his name to a long list of celebrities, actors and cultural figures who have signed an open letter urging Scotland to vote no. Organised by the TV historians Tom Holland and Dan Snow, their "stay with us" campaign is due to hold a vigil in Trafalgar Square, London, tonight.
A series of opinion polls confirmed the two campaigns are in effect neck and neck. An Opinium poll for the Observer found that no was six points ahead with 53% to 47% for yes. A further poll by Panelbase for the Sunday Times put the two campaigns only two points apart at 51% for no and 49% for yes. A further ICM poll for the Sunday Telegraph gave yes a more dramatic lead of 54% to 46%, but its significance was played down since its sample was only 700, under the normal threshold of 1,000 voters.
Alex Salmond said that the "extraordinary manifestations" of support he has encountered during a whistle-stop tour of Scottish towns and cities over the past 72 hours has convinced him he is on the verge of a historic victory that would lead to the collapse of the 307-year-old union.
Pointing to the Scottish National Party's shock landslide victory in the 2011 Holyrood elections, where it won the first overall majority since devolution in 1999, the first minister told the Guardian: "I sense a momentum which is much greater than that. I experienced that campaign and I knew what was happening – it was great but I see now on the streets of Scotland today – the east end of Glasgow and Dumfries where 500 people arrived out of nowhere to campaign on the bridge over the Nith – these are extraordinary manifestations of people mobilised because they sense the momentum for Scotland; this time of opportunity, this chance of a lifetime."
Salmond had earlier moved to reassure traditionalists when he said the "Queen and her successors" would remain as head of state in an independent Scotland. He told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1: "We want to see Her Majesty the Queen as Queen of the Scots. That is a fantastic title and a fantastic prospect."
The Queen indicated that she is fully seized of the historic importance of the referendum when she spoke about the vote outside Crathie Kirk after a well-wisher joked that they would not mention the referendum. The Queen, who remains above the political fray as a constitutional monarch, observed the proprieties of not endorsing either side in the referendum.
A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: "We never comment on private exchanges or conversations. We just reiterate what the Queen has always said: she maintains her constitutional impartiality. As the Queen has always said, this is a matter for the people of Scotland."
But the Queen's remarks were warmly welcomed in private by the pro-UK side, who are keen to impress on voters that they will make an irrevocable decision if they vote for independence. In his address, the prime minister will say: "This is a decision that could break up our family of nations and rip Scotland from the rest of the UK. And we must be very clear. There's no going back from this. No re-run."
The remarks by the Queen came after the palace insisted last week that the monarch, who spends every summer at her Balmoral estate and whose mother was Scottish, was remaining above the fray in the referendum. This followed reports that the Queen was horrified by the prospect that her kingdom may be broken up.
Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, weighed in last week when he said it "might be handy" if the Queen intervened on behalf of the pro-UK side. Some campaigners for the union have pointed out that in 1977, the year of her silver jubilee, the Queen said in a speech in Westminster Hall: "I cannot forget that I was crowned Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland."
Salmond insisted that a yes vote was thriving because of a "joyful, liberating and empowering" grassroots campaign. But the yes campaign came under heavy attack after hundreds of pro-independence protesters marched to the BBC Scotland headquarters in Glasgow calling the BBC's political editor, Nick Robinson, a "liar", and demanding he be sacked.
Robinson clashed with Salmond last week after the BBC journalist pressed the first minister over threats by banks to leave Scotland. The crowd accused the BBC of "killing democracy", claiming in one large banner that Robinson was "a totally corrupt journalist these days, typical of the British Biased Corporation".
Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's former head of communications, tweeted: "had my run-ins with BBC, but organised protests like the one going on now is beyond Tebbit, and not far off Putin. Vote YES for intimidation". Further evidence about the deep misgivings of the UK's largest companies emerged after 78% of company chairmen in FTSE 100 companies said independence would damage the economy, according to a poll by the executive consultancy Korn Ferry. Only a third of the 28 chairmen polled said they were "fully prepared" for a yes vote.
The centre-right Centre for Policy Studies thinktank warned that Scotland faced a £14bn black hole in its budget, because of an expected slump in North Sea oil forecasts and "the probable flight of a large proportion of the financial services sector from Scotland."
• This article was amended on 15 September 2014. It mistakenly described Tom Holland as an actor. He is, among other things, a TV historian. This has been corrected. | – With just a few days to go before Scotland votes on independence, Queen Elizabeth II has spoken out on the issue for the first time. In what opponents of independence have interpreted as a statement of firm support for their No campaign, the monarch told a well-wisher outside a Scottish church that people should "think very carefully about the future" before voting, the Guardian reports. The queen—who will remain in place as Scotland's monarch however the vote goes—is on vacation at her Balmoral estate in Scotland and is expected to be there for the next three weeks. Supporters of the pro-independence Yes campaign say the monarch's remarks were politically neutral. "Her Majesty is echoing the message from Yes Scotland to all voters—to think very carefully about this one opportunity that Scotland will have on Thursday to choose our future," a spokesman tells the Telegraph. Both sides held large rallies over the weekend, with polls showing Yes and No neck and neck, reports Reuters. Pro-independence leader Alex Salmond accuses the British establishment of panicking as the Yes side gains momentum, while the No campaign warns of economic uncertainty and possible breakdown if Scotland splits from the UK. |
Meet 18-Year-Old Cole Carman, One of the First Transgender Teens to Freeze Eggs Before Transitioning
Related Video: Transgender Teen Gets Her Own Reality Show
Courtesy Cole Carman
An 18-year-old from northern California has become one of the first transgender teenagers to freeze his eggs so he can have biological children later in life, his doctor says.Cole Carman, formerly known as Nicole, has undergone a double mastectomy and was about to start testosterone treatment in January when his doctor asked if he wanted to freeze his eggs first."[After] they told me that, I didn't [start testosterone treatment] and I did some research on the egg retrieving process," Carman told PEOPLE. "I already knew I wanted kids, so to say yes and make that decision was a no-brainer."The teen, who hails from the San Francisco area, had first started looking into transgender issues when he was 12, but didn't really understand what it meant to be transgender. He came to a better understanding of the definition last year."From there I had to just make sure I came to terms with myself and who I am before making a big decision like [undergoing surgery]," he said.Carman's parents' have been supporting him throughout the process of transitioning."I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother C.J. Carman tells PEOPLE.C.J. said she and husband Pat were receptive to the idea of Cole freezing his eggs because she struggled to conceive – leading them to adopt Cole. "I wanted to make sure it was done before it couldn't be done," she said.Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, the doctor who performed the procedure on Carman at the end of May, says he is one of the first transgender teens to do this prior to transitioning."The concept of freezing eggs is not new for the transgender community, what I would say is typically you're seeing probably trans-males in their 30s who are trying to come off their testosterone and trying to freeze eggs," she commented. "This is an unusual [case] and probably one of the first, if not the first, for a teenager."His parents funded the entire procedure, which cost about $13,000. Carman advises other teens in his situation to think very carefully about how personally important it is to have biological children."It's a lot of money and there are other ways," he said. "You should think, how important would it be that your child is related to you? That would be the biggest factor to play in into making the decision."Eyvazzadeh said that Carman's procedure went very smoothly. "From the minute I met them, I wanted to help. I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she said."It's a journey and an emotional roller coaster ride," C.J. said. "But I think it's really important for parents to understand that [the surgeries] aren't something that's a choice, they're a necessity. Love your child, be open minded and get information." ||||| Cole Carman, 18, became the first transgender teen to have a surgical procedure that will give him the opportunity to have a genetic link to the kids he knows he wants one day. (Photo: Cole Carman)
When 18-year-old Cole Carman made the decision to transition from female to male late last year, the San Francisco-area teen knew that he would be in for major surgery and hormone therapy.
STORY: Transgender 9-Year-Old Adapts to School Life as a Boy
That didn’t stop Carman, a recent high school grad set to start college in the fall, from signing on for another potentially risky medical procedure: egg retrieval. It’s a fairly routine (yet still major) surgery, typically undertaken by egg donors and some women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
STORY: How I Told My Son His Friends Are Transgender
But Carman may be the first transgender teen to have his eggs successfully harvested before transitioning — preserving his ability to have children that he’ll be biologically related to, whether he chooses to carry a child himself or turn to a surrogate. “I’ve always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so when my endocrinologist talked to me about it, it was a no-brainer,” Carman told Yahoo Parenting.
The surgery, which was done at the end of May, wasn’t so simple. It required 10 days of hormone shots, and it left him dealing with side effects like bloating and cramping. During the procedure, a doctor used a needle to harvest as many egg follicles as possible, freezing them so they can be thawed and fertilized at some point in the future.
What makes Carman’s situation so groundbreaking is that up until recently, doctors didn’t routinely talk about fertility preservation to transgender teens or adults who were planning to transition.
“Some transgender people who realized after gender reassignment surgery that they wanted kids of their own had no chance, because they already had their reproductive organs removed,” Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, a fertility specialist in San Ramon, Calif., told Yahoo Parenting.
“Others who didn’t have ‘bottom’ [sex-reassignment] surgery still had difficulty, because after years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality,” she said.
Because Carman was so certain fatherhood was in his future, he researched the procedure, talked to his doctors and parents about it, and finally decided to go ahead.
Carman’s parents, who adopted their only child when he was five-and-a-half weeks old, couldn’t be more supportive. “When we realized this was an option, we went for it,” C.J. Carman, Cole’s mother, told Yahoo Parenting.
She says she and her husband were as supportive when Cole told them that he was transgender last November — something he began to realize when he was a young teen.
“The decision to do egg retrieval shows how forward-thinking and mature Cole is, because it’s not something you do on a whim,” says Eyvazzadeh. To help with the cost of storing the frozen eggs, she launched a fundraising page for Cole with the goal of raising $3,000, the fee for one year of storage.
With egg retrieval behind him, Cole underwent “top” surgery in June, a procedure that involves the removal of breast tissue. He’s begun testosterone therapy as well, and he’s already filed the papers to officially change his gender and his first name from Nicole to Coley. “The paperwork will be finalized in September,” he said.
As for the eggs that he put on ice, Cole has no immediate plans to thaw them and become a dad. He’ll be a first-year student at California State University at Sacramento in the fall, and plans to major in kinesiology. Fatherhood is a way’s off, he says, “like in eight or 10 years.” Whatever he decides, Cole at least has the option of someday having kids he’s genetically linked to.
Please follow @YahooParenting on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. Have an interesting story to share about your family? Email us at YParenting (at) Yahoo.com. | – An 18-year-old San Francisco-area transgender teen may be the first to have had eggs harvested prior to transition. Having decided last year to go from Nicole to Cole Carman, the teen decided to harvest his eggs first so it would be easier to have his own biological children down the road. "I've always known I wanted to have kids of my own, so ... it was a no-brainer," he tells Yahoo Parenting. Typically these procedures are performed when trans males are in their 30s, already transitioned, and decide to halt their testosterone so that they can be biologically related to their kids, says Dr. Aimee Eyvazzadeh, who performed the successful procedure on Carman. But post-transition is far more challenging: "After years of testosterone therapy, their ovaries would shut down and would not reawaken to create any viable eggs, or the eggs would be low quality." Carman's parents, who adopted their only child when he was just 5 weeks old and know how hard it can be to conceive, funded the procedure themselves, paying $13,000 to have the eggs harvested in May. "I didn't really hesitate at all simply because Cole has always been mature in his thinking and I knew this was something that was really important to him," his mother tells People. Carman has reportedly been thinking about his gender, as well as what it means to be trans, since he was 12, and Eyvazzadeh says she wanted to help "from the minute" they met. "I could tell that he was mature, he knew exactly what he wanted and this was self-directed," she says. "It's not something you do on a whim." (Caitlyn Jenner is shocking some of her trans friends with her politics.) |
Only 106,000 people signed up for coverage in the new Obamacare exchanges as of Nov. 2, administration officials announced in the first official update of enrollment since the law’s disastrous Oct. 1 launch.
One-quarter of those people came through the flawed HealthCare.gov site, which is used by 36 states. The rest selected plans in the 14 states and the District of Columbia that are running their own health insurance exchanges, most of which are operating much better than the federal site.
Text Size -
+
reset Republicans focus on Obamacare
The numbers are the first official glimpse of the damage caused by the tech failures with the law’s enrollment portal HealthCare.gov, and they fall well short of the administration’s early goal of having about a half-million sign up in the first month. The administration is hoping to get 7 million people signed up in the exchanges and at least 8 million in Medicaid by the time the open enrollment season ends March 31.
(PHOTOS: Obamacare online glitches: 25 great quotes)
Even those first-year goals are arguably modest: There are about 47 million uninsured people in the country, although that includes undocumented immigrants ineligible for Obamacare coverage.
The White House has been tamping down expectations for weeks, warning that they have always expected the first month of enrollment to be low, even before the gravity of the website problems became clear.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius maintained that the system is beginning to work, albeit slowly. “Even with the issues we’ve had, the marketplace is working and people are enrolling,” she told reporters on a call.
(See POLITICO's full Obamacare coverage)
“We can reasonably expect that these numbers will grow substantially over the next five months,” she added.
Republicans pointed out that the sign-up numbers are puny compared with the millions of Americans who are receiving cancellation notices and losing the health plans that the president promised they could keep.
“Pretty stunning” is how House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) summed it up on CNN. “Just another day in a series of mess-ups in Obamacare.”
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said everyone who had signed up nationwide could fit into the University of Tennessee stadium “and still have room for the ‘Pride of the Southland’ marching band.” He added, “That’s bad news for the 5 million Americans who’ve had their policies canceled by Obamacare.”
The statistics HHS released Wednesday afternoon included people who had selected their health plan — but not necessarily paid for it, the final step in enrollment. People have until Dec. 15 to pay for coverage starting in January.
(Also on POLITICO: Issa hearing shows Obamacare deadline slipping)
An additional 392,000 people were deemed eligible for either Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program under the law. And in what advocates of the law pointed to as an encouraging sign, close to 1 million — 975,407 people — had made it through the process of applying and confirming their eligibility, although they had not yet selected plans.
Anne Filipic, president of Enroll America, said in a statement the larger numbers of people in the pipeline “confirm what we have been expecting — the problems with the website have indeed slowed enrollment, but Americans are hungry for the affordable, comprehensive coverage.”
The administration did not release details on the demographics of those who enrolled, what kind of insurance plan they chose or whether they qualified for subsidies. A well-functioning insurance market needs healthy, younger participants to balance the costs of older and sicker ones, but the numbers released Wednesday gave no hint of early trends or eventual sustainability. Sebelius said such information would be included in future reports.
Almost a third of all the exchange sign-ups came from California, a state the White House indicated will play a large role in shaping the law’s trajectory. Shortly after the HHS announcement, Covered California, the state exchange, updated its own tally, 60,000 as of Nov. 12. The federal count went through Nov. 2.
Executive Director Peter Lee said the pace had doubled from October, with 2,000 now selecting a plan each day.
(PHOTOS: 10 Sebelius quotes about the Obamacare website)
The administration is placing a heavy emphasis on enrollments in California, Florida and Texas, which are home to one-third of the nation’s uninsured. Sign-ups in Florida and Texas, which are relying on the federal exchange, were much lower — 3,571 and 2,991, respectively.
Jonathan Gruber, an MIT economics professor who advised policymakers crafting the Massachusetts health law and Obamacare, said he doesn’t think the enrollment numbers are “disappointing.” He noted that the Massachusetts exchange enrolled only 123 people in the first month. By that measure, he said, the federal government is doing well.
“It’s just too early to say anything useful,” Gruber said on CNN. In Massachusetts, enrollment surged at the end of the enrollment period, which is probably what people will do on the Obamacare exchanges, Gruber said.
“There’s no need to panic,” he said.
Paige Winfield Cunningham contributed to this report. ||||| The administration says fewer than 27,000 people managed to enroll for health insurance last month in the 36 states relying on the problem-filled federal website for President Barack Obama's overhaul.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., holds up a checklist related to the preparation for the implementation of the Obamacare healthcare program, and specifically, the HealthCare.gov... (Associated Press)
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. makes an opening statement as his panel holds its first public hearing on problems implementing the Obamacare healthcare program, on Capitol... (Associated Press)
Todd Park, U.S. chief technology officer at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, who was previously chief technology officer at the Health and Human Services Department, raises his... (Associated Press)
From left, David Powner, director of information technology management issues at the Government Accountability Office; Henry Chao, deputy chief information officer for Medicare and Medicaid Services;... (Associated Press)
The dismal numbers released Wednesday by federal health officials were even lower than estimates recently circulated. There was one bright spot: States running their own websites did better than the feds, reporting more than 79,000 sign-ups.
Even so, total private insurance enrollment after the first month of the health care rollout was only about one-fifth what the administration had expected during that time period.
Enrollment numbers totaled 106,185. A Sept. 5 administration estimate had projected that 494,620 people would enroll in the first month.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says she expects things to improve.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
After weeks of criticism over the balky rollout of the health care sign-up website, the Obama administration is releasing figures on how many people have successfully enrolled through the new federal insurance exchanges.
In advance, officials are lowering expectations for the numbers, given the widespread technical issues that have hampered the website since its Oct. 1 launch.
The tightly held numbers being released Wednesday are believed to amount to only a small fraction of the nearly 500,000 initial sign-ups that administration officials had projected before the healthcare.gov site went live.
The figures are expected to cover sign-ups that occurred in October, the first month of the six-month enrollment window. Officials say they expect enrollment to be heavier toward the end of that period.
The announcement was coming as congressional investigators held hearings into the technical issues behind the dysfunctional rollout of the website. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, had a long list of issues: insufficient testing, possible security flaws, design shortcomings _ even allegations of political meddling.
But there didn't seem to be a "smoking gun" behind the technical failure that has mortified supporters of President Barack Obama's health care law and cheered its opponents. The technology's cost to taxpayers: north of $600 million and climbing.
It was the sixth major congressional hearing since computerized insurance markets went live Oct. 1 and millions of consumers encountered frozen screens. The oversight committee was sharply divided along partisan lines.
"Established best practices of our government were not used in this case," said Issa. As a result, the law's promise of affordable health insurance "does not exist today in a meaningful way." Like other Republicans, Issa wants the law repealed, not fixed.
Ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland questioned Issa's fairness.
Addressing Issa directly, Cummings said: "Over the past month, instead of working in a bipartisan manner to improve the website, you've politicized this issue by repeatedly making unfounded allegations."
A key issue for Issa is why the administration required consumers to first create online accounts at HealthCare.gov before they could shop for health plans. That runs counter to the common e-commerce practice of allowing anonymous window-shopping. Outside experts say it increased the workload on a wobbly system.
Issa and other Republicans suspect a political motive; Democrats say the explanation has to do with technical issues. The shopping feature had its own glitches and would have compounded system problems.
The hearing featured Henry Chao, a little-known Medicare official, who had presented an overview of the enrollment system back in the spring, and commented then, "Let's just make sure it's not a third-world experience."
Chao is deputy chief information officer for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which also is leading the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A career official who earlier helped implement the Medicare prescription drug benefit, he is widely seen as the operational official most knowledgeable about the health care law's online system.
Chao's public comment in March at an insurance industry forum was taken as an edgy joke, and he later joined the parade of administration officials who assured lawmakers that everything was on track for a smooth launch, even as nonpartisan experts from the congressional Government Accountability Office warned that could not be taken for granted.
Issa's investigators previously grilled Chao in a private session that lasted nine hours. Chao's name appears on a key Sept. 27 document authorizing the launch of the website despite incomplete security testing. But Issa's staff has released materials indicating that Chao was unaware of a memo earlier that month detailing unresolved security issues.
On Wednesday, Chao testified that he is confident that the system is secure. In fact, he said he had recommended to his sister that she try it.
Chao was also involved in the decision not to allow anonymous window-shopping, which is available on most e-commerce sites, including Medicare.gov.
He testified Wednesday that the shopping feature "miserably" failed testing and would not have been a help to consumers. Chao said that shortly before the launch he directed a contractor to turn off the shopping feature, and instead apply resources to a more critical function.
Issa has suggested a political calculation: The administration wanted to avoid consumers experiencing "sticker shock" over premiums, so it first required them to compute tax credits that work like a discount.
The committee also heard from Todd Park, the White House chief technology officer.
He testified that the website is getting better day by day, and week by week. It can now handle about 17,000 account registrations an hour. Page response times are under one second.
But Park balked when Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., asked what letter grade he would give to the website rollout. "Obviously it's been really, really rocky," said Park. "It's what nobody wanted."
Separately, the House Homeland Security Committee held its own hearing Wednesday.
It gave Republicans a chance to criticize the health care law and the botched online rollout. But it resulted in few answers on the security of the website because officials testifying from Homeland Security said that wasn't their responsibility.
While that department helps federal agencies like Health and Human Services comply with federal security standards, the law leaves many of the technical decisions up to the agencies themselves, the officials said.
___
Associated Press writer Anne Flaherty contributed to this report. | – The White House has been trying to dampen expectations about first-month enrollment in ObamaCare, and here's why: The administration said today that 26,794 people signed up in October via the federal HealthCare.gov website, reports AP. About 80,000 more signed up on state-run exchanges. Prior to the launch of ObamaCare, White House officials predicted about 500,000 would be on board by now—on both the federal and state exchanges—but the final tally came in at 106,185. That's a decent snapshot of just how badly the federal HealthCare.gov website has performed: It covers people in 36 states, while the 14 states running their own marketplaces managed to about triple its total. The number of enrollees reflects those who have selected a plan, not necessarily paid for it, notes Politico. The federal number is actually lower than what the Wall Street Journal reportedly previously, but at least it's up from the whopping first-day total of ... six. |
A day before blastoff with two Intelsat communications satellites, an Ariane 5 rocket rolled into position on its launch pad in French Guiana on Tuesday behind a 540-horsepower Titan truck, and these close-up snapshots show technicians preparing for the journey.
The mighty Titan — a pillar in American rocketry for five decades — flew into orbit for the final time Wednesday, capping a distinguished career of heavy-lifting that has spanned the nation’s space age.
Pope Benedict XVI calls the space shuttle-station crew
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: May 21, 2011
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--Pope Benedict XVI called the combined crews of the shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station Saturday, wishing commander Mark Kelly's gravely wounded wife, Gabrielle Giffords, a steady recovery and asking station flight engineer Paolo Nespoli how he endured news of his mother's death in the isolation of space.
Credit: NASA TV
"From the space station, you have a very different view of the Earth, you fly over different continents and nations several times a day," he said, reading prepared remarks. "I think it must be obvious to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each (other).
"I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack and I hope her health continues to improve. When you're contemplating the Earth from up there, do you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together down here, about how science can contribute to the cause of peace?"
"Thank you for the kind words, your holiness, and thank you for mentioning my wife, Gabby," Kelly replied. "It's a very good question. We fly over most of the world and you don't see borders, but at the same time we realize that people fight with each other and there's a lot of violence in this world and it's really an unfortunate thing."
Kelly said people frequently fight over resources, pointing out that "the science and technology that we put into the space station to develop a solar power capability gives us pretty much an unlimited amount of energy. And if those technologies could be adapted more on Earth, we could possibly reduce some of that violence."
Pope Benedict asked the astronauts about their impression of the environment from the vantage point of space, wondering if "you see signs of phenomena to which we need to be more attentive?"
"It really is an extraordinary vantage point we have up here," station flight engineer Ronald Garan said. "On the one hand, we can see how indescribably beautiful the planet we have been given is. But on the other hand, we can really clearly see how fragile it is. The atmosphere when viewed from space is paper thin. And to think that this paper thin layer is all that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space is really a sobering thought."
The pope spoke in Italian to station flight engineer Paolo Nespoli, who's mother died in Italy May 2.
"Dear Paolo. I know that a few days ago your mom left you and in a few days you will come back home and you will not find her waiting for you," the pope said in translated remarks. "We're all close to you. Me too, I have prayed for her. How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station? Do you feel isolated and alone? Or do you feel united amongst ourselves in a community that follows you with attention and affection?"
"Holy father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here," Nespoli replied. "My colleagues on board the station were very close to me at this important time for me, a very intense moment, as well as my brothers and sisters, my uncles, my aunts, my relatives were close to my mom in her last moments. I'm very grateful for this. I felt very far, but also very close. And the thought of feeling all of you near me at this time has been a great relief. I also want to thank the Italian and American space agencies that had given me the opportunity so that I was able to speak with her in her last moments." ||||| The 12 astronauts circling the Earth received a blessing from Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday in the first ever papal call to space.
This image provided by NASA televsion shows the space shuttle Endeavour's tiles being inspected early Saturday morning May 21, 2011 using both the shuttle's robot arm and the International Space Station's... (Associated Press)
This undated image made available by NASA on Friday, May 20, 2011 shows a damaged thermal tile on the space shuttle Endeavour's underbelly. The crew is planning to use a laser-tipped boom early Saturday,... (Associated Press)
This image provided by NASA television shows the crews of the space shuttle Endeavour, in black shirts, and the International Space Station's Expedition 27 speaking Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican Saturday... (Associated Press)
The pope addressed the crews of the linked space shuttle Endeavour and International Space Station from the Vatican, making special mention of the U.S. commander's wounded congresswoman wife and the recently deceased mother of one of the two Italian astronauts on board.
The historic communication _ "extraordinary" in the pope's words _ took place just a couple of hours after the shuttle astronauts finished inspecting a small gash in Endeavour's belly to ensure their safety when returning to Earth. It is the next-to-last flight in NASA's 30-year shuttle program.
Seated at a table before a television set tuned to NASA's live broadcast from orbit, Benedict said the space fliers are "our representatives spearheading humanity's exploration of new spaces and possibilities for our future." He said he admired their courage, discipline and commitment.
"It must be obvious to you how we all live together on one Earth and how absurd it is that we fight and kill each one," the pontiff said, reading from prepared remarks. "I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack, and I hope her health continues to improve."
Kelly, who's Catholic, thanked the pope for his kind words. His wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had surgery to repair her skull Wednesday, four months after being shot in the head at a political event in Tucson, Ariz.
The shuttle commander told the pope that borders cannot be seen from space and noted that on Earth, people usually fight for resources. At the space station, solar power provides unlimited energy, "and if those technologies could be adapted more on Earth, we could possibly reduce some of that violence," he said.
Benedict also asked about the future of the planet and the environmental risks it faces, and wanted to know what the astronauts' most important message would be for young people when they return home.
Space station astronaut Ronald Garan Jr. spoke of the paper-thin layer of atmosphere "that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space." And shuttle crewman Mike Fincke described how he and his colleagues "can look down and see our beautiful planet Earth that God has made."
"However, if we look up, we can see the rest of the universe, and the rest of the universe is out there for us to explore," Fincke said. "The International Space Station is just one symbol, one example, of what human beings can do when we work together constructively."
Near the end of the 18-minute conversation, Benedict expressed concern for astronaut Paolo Nespoli, whose 78-year-old mother died in northern Italy at the beginning of May while he was serving on the space station.
"How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station?" the pope asked.
"Holy Father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here where outside the world ... we have a vantage point to look at the Earth and we feel everything around us," Nespoli replied in Italian.
Nespoli will end his five-month space station mission Monday, returning to Earth on a Russian Soyuz capsule.
He will bring back with him a silver medal that shuttle astronaut Roberto Vittori took up with him aboard Endeavour, that was provided by the pope. It depicts Michelangelo's "Creation of Man," the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Vittori floated the commemorative coin in front of him, then gently tossed it to Nespoli, positioned on the opposite end of the front row of astronauts.
"I brought it with me to space, and he will take down on Earth to then give back to you," Vittori told the pontiff. He added that he prays in space "for me, for our families, for our future."
The long-distance papal audience was arranged by the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. NASA provided technical support from Mission Control in Houston.
Inside the ancient frescoed halls of the Vatican _ where email wasn't even in wide use until a few years ago _ the call was received with visible awe.
The 84-year-old Benedict chuckled when one of the astronauts began floating up at the end of the transmission. He waved to the crew at the beginning and end of the call.
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the call was evidence of the pope's desire to communicate with people however possible, be it sending a text message with a prayer of the day or a YouTube channel playing church teachings.
Pope Paul VI sent a greeting to the moon with Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969, but it was in a silicon disk that contained goodwill messages from numerous countries and was left on the Sea of Tranquility. "I look up at your heavens, made by your fingers, at the moon and stars you set in place," said Paul VI, quoting from Psalms 8.
Before gathering for the extra-special VIP call, the shuttle astronauts conducted an hourlong survey of the gouge in Endeavour's belly, using a 100-foot extension boom.
NASA ordered the inspection, even though managers said there was no reason to be alarmed by the damage generated by Monday's liftoff on Endeavour's final voyage. Experts on the ground immediately began analyzing the 3-D images beamed down.
The extra safety checks were put in place following the 2003 Columbia disaster.
The gouge _ spanning two or three tiles _ measures just 3.2 inches by 2.5 inches. It's the depth that flight controllers hoped to ascertain with Saturday's survey, to make certain no repairs were needed.
Similar damage was seen on a flight by Endeavour in 2007. That gash turned out to be just an inch deep, and no repair was necessary. By coincidence, that 2007 mission was commanded by Kelly's identical twin brother, Scott.
Still ahead for Kelly and his crew are three more spacewalks, the next one on Sunday. Landing is scheduled for June 1.
___
AP Writer Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Vatican City.
___
Online:
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle | – Pope Benedict made a very long distance call this morning to the combined crews of shuttle Endeavour and the International Space Station, notes SpaceFlight Now. And Gabby Giffords was on his mind. "I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a serious attack and I hope her health continues to improve," said the pope, who blessed the astronauts and turned Giffords' shooting into a theological question. "When you're contemplating the Earth from up there, do you ever wonder about the way nations and people live together down here, about how science can contribute to the cause of peace?" Responded Kelly, who the AP notes is Catholic: "Thank you for the kind words, your holiness, and thank you for mentioning my wife, Gabby." He took a shot at answering, noting that war frequently erupts over energy resources. "The science and technology that we put into the space station to develop a solar power capability gives us pretty much an unlimited amount of energy," he said. "And if those technologies could be adapted more on Earth, we could possibly reduce some of that violence." Click to read about Giffords' successful skull surgery this week. |
Donald Trump's campaign is fighting back against a New York Times story published Sunday night that told of handwritten ledgers indicating that Trump's campaign chairman received $12.7 million in undisclosed cash payments from a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine.
The report -- showing even closer ties between Trump's inner circle and Russia than were previously known -- threatens to further damage Trump's campaign on the same day the candidate is scheduled to deliver a major speech on national security.
Campaign chairman Paul Manafort's consulting work for former Ukraine President Viktor F. Yanukovych was already public. But the Times reported records of cash payments between 2007 to 2012 that were not previously disclosed. It said the ledgers were discovered by an anticorruption bureau as "part of an illegal off-the-books system whose recipients also included election officials."
The Times report said criminal investigators are separately looking into a network of "offshore shell companies that helped members of Mr. Yanukovych’s inner circle finance their lavish lifestyles." One such transaction, the Times reported, involved an $18-million cable television deal put together by Manafort. The newspaper reported that Manafort is not the target of the probe.
Trump's supportive comments of Russian President Vladimir Putin had already drawn scrutiny.
Manafort drew particular scrutiny after the GOP platform, approved last month, eliminated a call to arm Ukraine in its fight with Russia, which seized the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and has supported separatists in eastern Ukraine. ||||| This collection contains content included in or referenced by the Georgia Institute of Technology's web presence. The materials in the collection document the teaching, research, cultures, and communities of Georgia Tech. | – Donald Trump's campaign chief accuses the New York Times of a hatchet job against him in a Monday story that alleges he received shady payments out of Ukraine, reports Politico. “Once again, the New York Times has chosen to purposefully ignore facts and professional journalism to fit their political agenda, choosing to attack my character and reputation rather than present an honest report,” says Paul Manafort said in a statement. “The suggestion that I accepted cash payments is unfounded, silly and nonsensical.” According to the Times report, handwritten ledgers uncovered in Ukraine suggest that Manafort received $12.7 million in previously undisclosed, illegal payments for his work on behalf of a pro-Russia political party there. The allegations are dicey ones for Trump, who has previously taken flak for statements supportive of Vladimir Putin. As the LA Times notes, the issue surfaced anew last month when the GOP platform ditched a provision calling for arms for Ukraine to help in its border dispute with Russia. Manafort, however, denies getting the money or of ever working directly for the governments of Ukraine or Russia. “My work in Ukraine ceased following the country’s parliamentary elections in October 2014,” he says. “In addition, as the article points out hesitantly, every government official interviewed states I have done nothing wrong.” |
Canadian officials have arrested Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer and deputy chair of the board for the Chinese tech giant Huawei, CBC News has confirmed.
According to a statement from the Department of Justice, Meng was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday and is being sought for extradition by the United States. A bail hearing has been set for Friday.
The statement said Meng sought, and was granted, a publication ban which prevents the department from releasing further details about the arrest.
Supreme Court of British Columbia records show the ban is pursuant to Section 26 of Canada's Extradition Act, which says that before an extradition hearing is held, a judge may decide that the publication or broadcasting of evidence may put the accused's right to a fair trial at risk, in this case once she is handed over to the U.S.
Court records show that hearings in this case have been going on over the last week at the B.C. top court in Vancouver. B.C. Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes ordered the publication ban, which extends until Friday.
The Globe and Mail reported earlier Wednesday that Meng was arrested on suspicion of violating U.S. trade sanctions on Iran.
Court records say that she has used two English names as aliases: Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng.
U.S. authorities have been probing Huawei, one of the world's largest makers of telecommunications network equipment, since at least 2016 on allegations that it shipped U.S.-derived tech products to Iran and other countries in violation of U.S. export and sanctions laws, sources told Reuters in April.
Huawei released a statement saying its CFO was arrested while changing planes in Vancouver and is facing charges in "the Eastern District of New York."
"The company has been provided very little information regarding the charges and is not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms. Meng. The company believes the Canadian and U.S. legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion," the statement said.
"Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, U.S. and EU."
Global concerns over Huawei
Britain's BT Group said on Wednesday it was removing Huawei Technologies' equipment from the core of its existing 3G and 4G mobile operations and would not use the Chinese company in central parts of the new network.
New Zealand and Australia have stopped telecom operators from using Huawei's equipment in new 5G networks because they are concerned about possible Chinese government involvement in their communications infrastructure.
Huawei, the world's biggest network equipment maker ahead of Ericsson and Nokia, has said Beijing has no influence over its operations.
Earlier this year, two U.S. senators wrote to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warning him that doing business with the Chinese telecom giant would open Canada up to a huge security risk.
Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Sen. Mark Warner want Canada to follow the U.S. and Australia and block Huawei from supplying equipment that would connect Canadians to the high-speed mobile network known as 5G.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Ottawa released a statement protesting Meng's arrest, which it said "seriously harmed" her "human rights."
"The Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the U.S. and Canadian side, and urged them to immediately correct the wrongdoing and restore the personal freedom of Ms. Meng Wanzhou."
A profile of Huawei's chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou is displayed on a Huawei computer at a Huawei store in Beijing Thursday. The Chinese foreign ministry is calling on Canada to release Meng. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)
In Beijing on Thursday, nine of the 13 questions at the Chinese Foreign Ministry's daily news conference were about Huawei and Meng. Officials called on Canada to immediately clarify the reason for Meng's arrest, release her, and protect her rights and interests.
The Chinese Consulate in Vancouver is providing assistance to Meng.
'Groundless accusations'
"China firmly opposes all forms of cyberattack and cracks down on them in accordance with law," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said in an English translation of the news conference. "If offered evidence, the relevant Chinese departments will carry out investigations according to law. We firmly object to making groundless accusations on the issue of cyber security."
The spokesperson called cybersecurity a "global issue" in which all countries have a shared interest. He noted that China is "one of the major victims" of these threats, including cyber hacking.
China is a "staunch supporter" and co-operates with all sides on combatting cyber crimes, he said, calling on the international community to "engage in dialogue ... on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit."
With regards to the specific allegation that Meng and Huawei had breached American sanctions against Iran, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson said China "faithfully and strictly" implements UN Security Council resolutions, but opposes unilateral sanctions outside the Security Council framework.
"This position is consistent and clear-cut," the Chinese government spokesperson said, repeating that Huawei abides by the applicable laws in the countries where it operates.
The Foreign Ministry did not comment on whether Meng entered Canada with a Chinese or Canadian passport. ||||| Image copyright EPA Image caption Meng Wanzhou was detained while transferring between flights in Vancouver
The daughter of the founder of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has been arrested in Canada and faces extradition to the United States.
Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's chief financial officer and deputy chair, was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December.
Details of the arrest have not been released but the US has been investigating Huawei over possible violation of sanctions against Iran.
China's embassy in Canada protested at the arrest and demanded her release.
Huawei said it had little information about the charges and was "not aware of any wrongdoing by Ms Meng".
The arrest comes at a sensitive time for US-China relations. The nations are engaged in a trade war that has seen both impose duties of billions of dollars on one another's goods.
The arrest will not help the 90-day tariff truce the nations agreed after President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met at the G20.
It also coincides with moves to restrict the use of Huawei technology in Western countries. The US, Australia and New Zealand have blocked the use of the Chinese firm's equipment in infrastructure for new faster 5G mobile networks.
The UK has not blocked firms from using Huawei, although BT, which dominates the UK's telecoms network, said this week it would not use the Chinese firm's equipment in its "core" 5G infrastructure.
What has Canada said about the arrest?
Canada's ministry of justice confirmed the date and place of Ms Meng's arrest and added: "She is sought for extradition by the United States, and a bail hearing has been set for Friday."
It said it could not say more as Ms Meng had sought a ban on the publication of details and this had been ordered by the courts.
A spokesman for the US justice department in the Eastern District of New York - which Huawei said had brought the charges - declined to comment.
What could be behind it?
US media have reported that Huawei is under investigation for potential violations of US sanctions against Iran.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Huawei is one of the largest telecommunications equipment and services providers in the world
One report in the New York Times said the US commerce and treasury departments had subpoenaed the firm over suspected violation of sanctions against both Iran and North Korea.
US lawmakers have repeatedly accused the company of being a threat to US national security, arguing that its technology could be used for spying by the Chinese government.
Reacting to the arrest, US Senator Ben Sasse told Associated Press that China was aggressively engaged in undermining US national security interests, often "using private sector entities".
"Americans are grateful that our Canadian partners have arrested the chief financial officer," he added.
How have China and Huawei responded?
Huawei said Ms Meng, the daughter of founder Ren Zhengfei, was detained while transferring between flights.
In a statement, it said it had complied with "all applicable laws and regulations where it operates, including applicable export control and sanction laws and regulations of the UN, US and EU.
"The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion."
A statement from the Chinese embassy in Canada was far angrier.
It said that Canada, at the request of the US, had arrested a Chinese citizen "not violating any American or Canadian law".
"The Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the US and Canadian side, and urged them to immediately correct the wrongdoing and restore the personal freedom of Ms Meng Wanzhou."
Why is Huawei a concern to the West?
The company is one of the largest telecommunications equipment and services providers in the world, recently passing Apple to become the second-biggest smartphone maker after Samsung.
Some Western governments fear Beijing will gain access to fifth-generation (5G) mobile and other communications networks through Huawei and expand its spying ability, although the firm insists there is no government control.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Huawei offices in New Zealand, one of the nations citing national security concerns
Security concerns recently led BT to bar Huawei equipment from the heart of the 5G network it is rolling out in the UK.
New Zealand has blocked Huawei equipment over national security concerns, after Australia imposed a similar ban on both Huawei and fellow communications firm ZTE.
The US has brought a number of legal cases against Chinese technology firms, with accusations such as cyber-security theft and violations of Iran sanctions.
Earlier this year, it barred US companies from exporting to ZTE, effectively shutting down the firm. The US later replaced the ban with a fine and governance changes.
The US has also restricted US firms from selling parts to Chinese chipmaker Fujian Jinhua.
What are the Iran sanctions?
Donald Trump last month reinstated all the US sanctions on Iran that had been removed under a 2015 nuclear deal.
Mr Trump had been fiercely opposed to the deal, which saw Iran limit its controversial nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
The re-imposed sanctions hit oil exports, shipping and banks - indeed all core parts of Iran's economy.
Although there are some waivers, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has said the US will "aggressively" target any firm or organisation "evading our sanctions". ||||| This article is over 1 month old
Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to US, said to have been investigated over alleged sanctions breaches
China has demanded the immediate release of a senior Huawei telecoms executive whose arrest is threatening to escalate into a major diplomatic incident.
Beijing is calling for both Ottawa and Washington to clarify their reasons for the detention of Meng Wanzhou, the Chinese company’s global chief financial officer, who was arrested in Vancouver on Saturday and faces extradition to the US.
Canada confirmed her detention on Wednesday night.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday that Beijing had separately called on the US and Canada to “clarify the reasons for the detention” immediately and “immediately release the detained person”.
The spokesman said China had been providing consular assistance to Meng since learning of her arrest.
Meng is one of the vice-chairs on the Chinese technology company’s board and is the daughter of the company’s founder, Ren Zhengfei.
Panic as the US-China trade war truce lasts less than a week | Nils Pratley Read more
Her arrest is reportedly related to alleged violations of US sanctions. A court hearing has been set for Friday, according to Canada’s department of justice.
In a statement, the department confirmed Meng had been arrested and was facing extradition.
“As there is a publication ban in effect, we cannot provide any further detail at this time,” it said. “The ban was sought by Ms Meng.”
US stock futures and Asian shares tumbled after Meng’s arrest. The news came as Washington and Beijing begin three months of negotiations aimed at de-escalating their trade war, which is adding to global investors’ worries over rising US interest rates and other risks to global economic growth.
Fearing that a US-China trade war truce is becoming unattainable, Europe’s main stock indices slumped to their lowest point since December 2016 in morning trading on Thursday. The FTSE 100 fell by 2.5%, while benchmark indices in France, Germany and Italy all lost more than 2%.
Norihiro Fujito, the chief investment strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities in Tokyo, said: “The US has been telling its allies not to use Huawei products for security reasons and is likely to continue to put pressure on its allies.
“So while there was a brief moment of optimism after the weekend US-China talks … the reality is, it won’t be that easy.”
US authorities have been investigating Huawei since at least 2016 for allegedly shipping US-origin products to Iran and other countries in violation of US export and sanctions laws, sources told Reuters in April.
Huawei, one of the world’s largest makers of telecommunications network equipment, said in a statement that Meng had been temporarily detained and faced “unspecified allegations” in the eastern district of New York.
Huawei Q&A: what you need to know about the Chinese phone maker Read more
The company said it had complied with “all applicable laws and regulations where it operates”, including sanction laws.
“There has been very little information provided to Huawei on the specific allegations. Huawei is not aware of any misconduct by Ms Meng,” Guo Ping, the current CEO of the company, said in a statement posted on his Wechat account on Thursday.
“The company believes the Canadian and US legal systems will ultimately reach a just conclusion,” he said.
Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, said that his government had played no role in Meng’s arrest.
“I can assure everyone that we are a country [with] an independent judiciary,” Trudeau told a technology conference in Montreal. “And they took this decision without any political involvement or interference.”
The arrest came days after Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, held a meeting in Argentina where they agreed to steps to resolve the continuing trade war.
On Thursday, Trump’s national security adviser, John Bolton, told National Public Radio he had been aware of the pending legal action against Meng.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Meng Wanzhou. Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/EPA
“I knew in advance. That is something we get from the justice department,” Bolton said, although he added that he did not know if Trump also knew.
Bolton declined to specify the allegations against Meng, but said: “Huawei is one company we’ve been concerned about” regarding intellectual property theft and dealing with Iran.
Meng served on the board of Hong Kong-based Skycom Tech, which has business in Iran, according to corporate filings seen by Reuters.
In 2013, Reuters found that the company, which attempted to sell embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile phone operator, had closer ties to Huawei than was previously known.
Meng, the oldest of Ren’s three children, was promoted this year to serve as vice-chair on the company’s board on a rotating basis, in a move many took as a sign that she was being groomed to take over from her father. Ren, a retired officer of the People’s Liberation Army, founded Huawei in 1987.
Huawei – one of the world’s largest telecoms equipment and services providers – has been tightly constrained in the US by worries it could undermine local competitors and that its phones and networking equipment, used widely in other countries, could provide Beijing with avenues for espionage.
BT removing Huawei equipment from parts of 4G network Read more
On Wednesday, BT, the UK telecoms group, confirmed that it was in the process of removing Huawei equipment from the key parts of its 3G and 4G networks, as part of an existing internal policy not to have the Chinese company at the centre of its infrastructure.
The head of MI6 also suggested this week that the UK needed to decide if it was “comfortable” with Chinese ownership of the technology being used.
Governments in New Zealand and Australia have also moved to block the use of Huawei’s equipment in future 5G networks.
In China, online users and commentators reacted angrily to the news of Meng’s arrest. The Canadian embassy’s Weibo page was bombarded with posts criticising its role in the incident.
One user wrote: “Hello, American’s dog. What about human rights? What about freedom?”
On the US embassy’s page, another wrote: “Get out of China.”
Hu Xijin, the editor of China’s often stridently patriotic state-run tabloid the Global Times, posted on Weibo: “If this were a few months ago, I might write a commentary. It is clear the US is pushing the battle line to our door... We can completely regard the US arrest of Meng as ‘a declaration of war’. But today I want to say China is facing a very complicated game. We must not only be firm but also fight with wisdom.”
This article was amended on 7 December to use Hu Xijin’s full quote. | – China is strongly protesting the arrest of a technology exec who was detained while changing planes in Canada. Meng Wanzhou is Huawei's chief financial officer and daughter of the company's founder, the BBC reports. Canadian authorities say she was being sought for extradition to the US, where the company is being investigated for possible violation of sanctions against Iran. Canada's justice department said Meng was arrested in Vancouver on Dec. 1. "As there is a publication ban in effect, we cannot provide any further detail at this time," the department said. "The ban was sought by Ms. Meng." China's embassy in Ottawa released a statement saying the arrest had "seriously harmed" Meng's human rights, the CBC reports. "The Chinese side has lodged stern representations with the US and Canadian side, and urged them to immediately correct the wrongdoing" and restore Meng's freedom, the statement said. Huawei, the world's third-largest maker of network equipment, said it has been complying with "all applicable laws" and it is "not aware of any misconduct by Ms. Meng." American stock futures and Asian markets tumbled amid fears the arrest will worsen already shaky US-China relations, the Guardian reports. (In 2012, lawmakers warned that Huawei threatened US security.) |
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has issued a statement after a preteen from South Carolina and an elderly couple visiting Boone died from carbon monoxide poisoning in the same hotel room two months apart.
"My heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of Shirley and Daryl Jenkins, and young Jeffrey Williams," said Health Department Secretary Aldona Wos on Sunday.
"These deaths were a tragedy that should have never happened. The Department of Health and Human Services is continuing to gather the facts. I have instructed my staff to work with local officials to identify measures to ensure tragedies like this never happen again."
On Friday, a source from the NC Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to WBTV News that Dr. Brent Hall, the pathologist in Boone who performed the autopsies on Daryl and Shirley Jenkins has resigned his post.
Documents uncovered by WBTV News show the NC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner discovered two weeks ago that carbon monoxide poisoning may have killed 72-year-old Shirley Mae Jenkins.
That was seven days before 11-year old Jeffrey Williams died from CO exposure while staying in the same room at the Best Western Hotel in Boone.
According to officials in Raleigh, the results of that test were sent to the pathologist in Watauga County who was investigating the deaths.
We don't know why those results were not passed on to local fire or police investigators.
It's also unclear if the Best Western was notified of the potential danger in room 225.
Tests have now also confirmed Jenkins husband Daryl also died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
State medical officials say a preteen from Rock Hill had high levels of carbon monoxide in his system after he died in a hotel room in Boone last weekend.
The levels are consistent with levels found in an elderly couple who died in the same room at the Best Western Hotel in Boone two months ago.
The results came back late Thursday from the State Medical Examiner's Office.
According to the results, 11-year-old Jeffery Williams had a blood concentration of carbon monoxide was greater than 60 percent. Medical officials noted that these CO levels would have caused the asphyxia, which was noted as Williams' cause of death in his autopsy.
Officials say this level of concentration is consistent with the levels found in both Daryl and Shirley Jenkins, a couple in their 70s who died in the same room back in April.
On Wednesday, state and federal inspectors say they traced the source of a carbon monoxide leak to a pool water heater room directly under room 225, where Williams and the Jenkins died.
Fire investigators say the exhaust was being pulled back into the room from a wall mounted vent for the room's HVAC unit.
They also said the ventilation system had several deficiencies as well as corrosion.
According to investigators, Williams body was found Saturday. Jeffrey's mother, 49-year-old Jeannie Williams, was taken to the hospital for treatment.
During the emergency medical response, a presumptive test indicated an elevated level of carbon monoxide in the room, officials told WBTV.
The hotel was evacuated and assistance was requested from North Carolina Emergency Management and the North Carolina Public Health Preparedness and Response Branch.
Samples from Williams were sent to the Office of the State Medical Examiner for toxicological analysis.
Investigators say the bodies of Daryl and Shirley Jenkins were found in the same room back on April 16.
Family members say they waited weeks for test results to come back, but on Monday confirmed that the Jenkins, who were in their early 70's, died from carbon monoxide toxicity.
The couple was visiting from Washington, family members say, and were in Boone for a family reunion.
Family members say if the tests hadn't taken so long, the problem that caused their deaths could have been fixed or the room remained closed so no one, including the boy who died, could stay there.
Investigators said they had been requesting the results from the State Medical Examiner's office for weeks but got no response.
State inspectors arrived at the hotel on Wednesday morning around 10 a.m.
According to documents from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, the pool permit was suspended on March 6. One problem listed in the report was that the chemical/equipment room was required to have natural cross ventilation or forced air ventilation.
"This needs to be corrected ASAP," the report states. WBTV has learned that the pool permit has since been re-instated, but can find no records of the problem being fixed.
By pure coincidence, the same health inspector who inspected the pool on March 6th, was at the hotel when the elderly couple was found and helped perform CPR.
Beth Lovette, the director of the Appalachian Regional Health District office said Tuesday when her inspectors looked at that pool room they were only concerned about the pool chemicals.
Lovette said her inspector did not look at any appliances in the room and did not check about combustible or poisonous gases that may be coming from that equipment. That was not part of the health department inspector's duties, she said.
The heater in question hasn't been inspected since the hotel was built in 2000.
Officials say there is nothing that requires the heater to be reinspected, but state licensing experts and one from the consumer product safety commission are looking at it now
Though the report was dated March 6, 2013, health officials could not say if the ventilation work was ever done. "We have not received any paperwork back from the hotel," said Lovette.
According to police officials, the police department has been in contact with the District Attorney's Office and police have not ruled out possible charges.
Carbon monoxide detectors are not required in hotels in North Carolina. The hotel remains closed and under the control of investigators.
Investigators ask that anyone that stayed in room 225, contact the Boone Police Department at 828-268-6900 or email Sgt. Matt Stevens at matt.stevens@townofboone.net.
A memorial service for 11-year-old Jeffrey Williams will be held in Rock Hill on Sunday at First Baptist Church on Dave Lyle Boulevard at 2:00 pm. The burial will be private.
Copyright 2013 WBTV. All rights reserved. ||||| An 11-year-old Rock Hill boy died in a Boone motel over the weekend, just two months after a couple died mysteriously in the same room.
Police said Jeffrey Lee Williams, 11, was found dead in his room at the Best Western Plus Blue Ridge Plaza. His mother, Jeannie Williams, 49, was listed in critical condition at a Boone hospital Saturday night, but her condition was not known Sunday.
On Sunday afternoon, police said there was no danger to the general public. “The investigation and testing is ongoing,” Sgt. Shane Robbins said in a news release, adding he didn’t expect additional information to be released until Tuesday at the earliest.
Police did not identify the couple, but a Washington state man said his elderly parents died in the same hotel on April 16, and he said he believes that something in the room may have contributed to their deaths. He said he was outraged that the room continued to be rented before the toxicology reports on his parents were returned.
“Do you know how mad I am right now?” asked Doug Jenkins. “Why are they still renting out this room?”
Representatives of the motel could not be reached late Sunday. Throughout the day, calls were being forwarded to the Country Inn and Suites, which shares the same parking lot as the Best Western.
Emergency responders were called to the motel, at 840 E. King St., around 12:30 p.m. Saturday, after getting reports of a medical emergency involving two people, officials said.
The boy was pronounced dead at the motel, and his mother was taken to Watauga Medical Center by ambulance for treatment.
The Williams family’s pastor, Scott Davis of Northside Baptist Church in Rock Hill, said on Saturday that the pair were on a family vacation. Relatives are devastated, he said.
Davis could not be reached on Sunday.
Authorities said they were exploring the possibility that Jeffrey Williams’ death could be linked to the deaths of Jenkins’ parents. Robbins says detectives are testing possible evidence related to the dead boy as well as features of the room.
“While no evidence has been discovered that these incidents are related, investigators continue to explore all possibilities,” Robbins said in a statement on Saturday.
Start of vacation
Daryl Dean Jenkins, 73, and Shirley Mae Jenkins, 72, both of Longview, Wash., died within hours of each other April 16 in hotel room No. 225.
Doug Jenkins said his parents were visiting Boone at the beginning of what was to be a three-week vacation, with the entire family planning to meet in Las Vegas near the end.
He last communicated with his parents around 7:48 p.m.
His parents had said they felt a little chilly when getting off the elevator, Jenkins said. His sister sent a message to their parents around 11:40 p.m., but the message was never read, he said.
His aunt and uncle, who were traveling with his parents, found the pair in a position that would suggest they hadn’t died from a sudden medical condition, he said, although he declined to elaborate.
“They were two healthy people who died within 2 feet of each other. Mom had her cellphone 2 feet away from her,” he said. “Things just don’t add up.”
Lawsuit possible
Doug Jenkins said the family is waiting on the results of the couple’s toxicology reports to come back before filing a lawsuit against the hotel, although they are already working with a lawyer.
The autopsy report proved inconclusive, he said.
About a month after his parents’ deaths, Jenkins said a lawyer representing the family had told the motel not to make any changes to the room before the family could perform an independent investigation.
Jenkins said his family is distraught that another family is going through the kind of pain they experienced. ||||| 11-year-old found dead in Boone hotel identified
BOONE, N.C. -- Boone police confirm that an elderly couple was found dead in April in the same hotel room where an 11-year-old Rock Hill boy died Saturday.
Jeffrey Lee Williams and his mother Jeannie Williams were found unresponsive on the second floor of the Best Western hotel on East King Street in Boone around 12:30 Saturday afternoon.
Jeffrey was pronounced dead. Jeannie, 49, was taken to Watauga Medical Center. Her famlily says she woke up from a coma Sunday and is listed in stable conditon. As of Sunday evening, she did not yet know about her son's death.
Pastor Scott Davis of Northside Baptist Church in Rock Hill said the boy's father is devastated.
Davis said the mother and son were staying in Boone on a "family vacation," but they were the only two family members there. There are other children in the family, but they were not at the hotel.
Davis and the boy's father traveled to Boone Saturday afternoon after hearing of the death.
Boone police were still on scene late Saturday, and confirmed that the son and mother were staying in the same room where an elderly couple were found dead on April 16 -- less than two months ago.
"It was actually the same room," said Boone Police Sgt. Shane Robbins. "But other than that, at this time, we don't have any more links or correlation."
That case is still under investigation, said Sgt. Robbins. Investigators are still awaiting results of toxicology tests, and can't speculate about whether the two cases are connected.
Robbins said there did not appear to be any violence involved in the young boy's death or the mother's illness.
Guests were evacuated from the hotel Saturday. Workers in hazardous materials suits were able to remove some of the guests' belongings for them, so they could find another place to stay.
A regional hazmat team from Asheville was brought in to do forensic tests on the hotel room. Police say there is no danger to the public and tests are still being done. | – Three people have died in the same North Carolina hotel room since April, in a mystery authorities are still investigating. On Saturday, Jeannie Williams and her 11-year-old son, Jeffrey, were found unresponsive in the Best Western room in Boone. Jeffrey was pronounced dead; his mother awoke from her coma yesterday. In the same room on April 16, an elderly couple was found dead, a police sergeant confirms to WCNC. The station reports today that carbon monoxide was found at the hotel, though there's no word yet whether that's what killed Jeffrey Williams. Guests were evacuated as a hazmat team did forensic tests, which are still ongoing, on the room. Authorities are also waiting on toxicology test results, and so far they won't say whether the three deaths are linked. But Williams' uncle has no doubt about what killed Jeffrey: "He was killed by the hotel and the problem is we don't know what it was," he says. As for the elderly couple, WBTV identifies them as Daryl and Shirley Jenkins; a cousin says their cause of death was never made clear. The outraged son of the couple tells the Times-News that Best Western should have done testing on the room after his parents' deaths. "Why are they still renting out this room?" he says, adding that his parents were "two healthy people who died within two feet of each other. Things just don't add up." |
DENVER – A missing elderly man who authorities discovered dead in an elevator at a Denver apartment complex last month may have reached out for help by pressing the elevator’s emergency button.
Isaak Komisarchik, 82, had early-onset dementia and was last seen July 5. He was reported missing, and Denver Police made a concerted effort with Komisarchik’s family to locate him. Despite their efforts, Komisarchik’s body was located in an elevator car at the Woodstream Village apartments, 10050 East Harvard Avenue, on July 31.
Tenants at the apartment complex complained of an awful smell coming from the parking garage elevator, leading to the discovery of the body.
Denver Police continue an active investigation into the man’s death, and Denver Fire officials are now revealing new details about the events leading up to Komisarchik’s death.
First reported by the Denver Post, Denver Fire officials say they’ve learned Komisarchik pressed an emergency button in the elevator twice on July 6 before he died.
“Something is not right, and police are going to make a determination on what that is,” Capt. Greg Pixley, of Denver Fire, said.
Pixley said the activation of the elevator’s emergency button was recorded electronically twice, although officials never received the call.
Pixley said Denver Fire was never notified that the elevator was taken out of service and it met the appropriate fire code standards for 2016 and had the appropriate permits for operation in 2017.
Tenants say the elevator wasn't working and that few people parked in the garage during summer months. If that's the case, it raises questions about why an elevator company wasn't called.
Pixley said MEI Total Elevator Solutions monitors the elevator for Woodstream Village. The company issued the following response.
"We are saddened by the tragic loss of life and extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Komisarchik's family and friends. The elevator cab where he was found is located in a parking garage that is under renovation construction and not currently in active use. We are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident with the local authorities," a Greystar Management Services representative said Thursday.
Denver Police said MEI Total Elevator Solutions received the distress call from the elevator and notified Woodstream's management. However, police say apartment workers failed to check the parking garage elevator after checking two other elevators in the building.
Police in Denver are now working to learn why Komisarchik wasn’t able to escape the elevator and why authorities weren't notified of the emergency call.
Read past reporting here.
||||| An elderly man who died in a parking garage elevator pushed the emergency button twice during an 8-minute span on July 6, but got no response despite Denver code requiring elevator operators to monitor emergency notifications around the clock.
Unable to escape the elevator car — possibly because of dementia — 82-year-old Isaak Komisarchik died some time between the morning of July 6 and Aug. 2, when elevator repair workers finally discovered the body after multiple residents of the apartment complex reported a terrible stench.
When a Denver firefighter responded she watched an elevator maintenance worker push the button. The elevator doors opened. Elevator maintenance workers had just found Komisarchik’s body inside the car, Denver Fire Department spokesman Capt. Greg Pixley said.
A criminal investigation confirmed the number of times the emergency button was pushed, Pixley said. Now detectives are trying to determine why no one responded.
“Something is not right,” Pixley said.
Komisarchik died in an elevator that served a parking garage at the Woodstream Village apartments, 10050 E. Harvard Ave., that had been closed for renovation.
On Aug. 8, Pixley said MEI Total Elevator Solutions monitors the elevator for Woodstream. He later said that he may have misspoken. MEI is not Woodstream’s elevator’s monitor, he said on Aug. 16.
On Aug. 15, Mike Klehr, MEI Vice President of Field Operations, sent an email to the newspaper saying that although the company provides maintenance for the elevators for Woodstream, the company does not provide the elevator emergency monitoring service.
“On behalf of MEI – Total Elevator Solutions, we offer our deepest condolences to Mr. Komisarchik’s family. MEI has fully cooperated with local authorities in their investigation of this matter,” Klehr wrote in the message.
“We are saddened by the tragic loss of life and extend our deepest condolences to Mr. Komisarchik’s family and friends,” Greystar Management Services, which manages Woodstream, said in a statement released by spokeswoman Lindsay Andrews.
She wrote that the elevator was not in use due to the renovation and said Greystar is “continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the incident with the local authorities.”
She declined to comment about why no one responded to the emergency calls.
Denver Medical Examiner’s spokesman Steven Castro said the cause of Komisarchik’s death has not yet been determined. Pixley said it can be difficult to determine a cause of death when a body is badly decomposed.
Numerous Woodstream residents complained to managers of a strong odor emanating from the garage area but nothing had been done. Andrews declined to comment about the complaints.
The fact that Komisarchik pushed the emergency button twice adds a new perplexing dimension to the incident. It appears Komisarchik did what he needed to do to get help and yet the closely regulated system for rescuing people trapped in elevators failed.
“The elevator wasn’t inoperable,” said John White, spokesman for Denver police, contradicting numerous reports that elevator was not working. “How he got in there and when he got in there is obviously what we’re trying to figure out.”
Misconceptions about the discovery of Komisarchik’s body make it impossible to fully grasp just how bizarre the incident was, according to officials and residents of the apartment complex. Some officials initially reported that Komisarchik’s body was found in the elevator shaft, Pixley said.
Komisarchik was last seen wearing pajamas at 2:30 p.m. on July 5 at a nearby nursing facility on the 9900 block of East Yale Avenue. His disappearance sparked a large dragnet in which missing persons posters were distributed and Denver firefighters searched five ponds near Woodstream in an attempt to find him.
According to city codes adopted in 1981, the interior of all elevator cars must have signaling devices including an emergency switch labeled “alarm” adjacent to the car’s operating panel and a phone or intercom labeled “help” allowing two-way communication with security.
In some cases the alarms are connected to the Denver Fire Department or an elevator monitoring company, which is responsible for investigating an emergency call. When the two-way communication phone or intercom is not connected to on-site security, a call must automatically be forwarded within 30 seconds to the elevator-monitoring company.
Elevators are regularly inspected by the fire department. The garage elevator at Woodstream Village was last inspected in December and found to be in good working order, Pixley said.
The fire department did not receive any emergency calls from that particular elevator car during the period of time Komisarchik was in it.
When police checked, two elevator calls from the same elevator car where Komisarchik was found were electronically logged at 9:09 a.m. and 9:17 a.m. on July 6, the morning after he disappeared.
Nearly a month later, a Denver fire lieutenant was inspecting an apartment complex adjacent to Woodstream that is also managed by Greystar when the maintenance manager received a call from elevator repair staff saying they thought there was a body in the elevator.
The fire lieutenant followed the manager to the nearby parking garage, Pixley said, but when she reached the garage, she smelled an odor so intense that she knew it was a body.
Updated Aug. 16, 2017 at 7:30 a.m. The following corrected information has been added to this article: Mike Klehr, MEI Vice President of Field Operations, said the company maintains the elevators at the apartment complex, but does not provide the emergency monitoring service. | – Investigators aren't sure exactly when 82-year-old Isaak Komisarchik died—but they know he died alone, trapped in an elevator, after calling for help and getting no response. The Denver man, who had dementia, was found dead in an elevator at an apartment complex on Aug. 2 after residents reported a terrible smell, the Denver Post reports. He had been reported missing almost a month earlier. Investigators found that Komisarchik pressed the emergency button in the elevator twice within 8 minutes on the morning of July 6 but received no response despite the city's requirement for emergency notifications to be closely monitored. The elevator led to a parking garage that was closed for renovations. "Something is not right, and police are going to make a determination on what that is," says Capt. Greg Pixley of Denver Fire, per the Denver Channel. Police say the elevator company notified the apartment complex's management after receiving the distress call, but workers failed to check the parking garage elevator after checking two other elevators in the complex. Komisarchik had last been seen wearing pajamas at a nearby nursing facility on the afternoon of July 5, and police searched a wide area, including several ponds, after his disappearance. "How he got in there and when he got in there is obviously what we're trying to figure out," police spokesman John White says. |
We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter?
Yes ||||| Replying to @CityofOwensboro Thank you Mayor. We loved that man from Owensboro, and grieve for his family. I miss his smile and can't wait to ride there and honor him. ||||| Nicky Hayden won the 2006 Moto GP championship in Valencia
Former MotoGP champion Nicky Hayden has died aged 35, five days after being involved in a crash while cycling.
The American suffered "serious cerebral damage" after colliding with a car on the Rimini coastline in Italy on Wednesday, 17 May.
The 2006 MotoGP championship winner had been in the intensive care unit of Cesena's Maurizio Bufalini Hospital.
"We would like everyone to remember Nicky at his happiest - riding a motorcycle," his brother Tommy said.
A hospital statement issued on Thursday said Hayden had suffered "a serious polytrauma", which is a medical term to describe the condition of a person who has multiple traumatic injuries.
Hayden, who was nicknamed the Kentucky Kid, had competed for Red Bull Honda in the World Superbike Championship in Italy on 14 May.
Older brother Tommy, who was also a motorcycle racer, said the family had many "great and happy memories" of Hayden.
"He dreamed as a kid of being a pro-rider and not only achieved that but also managed to reach the pinnacle of his chosen sport," he said.
"We are all so proud of that. We will all miss him terribly."
Sister Kathleen added: "Today I not only lost my big brother, but I lost a best friend."
Red Bull Honda World Superbike said that the racing world had said goodbye to "one of its dearest sons."
"The 'Kentucky Kid' will be sorely missed by all that ever had the pleasure of meeting him or the privilege to see him race a motorcycle around a track, be it dirt or asphalt," a statement read.
Hayden's title triumph
The Kentucky-born racer first competed in MotoGP in 2003 and finished third in the standings two years later. He ended Valentino Rossi's five-year winning streak in 2006 following a dramatic final race in Valencia.
Hayden had been eight points adrift of Rossi heading into the decider, but saw the Italian slide out on lap five and eventually finish in 13th place. Hayden's third-place finish allowed him to take the title by five points.
He remains the last American to win the premier class of motorcycle road racing.
At the time, BBC commentator Steve Parrish described the season as "the most entertaining I have ever seen".
'A champion and a gentleman'
This content will not work on your device, please check Javascript and cookies are enabled or update your browser
'His family were such a huge part of who he was'
BBC's Azi Farni
Nicky was a real gentleman. He came from a wonderful family, a big racing family. His two brothers raced, his two sisters raced when they were younger, his father raced.
This was a dirt track family. They come from Kentucky and had a race track at their house. Racing was something that they all did together.
His family were such a huge part of who he was. If you look at his Twitter handle it says "bikes and family".
He was so loving and this is going to be such a great loss for them. ||||| CESENA, Italy -- Former MotoGP world champion Nicky Hayden died in hospital on Monday, five days after he was hit by a car while training on his bicycle. Hayden was 35.
Maurizio Bufalini Hospital in Cesena, where Hayden had been since the collision last Wednesday, made the announcement. Hayden had severe cerebral damage and multiple traumatic injuries.
"The medical team has verified the death of the patient Nicholas Patrick Hayden, who has been undergoing care since last Wednesday May 17 in the intensive care unit of the Bufalini Hospital in Cesena following a very serious polytrauma which occurred the same day," the hospital statement said.
American motorcycle racer Nicky Hayden, who won the MotoGP title in 2006, died five days after being hit by a car while training on his bicycle in Italy. He was 35. Mirco Lazzari gp/Getty Images
Hayden was training on the Rimini coast following a motorcycle race at nearby Imola. The Peugeot that hit Hayden had its windshield smashed.
Judicial authorities have opened an investigation into the crash and questioned the 30-year-old driver of the Peugeot. According to The Guardian, the driver was given a Breathalyzer test and was not over the limit.
Hayden won the MotoGP title in 2006, finishing narrowly ahead of Italian great Valentino Rossi.
In a MotoGP career spanning 2003 to '16 with Honda and Ducati, Hayden posted three victories and 28 podium finishes in 218 races.
After switching to the World Superbike championship last year, Hayden finished fifth overall.
Hayden was 13th in Superbike this season, riding for the Red Bull Honda team.
Fellow motorcycle racers reacted to Hayden's death on Twitter.
Destrozado tras la noticia. Nunca te olvidaremos! / I'm shattered after the news. We will never forget you! #DEPNickyHayden #RIPNickyHayden pic.twitter.com/qF5wNnFM6o — Marc Márquez (@marcmarquez93) May 22, 2017
Always in my heart, champ. RIP Nicky. #69 pic.twitter.com/ML35Qm7f1g — Dani Pedrosa (@26_DaniPedrosa) May 22, 2017
Hayden was born in Owensboro, Kentucky.
Several family members had flown in from the United States, including Hayden's mother and brother.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. | – The motorcycle racing world is mourning the loss of former world champion Nicky Hayden, who died Monday after sustaining severe injuries during a training collision. Hayden, 35, was struck by a vehicle while bicycling along the Rimini coastline in Italy Wednesday, reports the BBC. Over five days, he was treated in an intensive care unit for multiple traumatic injuries, including cerebral damage. According to ESPN, the 30-year-old driver of the Peugeot that struck Hayden was brought in for questioning and passed a breathalyzer test. "We would like everyone to remember Nicky at his happiest—riding a motorcycle," says brother Tommy Hayden, who is also a professional racer. Hayden was in Italy riding for the Red Bull Honda team at the World Superbike Championship in nearby Imola, where he came in 13th days before the accident occurred. He is best known for winning the coveted 2006 MotoGP world champion title, for which he bested legendary Italian racer Valentino Rossi. Athletes and friends took to Twitter to remember Hayden for his professionalism and friendly demeanor, including British racer Danny Kent, who shared a sweet personal message from Hayden congratulating him on his own world championship in 2015. The city of Owensboro in Kentucky, where Hayden was born, commemorated Hayden—known as the “Kentucky Kid"—by flying its flags at half-staff. |
The Onion botched a joke about congressmen taking children hostage this morning on Twitter. Now, the U.S. Capitol police are investigating the joke. Everyone chill out!
Today, The Onion tweeted: "BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building."
This, by itself, was not funny at all and many people, including me, believed the account might have been hacked. Either way, no big deal: It's still fake! The Onion followed up a minute or two later with: "BREAKING: Capitol building being evacuated. 12 children held hostage by group of armed congressmen." This made it clear the tweets were related to a story on the Onion's website "Congress Takes Group of Schoolchildren Hostage," satirizing the budget fight—an article about as offensive as anything on the Onion any day.
Still, Twitter was outraged. More than that, the US Capitol Police sent out an email to counter the reports: "There is no credibility to these stories or the twitter feeds," the press release reads. "The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting." So, looks like a bad Twitter joke by a fake newspaper has led to a Capitol Police investigation? It's like something from the Onion! yuk yuk. Here's hoping the Onion gets cleared quickly.
Here's the full USCP press release:
From: Schneider, Kimberly A.
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2011 11:01 AM
Subject: USCP Notice: False Reporting via Twitter It has come to our attention that recents twitter feeds are reporting false information concerning current conditions at the U.S. Capitol. Conditions at the U.S. Capitol are currently normal. There is no credibility to these stories or the twitter feeds. The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting.
Disclosure: I'm a former contributor to the Onion's IFC show ||||| WASHINGTON—Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage today, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda and demanding $12 trillion dollars in cash.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), who has emerged as spokesman for the bipartisan group, informed FBI negotiators this morning that the ransom was to be placed in stainless-steel suitcases and left on the Capitol steps by 4 p.m. sharp. If their demands are not met in full, the 11-term representative announced, "all the kids will die."
"Bring us the money and we let the children go, simple as that," said Boehner, appearing in the East Portico with a serrated switchblade held to one of the fourth-grader's throats. "If you want to play games and stall for extra time, we're going to shoot one kid an hour, starting with little Dillon here."
"Tick tock," he added, vanishing back into the building with the terrified child in tow.
Shaken witnesses reported that the ordeal broke out around 10 a.m. this morning, when in the midst of a Capitol building tour, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) suddenly burst into the National Statuary Hall with a pair of black panty hose over his head and began firing a Beretta 9 mm handgun into the air, shouting, "Everybody down! Everybody get the fuck down!"
BREAKING: Hostage Sends Camera Phone video From Inside Capitol Building
The schoolchildren were then led at gunpoint into the nearby Great Rotunda, where an agitated, profusely sweating Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL) bound their hands and feet and duct-taped them to various sculptures, including a monument to women's suffrage and a marble figure of former president James Garfield. Although cell phones were confiscated immediately, one student managed to tweet a short video showing what appeared to be Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) pistol-whipping a chaperone who attempted to yell for help.
"It's a very tense situation at the moment, and these things take time—more time than we've got," Special Agent Douglas Burkett of the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit said. "We have snipers on the Supreme Court building, the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial, and the National Museum of the American Indian, but so far none of them has been able to get a clear shot at any senators or representatives."
"While there's an assault team on the way, they won't be able to breach the door if members of Congress have rigged the place with explosives," Burkett added. "And that's quite possible. From the looks of things, I'd say they've been planning this for a while."
As the dramatic standoff continues to unfold, the bipartisan gang of lawmakers has laid out additional terms for releasing the children. Among the demands are guaranteed re-election in 2012, reduction of the veto-override threshold from two-thirds to one half of the Senate, new desks, and safe transport to Reagan National Airport with a fueled-up private jet waiting on the runway.
According to sources close to the 535-member legislative branch, Congress has recently fallen on hard times. Neighbors reported overhearing heated arguments going on late into the night about dangerously stretched budgets, a failing health care system, and the potential for an all-out government shutdown.
With the ransom deadline nearing and no apparent resolution in sight, President Barack Obama was summoned in a last-ditch effort to diffuse the situation. Despite an emotional bullhorn appeal to return to "honest talks aimed at reducing the national debt and getting millions of unemployed Americans back to work," the chief executive was met with silence.
"There's just no way of getting through to these people," said Obama, holding his head in his hands. "I know Speaker Boehner personally, and I know that he and his colleagues will not hesitate for a second to kill these poor children if they don't get their way."
"Trust me, this Congress will do it," the president added. ||||| The U.S. Capitol Police issued a statement calling conditions at the Capitol building “normal” Thursday morning in apparent response to a series of tweets and an article from the satirical web site The Onion.
“It has come to our attention that recents twitter feeds are reporting false information concerning current conditions at the U.S. Capitol. Conditions at the U.S. Capitol are currently normal,” read a press release from Sergeant Kimberly Schneider.
“There is no credibility to these stories or the twitter feeds,” Schneider’s release read. “The U.S. Capitol Police are currently investigating the reporting.”
A Twitter search indicates a few tweets from The Onion regarding the Capitol on Thursday morning.
“BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building,” one read.
“BREAKING: Capitol building being evacuated. 12 children held hostage by group of armed congressmen. #CongressHostage,” a second read.
A third tweet included a link to an article titled “Congress Takes Group Of Schoolchildren Hostage.” From the article:
“Brandishing shotguns and semiautomatic pistols, members of the 112th U.S. Congress took a class of visiting schoolchildren hostage this morning, barricading themselves inside the Capitol rotunda, where they remain at press time.”
More Twitter news
Twitter to sell political advertising
The NBC News Twitter hack — or how not to yell ‘fire!’
Twitter hits 100 million active users | – The Onion seems to have registered a rare misfire in the joke department. It set off a scare at the US Capitol this morning with a fake tweet reading, “BREAKING: Witnesses reporting screams and gunfire heard inside Capitol building," reports the Washington Post. A few others in a similar vein followed, and it turns out the site was promoting this satirical story, headlined "Congress Takes Group of Schoolchildren Hostage." Capitol Police weren't laughing, issuing a statement that all was well at the building and adding that the fake reports were under investigation. Reaction on the Internet has been mostly negative. ("I mean, I know you guys do satire, but I really don't get this one..." went one typical Twitter post. "The Onion botched a joke," says Gawker in its writeup.) The Onion's New York office wasn't apologetic: "This is satire. That’s how it works.” The tweets came a day after this guy got arrested and charged with plotting to blow up the Capitol. |
Arab League monitors have met anti-government protesters but not been allowed into 'military zones' [YouTube]
Syria has rejected any plans to send Arab troops into the country, saying it will "confront" and "stand firm" against military intervention after the ruler of Qatar said in a television interview that Arab countries should step in with force.
The state-run SANA news agency quoted a "credible source" at the foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday that the country is "shocked" by the Qatari emir's comments, which "could worsen the conflict and kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs".
The source warned that it will be "unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian soil".
Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani was quoted by an American television programme on Sunday as suggesting that Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop the deadly violence.
The interview, which was conducted late last year, was the first time an Arab leader had called for the deployment of troops inside the country.
The United Nations estimated in December that at least 5,000 people have been killed since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad broke out in March.
The organisation also believes at least 400 people have been killed since the Arab League first deployed observers - meant to oversee the implementation of a League-brokered peace plan - on December 26.
Militarised conflict
The initially peaceful uprising against Assad was met with deadly force and mass arrests and has in recent months turned into a militarised conflict between the government on one side and army defectors and armed civilians on the other.
Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of crackdown and withdrew its ambassador during the summer.
Since revolts began to sweep the Arab world in December 2010, Qatar has aggressively supported opposition movements, most prominently in Libya, where it trained, armed and guided the fighters who overthrew the country's longstanding ruler, Muammar Gaddafi.
Assad and his government say "terrorists" are behind the uprising and that armed gangs are acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilise the country.
The Syrian foreign ministry source told SANA on Tuesday that "it will be unfortunate to see Arab blood flow on Syrian territory just for the purpose of serving known agendas, especially that the foreign conspiracy against Syria has become very clear".
The statement also called on Arab countries to "help prevent the infiltration of terrorists and the smuggling of weapons into Syria".
The Arab League observer mission is expected to announce this week that Syria has failed to implement a peace plan brokered by the regional bloc.
Tug-of-war at UN
International diplomats at the UN Security Council, meanwhile, are debating a new resolution that will call for an end to the violence and is set to come to a vote in two weeks.
The US and European nations are at odds with Russia, which proposed the draft language and opposes intervention in Syria.
"Western countries say the resolution isn't tough enough, [the] Russians say it's not the Security Council's place to take sides in civil dispute," Al Jazeera's Kristin Saloomey reported from the United Nations.
The Russians do not want to see a Libya-style military intervention and "are not alone" in that desire, our correspondent said.
The draft resolution does not mention sanctioning Syria, which the US and European Union have done independently, she said.
Mandate to expire
The Arab League mission's mandate is due to expire on Thursday, and the bloc is set to meet on Sunday to discuss next steps, including possibly renewing the mission.
"The outcome of the contacts that have taken place over the past week between the Arab League and Syria have affirmed that Syria will not reject the renewal of the Arab monitoring mission for another month ... if the Arab foreign ministers call for this at the coming meeting," an Arab source told the Reuters news agency.
Syria will allow the number of monitors, currently fewer than 200, to increase, but will not agree to give them official fact-finding duties or let them visit off-limits "military zones".
Activists reported that at least 20 people died in Syria on Tuesday, mostly in the flashpoint city of Homs.
SANA reported that an "armed terrorist group" fired rocket-propelled grenades at an army checkpoint 9km southwest of Damascus on Monday, killing an officer and five soldiers. ||||| This image from amateur video made available by Shaam News Network on Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, purports to show Syrian security forces in Hama, Syria. (AP Photo/Shaam News Network via APTN) THE ASSOCIATED... (Associated Press)
Syria "absolutely rejects" any plans to send Arab troops into the country, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, even as the death toll mounts from the 10-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Assad has insisted there be no foreign intervention in Syria. He agreed under heavy regional pressure to admit some Arab League observers, but their effectiveness has been limited.
Activists said at least 18 people died Tuesday, and six Syrian soldiers were killed late Monday near Damascus. The revolt has turned increasingly militarized in recent months, with a growing risk of civil war. The U.N. says about 400 people have been killed in the last three weeks, on top of an earlier estimate of more than 5,000 dead since March.
Syrian activists said most of Tuesday's dead were shot by security forces or pro-regime gunmen. The reports could not be independently verified.
Attacks also were reported for a fifth day in the Damascus suburb of Zabadani, near the border with Lebanon.
The government rejection of armed intervention followed a remark from the leader of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, who was quoted Sunday as saying Arab troops should be sent to Syria to stop the deadly violence _ the first statements by an Arab leader calling for the deployment of troops inside Syria.
Qatar, which once had close relations with Damascus, has been a harsh critic of the crackdown. Since the wave of Arab uprisings began more than a year ago, Qatar has taken an aggressive role, raising its influence in the region.
"The Syrian people reject any foreign intervention in its affairs, under any title, and would confront any attempt to infringe upon Syria's sovereignty and the integrity of its territories," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The government says terrorists are behind the uprising, not reform-seekers, and that armed gangs are acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country. The regime says 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed.
Syria agreed last month to an Arab League plan that calls for a halt to the crackdown, the withdrawal of heavy weaponry like tanks from cities, the release of all political prisoners, and allowing foreign journalists and human rights workers in.
About 150 Arab League observers are working in Syria to verify whether the government is abiding by its agreement, and the League said Tuesday another 10 will head into Syria shortly.
So far they appear to have made little impact, and the conflict has reached a bloody stalemate, with both sides refusing to back down.
On Tuesday, the Dutch foreign minister called on Assad's opponents to form a "united, representative and inclusive" opposition to the regime, an indication that the fragmentation of the opposition movements is itself an issue.
Uri Rosenthal also said he would keep pressing for further European Union sanctions and a U.N. Security Council resolution on Syria. He spoke after meeting Burhan Ghalioun, leader of the Syrian National Council, an umbrella group for the opposition.
Ghalioun's visit came a day after Russia circulated a revised Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria. Western diplomats said the draft fell short of their demand for strong condemnation of Assad's crackdown.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 people were killed in Syria on Tuesday, most of them shot dead by troops or pro-government gunmen. The Local Coordination Committees, another activist group, said 24 people were killed, 17 of them in the restive central province of Homs.
It was impossible to resolve the discrepancy or to independently verify the death toll. Syria has banned most foreign corespondents and restricted local coverage, making it impossible to get independent confirmation of the events on the ground.
The state-run news agency, SANA, reported violence targeting security forces and civilians Tuesday, saying a roadside bomb went off near a minibus in the northwestern province of Idlib, killing four and wounding five.
A video posted online by activists showed a minibus with its roof blown out and blood stains on the seats. The narrator blamed security forces for the attack.
Earlier in the day, SANA said that an "armed terrorist group" launched rocket-propelled grenades at an army checkpoint late Monday, killing an officer and five army personnel about six miles (nine kilometers) southwest of Damascus.
___
Associated Press writer Bassem Mroue contributed to this report. | – Syria may have begrudgingly agreed to let Arab League observers into the country, but it's not about to do the same with Arab troops. Responding angrily to the emir of Qatar's suggestion that troops intervene, Syria's foreign ministry made clear it won't stand idly by if foreign soldiers move in, reports AP. "The Syrian people reject any foreign intervention in its affairs, under any title, and would confront any attempt to infringe upon Syria's sovereignty and the integrity of its territories," said a statement. Syrian officials were reportedly "shocked" at the proposal and warned it could "kill the chances of Syria working closely with Arabs," according to al-Jazeera. As for the Arab League's observer mission, it's expected to wrap up this week by announcing that Syria has failed to put a League-brokered peace plan into place. The mission is widely seen as a failure, with at least 400 people killed since the first observers deployed in late December. |
Photo: ROBYN BECK
It seemed a bit hard to believe that the Sunday night meeting of GOP presidential campaigns went so smoothly, and sure enough, by Monday night it was already coming apart. Despite reports that the campaigns agreed on several major issues, particularly that control of the debates must be wrested from the Republican National Committee, on Monday, Donald Trump’s team said he’s decided to negotiate with the networks on his own, rather than banding together with his rivals.
Then he was joined by three more candidates — Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Carly Fiorina — who announced they won’t sign a letter of debate demands for the networks. Though most of the candidates are still on board, it sounds like the truce is unraveling. One adviser told Politico, “Things are sinking fast,” and another said, “Things sound wobbly.”
Some advisers argued that the escapade wasn’t a total bust, since it got the RNC’s attention. On the other hand, it also gave the Democrats plenty of fodder. At a fundraiser in New York on Monday night, President Obama said the candidates “talk tough about Putin,” but “it turns out they can’t handle a bunch of CNBC moderators.” He added, “If you can’t handle those guys, I don’t think the Chinese and the Russians are going to be too worried about you.” ||||| Photo
On Monday morning, the Republican presidential campaigns circulated a detailed letter they plan to send to the television networks, outlining their demands and questions before agreeing to any future debates — everything from the temperature in the debate hall (“below 67 degrees”) to no “lightning round.”
And on Monday afternoon, Corey Lewandowski, the campaign manager for Donald J. Trump — who leads in many polls and whose sheer force of personality has helped the networks garner record ratings in the debates so far — said the Trump campaign planned to negotiate directly with the networks.
“I haven’t even looked at the letter,” Mr. Lewandowski said in a phone interview.
He added that while he’s not necessarily opposed to signing the letter, he believes that the Trump campaign — like all of the Republican campaigns — “can negotiate on behalf of our interests directly.”
“I think it’s incumbent on each of the campaigns to negotiate directly with the networks to ensure that what they want is being accomplished,” Mr. Lewandowski said.
For Mr. Trump, those goals include a debate that runs no more than two hours, including commercials, and opening and closing statements of at least 30-seconds.
Unlike some of the other campaigns, which have pushed to include all 14 Republican candidates onstage at the same time (Ben Carson), or have urged for two roughly 90-minute prime-time debates of seven candidates each, chosen at random (Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana), Mr. Trump is not eager to add additional candidates to the debate stage. They could take away from his airtime and seek to boost their own standing by lobbing attacks at him.
If Mr. Trump does not sign the letter — or even if he signs, but then negotiates directly with the networks on his own behalf — he would undercut the leverage that the Republican campaigns have in pressing the networks to meet their demands. After all, the campaigns’ power comes in their unity, and with so many campaigns pushing so many different goals, their official list of demands has so far been modest.
Mr. Lewandowski pointed out that the Trump campaign has had success in negotiating with the networks. In his closing statement at the CNBC debate last week, Mr. Trump touched on that very theme, boasting that he had teamed up with Mr. Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, to lobby the network to keep the debate at two hours.
“These folks, CNBC, they had it down at three, three and a half hours,” Mr. Trump said. “We called Ben, he was with me 100 percent. We called in, we said, ‘That’s it. We’re not doing it.’ They lost a lot of money, everybody said it couldn’t be done. Everybody said it was going to be three hours, three and a half, including them, and in about two minutes I renegotiated it so we can get the hell out of here. Not bad.”
In addition to Mr. Trump’s team, at least three other campaigns — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, andOhio Gov. John Kasich — have confirmed they will not sign the letter.
In an email to Ben Ginsberg, the Republican lawyer the campaigns brought in to help them negotiate with the networks, Mrs. Fiorina’s campaign, which did not send a representative to Sunday evening’s meeting, wrote: “We had dinner at the Applebee’s in Pella, Iowa instead.”
“These debates are an important chance for voters to see conservative candidates under pressure and over time,” the letter continued. “We have consistently and successfully discussed our concerns with the networks and the voters–and not behind closed doors like the political class seems to like to do. We encourage each of the campaigns addressed here to do the same.”
The letter concluded by noting that the Fiorina campaign had encouraged the Republican National Committee to sanction debates with conservative hosts, like the Blaze and One America News, and ended with something of a zinger: “We do not care whether it’s 67 degrees or our green room isn’t as plush as another candidate.”
Similarly, on Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” Monday morning, Mr. Christie made clear he was sick of his party’s debate frustrations. “Stop complaining,” the New Jersey governor said. “Do me a favor, set up a stage, put podiums up there and let’s just go. Ok?” ||||| Here are five debate demands included in a draft letter to debate media sponsors. Leading Republican presidential campaigns and attorney Ben Ginsberg put the list together. No campaign has signed off on the draft so far. The Post's David Weigel and Robert Costa obtained the draft. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
Here are five debate demands included in a draft letter to debate media sponsors. Leading Republican presidential campaigns and attorney Ben Ginsberg put the list together. No campaign has signed off on the draft so far. The Post's David Weigel and Robert Costa obtained the draft. (Sarah Parnass/The Washington Post)
The format and content of upcoming Republican debates became increasingly uncertain on Monday after Donald Trump’s campaign said the real estate mogul would negotiate his terms directly with television executives instead of as part of a joint effort with his rivals.
The move by Trump, coming just hours after his and other campaigns huddled in a Washington suburb to craft a three-page letter of possible demands, thwarts an effort to find consensus after what most candidates agreed was a debacle hosted by CNBC last week.
As a celebrity billionaire who has been a leading factor in drawing record ratings, Trump has little interest in working to promote the wishes of his opponents, his allies said.
[GOP contenders demand greater control of crucial debates]
The maneuvering by Trump and the other Republican candidates was met with annoyance by network executives, who said they have little interest in altering a process they believe was settled months ago.
During the third GOP debate, candidates got feisty with the CNBC moderators. They took aim at the questions asked, at the "mainstream media" and at the moderators interrupting their answers. (Victoria M. Walker/The Washington Post)
“We agreed to this and now you’re saying you’re not agreeing?” said one executive who was granted anonymity in order to speak candidly.
“Do you want Ben Carson deciding who your moderators are? The answer is no,” said another. “Do you want Bobby Jindal’s campaign dictating how the debates will be run when Bobby Jindal may not even be in the race much longer?”
The consternation marked the latest turn in a debate process that has grown more problematic by the day. Officials with the Republican National Committee took control of the process for the 2016 presidential election after a long and eventful debate season that many in the party thought hurt its chances in 2012.
But the campaigns have been quietly irritated by the rigid process all year and broke into open revolt last week. The RNC responded by suspending NBC from hosting its Feb. 26 event, and it put a new staffer in charge of managing the debates.
RNC spokesman Sean Spicer, who had been overseeing the deliberations before being replaced last week, said he supports Trump and others as they negotiate directly with television executives. “These debates have always been about the candidates,” Spicer said. “The candidates will be and always should be determining the best format for them.”
All of the major commercial broadcast and cable news networks are scheduled to televise Republican debates through early March. The next debate, to be hosted by Fox Business Network on Nov. 10, is scheduled to go on as planned.
By negotiating on his own, Trump will aim to mold the debates to his liking, though it is unclear exactly what terms he will demand. One likely desire will be to limit the debates to two hours — following a three-hour CNN debate in September, Trump and Carson pushed CNBC to limit its forum to two hours.
1 of 18 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Memorable quotes from the third Republican presidential debate View Photos GOP presidential candidates came together in Colorado for the latest round of sparring. Caption GOP presidential candidates came together in Colorado for the latest round of sparring. Memorable quotes from the third Republican presidential debate Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
Politically, Trump’s go-it-alone approach continues his pattern of casting himself as a master negotiator and the one contender who can take charge of a party that has lost its way.
“I am very confident in Mr. Trump’s ability to negotiate the best deals with the networks, which will ultimately help all of the candidates in the race,” Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s campaign manager, said in an interview. “He’s the best negotiator in the field, by a wide margin, and we’ve seen that time and time again.”
After Trump’s decision, the campaigns of Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio) and Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J) confirmed that they would not sign on to the group endeavor.
“Stop complaining,” Christie said Monday morning on “Fox & Friends.” “Set up a stage, put podiums up there, and let’s just go.”
In an interview, Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett played down Trump’s break from the pack and said it would not alter the course of the multi-candidate negotiations with the networks. Bennett said Carson’s campaign was reviewing the letter, which was drafted by longtime GOP attorney Ben Ginsberg, and would offer edits within 48 hours.
“If they want to send their own letter, that’s fine — a letter’s a letter,” Bennett said. “The Trump folks were clear about what they wanted, and the Carson campaign agrees with them 90 percent of the time. We’re getting opening and closing statements. We’re going to get some parity in questions. We’re going to actually get formats announced to the campaigns. Trump’s basically asking for the same thing — he’s just going to do it with his own letterhead.”
The draft letter, which was obtained by The Washington Post, included a series of questions for any network slated to host a debate. They incorporated concerns from the participating campaigns, warning moderators against belittling the candidates by holding “lightning rounds” or describing “how far away the bathrooms are” after commercial breaks, should candidates leave the stage. They even included a suggested room temperature — 67 degrees.
The only disagreement during Sunday’s meeting between the Trump and Carson camps, as Bennett saw it, was that Trump opposed letting more candidates on the main stage. “They don’t want more people onstage, because they think that would mean more people taking shots at him,” Bennett said. “I’d argue that putting more people onstage actually helps Trump the most, as everyone’s going to want to divide the time evenly.”
While two of Trump’s senior aides — Lewandowski and counselor Donald F. McGahn — attended the Sunday gathering, they were far from ready to sign the letter, and they left unconvinced that a cooperative push on the debates would be helpful to protecting Trump’s front-runner status or providing him with the most possible airtime, according to attendees.
“It is what it is,” said Matt Beynon, a spokesman for former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) who represented his campaign at the meeting, held in Virginia at the Hilton Alexandria Old Town hotel. “We would argue that there was a lot of common ground in that room. I had very low expectations, walking in there, that much progress would be made. . . . Mr. Trump is taking the course of action that looks best for him.”
Most Republican aides who came to Sunday’s conclave were not especially hopeful about finding consensus. Ginsberg, who oversaw the two-hour conversation, also made clear in his remarks to the group that his goal was to give them advice about how to deal with the networks, not necessarily urge them to work together.
Mark Levin, a talk-radio host and author suggested by some Republicans as a possible moderator, told Breitbart News on Monday that the RNC had lost control of the debates. “Reince Priebus should be fired or should resign,” Levin said of the RNC’s chairman.
Commentator Glenn Beck, who left Fox News to build a conservative media empire, released a public letter to Priebus recommending a perfect debate host: himself.
“Rather than being moderated by journalists who ask all the questions, I will host, and I will invite the greatest new conservative thinkers and media voices in America to prepare and ask questions live and by video,” Beck wrote.
“I’m with @glennbeck,” tweeted former Silicon Valley executive Carly Fiorina, the lone Republican candidate who did not send a representative to Sunday’s meeting. “What do you say, @Reince? Let’s have a conservative network host a debate!” | – The Republican campaigns' joint effort to change upcoming GOP debates has cracked. After a meeting Sunday, the campaigns issued a three-page letter calling for no "lightning round" and the temperature in debate halls to be "below 67 degrees." But as New York puts it, "the revolt against the RNC was fun while it lasted." Donald Trump has announced that he'll negotiate with TV networks on his own, while Chris Christie, John Kasich, and Carly Fiorina each say they won't sign the letter. Trump's campaign manager says he can "negotiate the best deals … which will ultimately help all of the candidates," per the Washington Post. But Ben Carson's camp says his undertaking is all for show. "Trump's basically asking for the same thing" as the other candidates, a rep says. "He's just going to do it with his own letterhead." Still, Trump's move is a blow that "would undercut the leverage that the Republican campaigns have in pressing the networks to meet their demands," reports the New York Times. An RNC rep says the candidates "will be and always should be determining the best format for them." However, network execs are obviously frustrated. "We agreed to this and now you’re saying you're not agreeing?" says one. "Do you want Ben Carson deciding who your moderators are? The answer is no," adds another. Fiorina's campaign, which didn't send a rep to Sunday's meeting, says she doesn't care "whether it’s 67 degrees or our green room isn’t as plush as another candidate." Likewise, Christie says his rivals should "stop complaining. Do me a favor, set up a stage, put podiums up there and let's just go. Okay?" (Obama poked fun at the candidates' complaints last night.) |
President Barack Obama called Thursday on Republicans to end their quest to repeal Obamacare — and Democrats to “forcefully defend and be proud” of the law.
In remarks from the White House briefing room, Obama delivered a vigorous defense of the program, which has far exceeded enrollment expectations but remains a liability for Democrats in the midterm elections.
Text Size -
+
reset
“I don’t think we should apologize for it,” Obama said. “I don’t think we should be defensive about it. I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell. What the other side is doing and what the other side is offering would strip away protections from those families, and from hundreds of millions of people who had health insurance before the law passed.
(WATCH: Open Mike at the White House)
“I’m still puzzled why they’ve made this their sole agenda item when it comes to our politics,” he added. “It is curious.”
Obama announced that at least 8 million people have signed up for health insurance through state and federal exchanges under the Affordable Care Act.
“I think we can agree that it is well past time to move on, as a country…The point is, this debate is and should be over. The Affordable Care Act is working. The American people don’t want us re-fighting the battles of the past five years. ” he said in the White House briefing room.
“I find it strange that the Republican position on this law is still stuck in the same place that it has always been,” he continued. “They still can’t bring themselves to admit that the Affordable Care Act is working. They said nobody would sign up. They were wrong about that … They were wrong to keep trying to repeal a law that is working when they have no alternative answer.”
(Also on POLITICO: Full health care policy coverage)
Details released by the Obama administration indicate that about 28 percent of people signing up through HealthCare.gov – which serves 36 states – were between ages 18 and 34 years old – the “young invincible” age group the White House encouraged to sign up to help offset the cost of covering older, sicker enrollees.
Another 5 million people enrolled in private coverage outside the Obamacare exchanges, and about 3 million more people had enrolled in Medicaid through February, according to administration estimates. Obama sharply criticized states that haven’t expanded Medicaid, leaving more than 5 million people without access to coverage.
The president also credited his signature health law with restraining health care costs.
“Those savings add up to more money that families can spend at businesses, [and] more money that businesses can spend."
(Also on POLITICO: Poll: Uninsured drops in key states)
Not everyone who signs up in the exchange has paid their premium so the enrollment figures will probably drop somewhat. And not everyone who is covered was uninsured before. Still, the numbers beat expectations, giving the administration a chance to reframe the health law as more successful than it began last October.
The Congressional Budget Office this week released an updated projection that the law would cover 12 million newly-insured people this year. And that estimate is bolstered by the results of a large Gallup survey released Wednesday. It estimates 4 percent of Americans are newly insured in 2014 – about half of them through the exchanges.
Carrie Budoff Brown contributed to this report ||||| President Obama spoke from the briefing room Thursday on the Affordable Care Act, saying that now over 8 million people have enrolled in health insurance programs under the ACA. (AP)
President Obama announced Thursday that 8 million people have signed up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, calling the feat a success story that Democrats should "forcefully defend and be proud of" in the face of Republican election-year attacks on the law.
The enrollment figure, revised upward from the 7.5 million signups that the administration had announced earlier this month, renewed hopes at the White House that Democrats will be able to overcome the initial rocky rollout of the health law in the fall as they battle to maintain control of the Senate in the midterms this fall.
"This thing is working," Obama said at an afternoon news conference. Of the GOP, he added: "They said no one would sign up. They were wrong about that. They are wrong to try to repeal a law that is working."
The final figure is well above the White House's initial target of 7 million signups.
Republicans, who have fought the law since it was passed by a sharply divided Congress in 2010, escalated their call for the law to be repealed after the problems with the enrollment Web site, which repeatedly broke down in its first few months. Obama's job approval ratings dropped, and Democrats worried that the bad headlines would harm the party at the ballot box.
But a buoyant Obama said the better-than-expected enrollment news should convince Democrats to not shy away from embracing his signature domestic achievement.
"I don't think we should apologize for it, and I don't think we should be defensive about it," he said. "I think it is a strong, good, right story to tell. I think what the other side is doing and what the other side is offering would strip away protections for those families."
Twenty-eight percent of those who enrolled are between 18 and 34, according to a White House fact sheet, below the target of 38 percent. But the administration has said that premiums are expected to cost 15 percent less than originally projected.
Despite the revised figures, the GOP is likely to continue to attack the law, which is unpopular among conservatives after years of political fighting over the administration's bid to expand health coverage for the uninsured.
Reacting to Obama's announcement, House Speaker John A. Boehner's office said the White House "continues to obscure the full impact" of the law, pointing to hundreds of thousands of people who had their insurance plans canceled and were forced to re-enroll in a new plan.
"The president ignores the havoc that this law has wreaked on private plans that people already had and liked," said Brendan Buck, spokesman for Boehner (R-Ohio).
During his remarks, Obama said he was "still puzzled why they've made this their sole agenda item when it comes to politics. It's curious."
Kathleen Sebelius resigned last week as secretary of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for the rollout. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama conveyed skepticism Thursday about Russian promises to de-escalate a volatile situation in Ukraine, and said the United State and its allies are ready to impose fresh sanctions if Moscow doesn't make good on its commitments.
President Barack Obama speaks about health care, Thursday, April 17, 2014, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. The president said eight million have signed up for health insurance under... (Associated Press)
President Barack Obama speaks in the briefing room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 17, 2014. The president spoke about health care overhaul and the situation in Ukraine. (AP Photo/Carolyn... (Associated Press)
"My hope is we do see follow-through," Obama said at an impromptu news conference at the White House a few hours after Secretary of State John Kerry wrapped up a meeting in Geneva with diplomats from Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.
"The question now becomes, will in fact they use the influence that they've exerted in a disruptive way to restore some order so that Ukrainians can carry out an election, move forward with the decentralization reforms that they've proposed, stabilize their economy and start getting back on the path of growth and democracy and that their sovereignty will be respected?" he said.
Obama did not say what additional sanctions might be in the offing if commitments made by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva do not materialize. U.S. officials have prepared penalties on wealthy Russians in Putin's inner circle, as well on the entities they run.
The president discussed the developments with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose support for additional sanctions would be crucial given her country's close economic ties with Russia. In a statement about their discussion, the White House said the two leaders agreed that they were prepared to enact further penalties on Russia if it does not de-escalate the situation "in short order."
In his comments from the White House, Obama noted that Russia has thousands of troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine, a deployment he called a measure of intimidation. He said the United States and others think Russia has played a hand in the "disruption and chaos" that have recently spread through southern and eastern Ukraine.
The agreement sketched out in Geneva would give amnesty to protesters who evacuate buildings they have occupied, except those found guilty of capital crimes. It says Kiev's plans to reform its constitution and transfer more power from the central government to regional authorities must be inclusive, transparent and accountable — including through the creation of a broad national dialogue.
At the same time, the agreement gives Moscow a days-long reprieve from threatened U.S. and European Union economic sanctions. The U.S. accuses Russia of stoking a potential eastern Ukraine separatist revolt against Kiev following Russia's annexation of Ukraine's strategic Crimean peninsula.
Obama said Ukraine had promised to respect the rights of residents of the southern and eastern part of the country, many of whom speak Russian or have other ties to their next-door neighboring country.
As for Russia, Obama said, "My hope is that we actually do see follow-through over the next several days, but I don't think, given past performance, that we can count on that, and we have to be prepared to potentially respond to what continue to be, you know, efforts of interference by the Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine."
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC | – President Obama made an unscheduled stop at the White House briefing room today to boast about a new ObamaCare milestone—8 million enrollees. That exceeds the original projection of 7.5 million, reports the Washington Post. "This thing is working," said Obama. The president added that 35% of enrollees are 35 or younger, though he apparently misspoke because a White House fact sheet had a lower figure of 28%. Either way, it's off the goal of 38%. Still, one of Obama's main messages today was that Democrats should embrace ObamaCare in the midterms, notes Politico. “I don’t think we should apologize for it,” he said. “I don’t think we should be defensive about it. I think there is a strong, good, right story to tell. What the other side is doing and what the other side is offering would strip away protections from those families, and from hundreds of millions of people who had health insurance before the law passed." Obama also spoke about today's deal with Russia aimed at reducing tensions in Ukraine, and the AP reports that he sounded a note of skepticism. "The question now becomes, will in fact they use the influence that they've exerted in a disruptive way to restore some order?" |
Skip in Skip x Embed x Share The first rabbit to join the police force in peaceful 'Zootopia' must prove she has the chops to crack a bewildering case of animals going wild. VPC
Bunny cop Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) is on the case in 'Zootopia.' (Photo: Disney)
There's no scaring off Zootopia.
The animated animal comedy finished first at the box office for a second week in a row by pulling in $50 million and holding off the J.J. Abrams-produced thriller 10 Cloverfield Lane, according to studio estimates from comScore. The domestic total stands at $142.6 million after 10 days, and another $83.1 million internationally has run its worldwide tally to $431.3 million.
"Disney released a movie for families at the perfect time and they are definitely reaping the benefits of that," says comScore senior box-office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. "The marketplace has spoken."
Directed by first-time feature filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg, Cloverfield Lane snagged a decent haul of $25.2 million with its taut plot of a woman (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) trapped in an underground bunker and told there's been a chemical attack outside. While it scored a middling B- grade from audiences at CinemaScore, critics approved of the scare tactics: Lane has a 91% "fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes.com.
A great marketing campaign, solid social media, a mysterious concept, Abrams' name attached and a modest budget in the mid-teen millions make it "a profit-making machine for Paramount," says Dergarabedian, who added that Lane had an 8% uptick on Saturday. "Some of these movies that are very clever and very genre will drop big in their second day, but it went up, so that means audience are digging the film and talking about it."
The top five was rounded out by a trio of returning films: $10.8 million for the R-rated comic-book antihero Deadpool ($328.1 million total); $10.7 million for the Gerard Butler action film London Has Fallen ($38.9 million total); and $4.6 million for the Tina Fey war comedy Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ($14.6 million total).
The ensemble romantic comedy The Perfect Match opened with $4.2 million, and even with Easter around the corner, the biblical drama The Young Messiah could only muster a mere $3.4 million in its debut. The tale of a 7-year-old Jesus took some heat for a whitewashed cast, yet earned an A- at CinemaScore and an above-average 63% RottenTomatoes score from critics.
"Faith-based movies tend to be very consistent performers, particularly at this time of the year," Dergarabedian says. "Maybe it'll get a nice boost Easter weekend, but there's almost too much inventory in terms of films in the marketplace. With this many wide-release debuts, it's hard to rise above the noise."
The biggest first-week bomb, however, was The Brothers Grimsby with $3.2 million. Crowds gave the vulgar action comedy — starring Sacha Baron Cohen and Mark Strong as estranged brothers — a B+ at CinemaScore but critics weren't as kind (38% on Rotten Tomatoes). It ranked as Baron Cohen's worst opening to date.
"He's definitely an acquired taste and has a distinctive point of view," says Dergarabedian. "When you're trying to create films that are not necessarily cookie-cutter and really push the envelope, those are movies that down the road may be seen in a better light but sometimes are difficult to digest at first."
Final figures are expected Monday.
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1ph7b7A ||||| This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Mary Elizabeth Winstead, left, and John Goodman in a scene from the film, "10 Cloverfield Lane." (Michele K. Short/Paramount Pictures via AP) (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — The J.J. Abrams-produced "10 Cloverfield Lane" capitalized on a mysterious marketing campaign to debut with a better-than-expected $25.2 million over the weekend, though the Disney animated hit "Zootopia" stayed on top with $50 million.
The second-straight No. 1 weekend came easily for "Zootopia," which slid a mere 33 percent, according to studio estimates Sunday. The monster movie "10 Cloverfield Lane," a so-called "spiritual successor" to 2008's found-footage hit "Cloverfield," also performed well, boosted by positive reviews.
But Sacha Baron Cohen's "Brothers Grimsby" flopped with only $3.2 million, a career low debut at the box office for the British comedian by a wide margin. Perhaps sensing trouble, Sony Pictures had postponed the release date of the R-rated comedy numerous times. | – The JJ Abrams-produced 10 Cloverfield Lane capitalized on a mysterious marketing campaign to debut with a better-than-expected $25.2 million over the weekend, though the Disney animated hit Zootopia stayed on top with $50 million, reports the AP. The second-straight No. 1 weekend came easily for Zootopia, which slid a mere 33%, according to studio estimates Sunday. The monster movie 10 Cloverfield Lane, a so-called "spiritual successor" to 2008's found-footage hit Cloverfield, also performed well, boosted by positive reviews. "Some of these movies that are very clever and very genre will drop big in their second day, but it went up, so that means audiences are digging the film and talking about it," an analyst tells USA Today. The top five were rounded out with Deadpool ($10.8 million), London Has Fallen ($10.7 million), and Whiskey Tango Foxtrot ($4.6 million), notes USA Today. But Sacha Baron Cohen's Brothers Grimsby flopped with only $3.2 million, a career low debut at the box office for the British comedian by a wide margin. Perhaps sensing trouble, Sony Pictures had postponed the release date of the R-rated comedy numerous times. |
In this self portrait taken in Mexico in May 2018, Blanca Orantes-Lopez poses for a photo with her 8-year-old son, Abel Alexander, during the monthlong journey from their hometown of Puerto La Libertad,... (Associated Press)
In this self portrait taken in Mexico in May 2018, Blanca Orantes-Lopez poses for a photo with her 8-year-old son, Abel Alexander, during the monthlong journey from their hometown of Puerto La Libertad, El Salvador, to the United States-Mexico border. Orantes, a Salvadoran mother, says she hasn’t spoken... (Associated Press)
In this self portrait taken in Mexico in May 2018, Blanca Orantes-Lopez poses for a photo with her 8-year-old son, Abel Alexander, during the monthlong journey from their hometown of Puerto La Libertad, El Salvador, to the United States-Mexico border. Orantes, a Salvadoran mother, says she hasn’t spoken... (Associated Press) In this self portrait taken in Mexico in May 2018, Blanca Orantes-Lopez poses for a photo with her 8-year-old son, Abel Alexander, during the monthlong journey from their hometown of Puerto La Libertad,... (Associated Press)
SEATTLE (AP) — The call came at mealtime — an anonymous threat demanding $5,000 or her son's life.
So Blanca Orantes-Lopez, her 8-year-old boy and his father packed up and left the Pacific surfing town of Puerto La Libertad in El Salvador and headed for the United States.
Two months later, she sits in a federal prison south of Seattle. The boy, Abel Alexander, is in custody at a children's home across the country in upstate New York. She has no idea when she might see him again.
"I still haven't been able to talk to him," Orantes told The Associated Press in Spanish as she wept through a telephone interview Monday from the prison. "The most difficult is not seeing him."
Her story is emblematic of the 2,000 instances in which President Donald Trump's administration has separated minors from their migrant parents in an effort to deter illegal immigration. The practice has provoked a national uproar fueled by stories of children being torn from their mothers' arms and of parents being deported without their kids.
The administration adopted a new "zero tolerance" policy in April designed to curb a wave of Central American migrants who say they are fleeing violence at home. Homeland Security officials now refer all cases of illegal entry for prosecution.
Authorities say they are required to remove the children before they can prosecute the parents, but many parents, including Orantes, have remained separated from their children long after being convicted.
Trump has both applauded the practice and falsely blamed Democrats for it.
"We will not apologize for the job we do or for the job law enforcement does, for doing the job that the American people expect us to do," Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen told the National Sheriffs' Association in New Orleans. "Illegal actions have and must have consequences. No more free passes, no more get-out-of-jail-free cards."
The phone call that prompted Orantes' monthlong journey to the U.S. border was no idle threat, she said. About three years ago, Abel's uncle was kidnapped by extortionists and freed only after the family paid up, according to her attorney, Matt Adams, legal director of the Seattle-based Northwest Immigrant Rights Project.
"When they don't get their money, they kill people," said Orantes, 26.
This time, the demand was more than they could muster. And they had only a week to pay, she said.
She and her son split from the boy's father in Guatemala. He remains in hiding, and Orantes said she does not know where he is. Upon reaching the border, she and Abel found it impossible to apply for asylum at a port of entry, Adams said.
"A lot of people are showing up at the border to apply for asylum and are being told, 'We don't have capacity for them,'" Adams said. "It's not like they can just stand in a line for several days, because then the Mexican officials will grab them and deport them. So they're then forced to go through the ravine or the river."
That's what they did. The pair crossed illegally into Texas and immediately reported themselves to immigration authorities and requested asylum, Adams said.
They were separated so Orantes could be prosecuted.
The woman said she was moved to different detention facilities, including in Laredo, Texas, and placed among other desperate, crying mothers. At one point, officials brought Abel to her, she said.
"They told me, 'Say bye to him because he's being transferred.' I asked where," she recounted. "They just told me to say bye to him. ... He just started crying, saying, 'Don't leave me, Mom.'
"I just said, 'It'll be OK.' That's all I said."
Orantes was detained on May 22 with about 20 other people near Roma, Texas, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said. She was convicted of the misdemeanor of unlawfully entering the U.S. and was sentenced to time served — a development she thought would reunify her with Abel.
Instead, with detention centers overflowing on the border, she became one of more than 1,600 detainees transferred by ICE to federal prisons.
She was sent June 6 to the Federal Detention Center at SeaTac, where she remains with more than 200 other border detainees, waiting to hear whether her asylum request will proceed. The conditions there are better than they were at the immigration jails, she said.
Before Trump's policy changes, she likely would not have been prosecuted, but instead allowed to remain with her son and granted an interview to determine whether she had a credible fear of persecution or torture in her home country. If officials found that she did, she and Abel would probably have been released while their immigration case continued.
It was weeks before she learned her son's whereabouts, she said. She has not spoken with him. Her attorney said she has no money and is not allowed to make collect calls to the facility in Kingston, New York, where he is held. The boy has been able to call her sister, Maria Orantes, who lives in Maryland and has petitioned for custody, without success.
"He doesn't feel well there," Maria Orantes said in a phone interview. "When he calls, he's crying. He doesn't want to be there."
The Department of Health and Human Services, whose Office of Refugee Resettlement oversees the placement of migrant children separated from their families, did not immediately return an email seeking comment about why the boy had not been placed with his aunt.
Blanca Orantes said she had hoped to live with her sister.
"I wanted to work," she said. "Raise my kid. Be a good person, get ahead, have some money and not hide. I thought it would be different."
___
Follow Gene Johnson at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle and Manuel Valdes at https://twitter.com/ByManuelValdes . ||||| Sirley Silveira Paixao, right, an immigrant from Brazil seeking asylum, hugs her Chicago based attorney Britt Miller, after a hearing where a federal judge ordered the release of her 10-year-old son Diego... (Associated Press)
Sirley Silveira Paixao, right, an immigrant from Brazil seeking asylum, hugs her Chicago based attorney Britt Miller, after a hearing where a federal judge ordered the release of her 10-year-old son Diego from immigration detention, Thursday, July 5, 2018, in Chicago. Silveira Paixao arrived in this... (Associated Press)
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The Trump administration asked a judge Friday for more time to reunite families who were separated at the border under its "zero-tolerance" policy to prosecute every person who enters the country illegally.
Hours before a hearing in San Diego, the Justice Department filed papers seeking an extension of the deadline, which is July 10 for all parents with children under 5 and July 26 to reunite everyone else.
The administration says federal law requires it to ensure that children are safe and that requires more time. Administration officials also say that they won't be able to confirm a child's parentage by the deadline if DNA testing is inconclusive. They will need more time to collect DNA samples or other evidence from parents who have been released from government custody.
U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, set the deadline last week, writing that the "situation has reached a crisis level" and that the "chaotic circumstances" were of the government's own making. He scheduled Friday's hearing for an update on compliance with his order.
More than 2,000 children were separated from their parents after Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced in May that the zero tolerance was in full effect, even if it meant splitting families. While parents were criminally prosecuted, children were placed in custody of the Health and Human Services Department. Trump reversed course on June 20 amid an international outcry, saying families should remain together.
On Thursday, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said less than 3,000 children are believed to have been separated, but that includes kids who may have lost parents along the journey, not just parents who were detained at the border. None had been transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement to be reunited with their parents.
In the court papers, the government said it has identified 101 children under 5 years old who were separated and is the midst of identifying older children. About 40 parents of children in the under-5 age group are in Homeland Security custody and another nine are in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Jonathan White, a Health and Human Services official, filed a declaration with the court that gives what is perhaps the most detailed account yet of what the government is doing and the hurdles it faces. Its database has some information about the children's parents but wasn't designed to reunify families under the court's deadline.
The department has manually reviewed the cases of all 11,800 children in its custody by working nights and weekends, White said. The results of that review are being validated.
DNA cheek swab tests on parent and child take nearly a week to complete, said White, who called the risk of placing children with adults who aren't their parents "a real and significant child welfare concern."
"The Government does not wish to unnecessarily delay reunifications or burden class members," the Justice Department filing reads. "At the same time, however, the Government has a strong interest in ensuring that any release of a child from Government custody occurs in a manner that ensures the safety of that child."
Sabraw's order in the class-action lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union applies to all families who have been separated and includes a halt to any future separations.
The ACLU sued in March on behalf of a Congolese woman who was separated from her daughter for five months after seeking asylum at a San Diego border crossing and a Brazilian asylum-seeker who has been separated from her son since an arrest for illegal entry in August near the Texas-New Mexico border.
The Congolese woman, identified in court documents as Mrs. L, claimed asylum on Nov. 1, 2017, and four days later was separated from her daughter. The girl, then 6, was sent to a Chicago shelter contracted by Health and Human Services, while the mother was held at a San Diego immigration detention facility until March 6.
The administration says the Congolese woman had no documents and was unable to prove she was the girl's mother when she claimed asylum. U.S. authorities confirmed through DNA testing on March 12 that the woman was the girl's mother and the two were reunited.
The Brazilian woman, identified as Mrs. C, served nearly a month in jail after her Aug. 26, 2017, arrest for illegal entry near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, and then spent about six months in immigration detention. Her son was also sent to a Chicago shelter the two recently reunited. ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated By Julia Ainsley
WASHINGTON — Government lawyers said Friday that they cannot locate the parents of 38 migrant children under the age of 5, as a federal judge indicated he is open to extending the deadline for reuniting nearly 3,000 children separated from their mothers and fathers while crossing the US-Mexico border.
In a status hearing with U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw of the Southern District of California, who ordered the reunification, government lawyers said the Health and Human Services Department would only be able to reunify about half of approximately 100 children under the age of 5 by the court-ordered deadline of July 10.
For 19 children, their parents have been released from custody into the U.S. and their whereabouts are unknown. The parents of another 19 children have been deported.
"The way [a family separation] is put in the system is not in some aggregable form, so we can’t just run it all," said Sarah Fabian, the Justice Department attorney representing the government before Sabraw.
Sabraw said he would agree to delay the deadline for reunifying the youngest children if the government could provide a master list of all children and the status of their parents. Sabraw ordered the administration to share a list of 101 children with the American Civil Liberties Union by Saturday afternoon.
The judge scheduled a status conference for 10 a.m. Pacific time on Monday. A government lawyer said she could not attend a status conference over the weekend because she had out-of-town dog-sitting responsibilities.
"The government must reunite them," Sabraw said. "It must comply with the time frame unless there is an articulable reason."
In a court filing, attorneys for the U.S. government claimed the court mandate for returning all children under 5 to their parents by July 10 and all other children by July 26 does not account for the time required to verify and vet each parent.
"The government does not wish to unnecessarily delay reunification," lawyers for the Justice Department said in their response to the court. "At the same time, however, the government has a strong interest in ensuring that any release of a child from government custody occurs in a manner that ensures the safety of the child."
Sabraw said he understood the government was acting in "good faith” by raising issues that could affect the timing, but said the “goal here is for reunification” and cautioned that the government should not resort to appealing his decision to reunify.
Sabraw said he was prepared to grant additional time if the government could provide a master list of the children under 5 who had been separated from their parents with information on the whereabouts of their parents and any difficulties they may have in locating them.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that his agency is using DNA testing to confirm parent-child relationships for nearly 3,000 children.
The Justice Department argued that inconclusive DNA tests can delay reunification, as can the work necessary to make sure children are going to parents who are fit to care for them.
Alternatively, the court could clarify its mandate by allowing the vetting process to be shortened, the government argued.
"If the court concludes that HHS must truncate (the vetting) process to meet court-ordered deadlines, then the court should so order in a manner that provides HHS full clarity," the government lawyers argued in the filing.
Sabraw said HHS “should not feel obligated to comply with those internal procedures” that were put in place to match children who had arrived at the border alone because the parents represented in the lawsuit arrived at the border with their children.
The response also asked the judge to clarify how many children it should be seeking to reunify.
President Donald Trump's "zero tolerance" policy requiring every immigrant crossing the border illegally to be prosecuted and therefore separated from any children went into effect in early May, but HHS interpreted its mandate to mean that children separated before the policy went into effect should also be reunited. Trump signed an executive order June 20 ending separation.
The government also argued that it was too difficult to find parents who have already been deported back to their home countries, asking the judge to extend the timeline to find those parents or exclude them from the population who must be reunified.
Sabraw also said that his order for the government to reunify children does not mandate how the government releases or detains immigrants. The Trump administration had argued that his order was in conflict with court decisions in 1997 and 2015 that mandated children be released from detention after 20 days and therefore justified their decision to detain them indefinitely. | – President Trump's Justice Department has requested more time to reunite immigrant parents with the children taken from them by ICE at the border. Following a federal judge's order that all children under age 5 be reunited with their parents by July 10—and all others by July 25—lawyers for the government on Friday petitioned for an extension of those deadlines, NBC News reports. US District Judge Dana Sabraw set the deadline last week in a ruling that said the situation has reaching "crisis level." Per the AP, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Thursday that 3,000 children are believed to have been separated, but that includes kids who may have lost parents along the journey, not just parents who were detained at the border. Azar said DNA testing is being used to determine parent-child relationships but that inconclusive tests can hold up the process. In the Justice Department filing, the government said it has identified 101 children under 5 years old who were separated and is the midst of identifying older children. About 40 parents of children in the under 5 age group are in Homeland Security custody and another nine are in the custody of the US Marshals Service. "The Government does not wish to unnecessarily delay reunifications or burden class members," the Justice Department filing reads. "At the same time, however, the Government has a strong interest in ensuring that any release of a child from Government custody occurs in a manner that ensures the safety of that child." |
Yep, it's hexed.
"Jonah Hex" is to film what the chicken nugget is to cuisine. Bland, anonymous, packed with non-nutritious filler, prepared without pride or love, easiest to consume if you're not paying attention. This is industrially processed entertainment at it cheapest, nastiest and greasiest.
Josh Brolin plays the title character, a Civil War veteran wandering the lawless, chaotic West, where the main activity of daily life is settling old scores. Fight scenes erupt every five minutes. This is not a comment on the Hobbesian brutality of the untamed frontier. The players continually empty the contents of their guns into each other because the filmmakers, recognizing they haven't given us interesting characters to follow, fear we'll get bored.
The plot ... sigh, where to begin? The explosion-prone story isn't strong on exposition. Illogical plots are fine in hot-weather comic-book movies, but "Jonah Hex" (based on a DC Comic) is stupefying. Director Jimmy Hayward, a Pixar veteran in his live-action debut, has created a slapdash movie littered with discordant scenes and editing too arbitrary to follow. The film attends to its myriad confusions in a long, baffling animated sequence apparently added when the cast and crew got sick of shooting real-life footage.
The gist of it is that Hex bears a grudge against Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich, King of Camp Cinema). Turnbull is a marauder who slaughtered Hex's family before his eyes, then used a branding iron to give him a facial scar that resembles a cheeseburger. But allowed him to live. This is how feuds get started.
Understandably, Hex is an ornery galoot. He grimaces like an ulcer patient, communicates in grunts and growls, and shoots people who wisecrack about his disfigurement. A bullet in the gut is Jonah's version of a witty retort. But he is no ordinary gunslinger. Hex has the power to restore the dead with his touch. Don't ask me to explain this. I gave up making sense of it 10 minutes in. ||||| John Malkovich, left, stars as Quentin Turnbull and Wes Bentley plays Adelman Lusk in Jonah Hex. handout/handout
Jonah Hex
(out of 4)
Starring Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender and Wes Bentley. Directed by Jimmy Hayward. 81 minutes. At major theatres. 14A
Lots of things go ka-boom and rat-a-tat-tat in Jonah Hex, a barrel-scraping attempt at another comic book movie franchise.
But the most interesting sound is the steady tick-tick-tick of the clock winding down on Megan Fox’s 15 minutes of fame.
After burning her bridges with Transformers, and bombing with Jennifer’s Body, this was supposed to be the summer blockbuster that restored her to the big screen and the hearts of fanboys.
No such luck in this artlessly directed and sloppily written production, which has been slipped into theatres without benefit of a proper critical preview — and it’s easy to see why.
Jimmy Hayward directs the title anti-hero, drawn from the DC Comics series of the same name, who is played with neither humour nor flair by Josh Brolin. He’ll not look back fondly on this role.
Hex is a bounty hunter and former Confederate Army soldier, condemned by dark magic to exist in an other-world between life and death.
He has semi-supernatural powers, conferred by a sympathetic Indian shaman, but also a fearsome machine gun.
Hex’s face was gruesomely disfigured by the same man who killed his family and caused his ghostly misery: terrorist Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich).
Hex’s only earthly friend is Lilah (Megan Fox), a hooker with a heart of gold and her own basket of pain. Too bad she doesn’t also have much of an actress to play her, but then nobody in this film comes out smelling like roses.
Hex wants nothing to do with normal society or politics, yet he’s summoned by the U.S. president to help save his still-young country.
Seems the odious Turnbull, played by Malkovich in full shrubbery- chewing mode, has managed to cheat death himself.
He’s somehow managed to acquire a weapon of mass destruction that looks a lot like an atomic bomb.
The movie may be set in the 1870s, the years immediately following the Civil War, but the parallels with today’s terrorism battles are driven home like a tomahawk through the skull.
This looked to be a priority project by Warner Bros. at one point — that is until the cash spigot got turned off. The special effects are really cheesy, even by comic-book standards.
The running time has been cut to a savage 81 minutes, suggesting serious editing, but it still feels long.
You’d have think they’d had learned from the spectacular failure of Wild Wild West a decade or so ago.
But you know what it is about hexes; they’re awfully hard to remove, once acquired, and Jonah Hex seems well and truly cursed. ||||| Jonah Hex ACTION: United States, 2010 U.S. Release Date: 2010-06-18 Running Length: 1:20 MPAA Classification: PG-13 (Violence, Sexual Content) Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Cast: Josh Brolin, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender, Aidan Quinn Director: Jimmy Hayward Screenplay: Neveldine & Taylor, based on characters appearing in DC Comics magazines Cinematography: Mitchell Amundsen Music: Marco Beltrami, John Powell U.S. Distributor: Warner Brothers Subtitles: none
With its skinny running length (80 minutes, including credits), often incoherent narrative, and neutered violence, Jonah Hex shows all the signs of having been re-worked in the editing room. The resultant production, as is often the case in situations like this, would be better off going straight-to-video. And, if this represents the true vision of director Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who), then I have only one question: What was he thinking?
Jonah Hex is short enough, slick enough, and loud enough to avoid being summarily dismissed. Although the storyline, with its bizarre ventures into mysticism and necromancy, is at times difficult to follow (at least for someone not conversant with the comic book source material), the movie is never boring. It is, however, frustrating. The lead character, Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), is a Civil War-era vigilante with a thirst for blood and death-dealing. Yet, obsessed by the desire to release this with a PG-13 rating, Warner Brothers has sanitized an avalanche of gruesome killings beyond what's reasonable. So, despite the high body count, there's almost no viscera. Defending the decision to circumvent the R-rating is fruitless, especially considering that the PG-13 restrictions are more distracting than effective. I mean, if a movie is about a stone-cold killer, shouldn't it be honest enough to show his work?
The movie transpires in the post-Civil War era, with two ex-Confederate soldiers squaring off against one another. On one side is the twisted General Quentin Turnbull (John Malkovich), who is assembling a doomsday weapon that he intends to turn against Washington D.C. and use to end the presidency of U.S. Grant (Aidan Quinn). On the other side is Jonah Hex, the scarred bounty hunter and ex-subordinate of Turnbull's whose face bears the marks of a brand wielded by the General on the night he killed Hex's wife and son. Hex is not an ordinary man, either. Rescued from death by Indian magic, he's almost impossible to kill and he possesses the ability to speak with the dead. Hex's lone weakness is a prostitute named Lilah (Megan Fox), who pines for him while entertaining clients. Before he can offer Lilah a better life, however, Hex must settle his score with Turnbull and his sadistic sidekick, Burke (Michael Fassbender).
Most of Jonah Hex follows Hex, who bears a passing resemblance to something out of one of George Romero's "Dead" movies, as he kills people (all of which deserve their fates). Most of them are related to Turnbull in one way or another. There are scenes that take place in some sort of parallel, mystical arena - a one-on-one affair that transpires on red sand and reflects the situation in the "real" world. The specifics of this are never made clear, although perhaps this is second-nature stuff to Jonah Hex fans. The best thing that can be said about Jonah Hex is that it has the good sense not to take itself too seriously (there's a fun scene in which Hex pulls out some serious gunfighting hardware that's a few decades ahead of its time); the tongue isn't always planted in the cheek, but it's there often enough.
Josh Brolin does a game job growling his way through the part and generally looks like a badass under a lot of latex. He is often upstaged by the nicely staged visual setups and the loud metal music, but that's what he signed on for, and he delivers the requisite one-liners with aplomb. He's also not as enjoyable as John Malkovich, who lives by the rulebook for overplaying the bad guy. It's always a problem when the villain is more interesting and charismatic than the hero. Megan Fox is on hand to provide eye candy. She has no character to speak of, and her screening time is so limited that it wouldn't have been hard to eliminate her, except then the movie would have been short its token corseted brunette. The part suits the level of acting talent she has thus far exhibited.
It's hard to fault the idea behind Jonah Hex - the concept of an 1870s vigilante is pregnant with potential, but the execution is awful. Without an understanding of what occurred behind-the-scenes, it's impossible to know who to blame for the final result, but something this messy should have been cleaned up before reaching the screen. Jonah Hex, like so many DC Comics properties not featuring Batman or Superman, fails a successful transition from the printed page to the big screen.
Discuss this topic in the ReelViews Forums. ||||| There are few truths to be found in the smoldering ash heap that is "Jonah Hex," but here are the ones that matter: John Malkovich is responsible for the Fourth of July fireworks tradition (who knew?); Megan Fox looks better fighting in a bustier than tight white "Transformers" jeans (no-brainer); definitely consider a cosmetic surgeon to deal with those unsightly facial scars, don't get in a pique and try to do it yourself (duh).This latest DC Comics transmogrification into mega-action mess stars Josh Brolin as Jonah, a bounty-hunting latter-day saint with an ax to grind and a face that even a mother couldn't love (see cosmetic surgery tip above). The film is director Jimmy Hayward's (" Horton Hears a Who !") first go at live action and there is promise in all the fire and brimstone raining down, just no soul in the souls the devil went down to Georgia for.Set in the aftermath of the Civil War, "Jonah Hex" is an apocalypse story of betrayal and redemption that burns its way through D.C., the Deep South and the dusty West. The till-death-do-they-part battle between good and evil pits a renegade Confederate colonel named Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich) against a vengeance-hungry Jonah. At stake is more than old grudges — the very future of these newly united states hangs in the balance.Basically Jonah shot Turnbull's son and some other Confederates who started blowing up civilians rather than Union soldiers. Not one to turn the other cheek, Turnbull murdered Jonah's family and seared his QT brand into Jonah's face as a reminder that he "destroyed everything you ever loved," or something like that. It's not easy to forget the sentiment since Malkovich delivers the line so many times you wonder if he just never got the script revisions.Ah, the "script." Writers Neveldine & Taylor, who I gather aren't using their first names to protect the family's rep, have found a way to turn biblical references into bad dialogue at head-turning speed while making 83 minutes feel like a lifetime. I guess with "Crank" and "Crank: High Voltage" as a training ground, it was to be expected.In the comic book tradition, the story weaves between the real and the mythical, but it's a very boozy trip. Brolin's intermittent voice-over narration proves to be the most powerful stuff, with the rest curiously sputtering. Case in point: Jonah's caustic one-liners fall dead because their target has already bitten the dust — it's just no fun if you can't see the guy react to being dissed before he's deceased.The look of the film is great, though visually there are three distinctive streams that Hayward has trouble meshing. There is the stark graphic comic book style that is used to good effect in the beginning when Jonah is filling us in on why he's so mad. The style that dominates the film is a sort of spaghetti western wrapped in worn leather and dusted by grime, that is by far the best; and finally a surreal-scape of dry red river beds and scary dreams, which look evocative but are just not right for this movie.Of course the biggest effect is Jonah's face, with half of it Brolin's ruggedly handsome scruff, the other a swirling crater of skin with a hole that exposes very bad dental hygiene . I guess it's a good thing that Fox's Lilah, a sharp-shooting hooker with a crush on Hex, didn't find it as distracting as I did, or some of the fights would have gone on even longer.Malkovich, who does malevolence so well, is strangely flat as the villain. All would be lost without his No. 2, the devilish Michael Fassbender as a tattooed crazy Brit named Burke. He takes care of most of the hand-to-hand combat with Jonah and brings the fire needed to fuel the bad guys and inflame his adversaries.That is not an inconsequential skill, since he who controls the fire controls the action in "Jonah Hex." Cities burn, people burn, circuses burn, boats burn. The government's secret new weapon of mass destruction that Turnball has stolen and Jonah has been conscripted to recover is a molten sphere that turns ordinary cannonballs into great balls of fire. But this is one film even Jerry Lee Lewis couldn't save. | – Critics pretty much hate Jonah Hex, the new Westernish flick with Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, and John Malkovich. Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: A "smoldering ash heap. ... Brolin's intermittent voice-over narration proves to be the most powerful stuff, with the rest curiously sputtering." Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: "Industrially processed entertainment at it cheapest, nastiest and greasiest." James Berardinelli, ReelViews: "Megan Fox is on hand to provide eye candy. She has no character to speak of, and her screening time is so limited that it wouldn't have been hard to eliminate her, except then the movie would have been short its token corseted brunette. The part suits the level of acting talent she has thus far exhibited." Peter Howell, Toronto Star: "Artlessly directed and sloppily written." |
North Korea worked through 2016 on developing components for an intercontinental ballistic missile, making the isolated nation's claim that it was close to a test-launch plausible, international weapons experts say. (Reuters)
President-elect Donald Trump contended Monday night that North Korea would not be able to develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States, despite its claims to the contrary, and berated China for not doing enough to help stop the rogue state's weapons program.
Trump's declarations on Twitter came after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said in a New Year's address that the country had reached the “final stages” of testing its first intercontinental ballistic missile that could reach the United States.
“It won't happen!” Trump tweeted.
North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017
The president-elect — who spent Monday with advisers at Trump Tower in New York following his holiday respite in Florida — did not specify what, if anything, the United States might do under his command to stop North Korea from developing the missile.
In a second tweet, Trump sought to shame Chinese leaders for trading with the United States but doing little to help stop North Korea's development of nuclear weapons.
He tweeted: “China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!”
China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2017 ||||| Melania Trump, right, looks on as her husband President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters during a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press)
Melania Trump, right, looks on as her husband President-elect Donald Trump talks to reporters during a New Year's Eve party at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2016, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):
10:45 p.m.
A state-run Chinese tabloid says Donald Trump is "pandering to 'irresponsible' attitudes" after the U.S. president-elect accused China of not stepping in to curtail the North Korean nuclear program.
The Global Times newspaper says Pyongyang's nuclear program "stokes the anxieties of some Americans" who blame China rather than looking inward.
The Communist Party-controlled newspaper published its report a few hours after Trump tweeted Monday that China "won't help with North Korea."
China is North Korea's principal ally and economic lifeline. While Beijing has publicly reprimanded Pyongyang after nuclear tests, critics say China hasn't done enough to tighten economic pressure on North Korea.
Since winning the November election, Trump has repeatedly criticized China. He also spoke to the president of Taiwan, the self-governing island China considers part of its territory.
___
8:55 p.m.
President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate lawyer Robert Lighthizer as U.S. Trade Representative, according to a transition official.
Lighthizer served as deputy USTR under President Ronald Reagan. His responsibilities included industry, agriculture, investment and trade policy, according to his law firm biography.
Trump made trade a central issue in his campaign, vowing to pull out of a major Pacific Rim trade pact. He has said he prefers unilateral trade deals that he says would lead to more favorable conditions for U.S. businesses and workers.
The transition official was not authorized to publicly confirm Trump's expected decision and insisted on anonymity.
— Julie Pace
__
6:30 p.m.
Donald Trump insists North Korea won't develop a nuclear weapon capable of reaching the United States.
Trump addressed the issue Monday evening on Twitter. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said Sunday in his annual New Year's address that preparations for launching an ICBM have "reached the final stage." He did not explicitly say a test was imminent.
Trump tweeted: "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S. It won't happen!"
It was unclear if Trump meant he would stop North Korea or he was simply doubting the country's capabilities. His aides did not immediately respond to questions seeking clarification.
Trump then berated North Korea's most important ally, tweeting: "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!"
___
2:10 p.m.
President-elect Donald Trump is showing little sign of forgiving his critics as he prepares to move into the Oval Office.
The incoming president tweeted Monday that, "Various media outlets and pundits say that I thought I was going to lose the election. Wrong..."
He continued: "I thought and felt I would win big, easily over the fabled 270" electoral votes.
Trump's continued focus on his unexpected Nov. 8 victory comes as he works behind closed doors to shape his new administration. He's set to be sworn into office in just 18 days.
Trump also complained Monday about a cover photo used in a new book released by CNN. He tweeted, "Hope it does well but used worst cover photo of me!"
___
1 p.m.
President-elect Donald Trump says Rahm Emanuel, Chicago's mayor and President Barack Obama's former chief of staff, should ask for federal assistance if he can't bring down the city's rising homicide tally.
The nation's third largest city had 762 homicides in 2016 — the most in two decades and more than the largest cities, New York and Los Angeles, combined. The Chicago Police Department says the city had 1,100 more shootings last year than in 2015. The statistics have put Chicago at the center of a national dialogue about gun violence.
Trump on Monday noted the spike in shooting deaths on Twitter. He wrote, "If Mayor can't do it he must ask for federal help!"
Emanuel's spokesman Adam Collins responded with a carefully worded statement in which he says if the federal government really wants to help it can do things like fund summer jobs programs for at-risk youth and pass meaningful gun laws.
___
8:10 a.m.
Incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer is defending cryptic comments by President-elect Donald Trump that he knows "things that other people don't know" when it comes to allegations of Russian hacking.
Spicer tells Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that Trump is getting national security briefings "on a daily basis" and "there doesn't seem to be conclusive evidence" Russians were behind the hacking of Democratic emails during the election.
Spicer also dismissed on Monday a report released by the FBI and Homeland Security Department supporting the accusations against Russia, calling it a "how-to" manual on basic cybersecurity for Democrats.
In an interview on NBC's "Today Show," Spicer said President Barack Obama only punished Russia after Democrat Hillary Clinton lost the election and that the recent sanctions were politically motivated.
Trump has said he will get a briefing from U.S. intelligence officials this week. ||||| SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s “clear warning” to North Korea shows he is aware of the urgency of the threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear program and will not waver from a policy of sanctions against the isolated country, South Korea said on Tuesday.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivered brief remarks to reporters at the Mar-a-lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. December 28, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RTX2WSA9
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday his nuclear-capable country was close to test-launching an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), raising the prospect of putting parts of the United States in range.
Trump dismissed the claim, saying on Twitter: “It won’t happen.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said Trump’s comment, his first mention of the North Korean nuclear issue since the U.S. election in November, could be interpreted as a “clear warning” to the North.
“Because of our active outreach, President-elect Trump and U.S. officials are clearly aware of the gravity and urgency of the North Korean nuclear threat,” ministry spokesman Cho June-hyuck said at a briefing.
“They are maintaining an unwavering stance on the need for sanctions on North Korea and for close cooperation between South Korea and the U.S.”
The U.S. State Department said it recognized that North Korea continued to pursue nuclear and ballistic missile technologies.
“We do not believe that at this point in time he has the capability to tip one of these (missiles) with a nuclear warhead ... but we do know that he continues to want to have those capabilities and the programs continue to march in that direction,” State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
Trump has not outlined a policy on North Korea, but during the U.S. election campaign indicated he would be willing to talk to its leader, Kim, given the opportunity.
Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway told ABC’s “Good Morning America” program that the president-elect was “putting North Korea on notice through this tweet and through other statements that this won’t happen.”
“He as president of the United States wants to stand between them and their missile capabilities, which experts say could be deployed to reach Seattle almost immediately,” Conway said.
She said Trump had not publicly stated how he might respond to North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs and “won’t before he’s inaugurated.”
“We do know that there are sanctions that are possible,” Conway said. “They haven’t always worked. I think that China would have to have a significant role here as well.”Trump has been critical of China over the issue. On Monday, he said China had benefited from its economic ties with the United States but would not use its influence to help control North Korea.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said China had been pushing for the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
“China’s efforts in this regard are perfectly obvious,” Geng told a news briefing. “As a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council we have proactively participated in relevant discussions on the North Korean nuclear issue and have jointly passed several resolutions with other parties.
“This shows China’s responsible attitude.”
Asked about Trump’s view that China was not helping to contain North Korea’s nuclear ambitions, the State Department’s Kirby said: “We would not agree with that assessment.”
The United States has for years dismissed North Korean calls for talks, insisting it must disarm first.
The United States and ally South Korea have responded to two North Korean nuclear tests and various missile tests last year with ever-more-severe sanctions.
The U.N. Security Council imposed new sanctions on North Korea at the end of November after Pyongyang carried out its fifth and largest nuclear test so far in September.
A North Korean ICBM, once fully developed, could threaten the continental United States, which is about 9,000 km (5,500 miles) from the North.
ICBMs have a minimum range of about 5,500 km (3,400 miles), but some are designed to travel 10,000 km (6,200 miles) or further.
North Korea worked last year on developing components for an ICBM, saying it was close to a test-launch plausible, international weapons experts said on Monday. ||||| China has lashed out at the U.S. after Washington accused Beijing of not doing enough to arrest North Korean's nuclear ambitions, underscoring tensions between the two world powers in the geopolitically sensitive Korean Peninsula.
At the Chinese foreign affairs ministry's regular press conference on Monday, spokesperson Hua Chunying said U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter was being "unnecessarily modest" for thrusting the responsibility of handling Pyongyang solely on China.
"The cause and crux of the Korean nuclear issue rest with the U.S. rather than China," added Hua in an official transcript from the foreign affairs ministry.
"The core of the issue is the conflict between (North Korea) and the U.S. It is the U.S. who should reflect upon how the situation has become what it is today, and search for an effective solution. It is better for the doer to undo what he has done. The U.S. should shoulder its due responsibilities," she said.
Hua was responding to Carter who singled out the East Asian giant at a news conference in Norway as bearing the responsibility for North Korea's recalcitrant nuclear testing.
"It's China's responsibility," he said, according to Reuters. "China has and shares an important responsibility for this development and has an important responsibility to reverse it."
"And so it's important that it (China) uses its location, its history and its influence to further the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula," he added.
Meanwhile, North Korea through its state-run news agency KCNA also said U.S. was the "very one" compelling the isolated country to develop nuclear warheads. The U.S.' constant "nuclear threat and blackmail" in the past decades was "an engine which pushed the (North Korea) to reach this point," it said.
On Tuesday, two U.S. B-1 bombers flew over South Korea in a show of solidarity with South Korea while Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy on North Korea, said the world's largest economy remained open to a meaningful dialogue with Pyongyang, Reuters reported. | – The experts Reuters spoke with described it as feasible, but Donald Trump wasn't among that cohort: In a Monday night tweet, the president-elect addressed Kim Jong Un's Jan. 1 assertion that North Korea is nearly ready to test an intercontinental ballistic missile: "North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US. It won't happen!" The Washington Post notes that Trump has provided no other details on how a Trump administration might prevent such a thing from happening, though Reuters quotes a rep for South Korea's foreign ministry who says "because of our active outreach" Trump understands the severity of the North Korean nuclear threat and won't budge on the current policy of sanctions. Another thing Trump doesn't seem to be budging on: his needling of China. In a second tweet on the topic of North Korea, Trump wrote, "China has been taking out massive amounts of money & wealth from the U.S. in totally one-sided trade, but won't help with North Korea. Nice!" China's official reply is that its "responsible attitude" regarding a denuclearized North Korea is apparent and evidenced in the resolutions it has passed with other members of the UN Security Council. The state-run tabloid Global Times suggested Trump was the one with a responsibility issue, writing that he is "pandering to 'irresponsible' attitudes," per the AP. NBC News points out that Defense Secretary Ash Carter in September said China bore responsibility for Pyongyang's nuclear progress. |
President Barack Obama has decided not to release photographs of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden's body, the White House said Wednesday.
The announcement came after a senior administration official told NBC News of the decision not to release post-mortem photos and Obama revealed the decision during an interview Wednesday with CBS' "60 Minutes."
The White House had been weighing the release of a photo, in part to offer proof that bin Laden was killed during a raid on his compound early Monday. However, officials had cautioned that the photo was gruesome and could prove inflammatory.
"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don’t trot out this stuff as trophies," Obama told CBS News, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney.
"We don't need to spike the football. And I think that, given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk," the president said, according to Carney's account.
Asked about his response to some people in Pakistan saying the United States was lying about having killed bin Laden, Obama said: "The truth is that we were monitoring worldwide reaction. There is no doubt that bin Laden is dead.
"Certainly there is no doubt among al-Qaida members that he is dead. And so we don't think that a photograph in and of itself will make a difference. There are going to be folks who will deny it."
Carney said there would not be images released of bin Laden's burial at sea, either.
The president decided against making the images public after a spirited debate within government over the potential impact of their release.
Ever since word of bin Laden's death broke, the administration has tried to strike a balance between celebrating the success of the dramatic covert operation without unnecessarily offending sensitivities in the Muslim world. Officials stressed that Muslim traditions were followed before bin Laden's body was buried at sea, for example.
There was support for releasing the photos from both ends of the spectrum: Some family members of those who died in the 9-11 terror attacks thought it important to document bin Laden's death, as did some skeptics in the Arab world who doubted his demise in the absence of convincing evidence.
But the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, said in advance of Obama's decision that he was concerned that the photographic images could be seen as a "trophy" that would inflame U.S. critics and makes it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their job.
"Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway," Rogers told CBS News, "and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."
Democratic House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said "there is no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed. I think there is absolute proof that Osama bin Laden was in fact the person that was taken into custody... killed in the firefight."
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said Wednesday that not releasing the photos is "a mistake" and will only prolong the debate over whether bin Laden is dead.
"The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death," Graham said. "I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., backed Obama's decision, NBC News reported.
"I agree with President Obama that if there's a choice between protecting the security of our military and intelligence personnel and disproving conspiracy theories, it's an easy call," Reid said in a prepared statement. "The evidence collected leaves no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead."
The photos have been described by several sources as gruesome. One shows part of the skull blown off, those sources say. A U.S. official said one consideration is that the photo also shows exposed brain matter.
Sources spoke on condition of anonymity because the photo is still part of a classified investigation.
The president made his decision as the Navy SEALS involved in the daring raid in Pakistan arrived in the U.S. for debriefing, and U.S. officials began to comb through the intelligence trove of computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that the commandos hauled out of the terrorist's hideaway.
Bin Laden had about 500 euros sewn into his clothes when he was killed and had phone numbers on him when he was killed, U.S. officials said, a possible indication that bin Laden was ready to flee the compound on short notice.
The decision comes a day after CIA director Leon Panetta said that a photo proving the death of bin Laden "would be presented to the public," but the comment quickly drew a response from the White House saying no decision has yet been made.
"The bottom line is that, you know, we got bin Laden and I think we have to reveal to the rest of the world the fact that we were able to get him and kill him," Panetta said in an interview with Nightly News.
Panetta said the photos leave no question that bin Laden was killed. "Obviously I've seen those photographs," he said. "We've analyzed them and there's no question that it's bin Laden."
In July 2003, the U.S. took heat but also quieted most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's two powerful sons to prove American forces had killed them.
So far, the U.S. has cited evidence that satisfied the Navy SEAL force, and at least most of the world, that they had the right man in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
The helicopter-borne raiding squad that swarmed the luxury compound identified bin Laden by appearance. A woman in the compound who was identified as his wife was said to have called out bin Laden's name in the melee.
Officials produced a quick DNA match from his remains that they said established bin Laden's identity, even absent the other techniques, with 99.9 percent certainty. U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through photo comparisons and other methods. ||||| Updated 6:19 p.m. Eastern Time
In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday's "60 Minutes" conducted today, President Obama said he won't release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.
"It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool," said the president.
"We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Mr. Obama added. "The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received."
The president said he had discussed the issue with his intelligence team, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and that they agree with the decision. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that Mr. Obama made the decision today.
President Obama interviewed on "60 Minutes," May 4, 2011. / CBS
In explaining his choice not to release the photo, Mr. Obama said that "we don't need to spike the football." He said that "given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk."
The president told Kroft he saw the photos following the raid on the compound and knew that bin Laden had been killed.
"We discussed this internally," he said. "Keep in mind that we are absolutely certain that this was him. We've done DNA sampling and testing. And so there is no doubt that we killed Osama bin Laden."
When Kroft noted that there are people in Pakistan and elsewhere who believe bin Laden is still alive, the president said "we we monitoring worldwide reaction."
"There is no doubt that Osama bin Laden is dead," he said. "Certainly there is no doubt among al Qaeda members that he is dead. So we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference."
"There are going to be some folks who deny it," he added. "The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this earth again."
TRANSCRIPT: Obama discusses decision not to release images on "60 Minutes"
Asked about the decision Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Carney said "there are obviously arguments to be made on either side."
"The fact of the matter is, as the president described, these are graphic photographs of someone who was shot in the face -- the head, rather," he said. "It is not in our national security interests to allow those images, as has been in the past been the case, to become icons to rally opinion against the United States. The president's number one priority is the safety and security of American citizens at home and Americans abroad. There is no need to release these photographs to establish Osama bin Laden's identity. And he saw no other compelling reason to release them, given the potential for national security risks. And further, because he believes, as he said so clearly, this is not who we are." (See video at left.)
"He wanted to hear the opinions of others, but he was very clear about his view on this," Carney added. "And, obviously, his decision is categorical." He said it applied to "all visual evidence" of bin Laden's death, including video of his burial at sea.
Bin Laden news gives Obama 11-point approval bump
Bush declines Obama invitation to ground zero
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-SC, called the decision a "mistake."
President Obama interviewed on "60 Minutes," May 4, 2011. / CBS News
"The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden's death," he said.
Neil Livingstone, Chairman and CEO of Executive Action and author of nine books on terrorism, also disagreed with the decision.
"If we can't conclusively demonstrate that indeed he is dead there will be those who say he is still out there," he told CBS News. "Al Qaeda might even try to keep his legacy going and say 'they got someone else, they didn't really get him.'"
Sarah Palin registered her disapproval on Twitter.
"Show photo as warning to others seeking America's destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it's part of the mission," she wrote.
Palin to Obama: Stop pussyfooting, release photo
Osama bin Laden had cash, phone numbers sewn in clothes
White House changes story: Bin Laden unarmed
Cables: U.S. near bin Laden in '08, didn't know it
Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said earlier in the day that the Obama administration should not release the gruesome post- mortem images, saying it could complicate the job for American troops overseas. Rogers told CBS News he has seen a post-mortem photo.
"The risks of release outweigh the benefits," Rogers said. "Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."
"Imagine how the American people would react if Al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the Internet," Rogers continued. "Osama bin Laden is not a trophy - he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until Al Qaeda has been eliminated."
Many in Congress happy bin Laden photos won't be released
President Barack Obama delivers a statement in the East Room of the White House on the mission against Osama bin Laden, May 1, 2011. / White House/Pete Souza
Skeptics have called on the United States to release photos of bin Laden, who officials say was shot in the face during a raid on his compound, in order to prove that the al Qaeda leader is really dead.
The White House had said it was debating whether to release the photographs. CIA director Leon Panetta told CBS News Tuesday that he thought a photo would be released, though he said the White House would make the final decision.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin has been told the photographs are "very gruesome" and won't be for the "squeamish."
"I've had it described to me and it does sound very gruesome," he said. "Remember, bin Laden was shot twice at close range, once in the chest and once in the head, right above his left eye, and that bullet opened his skull, exposing the brain, and it also blew out his eye. So these are not going to be pictures for the squeamish."
Two Republican senators -- Saxby Chambliss, R-GA, Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, a member of the Armed Services Committee - told CBS News Wednesday they had seen post-mortem photographs of bin Laden. No Democrats have said they have seen the images.
Photoshopped images purporting to show bin Laden after he was killed have already surfaced on the Internet. Sen. Scott Brown, R-MA, who had claimed to have seen the actual post-mortem photos, said Wednesday that he had been fooled by one such false image. It appears Ayotte and Chambliss may also have been duped.
Special Report: The killing of Osama bin Laden | – President Obama has decided not to release grisly photos of Osama bin Laden's body. Obama himself tells Steve Kroft of his decision in a 60 Minutes interview to air Sunday, reports CBS News. Excerpts will be out later today. The decision—NBC reported it earlier today—comes after CIA chief Leon Panetta suggested an image would be out soon. But the White House apparently decided that the potential backlash would outweigh the benefits of offering definitive proof of the killing. Hillary Clinton and Robert Gates had argued against the release. |
Alki David says an Amy Winehouse concert is coming, but first comes a patent lawsuit over a popular Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas.
Two years ago, a hologram of Tupac Shakur at the Coachella Music Festival had people wondering about what might be next in concert possibilities. Now, the technology that created the spectacle has landed in the hands of a noteworthy billionaire: Alki David, the eccentric one who attempted to transform the television business with streaming technology before Aereo stole his thunder and TV broadcasters unleashed their legal guns on him.
Now, David finds himself on the flip side of the intellectual property coin. His FilmOn and hologram-maker Musion are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed on Monday against Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts for allegedly infringing patents to create a hologram used in the final scene of Michael Jackson: One, the resident acrobatic production at Mandalay Bay Theatre in Las Vegas.
PHOTOS: Inside Cirque’s New Las Vegas Thriller 'Michael Jackson One'
The complaint filed in California federal court begins with some history.
"In 1862, John Pepper and Henry Dircks invented 'Pepper's Ghost,' an illusion technique, which, over the last 150 years, has appeared in movies, concerts, magic shows and amusement park rides," says the lawsuit. "Today a new incarnation of Pepper's Ghost exists -- Musion Eyeliner technology. Musion Eyeliner uses a patented system to project three-dimensional images virtually indistinguishable from real life bodies."
David was apparently impressed upon seeing the technology being used to create the deceased rapper Tupac appearing on stage with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. He says he recently bought the exclusive license to Musion's patent and has started up a company called Hologram USA with a showroom at the FilmOn Studios on Canon Drive in Beverly Hills.
Why? He's got plans. "We already agreed on hologram performances with Flo Rida and the late Amy Winehouse," he says. "Many other shows are coming."
But first comes some score-settling about who owns rights to hologram technology. David says he's about to file a slew of lawsuits. This Michael Jackson one is the first.
The new lawsuit mentions two patents at issue: One for a device for displaying moving images in the background of a stage and one for a projection apparatus and method for pepper's ghost illusion.
"Although it has been widely acknowledged that Defendants employ the technology to create a three-dimensional hologram of Michael Jackson in Cirque du Soleil's Michael Jackson: One, Defendants do not possess a valid license to practice that technology."
STORY: Making Zombies With 'LED Guts' for Cirque's 'Michael Jackson One'
The show has been enormously successful and has helped the Michael Jackson estate reap almost a billion dollars in revenue since the King of Pop's passing in 2009. The lawsuit claims that since the technology behind the Tupac hologram got so much press attention, the defendants knew or should have known the system was patented. The plaintiffs demand an injunction and maximum damages for willful infringement.
The hologram is the climax of the 26-scene show, which never has a performer portraying Jackson onstage. Instead, the show strategically uses video and audio footage of the singer throughout the plot's peaks and valleys.
"His presence, even on video, is so powerful, that it can be very tricky to use him," Welby Altidor, One's director of creation, told The Hollywood Reporter just before the show's opening in May 2013. "What we wanted to do in this show is build Michael's presence through his voice and feeling his shadow, to feeling him progressively becoming more and more present throughout the show, until we can create the longing. And then the apex, the moment where we'll really feel that he's there and he's still with us."
THR has reached out to Cirque du Soleil and will update with any response.
Meanwhile, the hologram technology has landed in the hands of a Hollywood bad boy with a taste for the outrageous. David tells THR, "This is by far the most exciting business opportunity I have ever seen. Imagine running 100 meters against Usain Bolt or resurrecting Richard Pryor!"
Additional reporting by Ashley Lee.
E-mail: Eriq.Gardner@THR.com
Twitter: @eriqgardner ||||| The seed for Wide00014 was:
- Slash pages from every domain on the web:
-- a ranking of all URLs that have more than one incoming inter-domain link (rank was determined by number of incoming links using Wide00012 inter domain links)
-- up to a maximum of 100 most highly ranked URLs per domain
- Top ranked pages (up to a max of 100) from every linked-to domain using the Wide00012 inter-domain navigational link graph | – Tupac paved the way, and now Amy Winehouse may follow. British tabloid the Sun reports that the late Winehouse may go on a world tour as a 3D hologram. "The idea is in its early stages, but it’s hoped that Amy’s dad Mitch will maybe join her and do the introductions," says a source in the story. Billionaire Alki David is behind the plan, which would use the same technology that put Tupac Shakur on the stage at the Coachella Music Festival in 2012. That show so impressed David that he bought the rights to the technology. In fact, his film and hologram companies sued Cirque du Soleil and MGM Resorts this week for patent infringement over a hologram of Michael Jackson used in Vegas, reports the Hollywood Reporter. |
Having friends who suffer from depression doesn't affect the mental health of others, according to research led by the University of Warwick.
The academics found that having friends can help teenagers recover from depression or even avoid becoming depressed in the first instance.
The findings are the result of a study of the way teenagers in a group of US high schools influenced each others' mood. The academics used a mathematical model to establish if depression spreads from friend to friend.
Professor Frances Griffiths, head of social science and systems in health at Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, said: "Depression is a major public health concern worldwide. But the good news is we've found that a healthy mood amongst friends is linked with a significantly reduced risk of developing and increased chance of recovering from depression.
"Our results offer implications for improving adolescent mood. In particular they suggest the hypothesis that encouraging friendship networks between adolescents could reduce both the incidence and prevalence of depression among teenagers."
The study has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B entitled Spreading of healthy mood in adolescent social networks.
Using data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health they looked at more than 2,000 adolescents in a network of US high school students. They examined how their mood influenced each other by modelling the spread of moods using similar methods to those used to track the spread of infectious diseases.
Individuals were classified as either having depressive symptoms (low mood) or not being depressed (healthy mood) according to the score cut-off associated with a clinical diagnosis of depression.
The team found that while depression does not 'spread', having enough friends with a healthy mood can halve the probability of developing, or double the probability of recovering from, depression over a six to 12 month period.
The mathematical model used suggests that adolescents who have five or more mentally healthy friends have half the probability of becoming depressed compared to adolescents with no healthy friends. And teenagers who have 10 healthy friends have double the probability of recovering from depressive symptoms compared to adolescents with just three healthy friends.
University of Warwick mathematics researcher Edward Hill is lead author of the research paper. He said: "In the context of depression, this is a very large effect size. Changing risk by a factor of two is unusual.
"Our results suggest that promotion of any friendship between adolescents can reduce depression since having depressed friends does not put them at risk, but having healthy friends is both protective and curative."
Social factors such as living alone or having experienced abuse in childhood are already linked to depression. Also social support, such as having someone to talk to has been cited as important for recovery from depression.
However this study looks at the effect of being friends with people on the likelihood of developing depression or recovering from it.
Another author of the paper, Dr Thomas House senior lecturer in applied mathematics from the University of Manchester said: "It could be that having a stronger social network is an effective way to treat depression. More work needs to be done but it may be that we could significantly reduce the burden of depression through cheap, low-risk social interventions.
"As a society, if we enable friendships to develop among adolescents (for example providing youth clubs) each adolescent is more likely to have enough friends with healthy mood to have a protective effect. This would reduce the prevalence of depression."
Other research into adolescent mental health by Warwick Medical School will be explored in an upcoming play called Cracked which is being performed by Santé Theatre Warwick
###
Photocaption: Edward Hill ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – Happiness is contagious, but depression doesn't rub off on you, according to a new study out of England. Researchers examined data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to study the moods of some 2,000 American high school students, according to a press release. By employing modelling akin to that used to chart the spread of infectious diseases, they found that depression does not spread, but having happy friends can alleviate or prevent depressive symptoms. "Our results offer implications for improving adolescent mood," says author Frances Griffiths of the University of Warwick. "In particular they suggest the hypothesis that encouraging friendship networks between adolescents could reduce both the incidence and prevalence of depression among teenagers." The "contagious" property of happiness is actually quite significant statistically. "Adolescents with five or more healthy friends have half the probability of becoming depressed over a six- to 12-month period compared with adolescents with no healthy friends, and that adolescents with 10 healthy friends have double the probability of recovering from depressive symptoms over a six to 12-month period compared with adolescents with three healthy friends," according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The researchers end on this kicker: "If such an effect were demonstrated in an intervention study, this would massively outperform existing interventions." Another author gives that some context: "Changing risk by a factor of two is unusual," he says. (This teen pretended to be a friend and saved a life.) |
A 16-year-old has made £48,000 from a website she made to give Chinese babies English names.
Beau Jessup, a British A-level student from Gloucestershire, came up with the idea after a family visit to China.
They were out for a meal with friends when she was asked to give an English name to a newborn baby.
In China it is considered important to have an English name for future study or business with the UK.
'Special Name' requires the user to pick five of the 12 personality traits they hope their baby will grow into
In China they name their child based on the elements and Beau wanted a similarity between how they pick their Chinese name and how they pick their English name.
And she does this by assigning personality traits to each English name.
They also select the gender of the baby and pay the equivalent of 60p.
The three chosen names are then shared with family and friends on We-Chat, China's WhatsApp equivalent, to help make the final decision.
Each suggestion is printed on a certificate with its meaning and an example of a famous person with that name.
Beau says that when she was first asked to name her father's friend's baby, she was surprised.
"I'm not really qualified or relevant enough in that baby's life to be the person to give it a name."
But after hearing of some of the "embarrassing" names, Beau decided she needed to act.
There was someone called Rolex
"There are quite a few examples where people have gotten the names wrong."
Beau explains that the Chinese are fascinated by western culture but their access to it is restricted by the government in China.
There isn't open access to the internet so they can't use standard baby naming websites that people may use in the UK.
"Being exposed to luxury items and things like Harry Potter, Disney films and Lord of the Rings means they use those for reference.
"I once heard of someone called Gandalf and another called Cinderella."
Amelia and Oliver were the most popular baby names in England and Wales in 2015
That's according to the Office for National Statistics which released the complete set of data last week.
But Beau doesn't know which names are the most popular on her website, and she's "happy about that".
"It is called 'special name' and it's based on individual preference and what they personally want their child to be."
Beau says it's quite strange to know she's named more than 200,000 babies
"It's nice to be a part of such a happy experience and be a part of those young stages in a baby's life."
The site's success has been a pleasant surprise.
"I wanted to do it just to see if an idea could turn into more than just simply an idea.
"And I never expected it to become more than just a small project because I never really considered myself very academic.
"It is obviously a nice surprise, but it is definitely a surprise."
The website doesn't make a feature of Beau's age.
In fact it shows an older woman in the "about us" section.
"It is a photo of a lady from [stock photo site] Stockshare which I purchased as I wanted people to take the service seriously - and I was aware they may not take it seriously if they knew my age," she explains.
Find us on Instagram at BBCNewsbeat and follow us on Snapchat, search for bbc_newsbeat ||||| A growing number of Chinese parents have taken to choosing an English name for their offspring in the hope of helping them gain a future foothold in Britain and the West.
Unfortunately that has led to mixed results, with some Chinese children now blessed with names such as Cinderella, Gandalf and even Rolex.
Step forward Beau Jessup - a 16-year-old schoolgirl who has earned more than £48,000 offering advice to Chinese families on how to choose rather more suitable English names.
Beau, a pupil at Cheltenham Ladies College, hit on the idea during a family visit to China, when she was asked by friends during a meal out to suggest an English name for their newborn baby. ||||| A British school girl has amassed a small fortune after building a website to help Chinese parents choose English names for their children.
Beau Jessup, a 16-year-old A-level student from Gloucestershire, came up with the idea during a trip to China during which she was asked to help choose a name by friends expecting a child.
After initially believing herself unqualified to choose names for babies, she discovered the surge in demand for English names for Chinese children over the last 20 years has resulted in some fairly avant-garde names for children whose parents have not been fully aware of the cultural significance of the monikers they have chosen.
These include children named Gandalf, Cinderalla and Rolex.
In addition to traditional Chinese names, it is seen as important for Chinese children to be given English names to use for emails, and for future study or business with Britain.
In response, Ms Jessup, who attends Cheltenham Ladies College, founded SpecialName.cn, a website which helps parents to choose appropriate names for their child based on various positive personality traits.
Most popular UK baby names of 2015
After choosing their child’s gender, the site invites parents to select five traits to best describe their aspirations for their child and then suggests a shortlist of three names.
The list is presented along with the names’ meanings and a famous person with the same name.
Users are charged around 60p to use the service, and the site has racked up 27,000 visitors a month with a total of 221,000 parents using the service since it launched.
This has seen the site take around £16,000 in sales each month which has netted Ms Jessup £48,000 so far.
She said: “I have a target to reach which will allow me to pay for my University fees and writing the text for the site was really good practice for my Mandarin GCSE.
“I spend two hours a day talking to my customers asking how I can make the service better and about an hour making improvements.”
Baby names 'at risk of dying out' in 2016 - In pictures
10 show all Baby names 'at risk of dying out' in 2016 - In pictures
1/10 1) Angela Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor Axel Schmidt/Getty Images
2/10 2) Beverley Actress and singer Beverly Knight Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images
3/10 3) Carol Former 'Countdown' presenter Carol Vorderman Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
4/10 4) Debra Former 'Will & Grace' actress Debra Messing Jason Merritt/Getty Images
5/10 5) Diane Fashion designer and inventor of the wrap dress Diane Von Furstenberg Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Diane Von Furstenberg
6/10 1) Bertrand The late philosopher Bertrand Russell Hulton Archive/Getty Images
7/10 2) Cecil The late artist Cecil Beaton Hulton Archive/Getty Images
8/10 3) Clarence American actor Henry Fonda pictured in 1975 rehearsing at the Piccadilly Theatre in London for his one man play about the famous trial lawyer Clarence Darrow Getty Images
9/10 4) Clive Actor Clive Owen Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images
10/10 5) Cyril Cyril Rioli, an Australian rules footballer Matt King/Getty Images
She added: “Since parents love sharing photos of their babies, I have recently added a gallery, so I’m gradually building a SpecialName community.” | – A 16-year-old British girl came up with an odd, but apparently very good, idea: Start a website designed to help Chinese parents choose an English name for their babies. Her specialname.cn asks parents to pay a small fee, input their baby's gender, and choose five personality traits, out of a dozen options, they hope their child will have. Teen entrepreneur Beau Jessup has assigned those personality traits to English names, and three are chosen, shared with the family, and printed on a certificate along with their meanings and a famous person who shares the name. Jessup has offered up more than 200,000 names and has made nearly $64,000 from the venture so far, the BBC reports. The website also offers a photo gallery where parents can add pictures of their babies, the Independent reports. She came up with the idea while on a family vacation in China, when she learned that Chinese parents make sure to give their babies English names in case they later study or work in the UK or the US, the Telegraph reports. Jessup was asked to pick an English name for the newborn baby of a family friend while on the trip, and after hearing some "embarrassing" English names that had been given to other Chinese babies, she stepped in and later came up with her website idea. "Being exposed to luxury items and things like Harry Potter, Disney films, and Lord of the Rings means [Chinese parents] use those for reference," she explains. "I once heard of someone called Gandalf and another called Cinderella." Jessup, who is studying Mandarin, is saving the money she earns for college tuition. (Here's why a 61-year-old just became China's second-oldest mom.) |
Climate The 4th Largest Economy In The World Just Generated 90 Percent Of The Power It Needs From Renewables CREDIT: shutterstock
On Sunday, for a brief, shining moment, renewable power output in Germany reached 90 percent of the country’s total electricity demand.
That’s a big deal. On May 8th, at 11 a.m. local time, the total output of German solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass reached 55 gigawatts (GW), just short of the 58 GW consumed by every light bulb, washing machine, water heater and personal computer humming away on Sunday morning. See the graph below, courtesy Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. (It’s important to note that most likely, not all of that 55 GW could be used at the time it was generated due to system and grid limitations, but it’s still noteworthy that this quantity of power was produced.)
CREDIT: courtesy Agora Energiewende
Here are a few takeaways from this milestone:
Germany is the fourth-largest economy on the planet. Germany’s $3.7 trillion GDP beats the economic output of any other country in Europe or, for that matter, any U.S. state. Sunday’s spike in renewable output shows that wind and solar can keep pace with the demands of an economic powerhouse. What’s more, the growth of clean energy has tracked the growth of Germany’s economy.
Germany is an unlikely leader in solar. Germany ranks second in installed photovoltaic solar capacity, according to the International Energy Agency. Until recently it was the world leader. It’s notable that, on solar, Germany is outpacing the United States, a country four times as populous. What’s more remarkable is that Germany sees about as much sunshine as Alaska.
Individuals are driving Germany’s energy revolution. Sunday’s performance highlights the success of the Energiewende, or “energy transition,” Germany’s push to expand clean energy, increase energy efficiency, and democratize power generation. Smart policies have opened the renewable energy market to utilities, businesses and homeowners. As of 2012, individuals owned more than a third of Germany’s renewable energy capacity.
Germany still gets most of its power from fossil fuels. Sunday’s spike resulted from a combination of reduced demand — a Sunday morning lull in power consumption. It also came from robust supply — an abundance of wind and sunshine to drive up renewable energy output. On average, renewables supply 30 percent of the country’s power. That is nonetheless a huge proportion. By comparison, the U.S. gets just 13 percent of its power from renewables.
Jeremy Deaton writes about climate and energy for Nexus Media. Tweet him your questions at @deaton_jeremy.
||||| On Sunday, May 8, Germany hit a new high in renewable energy generation. Thanks to a sunny and windy day, at one point around 1pm the country’s solar, wind, hydro and biomass plants were supplying about 55 GW of the 63 GW being consumed, or 87%.
Power prices actually went negative for several hours, meaning commercial customers were being paid to consume electricity.
AGORA ENERGIEWENDE Renewable energy hit 88% of Germany’s power supply on Sunday as electricity prices sunk into negative territory.
Last year the average renewable mix was 33%, reports Agora Energiewende, a German clean energy think tank. New wind power coming online should push that even higher.
“We have a greater share of renewable energy every year,” said Christoph Podewils of Agora. “The power system adapted to this quite nicely. This day shows again that a system with large amounts of renewable energy works fine.”
Critics have argued that because of the daily peaks and troughs of renewable energy—as the sun goes in and out and winds rise and fall—it will always have only a niche role in supplying power to major economies. But that’s looking less and less likely. Germany plans to hit 100% renewable energy by 2050, and Denmark’s wind turbines already at some points generate more electricity than the country consumes, exporting the surplus to Germany, Norway and Sweden.
Germany’s power surplus on Sunday wasn’t all good news. The system is still too rigid for power suppliers and consumers to respond quickly to price signals. Though gas power plants were taken offline, nuclear and coal plants can’t be quickly shut down, so they went on running and had to pay to sell power into the grid for several hours, while industrial customers such as refineries and foundries earned money by consuming electricity.
The image above was taken by Ilmari Karonen and shared under a Creative Commons license on Wikimedia Commons. | – Germany hit a new milestone in renewable energy on Sunday, generating so much power at one point that customers were essentially being paid to turn on their lights or charge their phones. Quartz reports that around 1pm Sunday, about 87% of the power being used in Germany was coming from wind, solar, hydro, and biomass power plants. In 2015, the average was 33%. There was so much power being produced that the cost of electricity briefly dropped to -$149 per megawatt-hour, according to the Independent. The high mark in renewable power was credited to a particularly sunny and windy day and the relatively low energy use of a Sunday morning. Gas power plants were shut down during Sunday's renewable-energy surge, but nuclear and coal plants continued to operate, as it was cheaper for them to produce electricity at a loss than to stop for a few hours, then restart. Sunday shows renewable energy can power a massive economy, ThinkProgress reports. Germany—the fourth-largest economy in the world—is a leader in renewable energy despite getting only as much annual sunshine as Alaska. In comparison, the US receives about 13% of its energy from renewable sources every year. Germany is aiming to be powered by 100% renewable energy by 2050. (Venezuela, meanwhile, is dealing with an energy crisis so pronounced it has cut to a two-day workweek.) |
High-level Republican leaders tell POLITICO that they now believe the top tier of the presidential field is set, and that no major donors or operatives will remain on the sidelines hoping a dream candidate will make a last-minute entry.
These leaders calculate that they are better off to accept the Mitch Daniels-less field as it is and not continue to waffle, letting President Barack Obama continue to build strength while the GOP dawdles.
Text Size -
+
reset POLITICO 44
“The waiting is over,” said Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman and counselor to President George W. Bush. “Things are going to accelerate pretty quickly now.”
“You’re seeing everything you’re going to get,” said a Republican who has talked privately with the leading candidates.
The energy in the party, of course, is currently in the tea-party and social conservative wings—there’s support in those quarters for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who is increasingly looking like a candidate, and Sarah Palin, whose plans are a mystery.
And a group of Iowa GOP donors is scheduled to travel to New Jersey at the end of the month to encourage Gov. Chris Christie to run.
But the GOP establishment is now convinced that Mitt Romney is the front-runner, and that Tim Pawlenty and Jon Huntsman have a narrow window to determine who will become the stronger alternative – the anti-Mitt in the GOP field.
Daniels’ weekend announcement that he will not run is looking like a tectonic moment in a 2012 field that has been murky and fluid.
The Indiana governor, with his access to support and funding from backers of President George W. Bush, was the only possible late entry who could have given Romney an establishment scare.
“It’s possible someone may get in later on,” Gillespie said, “but Republican activists, officials and donors are going to begin picking a horse from the current field. We have a field that will produce a nominee capable of beating Obama next November.”
The leaders, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity in order to be more candid, said would-be Daniels supporters will disperse among the three establishment candidates.
Romney supporters predicted he will scoop up money people, operatives and elected officials who had been waiting for Daniels. But Romney’s inner circle is full, so Pawlenty and Huntsman will be in a race to reach out to Daniels’ prospective bundlers.
“They can say, ‘I understand you were with Mitch. Can we have a conversation? Mitt’s not going to win,’” said one leading fundraiser. “People will take that meeting.”
Each of the three has qualities that may appeal to Daniels partisans. Romney shares the business background, and focus on competence. Pawlenty and Huntsman have an informal style that appeals to economically downscale voters.
Money people will be watching the former Minnesota governor’s announcement tour this week to see if he has a vision, can effectively frame issues rather than simply react, and can generate excitement.
“He has a good, uncomplicated story: ‘As governor, I reduced spending. As governor, I cut taxes,’” said one top operative who is unaligned. “He’s not as compelling or brilliant as Huntsman, but he’s right in the middle of the voter zone for Republican primary- and caucus-goers.”
GOP officials said both Huntsman and Daniels have found a post-ideological way of talking about ideological accomplishments.
Republican officials explained why they do not believe the other oft-mentioned possibilities are positioned to become the nominee, although each may get a flare-up of attention: ||||| Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday that Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan should run for president.
The Virginia Republican, asked Monday if Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, should run, Cantor said “sure,” adding that Ryan shows “real leadership.”
Text Size -
+
reset VIDEO: Thrush on Ryan plan POLITICO 44
It’s a striking statement from the No. 2 House Republican, who is the highest-level lawmaker to call for Ryan to enter the 2012 contest. Other conservative figures started the unofficial draft Ryan push after Gov. Mitch Daniels announced he wouldn’t jump into the race this weekend.
Cantor also said that presidential candidates should “embrace our formula in the Ryan budget,” a stance some candidates have been hesitant to take because of the politically risky proposed changes to Medicare included in the plan.
Ryan and Cantor, along with Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, are close friends and wrote a book together on the future of the Republican party.
Cantor ruled out running himself. “Absolutely not,” he said when asked. “I have no intention or desire to run.” ||||| There’s no GOP operative for whom I have higher regard than former RNC chair and senior Bush advisor Ed Gillespie. He deserves to be taken seriously when he says (according to Politico): "For all intents and purposes, the field is set. The waiting is over. It's possible someone may get in later on, but Republican activists, officials and donors are going to begin picking a horse from the current field, and things are going to accelerate pretty quickly now. We have a field that will produce a nominee capable of beating Obama next November."
But I’d bet he’s wrong. In fact, I hereby offer this bet: I’ll buy Ed the kind of steak dinner a man of his stature deserves, if the nominee a) comes from the current field and b) goes on to beat President Obama. And I’ll include in the current field (since they seem very likely to run) Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman, in addition of course to Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Tim Pawlenty, Ron Paul, Herman Cain, Rick Santorum, and Gary Johnson.
Meanwhile, I get Peking duck courtesy of Ed if the nominee who goes on to beat Obama is someone not now running and not now saying he intends to run. This includes Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, and Sarah Palin—and those who’ve gotten out but who could get back in, such as John Thune, Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels, or Mike Huckabee.
Ed and I agree that President Obama is beatable. But in pursuit of that goal, Ed is willing to go with (or resigned to going with) the current field. I’m holding out (at least for now) for someone (or ones) from the current non-field.
UPDATE: Gillespie emails: "You're on!" | – Paul Ryan has his highest profile fan for his non-existent presidential race yet, reports Politico. The House's No. 2 Republican, and Ryan's fellow self-styled "Young Gun," Eric Cantor thinks the Budget Committee chair should make a run for the White House. "Sure," he replied when asked about a Ryan run, adding that he shows "real leadership." Further, Cantor said, any GOP candidates already in the race would do well to “embrace our formula in the Ryan budget.” But Ryan—or anyone else, for that matter—tossing a hat into the ring isn't too likely, because the field is set, former RNC chair Ed Gillespie tells Politico. “The waiting is over. It's possible someone may get in later on, but Republican activists, officials, and donors are going to begin picking a horse from the current field." Malarkey, says William Kristol over at the Weekly Standard, because the GOP's nominee isn't running yet. And he's looking at you, "Ryan, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, and Sarah Palin—and those who’ve gotten out but who could get back in, such as John Thune, Mike Pence, Mitch Daniels, or Mike Huckabee." Gillespie and Kristol have wagered fancy dinners. |
Officials in New London, Connecticut, turned off the water at the city's new waterfront fountain over the weekend, because people have been using it as a toilet.
The fountain was activated last month and features a sculpture of a whale's tail with water spilling over it, which visitors are encouraged to run through.
City Councilor Michael Buscetto III tells The Day of New London that since the fountain opened, police have responded to calls of people urinating, defecating and showering in the fountain water. He said some people who have cut themselves have also used the fountain to rinse off blood.
City Manager Denise Rose says police are developing a plan to better keep an eye on the area. ||||| Three children pushed mock buttons in front of the Whale’s Tail fountain on Parade Plaza on Saturday, as the city electrician activated the sculpture to send streams of water from the sculpture’s fins.
The event drew a crowd of onlookers, who had been watching or participating in the Hope Week Parade, to the plaza’s steps. The students chosen to push the button were Adeliz Cordero, a fifth grader at Jennings School; Malik Faulkner, a fourth grader at Nathan Hale School; Lashya Lapoint, a first-grader at Winthrop School; and Tian Richardson, a pre-school student at Harbor School who was absent.
Mayor Martin Olsen said the plaza opened a year ago, and the Custom House Maritime Museum held a raffle to see who would turn on the fountain. Bruce Hyde, who had been closely associated with the Parade project, won the raffle but said he wanted to have some students in the city do the honors.
“This is New London at its best,” Olsen said of the gathering.
The event was preceded by the Hope Week Parade, which took dozens of organizations and schools on a march down Broad Street and State Street. The honorary grand marshal of the procession was Sgt. Edwin Rivera, a New London native and Waterford resident who died of wounds sustained in Afghanistan last year. Rivera’s family and friends marched near the head of the parade, followed by several military groups. Yesenia Rivera, Edward’s widow, said he would be honored with the recognition the parade gave him.
“I’m very grateful that they’re doing that for him,” she said.
Rivera’s friends, Denise Williams and Betzaida Rosario, said they were glad to see the community coming out for the event. “To see everybody together for this is tremendous,” said Rosario.
Hope Week continues today with the Chowda Fest at the Custom House, which runs until 2:30 p.m., and a plant sale at the FRESH New London garden behind the Senior Center, which will go until 3 p.m. On Sunday, a noon memorial service at Fort Trumbull State Park will honor the Merchant Marine. On the same day, a candlelight service in memory and support of veterans runs from 7:45 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. at Parade Plaza, with luminaries on sale for $1 apiece starting at 7 p.m. | – The people of New London, Connecticut, have been letting city officials know exactly what they think of their very, very expensive whale tail fountain … and it’s not pretty. The city was forced to shut off water flowing out of the public fountain—an 8,000-pound bronze sculpture built as part of an $11 million project—after receiving calls that people had been urinating, defecating, and showering in it; some people reportedly used the water to rinse off blood after cutting themselves, reports the Day of New London. "It's an $11 million bathroom," complains one New London resident. "I'm concerned with the sanitary aspect of the water," says the city councilor, who notes that the offenders are regulars. "Let's call them frequent fliers,'' he says. The city manager says police are developing a plan to better keep an eye on the area, reports the AP. The fountain features a sculpture of a whale's tail with water spilling over it, which visitors were actually encouraged to run through. Click here to see the fountain for yourself. |
Play Facebook
Twitter
Embed U.S. Military Helicopter Disappears on Aid Mission in Nepal 2:05 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog
A U.S. Marine helicopter supporting earthquake relief in Nepal was declared missing Tuesday with eight people on board, a military spokesman said.
The UH-1Y Huey with two Nepalese soldiers and six U.S. Marines on board disappeared over Charikot, Nepal, at about 10 p.m. local time (12:15 p.m. ET), said U.S. Pacific Command spokesman Army Maj. Dave Eastburn.
Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the U.S. military is hopeful that the missing helicopter landed and is out of communication. A military official told NBC News there is "no indication that there was a crash" but "it is dark," so they could not immediately confirm that.
A U.S. defense official told NBC News that the Marines were equipped with a GPS device, a radio and an emergency beacon, but the helicopter was flying over difficult terrain, which might render the equipment ineffective. The official said the Marines also had a satellite phone, strobes, flares and signal mirrors.
Eastburn said military personnel in Nepal were “responding to the emergency” and the incident was under investigation. Nepalese military forces on the ground near the last known location of the aircraft were also assisting in the search, according to a statement from U.S. Pacific Command.
U.S. and Nepalese-supported aerial searches will start at daybreak, the statement, released just after midnight Nepal time, said.
The helicopter is part of Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469, which is part of the 3rd Marine Air Wing based at Camp Pendleton in California, according to NBC San Diego.
Charikot was one of the villages hardest hit by a 7.3-magnitude quake on Tuesday.
Play Facebook
Twitter
Embed Nepal in Greater Need of Aid After Another Deadly Earthquake Hits 1:59 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog
IN-DEPTH
SOCIAL
4 VTOL Ospreys & 1 Hueys now on-the-ground to help carry relief for #NepalQuake villages. More to come! @USAID pic.twitter.com/r6Be4tov23 — USAID Nepal (@USAIDNepal) May 3, 2015
— Elisha Fieldstadt and Courtney Kube ||||| Story highlights Two U.S. helicopters set out Wednesday morning in Nepal to conduct searches
The helicopter with six U.S. Marines and two Nepalis aboard went missing Tuesday evening
Washington (CNN) A U.S. military helicopter with eight people on board has gone missing in Nepal as Marine personnel worked to help people in the earthquake-ravaged country.
Americans and Nepalis are searching for the Marine helicopter that lost contact Tuesday evening near Charikot, an area roughly 45 miles east of Kathmandu, the capital, Pentagon officials said.
The UH-1 Huey helicopter had six U.S. Marines and two Nepalis aboard at the time, Pentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said.
Radio transmissions indicated its crew was having some type of fuel problem before it went missing, said Warren, who added the U.S. government is "hopeful" the aircraft didn't crash but doesn't know.
The aircraft was assisting with disaster relief in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation on April 25, killing thousands of people. Another strong earthquake hit Nepal on Tuesday afternoon, causing more damage and casualties.
Read More | – A US military helicopter providing humanitarian assistance to earthquake victims in Nepal has gone missing, reports CNN. The Pentagon is providing the barest of details for now, saying only that the chopper with the Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 469 went missing near Charikot, which was one of the hardest-hit villages in today's massive aftershock. NBC News is reporting that six US Marines and two Nepalese soldiers were aboard. |
A farm manager vows to take swift action after Humane Society cameras reveal pig abuse. KUSA's Nick McGurk reports.
Officials are investigating allegations of animal abuse at a Wyoming pig farm after undercover video showed workers kicking pigs and tossing and twirling piglets — incidents that even a co-owner of the farm said looked like major abuses that warranted firings.
The Wyoming Livestock Board is investigating Wyoming Premium Farms in Wheatland, Wyo., and Doug DeRouchey, a co-owner and manager of the farm, told NBC affiliate 9NEWS.com that an investigation was under way after the Humane Society of the United States released the video on Tuesday.
"There's probably possible major abuse," he said, "and that's a termination."
"We will not tolerate abuse," DeRouchey added. "It's just not tolerable. And we've had isolated incidents in the past — and we've terminated the people."
Steve Keigley, sheriff for Platte County, where the farm is located, told msnbc.com that an investigation is under way and being led by the livestock board. The Humane Society provided "quite a bit of documentation," he said, adding that any charges would probably amount to a "high misdemeanor" with a maximum of several months in county jail and a fine.
Humane Society of the United States A Wyoming Premium Farms worker twirls a piglet in a screen grab from the video taken by a Humane Society activist.
A Colorado State University animal sciences professor who reviewed the video blamed management. "That was just poorly supervised employees," Temple Grandin told 9NEWS.com. "That's the kind of stuff that goes on with bad management. I've seen it over and over again."
The Humane Society said the video was shot over 27 days last month by someone who worked there and alleged the farm was a supplier to Tyson Foods.
The food conglomerate denied a direct connection, saying in a statement that:
"Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. "We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson's pork processing business. "We've seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video."
In response, the Humane Society noted that Tyson did not deny purchasing pigs via a company it owns. The group also presented a farm statement that shows older sows were sold to that Tyson affiliate as recently as last month.
"Despite Tyson's misleading claims, the connection between this investigation and Tyson Foods is crystal clear," Matt Prescott, food policy director for the group, told msnbc.com.
The video also shows hundreds of female pigs confined to "gestation crates" that prohibit them from turning around. Those are legal, but the Humane Society has lobbied food companies and supermarkets to stop buying pork from farms that use that system.
McDonald's, Wendy's and Burger King have said they will stop buying from such farms, the Humane Society noted, and Safeway on Monday said it would do the same. Smithfield Foods and Hormel plan to phase out the crates within five years, the group added.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Follow US News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook ||||| An employee is seen kicking a pig in the video (credit: Humane Society of the United States)
WHEATLAND, Wyo. (CBS4) – Wyoming state livestock officials are looking into allegations of animal abuse at pig farm in Wheatland.
The Humane Society of the United States released undercover video they claim was taken at the farm.
The group says the video was taken last month at Wyoming Premium Farms after they received a tip from a whistleblower and sent in an undercover employee. Workers are seen pushing pigs around and one woman even bounces on the back of another. The group also says some of the pigs were abused so badly they died.
The video also shows pigs living in confined gestational cages, unable to move.
Other video shows piglets being tossed around. The video may be disturbing to watch for some people.
The Humane Society says the pig breeding facility is a pork supplier for Tyson Foods.
“The level of abuse was ruthless. As you can see in the video, workers were vicious with animals; punching them in the face, kicking them, cursing at them, jumping up and down on their broken limbs,” Paul Shapiro with the Humane Society of the United States said. “This is the type of abuse that is so extreme that most people would be appalled to bear witness to it.”
The group is demanding changes and wants charges filed.
“I would anticipate there might be charges,” said Jimmy Siler, an investigator with the Wyoming Livestock Board. “I hope we’d have some answers in the next couple days. … It was probably not proper handling of the animals. If I’m a producer I wouldn’t want my workers handling my product that way.”
So far CBS4 has been unable to speak directly with representatives of Wyoming Premium Farms or from Tyson Foods, but both groups released the following statements on Tuesday.
The statement from Wyoming Premium Farms is as follows:
The video of a Wyoming Premium Farms sow barn posted online this morning by HSUS shows some practices that are not and will not be tolerated. The owners and managers of the farm are investigating the incidents shown in the video and wish to assure everyone we will take action to correct all problems and to deal appropriately with any employees that were involved.
I was first made aware of the situation when I was contacted on Friday by the Wyoming Livestock Board regarding a video the board had received. On Monday, I drove to Cheyenne to meet with the board and to view a video from the HSUS. Evidently, HSUS had placed an undercover spy in our workforce.
I was told that the undercover spy had pointed out certain items that she had noticed while working there to different people at the farm. However, never once did she express any concerns to me, the general manager and the person responsible for hiring her.
The video I saw at the Wyoming Livestock Board yesterday was troubling, but it did not contain some of the disturbing scenes shown in the video HSUS put online this morning. While still sitting at the Livestock Board’s conference table on Monday, I called the farm manager and asked him if he was made aware of comments from the employee we knew as Whitney Warrington. He said because she was new she always seemed to have new-person type of questions. He said he could not recall everything she said, but added he definitely would have remembered if anything about animal abuse had come out of her mouth.
After my meeting in Cheyenne, I contacted the farm managers and instructed them to conduct a meeting immediately to once again stress with our workers the importance of animal welfare. I then contacted our consulting veterinarian and asked him to join me for an unannounced herd visit. That visit occurred this morning. Our veterinarian also suggested we retain an independent 3rd party to review everything we do on our farm to give us comments and recommendations. We are doing that.
I take these allegations seriously. I am disappointed I did not hear them directly from her while she was working on our farm so we could have addressed any concerns immediately. We take the pork industry’s We Care initiative seriously and are committed to the well-being of all our animals and to the safety of our workers.
Once again, we will swiftly address any problems that are identified.
Doug DeRouchey
The statement from Tyson Foods is as follows:
Contrary to the impression left by HSUS, there is no connection between this Wyoming farm and the pork that we process. Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants.
We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business.
We’ve seen the video and we are appalled by the apparent mistreatment of the animals. We do not condone for any reason this kind of mistreatment of animals shown in the video.
Virtually all of the hogs Tyson buys for our processing plants come from thousands of independent farm families who use both individual and group housing. We require all hog farmers who supply us to be certified in the pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, which incorporates rigid animal well-being standards and is part of the industry’s ‘We Care’ responsible pork initiative. We validate enrollment and audit conformance to these standards. Farms that do not conform will be eliminated from our supply chain.
For information on the pork industry’s ‘We Care’ responsible pork initiative, go to porkcares.com. ||||| Piglets are haphazardly swung in circles, sows are beaten, and animals squirm with untreated abscesses in new footage alleging animal abuse at a Wyoming pig breeding facility.
The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), an animal advocacy group, hired an undercover investigator to spend the month of April 2012 working at a Wyoming Premium Farms facility in Wheatland, Wyo.
HSUS identified one pig in its video on whose back, it said, a worker sat and bounced even though the pig had a broken leg. Other animals suffered from rectal and uterine prolapses.
Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS, described on a press call how one pig was forced to give birth on a set date. "The worker intended to stick his arm in the animal's uterus to pull out the piglets, but instead went into her anus and caused the prolapse there. This animal lived another 11 days in this condition," he said.
According to HSUS, the farm is owned by Denver-based Itoham America Inc., which HSUS says sells to Tyson Foods, the world’s second largest meat processor. Itoham America could not be reached by phone.
Last week, HSUS said, it notified local authorities of the alleged abuse and urged the Platte County sheriff’s office to pursue criminal charges. The sheriff's office did not return HuffPost's request for comment, but Pacelle said he was "very pleased with their interest and their degree of scrutiny."
Wyoming Premium Farms' website states that its facilities "consist of a breeding farm housing over 5,000 sows, a nursery and two finishers with capacity to finish all pigs, feedmill to mix all feed required and a corporate office." The farms were established in 1995 "with the purpose of producing healthy pigs in a clean environment." The company did not return requests for comment.
Tyson Foods spokesman Worth Sparkman emailed a statement to HuffPost, saying the company was "appalled" by the video and denying any connection between the Wyoming farm and the pork processed by Tyson. "Tyson Foods does not buy any of the hogs raised on this farm for our pork processing plants. We do have a small, but separate hog buying business that buys aged sows; however, these animals are subsequently sold to other companies and are not used in Tyson’s pork processing business," the statement said.
Sparkman clarified in a follow-up email: "A company that we own has purchased hogs from the farm. We will not purchase from this farm until we've had a chance to investigate."
The original statement also says that all hog suppliers selling to Tyson must be certified by the pork industry’s Pork Quality Assurance Plus program, adding, "Farms that do not conform will be eliminated from our supply chain."
In April, HSUS filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, arguing that the National Pork Producers Council's public descriptions of that quality assurance program make false claims and constitute deceptive advertising.
The National Pork Producers Council hit back on its website, saying, "The FTC complaint is the latest attack by animal-rights activists on America's hog farmers, an assault that seems obviously in response to the U.S. pork industry's strident opposition to congressional legislation that would allow federal bureaucrats to tell farmers how to raise and care for their animals."
To address both the specific alleged abuse at Wyoming Premium Farms and broader issues of animal welfare, Pacelle said, the pork industry should abandon the use of gestation crates -- small enclosures in which sows are kept during pregnancy -- and local law enforcement should vigorously enforce anti-cruelty laws.
McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Safeway and Burger King have all declared a goal of ridding gestation crates from their supply chains. Smithfield Foods, Hormel and Cargill are also making efforts to lower the number of company-owned operations using the devices. According to HSUS, eight U.S. states have passed laws to phase out gestation crates.
More generally, no federal law protects farm animals from cruelty while they are on farms, and some states exempt farm animals from their anti-cruelty laws. HSUS Chief Counsel Jonathan Lovvorn told HuffPost that Wyoming's law falls somewhere in the middle among anti-cruelty statutes. "The state's anti-cruelty statute applies to all animals, which is why the HSUS has asked local law enforcement to prosecute animal cruelty," he said, adding, "What we've seen on this video is animal cruelty by virtually any state's definition -- the intentional kicking, throwing, stomping, beating of animals for the purpose of inflicting pain and suffering."
Earlier this year, HSUS filed complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission and the FTC after another undercover investigation suggested mistreatment at a pig breeding facility linked to Walmart. In an unrelated incident this year, Whole Foods severed ties with a hatchery after Compassion Over Killing's undercover video showed alleged abuse, although the company wouldn't say whether its decision was based on the abuse allegations.
The use of such videos to reveal abuses at factory farms is threatened. In March, Iowa made it illegal to gain access to a farm facility under false pretenses, and other states have considered similar laws.
"If those laws existed [in Wyoming]," Lovvorn argued, "the cruelty at this facility would have continued forever with no public knowledge, no law enforcement and no remedial action." | – Wyoming officials are investigating alleged animal abuse at a pig farm after a secret video of conditions there was released. In the footage, workers are seen punching, kicking, and jumping on pigs and tossing piglets, reports CBS in Denver. Other pigs have untreated abscesses, notes the Huffington Post. The footage was recorded last month by a spy sent in by the Humane Society, which had been alerted by a whistleblower. “I would anticipate there might be charges,” said an investigator from the Wyoming Livestock Board. A statement from Wyoming Premium Farms said it was investigating the incident and that abuses seen in the video would not be tolerated. "That was just poorly supervised employees," an animal sciences professor who viewed the video told MSNBC. "That's the kind of stuff that goes on with bad management. I've seen it over and over again." Click for more on the story. |
President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpAir Force awards 0M contract for initial Air Force One design US ambassador to UK: You’ll like Trump 'when you get to know him' Dems: Flynn did not disclose Middle East trip MORE on Wednesday named Carl Icahn to serve as a special adviser on issues relating to regulatory reform.
In a statement, the president-elect praised Icahn as one of the "word's greatest businessmen."
"He is not only a brilliant negotiator, but also someone who is innately able to predict the future especially having to do with finances and economies," Trump said in a statement.
"His help on the strangling regulations that our country is faced with will be invaluable.”
ADVERTISEMENT Icahn will be advising Trump "in his individual capacity and will not be serving as a federal employee or a Special Government Employee and will not have any specific duties," according to the release.
That means he is free from conflict-of-interest rules and will not have to separate himself from his business interests, as he won't be paid.
At one point or another, he's held substantial or controlling positions in RJR Nabisco, Texaco, Philips Petroleum, Western Union, Viacom, Revlon, Time Warner, Motorola, Dell, Netflix, Apple and eBay.
Those ties may now raise conflict-of-interest questions — for example, the 80-year-old who controls an oil refiner and has fought with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) helped Trump vet candidates to run that agency, according to the Wall Street Journal.
And Icahn is helping select the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Journal added.
According to the report, candidates have reached out to him, and he is interviewing others per Trump's request.
The billionaire investor was a strong supporter of the president-elect from the beginning of his presidential campaign and said Wednesday in a statement he's "proud" to serve under the president-elect. “Under President Obama, America’s business owners have been crippled by over $1 trillion in new regulations and over 750 billion hours dealing with paperwork," Icahn said.
"It’s time to break free of excessive regulation and let our entrepreneurs do what they do best: create jobs and support communities. President-elect Trump is serious about helping American families, and regulatory reform will be a critical component of making America work again.”
The Democratic National Committee panned the pick Wednesday evening, calling it "quid-pro-quo" and pointing out that Icahn will "be in charge of overseeing regulatory overhauls while simultaneously controlling or owning stock in companies that could benefit from the changes he makes."
"It looks like Trump isn’t the only billionaire set to profit off of the presidency," DNC Deputy Communications Director Eric Walker said.
“The corrupt nature of this arrangement cannot be understated. Voters who wanted Trump to drain the swamp just got another face full of mud.”
Updated 5:51 p.m. ||||| WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald J. Trump on Wednesday named a strident China critic, Peter Navarro, to lead a new White House office overseeing American trade and industrial policy, in the latest sign that Mr. Trump is moving to reshape relations between the world’s two largest economies.
Mr. Trump also said the billionaire investor Carl Icahn would serve as a special adviser on regulatory issues, another area of economic policy in which the president-elect wants big changes.
The appointments reflect Mr. Trump’s ambition to increase economic growth by hammering at what he regards as critical roadblocks. He has promised to expand American manufacturing by reducing federal regulation and by preventing what he has described as unfair competition from Chinese manufacturers. The choices of Mr. Navarro and Mr. Icahn also reflect Mr. Trump’s manifest preference for advisers who are loyal, and who do not have government experience. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Donald Trump's election is attracting a great deal of interest in China
US President-elect Donald Trump has appointed economist Peter Navarro, a fierce critic of China, as the head of a new national trade body.
He will lead the White House National Trade Council, and serve as director of trade and industrial policy.
Mr Navarro advised Mr Trump during the campaign. His books include The Coming China Wars and Death by China.
Mr Trump has also named billionaire investor Carl Icahn to become a special adviser on regulatory reform.
Mr Icahn, who will not be a federal employee, has said that US businesses are being "crippled" by excessive regulations.
A statement from Mr Trump's transition team said the appointment of Peter Navarro showed his "determination to make American manufacturing great again".
During the election, the president-elect made trade issues a core campaign issue, criticising deals made with countries like China and Mexico.
Mr Trump has already angered China by speaking to the Taiwanese president by phone, in apparent contradiction with America's "one China" policy.
He has also criticised China on Twitter, recently accusing it of deliberately devaluing its currency, among other claims.
The latest move came as Chinese online retailer Alibaba was placed back on the US list of "notorious markets" over counterfeit goods sales.
Alibaba Group President Michael Evans questioned whether the move was "based on actual facts or influenced by the current political climate".
Image copyright University of California, Irvine Image caption Mr Navarro is also an economics professor at the University of California, Irvine
Mr Navarro adapted his book Death by China into a documentary film narrated by Martin Sheen. It is available to watch for free on YouTube.
In its preamble, he urges viewers "help defend America and protect your family - don't buy 'Made in China'."
The film highlights the sustained loss of American manufacturing jobs at a time of Chinese economic growth, as well as the environmental impact of Chinese industry.
Many other economists, however, fear that aggressive moves against Chinese trade could prompt a trade war, with repercussions on both sides.
Peter Navarro - in his own words
In an article in March entitled "The Four Silver Bullets of Trumpnomics", he argued that China's "unfettered access" to US markets had cost the US economy more than 20 million new jobs
In May he said there were "growing signs that the collapse of China... may soon be at hand" and accused Beijing of illegal export subsidies, currency manipulation, intellectual-property theft and "sweatshop labour"
Writing in May, he said China's "military and civilian hackers seek to steal the obligatory blueprints and proprietary manufacturing processes of American businesses large and small", adding: "China's cyber spies will also vacuum up everything from emails, contact lists, and test results to pricing information"
He and another Trump adviser, Alexander Gray, reiterated in November that allowing China into the World Trade Organization had weakened America's manufacturing base "and ability to defend ourselves and our allies"
In another article, he accused China of "empire building" in the South China Sea by creating artificial islands as "fortress garrisons... in a coercive military machine".
The view from China - by BBC Monitoring
Chinese media highlight Mr Navarro's strongly held views and his earlier literature on China. Many mention his book, Death By China, which alleges that the US is threatened by China's economic dominance.
Shanghai-based website Observer Net says Mr Navarro is well known as "an economist who advocates a tough stance on China". Phoenix News calls him a "Taiwan-friendly official".
But media largely play down any major shake-ups between the two countries.
Popular news site The Paper quotes trade official Bai Ming as saying that "appointing Navarro will of course increase the pressure on Sino-US trade" but says that "the United States' own national interests" will also be taken into account. ||||| Donald Trump selected two key figures for his economic team on Wednesday, both of whom could jolt Washington’s approach to trade and regulation.
The president-elect announced the creation of a new National Trade Council inside the White House to facilitate industrial policy and named an ardent skeptic of trade with China, economist Peter Navarro, to head it.
Later,... | – Donald Trump has chosen the author of Death by China and The Coming China Wars to lead a new national trade body, signaling that he isn't planning to budge on the anti-China rhetoric of the campaign trail. Economist Peter Navarro, a leading China hawk, has been appointed head of the White House National Trade Council, a move the transition team says shows Trump's "determination to make American manufacturing great again," the BBC reports. Navarro, 67, is a professor at the University of California-Irvine. He has long warned about globalization and was an adviser to the Trump campaign. The Wall Street Journal notes that labor groups will welcome the appointment, though some economists say Navarro is making elementary mistakes when he warns about China trade stifling US growth. In another controversial Trump appointment Wednesday, billionaire investor Carl Icahn was named as a special adviser on regulatory issues, which the Journal notes has major implications in light of Trump's promises to get rid of 90% of federal regulations. Critics say there are clearly conflicts of interest in appointing a leading corporate investor to rewrite regulations affecting corporations, the New York Times reports. "The corrupt nature of this arrangement cannot be understated," a DNC spokesman said. "Voters who wanted Trump to drain the swamp just got another face full of mud." The Hill reports that the transition team says Icahn will be advising "in his individual capacity and will not be serving as a federal employee," meaning he will be exempt from conflict-of-interest regulations. |
Russia Set To Redefine Treason, Sparking Fears
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alexei Nikolsky/AP/RIA-Novosti Alexei Nikolsky/AP/RIA-Novosti
Russia's parliament has approved an expanded legal definition of high treason, prompting accusations that President Vladimir Putin's government wants to further crack down on opponents.
Supporters say the proposed changes bring Russia's law up-to-date and will help the country's security service counter modern forms of spying and interference by foreign governments.
Opponents, including human rights groups, say the bill's language has been made so vague that it could potentially be used to punish almost any Russian who has contacts with foreigners
Russia's current law on treason makes it illegal to steal state secrets or to help a foreign government in some way that could harm Russia's security.
The proposed law expands that definition to include "giving financial, technical, consulting or other help" to foreign countries or organizations.
And it adds nongovernmental organizations and international groups to the list of potentially treasonous contacts.
The measure sailed through both houses of Russia's parliament, which is dominated by Putin's United Russia party, despite a storm of protest from opposition lawmakers such as Ilya Ponomaryov.
The bill will become law if Putin signs it, which he is widely expected to do.
Ponomaryov, a deputy from the party A Just Russia, called the legislation a step in the wrong direction — a move that would give the Federal Security Service virtual blanket authority to investigate and prosecute dissenting voices.
Supporters of the new law include Igor Korotchenko, a national security analyst and chairman of the public advisory council to Russia's Ministry of Defense.
Korotchenko has high praise for the American FBI, especially for its success in uncovering Russian spies such as Robert Hanson and Anna Chapman.
He says the effectiveness of America's intelligence agencies was further enhanced by the powers they were given after the 9/11 attacks.
Korotchenko says he simply wants Russia's Federal Security Service to have the same broad powers as its American counterpart.
But critics say it's not the powers but the lack of specifics that make the measure dangerous.
"The interesting thing about this law is that you don't need to actually implement it or have people arrested because of the new law. You just need to pass the law and people will be more cautious," says Andrei Soldatov, the editor of Agentura, an online watchdog journal about the Russian security services.
Soldatov says he's already seen his colleagues — security experts and Russian journalists — becoming more cautious about speaking with or making contacts with foreigners.
He points to a "series" of new laws that he says have had a chilling effect on critics of the government. They include a law passed this summer that requires groups that receive money from foreign countries to register as "foreign agents," a term that has profoundly negative implications in Russia — almost amounting to "spy."
The proposed changes in the treason law have drawn sharp criticism from rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, and from the European Union.
Catherine Ashton, the EU's foreign policy chief, said the measure appears designed to reduce the scope for civil society in Russia. She noted that Russians who have contact with foreigners could face up to 20 years in prison. ||||| Russian President Putin's work 'not affected' by injury
Continue reading the main story Related Stories
Vladimir Putin's spokesman has admitted that Russia's president is suffering from an injury, but denied media reports that it is affecting his work.
Dmitry Peskov said the president had "pulled a muscle", adding that it was sports-related.
Mr Peskov dismissed claims that the injury had got worse after Mr Putin's flight last month with Siberian cranes.
Mr Putin, 60, has recently postponed a series of foreign trips, and media reports suggested he had a back injury.
And in a recent TV documentary made for his birthday, the Russian leader was seen limping.
'Traffic jam' concern
On Thursday, Mr Peskov told Russia's Kommersant FM radio station that his boss indeed had "an old injury".
"It's a common sports injury - Vladimir Putin pulled a muscle," the spokesman said, without adding any details about where the injury was.
The speculation in Russia's media started last week after Mr Putin had put off a summit with other leaders of counties from the former Soviet Union. He has also postponed trips to Bulgaria and Turkey.
But Mr Peskov said that the dates for those visits "have not been fixed".
Kremlin officials earlier denied that the real reason for the much-curtailed schedule is that the president is suffering from a bad back and may need an operation, the BBC's Daniel Sandford in Moscow reports.
Mr Peskov also said the president had hardly left his country house outside Moscow in the past two weeks because he did not like his convoy causing traffic jams in central Moscow.
Mr Putin - a black belt in judo - has over the years portrayed himself as a macho man.
Russia's state-run TV has shown videos of him tagging whales, swimming in freezing waters, horse-riding barechested and even saving a TV crew from a tiger. ||||| Did Vladimir Putin's flight with a flock of cranes end up grounding him? The Russian president's spokesman says no.
In recent weeks, Putin has rarely left his official residence, sparking speculation that illness or injury had laid him low.
On Thursday, the respected newspaper Vedomosti cited unnamed Kremlin-connected sources saying Putin's September flight in a motorized hang-glider accompany migrating cranes had aggravated an old injury.
But his spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the state news agency RIA Novosti that Putin had an old injury, but it was not connected to the highly publicized flight.
Peskov was quoted as saying Putin was making only infrequent trips to the Kremlin because he didn't want his motorcade to disrupt Moscow's notoriously bad traffic.
The presidential motorcade forces the shutdown of large stretches of highway, an inconvenience that many irritated drivers mark by blaring their horns angrily as the president's car races past.
Putin has also put off several expected trips abroad, including to India, Turkey and Bulgaria. The Interfax news agency cited Peskov as saying there was no single reason behind those changes.
The hang-glider flight with the cranes, which took place in September in Vladivostok, was one of Putin's trademark adventurous media events. The 60-year-old Russian leader has assiduously cultivated an image of vigor and daring, including being shown swimming in a Siberian river and petting a tranquilized polar bear in the Arctic.
Putin also is a skier and a judo aficionado.
"Indeed he pulled a muscle. It happened before Vladivostok. He was suffering from some muscle pain then," Peskov said, according to Interfax.
"Actually, we have never tried to conceal it because any athlete has lots of injuries, which, however, do not mean any restrictions of his activities," Peskov said. | – Breaking news out of Russia: Vladimir Putin pulled a muscle. But the Kremlin insists it didn't happen while flying with birds. Putin, as you'll remember, took to the skies last month, leading a flock of endangered Siberian cranes to their winter feeding grounds. Rumors about the president's health have been gaining ground since, due to the fact that he postponed trips abroad and hadn't left home much lately, reports the BBC and AP. Then came a report today from the respected Vedomosti newspaper that cited anonymous sources who said the flight caused fresh harm to an old injury. Not exactly, countered the Kremlin. "It's a common sports injury—Vladimir Putin pulled a muscle," his rep said, without elaborating further on that injury. But the rep did give a quirky explanation for the president's recent home-bound ways: Putin apparently hasn't wanted to leave his country home these last two weeks because he didn't want his motorcade to cause traffic jams upon entry in Moscow. In more contentious Russian news, NPR reports that Putin is expected to sign a new bill that widens the country's definition of high treason to include "giving financial, technical, consulting, or other help" to other countries or foreign groups. Critics say such vague language could be applied to any member of the opposition who interacts with foreigners. |
SALINA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas man and a team of experts from around the country are teaming up to refurbish a Cold War-era submarine and put it back into the deep seas for exploration and filming.
Scott Waters, 29, of Salina, has a team of 10 experts who gather a few times a year north of Salina to tear apart and modernize a submarine that is one of the few in the world capable of diving 8,000 feet below the ocean's surface.
Waters, the head of his family's chain of hardware stores, bought the Pisces IV submarine for $30,000 in December and hauled it home from Wisconsin, where it had been in storage for 25 years, The Kansas City Star reported (http://bit.ly/2fZKQbD ).
That came after Waters, who some call "the crazy submarine guy," took five years to build a two-man submarine from scratch. He recently put the "Trustworthy," which can go 350 feet deep, in Milford Lake. It worked but Waters said he only saw old tires, tree branches and a few catfish.
He'll tear apart the Pisces IV, which had been used for research and oil exploration in the North Sea, put it back together with digital technology to the tune of $250,000 and offer it for scientific research and to the film industry.
His team includes engineers, scientists and master machinists. Waters believes the submarine will be ready to launch in two years, though it'll be first be tested at the University of Pennsylvania. It will have room for a pilot and three passengers and will be powered by two 7-horsepower thrusters that can propel it at 3 knots.
Grace C. Young, the project's science ambassador, earned an engineering degree at MIT and is doing thesis work on oceanic imagery at the University of Oxford in England.
She and the others are working with Waters because "we all believe in what Scott's doing. I'm very interested in climate change, and the oceans are a big part of that. This is very important: This submarine and what he wants to do can change the world."
John Smith, science director for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, or HURL, was surprised to learn that Pisces VI was in Kansas. The group owns Pisces IV and V and once tried to acquire Pisces VI.
"The VI is actually the deepest-rated one and that's why we were interested in it," said Smith. "We didn't know this guy had it. It's a classic sub, but what he wants to do won't be easy."
When Waters gets the sub ocean-ready, it will have to be approved by the American Bureau of Shipping, which sets standards for maritime safety and operations.
___
Information from: The Kansas City Star, http://www.kcstar.com ||||| SHARE COPY LINK Scott Waters bought a deep sea submersible that was in storage and has formed a team to refit the 1970s era submarine with modern technology. He plans on it being used for scientific research or the film industry. Keith Myers The Kansas City Star
Scott Waters bought a deep sea submersible that was in storage and has formed a team to refit the 1970s era submarine with modern technology. He plans on it being used for scientific research or the film industry. Keith Myers The Kansas City Star | – A Kansas man and 10 experts are refurbishing a Cold War-era submarine to put it back into the deep seas for exploration. Scott Waters, 29, of Salina, has a team that gathers a few times a year north of Salina to tear apart and modernize a submarine that is one of the few in the world capable of diving 8,000 feet below the ocean's surface. Waters, the head of his family's hardware store chain, bought the Pisces VI submarine for $30,000 in December and hauled it home from Wisconsin, where it had been in storage for 25 years, the Kansas City Star reported. That came after Waters, who some call "the crazy submarine guy," took five years to build a two-man submarine from scratch. He recently put the "Trustworthy," which can go 350 feet deep, in Milford Lake. It worked but Waters said he only saw old tires, tree branches, and a few catfish, reports the AP. He'll tear apart the Pisces VI, which had been used for oil exploration in the North Sea, put it back together with digital technology to the tune of $250,000 and offer it for scientific research and to the film industry. Waters believes the sub will be ready to launch in two years. It will have room for a pilot and three passengers. Grace Young, the project's science ambassador, says she's working with Waters because "we all believe in what Scott's doing. I'm very interested in climate change, and the oceans are a big part of that. This is very important: This submarine and what he wants to do can change the world." John Smith, science director for the Hawaii Undersea Research Laboratory, was surprised to learn that Pisces VI was in Kansas. The group owns Pisces IV and V and once tried to acquire the VI. "(It's) actually the deepest-rated one and that's why we were interested in it. We didn't know this guy had it. It's a classic sub, but what he wants to do won't be easy." |
A portrait of then-Sen. Barack Obama, his gaze tilted upward, rendered in red, white, and blue became the enduring image of his 2008 presidential campaign. The now-iconic poster by Shephard Fairey read simply: "Hope."
Nine years later, the artist has created a new set of images for this inauguration, none of which feature the incoming president. Under the banner of "We the People," the set of three posters each come with a different message: "defend dignity," “greater than fear,” and “protect each other.”
Instead of President-elect Donald Trump's squinty glare, Fairey featured Latina, Muslim, and African-American women.
The Amplifier Foundation, a non-profit group that aims to harness artwork for social change movements, commissioned Fairey's works as well as two other posters by artists Ernesto Yerena and Jessica Sabogal.
"This moment calls for new images to disrupt the rising tide of hate and fear. We, the people, need to come together under new symbols of hope," the Amplifier Foundation says in a Kickstarter video aimed at raising $60,000 to distribute the images. Contributors have already pledged more than 20 times that amount, at $1.3 million and counting.
The group plans to publish the images as full page ads in tomorrow's edition of The Washington Post and distribute them at Metro stations and other drop spots.
Before the election, Fairey released a red, black, and white poster of the lower half of Trump's face under the word "Demagogue." But he told PBS that the time had passed for attacking the now president-elect.
"We thought it was the right time to make a campaign that’s about diversity and inclusion, about people seeing the common bonds we have, and our connections as human beings," Fairey said. "The idea was to take back a lot of this patriotic language in a way that we see is positive and progressive, and not let it be hijacked by people who want to say that the American flag or American concepts only represent one narrow way of thinking."
While Fairey's Obama poster led to a lawsuit with the Associated Press over the photograph used as the source material, the artist worked directly with photographers this time.
"The Muslim woman was shot by Ridwan Adhami, who is an accomplished photographer and proud Muslim, the Latina woman was shot by Arlene Mejorado, a San Antonio- based artist and photographer and proud first-generation American, and the African-American kid was shot by Delphine Diallo, a French and Senegalese photographer based in New York," he told PBS. "We realized that this has got to be a diverse coalition of artists for us to do this, and that while it’s good for us to be allies, this campaign really has to be authentically diverse."
Fairey, Yerena, and Sabogal's posters are also available for free to print. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Eight years ago, a poster designed by Shepard Fairey became the iconic image of the 2008 presidential campaign. The “HOPE” poster, featuring an image of Barack Obama, began with a print run of just 350, and spread after it was distributed on the street, at rallies and online. Now, the graphic artist, muralist, illustrator and activist is back with another street art campaign called “We the People” for President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration. But this time, the new president’s face won’t be on it.
Shepard has created three portraits for the campaign; two other artists, Colombian American muralist Jessica Sabogal and and Chicano graphic artist Ernesto Yerena, have each made one more. Together, they hope the faces of “We the People” — standing in for traditionally marginalized groups or those specifically targeted during Trump’s presidential campaign — will flood Washington, D.C., on Inauguration Day.
Fairey is collaborating with the Amplifier Foundation, a nonprofit that works to amplify grassroots movements and which commissioned the project. After learning that large-sized signs were prohibited at Inauguration, Amplifier came up with a hack to distribute the posters. Their plan: to buy full-page ads in the Washington Post on Jan. 20 that feature the “We the People” images, which can be torn out and carried as placards, or hung and posted around town. The posters will also be distributed at metro stops, from moving vans and other drop spots on Inauguration Day, as well as posted online for free download. A Kickstarter campaign for “We the People” has raised more than $148,000 since it was launched Tuesday night.
Fairey talked with PBS NewsHour by phone Wednesday about the “We the People” campaign. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
During the primary elections, Fairey supported Bernie Sanders for president. Later, he supported Hillary Clinton, but said he didn’t find her inspiring enough to draw. After Trump was elected, Fairey wrote on his website that the country had taken “a dark turn” in rewarding incivility. Now, there’s “We the People.” How did the campaign come to be?
SHEPARD FAIREY: Aaron Huey [a well-known photojournalist] and I have worked on projects before. Aaron has done a number of images around Native American rights. But he’s [a photographer who’s] not just making cool imagery. He’s heavily invested in a meaningful way. And then he started this new foundation called Amplifier. We were already collaborating, but then when Trump was elected, which neither of us expected to happen, we realized a lot of people are going to be vulnerable. There is a lot of division right now. Trump is not a healer. Art, on the other hand, is healing and inclusive, whether topically it celebrates humanity, or whether it’s just compelling visuals to make a human connection.
And so we thought it was the right time to make a campaign that’s about diversity and inclusion, about people seeing the common bonds we have, and our connections as human beings. The idea was to take back a lot of this patriotic language in a way that we see is positive and progressive, and not let it be hijacked by people who want to say that the American flag or American concepts only represent one narrow way of thinking.
After the Obama HOPE poster went viral, Shepard filed a preemptive suit against the Associated Press as it prepared to accuse him of copyright infringement for using one of their freelance photographer’s images of the president without permission. The Associated Press then filed a countersuit. Ultimately, they settled out of court, and Fairey also had to pay a hefty fine. For “We the People,” Fairey collaborated directly with photographers.
SHEPARD FAIREY: All the subjects [in “We the People”] were photographed by people who relate to them somehow. The Muslim woman was shot by Ridwan Adhami, who is an accomplished photographer and proud Muslim, the Latina woman was shot by Arlene Mejorado, a San Antonio- based artist and photographer and proud first-generation American, and the African-American kid was shot by Delphine Diallo, a French and Senegalese photographer based in New York. We realized that this has got to be a diverse coalition of artists for us to do this, and that while it’s good for us to be allies, this campaign really has to be authentically diverse.
“When the status quo is fearful and scapegoating, then the most punk rock you can be is finding common ground with your fellow human beings.”
We’re getting great traction with the Kickstarter already, and we want to fund an ongoing and expanding range of creative projects, with the next wave of people from all different communities. We want to allow people to express all their social/political views around a number of issues — LGBT rights, women’s rights — because a number of those things are going to be under attack under Trump.
In the original Obama poster, Fairey printed the words “hope” “change” and “progress” under Obama’s photo — but it was the word “hope” that ultimately took off. For “We the People,” he’s chosen the phrases “defend dignity” “greater than fear” and “protect each other.”
SHEPARD FAIREY: We came to a conclusion as a group that in the language [for these posters] we want to say, “We reject fear-mongering and exclusion.” But we also wanted to do it in a way that doesn’t leave the door open for the Fox News type to say, “This is reverse racism”….
It’s hard to encapsulate the complexity of what we’re facing, going into this Trump presidency, in three images. But we chose three groups that are vulnerable. In the history of the U.S., there are a lot of people who fled persecution from Europe on the basis of religious identities. The idea of championing the ideals of our forefathers and then limiting the movement of Muslims — it’s so confounding that this is not riling more people up. And so it’s really time do some [work] that I think is a counterargument to that, and that’s not based on division but based on inclusion. We’ve seen where division has got us.
Just before the election this past November, Fairey created a poster called “Demagogue,” in collaboration with the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand, who released a song by the same name. The poster portrayed Trump, mouth open, in red and black imagery that Fairey said was meant to be Orwellian.
SHEPARD FAIREY: I did the “Demagogue” poster a month and a half before the election. I think [the book] “1984” is a really important work, and presenting Trump as a form of Big Brother, I think was antagonistic but not over the top. At this point, though, we have Trump, so what’s the antidote? The antidote is not attacking Trump more.
During [the tenure of President George W.] Bush, I attacked Bush, and I attacked the war on Iraq. I’ve learned from that. Back then, I got a pat on the back from my peers who already agreed with me for that work, but as for changing people’s minds, I’m not really sure we did that. When people get defensive, I think that really limits their ability to change their mind. So my solutions in this campaign are different.
While the HOPE poster was made in support of Obama, and “We the People” in protest of Trump, Fairey says both have a hopeful message.
SHEPARD FAIREY: The Obama poster was very sincere. I come from this rebellious subculture, where sincerity and earnestness are not always really welcome. I come from punk rock. But sometimes, [sincerity and earnestness] means you are going against the grain. When the status quo is fearful and scapegoating, then the most punk rock you can be is finding common ground with your fellow human beings.
“As much as I appreciate social media and the way it democratizes things….When people get out there and they hold something, it’s different.”
I’m also at this point in my life where I’m a really big believer in civility. There’s nothing wrong with disruption that’s ethically sound and well thought-out. Going to a town hall meeting and being uncivil is not something to be proud of.
The Clash are big role models of mine, and Rage Against the Machine. Even though these guys are angry, all their arguments are grounded in humanitarianism.… But sometimes I’m cautious to make sure that my style of my delivery doesn’t eclipse the content of my delivery.
I’m sort of doing this inside-outside strategy. Sometimes I’m very happy to do things pushing the envelope as an outsider. Other times it’s more constructive to infiltrate and make change within their own machinery and language, with subversive intent. Like in “We the People.”
After the inauguration, “We the People” will also send the five images to the new president as postcards. Aaron Huey said it was a last-minute addition to the campaign to “get the art in front of the people who need to see it most.” But Fairey hopes that by that time, the images will already have been distributed widely.
SHEPARD FAIREY: Aaron [Huey] was looking at my existing model of giving away free prints and free digital downloads. [“We the People” is] an evolution of that, but a little more ambitious, with the Washington Post ad.
As much as I appreciate social media and the way it democratizes things, with the physical side, there’s an impact that’s longer-lasting and more meaningful, which is why I continue to do things on the street, and make physical prints. When people get out there and they hold something, it’s different. The kind of bonds you form with other people are more meaningful, when there are actual bodies in close proximity and words being exchanged and molecules colliding.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify details of the lawsuit involving Fairey and the Associated Press, and to add additional information about the photographers. ||||| WE BELIEVE ART HAS THE POWER TO WAKE PEOPLE UP.
Eight years ago, the artist Shepard Fairey made the iconic image that captured a period of HOPE in America. Today we are in a very different moment, one that requires new images that reject the hate, fear, and open racism that were normalized during the 2016 presidential campaign. So on Inauguration Day, We the People will flood Washington, DC with NEW symbols of hope.
This art has been already been commissioned by the Amplifier Foundation. Some of the greatest activist artists working today, including Shepard, Ernesto Yerena, and Jessica Sabogal, have collaborated with photographers to create a series of images that capture the shared humanity of our diverse America.
Now the tricky part: printing and distributing these images on a massive scale in time for Inauguration.
Much of Washington will be locked down on Inauguration Day, and in some areas there will be severe restrictions on signs and banners. But we've figured out a hack. It's called the newspaper! On January 20th, if this campaign succeeds, we're going to take out full-page ads in the Washington Post with these images, so that people across the capitol and across the country will be able to carry them into the streets, hang them in windows, or paste them on walls.
Every dollar you put into this campaign will buy six ads printed and distributed for us.
Amplifier will also distribute these images as large placards throughout DC at Metro stops, out the back of moving vans, at drop spots to be announced in the coming week via our social media feeds, and, on January 19, as free downloads for you to print and share as you like.
And for every donation over $5 we will even send a postcard of the art of your choosing to the incoming President after he takes office! (Stay tuned for the text we will use!)
WHO ARE WE? SHEPARD FAIREY is one of the most accomplished street artists in the world, and creator and founder of Obey Clothing and Obey Giant, first becoming known for his "Andre The Giant has a Posse" sticker campaign while at the Rhode Island School of Design. He became widely known during the 2008 presidential election for his Barak Obama "Hope" poster. JESSICA SABOGAL is a first generation Colombian American muralist. Her art serves as a haven, a tribute, a creative outlet of adoration and exaltation for women with stories often untold. Her pieces possess a vision of female identity that is revolutionary and powerful, brave and beautiful. Most recently she has created a visual campaign entitled, “Women Are Perfect” which attempts to spread this simple but necessary notion worldwide. ERNESTO YERENA is an artist living in Los Angeles. His art brings political concerns to light with subject matter that depicts cultural icons, rebels and everyday people voicing their stance against oppression. While Yerena identifies as Chicano he also strongly identifies as Native/Indigenous to this continent which is often seen in his work. Highly recognized for his activism, Yerena is the founder and curator of the Alto Arizona Art campaign (2010) as well as a founding member of the We Are Human campaign (2009). THE AMPLIFIER FOUNDATION: Our non-profit is dedicated to amplifying the voices of grassroots movements through art and community engagement. We do this by funding collaborations between those movements and contemporary artists so that their messages can reach a wider audience. Our goal is to flip artists into activists and observers into participants. Our work has supported Criminal Justice Reform projects with Cut50.org, Environmental campaigns working with Indigenous groups against the KXL pipeline and in defense of Treaty Rights in the Black Hills, and we have, just this week, commissioned, and started printing and distributing the majority of the art for the Women's March on Washington as an official partner. WHY KICKSTARTER? We are here to find partners as much as funding. When this message is heard we want them to know it comes direct from the people. Our goal is 10,000 backers in this Kickstarter and ten times that many participants after Inauguration day. THE REWARDS: STAY TUNED FOR PHASE 2! ___________________________________________
This art is meant to spark a conversation, and after January 20, our work will continue. What does WE THE PEOPLE—these three famous words in the preamble to the Constitution—mean in the 21st century? Over the next several months, Amplifier will partner with organizations, schools, and everyday families to create spaces across the county, in both red states and blue, where we can speak, listen, and share our answers. Watch for updates on this as the campaign funds and moves into the world! | – Revamped versions of Shepard Fairey's iconic "Hope" poster have been released in time for Donald Trump's inauguration, but don't expect to see the new president's face on any of them. The three posters by Fairey instead feature minority females, reports DCist. One shows a Muslim woman wearing the American flag as a hijab over the slogan, "We the People are greater than fear." Another shows a Latina woman over "We the People defend dignity," while a third shows an African-American girl and the words, "We the People protect each other." The posters, being spread across Washington ahead of the inauguration, were commissioned by the Amplifier Foundation as part of an art campaign to "disrupt the rising tide of hate and fear in America," per Quartz. As Fairey previously described Trump as "a sociopath and a destructive force in politics and society," it's no surprise that he opted to exclude him and focus instead on groups he says are "vulnerable" under Trump, per PBS. The campaign, which raised $1.3 million on Kickstarter, also includes Jessica Sabogal's poster of a same-sex couple reading "We are indivisible," and another by Ernesto Yerena showing a Native American and the words, "We the Resilient have been here before." Says Fairey: "Trump is not a healer. Art, on the other hand, is healing and inclusive." The artist did include the lower half of Trump's face on a poster for Franz Ferdinand's song "Demagogue." All posters can be downloaded for free. |
Roberto Carcelen (No. 92) of Seattle, competing for Peru, finished in last place in the Men's Cross-Country 15km Classic. He was greeted at the finish line by Nepal's Dachhiri Sherpa (No. 91) and gold medalist Dario Cologna of Switzerland (No. 95). Cologna finished nearly 30 minutes ahead of Carcelen, but returned to the finish to greet him. ||||| Originally published February 3, 2010 at 10:00 PM | Page modified February 3, 2010 at 11:32 PM
Comments (0) E-mail article Print Share
Roberto Carcelén, who now lives in Seattle, met his wife through an online-dating service and learned cross-country skiing only about five years ago. Yet he'll be in Vancouver, B.C., later this month as Peru's first and only Winter Olympian.
History starts with a love story.
It starts with a Peruvian man falling head over skis for an American woman in cyberspace. It starts with a connection, forged through instant messaging, that bridges the 5,000 miles between Lima, Peru, and Seattle. It starts with two people, so shy they were hesitant to e-mail pictures, pecking feverishly on their laptops five hours a day for five months and realizing they shared the same favorite books, the same beliefs about family and the same no-limit style of dreaming.
History starts with love at first byte.
"When you're chatting like that, at the end of the day, you fall in love with who the person really is," Roberto Carcelén says.
"It sounds corny, but you kind of know when you've found that person," Kate Carcelén says.
We might need Celine Dion, Enrique Iglesias and Whitney Houston to sing this ballad. Seldom does a corny ol' love story carry groundbreaking significance.
If he hadn't met his future wife seven years ago, Roberto Carcelén would not be on his way to Vancouver to make Olympic history. He would not be living in Seattle, or cross-country skiing, or scheduling an interview with NBC's "Today." He would not be a pioneer, the first person from Peru to compete in the Winter Olympics.
We all could use his brand of destiny.
"It worked out well for us," Carcelén said, grinning. "I hear a lot of people who date online, it didn't work out well for them. Lucky me."
Olympians typically don't start skiing at age 34. Then again, you don't find The One on lavalife.com.
Carcelén always lives with the best intentions and, it seems, the best results. At first, he went online seven years ago because he planned to travel from Peru to California for a marathon and he wanted to meet active Americans. He found Kate Clement, saw parts of himself in her inviting personality and love for the outdoors, and he forgot about that marathon.
After all those instant-messaging sessions, they decided to meet in Miami in March 2003. Carcelén stayed in the United States for the next two months to be with Kate. He then returned to Lima, handed his printing business over to his family and moved to Seattle. The couple married that July.
About five years ago, Kate introduced Roberto to skiing. He loves surfing and running. In his 20s, he was an elite Peruvian surfer, but the water in Seattle is too cold for him. When Kate likened skiing to surfing on frozen water, Roberto became intrigued.
"It was hilarious at first," said Roberto, who now is 39 and lives in Leschi. "I probably fell every 40 feet. People looked at me, laughed and said, 'Ah, it's your first time.' "
After a few months, though, he showed remarkable improvement. His technique remained poor, but he possessed an incredible will.
Kent Murdoch, a local skier who now helps coach Carcelén, remembers the Peruvian competing in a race four years ago. He was raw yet fascinating.
"He was doing the right motion, but it was not a very refined motion," Murdoch recalled. "Most people who don't learn to ski as a child have a very difficult time as an adult. But his fitness level was really, really high. He kind of willed himself up hills."
Even then, Carcelén had a crystallized vision: He wanted to represent Peru in the Winter Olympics. He watched the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, on television and started envisioning history. Peru has mountains and snow, but children don't grow up snowboarding or bobsledding or skiing.
One problem, Carcelén said, is the snow is at too high of an elevation.
"It's pretty crazy up there," he said. "I don't think cross-country skiing will work. That will kill you."
Another problem: Carcelén believes Peruvians can be too laid back.
"We take a different approach to life," he said. "We kind of like living life in a good way. With sports, we're not like other cultures. We like food, wine and partying. We have an active community, but we like all things."
Four snowboarders from Peru were supposed to compete in the Games in Turin four years ago, but they failed to register for their events and could not participate.
Because his country had little experience with even Winter Olympics logistics, the challenge would be more than just an athletic one for Carcelén.
He and Kate have a 2-year-old daughter, Francesca. She doesn't fully comprehend what her father is about to do. She doesn't know she was born in the middle of an improbable quest that already has cost the family about $60,000. But whenever Francesca sees skiers on television, she's overcome with joy.
"Papa!" she exclaims.
Papa is the real deal now. He has gone from local act to international competitor. To qualify for the Olympics, he had to meet the standards of the International Ski Federation for the 15-kilometer freestyle event. He had to earn 300 points or less in five sanctioned races. The point system is calculated by how close a skier comes to the first-place finisher. Being within 25 percent earns 300 points. The closer you finish, the lower your score.
This Olympic bid took Carcelén to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Czech Republic. He qualified two months ago at an event at Silver Star Mountain Resort in British Columbia. He didn't celebrate too much, however.
The day before that race, he found out his mother has an advanced form of liver cancer.
He barely could focus during the qualifying race. He had no energy. His dream, four years in the making, felt inconsequential. He earned his Olympic berth that day mostly because he didn't know what else to do.
"That was a big bomb for us," Carcelén said. "My mom is one of my main supporters. Knowing she's been hit with a disease, it hits me, too. I couldn't take it. The only thing I could hold onto was that I wanted to make the Olympics to make her smile."
Soon after the race, he flew home to Peru for a week. His mother is doing OK, he said. Just OK. She was hospitalized for a month and caught pneumonia twice. She's now undergoing her second round of chemotherapy.
Her struggles have reminded Carcelén that he's competing for more than himself, for more than his wife and daughter, for more than his entire family even.
This is for Peru.
His country is worth all those travel expenses. It's worth all those trips to Snoqualmie Pass. It's worth the extra day-care costs for Francesca and the price of equipment and the effort required to train four hours a day.
Carcelén, a marketing consultant who also owns a Peruvian company (Inca Runners) that gives running tours through the Andes for athletic tourists, isn't focused on the sacrifices. He's fixated on the dream.
"In Peru, 25 million people will see the benefit of this," he said.
Kate Carcelén, a Microsoft manager who also travels often, fully supports her husband. She grew up loving the Olympics. She was hooked while watching Nadia Comaneci in the 1976 and 1980 Summer Games. Kate loves her husband because they have the same passion for a good challenge. She refused to stop her husband from chasing this one.
"There have been times when we've wondered, 'Oh, my God, can we deal with this?' " she said. "We always come back to, 'Of course.' "
Peru's first Winter Olympian helped design his uniform. Roberto Carcelén called Eddie Bauer and asked for help. He went over certain Olympic requirements, gave his input and left the rest to the Bellevue-based clothing company.
A 5-foot-8 wisp of an athlete, he grins when imagining how he'll look with "Peru" stitched on his clothes.
"I don't want to give away how it looks," he said. "You'll see soon. It's very simple, but I like it. I have so much pride."
His pride won't lead him to the medal stand, but that's not the goal, anyway. From amorous instant messenger to skiing novice to unlikely Olympian, his journey already has been lined with gold.
History starts with a love story.
On Thursday, Carcelén and Francesca will pick up Kate from the airport (she's been in Toyko on business) and drive three hours to Vancouver, B.C. In eight days, Peru's Winter Olympian will walk in the Opening Ceremony.
He hopes to carry the red-and-white Peruvian flag with one hand and his daughter with the other, the solitary Olympian, the leader of Team Roberto, the smitten pioneer.
Jerry Brewer: 206-464-2277
or jbrewer@seattletimes.com, Twitter: @Jerry_Brewer | – It is, as Deadspin says, "your feel-good Olympic story of the day." Roberto Carcelen, who happens to be Peru's first Winter Olympian, finished last today in the 15km cross-country race. And we mean really last, as in about 30 minutes behind the winner. But Carcelen, now a Seattle resident who broke a rib while training just a few weeks ago, got a rousing ovation as he grabbed a Peruvian flag from a spectator in the home stretch. And there to greet him at the finish line was the gold-medal winner, Dario Cologna of Switzerland, reports NBC News. |
While Team USA has been cleaning up at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics this year, handily scooping up medals in snowboarding, ice skating and luge, men’s hockey turned out to be a weak spot on Wednesday after the U.S. team fell to Slovenia in overtime of the preliminary round of Group B play.
Americans are pretty good at hockey: we are part of a league that’s widely considered the best in the world, after all. But this year, the NHL declined to allow its players to participate in the Winter Olympic Games, citing concerns about having to put the league on hold for three weeks. Instead, the U.S. men’s team in South Korea is made up of a mix of college athletes, Europe-based players and those who play for other leagues, with only one member of the squad with NHL experience. The ban has also impacted many other countries whose star players compete for NHL teams as well. So going into competition, fans were worried that the U.S. might not live up to its mighty record in this event.
Turns out those fears could be well-founded, as the U.S. went down to the Slovenian team 3-2 at the Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung in a dramatic overtime finish. This especially shocked viewers given the small pool of talent in Slovenia versus that of the U.S., based on population alone. Next up, the U.S. men face off against Slovakia while Slovenia takes on the Olympic Athletes from Russia. And if these results are anything to go by, there will be many more unpredictable finishes in this Olympics’ hockey play to come.
It’s not all bad news on the hockey front, though: the U.S. women’s team handily beat Russia in an opening round, even setting an Olympic record. ||||| With no NHL players, everyone figured Team USA wouldn’t be very good. No one expected they’d be “lose to Slovenia” bad. But here we are! Team USA surrendered a two-goal third-period lead and allowed two late goals to Jan Muršak, giving Slovenia the 3-2 overtime win in the first game for both teams.
Brian O’Neill and Jordan Greenway gave the U.S. a 2-0 lead heading into the third, and that’s right about when they stopped pressuring and sat back to try to protect the lead. They did not. Blaž Gregorc halved Slovenia’s deficit 5:49 into the frame, and then it became the Jan Muršak show.
Muršak, the only Slovenian player with NHL experience—46 games with the Red Wings between 2010 and 2013—might’ve been the best player on the ice in the latter part of the game. (And you’d have been looking for him if you read our Olympic men’s hockey preview.) Slovenia had all the momentum as the game ticked away, and after pulling the goalie, Muršak’s goal to tie it up with 1:37 remaining felt almost inevitable. A defensive breakdown then let Muršak in all alone on Ryan Zapolski, and he finished things just 38 seconds into 3-on-3 overtime.
It’s a bad, bad loss, even if the group stage doesn’t eliminate anyone and only serves to determine the seeding for the knockout rounds. If there’s a silver lining for the U.S., it’s that Slovakia beat gold-medal favorite Russia on Wednesday, perhaps a sign that this tournament is even more wide-open than expected.
Still, it would’ve been nice to have had the likes of Auston Matthews and Jack Eichel and Johnny Gaudreau out there. ||||| Jonathon Blum (24), of the United States, defends Jan Urbas (26), of Slovenia, during the first period of the preliminary round of the men's hockey game at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South... (Associated Press)
GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — Five practices were supposed to prepare the Americans for this, and they knew at the second intermission Slovenia was going to come out punching.
The preparation and the knowledge were not enough to fend off the fatigue as the United States blew a two-goal lead and lost a 3-2 stunner in overtime Wednesday night in the Olympic opener for both teams. Slovenia captain Jan Mursak scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and the winner 38 seconds into overtime.
Long before that, the U.S. started letting the game slip away with mistakes all over the ice.
"We started turning the puck over in our zone and they were getting chances and that led to some momentum for them," said goaltender Ryan Zapolski, who allowed three goals on 25 shots. "We can't give up those chances that we were giving up out of nothing there in the third. That really kills your momentum. And they scored a goal off one of them and from that point we were kind of on our heels."
Brian O'Neill and Jordan Greenway, who became the first African-American hockey player for the U.S. at an Olympics, scored to build the 2-0 lead in a dominant showing, and the shots were 24-12 after two periods. Coach Tony Granato pointed out that Slovenia probably should have been the more tired team from playing so much in its defensive zone, but there was none of that from a group that has only one player — Mursak — with NHL experience.
In the game because of goalie Gasper Kroselj, who stopped 34 of 36 shots, Slovenia came to life when Jan Urbas scored 5:37 into the third period. With fans chanting "SLO-VE-NI-A," the perennial underdogs started pouring it on.
"We outskated them in the third, especially, and had more energy," said Mursak, who spent time with the Detroit Red Wings. "After we scored that first goal, I think we really got that extra energy and the feeling that can score some more."
After flashing the breakneck speed of forward Garrett Roe on O'Neill's goal and the quick reaction of Greenway on his rebound tally, the U.S. suddenly looked gassed. Granato wondered if 21 players dressing in their first Olympic game combined with the hype and long day before a late start took a toll on his team, which hadn't played together much.
"Our energy in the third wasn't great," Granato said. "It could've been a little fatigue just set in mentally because of the way that the day was. But no excuses. ... They were the better team in the third and it was good enough for them to get the win.
The U.S. at least picked up a point by getting to overtime, while the Russians lost 3-2 in regulation to Slovakia across town at Gangneung Hockey Centre. After each team's first game, Slovakia is atop Group B, followed by Slovenia, the U.S. and the Russians.
No one expected this kind of showing from Slovenia, which looked overmatched in the first two periods and is mostly known for having a star in Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar. There was no Kopitar — this is the first Olympics since 1994 without NHL players — but still the same pluck and no-quit attitude that helped the Slovenians beat rival Slovakia in Sochi for one of the biggest victories in national history.
Slovenia added another by upsetting the U.S. and gets the Russians next.
"I'm proud of my guys," Mursak said. "I'm proud of the team and hopefully we can start looking to the next game and surprise somebody else."
The Americans didn't expect to be surprised by much but go back to the drawing board to prepare to face Slovakia on Friday.
"We'll learn from this," O'Neill said. "We haven't played a whole lot of hockey as a team together. So it's good for us to learn from that third period."
NOTES: Defensemen Matt Gilroy and Noah Welch wore the "As" as alternate captains. ... Brandon Maxwell backed up Zapolski as veteran goalie David Leggio was scratched along with forward Chad Kolarik and defenseman Will Borgen. ... The attendance was announced as 3,348 at Kwandong Hockey Centre on the campus of Kwandong Catholic University.
___
Follow Hockey Writer Stephen Whyno on Twitter at https://twitter.com/SWhyno
___
More AP Olympics: https://wintergames.ap.org | – Deadspin's headline says it all: "USA Men's Hockey Loses To Slovenia. Slovenia!" Five practices were supposed to prepare the Americans for this, but the preparation wasn't enough to fend off the fatigue as the United States blew a two-goal lead and lost a 3-2 stunner in overtime Wednesday night in the Olympic opener for both teams. Slovenia captain Jan Mursak scored the tying goal with 1:37 left in regulation and the winner 38 seconds into overtime. No one expected this kind of showing from Slovenia, which looked overmatched in the first two periods and is mostly known for having a star in Los Angeles Kings captain Anze Kopitar. There was no Kopitar, though—this is the first Olympics since 1994 without NHL players, reports the AP, which offers a detailed rundown of the game. Time (which rounds up some incredulous internet reaction to the loss) explains the NHL wasn't into the idea of having to take a three-week Olympic break and so it barred its players from participating. This leaves a US team comprised of college players and those who play for leagues other than the NHL. Deadspin's assessment: "It’s a bad, bad loss, even if the group stage doesn't eliminate anyone and only serves to determine the seeding for the knockout rounds." After each team's first game, Slovakia is atop Group B, followed by Slovenia, the US, and the Russians. The Americans face Slovakia on Friday. The US women are off to a much better start: They bested the Russians 5-0 on Tuesday. |
RIO DE JANEIRO -- Police investigating a gang rape possibly involving more than 30 men said Monday that they have no doubt the assault happened but that tests on the 16-year-old victim were done too late to provide conclusive evidence.
The attack has shocked Brazilians and put a spotlight on the endemic problem of violence against women in Latin America's most populous nation.
Two men, including a man investigators have said may have been her boyfriend, have been arrested in connection with the crime and four others sought by police are still on the loose. The men arrested were identified as Rai de Souza, 22, and Lucas Perdomo Duarte Santos, 20.
The alleged attack happened in a slum in western Rio de Janeiro on May 21. It came to light because a video clip and images were shared on Twitter and WhatsApp.
Rio police chief Fernando Veloso said the rape kit tests were done five days after the incident, well beyond the recommended 72-hour window.
"We did not collect evidence of violence, but this does not mean that there was no violence," said Veloso, who added that authorities did not learn of the incident until the social media posts appeared several days later. "Traces were lost because of time."
Veloso said police believe the gang rape happened because at least three men were involved in the video. However, they were not able to determine how many people participated in total, he said. The girl has testified there were 33 men.
"The footage shows more than one voice, there is an account of the rape performed earlier. One of the men touches the teenager, who looks unconscious. That act alone is rape and it is in the footage. If the footage is true, and it looks to be true, there is no doubt it was rape," Veloso said at a news conference.
Veloso also said the head of the investigation was replaced for allegedly not taking the victim's account seriously. The male investigator was replaced by a female investigator, he said.
Cristiane Bento, police inspector in charge of the case, also said the video published on social media is enough for police to charge as an accessory a drug trafficker who controls the shantytown. Many of Brazil's shantytowns, known as favelas, are controlled by armed drug traffickers.
Many victims of rape "don't say anything because they are afraid of the traffickers," Bento said.
The attack has struck a nerve in Brazil, a conservative, majority Roman Catholic nation of 200 million people.
A study by the Brazilian Center for Latin American Studies found that between 1980 and 2010, more than 92,000 women were killed in crimes related to gender, involving incidents from rape to domestic abuse.
Last year, Congress passed legislation to sharply increase the punishment for violent crimes against women.
Advocates say changes in the law need to go hand-in-hand with changes in mentality.
"Brazilian culture is very sexist and rape is part of that culture even if as a society we deny it," said Luise Bello at the women's advocacy group Think Olga. "Rape is not rare in Brazil, but what is really shocking is the fact that more than 30 men raped a minor, filmed it and then shared the images on the internet." ||||| A 16-year-old girl in Rio de Janeiro was drugged and raped by about 30 men, who then posted a video of the attack to social media, in a crime that has shocked Brazil.
The alleged victim, her identity hidden, has now spoken about her ordeal.
"I was drugged, I was very groggy, there were lots of people with guns, lots of young guys laughing and talking," she said.
It not only hurt me, it hurt my soul, because people judged me, tried to blame me for something which was not my fault Teenage victim of gang rape
The images were widely circulated, shocking many in the country which suffers a high rate of criminal violence towards women.
The response to the victim's complaint has also provoked outrage.
The initial police reaction has been labelled insensitive. There have also been comments, including death threats on social media, blaming the girl herself for the attack.
"It not only hurt me, it hurt my soul, because people judged me, tried to blame me for something which was not my fault. They robbed me, not just in material goods, but in a physical way."
A police woman has now taken over the investigation since her predecessor was blamed for not taking the crime seriously enough.
"She needs protection," said Cristina Bento, police chief for crimes against minors. "She needs care. A rape crime did happen. Now what I’m trying to find out is the extent of this rape, how many people were involved.
"I want to collect all the evidence and present it to the prosecutors' office, so they can present a robust case and all involved can be condemned for the crime they committed."
Meanwhile, police have issued photographs of several suspects and, backed by helicopters, dogs and armoured vehicles, raided the slum area of Rio de Janeiro where the attack is thought to have taken place.
Brazil's Congress last year passed new laws to increase sentences for violence against women. But rights groups say at least 500,000 sexual assaults take place in Brazil every year. ||||| Rio de Janeiro (CNN) The Brazilian teenage girl who says she was brutally gang raped in a Rio de Janeiro slum is speaking out about the attack and the related graphic video that went viral.
"If I have to wait for the justice system, they've already shown that nothing is going to happen," she told CNN affiliate TV Record in the presence of her attorney. "I am waiting for the justice of God. That might be late but it never fails."
In the interview, the 16-year-old's face is hidden as she recounts what she remembers from the attack and the mix of humiliation and support that she has received since the images surfaced online.
In Rio de Janeiro, the city that will be hosting hundreds of thousands of visitors for the Summer Olympics in August, protesters hung red-stained clothes along the iconic Copacabana Beach over the weekend.
Brazilians protest in front of the Legislative Assembly of Rio de Janeiro on May 27, 2016, against a gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl.
In Brasilia, police used pepper spray on protesters who tried to march on the Supreme Court with bouquets of flowers and signs denouncing what they called a "culture of rape" in Brazil.
The scandal erupted last week when a 38-second video was posted to Twitter, showing the victim naked and unconscious while male voices bragged about "at least 30" people having sex with her.
The girl then came forward.
In the interview released over the weekend, she says:
"I fell asleep and woke up in a completely different place, with a man under me, one on top of me and two holding me down, on my hands. Many people laughing at me, and I was drugged, out of it. Many people with guns, boys laughing and talking."
Police have said they are trying to identify at least 30 people involved in the incident. No arrests have been made so far.
On Monday morning, police launched a new raid into a favela in western Rio where the incident occurred to carry out a series of arrest warrants. Police declined to say how many suspects they were searching for.
The lead investigator on the case was removed over the weekend amid criticisms of bias against the victim. The case is now being handled by the police unit for crimes against minors and the state's department of social services.
In the TV Record interview, the girl said public support has been crucial.
"I knew there would be no justice, that I would be ashamed. In the first moment, I didn't even want to tell my mom," she said. "Now I am sure that if I was going through this alone it would be much worse." |||||
The gang rape of a 16-year-old girl sparked protests among Brazilians. Her attackers posted video of her assault online, horrifying many. (Vanderlei Almeida/AFP via Getty Images)
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil is still in shock after the highly publicized gang rape of a 16-year-old girl. But while thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the rape and many more have protested on social networks, there also has been a counterreaction.
The victim, who has not been identified, has told Brazilian media that she went to visit a boyfriend in a poor Rio hillside community, or favela, on May 21. She said she woke up the next day in another house in the neighborhood, naked and surrounded by nearly three dozen armed men. Shortly thereafter, images of the girl, naked and unconscious, began circulating on Twitter, accompanied by boastful, ribald comments from the men apparently involved.
The crime has appalled many in Latin America’s largest nation. More than 100,000 people shared photos on Facebook of one man alleged to have circulated the images and demanded his punishment. But others used the same post to say that the victim shared some of the blame, because she was in a dangerous favela run by a drug gang, or to point to a voice recording being circulated that is supposed to show the victim as a willing participant in a drugged-up orgy.
In a television interview on Sunday night, the victim defended herself against these allegations and said she had terminated a police interview when male officers asked inappropriate questions.
[Dozens of men took part in the gang rape of a Brazilian teen. Then the video surfaced online.]
The crime and its fallout have exposed fault lines in a society that has traditionally been paternalistic and conservative but has a growing population of young, progressive citizens who are highly connected via social networks. In addition, the reactions show how some Brazilians have become inured to horrific levels of violence — the country registered 60,000 homicides in 2014 alone, more than 10 percent of the worldwide total. In big, dangerous cities such as Rio, crime-scarred residents often blame themselves if they suffer an assault — for not seeing it coming or for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When news of the teenager’s rape began spreading across the Internet last week, outrage and condemnation were widespread and hashtags like EstuproNaoÉCulpaDaVitima (Rape is not the victim’s fault) spread.
Thousands of women took to the streets of Rio, Sao Paulo and Recife to protest the attack and what they called a culture supportive of rape.
“It is frightening. It is sad, disappointing and revolting,” said Flavia Medeiros, 27, who participated in a demonstration in Rio on Friday. “One of the biggest problems in Brazilian society is the way women are treated.”
Many of the protesters are part of an increasingly active and vocal feminist movement that has used the Internet to communicate, coordinate and protest. In the capital, Brasilia, police used pepper spray on Sunday morning on female demonstrators outside the Supreme Court who threw flowers at security guards.
[Why Brazil has no Black Lives Matter movement, despite some shocking police killings]
But other people have argued that the victim was used to hanging out with members of the drug gang in the favela and that by frequenting these circles she exposed herself to risk.
“She was involved with drug dealers, and you know what bandits are like. They are bad. For me, it was not exactly rape,” said Anais Reis, 18, who lives in another favela in central Rio.
“I don’t think any woman should be raped. But if she was involved in the middle of this, this was going to happen one day,” Reis said.
The victim addressed the allegations in the television interview. “These are women saying that I looked for this, that I was there because I wanted to. But nobody thinks, ‘It could have been me,’ ” she said. “Nobody deserves this. It doesn’t matter if I was wearing short clothes or longer clothes, it doesn’t matter where I was.”
The victim said the police officer leading the investigation had asked her whether she was in the habit of having group sex. At that point, she said, she refused to answer any more questions.
“They tried to incriminate me, as if it was my fault I was raped,” the victim said.
That male police officer has now been replaced by a woman. Police, under fire for dragging their feet, launched an operation Monday to hunt for suspects. Two men are now in custody.
[I can’t make sense of the violence I witnessed in Rio de Janeiro]
On Sunday, in a column for Rio’s O Globo newspaper, journalist Dorrit Harazim compared the crime to a notorious 2012 gang rape in which a young woman was brutally assaulted on a bus in New Delhi, an attack condemned around the world.
Christiana Bento, the officer in charge of the investigation, said at a news conference Monday that she was convinced that a rape had taken place and wanted to verify how many men had participated in the assault.
“She was the victim of sexual violence,” Bento said, referring to the young woman. “She is also being victimized by the population, who are judging her for what she was or no longer is.”
Read more:
In Brazil’s political crisis, a powerful new force: Evangelical Christians
Brazil’s new president is already deeply unpopular
Brazil’s first female president to be replaced by a man whose wife is 42 years younger than he ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – "I fell asleep and woke up in a completely different place, with a man under me, one on top of me and two holding me down," the Rio de Janeiro teenager who was allegedly gang-raped by more than 30 men says in an interview, per CNN. "I was drugged, I was very groggy, there were lots of people with guns, lots of young guys laughing and talking," she adds, per Al Jazeera. Brazilian police say the assault occurred, but a rape kit—meant to be completed within 72 hours—was only done after five days and didn't give conclusive evidence, reports CBS News. "Traces were lost because of time," the police chief says. But if a video showing men surrounding the woman's unconscious body "is true, and it looks to be true, there is no doubt it was rape." So far only two men have been arrested. Police are searching for four others, though the victim says 33 men and boys were involved. "I am waiting for the justice of God," she says. "If I have to wait for the justice system, they've already shown that nothing is going to happen." She adds that the lead investigator—who has since been replaced—asked her if she often had group sex. Others say she should've expected the assault because she was in a slum controlled by a drug gang. "They tried to incriminate me, as if it was my fault I was raped," she says, per the Washington Post. "It not only hurt me, it hurt my soul," she adds. "Nobody deserves this. It doesn't matter if I was wearing short clothes or longer clothes, it doesn't matter where I was." |
[Lindsay Lohan appeared healthy, upbeat, and pulled together (if somewhat surgically adjusted) and—putting to rest speculation that she might crash and burn spectacularly on live television—comported herself just fine in what proved to be an uneven episode. She poked fun at her train-wreck reputation in the monologue (in which she was subjected to assorted drug tests by the SNL cast) and played herself as a prisoner in the show's recurring "Scared Straight" sketch. Jimmy Fallon and Jon Hamm made cameos. Musical guest Jack White performed "Love Interruption" (backed by Ruby Amanfu and an all-female band) and "Sixteen Saltines" (with an all-male band).]
Some highlights...
Bill Hader as a Norman Bates-esque Shepard Smith ("I'm a shy little possum...") interviews a creepy Mitt Romney and family, including sons Tagg, Tiggy, and Tic Tac, and diehard supporter Kidd Rock (Andy Samberg), who performs his new song ("He's Mitt Romney...get the eff out of his way...")
From the creators of the Real Housewives of Atlanta and the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, it's the Real Housewives of Disney—featuring Snow White (Vanessa Bayer), Rapunzel (Lindsay Lohan), Jasmine (Nasim Pedrad), Belle (Abby Elliott), Prince Charming (Taran Killam), and "huge @#$@#$ing mess" Cinderella (Kristin Wiig).
Loonier-than-ever James Carville (Bill Hader) drops by Weekend Update to discuss Rush Limbaugh's inappropriate comments about Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke and to describe his efforts in the '90s to pick off Newt Gingrich with the help of alligators.
Live from Las Vegas, it's the 2012 Psychic Awards, hosted by cruise ship psychic Dan Bernando (Andy Samberg) and "Lovely Lucy" (Lindsay Lohan), featuring a look ahead to "the psychics and magicians we're going to lose in the coming year..."
House sitter Megan (Lindsay Lohan) helps out Kristin Wiig, a woman terrorized by her own butt-dials.
Also: Snooki (Bobby Moynihan) drops by Weekend Update to discuss her rumored pregnancy (and is interrupted by Jon Hamm, who reveals himself to be the father); Taran Killam and Bobby Moynihan host "the least listened-to hip hop show in Shakopee, Minnesota" with help from intern "Illiterate Lisa" (Lindsay Lohan); Jason Sudeikis as "weird guy by a fire."
NEXT, on March 10: Jonah Hill, with musical guest The Shins. ||||| “Scared Straight” is a great recurring sketch, and it only made sense that the show would reprise it and give Lindsay Lohan the chance to co-star as Kenan Thompson’s partner in the fictional program commissioned by Jason Sudeikis. What was unexpected, however, was that she played herself herself. Her life, after all, has given her the kind of experience and insight that make “Scared Straight” so effective — she can really speak to the effects of a life of crime. There are real, horrible consequences. Like “rehab in Malibu!”
“Scared Straight” is one of the most formulaic sketches on the show, which usually makes it pretty successful: the Scared Straight team is introduced in the same way and from there it’s just an opportunity to make as many prison rape jokes as possible. Lohan started out quite funny, but was obviously reading from the teleprompter halfway through the sketch, and stumbled over a few of her lines. It would have been great to see a more polished performance from her, but it didn’t matter, because after she left the scene Jason Sudeikis sat down emphatically on his desk, knocking off the contents (as well as his glasses) and he, Andy Samberg, Bill Hader and Bobby Moynihan collapsed into giggles. You can see the clip here via NBC:
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| Lindsay Lohan’s NBC-enabled mini-comeback climaxed tonight with her hosting gig on Saturday Night Live. Lohan herself was mostly pushed to the background for the show, usually appearing in unchallenging supporting roles in sketches. The show winked at Lohan’s history of legal troubles in the monologue — Lohan got a pat-down from Kristen Wiig — and in a new “Scared Straight” sketch, in which Lohan played herself. (In that sketch, Lohan’s dependency on cue cards became excruciatingly clear during a long soliloquy.) A visiting Jon Hamm was officially named the night’s back-up host, and the Mad Men star arguably got a bigger laugh for his brief appearance as Snooki’s baby daddy than Lohan got all night.
It certainly wasn’t the blazing comeback performance us Lohan apologists have been hoping for. But how bad was it? Did you give Lohan grade inflation just for showing up? Did you like how Jimmy Fallon accepted Lohan’s out-of-nowhere and completely unplanned invitation? How does her episode stack up to this season’s other hosts? Take the poll below, and check back here Sunday morning for my complete recap.
Take Our Poll
Follow Darren on Twitter: @EWDarrenFranich ||||| I don’t think anyone expected that Lindsay Lohan would be hosting <em>Saturday Night Live</em> in 2012, or that she would do so without a movie, album, or any project at all to promote! Her opening monologue was a perfect opportunity to answer some questions the audience would have for her, and she wasted no time poking fun at herself for her various arrests and her stalled career.
She also had help from a few cast members, including Kenan Thomson, Kristen Wiig, Jimmy Fallon and a celeb cameo from Jon Hamm. The first three were there to demonstrate their utmost faith in her hosting abilities; the fourth was there as a back-up host juuuuuust in case. Not that she’d need it. But just as a precaution. You understand. It remains to be seen how the episode will go, but Lindsay seemed game for anything so far (and looked really lovely!) You can seen her opening monologue here, via NBC:
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com |||||
Lindsay Lohan, promoting her “SNL” appearance with Kenan Thompson. (NBC/DANA EDELSON/NBC)
Lindsay Lohan attempted to make a triumphant return to non-court-hearing-related pop cultural relevancy by hosting “Saturday Night Live” this week. Did it work? Well, not entirely.
Lohan started strong with an opening monologue that openly acknowledged her recent circumstances, complete with an alarm that sounded when she stepped offstage, a patdown from Kristen Wiig and a promise from Jon Hamm to step in as host the minute she crashed and burned.
The first taped sketch, “Real Housewives of Disney” — which featured Belle, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel and Jasmine acting like Camille Grammer and NeNe Leakes — also worked well, and was a nice dig at Lohan’s roots as Disney golden girl.
Then things went a tad south. The prison sketch that added Lohan to the usual Kenan Thompson “Scared Straight” proceedings presented an opportunity for her to fire off a self-reverential monologue — one that mentioned her role in “Herbie: Fully Loaded” and the accusations she faced regarding stolen jewelry. But Lohan, who kept glancing at her cue cards, delivered her lines with a lack of conviction. That ball got definitively dropped.
In other sketches — most notably, the a.m. DJ riff and a housesitting bit she did with a decidedly paranoid, butt-dialing Kristen Wiig — were a little better. But Lohan had notably less dialogue to deliver in those sketches and was largely carried by her co-stars.
In essence, this was hardly a disaster on par with, say, Lana Del Rey. But Lohan also didn’t fully reclaim her status as a young comic performer worthy of casting in major Hollywood projects.
But what did you think? Share your opinion of Lohan’s “SNL” performance by posting a comment and/or voting in the poll below. ||||| After making the media rounds on NBC (TODAY show, Late Night With Jimmy Fallon), we’re finally just hours away from Lindsay Lohan ‘s Saturday Night Live hosting gig. Her episode will feature musical guest, and will be Lindsay’s first appearance on the show since 2006.
But what we’re all wondering is if this will spark a comeback for the embattled actress. According to latest reports from TMZ, LiLo will be singing for her opening monologue.
With that in mind, Celebuzz is taking a look back at Lindsay’s greatest SNL moments (after all, she must’ve been doing something right if she’s been asked to return!). From Harry Potter spoofs to jokes about Mischa Barton‘s arms, we’re taking a look back at all the hilarity that the Mean Girls star encountered during her last SNL stint.
Check out Lindsay’s Hermione impression above, then the rest of her funny SNL skits below!
Neutrogena Coin Slot:
Tina Fey & Amy Poehler act as Lindsay’s mentors:
Debbie Downer: | – Lindsay Lohan showed up, apparently sober, and actually got some laughs last night on Saturday Night Live, poking fun at herself during the monologue and a "Scared Straight" skit. "Lindsay Lohan appeared healthy, upbeat, and pulled together (if somewhat surgically adjusted) and—putting to rest speculation that she might crash and burn spectacularly on live television—comported herself just fine in what proved to be an uneven episode," writes Sage Stossel in the Atlantic. On Mediaite, Sarah Devlin writes that "Lindsay seemed game for anything so far (and looked really lovely!)," but notes that she was quite obviously reading from the teleprompter during "Scared Straight." The Washington Post and Entertainment Weekly were not as impressed, noting that Lohan was largely in the background, but acknowledging that it wasn't a disaster. Watch highlights in the gallery, or click for more of Lohan's best SNL moments from the past. |
Amazon is going on the offensive against fake reviews, filing a lawsuit against more than 1,000 people who allegedly asked for money to post about products.
The online marketplace is suing people who had been offering on Fiverr.com, a website that lets people do tasks for as little as $5, to write and post fake reviews. Amazon did not include the website in the complaint, choosing instead to go after the people writing the reviews. The lawsuit claims that a group of anonymous people — termed as "John Does" in the filing — have been offering to write five-star reviews for products in return for payment.
Amazon's review section is among its most important features, offering users the ability to comb through positive, negative and lukewarm feedback on the items. The company has been working on other ways to improve the quality of its reviews, recently revamping its system to give more weight to reviews of people who bought the product through Amazon.
This lawsuit follows a similar action filed in April against the owners of a group websites that offered to write Amazon reviews, including buyamazonreviews.com, bayreviews.net, and buyreviewsnow.com.
"While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand," Amazon claimed in that case.
Amazon provided examples of the posts offering fake reviews.
Image: Amazon
Amazon alleged that one reviewer manipulated the system in order to post "verified reviews," considered the most trusted on the platform,
"In at least one instance, the seller of a 'Verified Review'... was willing to receive an empty envelope, not the product itself, simply to create a shipping record in an attempt to deceive Amazon and its customers," Amazon claimed in its lawsuit. ||||| Payment Protection, Guaranteed Payment is released to the freelancer once you’re pleased and approve the work you get.
Know The Price Upfront Find any service within minutes and know exactly what you’ll pay. No hourly rates, just a fixed price. ||||| Online retailer files lawsuit in US against people whose names it says it does not know, claiming they offer reviews for sale
Amazon has started legal action against more than 1,000 unidentified people it claims provide fake reviews on the US version of its website.
The online retailer said in the lawsuit, filed in the US on Friday, that its brand reputation was being tarnished by “false, misleading and inauthentic” reviews.
Amazon claims the 1,114 defendants it is suing touted their false review service for as little as $5 (£3.25) on the website Fiverr, an online platform for buying and selling minor tasks.
Amazon said it had found many of the fake reviewers, all termed “John Does” as the company said it was unaware of their real names, had requested review wordings from sellers and had used multiple accounts and IP addresses – numeric codes that identify a device in a network – to avoid being caught.
The e-commerce company started its campaign against the alleged fake reviewers by hiring some of the Fiverr members, according to the court report.
Amazon accused of 'Big Brother' tactics over customer reviews Read more
The legal action said: “Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate.”
Amazon said there had been misleading five-star reviews and comments about products, such as: “This has lit up my life” about a USB cable. A bogus comment said: “Definitely buying more … I was impressed with how bright the lights on the cable are,” while another reviewer gave a product top marks and added the comment: “Cool charger.”
Amazon is not suing Fiverr, a startup that raised $30m from investors last year, as the company says in its terms and conditions that advertising for services such as writing bogus reviews is banned.
Fiverr did not dispute Amazon’s allegations regarding its freelancers. “As Amazon noted, we have worked closely together to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content,” the online task company said in a statement.
Fiverr was also aware that Amazon, which describes itself as “Earth’s most customer-centric company”, forbids fictional or paid-for reviews.
Although Amazon has tried to remove the adverts for reviewers on the website, it said that doing this does not address the root cause of the issue or provide a deterrent to others.
The latest legal action comes after Amazon sued a number of websites in April for selling fake reviews.
In that complaint, filed to a Seattle court, Amazon said: “A very small minority of sellers and manufacturers attempts to gain unfair competitive advantages by creating false, misleading, and inauthentic customer reviews for their products on Amazon.com.”
It added: “While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand.”
The online retailer is also using algorithmic filtering to tackle the issue of fake product reviews and inflated star ratings, it was revealed earlier this year. According to Amazon, the artificial intelligence will bring more accurate reviews to the top, using them to create a star rating.
Previously, star ratings were simply an average of all reviews, which allowed fake reviews to heavily influence the first-glance rating, even if verified purchasers had slated the product.
In Britain, online reviews have also been “distorted” by the growth of a “clandestine” market of bogus reviews, reported the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), the body responsible for market studies in the UK.
In its report earlier this year, the CMA said reviews formed an important part of consumers’ decision-making, with 54% of UK adults reading online reviews. It added that £23bn a year of UK consumer spending is potentially influenced by online reviews, across the six broad sectors analysed.
Although several sites that publish reviews told the CMA they suspected 1%-2% of all reviews being fake, the exact scale of the issue of bogus reviews in the UK, according to the CMA, is unknown.
“Given the clandestine nature of the fake reviews, it would almost impossible to arrive at a credible figure,” its report said.
Amazon removes book reviews by fellow authors Read more
Last week scammers were found to be writing bogus reviews for a low quality ebook called Everything Bonsai!, which was written over a single weekend and littered with errors, as part of a Sunday Times investigation.
The newspaper journalists paid the fake reviewers a total of £56 to give the book a five-star rating, and take advantage of Amazon’s ebook deals to earn it a place at the top of the gardening and horticulture category of Amazon UK’s Kindle chart.
The newspaper subsequently went on to find that identities of those leaving the “reviews” had been stolen, including those of British teenage girls from Facebook. Amazon has since closed the accounts of ebook reviewers who were found to be posting fake reviews in exchange for cash.
Amazon UK told the Guardian: “Our goal is to make reviews as useful as possible for customers. We use a number of mechanisms to detect and remove the small fraction of reviews that violate our guidelines, and we terminate accounts,” and confirmed: “We’ve recently filed lawsuits against a number of individuals and businesses who were abusing the system.” ||||| Advertisement
Amazon has filed its second lawsuit this year, this time against over a thousand people for offering to create phony reviews of products listed on the company's e-commerce platform. Offers for fake reviews were at $5 each, and the profiles belonged to users of Fiverr.com.
Amazon engaged in an operation to crack down the phony reviewers by hiring some of the Fiverr members mentioned in the lawsuit, a report said.
The lawsuit targets neither the merchants nor Fiverr, because Fiverr's Terms of Service bans its users from conducting services that violate a third party's Terms of Service.
Included in Amazon's lawsuit are several Fiverr members, including one who goes by the username bess98.
"I will do, Amazon, Reviews, Amazon, Reviews, for $5," read the profile banner.
bess98's services, as per profile, consisted of the following:
"1. I will post awesome review on your amazon product, kindle ebook, ebook etc...
2. more than 30+ different account and ip
3. manual amazon reviews,
4. 100% satisfaction guaranty
5. 24/7 support
6. money back guaranty
7. For kindle review you have to provide me the review text.
8. Quick Responsiveness.
9. For verified purchases and kindle review , please send your own write text
10. Please send gift card/ coupon code for verified purchases
11. Verified Reviews: If you would like a verified amazon review, please provide me with a promo code or gift card so I can purchase the product for free."
Fiverr is a global online marketplace that provides a platform for people to sell their services, beginning at $5 per job, hence the name. Most of the services include audio transcription, photo conversion and video editing.
Amazon claims that the reviewers often arranged to have boxes shipped to their residences so as to appear that they had ordered the product. The boxes, however, would be empty.
"Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping defendants and uprooting the ecosystem in which they participate. Although Amazon has successfully requested removal of similar listings from Fiverr in the past, the removal of individual listings does not address the root cause of the issue or serve as a sufficient deterrent to the bad actors engaged in creating and purchasing fraudulent product reviews," stated Amazon in its court filing.
Similarly, in April 2015, Amazon filed a lawsuit against alleged operators of websites that offered Amazon merchants the ability to purchase fake 4- and 5-star customer reviews.
TAG Amazon, Complaint, lawsuit
© 2016 Tech Times, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. ||||| Amazon.com Inc. filed a lawsuit against more than 1,000 unidentified people selling fake reviews on its Web store, attempting to stamp out efforts by merchants and manufacturers seeking to boost the appeal of their products.
The largest online retailer said it sued freelancers offering to write fictional reviews on Fiverr.com, an online marketplace where people can be hired for minor tasks at prices starting at $5. The lawsuit was filed in state court in Seattle, Amazon said.
Amazon’s steps follow an earlier action taken in April, when Amazon sued several websites that sold fake customer reviews. Amazon gives anyone, whether they are customers or not, the ability to review products sold on its online store. Fake reviews -- positive or negative -- undermines Amazon’s goal of making sure that customers have the information they need to shop on the store, the company said.
"While small in number, these reviews can significantly undermine the trust that consumers and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers place in Amazon, which in turn tarnishes Amazon’s brand," Amazon said in its complaint.
The defendants are identified as John Does 1 to 1,114 in the lawsuit. Amazon said it conducted an extensive investigation, which included communicating with people on Fiverr and purchasing fake customer reviews from those who promised five-star ratings and offered to let the purchaser write the review themselves.
Amazon said the lawsuit isn’t targeted at Fiverr, which isn’t a defendant in the complaint. While Fiverr has a take-down process in place, it doesn’t solve the root cause, Amazon said.
"We continue to use a number of mechanisms to detect and remove the small fraction of reviews that violate our guidelines," said Julie Law, a spokeswoman for Amazon. "We are currently taking legal action against a number of individuals including many that are referred to here."
Fiverr said it’s working with Amazon to resolve the issue.
"We have worked closely together to remove services that violate our terms of use, and respond promptly to any reports of inappropriate content," said Channing Barringer, a spokesman for Fiverr. "We facilitate close to a million transactions a month, across more than 100 categories of services, such as graphic design, copywriting, voiceover, multimedia editing and coding. These services are being consumed by businesses who depend on them to thrive." | – "I will post awesome review on your Amazon product, Kindle book, ebook, etc..." If you posted that ad, watch out—Amazon is suing you and more than 1,000 others for allegedly offering to provide fake reviews on the retailer's website, Mashable reports. The company's lawsuit claims that 1,114 unidentified defendants offered fake-review services on the website Fiverr for $5 and up, notes Tech Times. "While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand," states the suit, which was filed in Seattle on Friday, the Guardian reports. Amazon says that during an extensive investigation it even hired such fakers, who promised five-star reviews and even offered to let those purchasing their services write the review, Bloomberg reports. The rogue writers also had empty boxes sent to their homes to appear more legit, according to the suit. But Amazon isn't suing Fiverr—a site that allows people to sell many kinds of services—because Fiverr's terms and conditions explicitly forbid the writing of fake reviews. Amazon says it previously had such ads pulled from Fiverr, but "the removal of individual listings does not address the root cause of the issue or serve as a sufficient deterrent," the suit says. (Amazon also is firing back at the New York Times over a story critical of its workplace environment.) |
Sasheer Zamata made her "Saturday Night Live" debut just days after the iconic sketch-comedy show opened its writer's room to two black female comics. But there were no Beyoncé, Oprah or Michelle Obama skits on the 27-year-old comedian's maiden episode.
Instead, Zamata played characters — bored high-schooler, embarrassed 13-year-old at a slumber party — for which race was often incidental. That's good. It's not that we don't appreciate that the Upright Citizens Brigade alumna can do a pretty funny Queen Bey, it's just that we don't want it to be the only time she sees her name on the week's script.
Zamata's addition fills a void opened after Maya Rudolph's exit in 2007, and her arrival should be applauded. But real progress, to us, means she can play girls (and boys!) who, as in her web series "The Pursuit of Sexiness" with MTV "Girl Code's" Nicole Byer are "broke, single, self-absorbed" and, oh yeah, black.
Drake Stole (Almost) Every Scene On 'SNL'
So how did Zamata (pronounced zuh-MAY-tuh) do? Last night's show was a soft introduction; she appeared rather frequently but in limited roles that didn't require her to carry the comic load. Just getting her feet wet. Read on for a breakdown of all of her appearances.
Drake Throws Another Bar Mitzvah
Zamata plays Auntie Rhonda to Kenan Thompson's Uncle Larry during the bar mitzvah for guest host/ performer/ real-life nice Jewish boy Drake in this skit. She's arm candy in it but we did laugh imagining her interior monologue: Her hiring came less than three months after Thompson, who's also African-American, famously told TVGuide.com that "SNL" was super short on black female comics because not one could ever properly prepare for the auditions.
Rihanna Twerks On TV
Well, she doesn't full-out twerk, but Zamata-as-Rihanna-as-Blossom does show off some of the Bajan pop diva's raunchier dance moves in a funny spoof of the wholesome, early-'90s sitcom "Blossom." The segment is one of several in the hilarious skit "Hip Hop Classics: Before They Were Stars," hosted by MTV News' own Sway (played by Thompson in an bee-hive-shaped headpiece).
"That's So 2 Chainz"
In a send-up of Disney's "That's So Raven," 2 Chainz (Jay Pharoah) gives Sasheer's Woodridge High student some much needed encouragement before talent show auditions and scares the life out of two tiara-wearing mean girls. Zamata plays a supporting role here as Pharoah adds to his growing arsenal of rapper impressions.
The Revolution Will Be Televised
It was either meant to be a commercial or a music video about failed New Year's resolutions; we're still not sure. But Zamata dances and sings the words "resolution, revolution" with a calendar as a backdrop before Drake and various "SNL" players break in to rap about giving up everything from sex toys to herbal refreshments.
Truth Or Dare
Mr. Gorman (Drake)'s 13-year-old daughter (Zamata) invites friends over for a slumber party but has trouble steering the convo back to cute seventh-grade boys when one of her besties reveals she has a crush on the host's dorky dad. Drake is spot-on as the bespectacled, lusted-after father, and Zamata is convincing as the red-faced teen. ||||| Drake proved last night that he hasn't let those Degrassi acting skills grow rusty during his hosting stint on Saturday Night Live, channeling a range of characters from a dorky dad at a slumber party to a smitten high school student in detention and a weed-extoling Katt Williams, in addition to packing in Nothing Was the Same tracks as musical guest. The rapper started off on a strong foot, playing Alex Rodriguez in the Piers Morgan cold open, announcing his plans to sue everyone from Major League Baseball to steroids ("for being inside of me") while attributing his incriminating text messages to autocorrect mishaps. The sketch also featured Bobby Moynihan as a barely-repentant Chris Christie and a hilarious turn by Kate McKinnon as Justin Bieber addressing his recent egg-throwing debacle.
See Nothing Was The Same and More of the Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2013
Drake brought his easy Canadian charm to an opening monologue in which he repped his hometown ("The city of Toronto, where the rappers are polite and the mayor smokes crack"), apologized for coining the phrase "YOLO" ("I did not realize your annoying friends and coworkers would us it so much") and flashed back to his bar mitzvah.
The rapper's combination of lyrical flow and comic timing carried the "Resolution Revolution" digital short, almost as much as the image of Drake LARPING in a wizard costume did.
But the night's true gem was "Hip-Hop Classics: Before They Were Stars," which played on Drake's teen-drama resume by exploring some other, lesser-known acting debuts. Taran Killam plays Eminem in a jarring turn on Felicity, Jay Pharoah stars in the Disney hit That's So 2-Chainz, Kenan Thompson does Flavor Flav providing the adult voice of Fred Savage on The Wonder Years, and new cast member Sasheer Zamata plays Rihanna in a Barbados reboot of Blossom. Above all, there was the sinister grace of Drake, playing Lil Wayne as the original Steve Urkel on Family Matters and Jay Z learning to make a baking soda and vinegar volcano on Mr. Wizard. ||||| This Feb. 11, 2008 photo provided by Cate Hellman Photography shows actress Sasheer Zamata. Zamata, 27, from Indianapolis, will join the cast of "Saturday Night Live," for the Jan. 18 episode. (AP Photo/Cate... (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — Sasheer Zamata made a low-key but notable debut on "Saturday Night Live" as the first black female cast member since 2007.
As usual for a "SNL" newcomer, Zamata kept a low profile on Saturday's broadcast. She participated in sketches in roles including Rihanna and a teenager at a slumber party.
The 27-year-old comedian and improv performer was signed earlier this month in the wake of criticism of "SNL" for its lack of ethnic diversity. Black male cast members Kenan Thompson and Jay Pharoah were among those voicing complaints last fall.
The NBC series has had only four black women cast members in its 39 seasons. The most recent was Maya Rudolph. The biracial actress left in 2007.
The show has also recently hired two black female writers. | – Sasheer Zamata, the much anticipated first black female to join Saturday Night Live's ranks since Maya Rudolph's 2007 departure, made her debut on last night's show, and the AP describes it as "low-key but notable." Zamata played a teenage Rihanna in a Blossom knockoff and appeared in a sketch called "Resolution Revolution." "Last night's show was a soft introduction," writes Rebecca Thomas at MTV, in a run-down of all her appearances. "She appeared rather frequently but in limited roles that didn't require her to carry the comic load. Just getting her feet wet." Guest host Drake, meanwhile, dusted off his acting chops in a show-stealing performance, writes Miriam Coleman at Rolling Stone, bringing "his easy Canadian charm" to the monologue and "channeling a range of characters from a dorky dad at a slumber party to a smitten high school student in detention." Kate McKinnon hilariously spoofed Justin Bieber in the Cold Open. |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. Security Council called for "an immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire" in the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas at an emergency meeting just after midnight (0400 GMT) Monday morning.
The U.N. Security Council convenes on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security Council called for "an immediate and unconditional humanitarian... (Associated Press)
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor speaks following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security Council... (Associated Press)
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour, center, shakes hands with a representative of France during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters,... (Associated Press)
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor, right, speaks with United States U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power during a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters,... (Associated Press)
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor speaks following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security Council... (Associated Press)
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor speaks following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security Council... (Associated Press)
Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor moves to leave following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security Council... (Associated Press)
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour speaks following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the worsening situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security... (Associated Press)
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour, center, speaks following a meeting of the U.N. Security Council on the situation in Gaza at United Nations headquarters, Monday, July 28, 2014. The U.N. Security... (Associated Press)
The council met as Muslims started celebrating the Eid al-Fitr holiday marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
The pressure for a cease-fire followed new attacks launched by Israel and Hamas on Sunday despite back-and-forth over proposals for another temporary halt to nearly three weeks of fighting. A 12-hour lull Saturday, agreed to by both sides following intense U.S. and United Nations mediation efforts, could not be sustained.
The Security Council urged Israel and Hamas "to accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond." It said this would allow for the delivery of urgently needed assistance.
The council's presidential statement also called on the parties "to engage in efforts to achieve a durable and fully respected cease-fire, based on the Egyptian initiative."
The 20-day war has killed more than 1,030 Palestinians, mainly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. Israel has lost 43 soldiers, as well as two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker killed by rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza, according to the Israeli military.
The Palestinians and the Israelis both criticized the statement adopted by the council.
Palestinian U.N. Ambassador Riyad Mansour said the council should have adopted a strong and legally binding resolution a long time ago demanding an immediate halt to Israel's "aggression," providing the Palestinian people with protection and lifting the siege in the Gaza Strip so goods and people can move freely.
Nonetheless, Mansour expressed hope that Israel will "honor and respect" a new humanitarian cease-fire which the Palestinians hope will last "for a long time" so all outstanding issues can be addressed, especially the siege.
"You cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison," he told reporters. "That is a recipe for disaster, It is inhumane, and it has to be stopped and it has to be lifted."
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said the presidential statement didn't mention Hamas or the firing of rockets into Israel or Israel's right to defend itself.
He sidestepped several questions on whether Israel would accept a new humanitarian cease-fire, but stressed that it had agreed to five cease-fires since the conflict began.
"Every single time the international community called for a cease-fire, we ceased and Hamas fired," he said.
Prosor directed his statement to countries that give money to the Palestinians in Gaza, saying, "Your tax dollars are not being used towards education, civil services or development — they are being used to develop a terrorist stronghold."
The Security Council is often deeply divided on Israeli-Palestinian issues, with the United States, Israel's most important ally, often blocking or using its veto on statements and resolutions pressed by the Palestinians and their supporters.
Rwanda, the current council president, announced agreement on the presidential statement Sunday night and called an immediate, and rare, emergency meeting at midnight to approve it. The statement was drafted by Jordan, the Arab representative on the U.N.'s most powerful body.
Jordan's deputy U.N. ambassador Mahmoud Hmoud said the presidential statement was the first Security Council document on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict since January 2009, when the council called for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza after another conflict with Hamas.
Presidential statements become part of the council's official record and must be approved at a council meeting. They are a step below Security Council resolutions, but unlike resolutions they require approval of all 15 members.
The statement never names either Israel or Hamas. Instead, it expresses "grave concern regarding the deterioration in the situation as a result of the crisis related to Gaza and the loss of civilian lives and casualties."
The presidential statement also commends efforts by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to achieve a cease-fire. Ban is scheduled to address U.N. correspondents on Monday morning on his mission.
In the longer term, the statement urges the parties and the international community to achieve a comprehensive peace based on the vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace "with secure and recognized borders." ||||| Pope Francis reacts as he delivers his Sunday Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace in Saint Peter's Square at the Vatican (ALESSANDRO BIANCHI, REUTERS / )
ROME (Reuters) - Pope Francis made an emotional plea for peace on Sunday in an impromptu addition to comments delivered at his weekly Angelus address in Saint Peter's Square.
As the Argentinian-born pontiff wrapped up his regular address to the faithful, he spoke of the upcoming centenary of the outbreak of World War One and said his thoughts were on the Middle East, Iraq and Ukraine in particular.
With his voice appearing to crack with emotion, the pope broke off from his scripted remarks to make a direct appeal for fighting to end.
"Please stop!, I ask you with all my heart, it's time to stop. Stop, please!"
While he made no direct reference to the situation in the Gaza Strip, the comments came after a humanitarian truce broke down on Sunday with the resumption of fighting in which more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians including dozens of children, have been killed.
"Brothers and sisters, never war, never war! I am thinking above all of children, who are deprived of the hope of a worthwhile life, of a future," he said.
"Dead children, injured children, mutilated children, orphaned children, children whose toys are things left over from war, children who can't smile any more," he said.
(Reporting By James Mackenzie; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
||||| Photo Advertisement Continue reading the main story
WASHINGTON — After failing to win a deal to end fighting in Gaza last week, Secretary of State John Kerry is trying to salvage Plan B: a succession of temporary cease-fires that he hopes might yet open the door to Israeli and Palestinian negotiations for a long-term solution.
On Sunday, however, Mr. Kerry was having difficulty accomplishing even that, despite a phone call in which President Obama, in a sign of mounting impatience, urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to embrace an “immediate, unconditional humanitarian cease-fire” while the two sides pursued a more lasting agreement.
Part of the reason the diplomatic effort has faced such an uphill struggle is far-reaching changes on both sides since the last Gaza cease-fire in 2012. Israel and Hamas seem to be dug in this time, with Israeli officials appearing dismissive of Mr. Kerry’s push for a weeklong cease-fire in a way that few American secretaries of state have faced.
Hamas is holding out for a commitment to open major border crossings and ease the embargo after failing to get the benefits it had anticipated after the cease-fire two years ago.
Israel, after encountering a more formidable Hamas tunnel network than it had expected and being struck by longer-range missiles than ever, is determined not to stop until it has neutralized much of the threat.
The challenge of reconciling the seemingly irreconcilable is all the more difficult because there is no party that is in a position to mediate directly between Hamas and Israel. The United States does not deal directly with Hamas. And the countries with the closest ties, Qatar and Turkey, have fraught relations with Egypt, whose cease-fire plan has provided the broad framework for Mr. Kerry’s efforts.
Robert Danin, a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former State Department official, said that while it was premature to write off Mr. Kerry’s struggle to achieve a cease-fire, the challenges were formidable. “There is nothing to suggest that either side is particularly desperate for a cease-fire,” he said. “Neither side believes a cease-fire will be the end of the conflict, and they are looking at a truce as a way to position themselves for the next round of fighting.”
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
The behind-the-scenes diplomacy for a cease-fire began two weeks ago when Egypt published a plan that sought to halt the fighting but did not commit to meeting Gaza’s demands that border crossings be opened or prisoners released until the security situation became “stable.”
The Egyptians talked with Israel in developing the plan, calling for an immediate end to hostilities, followed eventually by longer-term discussions on Gaza, but never managed to bring Hamas on board. The United States was informed that Israel thought a round of shuttle diplomacy by Mr. Kerry was not needed or desired, diplomats said.
As the casualties mounted, including the deaths of hundreds of civilians, Mr. Obama decided last week that it was time for Mr. Kerry to go to the region to try to build on the Egyptian plan. From the start, there were signs that the United States and Israel were not on the same wavelength.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
On July 21, Mr. Obama declared that the window for a cease-fire was open because “significant damage” had been done to Hamas’s “terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.” But that was not an assessment that the Israeli military fully shared.
After five days of marathon diplomacy in Egypt and Israel, Mr. Kerry presented Mr. Netanyahu with a confidential draft, titled “Framework for Humanitarian Cease-Fire in Gaza.”
A version of the document, which was presented on Friday, stated that a seven-day cease-fire was to be established by Sunday.
Two days later, talks would begin in Cairo between Israel and the Palestinians on achieving an “enduring solution” to the crisis in Gaza, a phrase that Hamas could read as the lifting of the economic embargo and that Mr. Netanyahu could interpret as the neutralization of the group’s military threat to Israel.
The draft, which was obtained by The New York Times, noted that the parties would “refrain from conducting any military or security targeting of each other.” But it did not explicitly call on Israel to stop sealing the tunnels during the humanitarian pause. Those operations have continued during recent cease-fire efforts, creating anger on the Palestinian side.
Humanitarian aid was to be delivered during the pause, and the United States, Turkey, Qatar, the European Union, the Arab League and the United Nations pledged to “address the needs of the people of Gaza.”
Mr. Kerry and his team thought that the document reflected language that could be basically acceptable to Israel because some of it concerning border crossings and security had paralleled the November 2012 Gaza cease-fire and the Egyptian proposal this month.
But rather than treating it as a working draft on which they could comment, American officials assert, the Israelis appeared to think it tilted too far to Hamas’s position and did not do nearly enough to address the security threat to Israel. Major elements of the plan were leaked to the Israeli news media, and there has been a flow of criticism of Mr. Kerry since then by Israeli politicians on both the left and right.
Though American officials insisted that they coordinated their diplomatic moves with Israel, Barak Ravid, a correspondent for the newspaper Haaretz, wrote that Mr. Kerry’s draft “shocked” Israeli cabinet ministers because it “placed Israel and Hamas on the same level.”
Continue reading the main story Video
At a Friday night news conference in Cairo, a frustrated Mr. Kerry insisted that the paper was never intended to be a “formal proposal” and described the leaks as “mischievous.”
With no seven-day pause at hand, Israel and Hamas agreed to a 12-hour respite and Mr. Kerry raced to Paris. There he met with European foreign ministers to enlist support for a cease-fire, and held a meeting with his Qatari and Turkish counterparts, who were functioning as negotiators for Hamas. The photos of Mr. Kerry meeting with the Qatari and Turkish foreign ministers did nothing to alleviate Israel’s concerns, but American officials say the discussions were needed to try to get Hamas on board.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
On Saturday, Mr. Kerry again pressed for an extension of the 12-hour cease-fire. By stringing together enough temporary periods of quiet, he calculated, there might yet be a way for the Israelis and the Palestinians to begin talks on a long-term solution.
The Israeli side initially announced a four-hour cease-fire so that the earlier 12-hour truce would not run out before the Israeli cabinet could deliberate on whether to extend it for another day, which it eventually did. Some American officials believe Hamas saw reports of the four-hour cease-fire as a sign of bad faith since it was not the daylong truce they had been told was on the table. That, and perhaps differences between fighters in Gaza and Khaled Meshal, the Hamas political leader who lives in Qatar, led Hamas to unleash a barrage of fire, which eventually led Israel to respond in kind.
Working through Qatar, Mr. Kerry finally got Hamas on Sunday to announce its 24-hour cease-fire. But the mistrust between Hamas and Israel appeared as deep as ever.
Even as critics complained that Mr. Kerry was on a fool’s errand — trying to salvage even a Gaza truce after failing in a prolonged effort to reach a deeper peace deal that would establish a Palestinian state — the secretary and his team held fast to their plan.
“You have a way now to stanch the bleeding,” one senior State Department official said. ||||| Israel will press its air and ground offensive in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday, preparing his country for a longer and bloodier campaign and dashing hopes that the three-week-old conflict would end soon.
Rebuffing appeals from President Obama, the United Nations and others for an immediate cease-fire, Netanyahu said in a televised address, “We will not finish the mission, we will not finish the operation, without neutralizing the tunnels” through which Hamas fighters have sought to infiltrate Israel. The tunnels, he said, “have the sole purpose of destroying our citizens, killing our children.”
Israel’s antagonist, the Islamist militant organization Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, continued to unleash deadly mortar and rocket fire, triggering air raid sirens across Israel.
In Gaza City, explosions Monday rocked a neighborhood and left at least 10 people dead, including children playing on a street, as a brief lull on one of Islam’s holiest days gave way to fresh attacks and tragedy.
Palestinian health officials said the deaths were among 18 reported in Gaza on Monday, the start of the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday capping the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. They said 70 people were injured.
Hamas officials blamed Israeli airstrikes for the blasts at the al-Shati camp, also called Beach Camp. A spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces denied firing at the neighborhood and attributed the explosions to failed rocket launches from Gaza militants.
Reporters said that a shell or rocket also crashed into a medical facility in the Shifa Hospital compound in Gaza City but that there was no serious damage and that it was unclear whether there were any deaths or injuries from that strike. Hamas and the Israeli military each denied responsibility for the blast.
In a text message to journalists, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri called the strike on Beach Camp “a massacre” and vowed that “this crime will not break our will, and the occupation will pay a price.”
Later, Hamas militants fired three rockets into southern Israel, as revenge, they said.
Early Tuesday morning, Israeli military said that five soldiers were killed Monday evening when militants from Gaza infiltrated southern Israel via a tunnel from the Gaza Strip. A gunfight broke out, leaving at least one militant dead, as well as five soldiers, bringing to 10 the total number of soldiers killed in combat Monday.
Early Tuesday, an Israeli aircraft fired a missile at the house of Ismail Haniyeh, the former Hamas prime minister of Gaza, causing damage but no casualties, Reuters reported, citing Gaza’s Interior Ministry. An Israeli military spokeswoman had no information on the report but was checking for details. Haniyeh’s son said on his Facebook page that the house was empty.
Hamas said that its al-Aqsa TV station was also targeted but that the station continued to broadcast.
The latest bloodshed occurred as international efforts to end the devastating war had been intensifying. Early Monday, the U.N. Security Council called for an “immediate and unconditional humanitarian cease-fire.”
The conflict has killed more than 1,060 people in Gaza, more than 70 percent of them civilians, according to the United Nations. Israel has lost 53 soldiers, the largest toll since its 2006 war with Lebanon. Hamas mortar and rocket attacks from Gaza have killed two Israeli civilians and a Thai worker in Israel.
At Shifa Hospital, the best-equipped in the coastal enclave, chaotic scenes unfolded as the dead and the wounded arrived, some by ambulance, some carried in the arms of relatives. One woman was shaking uncontrollably and screaming, “My brother, my brother!” One man was crying in front of the mangled corpse of his father.
Naji al-Deen was seated on a chair, staring blankly, his clothes covered in blood.
Like hundreds who had come to the hospital, he was from the al-Shati camp, a seaside neighborhood filled with the families of refugees from the 1948 war that created the Israeli state. On Monday, it was a death zone. Children had been playing on a portable swing set brought in to celebrate the holiday, as well as in the narrow, tree-lined street, witnesses said. About 4:30 p.m., the blast occurred.
“It was Eid, and the children wanted to play,” said Deen, his voice cracking. “Then we heard the explosion. I saw my son running covered in blood. There were kids torn to pieces.”
Deen said he carried his son to the hospital, where he was being treated for his injuries. At least seven children were killed, witnesses said.
There were signs of rising hostilities Monday evening. Israeli media reported that militants had sneaked into southern Israel via a tunnel. The reports said that there was an exchange of fire and that five militants were killed.
Sirens sounded across southern, central and northern Israel, warning people to seek shelter from incoming Gaza rockets.
The Israeli military made cellphone calls and sent text messages to thousands of Palestinians living in the Shijaiyah, Zeitoun and Jabalya neighborhoods, warning them to evacuate immediately and head for Gaza City. Similar mass messages have preceded large strikes and incursions by Israel recently.
“If the terrorist organizations in Gaza think they can break Israel and its citizens, they will come to understand in the next few days that this is not the case,” said Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon.
The day started quietly, with many Palestinians hoping to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, typically a joyous time of parties. Israel mostly held its fire overnight, shelling only a site in the northern Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire there. But it turned out to be the briefest of respites in Gaza.
In an emergency meeting that stretched into early Monday, the U.N. Security Council urged Israel and Hamas to “accept and fully implement the humanitarian cease-fire into the Eid period and beyond,” allowing for the delivery of urgently needed assistance to Palestinians, who cannot leave the territory.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon again appealed to Israel and Hamas to end the bloodshed.
Netanyahu heaped scorn on the U.N. statement, saying it focused on “the needs of a murderous terrorist organization that is attacking Israeli civilians and does not address Israel’s security needs, including the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip.”
In a telephone conversation, Netanyahu told Ban that the United Nations had ignored Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians and the group’s use of civilians as human shields.
On Sunday, Obama had also urged an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, according to the White House.
In Washington on Monday, U.S. officials confirmed that Israeli authorities had detained a 15-year-old American citizen for allegedly taking part in violent protests in East Jerusalem this month. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. government was urging a quick resolution of the case of Mohamed Abu Nie, arrested July 3. Israeli officials alleged that he had a knife and threw rocks and attacked police during a protest, Psaki said. She added that the U.S. government was concerned about reports that he had been beaten while in custody.
Raghavan reported from Gaza. | – The UN Security Council emerged from a rare midnight emergency meeting demanding that Israel and Hamas implement "an immediate and unconditional humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza, reports the AP. The UN petition, which accompanied a relative lull at the start of Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, followed pleas for peace from President Obama, UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon, and Pope Francis over the weekend, as well as a brief truce that deteriorated after just a few hours on Saturday. Israeli jets, meanwhile, broke the lull, striking three sites in Gaza in response to a rocket attack. Neither Israel nor Palestinian leaders seemed particularly pleased at the UN’s stance, which is non-binding. UN Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour told AP reporters that "you cannot keep 1.8 million Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in this huge prison," calling the situation "inhumane" and a "recipe for disaster" and saying a legally binding resolution should have been passed already to put a stop to Israeli "aggression." Israel, for its part, took issue with the UN statement because it made no mention of the country’s right to defend itself or Hamas launching rockets into Israel. World leaders, including John Kerry, have been holding out hope that a series of temporary ceasefires might be the impetus the embattled region needs to work out its problems for good, reports the New York Times. |
An employee of the Royal Canadian Mint allegedly smuggled about $180,000 in gold from the fortress-like facility, possibly evading multiple levels of detection with a time-honoured prison trick.
Hiding the precious metal up his bum.
The case against Leston Lawrence, 35, of Barrhaven concluded in an Ottawa courtroom Tuesday. Justice Peter Doody reserved decision until Nov. 9 on a number of smuggling-for-cash charges, including theft, laundering the proceeds of crime, possession of stolen property and breach of trust.
The Uck! factor aside, the case was also an illuminating look at security measures inside the Mint, the building on Sussex Drive that produces hundreds of millions of gold coins annually for the federal Crown corporation.
“Appalling,” was the conclusion of defence lawyer Gary Barnes, who described the Crown’s case as an underwhelming collection of circumstantial evidence.
“This is the Royal Canadian Mint, your Honour, and one would think they should have the highest security measures imaginable,” Barnes said in his closing submission.
“And here the gold is left sitting around in open buckets.”
Indeed, it was not even the Mint that discovered the alleged theft but an alert bank teller.
Court was told that, on multiple occasions, Lawrence took small circular chunks of gold — a cookie-sized nugget called a “puck” — to Ottawa Gold Buyers in the Westgate Shopping Centre on Carling Avenue.
Typically, the pucks weighed about 210 grams, or 7.4 ounces, for which he was given cheques in the $6,800 range, depending on fluctuating gold prices, court heard. He then deposited the cheques at the Royal Bank in the same mall.
One day a teller became suspicious at the size and number of Ottawa Gold Buyers cheques being deposited and Lawrence’s request to wire money out of the country. She then noticed on his account profile that he worked at the Mint. The first red flag was up.
Bank security was alerted, then the RCMP, which began to investigate. Eventually, a search warrant was obtained and four Mint-style pucks were found in Lawrence’s safety deposit box, court heard.
Records revealed 18 pucks had been sold between Nov. 27, 2014 and March 12, 2015. Together with dozens of gold coins that were redeemed, the total value of the suspected theft was conservatively estimated at $179,015.
But the defence countered with a couple of important points. The Crown was not able to prove conclusively that the gold in Lawrence’s possession actually came from inside the Mint. It had no markings nor, apparently, had any gold been reported missing internally.
The Crown was able to show the pucks precisely fit the Mint’s custom “dipping spoon” made in-house — not available commercially — that is used to scoop molten gold during the production process.
Lawrence, who has since been terminated, was an operator in the refinery section. Among his duties was to scoop gold from buckets so it could be tested for purity, as the Mint prides itself on gold coins above the 99 per cent level.
The great mystery that went unanswered at trial, however, was this: how did the gold get out of the Mint?
Court was told Lawrence set off the metal detector at an exit from the “secure area” with more frequency than any other employee — save those with metal medical implants. When that happened, the procedure was to do a manual search with a hand-held wand, a search that he always passed.
(It was not uncommon for employees to set off the detector, court heard.)
Investigators also found a container of vaseline in his locker and the trial was presented with the prospect that a puck could be concealed in an anal cavity and not be detected by the wand. In preparation for these proceedings, in fact, a security employee actually tested the idea, Barnes said.
Lawrence did not take the stand — as is his legal right — and the Crown was not able to definitively establish how the gold pucks made their way out of the facility.
“We do have compelling evidence,” countered Crown attorney David Friesen, of someone “secreting (gold) on his person and taking it out of the Mint.”
Barnes implied there were many ways Lawrence could have legitimately obtained the gold — he could have bought the coins, for instance — and said he made no efforts to be devious with the gold buyers or the bank. Further, Barnes said, the Mint isn’t even sure a theft took place.
“In fact, I would submit the Mint doesn’t even know if anything is missing.”
In an emailed statement Tuesday evening, a Mint spokeswoman said several security measures had been upgraded, including high definition security cameras in all areas, improved ability to track, balance and reconcile precious metal, and the use of “trend analysis technology.”
Related
To contact Kelly Egan, please call 613-726-5896 or email kegan@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/kellyegancolumn ||||| A 35-year-old Royal Canadian Mint employee awaits his fate after being accused of smuggling gold from the Crown corporation facility, hiding the precious metal in his bum.
Court heard Leston Lawrence, of Barrhaven, Ont., brought several chunks of gold — in cookie-sized 7.4 oz. nuggets called "pucks" — to an Ottawa Gold Buyers outlet where he was paid approximately $6,800 for each puck, depending on the price of gold that day. Lawrence reportedly then took those cheques and deposited them at a Royal Bank in the same mall where the Gold Buyers was located.
Courts records showed 18 pucks were sold between Nov. 27, 2014 and March 12, 2015. Along with dozens of gold coins redeemed, the total value of the alleged theft is conservatively estimated at $179,015. Among Lawrence's duties at the Mint was to measure the purity of gold coins.
It was a bank teller who first raised her eyebrows about Lawrence's actions - noting the number of deposits, his requests to wire the money overseas and the fact his profile listed the Mint as his place of employment.
The RCMP was soon involved and court heard a search warrant revealed four Mint-style pucks inside Lawrence’s safety deposit box. Investigators also found a container of Vaseline in his locker. It was also suggested a gold puck concealed in an anal cavity might not be detectable by the handheld wand used as a secondary security measure at the Mint after an employee sets off the metal detector.
Defence lawyer Gary Barnes argued there were many ways Lawrence could have legitimately obtained the gold and said he made no efforts to be devious with the gold buyers or the bank.
Crown attorney David Friesen, however, said there was “compelling evidence” of someone “secreting (gold) on his person and taking it out of the Mint.”
Lawrence faces a number of charges including theft, laundering the proceeds of crime, possession of stolen property and breach of trust.
Justice Peter Doody reserved decision until Nov. 9. | – A man whose job was to test gold for purity at the Royal Canadian Mint is accused of stealing $135,000 in precious metal—in his rectum. Leston Lawrence, 35, was known to set off the Mint's metal detectors more often than most, but he always passed a search with a hand-held wand, according to prosecutors. They say that's because Lawrence smuggled coins and 18 unmarked gold nuggets out of the Mint hidden in his rectum, then took them to a gold buyer, where he received checks for about $5,000 per piece between November 2014 and March 2015, reports the Ottawa Citizen. After noticing the high number of checks, however, a bank teller discovered Lawrence worked at the Mint and alerted authorities, prosecutors say. The Mint—where "gold is left sitting around in open buckets," says Lawrence's lawyer, Gary Barnes—could find no record of the alleged thefts, but investigators say they found four nuggets in Lawrence's possession after executing a search warrant. The nuggets are in the shape of the Mint's "dipping spoon," which is not available commercially, notes the newspaper. Investigators also found Vaseline in Lawrence's work locker. A security employee proved one could pass a security check with a hand-held wand while smuggling gold via the butt, investigators say. Still, Barnes argues there's no proof Lawrence's gold came from the Mint, per the Toronto Sun. He's charged with theft, laundering the proceeds of crime, possession of stolen property, and breach of trust. A decision is expected Nov. 9. (Your butt is welcome to touch this gold toilet.) |
A daily crawl of more than 200,000 home pages of news sites, including the pages linked from those home pages. Site list provided by The GDELT Project
These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites.
Back to previous page
New Hampshire polls open in Dixville Notch — with nine votes
By Ann Gerhart,
DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — The voters of this tiny hamlet, all nine of them, have spoken. Very briefly.
The polls opened here at midnight and closed less than a minute later, and the tally was final by 12:05 a.m. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman tied, with two votes each. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul each got one vote. President Obama received his very first live votes of confidence — three of them.
In Hart’s Location, another village that traditionally votes minutes after Dixville Notch, Romney was a clear winner. There, the former Massachusetts governor took five votes to four votes for Paul. Huntsman took two votes, Texas Gov. Rick Perry took one and Gingrich took one.
New Hampshire election law permits unincorporated towns of fewer than 100 residents to open for polling at midnight, and Dixville Notch has done so since 1960, at The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel high in the North Country, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. There were nine votes cast that year, too, all for Richard Nixon.
A crowd of about 200 media representatives chronicled the entire 2-minute affair.
Tanner Tillotson, who is 23 and a grandson of the previous owner of The Balsams, obligingly offered his comments to a bank of TV cameras: “We’ve seen a tie in the Republican primary between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, and I think the voters should take that as a sign that they should vote for whom they want, rather than who might win. Dixville always has played this tiny but important role in the process.”
He voted for Obama.
While the results are expected to be certified by New Hampshire’s secretary of state, the whole affair was, with all due respect to a hospitable citizenry, a bit of a fraud. None of the voters actually live in Dixville Notch.
The grand old resort closed in October for renovations, and the new owners gave the more than 300 employees a severance package. Tillotson and his parents, Thomas and Debra, do own a home on the property but spend much of their time in Boston. The others have moved away to find work in other places. The state allows residents to retain their most recent place of registration, and so the sturdy loyal nine all trooped here to do their duty.
A local caterer set out vast trays of deviled eggs and chicken and ham salad sandwiches, and Ray Gorman, who worked at the resort for 33 years and now is hoping to draw unemployment, volunteered to come back and make sure there would be oil in the heating system to keep everyone comfortable in the large ballroom. He invited the protesters standing outside on ice in the 15-degree weather to come in and get warm.
John Kennedy, who was the recreation and activity director for The Balsams for 19 years and met his wife here, fished the bunting out of a closet in the laundry room.
The voter to cast a ballot first, selected from names on slips of paper in a bowl, was Jacques Couture, who worked in maintenance at The Balsams.
When his name was announced, Couture looked startled as the flashes popped in his face and the reporters shouted questions.
“Jacques, Jacques, do you consider it an honor?”
“Is it scary?”
“Jacques, why do you consider it an honor?”
“Is that Couture like fashion?”
“Yes,” Couture replied. “It is an honor.” ||||| Jacques Couture, 62, cast his vote in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, at The Balsams Grand Resort, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012, in Dixville, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (Associated Press)
Voters in the tiny New Hampshire village famed for casting the first ballots in the nation's first presidential primary have found themselves in a tie between Republicans Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman.
Nine ballots were cast in New Hampshire's Dixville Notch just after midnight.
Romney and Huntsman received two votes each. Coming in second with one vote apiece were Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
For the Democrats, President Barack Obama received three votes.
The nine residents who cast their ballots include three registered Republicans and two registered Democrats. Four other voters haven't declared a party.
Dixville Notch is an unincorporated village in northern New Hampshire just below the Canadian border. The town clerk, Rick Erwin, says that the nine registered voters make up the entire Dixville Notch population. | – The village of Dixville Notch is notable not just for the fact that it only has nine registered voters, but for the fact that those voters also are the first in New Hampshire to state their choice in today's primary. Their nine ballots were cast one minute after midnight—unincorporated towns that claim less than 100 residents can open the polls at 12am—and, according to this wee hamlet, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the very, very early frontrunners, with two votes each. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul both walked away with one; Barack Obama scooped up the remaining three, reports the AP. If may seem like a quaint and charming way to kick off today's primary, but the Washington Post would like to point out that it's a bit of a sham: It reports that those nine voters don't actually live in Dixville Notch, but are technically registered to vote there. They voted at the Balsams Grand Resort Hotel, which closed a few months ago for renovations, pushing the few residents to leave and seek work elsewhere. But just for one night, the heating system was cranked up, chicken and ham salad sandwiches were put out, and all eyes fell on Dixville Notch. |
How the other half fear: Super-rich worry that their wealth is killing drive and ambition in their children
Survey looked at top fears of 4,500 of the world's wealthiest families
Found wealthiest worried about their fortunes killing children's drive
Fear ranked above worries over investments and marital breakdown
Sting said today that his children will not inherit any of his £180million
With millions of pounds in the bank, you might have thought the world's super-rich wouldn't have a care in the world.
But a new survey has revealed the top fears of the world's wealthiest people, and one of the most common is that their money is their children's ambition and drive to do well.
For the most successful - defined as those with fortunes of $10million (£5.9million) and above - worries about children's motivation came second only to worries about their own health.
Sting said his kids will not inherit his £180million fortune as the money will be an 'albatross around their necks'
According to the study, by law firm Withersworldwide, fears over children's ambition come above worries about investments failing, inability to provide for the family, and even divorce.
Among those with a fortune of less than $10million the fear still ranked highly, but came in fourth place, behind health troubles and worries over income.
The study found that, wealthy families have the most to fear from third generation family members when it comes to losing the family millions.
Sara Cormack, a partner at Wither's, said: 'If the first generation are wealth creators then the second generation tend to be wealth preservers, but it is the third generation that families are most worried about.
'If they have had everything put on a plate for them without seeing any of the hard graft that goes into creating that wealth, then they can lose track of how best to use that wealth and how ifficult it was to build up in the first place.'
Former Police lead singer and musician Sting has today said he will not be passing on any of his £180million fortune to his children because he wants them to earn their money themselves.
He said: ‘I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it! We have a lot of commitments. What comes in, we spend, and there isn’t much left.
Nigella Lawson previously said that not having to earn their own money 'ruins people' while Brooklyn Beckham was encouraged to get a job earning £2.68 an hour in a coffee shop by David and Victoria
‘I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks.
‘They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.
‘Obviously, if they were in trouble I would help them, but I’ve never really had to do that. They have the work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit.’
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson also said that her children will not be passed any of her own fortune, adding that 'it ruins people not having to earn their own money.'
According to reports, Brooklyn Beckham recently got a job in a West London coffee shop earning £2.68 an hour after being encouraged to do it by parents David and Victoria, who are worth an estimated £165million.
The data, a rare insight into the minds of the world's most powerful, was based on surveys of more than 4,500 and interviews with 16 very wealthy families from Europe, Asia and North America.
Families interviewed said they were using charitable donations or setting up a new business to give the family a renewed sense of direction.
Some even said they had drawn up a family statement, similar to a business statement, in order to give the next generation a purpose and something to achieve.
||||| Why my children will not be inheriting my £180million fortune: Sting wants his sons and daughters to earn their way (and says he's spending all his money anyway)
As one of the world’s most successful rock stars, he has risen from an impoverished childhood to amass a huge fortune.
Now Sting has made it clear that his children will also have to earn their own way and should not expect to benefit from his £180 million earnings.
In a frank interview in today’s Mail on Sunday Event magazine, the former Police frontman said he expected his three sons and three daughters to work, and added that there would not be much left to inherit anyway.
Sting, 62, who still has more than 100 people on his payroll, said: ‘I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it! We have a lot of commitments. What comes in, we spend, and there isn’t much left.’
He added: ‘I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks.
‘They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.
‘Obviously, if they were in trouble I would help them, but I’ve never really had to do that. They have the work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit.’
Sting is not the only celebrity who expects their children to stand on their own feet.
Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson said a few years ago: ‘I am determined that my children should have no financial security. It ruins people not having to earn money.’
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW
Sting had to escape his family and abandon his North East roots. 'It was a pretty violent wrench. I didn't feel I belonged there and the family was pretty dysfunctional in many ways,' he said
It’s not exactly rock ’n’ roll, but the woman who really changed Sting’s life – sorry, Trudie – was the Queen Mother.
Young Gordon Sumner, dressed in his Sunday best almost 50 years ago, was mesmerised as her Rolls-Royce swished past the front door of his street in Wallsend, North Tyneside.
The Sumners were poor, working-class Geordies; his parents Audrey, a hairdresser, and Ernie, a milkman.
The Royal visitor was there to launch a ship built at the end of his street at the Swan Hunter shipyard. Sting’s grandfather had been a shipwright and the young Sumner was expected to go into a manual job, too.
'I've never hidden my age. I am a father and now a grandfather,' said Sting
The biggest vessels on the planet were hammered, welded and built there long before Gordon became Sting (named for wearing a black-and-yellow jersey, like a wasp).
‘The Queen Mum waved and looked at me, and I looked back at her and that was it,’ he says.
‘There and then I thought, I am going to be rich, famous, successful and drive a Rolls-Royce like her.’
He decided he would use his voice and guitar to get a big house in the country, great wealth and acclaim. And so it all came to pass.
Now aged 62, the rock star, eco-warrior, father of six and grandfather laughs as he tells of the inspiration for his aspiration, all courtesy of the House of Windsor.
This is just one of a torrent of revealing anecdotes in a candid and wide-ranging interview, in which he tells Event about his complicated family background, his politics, children, death, drugs, Botox, the secrets of his long and happy marriage – and why his children won’t be getting their hands on his fortune.
Today it’s his own childhood that’s playing on the mind of the boy from Wallsend who went on to buy seven homes across Britain, Italy and the U.S., sell more than 100 million records and earn an estimated £180 million.
Because to get all that, Sting tells me, he had to escape his family and abandon his North East roots.
‘It was a pretty violent wrench. I didn’t feel I belonged there and the family was pretty dysfunctional in many ways. My parents were not happy together.
'They loved their kids but it was a toxic environment. I needed to escape and I am glad I did.’
His mother was unfaithful, which eventually led to the breakdown of the marriage, and divorce.
Sting pursued his dream, which his father dismissed as delusional. And, at times, fame and fortune did look like fantasy, as Sting struggled through a series of jobs before finally becoming a teacher, his musical talents unrecognised.
'I demand a citizen's life - I really do. Walking the street; going to a bar on my own,' Sting said
He moved to London and began hurtling up and down the M1 to play gigs in pubs.
It was all small beer until 1979, when with his band, The Police, he exploded into the charts with Roxanne and everything changed.
And so the rest – five No 1 records with The Police, huge success as a solo artist, starring roles in movies, rainforest crusades, 16 Grammy awards and the most enduring marriage in rock ’n’ roll (not to mention fending off 1,000 questions about tantric sex) – is well-rehearsed history.
Less well known is the acutely personal inspiration for his latest project, a compulsively toe-tapping, heart-rending musical called The Last Ship.
The musical, which had its world premiere in Chicago last week, draws upon his early life growing up around the harsh shipyard docks. Sitting in his 20th-floor penthouse in a Chicago hotel after overseeing final preparations for The Last Ship’s maiden voyage, Sting talks with boyish wonder that his musical, four years in the making, is finally on stage. Next stop, Broadway.
‘The irony is that I’m going back to Wallsend, from where I had done everything in my power to escape,’ he says.
‘But we have to go back to where we came from and reassess, give thanks for it and honour it. I want to celebrate where I came from; that town, what they did, and the hardship.’
In The Last Ship, a young man runs away from home, returning 15 years later to discover he had fathered a child before he left, only to abandon his home town again, on a ship after the shipyard goes bust.
The songs, he says, came in a rush of inspiration following a period of writer’s block. He knew it should be a musical, and from the off knew that one of his oldest pals from the North East, Jimmy Nail, would star in it. (The actor and sometime musician is the one person on the planet who gets to call Sting Gordon.) The music is as addictive as his most potent songs – all are written by Sting – and after Broadway he would be happy to see it open in London.
'I am married to an extraordinary, gifted woman,' said Sting of wife Trudie Styler
The story draws on Sting’s ruptured relationship with his father.
‘A father’s love can sometimes be misconstrued,’ he says.
‘It can be about control; it comes from anxiety.
'A father wants to dictate to a son what he should or should not be doing. And to my father the ambition I had seemed like bulls***, pie in the sky. And he wasn’t wrong. I wanted to be a successful musician; the chances of that coming off were millions to one. He thought it was ridiculous. “Get a proper job!”
‘Once I had become successful he was proud of me, but he never really understood it.
'I passed the 11-plus to get into a grammar school with a scholarship but he had wanted me to go to a technical school. Engineering was what he knew and did.’
Sting’s aim was more fanciful.
‘I had some vague idea I wanted to study the classics, speak French and Latin.’
His goal was always to escape.
Such aspirations were more encouraged by his mother.
‘She initiated me in the dark arts of music and dreaming. She lived her life through me and encouraged me to do all the things my dad did not understand.
'Did I have to divorce my dad? As much as any son has to do so to individuate. You have to. It’s part of growing up. You have to leave the nest. Sometimes it’s painful. It is necessary.’
Sting did not attend either of his parents’ funerals, because he felt the inevitable media intrusion would be disrespectful, but he did pay his dad a final farewell as he lay dying of cancer.
As he sat beside him, Sting suddenly realised ‘with the jolt of an electrical shock’ that for all their differences, their hands were identical. “We have the same hands, Dad, look!” I was a child again, desperately trying to get his attention.’
Sting held his father’s hand next to his own, but little was said by these two strong Tyneside men. One sentence, however, stayed in Sting’s memory.
‘Aye, son, but you used yours better than I used mine.’
It was the first time Sting could recall ever hearing a compliment from his dad, or being acknowledged for what he had achieved.
His father, just 59, closed his eyes in exhaustion, Sting kissed him softly in the centre of his forehead and whispered that he was a good man and that he loved him. They never saw each other again.
On his children: 'They have this work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit. People make assumptions, that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but they have not been given a lot'
For years Sting felt unable to grieve properly for the loss of his parents.
He dedicated his 2005 memoir, Broken Music, to his parents but his new musical is obliquely a tribute as well. His voice lowers to just above a whisper as he recalls his dad. It is still a tender subject, 27 years after his death.
When I ask Sting when he last cried, there is a silence before he says: ‘Just now.’
And he clearly is moved. He does not do public tears. The musical ends with a funeral, a joyous and celebratory one, at sea, and he feels as if many wounds are being unconsciously healed, many unsaid words being heard.
‘Last night [at the theatre] I just thought back to my dad,’ he says, ‘and I think other members of the crew also did to theirs.’
Mortality is on Sting’s mind, as he is now three years shy of 65, but he says he is relaxed about growing old.
‘I’ve never hidden my age. I am a father and now a grandfather and I am proud of that [his youngest son, Giacomo, is 18 and his eldest, Joseph, 37].
‘I have a story still to tell and part of that is I am facing the end of my life.
'I have lived more of my life than is to come: that is an interesting place for an artist – more interesting than writing about your first girlfriend. It is kind of serious.
'I have lived more of my life than is to come: that is an interesting place for an artist - more interesting than writing about your first girlfriend. It is kind of serious,' said Sting
'In our 60s, how do we face this imponderable idea that we are not going to exist any more? We make art. We tell stories. We have to face it, to tell it. I am certainly not ready for death. Do I fear it? Well, I fear sudden death. I want to die consciously. I want to see the process. I suppose I already do.
'My eyesight is not as good as it used to be, nor my hearing. I am still extremely fit but have to work hard. But we decay. I love what Christopher Hitchens said about death – you have been asked to leave the party and the problem is the party will carry on without you. Very eloquent.
'But I am interested in the future. What will happen to the planet and us? I want to use every minute to enjoy it.’
While Sting outshone his parents, the challenge now for his own children is competing with the success he’s achieved through what he modestly calls his ‘singing and rhyming couplets’.
'I passed the 11-plus to get into a grammar school with a scholarship,' said Sting
‘My generation all assumed we would have a better standard of living. The one that we spawned cannot assume that.
'With my children there is great wealth, success – a great shadow over them – so it’s no picnic at all being my child. I discuss that with them; it’s tough for them.’
Sting does not believe they will inherit great riches.
‘I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it! We have a lot of commitments. What comes in we spend, and there isn’t much left.
'I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks. They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate.
'Obviously, if they were in trouble I would help them, but I’ve never really had to do that.
'They have this work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit. People make assumptions, that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but they have not been given a lot.’
Sting has more than 100 people on his payroll.
‘I keep a community of people going. My crew, my band, my staff... it’s a corporation!’ Who runs it? ‘Trudie! Well, a large aspect of it is Trudie, but I have a very good team of managers and lawyers. They all need paying, too.’
Selling the family home in London should raise some extra funds, then. The nine-bedroom townhouse, a stone’s throw from Buckingham Palace, is currently on the market for more than £15 million.
‘It’s just too big,’ he says. ‘The kids have all gone and there are just so many empty bedrooms. We’re just rattling around. But we are not leaving. I love England. I’m still English.’
Sting is not afraid to speak his mind and has stuck his neck out by campaigning for the decriminalisation of drugs. Does he really believe they help the creative process?
'Did I have to divorce my dad? As much as any son has to do so to individuate,' he said
‘I think if they’re used specifically as tools for a stated purpose. As in, “I’ll now smoke this joint and I’ll write a song... or I will write a piece of poetry.”
'Then I think it’s perfectly acceptable. But if you’re just taking stuff to get out of it, then you’ll just get out of it.
'If I’m feeling stuck on a lyric or an idea isn’t quite gelling, sometimes a puff of weed will free it up.
'I rarely smoke it socially. It’s a tool, just as a pen is. I’m not alone. Several artists have used drugs to make great art.
‘I certainly wouldn’t advocate that you have to take drugs to make art, but then you can’t nullify the work of The Beatles. They took LSD and they made fantastic albums.
'Miles Davies made the most extraordinary music on heroin.
'Some people can cope with it perfectly well. I’m not here to make rules, or even state that there should be any rules. Drugs are dangerous, without a doubt.
'At the same time they can be useful tools but they need to be thought about as tools.’
So where does he stand on the legalisation of drugs?
‘Legalising is a very complex issue. Decriminalisation is a first step, because I don’t think it [criminalisation] helps. I don’t think the social problems related to drugs are helped by the legal system or the police.
'Social problems and mental problems are best dealt with by psychiatrists.’
And what about when you see casualties of drugs, like Whitney Houston or Amy Winehouse?
‘There are laws in place right now and they haven’t protected Amy, they haven’t protected anyone. I tell my children to be extremely careful. Luckily, they’re not particularly prone to drug-taking, to my knowledge. But they’re smart and they’re careful.
‘The drug laws aren’t helping. We need a really honest debate in society. People will tend to want to make life richer. Life seems flat a lot of the time. Chemicals, alcohol, marijuana can help. It’s almost a spiritual need to re-enchant life.
'I think that people are disenchanted with modern living and the drug culture is an attempt to re-enchant the world. It can, and it can fail.’
Sting's childhood home in Wallsend on Tyneside
Sting has a ferocious fitness regime and a healthy diet. He drinks. He does not smoke. He has tried Botox twice, to relax a wrinkle on his forehead, but has no plans to try it again.
‘I don’t want to go down that path. I am not that vain.’
He has lived the rock ’n’ roll life to the full and is candid about it. In fact, he seems a man of few secrets. He emails a close coterie of friends on a regular basis and that almost acts as his diary.
Have there been failures? He hesitates. He divorced his first wife, the mother of his two eldest children, and his memoir hints of other sadnesses.
‘Relationships could have been better. No names. I’m still learning. When you’re young you make mistakes. But were they failures? It’s not a word I like.’
What has certainly worked is his marriage. He is passionate about Trudie.
‘I am married to an extraordinary, gifted woman who surprises me every day with her intelligence, her compassion and her talent.
'Above all else, I like her. She walks into a room and my world lights up. She is sunshine.
'I am very fortunate. I like what she says, the way she laughs. Her sense of humour.
'We share the same nostalgia, we come from the same working-class homes in the North of England. We remember the same TV shows, same commercials, same daft jokes that tickled us as kids.
‘We have a lot in common. Both of us went to grammar school. I was educated with kids like me but also lawyers’ and doctors’ sons learning eclectic things with sons of miners, every sort. It gave you a sense of the world, a bigger world.
‘But marriage is a daily negotiation, a daily compromise, a daily debate, a reassessment.
'I make all the big decisions, but luckily in the past 30 years there haven’t been any!
'I don’t want to jinx it by saying we have a secret formula. We appreciate our time together. I miss her when I am touring and we are apart.’
'I came up in an era of playing pubs for ten quid each and going back night after night,' he said. The Police exploded into the charts with Roxanne in 1979 and went on to have five No 1 records
When it comes to overnight stars like Justin Bieber, he says he’s glad he had to work from the ground up to get his rewards.
‘I came up in an era of playing pubs for ten quid each and going back night after night. I served on the shop floor. It builds a resilience and a toughness.
'If it had all been handed to me on a plate, I’m not sure I would appreciate it or have survived.
‘These days you can become an international superstar overnight with a video aged 18 or 19, but I don’t envy them.
'I don’t know how you cope with that without another life with which to compare it. I had a job, a mortgage and children. I was a tax worker! It’s not about fame – anyone who wants fame needs their head examined – it is about happiness.
‘But the shop floor I have described has disappeared. Pub rock became stadium rock, so there aren’t places for people to play. It’s hard for young musicians. You can make a killing, but it’s hard to make a living.’
Does he feel guilty about his wealth?
‘Why would I feel guilty? It’s not a useful emotion. I use my houses and love having them. I am grateful I have made money.
'I appreciate it because I spent much time without it. I use my money well. I am not a billionaire. I am very well off and I am certainly not complaining. I was not given it. I earned it through hard work and it was hard work. You try singing for two hours, getting on a plane every day. It’s hard, but I love it.’
Despite the fame, he tries to live as normal a life as possible.
‘I demand a citizen’s life – I really do. Walking the street; going to a bar on my own. But there is also a bit of the school master in me.’
When he was mobbed at the airport, he firmly told fans it was inappropriate to be chasing autographs when he was trying to get his luggage.
‘I want to be able to pick up my bags from the carousel and walk to the car. There are times when I don’t want or need attention.’
The Last Ship, which had its world premiere in Chicago last week, draws upon Sting's early life growing up around the harsh shipyard docks
Sting is not interested in party politics, but instead takes a philosophical view on events, including the war on terror.
‘It’s a very odd phrase this “war on terror”,’ he says. ‘Let’s try to understand it a bit before we declare war on it. I think most of our problems are a lack of consciousness about things, a low level of understanding of reality.
'For me, jihad is a metaphor – you are fighting your own demons in your own mind. The Promised Land is another metaphor. The Virgin Birth, Adam and Eve is a metaphor. They are beautiful metaphors but when you accept them as literally true then you are in very dangerous territory.
'This is happening in all religions. I don’t have a religion. They have a right to believe but they can’t foist that on everyone else. We are not blameless. We created Iraq, Jordan, Syria.
'We just drew arbitrary lines on a map to control resources and people, disregarding tribal affinities, and that is always going to cause problems. No belief or region has a monopoly on stupidity.’
And on that note it is time to head back to the theatre. He is happy to spend a 12-hour day making sure his new baby gets better and better.
‘The play continues to grow and it is exciting but there is still much to do. I’m utterly exhausted but seriously happy.’
The show must go on. It is a piece of musical theatre as compelling on the head, the heart – and the toe. Singing, rhyming couplets – and spending. It’s what Sting does.
| – Sting may be worth more than $306 million, but his six children will have to make their own way, he tells the Daily Mail's Sunday magazine. First of all, "I told them there won’t be much money left because we are spending it!" he explains. "We have a lot of commitments. What comes in, we spend, and there isn’t much left." But beyond that, he says, "I certainly don’t want to leave them trust funds that are albatrosses round their necks. They have to work. All my kids know that and they rarely ask me for anything, which I really respect and appreciate." He adds that he would help them if they were in trouble, but so far he hasn't really had to. "They have this work ethic that makes them want to succeed on their own merit," he says. "People make assumptions, that they were born with a silver spoon in their mouth, but they have not been given a lot." The revelation came as a new survey revealed that many of the ultra-wealthy worry that if they give their kids too much, it will ruin their ambition, the Mail notes. Anderson Cooper said earlier this year that's the reason he won't be inheriting any of his mom's $200 million fortune. |
Blue Is the Warmest Color has been mired in controversy from the beginning. Even before winning the Palme d’Or, the three-hour French lesbian love story was Cannes’ most buzzed-about film, largely owing to its graphic, seven-minute-long sex scene. Still, critics were quick to praise the film as a masterpiece, which, despite its NC-17 rating, looked well poised to become the indie darling of this year’s awards season. But soon a much less sexy controversy began to emerge. Beginning with claims of poor working conditions by the crew and allegations of anti-feminism against director Abdellatif Kechiche, the merde really hit the fan after stars Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos criticized the director’s exploitative shooting practices in an interview with the Daily Beast. Kechiche shot back angrily, precipitating an ugly back-and-forth media brawl between Kechiche and Seydoux that shows no signs of simmering. Here’s a timeline of how it’s all gone down so far:
May 23
Blue Is the Warmest Color premieres at Cannes, receiving largely rave reviews (and a few audience walkouts). Yet early on there was criticism of the film’s anti-feminist tone. In a review that day, Manohla Dargis of the New York Times argued that the film’s sex scenes weren’t so much art as voyeuristic exertions of the male gaze, writing that Kechiche “registers as oblivious to real women” and that “the movie feels far more about Mr. Kechiche’s desires than anything else.”
That same day, French film union Spiac-CGT released a statement to the French press leveling complaints against the director and his team regarding the conditions on set. They alleged that Kechiche and his team had violated the Labor Code with “workdays of 16 hours reported as 8,” an “anarchic” schedule, and a “bullying” atmosphere.
May 26
The film wins the Palme d’Or. In an unusual move, the festival jury — blown away by the two main performances — decides to split the award between the director and the lead actresses. The three are all hugs and smiles, and for a brief moment it seems that all is well.
May 27
While Dargis’s critiques were mostly unshared by fellow critics who saw the film at Cannes, Julie Maroh, author of the comic-book novel that the movie was based on, took to her blog to level complaints at its sex scenes, arguing that it was “a brutal and surgical display, exuberant and cold, of so-called lesbian sex, which turned into porn.” She also took issue with the fact that none of the actresses in the film were lesbians in real life. As she wrote on an English translation on her blog: “This was what was missing on the set: lesbians.”
August 20
In an unsurprising move, Sundance Selects announces that the movie will be released in the U.S. with an NC-17 rating. Meanwhile, in France, where they are a little more lackadaisical when it comes to onscreen scissoring, the film is rated “12.”
September 1
War begins. In an interview with the Daily Beast during Telluride, the two lead actresses speak out about the demanding and “horrible” shooting conditions that Kechiche subjected them to, particularly when it came to the sex scene, which Seydoux said took ten days to film. “Once we were on the shoot, I realized that he really wanted us to give him everything,” said Exarchopoulos. “Most people don’t even dare to ask the things that he did, and they’re more respectful — you get reassured during sex scenes, and they’re choreographed, which desexualizes the act.” Both actresses agreed they never wanted to work with the director again. “Thank god we won the Palme d’Or, because it was so horrible,” added Seydoux.
September 5
At an L.A. press event for the film, Kechiche railed back at his stars, reportedly leaving Seydoux in tears. “How indecent to talk about pain when doing one of the best jobs in the world!” Kechiche told reporters, in an angry diatribe translated from French by the Hollywood Reporter. “The orderlies suffer, the unemployed suffer, construction workers could talk about suffering. How, when you are adored, when you go up on red carpet, when we receive awards, how we can speak of suffering?” A weepy Seydoux allegedly responded, “I have given a year of my life to this film. I had no life during this shoot. I gave everything. I have not criticised the director. I’m just complaining about the technique. It was my dream to work with him because, in France, he is one of the best directors.”
September 24
Despite the overwhelmingly positive reviews, Kechiche then decided he hated the film so much it should never even have been released. “It has been soiled too much,” he told French magazine Telerama. “The Palme d’Or had been a brief moment of happiness; then I’ve felt humiliated, dishonored, I felt rejected, I live it like I’m cursed.” In the same interview, he revealed that during shooting he had considered replacing Seydoux with another actress.
October 4
With each subsequent interview, the allegations from Seydoux intensified. Speaking with British newspaper the Independent, Seydoux claimed that the sex scenes were humiliating and left her “feeling like a prostitute.” In response, Kechiche spat back, “If Seydoux lived such a bad experience, why did she come to Cannes, try on robes and jewelery all day? Is she an actress or an artist of the red carpet?”
October 11
In an interview with Indiewire, Kechiche — in an uncharacteristic display of clear-headedness — revoked his claims that the film shouldn’t have been released. “It was a remark that was blurted out at that moment, but it’s not what I really think,” he said. “I was just afraid that was what was going on around the film would prevent people from seeing it for what it really was.” In the same interview, he said that he thought that Seydoux had been influenced or manipulated into making her remarks.
October 20
The war of words continued in a piece about the two stars by our own Jada Yuan. According to Exarchopoulos, filming lasted much longer than planned because “Abdell loves to take his time. He doesn’t like fabrication. He doesn’t want to see you act — he wants to take your soul.”
October 23
Yesterday, taking a page from the Sinead O’Connor media playbook, Kechiche published a scathing, long-winded open letter in French publication Rue89. After criticizing Le Monde and journalist Aureliano Tonet for her negative takes on the film, he went on to rip Seydoux a new one, calling her an “arrogant, spoiled child” and an opportunist who made “slanderous” remarks about him. THR translates the director’s screed, which alleges that, “Miss Seydoux, who after having repeatedly thanked me publicly and privately and having wept in my arms at Cannes for allowing her to take on this noble role… has, against all odds and all personal coherence, radically changed her attitude toward me.” Kechiche then seemingly went on to threaten legal action against Seydoux, writing, “I will come back. It is for her to explain in court.” ||||| Abdellatif Kechiche.
Four years ago, director Abdellatif Kechiche won the Palme d’Or at Cannes for his film Blue Is the Warmest Color. Now, he’s auctioning off that very coveted prize in order to complete work on his current film, Mektoub, My Love, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Mektoub was in postproduction when its financing bank suddenly halted its line of credit, causing the distribution company to set up a sale for “film memorabilia related to Kechiche’s work.” In addition to the Palme, the company, Quat’Sous, will also be auctioning off oil paintings from Blue. An NDA between parties prevents the actual amount of funds required to finish Kechiche’s next movie from being released, and the director has not yet made a statement about why he’s decided to sell his vaunted Palme, though given the long controversy that film was embroiled in at Cannes in 2013 and the director’s own comments about wishing Blue was never released, perhaps he’s quite ready to move on.
The money raised in the auction will go toward the two-part feature film, which tells the story of a man named Amin, who — somewhat humorously given this situation — gets involved in a love triangle during a summer vacation, and one of the women involved is the wife of a producer who agrees to finance his first film. Amin, a screenwriter, must then choose between love and his career. So, just maybe Kechiche is going super method and sacrificing his prized possessions to pay for his art? If he’s also currently in a love triangle, we may have all the proof we need. | – If you've ever wanted to own a Palme d'Or, now's your chance. Abdellatif Kechiche, who won the top prize at the 2013 Cannes film festival for Blue Is the Warmest Color, is now auctioning it off in order to finance his next film, which has been put on hold after the bank that was backing him suddenly cut off its line of credit. Kechiche now needs funds to finish postproduction on Mektoub, My Love, per the Hollywood Reporter. In order to raise them, the French production/distribution company behind the sale will also sell off other film memorabilia related to his work, including the oil paintings that were featured in Blue Is the Warmest Color. THR calls the move a "drastic" step, but Vulture notes that Blue Is the Warmest Color was the subject of quite a bit of controversy at Cannes (having to do with allegations of poor working conditions, anti-feminism, and exploitative shooting practices—detailed timeline here) and Kechiche himself has said he wished it was never released. "Perhaps he’s quite ready to move on," writes Jordan Crucchiola. |
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City.
The Boston Globe (http://bit.ly/2hbx9Jc ) reports the plane landed safely around 5:00 p.m. at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel.
The FBI's Oklahoma City field office said late Saturday that a thorough search of the aircraft "did not locate an explosive device" and that the agency is investigating the incident.
The Boston Globe says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday.
The team departed for Oklahoma City from Bedford, Massachusetts. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. | – The Boston Celtics got a scare when they were told of a bomb threat on their private flight to Oklahoma City. The Boston Globe reports the plane landed safely around 5:00pm at Will Rogers World Airport, where players were told to leave their bags and proceed to their hotel. The FBI's Oklahoma City field office said late Saturday that a thorough search of the aircraft "did not locate an explosive device" and that the agency is investigating the incident, reports the AP. The Boston Globe says only a few team executives were aware of the threat during the flight and that others in the party were informed upon landing in Oklahoma City, where the Celtics face the Thunder on Sunday. The team departed for Oklahoma City from Bedford, Mass. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's Jonathan Head: “There are scenes of the most appalling carnage"
A bomb has exploded close to a shrine in the centre of Thailand's capital, Bangkok, killing at least 19 people and injuring more than 120.
The Erawan Shrine, which was crowded at the time, is a major tourist attraction and foreigners, including Chinese, are among the casualties.
No-one has yet said they carried out the attack.
Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said the bombers had "targeted foreigners... to damage tourism and the economy".
"We will hunt them down," he said.
Bangkok blast: The events of the day
Images from the scene
The Nation TV channel quoted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying the government would set up a "war room" to co-ordinate its response.
National police chief Somyot Poompummuang said that 10 Thais had been confirmed dead, along with one Chinese and one Filipino.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption CCTV footage shows the moment of the explosion in the centre of Bangkok
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dashcam footage captures the moment the bomb exploded near a shrine
He said: "Whoever planted this bomb is cruel and aimed to kill. Planting a bomb there means they want to see a lot of people dead."
Thai police said 123 people had been injured. The government in Hong Kong said three of its residents were among those wounded.
The explosion occurred at about 19:00 local time (12:00 GMT).
The Bangkok Post quoted police as saying that 3kg of TNT had been stuffed in a pipe inside the shrine and that an electronic circuit suspected to have been used in the attack was found 30 metres from the scene.
Police checked the area for other devices but no further bombs have been found, the paper said.
'Really graphic'
The BBC's Jonathan Head, who was one of the first journalists at the scene, said there was a huge amount of chaos, with body parts scattered everywhere.
He says this is a very well-known shrine, next to a five-star hotel, and that people around it were hit by the full force of the blast.
Analysis: Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent
There is no previous history of attacks in the Thai capital on this scale or with such murderous intent. One possibility is that they might be the work of Malay-Muslim insurgents in the south who have been fighting Thai rule for more than a decade. However, they have never targeted Bangkok before and casualties from their attacks have been falling.
National political turmoil has prompted some low-level bomb attacks by rival factions in the past - but again, nothing on this scale. There also seem to be few, if any, links between Thai militants and groups like the so-called Islamic State.
The shrine is popular with Chinese tourists and this raises at least the possibility of a connection to the Uighurs - a Turkic-speaking Muslim minority in the far west of China. They complain of cultural and religious persecution at the hands of the Beijing authorities.
Last month more than 100 Uighurs were deported from Thailand to China - a move that prompted widespread condemnation. But while there are violent elements in the Uighur movement, an attack on this scale outside China would be unusual to say the least.
One bystander, Alessandro Ursic, told the BBC: "When I arrived they had already cleared the bodies from the ground outside the Erawan shrine but there were and there are still pieces of human flesh strewn around the intersection; it's really graphic."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The BBC's James Sales: "As I walked in there were lots and lots of dead bodies"
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Barry Newhouse: "There were three motorcycles... there was a real acrid smell in the air"
The BBC's James Sales said: "I went into where the shrine is, where there were lots of bodies. I saw at least nine people unfortunately who looked like they had died and lots of Chinese tourists as well.
"I tried to administer CPR to one particular guy who was in his 40s... he was Chinese... but I doubt he made it."
Bangkok explosion
Bangkok Bangkok Bangkok Gaysorn Plaza shopping centre Erawan Shrine Erawan Shrine BTS Skytrain Approximate blast area Ratchaprasong Junction 200m Google Reuters 500 feet THAILAND
Eyewitness accounts of the blast - "There was total chaos"
CCTV footage - captures the moment of the explosion
The Erawan Shrine - popular with locals and tourists
Mobile phone footage captures the blast
'I gave one man CPR' says BBC man
The shrine is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is also visited by thousands of Buddhists each day. There are also three major shopping centres nearby.
The explosion was on the Ratchaprasong intersection, which has been the centre of political demonstrations in recent years.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Police say 3kg of TNT was used in the blast
Image copyright AFP Image caption Dozens were injured in the explosion
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Police chief Somyot Poompummuang said the bombers wanted "to see a lot of people dead"
Image copyright AFP Image caption Some reports say foreign tourists are among the casualties
Image copyright EPA Image caption Relatives arrived at the scene to try to find missing loved ones
Our correspondent, Jonathan Head, says bomb attacks in Bangkok are extremely rare.
There has been a Muslim insurgency, but this has been largely confined to the south of the country and attacks rarely take place elsewhere.
But Bangkok has seen a decade of sometimes violent rivalry between political factions.
The military took over ruling the country in May last year, removing an elected government following months of unrest. The capital has been relatively calm since then.
Analysts say one flashpoint could be within the military government itself. The annual promotion list is due out next month and it is thought to be a source of tension among the various cliques. ||||| Prayuth Chan-o-cha, the prime minister and junta leader, urged the chief suspect to surrender or risk death at the hands of accomplices keen to silence him as the manhunt for continued for the bomber and support network responsible for the worst atrocity in Bangkok’s history.
And that's it for the Telegraph's live coverage, thank you for following.
16.38
Photo: REUTERS
15.40
Amid all the pain and heartbreak inflicted by the Bangkok shrine bombing, the grief of one Malaysian family stands out in its horror, writes Philip Sherwell in Bangkok.
Seven close relatives went to seek the blessing of the Brahma deity at the Erawan shrine on Monday evening on the last night of their Thai holiday. Only Neoh Hock Guan and his pregnant daughter Ee Ling survived.
Ms Ee, 33, escaped the blast because the smoke from the incense sticks was so strong that she walked away from the shrine. Mr Neoh, 55, a pastry shop owner, followed to check on his daughter just seconds before the bomb detonated and suffered minor injuries to his legs.
In the chaos, he lost track of his wife, son, son-in-law, sister-in-law and four-year-old grand-daughter. He later made several heart-breaking trips to Bangkok hospitals treating the casualties, hoping that they were among the injured, only to have to identify their bodies in the growing death toll.
His grand-daughter was the youngest victim of the atrocity. “What was supposed to be a happy holiday has turned into a nightmare," said Mr Neoh's brother, Hock Bee. "I pray the Thai police will capture those behind the attack. They should be punished severely."
Photo: REUTERS
14.41
Police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri described the bomber as "having white skin and must have been a European or have mixed blood, perhaps with Middle Eastern blood", but he did not explain why he made those assumptions.
13.36
Philip Sherwell in Bangkok has fresh details about the suspect’s movements after he left his backpack behind at the bomb-site from the police spokesman in this Khaosod English language news report.
Police have tracked down and spoken to the motorbike taxi driver who drove “yellow shirt guy”, as the suspect is being called, away from the scene (motorbike taxis are an extremely common form of transport in Bangkok).
The composite sketch of the suspect – which seems much clearer than the images in the grainy video we have seen – is apparently based on the witness testimony from the driver as well as a clear photo taken from another security camera.
Photo: EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
“This witness is also a part of why we can have the sketch, because he saw the suspect at close range,’” said Prawuth Thawornsiri, police spokesman. His boss, Somyot Pumpanmuang, the national police chief, has speculated that the mop-haired suspect might have been wearing a wig at the time of the attack.
In terms of other suspects, Prawuth said that the video showed “another person saving the spot” at the bomb-site for him who “could be a target spotter”.
I’ve just watched the video again and while it shows a young man or male teen getting up from the bench where the suspect then sat down, I don’t see any indication in the footage that it was an arranged swap.
They don’t seem to interact. But we also know that the police have a lot more surveillance video than they have released so far.
Photo: EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
The police spokesman was also asked if reports were true that the motorcycle taxi operator said the suspect could not speak Thai. I'm not sure his answer as reported here made things any clearer.
“I cannot answer that,” the police spokesman said. “If the suspect disguised himself, wore a wig, put on fake nose and spoke Arabic, we wouldn’t know if he’s really [a foreigner] anyway.”
13.00
The warrant is the first major step towards identifying a suspect revealed to the public after he was seen on CCTV calmly leaving a backpack at the Erawan shrine moments before the bomb went off.
12.32
A Thai court issued an arrest warrant for an unnamed foreign man. The warrant, issued by Bangkok's Southern Criminal Court, accuses an "unnamed foreigner" of conspiracy to commit "premeditated murder" among other charges, linked to the bomb that killed 20 people on Monday.
Breakthru in #BangkokBlast manhunt. Arrest warrant issued. Don't know who he is/where he's from, but he's "foreign" https://t.co/rEIJAnapxE — Philip Sherwell (@philipsherwell) August 19, 2015
12.12
From Philip Sherwell in Bangkok, who has just attended a press conference with Hong Kong officials at the Police General Hospital:
The parents of Vivian Chan Wing-Yan, the British-Hong Kong student killed in the blast, have gone through the traumatic process of formally identifying their daughter’s body.
Her mother and father arrived in Bangkok from Hong Kong and are now going through the paperwork for her body to be released and flown back to the former British territory for her funeral.
Hong Kong officials who are helping the family told me that their Thai counterparts are being “extremely helpful” and they hope that the arrangements will be completed soon.
They declined to give any more details and Miss Chan’s parents have asked for privacy. But the identification process took place at the forensic medicine unit of the Police General Hospital, which is just a few hundred yards from the shrine where their 19-year-old daughter died.
A Hong Kong clinical psychologist gave the parents counselling before and after they saw their daughter’s body. The parents of Miss Chan's friend and travelling companion Arcadia Pang Wan-Chee, who died along side her, have also identified their daughter.
12.00
BREAKING: Two other men seen in CCTV footage at the site of the blast are also suspects, says Thai police.
10.57
In the aftermath of the bomb blast, experts in Bangkok have warned the Thai tourism industry - which accounts for 9 per cent of its economy and employs millions - will be "severley impacted."
"In previous events in Thailand, at least in recent years, tourists have never been really the target. What's different this time is that it was a prime tourist area that was affected," Mario Hardy, Bangkok-based chief executive of the Pacific Asia Travel Association, told Reuters.
10.43
Thai police have issued this poster as part of their efforts to track down the suspected bomber. There were also reports of a false alarm after a suspected bomb package turned out to be a cardboard box.
Do you have any information or pictures about the Erawan Shrine bombing? Do you recognize the suspect? Call 1599 now pic.twitter.com/aVZzmCFTAz — Richard Barrow (@RichardBarrow) August 19, 2015
10.12
Thai police on Wednesday released a detailed sketch of the suspected Bangkok bomber seen on security footage leaving a backpack at a shrine moments before a bomb detonated, killing 20 people and wounding scores more.
The unidentified man, who has a light complexion, some stubble, black hair and glasses, "might be foreign or Thai", according to national police spokesman Prawut Thavornsiri.
Photo: Thai Police
Associated Press report that Thai police say they have called two or three people, mostly foreigners, for questioning as they search for the main suspect seen in security video carrying a backpack at the Erawan shrine shortly before the Monday evening explosion that killed 20 people.
Police spokesman Lt Gen Prawut Thavornsiri says an arrest warrant for the unidentified suspect would be issued soon. He says "hopefully, he is still in Thailand."
08.57
As the police intensified their search for the accomplices, they also offered a reward of 1 million baht (£18,000) for information leading to the bomber.
"We are also looking for other suspects in connection with the blast," said police spokesman Prawut Thawornsiri. "These types of attacks are not usually planned by one person alone."
08.32
The Erawan shrine has reopened.
Among the tributes left at the Hindu shrine on Wednesday morning were bundles of clothes and money to honour a Malaysian family that suffered a terrible price in the attack, writes Philip Sherwell in Bangkok.
Of seven close relatives who visited the shrine on Monday evening, four were killed and one is missing, feared to be among the dead whose bodies were too badly damaged to be quickly identified.
On Wednesday morning, Thais and Asian visitors paid their respects in what could have seemed like a regular scene at the shrine to Brahma, a Hindu deity also worshipped by Buddhists.
The Erawan shrine in Bangkok re-opened this morning. Lord Brahma still bears the scars #BangkokBlast pic.twitter.com/orW7NOEVf9 — Philip Sherwell (@philipsherwell) August 19, 2015
08.16
Thai investigators have not been able to establish the nationality of the man suspected of bombing a Bangkok shrine, or whether he is still in the country, police chief Somyot Poompanmoung has said.
I don't suspect one person, I suspect many people. I am confident that there are Thais involved but I am not saying it is just Thais or that there are foreigners."
He said it was not clear yet if a small second explosion in Bangkok, on Tuesday, was linked to the first.
"The wrong-doer could not have been alone... we believe there must be people helping hiim, Thai people. It's a network," he said.
Thai police chief says the nationality of suspected #Bangkok shrine bomber not yet identified and it is not known if he is still in Thailand — Sky News Newsdesk (@SkyNewsBreak) August 19, 2015
07.43
Hello and welcome to the Telegraph's live coverage of the aftermath of Monday's explosion near the Hindu Erawan shrine in Bangkok.
Some worrying news has been reported by our Asia Editor, Philip Sherwell in Bangkok:
Thailand’s police chief has said that the Bangkok shrine bomber who planted the home-made device that killed at least 20 people “didn’t do it alone” and was part of a “network”.
As the police manhunt continued for the young man who was seen in security camera footage apparently leaving the lethal pipe bomb, the holy site that he targetted for the slaughter re-opened.
With prayers chanted by Buddhist monks and floral garlands and incense sticks laid by devotees, the gates to the open-air Erawan shrine were open again barely 36 hours after the horrors witnessed there at rush hour on Monday evening.
“He didn't do it alone for sure,” Somyot Poompanmoung, the national police chief said when asked about the man pictured in the CCTV footage leaving a back-pack at the location where the bomb exploded. “It's a network."
What happened yesterday?
A British-Hong Kong victim was named as Vivian Chan Wing-Yan was born in Hong Kong and attended Harrow International School before she began studying law in London.
Miss Chan had been on holiday in Thailand with her friend Arcadia Pang Wan-Chee, 24, when the bomb exploded, killing them both.
The dramatic events for Thailand continued yesterday when another pipe bomb exploded in a river near a central railway station in the capital. No one was killed or injured, fortunately.
What has happened in the last two days?
On Monday evening (afternoon in the UK as Thailand is six hours ahead), an explosion ripped through the heart of Bangkok, killing at least 20 people and left more than 120 injured.
Some media sources in Thailand say the death could be as high as 28. The scene of carnage was depicted vividly online with body parts and police struggling to immediately identify some victims as they sought to confirm what body part belonged to who.
The device, a pipe bomb, went off and it is not currently known who was responsible or what group may have been responsible for the attack.
Yesterday, CCTV footage was released showing a suspected individual with a backpack later removing it at the blast site. You can watch the video above. ||||| BANGKOK A bomb planted at one of the Thai capital's most renowned shrines on Monday killed 19 people, including three foreign tourists, and wounded scores in an attack the government called a bid to destroy the economy.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast at the Erawan shrine at a major city-centre intersection. Thai forces are fighting a low-level Muslim insurgency in the predominantly Buddhist country's south, but those rebels have rarely launched attacks outside their heartland.
"The perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism, because the incident occurred in the heart of the tourism district," Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan told Reuters.
The Bangkok Post, citing the Royal Thai Police, put the death toll at 19, with 123 injured, as of 11:20 pm (1720 GMT). National police chief Somyot Poompanmuang told reporters the attack was unprecedented in Thailand.
"It was a pipe bomb," Somyot said. "It was placed inside the Erawan shrine."
The shrine, on a busy corner near top hotels, shopping centres, offices and a hospital, is a major attraction, especially for visitors from East Asia, including China. Many ordinary Thais also worship there.
The government would set up a "war room" to coordinate the response to the blast, the Nation television channel quoted Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha as saying.
Two people from China and one from the Philippines were among the dead, a tourist police officer said. Media said most of the wounded were from China and Taiwan.
"It was like a meat market," said Marko Cunningham, a New Zealand paramedic working with a Bangkok ambulance service, who said the blast had left a two-metre-wide (6-foot-) crater.
"There were bodies everywhere. Some were shredded. There were legs where heads were supposed to be. It was horrific," Cunningham said, adding that people several hundred metres away had been injured.
POLITICAL TENSION
At the scene lay burnt out motorcycles, with rubble from the shrine's wall and pools of blood on the street.
Earlier, authorities had ordered onlookers back, saying they were checking for a second bomb but police later said no other explosive devices were found.
Authorities stepped up security checks at some major city intersections and in tourist areas. The city's elevated railway, which passes over the scene, was operating normally.
While initial suspicion might fall on Muslim separatists in the south, Thailand has been riven for a decade by an intense and sometimes violent struggle for power between political factions in Bangkok.
Occasional small blasts have been blamed on one side or the other. Two pipe bombs exploded outside a luxury shopping mall in the same area in February, but caused little damage.
Police said that attack was aimed at raising tension when the city was under martial law.
The army has ruled Thailand since May 2014, when it ousted an elected government after months of at times violent anti-government protests.
In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it was too soon to tell if a blast was a terrorist attack. Spokesman John Kirby said authorities in Thailand were investigating and had not requested U.S. help so far.
He said U.S. officials were working with Thai authorities to determine if any U.S. citizens were affected by the blast.
The shrine intersection was the site of months of anti-government protests in 2010 by supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Dozens were killed in a military crackdown and a shopping centre was set ablaze.
(Reporting by Amy Sawitta Lefevre and Andrew R.C. Marshall; Additional reporting by Khettiya Jittapong, Martin Petty, Panarat Thepgumpanat, Arshad Mohammed and David Brunnstrom; Writing by Robert Birsel; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ken Wills) ||||| Replying to @tijaaz @tijaaz Hi, Florian, for the national French TV "France 2". Same as everyone, can we use your video ? We will credit you. | – The area around a Thai shrine visited by thousands of Buddhists each day is now the site of "appalling carnage" after at least one bomb went off in the heart of Bangkok today around 7pm local time. The BBC and Telegraph report body parts littered the ground near the Erawan Shrine, where at least 12 people were killed—foreign tourists possibly among them—and 78 were injured. "All I can say now is there has been an explosion in central Bangkok involving a motorcycle bomb," a police rep tells Reuters. Another adds, "There could be another explosion, so we have blocked off the crime scene and are asking bystanders to move back." A BBC correspondent says burnt motorbikes were seen near the blast site. No person or group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, though the country's defense minister claims "the perpetrators intended to destroy the economy and tourism because the incident occurred in the heart of the tourism district." Police say they were searching for two or three other bombs; the Bangkok Post reports via Twitter that police have safely detonated at least one other bomb in the Ratchaprasong area, which also includes three shopping malls and a five-star hotel. The Telegraph reports two small blasts near the entrance of one of those malls left one person hurt back in February. In 2012, several explosions in Bangkok injured five in what police say was an attempt by Iranians to assassinate Israeli diplomats. |
FILE - In this July 17, 2013 file photo, House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., left, followed by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif., walks to the House chamber on Capitol... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this July 17, 2013 file photo, House Education Committee Chairman Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., left, followed by House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of Calif., walks to the House chamber on Capitol... (Associated Press)
A bipartisan bill that would reduce the costs of borrowing for millions of students passed the House on Wednesday and was heading to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The legislation links student loan interest rates to the financial markets, offering lower rates for most students now but higher ones down the line if the economy improves as expected. Even as they were preparing to pass the bill, many lawmakers were already talking about a broader overhaul of the nation's colleges to curb fast-climbing costs.
"This is a win for students and taxpayers," said Rep. John Kline, the Republican chairman of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.
The top Democrat on that committee joined Kline on the House floor to urge colleagues to back the bill.
"It saves students and families money," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif.
Undergraduates this fall would borrow at a 3.9 percent interest rate for subsidized and unsubsidized loans. Graduate students would have access to loans at 5.4 percent, and parents would borrow at 6.4 percent. The rates would be locked in for that year's loan, but each year's loan could be more expensive than the last. Rates would rise as the economy picks up and it becomes more expensive for the government to borrow money.
But for now, interest payments for tuition, housing and books would be less expensive under the House-passed bill.
The House earlier this year passed legislation that is similar to what the Senate later passed. Both versions link interest rates to 10-year Treasury notes and remove Congress' annual role in determining rates.
"Campaign promises and political posturing should not play a role in the setting of student loan interest rates," said Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C. "Borrowers deserve better."
Negotiators of the Senate compromise were mindful of the House-passed version, as well as the White House preference to shift responsibility for interest rates to the financial markets. The resulting bipartisan bill passed the Senate 81-18.
With changes made in the Senate _ most notably a cap on how interest rates could climb and locking in interest rates for the life of each year's loan _ Democrats dropped their objections and joined Republicans in backing the bill.
Interest rates would not top 8.25 percent for undergraduates. Graduate students would not pay rates higher than 9.5 percent, and parents' rates would top out at 10.5 percent. Using Congressional Budget Office estimates, rates would not reach those limits in the next 10 years.
The White House has endorsed the deal, despite objections from consumer advocates that the proposal could cost future students.
"The bottom line is that students will pay more under this bill than if Congress did nothing, and low rates will soon give way to rates that are even higher than the 6.8 percent rate that Congress is trying to avoid," said Chris Lindstrom, higher education program director for the consumer group US PIRG.
Rates on new subsidized Stafford loans doubled to 6.8 percent July 1 because Congress could not agree on a way to keep them at 3.4 percent. Without congressional action, rates would stay at 6.8 percent _ a reality most lawmakers called unacceptable.
The compromise that came together during the last month would be a good deal for all students through the 2015 academic year. After that, interest rates are expected to climb above where they were when students left campus in the spring, if congressional estimates prove correct.
The White House and its allies said the new loan structure would offer lower rates to 11 million borrowers right away and save the average undergraduate $1,500 in interest charges.
"Finally, we are taking action on the pressing issue of college affordability," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo. "We have to make sure our students are able to plan their futures."
Lawmakers were already talking about changing the deal when they take up a rewrite of the Higher Education Act this fall. As a condition of his support, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Tom Harkin won a Government Accountability Office report on the costs of colleges. That document was expected to guide an overhaul of the deal just negotiated.
"We will have the ability to come back and look," said Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.
The Congressional Budget Office estimated the bill would reduce the deficit by $715 million over the next decade. During that same time, federal loans would be a $1.4 trillion program.
___
Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott ||||| The House on Wednesday approved a bipartisan bill that ensures lower interest rates on loans for students heading to college this fall.
Members of the House voted 392 to 31 to lower rates for undergraduates taking out government loans this school year to 3.86% -- cheaper than the 6.8% interest rate that kicked in on July 1. The new rates would be retroactive and apply to loans taken out after July 1.
The bill, which passed the Senate last week, will now go to the President Obama's desk to be signed into law.
It has provisions for rates to go higher in coming years.
As House members debated the bill, many Republicans took credit for the deal. They noted that the Senate version wasn't much different from their own student loan bill, which linked rates to the bond markets.
"My colleagues and I have been fighting for months for a long-term market-based solution that will serve students and taxpayers, and the legislation before us today will do just that," said Minnesota Republican John Kline, who runs the House education panel.
Related: Student loan horror stories
The new rule doesn't apply to loans that students get from private lenders. It only affects Stafford loans, which are made by the U.S. government to help finance a college education.
On July 1, the interest rate on subsidized Stafford loans doubled from 3.4% to 6.8%, affecting 7.4 million students. The subsidized loans are based on financial need and account for about 26% of all federal student loans, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Unsubsidized loans and graduate loans were already paying 6.8% interest rates.
The latest bill helps all students, with the basic principle being that it ties student loan rates to the bond markets.
This fall, undergraduate students will pay an interest rate of 3.86% on their loans. It is comprised of the yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note on June 1, plus an additional 2.05%. Graduate students will have to pay 5.41% on loans this fall, or 3.6% over the 10-year Treasury.
Related: Bill helps college students now, but future students to see rate hikes
If rates on Treasury notes rise, so would student loan rates under the new deal.
However, the bill makes provisions to protect students if bond yields were to spike. Loans for undergraduates will be capped at 8.25% and for graduates at 9.5%.
Over 10 years, the interest that government collects on student loans is expected to raise $715 million. It will go toward reducing deficits.
The Obama administration has been pushing for the deal, even though left-leaning Democrats opposed the bill for hiking rates in coming years.
Student loan debt has skyrocketed in recent years, as have delinquencies, making it a pressing political and financial issue for millions of Americans. Many students graduate from college deep in debt and without jobs. It is second only to mortgages as the largest debt that consumers carry. In 2011, students on average owed nearly $27,000 in loans.
-- CNN's Ted Barrett and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this piece. | – Congress has sent its student loan fix to President Obama for his expected signature, and it contains a mix of good news and bad news for college students. The good news is that freshmen this fall will pay an interest rate of 3.9%, down from the 6.8% that went into effect in July, reports CNN. The bad news is that the rate will be tied to the financial markets, meaning that as the economy improves—which college students would be rooting for in every other way—the rate will rise accordingly, reports AP. Though it will be capped at 8.25% for regular students, 9.5% for graduate students, and 10.5% for parents, consumer advocates say those rates are too high. The measure cleared the House easily this evening by a vote of 392-31. Here's a sample of the differing reaction: Pro: "This is a win for students and taxpayers," says Republican John Kline of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. "It saves students and families money," says Democrat George Miller of the same panel. Con: "The bottom line is that students will pay more under this bill than if Congress did nothing, and low rates will soon give way to rates that are even higher than the 6.8% rate that Congress is trying to avoid," says an official with the consumer group US PIRG. |
Thank you for Reading.
Please purchase a subscription to continue reading.
A subscription is required to continue reading.
Thank you for reading 5 free articles. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 5 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you are a current 7-day subscriber you are granted an all-access pass to the website and digital newspaper replica. Please click Sign Up to subscribe, or Login if you are already a member.
Thank you for reading 5 free articles. You can come back at the end of your 30-day period for another 5 free articles, or you can purchase a subscription and continue to enjoy valuable local news and information. If you are a current 7-day subscriber you are granted an all-access pass to the website and digital newspaper replica. Please click below to Get Started. ||||| Charlottesville City Council voted unanimously Monday to rename 4th Street in memory of Heather Heyer.
That's the street where Heyer was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of protesters during the "Unite the Right" rally on August 12.
It remained closed until nearly a month afterward on September 9. In that time, the intersection became the site of a growing memorial in her memory. Brick walls bore messages of peace and love.
Along the downtown mall, it will now be known as Heather Heyer Way.
The driver who allegedly drove into a crowd during that rally, James Alex Fields Jr., was charged with second-degree murder in Heyer's death and multiple counts of malicious wounding and hit and run. He is due back in an Albemarle County court in December.
Nineteen other people were hospitalized with injuries from the attack. ||||| Jason Kessler, the organizer of the Unite the Right rally, has been indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury on a felony perjury charge. According to court records, the charge stems from a sworn statement he made in January.
Court records show that he gave a statement to a magistrate claiming that he was assaulted by James Taylor on the Downtown Mall on Jan. 22 while trying to gather signatures for his petition to get Wes Bellamy removed from the Charlottesville City Council.
Taylor said when he refused to sign the petition, Kessler punched him and Kessler was charged with assault.
On Jan. 23, Kessler swore out an assault complaint against Taylor, writing that Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two."
Kessler claimed Taylor screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine."
However, prosecutors said video of the altercation showed Kessler's version of the story wasn't true.
The assault charge against Taylor was dismissed and Kessler pleaded guilty to an assault charge in April. He was sentenced to 50 hours of community service.
The perjury charge is a class 5 felony and carries a possible sentence of one to ten years in prison and up to a $2,500 fine.
The indictment was handed up in Albemarle County because the statement was made at the magistrate's office located in the Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail, which is in the county.
Legal analyst Scott Goodman says perjury charges are rare.
"It's very hard to prove perjury," he said. "Nowadays, the only cases that can hold up in court and prove perjury is where there is video evidence."
And he pointed out that a felony conviction is punished by more than just prison time or a fine. It strips voting and other rights.
"It [would take] away his right to own a firearm and that is something that most people these days don't want to lose, the right to be able to bear arms," said Goodman.
Neither Kessler nor Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Tracci responded to a request for comment. | – The organizer of August's deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville has been indicted on a felony perjury charge stemming from a January incident that previously landed him with an assault conviction. In a sworn statement on Jan. 23, Jason Kessler told a magistrate he was assaulted by Charlottesville resident James Taylor on the city's Downtown Mall while collecting signatures for a petition to oust a city councillor, according to court records. Kessler said Taylor "grabbed the petition and my arm, violently shaking to separate the two" and screamed an obscenity while "making contact with his face to mine," reports CBS19. Kessler added he "punched the attacker in self-defense," per the Daily Progress. However, prosecutors later said a video proved Kessler was lying; Taylor said at the time that "I was literally holding a cup of coffee." Kessler pleaded guilty to assault, received a 30-day suspended sentence, and was ordered to perform 50 hours of community service, while the complaint against Taylor was dismissed. "I'll admit that what I did was not legal," Kessler said in April, per the Daily Progress. "I was having a bad day. I've never done anything like this before and it will never happen again." Still, an Albemarle County grand jury issued an indictment for Kessler on Monday and an arrest warrant was issued by 3pm Tuesday. It's not clear if Kessler is in custody. Meanwhile in Charlottesville, the city council voted unanimously Monday to rename a section of 4th Street as Heather Heyer Way in honor of the counterprotester who was killed by a driver at the Unite the Right rally, reports WHSV. |
Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| I wish I could go back in time. ||||| Maira Elizabeth father as a toddler being held by her father, Andrew Nari, chief steward aboard flight MH370. Maira Elizabeth and Andrew Nari An undated photo of Maira Elizabeth Nari and her father, Andrew Nari, the chief stweard aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
It was midnight when Maira Elizabeth Nari scrolled through her Twitter feed and saw the news: A piece of an airplane wing had washed ashore on an island in the Indian Ocean. Home with her mother watching television at the time, Nari had “mixed feelings,” she says. For nearly a year and a half, she had held out hope that her father, the chief steward on the Malaysia Airlines flight that vanished last year, could still be alive, perhaps “stranded somewhere,” she says. The rusty bit of wing, covered in barnacles from the sea, meant her dad might not be coming home.
Nari, a 19-year-old college student studying communications in Malaysia, had been sending notes to her father, Andrew Nari, on Twitter and Instagram ever since his disappearance, telling him she was waiting for him. In one early tweet, she wrote, “Daddy. It’s almost 24 hours. When will you be back home? I’ll be waiting, all of us are. Goodnight, daddy.” At Christmas, she wrote on Instagram, “I love you, daddy. Have a blessed Christmas with the rest of the crew and passengers.” A few months later, she wrote, “I miss you, and I’ll wait for you. Even if you’re not gonna come home, that’s okay. Because I know, you’re waiting for us to join you. Wait for me, daddy. Up there, we’ll do things that we never get to do.”
Her love notes to her dad captured the attention of the world—she now has has more than 92,000 followers on Twitter and more than 23,000 on Instagram. “It feels good to know that people actually care for you,” she says, describing Twitter as “like a diary to me.” At the same time, she says, “it is so weird to have the attention. It’s like people are watching whatever you tweet, and you have to be careful.”
One tweet caught the eye of the Liverpool Football Club in England: “Daddy, Liverpool is winning the game. Come home, so you can watch the game! You never miss watching the game.” Last month, the team’s manager, captain, and a former star met with her near Kuala Lumpur, where she attends college. “I was so happy and excited to meet them,” she says. “My dad has been a Liverpool fan for so many years, even before he met my mother.”
Just days later came the news of the wing. “I don’t know what I felt at that time,” she says, adding that part of her hoped the debris was from the plane and part of her hoped it wasn’t. All of her family had maintained hope that her father had survived, she says, ever since Flight MH370 vanished from the radar on March 8, 2014, while traveling from Malaysia to China with 239 people on board. Until the wing fragment washed up, no debris from the Boeing 777 had been found. For family and friends of the passengers, the unsolved mystery left room for hope that their loved ones were still alive, perhaps the victims of a hijacking.
Nari and her mother and brother spent an anxious few days waiting to hear if the debris was indeed from the flight. Nari was asleep when Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak made the predawn announcement last week: Experts had concluded that the debris was from the plane, he said. Nari saw the news on Twitter when she awoke, and began to cry.
Other international investigators did not immediately confirm the findings in Malaysia, calling for more analysis. The mixed messages reportedly caused confusion and frustration among friends and relatives of people on the flight. In China, relatives of Chinese passengers protested outside the Malaysia Airlines offices in Beijing. Family members also went to the Boeing offices in Beijing, demanding a briefing on the wing fragment. On a Facebook page devoted to an American passenger, Philip Wood, a commenter wrote, “This is yet another piece of circumstantial evidence. Still, no proof.”
Nari says her family is also confused and frustrated, and she is unsure if the debris is from the plane or not. She says she doesn’t know if she’ll ever have answers about what happened to the flight. As for the investigators, she says, she is “being very positive that they are trying their best.” She says the relatives of other passengers are like family now.
Two weeks before Nari’s father went missing, he celebrated his birthday with his wife and kids. Nari used her first-ever paycheck from a job as a hostess at a hotel to buy him a birthday cake and a portable power bank to charge his devices. “He always wanted to get himself a power bank,” she says. When he opened the gift box, she says, “he smiled from ear to ear.” She recalls how her father told her to “study hard so that I have a good future.” He said she could have a boyfriend only after she finished her degree. “Oops,” she says, “I broke the rule.”
She said goodbye to her dad on the night of the fateful flight, as he headed out the door to drive to the airport with her mother and brother. Her father had worked with the airline for 25 years, and her mother had worked there for a time too, she says, serving as a flight attendant. Nari, tired that night from a long day of work at the hotel, told her dad she would see him when he returned.
She was at work the next day when a colleague said a plane had gone missing. She called her mother and learned the unthinkable news. “I was out of my mind,” she says of her grief. “I wasn’t thinking straight. All I did was cry for few days. I didn’t eat at all. I fell asleep crying the whole time. It took me a week to actually get back on track to think properly.”
She says she gradually began to heal with the help of her Catholic faith and a belief that she needed to stay strong for her family. “I was thinking about my mother and my brother. I’m the eldest, so I thought, I should take care of them and that they need me. So I had to be strong and positive,” she says. “But I am thankful, we all made it through.”
Expressing her emotions on Twitter also helped, she says. “At that time, I didn’t know who to tell about what I feel and think. On Twitter, you can tweet whatever you want without what others may think.” She adds, “Well, that was last year,” before she attracted followers from around the world. “Now everyone has their eyes on me.” Sometimes people send negative comments, for instance suggesting that the flight crew was to blame. “At first I felt really sad about it, but then I got used to it,” she says. “So I ignore all the negative comments and be positive.”
In the meantime, her father visits her in her dreams. In a poignant note last November, eight months to the day after her dad disappeared, she wrote on Instagram, “Daddy, few days ago you came to see me. It was the funniest dream, but hey! Thank you for stopping by.” She went on to describe her recent dream of a busy morning, taking a shower and checking text messages on her phone. “Suddenly I feel like I had to look up, and I saw you standing at the stairs looking at me and your smile…your ear to ear smile. You said, ‘I’m home.'” ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Add a location to your Tweets
When you tweet with a location, Twitter stores that location. You can switch location on/off before each Tweet and always have the option to delete your location history. Learn more | – The daughter of the chief steward on Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has gained international attention through her social-media notes to her missing father. Ever since the plane disappeared in March 2014, 19-year-old Maira Elizabeth Nari has been posting messages for her father on Twitter and Instagram in the hope he's still out there somewhere, reports the New York Times. "When will you be back home. I'll be waiting, all of us are," reads one tweet. And on Instagram, she wrote, "Have a blessed Christmas with the rest of the crew and passengers." As a result, she's now got more than 90,000 Twitter followers and more than 20,000 on Instagram. She tells the Times posting notes for her father helps her deal with the frustration and confusion of possibly losing him, confusion that's now amplified given the mixed messages from Malaysian and international search officials about whether debris washing up in the Indian Ocean belongs to the plane. Read the full story here. |
More than 160 million years ago, long-necked dinosaurs called sauropods lumbered through the ancient lagoons that dotted what is now Great Britain. Now, dozens of their footprints have been found on the forbidding, wave-pounded coast of Scotland's Isle of Skye.
Standing on Skye's rocky shores, you might mistake the huge footprints for tidal pools—except that on second glance, you'd see that the pools trace the toes and fleshy heels of dinosaurs.
“These tracks were sort of hiding in plain sight for years,” says University of Southern California paleontologist Michael Habib, who wasn't involved with the discovery. “It goes to show how sauropods are so much larger than everything else, that we field paleontologists are rarely looking for something of that scale at first.”
Amid the large prints, the team also found distinctive three-toed footprints made by theropods, likely creatures that were older cousins of the Cretaceous-period Tyrannosaurus rex.
The full suite of footprints, unveiled in the Scottish Journal of Geology on April 2, provides a rare glimpse into the Middle Jurassic, a period spanning 164 to 174 million years ago that so far has yielded few dinosaur fossils of any kind. The latest discovery helps cement the Isle of Skye as a key region for bringing this little understood era to life.
“The Middle Jurassic was a pretty important time: It was some time around then that the first birds took to the sky, the first tyrannosaurs were evolving, [and] the first really colossal sauropods were getting their start,” says study co-author and National Geographic grantee Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh.
“Skye is one of the few places you can find these fossils.”
Water, Water Everywhere
In April 2016, researchers Davide Foffa and Hong-Yu Yi stumbled across the new footprints at a site called Rubha nam Brathairean, or Brother's Point. In 2017, Brusatte and his student Paige dePolo returned to map the site and interpret its tracks in fieldwork funded by the National Geographic Society.
To some, the word “fieldwork” may invoke an image of Indiana Jones standing in a desert. But on Skye, being in the field involved cold, rain-flecked winds constantly swirled overhead, tossing around the drones that the researchers had been hoping to use for mapping the region. High tides also regularly flooded the coastal trackways.
“I had a timepiece on my backpack, and we were always checking the time. 'Right about now is when the water is supposed to rise—oh, there it is,'” says dePolo, the study's lead author and a visiting researcher at the Nevada State Museum Las Vegas. “You get used to it.”
To scan the tracks during low tides, dePolo invented what she calls the intervalometer: two offset cameras mounted on an easily portable pole. Just as our two eyes let us see depth, the two cameras allowed dePolo and a colleague to map the trackways in 3-D as they walked.
Successful Sauropods
Like Skye's only other known set of sauropod footprints, the newfound prints were made in fine-grained lagoon sediments. Based on these similarities, dePolo and Brusatte say that sauropods in Skye—and perhaps elsewhere—regularly waded in coastal shallows.
In a way, the discovery brings scientists' understanding of sauropods full circle. In the early 1900s, paleontologists incorrectly viewed long-necked dinosaurs as lumbering brutes confined to swamps, their heavy bodies buoyed by water. Based on evidence gathered since then, it seems the behemoths did walk on terra firma, and they achieved global distribution. Sauropod bones and footprints have been found on all seven continents—including Antarctica.
“It wasn't that the water was the only place they could live and just had to languish,” says Brusatte. “Instead, we're now saying that they were so dynamic and so energetic—that they were so successful—that they were probably exploring whatever environments they could.”
Even more footprints will probably emerge from Skye. Brusatte's team has already identified additional candidate trackways, and dePolo will be leading their study when she returns to Edinburgh this fall to pursue her Ph.D. ||||| It’s now a windswept island boasting pine martens, red deer and puffins. But 170 million years ago, some very different beasts were leaving their mark on the Isle of Skye.
Researchers have unearthed a new site of about 50 tracks, some as big as a car tyre, from dinosaurs that roamed the island during the Middle Jurassic.
The study, published in the Scottish Journal of Geology, builds on previous dinosaur finds on the island – not least a huge array of tracks discovered in the north of Skye in 2015 by the same team.
That site showed hundreds of footprints, almost all from enormous, long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs known as sauropods. But the newly discovered site at Rubha nam Brathairean, or Brothers’ Point, reveals that these hefty beasts were sharing their spot with another type of dinosaur: a meat-eater.
“Anytime we find new dinosaurs it is exciting, especially in Scotland because the record is so limited and also because these are Middle Jurassic dinosaurs and there are very few dinosaur fossils of that age anywhere in the world,” said Dr Stephen Brusatte, a palaeontologist and co-author of the study from the University of Edinburgh.
Around 170 million years ago, shortly after the supercontinent Pangaea began to break up, the land that is now Skye was part of a smaller subtropical island, far closer to the equator, and replete with beaches, rivers and lagoons.
“This was a subtropical kind of paradise world, probably kind of like Florida or Spain today,” Brusatte. “[These prints] were made in a shallow lagoon – dinosaurs walking in very shallow water.”
One of Brusatte’s students stumbled across the tracks in 2016 while on a field trip along Skye’s coast. “The tide went out and we noticed them,” said Brusatte. “We knew that you could find these things in Scotland and if you were walking on tidal platforms and you saw holes in the rock, they could, possibly, be footprints.”
Mapping the site with drones and other camera equipment revealed about 50 dinosaur prints at the site in total, including what appears to be two lines of tracks.
Brusatte said the conclusion that the depressions were produced by dinosaurs came down to a number of factors.
“There was a kind of a left-right, left-right patterning,” he said. “They were all kind of the same shape, they were all generally the same size – they were pretty circular but they had little bits sticking out at the front and those are marks of toes.”
Some of the footprints, said Brusatte, were as big as a car tyre. “There were also handprints associated with those tracks – so these were made by a dinosaur walking all fours, a big dinosaur, and the dinosaur that fits the bill is a sauropod – one of these long-necked, pot bellied, brontosaurus-type dinosaurs,” said Brusatte, adding that they would have been up to 15 metres in length and weighed more than 10 tonnes. “They were the biggest things living on land at the time,” he said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brothers’ Point on the Isle of Skye, where the dinosaur prints were found. Photograph: Jon Hoad/University of Edinburgh/PA
But the team also found impressions made by three-toed dinosaurs, probably theropods. “These are the tracks of the meat eaters,” said Brusatte. “[There were] only footprints, no handprints: this was a dinosaur just walking on its hind legs,” he added, saying the creature would have weighed about a tonne and was around five or six metres in length. “Kind of a primitive cousin of a T-Rex,” said Brusatte.
Brusatte said the prints back up evidence from the 2015 site that suggests dinosaurs spent time pottering around lagoons.
“We think of dinosaurs as thundering across the land, which of course they did, but in the Jurassic dinosaurs had become dominant, they had spread all over the world and they were living in all sorts of environments, even on the beaches, even in the lagoons,” he said.
“These dinosaurs look like they were just lingering, they were just kind of loitering. This seems to be a snapshot into a day in the life of some dinosaurs and I think that is just pretty cool.” ||||| A series of rare dinosaur footprints discovered on the Isle of Skye, including this one made by a two-meter high theropod, is helping experts establish details of an important period in dinosaur evolution. Credit: Paige dePolo Dozens of giant footprints discovered on a Scottish island are helping shed light on an important period in dinosaur evolution.
The tracks were made some 170 million years ago, in a muddy, shallow lagoon in what is now the north-east coast of the Isle of Skye.
Most of the prints were made by long-necked sauropods - which stood up to two metres tall - and by similarly sized theropods, which were the older cousins of Tyrannosaurus rex.
The find is globally important as it is rare evidence of the Middle Jurassic period, from which few fossil sites have been found around the world.
Researchers measured, photographed and analysed about 50 footprints in a tidal area at Brothers' Point - Rubha nam Brathairean - a dramatic headland on Skye's Trotternish peninsula.
The footprints were difficult to study owing to tidal conditions, the impact of weathering and changes to the landscape. In spite of this, scientists identified two trackways in addition to many isolated foot prints.
Researchers used drone photographs to make a map of the site. Additional images were collected using a paired set of cameras and tailored software to help model the prints.
Dozens of dinosaur footprints discovered at the dramatic headland of Brothers' Point - Rubha nam Brathairean - on Skye's Trotternish peninsula are helping experts understand an important era in dinosaur evolution. Credit: Dr Steve Brusatte
Analysis of the clearest prints - including the overall shape of the track outline, the shape and orientation of the toes, and the presence of claws - enabled scientists to ascribe them to sauropods and theropods.
The study, carried out by the University of Edinburgh, Staffin Museum and Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published in the Scottish Journal of Geology. It was supported by a grant from the National Geographic Society, and subsidiary funding from the Association of Women Geologists, Derek and Maureen Moss, Edinburgh Zoo and Edinburgh Geological Society.
Paige dePolo, who led the study, conducted the research while an inaugural student in the University's Research Master's degree programme in palaeontology and geobiology.
Ms dePolo said: "This tracksite is the second discovery of sauropod footprints on Skye. It was found in rocks that were slightly older than those previously found at Duntulm on the island and demonstrates the presence of sauropods in this part of the world through a longer timescale than previously known. This site is a useful building block for us to continue fleshing out a picture of what dinosaurs were like on Skye in the Middle Jurassic."
A series of rare dinosaur footprints discovered on the Isle of Skye, including this one made by a two-meter high sauropod, is helping experts establish details of an important period in dinosaur evolution. Credit: Paige dePolo
Dr Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who led the field team, said: "The more we look on the Isle of Skye, the more dinosaur footprints we find. This new site records two different types of dinosaurs—long-necked cousins of Brontosaurus and sharp-toothed cousins of T. rex—hanging around a shallow lagoon, back when Scotland was much warmer and dinosaurs were beginning their march to global dominance."
Explore further: Fossil dinosaur tracks give insight into lives of prehistoric giants
More information: Scottish Journal of Geology, DOI: 10.1144/sjg2017-016
||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. | – Some imprints are so big, they look like tidal pools. Perhaps that's why the footprints were able to hide in plain sight for years before observant paleontologists spotted the tell-tale signs of dinosaur toes. They're now celebrating the discovery of some 50 rare footprints left by long-necked sauropods and the three-toed theropod ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex, who roamed the coast of what is now Scotland's Isle of Skye some 170 million years ago. Described in the Scottish Journal of Geology, the two tracks of footprints left in lagoon sediment, along with a scattering of other prints, are among the few known to have come from the Middle Jurassic period and show sauropods were "so successful that they were probably exploring whatever environments they could," Steve Brusatte of the University of Edinburgh tells National Geographic. It was Brusatte and student Paige dePolo who created 3D maps of the prints found at Brothers' Point in 2016, some as big as car tires, per the Guardian. Sauropod footprints had then been found in one other spot on the island. But these prints are "slightly older" and show "the presence of sauropods in this part of the world through a longer timescale than previously known," dePolo says in a release. Brusatte adds the prints prove sauropods weren't just confined to swamps, as was the consensus a century ago. He says they were "so dynamic and so energetic" there was barely a place they didn't explore; their footprints have been found on all seven continents. Researchers expect more prints will be found on Skye, where they've identified other possible trackways, per Nat Geo. (Meanwhile, ancient human footprints are making waves.) |
Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| What you get out of Guillermo del Toro’s kazillion-dollar robot-fu epic “Pacific Rim” depends on what you bring to it. For general audiences, this picture will no doubt appear as a high-tech summer action spectacle in the “Transformers” mode, but one made with superior cinematic craft and a profound appreciation for the classic monster-attack movies of the 1960s. This is escapist entertainment on a grand scale, with only dim and distant connections to contemporary social or political reality. In between the impressive oceanic throw-downs between gigantic interdimensional beasties and colossal human-powered fighting machines, we get all the ancillary ingredients required by the genre: macho confrontation and comradeship, a lot of military-bureaucratic texture, a smidgen of romance, some zany character comedy. What politics the movie possesses are minimal and arguably reactionary: Governments all over the world have peed their drawers when faced with a real-life “existential threat,” and it’s up to real men (and giant robots) to resist the invading monster hordes.
Then there are all the film buffs, critics and so forth who’ve followed the twists and turns of del Toro’s peculiar career, with all its unfinished projects, impossible dreams and executive-producer credits. (He was supposed to direct the “Hobbit” movies – sigh! – and he was supposed to adapt H.P. Lovecraft’s “At the Mountains of Madness" – triple sigh!) If that describes you, “Pacific Rim” draws a line in the sand and dares you to cross it, with a discordant otherworldly roar. Except that you won’t find any sand in this movie – it’s all rain-soaked sci-fi cityscapes and roiling Pacific Ocean – and I was having so much fun I lost track of where the line between good-stupid and bad-stupid might lie. Suffice it to say that if you were hoping for an allegorical and/or political fairy tale in the mode of del Toro’s 2006 masterpiece “Pan’s Labyrinth,” you won’t find it here. His first film as a director in five years finds del Toro in maximally geeked-out fanboy mode, the mode of the “Hellboy” films and “Blade II,” fulfilling a promise I imagine him making to himself as a teenage boy back in Guadalajara, circa 1980, while he was watching “Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster” for the seventh time: As God is my witness, one day I’ll make a movie as badass as this one!
My advice is that you have to honor this movie at that level or leave it alone. If you feel no affection toward the Japanese “Kaiju” monster movies of the ‘50s and ‘60s, from “Godzilla” onward, or for other related pop-culture streams that flow into “Pacific Rim” – the giant-robot anime of the ‘80s, or the “henshin” tradition of shows like “Ultraman,” in which an oversize anthropomorphic hero defends humanity from alien invaders – then quite likely this isn’t the del Toro picture for you. I found the storytelling and characters in “Pacific Rim” highly appealing, but they’re built to conform to genre norms and stereotypes, or maybe to max them out to the point of distortion, but not quite to subvert them and still less to appear “naturalistic.” Someone in my Facebook universe described “Pacific Rim” as del Toro’s version of “Kill Bill,” meaning that it’s a personal declaration of love and loyalty to a disreputable popular genre, and an attempt to make that kind of movie as good as it can be. That just about nails it.
“Pacific Rim” opens with a lot of dense exposition, delivered in voice-over by Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam of “Sons of Anarchy”), the hotshot flyboy who will be our nominal hero. This may reflect del Toro’s awareness that this movie’s youthful target audience may not be all that familiar with the Kaiju universe. (If you too are confused, Wikipedia and this fine explainer by Vulture’s Nick Schager should help.) Ordinarily in movie criticism, you’re supposed to treat this sort of thing as a flaw, am I right? While we look at TV images of Barack Obama, ruined cities and steaming piles of monster excrement, Raleigh explains that giant beasts from another dimension called Kaiju are coming through a crack in the ocean floor (just a touch of the never-gonna-happen Lovecraft project there), but we built some colossal rock ‘em-sock ‘em robots called Jaegers (German for “hunter”) to fight them, so big they have to be controlled by two human pilots who become psychically fused in something called the Drift. Got all that? Good. Now let me get out of the way so you can swoon over Idris Elba.
If you thought Raleigh Becket sounded like a computer-generated action-hero name (and/or an obscure historico-literary joke), I give you the remarkably charismatic Elba – star of “The Wire,” “The Office” and “Luther,” among other things -- as a hardass, order-barking commander type called Stacker Pentecost, who sort of sneaks up on us as the movie’s real dramatic centerpiece. There’s a Dickensian functionality to these monikers: How could a guy called Stacker Pentecost not be an entirely awesome leader with a dark personal secret who is by the living Christ going to command your respect and doesn’t give a flying Kaiju crap whether you like him? When you’ve got a murky, rain-swept, mid-Pacific battle sequence between a thermonuclear-armed Jaeger and a giant Kaiju called Knifehead or whatever happening every few minutes, the switchbacks of the plot are not so much the point. But let’s just say that Raleigh and Stacker go from being heroes to bums after the Jaeger program goes sour, and Raleigh spends a few years working construction on the giant Alaska-to-California wall that politicians have chosen as the means of preventing the Kaiju from stomping any more major metropolises. It doesn’t work. (Yes, in a movie by a Mexican director, that may just strike a resonant chord in the real world.)
While del Toro and co-writer Travis Beacham never really explain the screwed-up geopolitical backdrop, there’s terrific deep-focus texture to all the sets and locations here, including the dystopian-proletariat world of the wall-builders and the "Matrix Reloaded" ambience of the Hong Kong base where Stacker, now gone rogue in a "Henry V" vein, has set up a last-ditch Jaeger fortress aimed at saving the world. Would it shock you if I suggested that his band of brothers, his collection of rogues, misfits and rust-bucket robots, including a PTSD-afflicted Japanese woman (the terrific Rinko Kikuchi) and a pair of nerdball brilliant scientists (Charlie Day and Burn Gorman) – along with a slimy black-market dealer in Kaiju parts (del Toro regular Ron Perlman) -- turns out to have just the right combo of courage, pluck and brains? I didn’t think so.
As for the all-digital battle sequences, while they’re worlds better than Michael Bay’s patented Incohero-Vision, they could have used more light and clarity – or maybe just more establishing shots where we can tell who’s whomping on whom. (I attended a 3-D IMAX screening in Manhattan, and while it was great to have that huge screen, I’ve heard anecdotally that the 2-D image is cleaner, as usual.) This is a noisy, chaotic, technology-crazed 21st-century action film, but also one made with tremendous excitement, vigor and heart, along with a myriad of wonderful details. (One of the scientists has a piece of living Kaiju brain in a tank, and it has this questing, dangling tentacle appendage that I really, really, really hope not to dream about ever.) Will I be disappointed if del Toro stays in this mode and at this production level for the rest of his career, and steers away from more intimate projects? Absolutely. Am I disappointed with “Pacific Rim” as it is, in all its bigness and dumbness and its thrilling if slightly self-mocking city-stomping Kaiju revelry? Oh, hell no. ||||| Pacific Rim
Action. Starring Charlie Hunnam, Rinko Kikuchi and Idris Elba. Directed by Guillermo del Toro. (PG-13. 131 minutes.)
"Pacific Rim," an action movie about the possible destruction of the human race, inadvertently makes the case that extinction might not be so bad, after all. If this is the best we can do in terms of movies - if something like this can speak to the soul of audiences - maybe we should just turn over the cameras and the equipment to the alien dinosaurs and see what they come up with.
Fully half of "Pacific Rim" consists of computer renderings of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots (or something close) fighting with computerized images of monster dinosaurs. These images - shown in rapid-fire cuts so you almost have no time to notice they're mundane - are accompanied by a soundtrack of nonstop noise: Blaring brass instruments, sounds of waves crashing, a soaring chorus ("Ahh! Ohh! Ahh!") and the deafening clang of grinding machinery.
In between the combat scenes, we get the gentler interludes, in which forthright but stupid people get into pointless emotional conflicts for the sake of creating some illusion of human spectacle. If we do end up rooting for them over the invaders, it's because, biologically, we happen to be on their team. But next to these guys, the alien dinosaurs keep looking better and better.
The movie is set about 10 years from now, near the end of a brutal war between humanity and the dinosaurs. Through a fissure in the ocean floor, they apparently broke through and started stomping on everything. Within the movie's first 30 seconds, they've demolished the Golden Gate Bridge - they would have knocked down the new Bay Bridge, but why do something easy? Every week our movies play at the destruction of beloved landmarks, to the point where we have to wonder if this is our culture unconsciously rehearsing for something.
To combat the monsters, the humans devise enormous, skyscraper-size iron men, controlled by two pilots, and these iron men stand in the ocean and try to beat up the dinosaurs. At first these metal giants are successful, but soon they're not, which is where the movie begins: The dinosaurs, bigger and stronger than ever, are starting to win.
Charlie Hunnam plays an impetuous, rough-around-the-edges pilot, a courageous iconoclast who is iconoclastic in the exact same way as every other action hero. He also has the misfortune of looking so much like one of the supporting players, Robert Kazinsky, that unless they're both on the screen, it takes about a minute to figure out who is who. Guys, flip a coin: Tails grows a mustache.
Director Guillermo del Toro, who gave us "Pan's Labyrinth" not too many years ago, used to be known as an artistic and discerning filmmaker, despite his affection for blockbuster action and grotesqueness. But too often he gets lost in his computer. Here is what passes for clever in "Pacific Rim": A dinosaur sprouts wings, grabs a metal giant and flies high into the air. Or another one: A metal giant picks up two train cars and boxes a dinosaur's ears with them. Some, to be sure, will love these moments, but they reek of the computer screen. Why go to the movies to look at somebody else's computer after looking at your own all week?
The Japanese actress, Rinko Kikuchi, succeeds in giving an inward and thoughtful performance as an aspiring pilot, despite the commotion surrounding her. And Burn Gorman and Charlie Day, as a mismatched pair of bickering, eccentric scientists, provide some comic relief. But "relief" is the word to stress here.
The actors can't make "Pacific Rim" any better. They can only relieve some of the pain.
Mick LaSalle is The San Francisco Chronicle's movie critic. E-mail mlasalle@sfchronicle.com ||||| The Republic | azcentral.com Wed Jul 10, 2013 10:29 AM
Despite what we all may have suspected, “Pacific Rim” is not a big summer blockbuster.
It is a huge summer blockbuster, whose enormity of scale is far beyond anything seen before. The alien monsters and the human-piloted robots that fight them dwarf the comparatively scrawny machines in the “Transformers” movies, as does the relative intelligence brought to bear by director and co-writer Guillermo del Toro.
Which isn’t to say that “Pacific Rim” is a smart movie. Not at all. (See “relative,” above.) It’s big and loud and kind of dumb and predictable. The difference is that, in del Toro’s hands, it’s meant to be.
Perhaps it’s giving him too much benefit of the doubt, based on such freak-out exercises as “The Devil’s Backbone” and “Pan’s Labyrinth,” but even with the unimaginable size of the whole thing, one never gets the feeling that del Toro loses control of the effects and battles. They serve him, not the other way around.
Is it all too much? Good heavens, yes. That’s the point. If you’re not expecting an all-out sensory assault, boy, have you wandered into the wrong movie.
How big are we talking? One of the robots uses an aircraft carrier as a weapon. A hand-held weapon. Also so big that the monsters and robots dwarf things like human actors and character development, which is more problematic.
The film is set in the near future, when, as we learn in a voiceover, the kaiju, building-size monsters, begin springing up from the ocean every now and then to destroy coastal cities.
All the world’s countries pool their resources and build the jaegers, German for “hunters,” to fight back. These gigantic robots are so big it takes two people to pilot them. In the film’s most-interesting idea, the pilots must form a neural bridge, called “the drift,” to operate the things. This also involves memories from their respective pasts, which can prove tricky.
Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnam) and his older brother Yancy (Diego Klattenhoff) are good at this, until one day tragedy strikes during a battle and Becket wanders for a few years, unwilling and unable to fight again. But he’s found by his former commanding officer, the brilliantly named Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba), who persuades him to return to action, as the kaiju are growing stronger and more resourceful, their visits more frequent.
Even though the world’s leaders have given up on the jaegers, Pentecost believes they’re the only way to defeat the kaiju. The leaders are building an enormous wall to try to keep the creatures out. Building a wall is obviously a clear political statement about immigration that …
Hahahaha. Kidding. Although “Pacific Rim” is an obvious few notches above such mindless fare as “Transformers” on the intelligence scale, something as complex as border walls is way beyond the scope of the film, and the often-political del Toro’s intentions.
There are a handful of other teams piloting the few remaining jaegers, including a bottle-blond Russian couple who look like they wandered out of “Rocky III.” But it’s obviously going to be Raleigh’s fight, particularly after he’s paired with the beautiful rookie Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi), who shares a secret with Pentecost.
There is some comic relief from Charlie Day and Burn Gorman as bickering scientists, but del Toro for the most part is content to keep things serious, with preparation for battles, battles and recovery from battles comprising the bulk of the story.
It’s loud, it’s long and there’s never much doubt about where it’s headed. But “Pacific Rim” appears to be exactly the movie del Toro wanted it to be. It’s not the best movie of the summer, not by a long shot, but if there’s such a thing as smarter dumb fun, this is probably it.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: twitter.com/goodyk. | – Guillermo del Toro is back, but if you're expecting anything like the thoughtful Pan's Labyrinth, you'll be disappointed. Instead, we've got Pacific Rim, a sci-fi blockbuster in which giant robots fight giant monsters in increasingly over-the-top battles, starring Idris Elba, Charlie Hunnam, and Rinko Kikuchi. But, for the most part, critics aren't complaining (it's got a 72% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes). Here's what people are saying: It "contains some of the wildest, giddiest sights of any movie this summer," gushes Rene Rodriguez at the Miami Herald. "It's the cinematic equivalent of a kid playing with his toys and smashing action figures together, except del Toro does it with more grace and imagination than most." And while it's probably too long, "every time you're about to check out, something cool happens that pulls you back in." "I was having so much fun I lost track of where the line between good-stupid and bad-stupid might lie," admits Andrew O'Hehir at Salon. Basically, it's "del Toro's version of Kill Bill, meaning that it's a personal declaration of love and loyalty to a disreputable popular genre, and an attempt to make that kind of movie as good as it can be." "Is it all too much? Good heavens, yes. That’s the point. If you’re not expecting an all-out sensory assault, boy, have you wandered into the wrong movie," writes Billy Goodykoontz at the Arizona Republic. It's "an obvious few notches above such mindless fare as Transformers on the intelligence scale," but make no mistake, this is big dumb fun. No, make that huge; the "enormity of scale is far beyond anything seen before." But—and it's a big but—many reviewers noted the flatness of the human characters. In a scathing review, Mick LaSalle at the San Francisco Chronicle calls them "forthright but stupid people" locked in "pointless emotional conflicts for the sake of creating some illusion of human spectacle. … Next to these guys, the alien dinosaurs keep looking better and better." |
This combo made from undated photos provided by the National Park Service show Rachel Nguyen, left, and Joseph Orbeso, as they seek the public's help in locating them. The father of Orbeso, a missing... (Associated Press)
This combo made from undated photos provided by the National Park Service show Rachel Nguyen, left, and Joseph Orbeso, as they seek the public's help in locating them. The father of Orbeso, a missing California man, says he believes the bodies of his son and his son's girlfriend, Nguyen, have been found... (Associated Press)
This combo made from undated photos provided by the National Park Service show Rachel Nguyen, left, and Joseph Orbeso, as they seek the public's help in locating them. The father of Orbeso, a missing California man, says he believes the bodies of his son and his son's girlfriend, Nguyen, have been found... (Associated Press) This combo made from undated photos provided by the National Park Service show Rachel Nguyen, left, and Joseph Orbeso, as they seek the public's help in locating them. The father of Orbeso, a missing... (Associated Press)
JOSHUA TREE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — The father of a missing California man said he believes the bodies of his son and his son's girlfriend have been found in Joshua Tree National Park, near the area where they vanished while hiking three months ago.
Officials did not immediately confirm the identities of the two adults discovered Sunday in rugged terrain near a popular trail in the desert park.
But Gilbert Orbeso, who was with searchers when the discovery was made, told KESQ-TV they are his son, Joseph Orbeso, 21, of Lakewood and his girlfriend, Rachel Nguyen, 20, of Westminster.
"I feel like we have closure. We know we found them. That was our main goal, to find them," said Gilbert Orbeso, who frequently joined the months-long search efforts that involved family members, friends, volunteers and law enforcement on the ground and in helicopters.
Joseph Orbeso, 21, and Nguyen, 20, were reported missing July 28, after they failed to check out of their accommodations near the park. Authorities said a ping from Orbeso's cellphone had been recorded in the park the previous day. The couple's car was later found in the park.
Temperatures topped 100 degrees in late July and it was unclear whether the couple had water and supplies with them.
Daylight faded following the discovery Sunday, so authorities planned to recover the bodies Monday, said Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Autopsies will determine the causes of death, she said.
In a Facebook post before the bodies were discovered Sunday, Gilbert Orbeso wrote: "Searching for Joseph and Rachel. God protect and give us strength."
"I believed that I was going to find them. I didn't know when, but I had my answer," Gilbert told KESQ. ||||| - Officials believe one of the missing hikers who were found dead in Joshua Tree National Park may have shot and killed the other before shooting himself according to a news release from the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
Rachel Nguyen, 21, of Westminster, and 21-year-old Joseph Orbeso, of Lakewood, were last seen July 27. They were reported missing the next day after they did not check out of their Airbnb rental.
The remains of the two were found Sunday by a search team that included Gilbert Orbeso, the father of one of the missing hikers.
"Based on evidence located at the scene, detectives believe Orbeso shot Nguyen, then shot himself. The investigation into Orbeso’s actions remain under investigation," the news release states.
Gilbert Orbeso, who has kept up the search effort since the pair disappeared, told a local news station he and the search team were scaling boulders about two miles from Maze Loop when they spotted the couple's clothing, some water bottles and food wrappers. The crew followed the trail and saw the remains of two people -- the bodies embracing each other.
Copyright 2017 FOX 11 Los Angeles: Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter , Instagram and YouTube. | – The father of a missing California man said he believes the bodies of his son and his son's girlfriend have been found in Joshua Tree National Park, near the area where they vanished while hiking three months ago. Officials did not immediately confirm the identities of the two adults discovered Sunday in rugged terrain near a popular trail in the desert park, the AP reports. But Gilbert Orbeso, who was with searchers when the discovery was made, told KESQ-TV they are his son, Joseph Orbeso, 21, of Lakewood and his girlfriend, Rachel Nguyen, 20, of Westminster. "I feel like we have closure. We know we found them. That was our main goal, to find them," said Gilbert Orbeso, who frequently joined the months-long search efforts that involved family members, friends, volunteers and law enforcement on the ground and in helicopters. Joseph Orbeso and Nguyen were reported missing July 28, after they failed to check out of their accommodations near the park. Authorities said a ping from Joseph Orbeso's cellphone had been recorded in the park the previous day. The couple's car was later found in the park. Temperatures topped 100 degrees in late July and it was unclear whether the couple had water and supplies with them. Daylight faded following the discovery Sunday, so authorities planned to recover the bodies Monday, said Jodi Miller, spokeswoman for the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department. Autopsies will determine the causes of death, she said. "I believed that I was going to find them. I didn't know when, but I had my answer," Gilbert Orbeso told KESQ. Per Fox 11, the two bodies were found locked in an embrace. The couple's clothing, water bottles, and food wrappers were found nearby. |
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service will postpone a tree-thinning project intended to decrease the wildfire risk at Lake Tahoe after a lawsuit raised concern about its effect on an endangered frog species.
The agency had been removing and burning trees and brush on land near Upper Echo Lake, about 8 miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, that is considered for designation as critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog.
Dennis Murphy, a renowned conservation biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno, filed the lawsuit last year. He said the logging threatens the survival of the frog, listed as an endangered species in April.
The Forest Service agreed in a stipulation signed by a federal judge Wednesday to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service about potential effects to the frog, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1pJWztO ).
It also said it would halt the project through this year and wait to resume thinning trees until finishing its consultation with wildlife officials.
Forest Service spokeswoman Cheva Gabor declined to comment. "Once the matter is in the courts, we let the legal process unwind," she said.
Murphy's attorney, Paul Weiland, said he was pleased with the outcome.
"Certainly, it is welcome news that they were able to stop the project and address the issue with the project impacts with the Fish and Wildlife Service," he told the newspaper.
The suit says the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to prepare an environmental impact statement or environmental assessment.
"At a minimum, the Forest Service should have conducted surveys of the project area to determine whether its activities would harm the species and its habitat," Murphy, a research professor in biology at UNR, said in a statement. "But instead the agency put on blinders to the impacts of the project hoping no one would notice."
___
Information from: Tahoe Daily Tribune, http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/ ||||| The U.S. Forest Service has agreed to hold off on a fuels reduction project near Upper Echo Lake this year, as part of ongoing litigation that, until recently, accused the agency’s tree thinning operations of threatening a protected animal species.
Land under the Upper Echo Lakes Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project is being considered as a designated critical habitat for the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog, an animal that was recently placed on the endangered species list in April.
If the agency was to continue removing or burning trees and brush at the lake — a region the plaintiff says doesn’t need it — the work could further “result in harmful effects on ecological and historical resources,” according to the lawsuit.
“At a minimum, the Forest Service should have conducted surveys of the project area to determine whether its activities would harm the species and its habitat,” said plaintiff Dr. Dennis Murphy, a Pew Scholar in conservation and the environment and research professor in biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, “but instead the agency put on blinders to the impacts of the project hoping no one would notice.”
In a stipulation signed by Senior U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell, Jr., on Wednesday, the Forest Service agreed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service regarding potential impacts to the frogs.
It has also committed to take no further on-the-ground action on the project through 2014 or resume activities before the consultation with the wildlife service is complete.
The Forest Service was reached by phone Friday, but declined to comment on the case.
“Once the matter is in the courts, we let the legal process unwind,” spokeswoman Cheva Gabor said.
Following the Forest Service’s cooperation, Murphy, in a separate stipulation filed Friday, dismissed the claims that the agency violated the Endangered Species Act. His attorney, Paul Weiland, said he was pleased with the outcome.
“Certainly it is welcome news that they were able to stop the project and address the issues with the project impacts with the Fish and Wildlife Service,” Weiland said.
However, Murphy’s claim that the Forest Service violated the National Environmental Policy Act still stands in the lawsuit.
Murphy says the Echo Lake fuel reduction project, which is intended to decrease fire risk on forest land near the lake, violated NEPA by moving ahead without preparing a proper environmental impact statement or environmental assessment.
The Forest Service worked on the project for several weeks in fall 2013. Work was about 40 percent done when the government shutdown halted progress.
Murphy, whose family has owned a seasonal residence on Upper Echo Lake for more than 80 years, filed the lawsuit in November.
“The Project area is littered with dozens of slash piles, many that are in or adjacent to wetland, including ephemeral streams, meadows and seasonal ponds,” Murphy said in a statement. “The Forest Service has abrogated its duty (to) analyze the deleterious environmental impacts of the Project under the National Environmental Policy Act.”
Weiland believes attorneys with the Forest Service will file a motion to dismiss the NEPA claims on Monday. But the federal agency said it could “neither confirm nor deny” those assumptions.
If that is the case, however, Murphy said he and Weiland are prepared to file a response.
“In plain English, the Forest Service has a lot of fuel reduction work they could be doing in the basin, but it doesn’t need to be done here,” he said. ||||| The Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog evolved in the fishless waters of Yosemite: "... advent of fish in a lake sooner or later nearly or quite eliminates the frogs. It seems probable that the fish prey upon the tadpoles, so that few or none of the latter are able to reach the stage at which they transform. The frogs which live along the streams probably spawn in small temporary pools in the meadows which the trout cannot reach."—Animal Life in the Yosemite by J. Grinnell and T.I. Storer, 1924 Basic Biology Endangered status: Federal Endangered species and California Threatened species
Federal Endangered species and California Threatened species Physical description of adults: Pattern on back highly variable with ranging from a few large to many small discrete dark spots within a variably colored mosaic of pale spots of different sizes and shapes; back usually mixture of brown and yellow, but often gray, red, or green-brown; underside of hind legs yellow; throat is white or yellow
Pattern on back highly variable with ranging from a few large to many small discrete dark spots within a variably colored mosaic of pale spots of different sizes and shapes; back usually mixture of brown and yellow, but often gray, red, or green-brown; underside of hind legs yellow; throat is white or yellow Size: Up to 3 ½ inches long
Up to 3 ½ inches long Habitat: High mountain lakes, ponds, tarns and steams; rarely found more than 3 feet from water
High mountain lakes, ponds, tarns and steams; rarely found more than 3 feet from water Reproduction: Eggs laid as snow begins to melt; egg mass may be as small as a walnut or as large as a grapefruit; tadpoles take up to 4 years to metamorphosis into adults
Eggs laid as snow begins to melt; egg mass may be as small as a walnut or as large as a grapefruit; tadpoles take up to 4 years to metamorphosis into adults Population status: 95% decline
95% decline Threats: Non-native fish, disease, airborne contaminants At one time the rare Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) was the most abundant amphibian in the high mountain lakes of the Sierra Nevada. Visitors hiking along lakeshores could encounter frogs by the hundreds. Populations have since declined approximately 95% in the Sierra Nevada, including in Yosemite. Recent surveys in 2005-2007 determined that the species is still in rapid decline and on a trajectory toward extinction. Because of the precipitous declines, the frog is proposed as an Endangered species for protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The ecological effects of the loss of the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog from most of its range have been significant, as their former abundance made them a keystone predator and prey and a crucial agent of nutrient and energy cycling in Sierra Nevada aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Multiple factors have contributed to the decline of the frog, including the introduction of fish into naturally fishless waters throughout most of the park. As early as the turn of the 20th century, scientists in Yosemite noticed that frogs and fish rarely occurred in the same lake or stream. Non-native trout feed on eggs, tadpoles, and young adults and compete for natural food sources. Although fish stocking in Yosemite ceased in 1991, many non-native trout populations continue to exist. Studies suggest that the recently discovered amphibian chytrid fungus is a major contributor to observed declines in the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. Chytridiomycosis, an often fatal disease, was first discovered in the Sierra Nevada in 2001. Subsequent studies have found that the chytrid fungus has been present in the Sierra Nevada at least since the mid-'70s. The chytrid fungus appears to live on keratin—the same substance fingernails are made of—found on the external mouthparts of tadpoles, and in the outer skin layer of adults. The growth of the fungus on adult’s skin apparently disrupts the frog’s ability to breathe through its skin and osmoregulate—sustain an internal water balance; both effects resulting in nearly certain death. Much still needs to be learned about the chytrid fungus, what its origins are and how it is spread. Research suggests that the fungus is a "novel pathogen," meaning that it has recently spread from outside the geographic area to highly susceptible local species that did not evolve with the pathogen. Chytrid fungus has occurred in African clawed frog populations at least since the 1930s and is rarely fatal in this species. The African clawed frog has been transported around the world first for human pregnancy tests in the 1940s-1950s and later for laboratory testing and as pets. Release of animals into the wild could have infected new geographic areas. Also unknown is how the fungus moves between water bodies. While the fungal disease is highly fatal to Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs, there is some hope. A small number of frog populations have been able to persist and some populations have even increased in size despite the presence of the chytrid fungus. Ongoing research supported by the National Science Foundation is investigating why these few populations have been able to hang on. Such research will contribute to development of strategies to reestablish populations of frogs in the future. Additional causes of decline may include deposition of airborne contaminants, such as pesticides and other chemicals, from sources outside the park, other pathogens, and possibly a combination of these and other stressors. Two ongoing experimental projects are being conducted in Yosemite to determine the feasibility of expanding the distribution of the frog in the park. The park began a Yosemite Conservancy supported project in 2006 to re-introduce the frogs into several fishless lakes and started a project in 2007, supported by entrance fee funds, to restore habitat by removing non-native fish from a handful of remote sites. Fish removal has focused on 11 lakes in six areas. Six of these lakes are now considered fishless (Virginia Lake, Cold Mountain Area Lakes, and Bartlett Creek Lakes) and five more are currently being restored to their natural fishless state (Tiny McCabe, Ardeth, Miwok, Roosevelt, and Hutchings Creek Lakes). These lakes constitute 5% of the lakes that contain fish in the park. Research has shown that once fishless, the lakes are re-populated by native species, including frogs and invertebrates. SPECIES: View a list of Yosemite’s amphibian species and a list of the park’s special status animal species. Saving Yosemite's Frogs Can we save the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog from extinction? Human introduced non-native species (fish and fungus) have been causing the frog to go from the most abundant amphibian in the Sierra Nevada to critically endangered. However, habitat restoration efforts in Yosemite are showing promising signs for the frog's recovery and long-term survival. Duration: 8 minutes, 27 seconds Date created: 2013-12-11 Download Original File: yose-savingfrogs.m4v 94,967 KB Fish Removal FAQ
Why are fish being removed from lakes in Yosemite National Park?
The primary reason fish are being removed from a small number of lakes is to provide more available breeding and overwintering habitat for the recovery and conservation of the federally endangered Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog. In addition, the restoration of mountain lakes to a fishless condition benefits ecosystem function as a whole, increasing insect diversity and abundance, which in turn benefits terrestrial wildlife species. Is Yosemite trying to remove fish from all waters within the park, and if not, how many lakes and streams will be affected?
Yosemite has almost 2,700 lakes, of which about 250 currently contain fish. The National Park Service anticipates removing fish only from approximately 25 lakes (about 10% of lakes containing fish) total over the next 15 to 20 years. In addition, there are approximately 1,200 miles of streams in Yosemite of which 800 miles support fish. There are no plans to remove trout from stream locations other than short segments associated with lake inlets and outlets at restoration sites. Where is the best place to receive the latest information regarding the removal of fish in order to plan a visit to the park?
The best place to receive the most current information for trip planning is at wilderness centers and permit stations. How do I express concerns, learn more about the fish removal program, and get on the mailing list for attending future public meetings with regards to plans involving fish removal?
Superintendent
Attn: High-Elevation Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery and Stewardship Plan Environmental Assessment
P.O. Box 577
Yosemite, CA 95389
Phone: 209/379-1365
Fax: 209/379-1294
Email
Learn more about the High-elevation Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery and Stewardship Plan
Factsheet: High-Elevation Aquatic Ecosytem Recovery Plan [80 kb PDF].
Factsheet: Restoration of the Sierra Nevada Yellow-legged Frog: Experimental Fish Removal - learn about the impact of non-native fish. [77 kb PDF]
Factsheet: Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog - learn more about this frog's status. [299 kb PDF]
Factsheet: Yosemite toad - learn more about protecting this species of concern. [74.5 kb PDF]
Learn more about amphibians in Yosemite and how they have adapted to a more terrestrial lifestyle .
amphibians in Yosemite and how they have adapted to a more terrestrial lifestyle Understand how Yosemite's air quality might affect aquatic animals. The Sierra Nevada Southern Cascades Contaminants (SNSCC) Workshop's 2009report [530 kb PDF] summarizes potential impacts of airborne contaminants on the Sierra Nevada ecosystems.
SPECIES: View a list of Yosemite’s amphibian species and a list of the park’s special status animal species.
View a list of Yosemite’s amphibian species and a list of the park’s special status animal species. SuperintendentAttn: High-Elevation Aquatic Ecosystem Recovery and Stewardship Plan Environmental AssessmentP.O. Box 577Yosemite, CA 95389Phone: 209/379-1365Fax: 209/379-1294 | – US officials are balancing forest-fire risk against the need to preserve an endangered species near Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevadas, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reports. Per a stipulation signed by a judge last week, the US Forest Service will delay its tree-thinning project there until it consults with the US Fish and Wildlife Service on whether a particular frog is being put at risk. The yellow-legged frog, already an endangered species, has a "designated critical habitat" on land in the Upper Echo Lakes where officials have been burning or taking away trees to reduce the chance of wildfires. Biologist Dennis Murphy—whose lawsuit started the case, and who owns a seasonal home at Upper Echo Lake—said in a statement cited by the AP that the Forest Service "put on blinders to the impacts of the project hoping no one would notice." Murphy also accused officials of not doing their due diligence of studying how the tree-burning would affect the frog species and its natural habitat (the frog was once the "most abundant amphibian in the high mountain lakes of the Sierra Nevada," notes the National Park Service). The Forest Service, which declined to comment, wrapped up about 40% of the project before the government closed it down. (Elsewhere, say hello to the world's newest toad.) |
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Sunday that he will be "reviewing" the case of a former U.S. Army commando being charged with murder, raising questions about the possibility he could jeopardize the ongoing military legal proceedings.
Trump tweeted that "at the request of many" he will examine allegations that Mathew Golsteyn hunted down and killed a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan. The president tweeted that Golsteyn is a "U.S. Military hero" who could face the death penalty "from our own government."
Any review or intervention by Trump could constitute unlawful command influence and could threaten the case against the former Green Beret.
In a statement Sunday, Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said that "the allegations against Major Matt Golsteyn are a law enforcement matter. The Department of Defense will respect the integrity of this process and provide updates when appropriate."
Trump and other senior military and administration leaders have issued statements about military criminal cases in the past, triggering legal appeals and other complications as the courts work to insure impartial proceedings. The president, however, does have broad authority to pardon criminal defendants.
An Army statement on Friday said Golsteyn was charged with killing the Afghan during Golsteyn's 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. Golsteyn was leading a team of Army Special Forces troops at the time, and believed that the bomb-maker was responsible for an explosion that killed two U.S. Marines.
The Golsteyn case has bounced around since 2011 when he told the CIA in a job interview that he'd shot and killed the man. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more | – President Donald Trump said Sunday he will be "reviewing" the case of a former US Army commando being charged with murder, raising questions about the possibility he could jeopardize the ongoing military legal proceedings. Trump tweeted that "at the request of many" he will examine allegations that Mathew Golsteyn hunted down and killed a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan, per the AP. The president tweeted that Golsteyn is a "US Military hero" who could face the death penalty "from our own government." Any review or intervention by Trump could constitute unlawful command influence and could threaten the case against the former Green Beret. In a statement Sunday, Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said that "the allegations against Major Matt Golsteyn are a law enforcement matter." "The Department of Defense will respect the integrity of this process and provide updates when appropriate," he added. Trump and other senior military and administration leaders have issued statements about military criminal cases in the past, triggering legal appeals and other complications as the courts work to insure impartial proceedings. The president, however, does have broad authority to pardon criminal defendants. An Army statement on Friday said Golsteyn was charged with killing the Afghan during Golsteyn's 2010 deployment to Afghanistan. Golsteyn was leading a team of Army Special Forces troops at the time, and believed that the bomb-maker was responsible for an explosion that killed two US Marines. The Golsteyn case has bounced around since 2011 when he told the CIA in a job interview that he'd shot and killed the man. (Troubling details emerged in a hearing against a Navy SEAL.) |
Analysis of police audio synced with video raises further questions about whether officers performed any CPR on Walter Scott after he was shot eight times
The police officer who shot Walter Scott radioed in to claim that Scott had “grabbed my Taser”, six seconds after firing his final shot, despite video suggesting the unarmed man was not in possession of the stun gun at any point, a Guardian analysis has shown.
Syncing police scanner audio with a shocking video – the eyewitness footage out of South Carolina which led to officer Michael Slager being charged with murder – raises further questions about whether either of two officers on the video performed any CPR on Scott as was previously claimed by police.
Analysis of the police radio shows Slager, the officer who shot at Scott eight times, making the radio call announcing the shots and alleging the Taser seizure, sounding frantic and breathless at the same time as he walks slowly towards Scott’s body.
“Shots fired. Subject is down. He grabbed my Taser,” the scanner audio from Slager states.
Officer Michael Slager dispatch audio from the Walter Scott shooting.
He reaches the body, handcuffs Scott who has his head down to the floor and walks back to the area where it appears an object was dropped and picks up an item from the ground.
At this point a second officer, now identified as Clarence Habersham, arrives on the scene and radios in. Slager then walks back towards the body and radios in stating: “I need to secure my vehicle”. At this point – over a minute after the last shot is fired – neither officer appears to have performed CPR on Scott.
Slager then walks and drops the item, which some have speculated is a Taser, next to Scott’s body.
At this point Habersham radios in to say he has detected gunshots to Scott’s chest on the right side. He then radios to say he has detected a gunshot wound to the buttocks. He appears to be pulling Scott’s T-shirt up at this point.
At a press conference on Wednesday North Charleston police chief Eddie Driggers said after watching the video he believed an officer had lifted Scott’s T-shirt to perform “some sort of life-saving procedure”.
But analysis of the video and audio suggests Habersham is actually identifying the gunshot wounds rather than performing any such procedure.
At the end of the video, over two minutes after the last shot is fired, Slager stands over Scott’s body and takes a pulse.
The combination of the video and audio footage shows that the encounter between Slager and Scott started about four and a half minutes before the scenes now seen on televisions around the world.
As Slager began stopping Scott at the intersection of Remount Road and Craig Road at about 9.35am, he radioed the dispatcher to say he was “coming up on a grey ... Mercedes”.
Bystander who filmed Walter Scott shooting: officer 'made a bad decision' Read more
Exactly three minutes later, Slager radioed again to announce he was chasing on foot down Craig, giving his dispatcher a basic description of Scott. “Black male, green shirt, blue pants,” he said.
About 25 seconds later a colleague radioed to say he was “en route” to assist. Ten seconds on, there was another message – possibly from the same officer – asking Slager (“223”) “What’s your direction of travel there?”
After he received no response, this officer asked Slager again: “Where you at now?” Eight seconds later, however, there was a clue to why Slager may not have been responding. In a burst of confused radio chatter, an officer can be heard shouting “on the ground!”
The dispatcher had asked all officers to ensure radio silence for matters apart from the Slager-Scott chase. Feidin Santana, a bystander who filmed the shooting on his cellphone, told NBC on Wednesday evening that the pair were struggling on the ground before he began recording.
Another 47 seconds pass before the supporting officer radioed again: “I’m at the pawn shop,” he said. “Where you at now?”
Just three seconds later – at 9.38am, almost five minutes after Slager announced that he was stopping Scott in his car – Slager was back on the radio. “223, shots fired,” he said. “Subject is down. He grabbed my Taser.” ||||| The brother of South Carolina police shooting victim Walter Scott says the white cop “was using my brother for target practice."
"It was totally senseless," Rodney Scott told the Daily News on Wednesday. "I mean, eight shots? That was totally cold-hearted murder as far as I'm concerned."
Scott's brother spoke out after Officer Michael Slager was fired by the North Charleston Police Department for fatally shooting the unarmed black man in the back on Saturday.
Slager was charged with murder on Tuesday after a sickening cellphone video of him killing Scott surfaced.
“We were shocked, definitely shocked" by the video, Rodney Scott said. "I'm angry, but he's going to have to give an account for what he did, that was just a horrible thing that he did."
Rodney Scott, 48, said he will bury his brother — a father of four and a U.S. Coast Guard veteran — on Saturday. He said he doesn’t believe Slager’s claim that he stopped his brother because of a broken brake light.
Walter Scott had been a member of the U.S. Coast Guard. (U.s. coast guard )
“I knew my brother was always on the run for child support,” he said. “He made sure in every vehicle that all the lights were working. He would say, ‘I don't want to get stopped by police’.”
S.C. COP MICHAEL SLAGER CHARGED WITH MURDER OF WALTER SCOTT
But the grieving Scott brother said he would pray for Slager.
"I hope he can make his peace with God knowing he hurt a family," he said. "He made a bad choice. All I can say is he has to get it right with God and I hope he can."
Scott, 50, was engaged to the mother of University of Mississippi defensive end Fadol Brown, who considered him a father figure.
“Walter Scott was my step dad,” Brown tweeted. “I loved him to death that cop didn't have to shoot him down like a dog like that ... gone miss you man.”
Slager, 33, was arrested Tuesday after the telltale video was released by the Scott family's lawyer and contradicted the account he gave his superiors, including his claim that he "feared for his life."
The FBI and U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights division are now investigating the killing of Scott, who was shot five times — four times in the back, once in the ear.
Also, the North Charleston Police Department has turned over its investigation to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED.
Investigators on Thursday are expected to release the dash-cam video from Slager’s police car that could shed new light on what happened just before shooting when the officer stopped Scott for a broken brake light.
Rodney Scott (l.) and his brother Anthony Scott appear at a news conference in Charleston, S.C., on Tuesday. "That was totally cold-hearted murder as far as I'm concerned," Rodney Scott told the Daily News about his brother Walter's death. (Bruce Smith/AP)
Slager, who faces 30 years to life in prison if convicted, remains jailed without bond. Like Scott, he too is a Coast Guard vet.
The cellphone video was taken by a young man NBC identified as Feidin Santana, who said he saw Scott and the officer struggling “on the ground” and the sound of a Taser before he recorded the fatal shooting.
“They would have swept it under the rug like they have with many others," Walter Scott Sr. told NBC's "Today" show earlier Wednesday. "And I thank God that this young man, whoever it was, had the video ... When I saw it, I just fell off my feet and my heart was broken."
The dead man's mom called the disturbing footage "the most horrible thing I've ever seen."
"I almost couldn't look at it to see my son running defenselessly, being shot," Judy Scott said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "It just tore my heart to pieces."
The scene where police-shooting victim Walter Scott, 50, was killed on Wednesday in North Charleston, S.C. North Charleston police officer Michael Slager was charged Tuesday with murder after shooting and killing Scott during a traffic stop last Saturday. (James Keivom/New York Daily News)
In New York City, Mayor de Blasio said the footage was horrific. "It's difficult to look at something like that and watch someone's life taken away before your very eyes," he said.
Despite the footage, an Indiegogo campaign supporting Slager has raised $300 out of a $5,000 goal.
But what happened in North Charleston points out the need for body cameras for police officers.
"If the citizen has done something wrong, that's captured on film," he said. "If the officer's done something wrong, it creates accountability."
The NYPD is in the midst of a pilot program to test out the technology.
Judy and Walter Scott Sr., Walter Scott's parents, speak on the "Today" show Wednesday about their son's death and the arrest of police officer Michael Slager. (Today Show)
Meanwhile, protesters demanding justice for Scott briefly stopped traffic outside City Hall in North Charleston while dozens of demonstrators carrying signs that read "Black Lives Matter" rallied.
But there was no outbreak of the kind of violence that rocked Ferguson, Mo., after black teenager Michael Brown was killed by a white officer.
Charleston County Sheriff Al Cannon waded into the midst of the protesters to calm tensions and keep the peace.
"We have to take a stand on stuff like this," said 23-year-old Lance Braye. "We can't just shake our heads at our computer screens."
"It was just a traffic stop," said Nicole King, who said she was a friend of Scott's fiancée. "It could have been any of us."
An Indiegogo campaign set up to support Officer Michael Slager has been set up, having earned $300 as of the time of writing. (www.indiegogo.com)
Others streamed to the empty lot where Scott was killed.
“You change your attitude immediately if you’re coming here from downtown Charleston,” said 48-year-old P. Crable Washington. “It’s a different vibe here and it isn’t good.”
EDITORIAL: THE CRIMINAL KILLING OF WALTER SCOTT
Earlier, North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey and Police Chief Eddie Driggers paid condolences to Scott's distraught parents.
"I got to meet a daddy who is in mourning, a momma who is in mourning," Driggers said afterward at a press conference that was interrupted at times by angry outbursts. "We're gonna continue to strive to do what's right. I have been praying for peace, peace for the family and peace for this community."
Walter Scott, 50, was running away when he was shot by a police officer. (Facebook) Michael Slager, 33, faces a murder charge and is held without bond. (NCPD)
Driggers added that he was "sickened" by what he saw on the video. But neither he nor Summey delved into the details of the investigation.
“We’re still waiting for all the information to come back to us," said Summey, who has issued an order requiring all of his city’s cops to start wearing body cameras.
Summey added that Slager’s wife is eight months pregnant and the city will cover her insurance until after the baby is born. The couple also have two step-children.
The fatal encounter began at 9:30 a.m. Saturday when Slager pulled over Scott.
Slager claimed he opened fire after he struggled with Scott and the victim ran off with his Taser.
Anthony Scott, left, hugs visitors outside his home near North Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday. His brother Walter Scott was killed by a North Charleston police officer after a traffic stop Saturday. (Chuck Burton/AP)
The video, however, told a different tale.
In it, Scott — dressed in a green shirt and jeans — was seen running away and at least 15 feet from Slager when the officer fired the first of eight shots.
"Shots fired!" Slager said into his radio as he closed in on Scott.
Then, as Slager circled Scott, who was lying facedown and not moving, he shouted, "Put your hands behind your back!"
Slager then cuffed the Scott's hands before jogging back to where he had been before and picking something off the ground.
Walter Scott lies facedown at the feet of North Charleston cop Michael Slager, who was charged with murder Tuesday. Video shows Officer Michael Slager unleash a hail of bullets at the fleeing 50-year-old Walter Scott. (HANDOUT) This image from a video shows Officer Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back as he ran away. Slager appears to pick something up. Officer Michael Slager appears to be holding something. Officer Michael Slager fatally appears to drop the item he was previously holding.
By then another cop had arrived at the scene and when Slager returned to Scott he dropped an object — apparently the stun gun — by his body.
The police report stated responding officers performed CPR on Scott. There was no sign of anybody performing CPR on Scott in the video.
Scott had been arrested 10 times in the past, mostly for not paying child support. Back in 1987, he was busted on an assault and battery charge and convicted in 1991 of possession of a bludgeon, The Post & Courier newspaper In Charleston, S.C., reported.
Scott's kin said he was not a violent man. And his killing stirred memories of the fatal Brown shooting and the chokehold death of Eric Garner on Staten Island at the hands of an NYPD officer.
Roughly 80% of North Charleston’s police officers are white in a city where blacks account for 47% of the more than 100,000 residents, according to the most recent DOJ figures.
Many Scott supporters complained Wednesday that North Charleston's mostly white police force routinely harasses the city's black residents for minor traffic offenses.
WALTER SCOTT VIDEO: CELEBS SHARE OUTRAGE ONLINE
Those claims were buttressed by a report in The Post & Courier which found that in 2010 that black drivers in North Charleston were involved in 65% of all traffic stops that didn't involve a ticket or an arrest.
That's about 25,000 stops, the paper reported.
“I am not surprised at the shooting,” Rep. James Clyburn, the state’s only Democrat on Capitol Hill, said on MSNBC.
Riffing off Driggers’ statement that his cops are like his children, Clyburn added: "There comes a time in dealing with our children when we have to have some tough love and I think that this calls for some tough love in this instance.”
Ed Bryant, president of the North Charleston chapter of the NAACP, said relations with the police have improved since Driggers took over two years ago but problems still remain with the beat cops.
“There has been a good conversation at the top,” Bryant said. “But nothing has changed at the bottom level.”
Slager is the third South Carolina cop to be hit in recent years with a criminal charge for killing an unarmed black man.
One of those cases in ongoing and the charge against that officer was reduced on Tuesday to shooting into an occupied vehicle — a misdemeanor.
Scott, left, appears to be running away from Slager, right.
The officer in the other case was cleared by the feds of criminal wrongdoing but his department agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement to the victim’s family.
Over the past five years, Palmetto State police officers shot at 209 suspects — less than half of them black, according to an analysis from The State, a newspaper based in the state capital of Columbia.
But only “a few” police officers were accused of shooting illegally and none were convicted, the paper reported.
In 2014, state prosecutors brought excessive force charges against three white officers who were involved in the shooting of black drivers. But only one case went to trial, and it ended with a hung jury, The State reported.
The Rev. Al Sharpton commended the North Charleston police for arresting Slager but said more needs to be done.
“When a black man is stopped for a broken taillight and ends up being shot multiple times in the back, it is yet another reminder that we need a national strategy to implement real and meaningful police reform now," he said. "We simply can't rely on citizens with video cameras to make sure justice is served.”
The tragedy found Sharpton on the same page with both of South Carolina’s conservative Republican senators.
“The horrific video is very difficult to watch and deeply troubling on many fronts,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said, who added that it did not “accurately reflect” the actions of most cops.
Earlier, Sen. Tim Scott called it a “senseless” shooting that was “absolutely unnecessary and avoidable.”
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
With Celeste Katz, Rocco Parascandola, Matthew Lysiak ||||| Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated / Source: NBC News By Phil Helsel
The bystander who captured on video a white police officer shooting an apparently unarmed black man in the back in South Carolina thought about erasing the recording over fears of retaliation.
The video recorded by Feidin Santana shocked the nation when it was released this week. The footage resulted in Officer Michael Slager, 33, being arrested and charged with murder Tuesday for the shooting death of Walter Scott, 50, after a traffic stop in North Charleston Saturday.
"I won’t deny that I knew the magnitude of this, and I even thought about erasing the video," Santana said in an interview on MSNBC’s "All In With Chris Hayes" Wednesday.
"I felt that my life, with this information, might be in danger. I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know Charleston, and living some place else," the 23-year-old said. "I knew the cop didn't do the right thing."
In an interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer on Thursday, Santana said: "I'm still scared."
"I say life changed in a matter of seconds. I never thought this would happen, that I would be a witness," he told TODAY's Matt Lauer in an exclusive interview Thursday. "I'm still scared."
Earlier Wednesday, Santana revealed himself as the videographer to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Lester Holt in his first interview since the shooting, and said Slager and Scott did struggle before the encounter turned deadly. But he said the officer did not appear to be in danger when he opened fire.
"Before I started recording, they were down on the floor. I remember the police [officer] had control of the situation," Santana said. "He had control of Scott. And Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser. But like I said, he never used the Taser against the cop."
"As you can see in the video, the police officer just shot him in the back," Santana said. "I knew right away, I had something on my hands."
Slager claimed Scott grabbed his Taser and that he feared for his life. The video shows an object being thrown to the ground and Scott running away, and a delay before the officer fires seven times, pauses, and fires an eighth time.
Scott's parents told TODAY on Wednesday they believe Scott fled from Slager because he owed child support and didn't want to go to jail again.
Santana said he turned over the video after reading the police report and hearing about it on the news. "It wasn’t like that, the way they were saying," Santana said on MSNBC. "I said, 'No ... this is not what happened.'"
Santana told NBC News that when he turned over the video to Scott's family, "they were very emotional when that happened, including me also."
"I thought about his position, their situation ... If I were to have a family member that would happen [to], I would like to know the truth," Santana said.
He has been called a "hero" by attorneys for the family, but Santana said there are no winners in the situation.
"It’s not something that no one can feel happy about. He has his family, Mr. Scott also has his family," Santana told NBC News. "But I think, you know, he [the officer] made a bad decision, and you pay for your decisions in this life."
"Mr. Scott didn’t deserve this, and there were other ways that can be used to get him arrested, and that wasn’t the proper way to do that."
Police Chief Eddie Driggers said when he watched the video of the encounter, "I was sickened by what I saw."
North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey announced Wednesday that Slager was fired. He also ordered body cameras for the police force. Every officer on the street will wear one after a policy is established and the force is trained, Summey said.
Slager is being held without bond at Charleston County Jail. | – The disturbing video that resulted in murder charges for a North Charleston, SC, police officer almost never saw the light of day. In an MSNBC interview, Feiden Santana says he feared for his life after taking video of Michael Slager shooting Walter Scott in the back as the 50-year-old Scott ran away. "I thought about erasing the video and just getting out of the community, you know Charleston, and living someplace else," the 23-year-old says. "I knew the cop didn't do the right thing." Instead of deleting the video or leaving town, Santana turned it over to Scott's family. "I wanted them to have this and do something about it," he says. "Because I knew if I didn't give it to them, nothing would happen." In an earlier NBC News interview, Santana said the pair were struggling on the ground before he started filming. Slager "had control of Scott, and Scott was trying just to get away from the Taser," he said. According to a Guardian analysis of the video and police scanner audio, Slager made a radio call saying Scott had "grabbed my Taser" just six seconds after firing the final shot. The officer was fired yesterday, and Scott's brother tells the New York Daily News he will pray for him, even though he "was using my brother for target practice." The brother says he doesn't believe Scott, who owed child support, was really stopped for a broken brake light. "He made sure in every vehicle that all the lights were working," he says. "He would say, 'I don't want to get stopped by police.'" |
Support for House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt plan built Wednesday as GOP leaders urged their members to fall in line ahead of a Thursday vote on the measure.
Though it remains unclear whether they have the 217 votes needed for House passage, Boehner and other leaders voiced confidence that the tide was moving in their direction, one day after a negative Congressional Budget Office score forced them to find more spending cuts for the bill.
ADVERTISEMENT
Opponents of the Boehner measure, in contrast, sounded less confident that it would be defeated on Wednesday.
Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the conservative head of the Republican Study Committee, said Tuesday that Boehner would not have the votes but declined to repeat that assertion Wednesday.
“I don’t know about that today,” said Jordan, who came under fire at a closed-door conference meeting for a staffer's email urging conservative groups to lobby specific members against Boehner's plan. “I just know I am against the bill.”
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) said he’d now support the measure, and Reps. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Bobby Schilling (R-Ill.) all said they were leaning toward “yes” after the conference meeting.
The members described Boehner’s plan, now set for a floor vote Thursday, as the best available option before the Treasury Department’s Aug. 2 deadline for raising the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.
Boehner said he ordered GOP lawmakers to "get your ass in line" behind his debt proposal during an interview Wednesday on a conservative radio show.
"My goal is to continue to work with all our members so we get them to the point where they say 'yes,'" Boehner said on Laura Ingraham's radio show. ||||| 'I can’t do this job unless you’re behind me,' Boehner said to House Republicans. Boehner quiets rebellion on right
A dust up among a major House conservative bloc and the prospect of tens of billions of dollars in new spending cuts has Republican leadership feeling as if it quelled an uprising on the right after struggling to line up votes for much of the week.
Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy of California and Chief Deputy Whip Peter Roskam of Illinois continued their hard sell of a two-step debt-limit package, meeting in Capitol offices to close the deal and avoid a default on the nation’s $14.3 trillion debt.
Story Continued Below
In a closed-door Republican Conference meeting on Wednesday, Boehner demanded his wavering members “get your ass in line” to back his proposal, and some members obliged. Michigan Rep. Thad McCotter, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, switched from voting no to yes during the 90-minute session. Reps. Blake Farenthold of Texas, Billy Long of Missouri and Jeff Denham of California are now backing the speaker’s plan, as are Reps. Darrell Issa of California, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Nan Hayworth of New York and Dan Lungren of California. Lungren even got up during the meeting and likened Boehner to Ronald Reagan, the conservative icon who was president during Lungren’s first stint in the House. Other hard “no” voters have flipped to leaning no or even undecided.
But despite having momentum on their side, Boehner and his top lieutenants don’t have a big margin for error. Few, if any, Democrats are expected to vote for the debt ceiling package, so Republicans must cobble together 217 votes on their own. They can lose just 23 lawmakers and still pass it. As of press time, at least a dozen lawmakers were whipping “no.”
Indiana Rep. Mike Pence — former House Republican Conference chairman who is running for governor — has emerged as a late-game player, of sorts, in the debt debate. Pence and a dozen undecided Republicans met with McCarthy on Wednesday afternoon with a new request designed to win their support for the Boehner plan — GOP leaders must hold a vote on a “clean” balanced-budget amendment similar to that passed by the chamber in 1995. If that happens, they may throw their support to the Boehner plan, said one of the lawmakers.
Pence’s position is in contrast to earlier positions of the conservative Republican Study Committee, which he once chaired. The RSC has pushed a balanced-budget amendment that requires a supermajority to raise taxes. Pence’s argument is that GOP leaders should launch a “serious effort” to pass a balanced-budget amendment as part of this debt deal by putting forth a bill that could garner Democratic votes.
“I cannot vote to raise the debt ceiling if we don’t do everything in our power to send a balanced-budget amendment to the Senate and the states,” Pence said in an interview.
Wednesday also began some serious internal GOP drama involving the RSC and other Republican lawmakers. The RSC is now chaired by Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
Wesley Goodman, an RSC aide, sent an email to a network of conservative activists opposed to the Boehner proposal — they don’t think it cuts spending enough — on Tuesday saying now “is the day to kill the Boehner deal.” Goodman said that the RSC needs “statements coming up to the Hill every hour of the day in mounting opposition to the plan.” | – The CBO report that forced John Boehner to delay the vote on his debt ceiling plan may end up working in his favor, reports the Hill. It's still unclear whether he has the magical 217 needed before tomorrow's expected vote, but he's definitely closer. The delay has given Boehner and Eric Cantor more time to twist arms, and the speaker reportedly told GOP lawmakers today to "get your ass in line" and support his plan. Boehner made the case that if it passed the House, it will clear the Senate, too, even though Harry Reid says otherwise. “This is the bill,” Boehner told the closed-door meeting, according to Politico. "I can’t do this job unless you’re behind me.” In another bit of drama, Rep. Jim Jordan apologized because a staffer on his Republican Study Committee sent out emails to conservative groups asking them to pressure GOP lawmakers to oppose Boehner's bill. House Republicans at the meeting chanted, "Fire him, fire him," referring to the RSC staffer responsible. |
From NBC’s Andrea Mitchell
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dismissed rumors circulating today that President Barack Obama could be considering making her his running mate for his re-election race in 2012, saying that she has "absolutely no interest" in changing course.
Asked about the speculation by Time Magazine CEO Ann Moore at a professional women’s conference, Clinton said that Vice President Joe Biden is doing “a wonderful job” and that she has “absolutely no interest and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on.”
“Both of us are very happy doing what we’re doing,” she said.
White House senior advisor David Axelrod told NBC News this morning that any reports about Clinton replacing Biden on the ticket in 2012 are “absolute fiction.”
*** UPDATE *** White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Wednesday that the rumor is "absolutely not true."
"It's not a discussion" within the White House, Gibbs said, adding that the president believes that "the decision to pick Joe Biden is one of the best decisions that he has made in the past few years."
The report, he said, "is a bit of a head-scratcher."
NBC's Chuck Todd and Mike Viqueira contributed reporting. ||||| Shortly thereafter, Sally Quinn opened an opinion piece in The Washington Post with: "Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden should switch jobs. Really."
Through it all, White House officials rolled their eyes and insisted it was meaningless chatter generated by reporters with a vested interest in ginning up drama. In September, Council on Foreign Relations President Richard N. Haass introduced Clinton at a major address by comparing her to former vice president John C. Calhoun - saying he "couldn't help notice the speculation in some parts that Secretary Clinton might just find herself trading places with Vice President Biden, becoming the Democratic candidate for vice president in 2012." Clinton just sat there and shook her head.
But is it really such a bad story for any of the parties involved, even Biden (who has by all accounts a strong relationship with Obama and is apparently unmoved by the speculation)?
It certainly beats another recent plot line: Democrats would just as soon see Clinton at the top of the ticket in 2012. A Gallup poll released last week showed Obama beating Clinton among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, but not exactly in a runaway - 52 percent to 37 percent. A separate poll showed Clinton outperforming Obama in Illinois, with 61 percent saying they viewed her favorably, compared with 52 percent for the president.
Still, even Clinton's biggest advocates are not suggesting that trading places is even under discussion. "I'd be stunned if there's anything to it," Democratic strategist James Carville said Tuesday. "Anything is possible in politics. But I don't know of anything beyond speculation, and I really doubt it's anything."
It is worth noting that similar howls are heard around Washington every four to eight years or so. Remember the strategy to remove Dan Quayle as President George H.W. Bush's running mate in 1992? Or the notion - pronounced with such certainty in some quarters - that President George W. Bush would have to kick Vice President Richard B. Cheney off the ticket in 2004 in order to win reelection?
kornbluta@washpost.com Staff writer Dan Balz contributed to this report. | – Hillary Clinton forcefully dismissed the bubbling rumors that she would replace Joe Biden as Barack Obama’s running mate in 2012. Time magazine’s CEO asked Clinton about the rumors at a professional women’s conference today, according to Andrea Mitchell of NBC. Clinton replied that Biden was doing “a wonderful job” and that she has “absolutely no interest, and no reason for doing anything other than just dismissing these stories and moving on.” David Axelrod offered a similar denouncement last night. “There’s absolutely nothing to it,” he told the Washington Post. “They're both doing great work, and he wants to keep them on the job.” The rumor seems to have jumped wholesale from various opinion columns (like this one). White House officials say it was never taken seriously. |
At a campaign event in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, Nov. 21, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump demands the removal of a well-known activist Mercutio Southall Jr. after he shouts, "Black lives matter!" (Reuters)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Donald Trump said Sunday that the protester who interrupted his rally at a convention center here on Saturday morning was “so obnoxious and so loud” that “maybe he should have been roughed up.”
[Trump defends bogus Muslim claim and rough treatment of black protesters]
Mercutio Southall Jr. — a well-known local activist who has been repeatedly arrested while fighting what he says is unfair treatment of blacks — interrupted Trump’s rally and could be heard shouting, “Black lives matter!” A fight broke out, prompting Trump to briefly halt his remarks and demand the removal of Southall.
“Get him the hell out of here, will you, please?” Trump said on Saturday morning. “Get him out of here. Throw him out!”
At one point, Southall fell to the ground and was surrounded by several white men who appeared to be kicking and punching him, according to video captured by CNN. A Washington Post reporter in the crowd watched as one of the men put his hands on Southall’s neck and heard a female onlooker repeatedly shout: “Don’t choke him!”
As security officers got Southall on his feet and led him out of the building, he was repeatedly pushed and shoved by people in the crowd. The crowd alternated between booing and cheering. There were chants of “All lives matter!”
[Conservative suspicions of refugees grow in wake of Paris attacks]
“Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,” Trump said on the Fox News Channel on Sunday morning. “I have a lot of fans, and they were not happy about it. And this was a very obnoxious guy who was a trouble-maker who was looking to make trouble.”
That was a change in tone from just a month ago, when Trump would regularly tell his audiences not to harm the protesters who often infiltrate his rallies.
“Don’t hurt ’em,” Trump said at a rally in Miami on Oct. 23 as pro-immigration activists were led out. “You can get ’em out, but don’t hurt ’em.”
1 of 12 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Black Lives Matter members grab microphone from Bernie Sanders View Photos Members of the Black Lives Matter Seattle chapter took the stage and forced Bernie Sanders to the side at an event in Seattle. One of the women, Marissa Janae Johnson, asked the crowd to “join us now in holding Bernie Sanders accountable” for not doing enough to address police brutality. Caption Members of the Black Lives Matter Seattle chapter took the stage and forced Bernie Sanders to the side at an event in Seattle. One of the women, Marissa Janae Johnson, asked the crowd to “join us now in holding Bernie Sanders accountable” for not doing enough to address police brutality. Members of the Seattle chapter of Black Lives Matter took over the microphone just after Sanders began to speak and refused to relinquish it. Sanders eventually left the stage without speaking further and instead waded into the crowd to greet supporters. Elaine Thompson/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
The Republican front-runner has long made provocative statements a hallmark of his campaign. Critics and rivals have said that Trump is stoking racial tension. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush said Trump’s comments about Islam are “manipulating people’s angst and their fears.”
Saturday’s racially charged altercation occurred in Birmingham, famous in the 1960s as a center of the civil rights struggle. The thousands who attended Trump’s rally were nearly all white in a city with a black majority.
Southall told the AL.com news site that the commotion started as he began recording himself and other protesters at the rally and saying that he wanted “Donald Trump to know he’s not welcome here.” Southall said someone knocked the phone out of his hand and made a racial slur. Then there was pushing and punches started flying, Southall told the news site.
A swarm of security officers quickly made their way through the crowd of several thousand, got Southall off the ground and walked him out of the building. Trump has had Secret Service protection since Nov. 11, and those who attend his rallies and political events must now walk through metal detectors and have their bags searched.
“He was so obnoxious and so loud, he was screaming,” Trump recounted in the Fox News interview on Sunday. “I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday, 10,000 people, and this guy started screaming by himself.”
[Anti-Islam rhetoric increases on GOP campaign trail]
As Southall was removed Saturday, Trump recounted how Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders responded to Black Lives Matter activists who came onstage during an event earlier this year.
“You see, he was politically correct,” Trump said. “Two young women came up to the podium. They took over his microphone. I promise you, that’s not going to happen with me. I promise you. Never going to happen. Not going to happen. Can’t let that stuff happen.”
Before the fight broke out, Trump had warned the audience that Islamic State fighters might recruit their children online and called for an impenetrable wall along the southern border, prompting the crowd to chant: “Build a wall! Build a wall! Build a wall!” In his nearly hour-long speech, Trump listed graphic details of killings committed by people who had entered the country illegally, promised to bar Syrian refugees from living in the United States because they might be terrorists and called for heavy surveillance of “certain mosques.”
“I want surveillance of these people that are coming in, the Trojan horse. I want to know who the hell they are,” Trump said. “I don’t want the people from Syria coming in, because we don’t know who they are. We don’t know who they are. And I don’t want them coming in.”
Trump also said he watched as “thousands and thousands of people” in New Jersey cheered the fall of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, giving the impression that he was talking about Muslims living in the United States being happy that so many Americans died in the attacks. Officials have repeatedly debunked these rumors. Trump stood by his comments during an interview on ABC News on Sunday, saying that the cheers came from the “large Arab populations” in New Jersey.
“It did happen. I saw it,” Trump said. “It was on television. I saw it.”
[Donald Trump calls for heavy surveillance of "certain mosques"]
From the media area, reporters strained to see what was happening Saturday at the Trump event here in Birmingham. As CNN reporter Jeremy Diamond managed to make a video of the incident before Trump staff forced him back into the media pen. As the video circulated on social media that night, some of Trump’s supporters took to Twitter to call the protesters “thugs,” “Dem plants” and a variety of obscene names. Several wrote that the protesters opened themselves up to the possibility of violence by attending the rally.
[Nine things that happened during Donald Trump's rally in Worcester]
Trump grew agitated as reporters shifted their focus to the protesters and away from him and his thousands of supporters.
“Look at those bloodsuckers back there,” Trump said. “They’re turned around, and they’re following the people, right? Because you have a small group of people that made some noise and are being thrown out on their ass. Right?”
The crowd roared with cheers.
Amber Phillips contributed to this report. ||||| Birmingham, Alabama (CNN) Donald Trump suggested Sunday the half-dozen white attendees at his campaign rally on Saturday may have reacted appropriately when they shoved, tackled, punched and kicked a black protester who disrupted his speech.
"Maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing," Trump said Sunday morning on Fox News, less than 24 hours after his campaign said it "does not condone" the physical altercation.
Trump was not asked by the Fox News hosts about the comments made by his campaign.
Trump appears on stage with Nick Jonas and Giuliana Rancic during the 2013 Miss USA pageant. Trump has been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996.
Trump appears on stage with Nick Jonas and Giuliana Rancic during the 2013 Miss USA pageant. Trump has been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996.
Trump speaks in Sarasota, Florida, after accepting the Statesman of the Year Award at the Sarasota GOP dinner in August 2012. It was just before the Republican National Convention in nearby Tampa.
Trump speaks in Sarasota, Florida, after accepting the Statesman of the Year Award at the Sarasota GOP dinner in August 2012. It was just before the Republican National Convention in nearby Tampa.
In 2012, Trump announces his endorsement of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney. In May 2012, on CNN's "The Situation Room," Trump said that President Barack Obama's birthplace is a matter of opinion. In regards to the President's Hawaiian birth certificate , Trump said "a lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate."
A supporter comes out for Trump at a tea party event in Boca Raton, Florida, in April 2011. Trump said he had considered running for President in 2012.
A supporter comes out for Trump at a tea party event in Boca Raton, Florida, in April 2011. Trump said he had considered running for President in 2012.
In 2009, Trump announced his resignation as chairman of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Days later, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy.
In 2009, Trump announced his resignation as chairman of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Days later, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for bankruptcy.
Trump holds a copy of his book "Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life" at a book signing in New York in 2007. He has published 16 books, according to his website.
For "The Apprentice," Trump was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2007.
For "The Apprentice," Trump was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in January 2007.
Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron William Trump, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005. Trump has five children from three marriages.
Trump attends the U.S. Open tennis tournament with his third wife, Melania Knauss-Trump, and their son, Barron William Trump, in 2006. Trump and Knauss married in 2005. Trump has five children from three marriages.
Trump wrestles with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon.
Trump wrestles with "Stone Cold" Steve Austin at WrestleMania in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and its CEO, Vince McMahon.
A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004.
A 12-inch talking Trump doll is on display at a toy store in New York in September 2004.
An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Towers in New York in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice."
An advertisement for the television show "The Apprentice" hangs at Trump Towers in New York in 2004. The show launched in January of that year. In January 2008, the show returned as "Celebrity Apprentice."
Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999.
Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999.
Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977-1990, when they divorced. They had three children together.
Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977-1990, when they divorced. They had three children together.
Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
Real estate developer and entrepreneur Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From producing and starring in TV shows to campaigning for the U.S. presidency, see how he's shaped his empire.
Real estate developer and entrepreneur Donald Trump has been in the spotlight for years. From producing and starring in TV shows to campaigning for the U.S. presidency, see how he's shaped his empire.
The protester, 31-year-old Black Lives Matter activist Mercutio Southall, said the attendees who attacked him also called him and two fellow protestors "monkeys" and the N-word. He told CNN he was "swarmed" by attendees at the Trump event after he and the others began chanting "Dump the Trump" and "Black Lives Matter" during the Republican front-runner's speech to several thousand supporters.
The slurs cannot be heard on the video CNN recorded of the incident, and the network was unable to independently confirm them.
Trump had warned in August after Black Lives Matter activists disrupted a Bernie Sanders campaign event that if the movement's activists protested one of his events, they would have a fight on their hands.
"That will never happen with me," Trump said after Sanders , a Democratic presidential candidate, let Black Lives Matter activists take over one of his events.
"I don't know if I'll do the fighting myself, or if other people will," Trump said then.
JUST WATCHED Protester kicked out of Trump rally after altercation Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Protester kicked out of Trump rally after altercation 01:47
As Southall took blows on Saturday, Trump tried to press on with his stump speech, but paused to remark at the apparent disruption and said, "Get 'em the hell out of here."
Southall, who said his grandparents crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the historic march from Selma to Montgomery, compared the experience to facing a "lynch mob."
"I got punched in the face, I got punched in the neck. I got kicked in the chest. Kicked in the stomach. Somebody stepped on my hand," Southall said, describing his injuries in a phone call with CNN late Saturday.
Southall said the man in a blue-checkered shirt who appears to take a fighting stance in CNN's video of the altercation also choked him while he was on the ground. Southall said the choking only stopped when he punched the man in the groin.
A woman in the video can be heard shouting, "Don't choke him, don't choke him, don't choke him."
Southall and two other activists, including Carlos Havers of the National Action Network, entered the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex with tickets to Trump's rally after police outside the event moved their planned protest with a dozen other activists away from the entrance to the campaign event.
The plan, Southall and Havers said, was to protest the rhetoric Trump engages in on the campaign trail -- rhetoric that the two believe incited the violence they faced on Saturday.
14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Many people on the Internet decided that GOP candidate Donald Trump is the most expressive person running for president. Here's a look at his many facial expressions: Hide Caption 1 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump speaks about illegal immigration July 10 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Hide Caption 2 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump speaks to guests gathered for a campaign event at the Grand River Center in Dubuque, Iowa, on August 25. Hide Caption 3 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump visits his Scottish golf course Turnberry on July 30. Hide Caption 4 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump speaks during a rally August 21 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. Hide Caption 5 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump eats a pork chop on a stick while attending the Iowa State Fair on August 15. Hide Caption 6 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump flashes a thumbs-up as he arrives for the start of the first presidential debate August 6 in Cleveland. Hide Caption 7 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump participates in the Republican debate in Cleveland. Hide Caption 8 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump arrives for jury duty in New York on August 17. Hide Caption 9 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump walks his Turnberry golf course on July 30. Hide Caption 10 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump at Turnberry on July 30. Hide Caption 11 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump talks to the media in Laredo, Texas, during a trip to the Mexico border on July 23. Hide Caption 12 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump greets onlookers after taping an interview with Anderson Cooper at a Trump-owned building in New York on July 22. Hide Caption 13 of 14 14 photos: The many facial expressions of Donald Trump Trump exits New York Supreme Court after jury duty on August 17. Hide Caption 14 of 14
"When you have a candidate going around spewing hatred and racism, that's to be expected," Havers said of the physical altercation. "He was really inciting the entire thing."
Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks told CNN on Saturday that "the campaign does not condone this behavior."
She declined to elaborate on Trump's reaction to the confrontation.
It is unlikely Trump could see the confrontation unfold from his vantage point on the stage, but was reacting to the apparent presence of protesters.
Still, Southall and Havers said they hold Trump responsible for how they were treated at the campaign event.
"He does condone it because he was the one saying, 'Yeah, get them out of here.' He was the one telling the supporters to do what they needed to to get them out of here," Havers said. "We want an apology from Donald Trump himself. We want him to sit down with us and explain why he did what he did and why's he's going around the country spewing hatred and racism."
Southall said he intends to press charges against those who assaulted him at the event, and said the police officers who escorted him out of the event at no point asked him if he wished to do so. He also said they did not offer medical attention.
"They were too busy trying to get me the f--- out of there. They weren't trying to be nothing but just getting me the f--- out of there. That was their whole concern," Southall said of the police officers who escorted him out of the event several minutes into the altercation between Southall and the half-dozen attendees.
Birmingham Police Lt. Sean Edwards, the department's public information officer, told CNN on Saturday that Southall did not require medical attention and did not ask to press charges.
16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Demonstrators chant during a rally in downtown Manhattan on December 13. Hide Caption 1 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Police arrest a "Black Lives Matter" protester on Saturday, December 20, in Bloomington, Minnesota. Invoking the familiar names of blacks who died at the hands of police, including Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Tamir Rice, thousands have taken part in protests across the country calling for a more aggressive federal response to recent slayings by police. Hide Caption 2 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Thousands of protesters fill the Mall of America in Bloomington on Saturday, December 20. Hide Caption 3 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Police line up to move the protesters from out of the mall on December 20 in Bloomington. Hide Caption 4 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Mikela Mosley speaks out in front of a line of police during a demonstration on Saturday, December 13, in Oakland, California. Hide Caption 5 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests A protester is arrested at a demonstration on December 13 in Oakland. Hide Caption 6 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Demonstrators march over the inbound lane of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York on December 13. Hide Caption 7 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Protesters stage a "die-in" during a march in Chicago on December 13. Hide Caption 8 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Demonstrators face off with police during a march in Chicago on December 13. Hide Caption 9 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Protesters march through the streets of Oakland on December 13. Hide Caption 10 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Protesters gather at the Alameda County Courthouse in Oakland on December 13. Hide Caption 11 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests A demonstrator marches in New York on December 13 during the "Justice for All" rally. Hide Caption 12 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests The protest moves down Sixth Avenue in New York on December 13. Hide Caption 13 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests A woman marches down 14th Street in New York on December 13. Hide Caption 14 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests From left, Samaira Rice, the mother of Tamir Rice; Lesley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown Jr.; the Rev. Al Sharpton and Michael Brown Sr., the father of Michael Brown Jr, raise their hands in the air during the "Justice For All" march and rally through Washington on December 13. Hide Caption 15 of 16 16 photos: 'Black lives matter' protests Protesters fill the street as they gather for a march on December 13 in Washington. Hide Caption 16 of 16
Edwards said the department tried to contact him later Saturday at several numbers but could not reach him.
Edwards said his officers "didn't see" the violent confrontation take place, but said Southall is welcome to file a police report and press charges.
"I would be a little cautious with Mercutio Southall," Edwards added. "He has been an agitator from day one. Mercutio is always the agitator."
Speaking on the campaign trail, Trump has repeatedly touted his strong relationship with minorities, from Hispanics to African-Americans -- noting that he is assured victory in the general election if he can win the African-American vote.
But Trump's controversial comments about racial and religious minorities -- from Hispanics to, more recently, Muslims -- have strained his relationship with people of color.
Trump kicked off his campaign by calling Mexican immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally "criminals" and "rapists" and lately has said he would either shut down or launch surveillance operations targeting mosques, and has appeared open to establishing a database for all Muslims in the U.S.
Southall, a father to three sons, said he was disheartened by the experience and said he hoped publicity around the incident could help serve as a wake-up call in a country that he said has ignored racial divides for far too long.
"This is the ugly truth of America. It was there like literally and figuratively in black and white. We saw it. We see it daily," Southall said. "It shows what kind of America we live in now and what kind of America it will be with Trump at the helm." | – A Black Lives Matter protester locked horns with Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Birmingham, Ala., on Saturday, and neither one of them emerged very happy from the encounter, reports the Washington Post. Mercutio Southall Jr., who the Post describes as a well-known activist and the founder of the Birmingham chapter of Black Lives Matter, began chanting at a Trump rally, prompting Trump to tell security to "Get him the hell out of here, will you, please?" A scuffle apparently ensued as security moved to remove Southall, cell phone video was recorded, and Southall emerged saying that he had been roughed up considerably as well as been called racial slurs. A woman in the video shouts repeatedly, "don't choke him!" "I got punched in the face, I got punched in the neck. I got kicked in the chest. Kicked in the stomach. Somebody stepped on my hand," Southall tells CNN. A Trump rep on Saturday said "the campaign does not condone this behavior," but Trump himself appeared less apologetic in comments Sunday, per CNN. Southall "was so obnoxious and so loud, he was screaming. I had 10,000 people in the room yesterday, 10,000 people, and this guy started screaming by himself and they—I don't know, rough up, he should have been—maybe he should have been roughed up because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing," Trump said. Southall, for his part, says he intends to press charges. |
President Trump on Wednesday plans to call for a significant increase in the standard deduction people can claim on their tax returns, potentially putting thousands of dollars each year into the pockets of tens of millions of Americans, according to two people briefed on the plan.
The change is one of several major revisions to the federal tax code that the White House will propose when it provides an outline of the tax-overhaul pitch Trump will make to Congress and the American people as he nears his 100th day in office.
Trump will call for a sharp reduction in the corporate tax rate, from 35 percent to 15 percent. He will also propose lowering the tax rate for millions of small businesses that now file their tax returns under the individual tax code, two people familiar with the plan said.
These companies, often referred to as “pass throughs” or S corporations, would be subject to the 15 percent rate proposed for corporations. Many pass throughs are small, family-owned businesses. But they can also be large — such as parts of Trump’s own real estate empire or law firms with partners who earn more than a million dollars annually. The White House is expected to pursue safeguards to ensure that companies like law firms can’t take advantage of this new tax rate and allow their highly paid partners to pay much lower tax bills.
[Trump seeks 15 percent corporate tax rate, even if it swells the national debt]
Trump’s proposed tax changes will not all be rolled out Wednesday. White House officials are also working to develop an expanded Child and Dependent Care Credit, which they hope would benefit low- and middle-income families facing substantial burdens in paying for child care. Trump had touted a tax measure for child care during the campaign, but it was criticized as not significantly benefiting families of modest means.
White House officials think these changes will give Americans and companies more money to spend, expand the economy and create more jobs.
The existing standard deduction Americans can claim is $6,300 for individuals and $12,600 for married couples filing jointly. The precise level of Trump’s new proposal could not be ascertained, but it was significantly higher, the two people said, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been made public.
During the campaign, Trump proposed raising the standard deduction to $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families.
Like other parts of Trump’s tax proposal, an increase in the standard deduction would lead to a large loss of government revenue.
404 Not Found Sorry, we canât find what you are looking for. Take a deep breath. Everythingâs going to be okay.
A standard deduction works like this: If a couple filing jointly earns $70,000, they deduct $12,600 from their income, adjusting their income to $57,400. They then would pay taxes on the $57,400 in income, not the $70,000 they earned. Increasing the standard deduction would reduce their taxable income, ensuring that they can keep more of their money. A taxpayer who claims the standard deduction cannot also itemize deductions for items such as mortgage interest or charitable giving. But if the standard deduction is large enough, many would be likely to bypass the itemized deduction.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimated last year that if Trump raised the standard deduction as much as he proposed during the campaign, about 27 million of the 45 million tax filers who itemized their tax breaks in 2017 would instead opt to take the standardized deduction, creating a much simpler process.
This would also match one of the goals outlined by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. He has said that filing taxes has become too complicated for many Americans and that his goal would be for many Americans to be able to file their taxes on a “large postcard.”
White House officials including Vice President Pence also met late Tuesday with congressional leaders and said they wanted to pass a tax-code overhaul through a process known as “reconciliation,” a person familiar with the meeting said, which means they could achieve the changes with only Republican votes.
They also said they were going to push for steep cuts in tax rates but would be willing to raise some new revenue with other changes to the tax code. The White House on Wednesday is expected to reiterate this openness to new revenue without getting into specifics of which tax changes it would seek, as that could create a fierce corporate blowback based on which exemptions could be cut.
[Republicans’ plan to cut corporate taxes would lead to massive revenue losses, congressional accountant finds]
Congressional Republicans praised President Trump’s ambitious effort to overhaul the tax code and slash corporate income tax rates to 15 percent.
But they cautioned that some parts of the plan might go too far, illustrating the challenges the president continues to face in his own party as he seeks political support for one of his top domestic priorities.
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Tex.), who head Congress’s tax-writing panels, said they were open to Trump’s plan to push forward with sharp cuts in the rates that businesses pay but suggested that changes might be needed.
“I think the bolder the better in tax reform,” said Brady, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee. “I’m excited that the president is going for a very ambitious tax plan.”
Hatch, meanwhile, said the White House appears to be “stuck on” the idea that certain small businesses, known as S corporations, should have their tax rates lowered to 15 percent, just like large businesses. S corporations pay the same tax rates that individuals and families pay, with a top rate of close to 40 percent.
“I’m open to good ideas,” Hatch said. “The question is: Is that a good idea.”
Meanwhile, Democrats denounced the 15 percent corporate tax rate and criticized Mnuchin, who said that faster economic growth would generate enough new tax revenue to compensate for the corporate rate cuts.
Asked whether the 15 percent target was workable, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told reporters: “It is, if you want to blow a hole in the federal budget and cut a whole lot of things like Meals on Wheels and Lake Erie restoration and then lie about the growth rate of the economy.”
He said that the Trump administration would have to do something “huge” such as scrapping mortgage interest deductions, adopting a border adjustment tax or relying on “outrageously inaccurate projections.”
The Trump tax package has won the support of most of the business community, but divisions remain.
The biggest winners from the corporate tax cut would include companies in industries such as retailing, construction and services that have had trouble taking advantage of the loopholes in the existing tax code.
The list of losers from tax reform could include technology companies, domestic oil and gas drillers, utilities and pharmaceutical firms that have been adept at playing the current system by using loopholes to deduct interest payments, expense their equipment and research, and transfer profits to foreign jurisdictions with lower tax rates. Under the Trump plan, many of those tax breaks would be eliminated in return for lowering the rate.
“Retail companies are the ones who pay closest to the rate of 35 percent,” said Len Burman, a fellow and tax expert at the Urban Institute. “They can’t ship their profits overseas. They can’t take advantage of the research and experimentation credit.”
A study of 2016 data for all profitable publicly listed companies by Aswath Damodaran, a finance professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, showed that U.S. firms pay vastly different income tax rates.
On average, engineering and construction firms, food wholesalers and publishers paid about 34 percent. At the other end, oil and natural gas companies paid 7 to 8 percent on average.
“The U.S. tax code is filled with all kinds of ornaments” that help the oil and gas industry, said Damodaran. A decades-old depletion allowance, for example, allows companies to deduct money as a natural resource is produced and sold. This comes on top of other deductions for various expenses.
A Treasury Department study last year based on tax returns for 2007-2011 showed that debt-laden utilities paid only 10 percent in taxes, while construction firms and retailers paid 27 percent.“Retailers pay a higher effective tax rate of any sector in the United States,” said David French, the head of government relations at the National Retail Federation. “But the devil is in the details.”
With many key pieces of the Trump tax plan still missing, French is worried that Trump might propose something to offset the lost revenue from cutting the corporate tax rate to 15 percent. A border adjustment tax, such as the one House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) favors, would more than offset the benefits of a rate cut to 15 percent, French said, “while others would see their taxes go to zero.”
French said that he expects a middle-class tax cut and business tax reform, but he does not expect Trump to unveil a complete package with offsetting items. “I don’t think that’s going to be in the president’s plan,” French said. “I expect it will be big-picture, high-level, without a lot of details.”
“There are so many special interests involved,” said Ed Yardeni, an investment strategist and president of Yardeni Research. “This is going to be a real test of whether he’s going to be able to drain the swamp or whether he’s going to pump more water in.”
[Trump just promised the biggest tax cut in history. Here’s how big it would have to be.]
Among the other big losers could be companies such as utilities or cable companies that have accumulated large debts and currently can deduct interest payments. A lower tax rate would make those tax deductions less useful.
In a report to investors in December, a team of JPMorgan analysts said that “we see reform to the corporate tax code as currently envisioned . . . as an overall net negative” for big utilities. The analysts said that because the utilities had large amounts of debt, they would be hurt more than other companies.
A big corporate tax cut could also create a crisis for individual income taxes. Without a matching cut in individual income tax rates, individuals would be able to change the structure of their pay checks so that the payments went through limited liability companies that would pay no more than 15 percent under the business tax cut, a rate far lower than the top individual rate of 39.6 percent.
That’s similar to what basketball coach Bill Self did after Kansas exempted entrepreneurs from paying taxes and eliminated the business tax. Self, the coach of the University of Kansas Jayhawks, put about 90 percent of his pay package into a corporate entity to sidestep the taxes he would have paid if it were all considered simply salary, according to a report by radio station KCUR-FM.
“Whenever a lower rate is imposed on one kind of economic activity versus another, that low-rate activity all of a sudden becomes a lot more important,” Burman said. “A lot of tax sheltering was done to make ordinary income look like capital gains.”
He added, “An associate professor in the Kansas philosophy department probably pays a higher tax rate than Bill Self.”
But if Trump cuts individual income taxes to match the cut in corporate rates, that would create an enormous shortfall in tax revenue and a ballooning of the budget deficit.
Kelsey Snell and Tory Newmyer contributed to this report. ||||| President Donald Trump on Wednesday will release a plan to radically overhaul the American tax code that many Republicans say is unrealistic and could end up hurting the chances of getting anything done on the issue, long one of the party’s top priorities.
Driven by a president eager to show momentum heading into the close of his first 100 days in office, the hastily written plan could wind up alienating critical Hill Republicans while offering little or nothing to entice Democrats. It could also be widely dismissed by outside observers as an over-hyped rehash of promises the president already made during the campaign.
Story Continued Below
“So far at least, the contours of this are starting to look a lot like what happened with Trump and Congress on health care,” said Lanhee Chen, a top adviser to Mitt Romney’s 2012 campaign and now a professor at Stanford. “On health care you had irreconcilable differences on the scope of government. And in the same way here, whether or not you pay for a tax cut is a fundamental difference Republicans have. And what we could see Wednesday is that there isn’t even as much middle ground on taxes as there was on health care.”
The main problem, political analysts and tax experts say, is that Republicans are caught between two irreconcilable models for enacting major tax changes.
The president is likely to release a plan that repeats his campaign call for slashing the top corporate rate from 35 percent to 15 percent and reducing and simplifying individual rates, while doing little or nothing to replace the trillions of dollars in lost revenue from such cuts beyond relying on rosy forecasts for faster growth.
The White House confirmed that the plan will include a boost in the standard deduction for individual taxpayers. The housing and charitable sectors fear that will hurt their bottom lines by making the mortgage interest and charitable deductions less attractive to taxpayers.
The non-partisan Tax Policy Center estimates that reducing the corporate tax rate to 15 percent would cost the federal government $215 billion in 2018 alone and become a more expensive proposition as each year passes, according to the center’s analysis of Trump’s campaign plan.
Many congressional Republicans, led by House Speaker Paul Ryan, prefer a radically different approach that would employ a new border tax to generate over $1 trillion in revenue over 10 years to pay for a cut in the top corporate rate to 20 percent from 35 percent. People close to Ryan are dismissive of Trump’s approach to unfunded tax cuts as a “magic unicorn” that will never clear the House.
By releasing his plan without the border tax, as widely expected, Trump will be setting himself up in direct opposition to Ryan, whose help the president will need to get any major tax bill passed.
“The fundamental disagreement here is basically over which kind of Reagan-style tax change that Trump is going to embrace,” said Jeffrey Birnbaum, a former journalist and author of a book on the epic 1986 tax reform fight. “Will it be 1986-style reform, which neither raised nor lowered the budget deficit or will it be 1981-style, which was just a reduction in rates and was eventually viewed by both Democrats and Republicans as too deep a cut. It’s clear Trump wants to echo Reagan but we don’t know which version of Reagan it will be.”
For the moment, Republicans on the Hill are trying to stress the areas where they agree with Trump, including a desire to lower and simplify both corporate and individual rates to spur what the party hopes will be much faster economic growth that creates millions of new jobs and lifts wages. But many are signaling that significant differences remain that could prove insurmountable.
“We all agree on the benefits of tax reform and the place we want to land, and the question is how you reach that place,” said AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for Ryan. “We continue to have productive discussions with the administration about all ideas on the table.”
But Ryan’s office also cited guidance from the Joint Committee on Taxation on Tuesday suggesting it would be impossible to pass a big corporate rate cut through the reconciliation process — which would avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate — without paying for it.
The guidance held that even letting the cuts lapse after three years would still increase the deficit beyond ten years, which would violate the reconciliation process. “We project a nonnegligible revenue loss in the tax years immediately following the budget window,” the Joint Committee said.
Pointing to this report is House Republicans’ way of saying that Trump’s current approach to the tax issue simply won’t work.
On the Senate side, Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has been dismissive of the 15 percent target as unattainable, also tried to sound positive on Tuesday.
“Every administration has had its own ideas, I’ve never seen one that hasn’t,” Hatch said. “They’re working with us and we’re interested in whatever they come up with. Even if it’s really expensive, I’m going to be interested in whatever they come up with. That doesn’t mean I’m necessarily going to follow it, but I want to support the administration if I can.”
Democrats, meanwhile, stand ready to savage the plan as a giveaway to big corporations that would balloon the deficit. “I'm very skeptical. I've seen no plan in the past that could get to that [15 percent] level without adding to the deficit,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), a member of the Finance Committee.
Democrats are likely to also blast the proposal if, as expected, Trump repeats his campaign pledge to extend the 15 percent rate to so-called “pass-through” companies, which are often owner-operated businesses, like Trump’s own real-estate and branding empire. The argument Democrats will make is that if the proposal became law, it would give the president himself a giant tax cut.
“In trying to slash taxes for 'pass-through' business entities, Trump is seeking to dramatically reduce his own tax bill,” said Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.
The 15 percent tax on pass-through income would also be far lower than the 25 percent top rate proposed by Ryan and House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas).
Privately, Democrats say they relish the thought of Republicans battling each other on how to rewrite the tax code. One Democratic aide predicted “a lot of Republican-on-Republican violence this week.”
Others say it appears that Trump is simply pushing for a giant tax cut under the guise of more politically palatable “tax reform.”
“Is it just tax cuts, or truly tax reform? I think the administration sometimes has confused the issue by calling everything tax reform when it is not,” said Mark Mazur, the former assistant secretary for tax policy at the Treasury Department under the Obama administration and now director of the non-partisan Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. “If you’re going to do tax reform, you need to be thinking about making the system simpler and more efficient.”
Trump himself is personally invested in an overhaul of the tax code, far more than he was in any machinations of the health care legislation, according to one source familiar with the White House’s internal tax deliberations. The lone tax policy staffer on the National Economic Council, former Hill staffer Shahira Knight, has personally briefed the president on tax questions, say two sources.
Morning Money Political intelligence on Washington and Wall Street — weekday mornings, in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time.
The president has a much stronger attachment and understanding of the tax code than, say, health insurance because the real estate industry relies so heavily on tax breaks such as the mortgage interest deduction for homeowners or the interest deduction for businesses. In this area, Trump's proposal to increase the standard deduction could actually harm his beloved real estate industry by making the mortgage deduction less attractive for tax filers.
Inside the administration, Trump’s pledge to produce a new tax reform document this week took officials by surprise. And not all were thrilled to have to produce something this early in the process with major policy decisions still up in the air and meetings with congressional leadership still in their early phases.
“This was all about doing something in the first 100 days and really it’s doing the process backwards,” one senior White House official said this week. “I’m not sure how helpful it is.”
The rushed nature of the effort was reflected in conflicting statements from administration officials about what the package to be released Wednesday would include. Initially, several administration officials said it would probably include some kind of infrastructure investment to appeal to Democrats. Several Democrats support the idea of using some funds generated by the taxation of repatriated foreign earnings to pay for infrastructure projects such as rebuilding decaying roads and bridges.
But as of late Tuesday afternoon, officials said the plan to be released Wednesday would probably not include infrastructure spending but instead just focus on individual and corporate rates.
“The reason your head is spinning on this is that the plan isn’t even written yet,” one White House official said ahead of a planned meeting Tuesday evening between the administration and top Capitol Hill leaders.
That meeting, which lasted about 45 minutes, appeared to be perfunctory.
“This is just a preliminary meeting," Hatch said afterward. "They went into some suggestions that were mere suggestions and we’ll go from there."
Aaron Lorenzo, Elana Schor, Burgess Everett and Brian Faler contributed to this report. ||||| President Trump plans to unveil a tax cut blueprint on Wednesday that would apply a vastly reduced, 15 percent business tax rate not only to corporations but also to companies that now pay taxes through the personal income tax code — from mom-and-pop businesses to his own real estate empire, according to several people briefed on the proposal.
The package would also increase the standard deduction for individuals, providing a modest cut for middle-income people and simplifying the process of filing tax returns, according to people briefed on its details. That proposal is opposed by home builders and real estate agents, who fear it would diminish the importance of the mortgage interest deduction. And it is likely to necessitate eliminating or curbing other popular deductions, a politically risky pursuit.
As of late Tuesday, the plan did not include Mr. Trump’s promised $1 trillion infrastructure program, two of the people said, and it jettisoned a House Republican proposal to impose a substantial tax on imports, known as a border adjustment tax, which would have raised billions of dollars to help offset the cost of the cuts.
With that decision, Mr. Trump acceded to pressure from retailers and conservative advocacy groups, but the move could deepen the challenge of passing a broad tax overhaul in Congress, where concern about the swelling federal deficit runs high. His plan would put off the difficult part of a tax overhaul: closing loopholes and increasing other taxes to limit the impact of tax cuts on the budget deficit. | – Another detail of President Trump's tax overhaul plan has surfaced ahead of the expected Wednesday announcement, and it will be probably be a popular one: Sources tell the Washington Post that Trump plans a hefty increase in the standard deduction people can claim on their tax returns. White House officials say this will simplify tax filings for millions and give middle-income families thousands more dollars to spend a year, boosting the economy. It's not clear how far Trump plans to propose raising the deduction from the current $6,300 for individuals and $12,600 for married couples, though the number he cited on the campaign trail was $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for families. Details of the plan were still being firmed up Tuesday evening, the New York Times reports, but the centerpiece remains slashing the business tax rate to 15%. Democrats have been keen to point out that this would apply to entities like Trump's real-estate empire as well as standard corporations. The Times' sources say the plan doesn't include Trump's $1 trillion infrastructure plan. The sources say Trump has rejected a House GOP proposal for a "border adjustment tax" on imports, which might have helped pay for the cuts. Analysts tell Politico that unless Trump can show congressional Republicans a realistic way to pay for his tax cuts, his proposals could end up damaging the chances of real reform happening. |
Several girls were forced to jump for their lives when a blaze at a New Jersey restaurant spread to the dance studio above, video shows. (Published Tuesday, April 10, 2018)
What to Know Girls at a New Jersey dance studio had to jump from a second-floor balcony after a fire broke out in the building Monday
No one was seriously injured in the Edgewater blaze
A cause of the blaze has yet to be revealed
Several girls were forced to drop from the second-floor balcony of a New Jersey building to escape a roaring fire that ripped through their dance studio Monday.
In a video posted to YouTube, a few of the girls can be seen trapped on the balcony as several people on the ground rush over with ladders to mount a rescue effort. At least one girl makes it down a ladder before it tips over.
These Countries Have the Highest Threat Levels for Traveling
Video shows one girl clinging to the side of the balcony, legs dangling, as the men below yell "jump!" The clip ends with several of the kids piled on the ground, many walking away from the scene without apparent major injuries.
"Just gotta get the girls out, couldn't do it quick enough," said Edgewater police Sgt. James Dalton, recounting the rescue.
Edgewater Mayor Michael McPartland said 10 to 15 girls suffered minor injuries in the harrowing escape but no one was seriously injured.
"It was one of the bravest things I've ever seen," said McPartland.
The flames at the building, which also contained a car was and auto body shop, had been knocked down by Monday evening. Smoke from the fire could be seen as far as upper Manhattan at the height of the blaze.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear, but officials believed it may have started in the restaurant.
Chilling Images Take You Inside Abandoned Maryland Mall
||||| EDGEWATER, N.J. (AP) — Several girls have jumped for their lives from a balcony at a New Jersey dance studio to escape a raging fire.
Business owner Tony Nehmi told NJ.com he and a police officer helped some of the girls down before the ladders fell during the fire that broke out around 7 p.m. Monday.
The rest of the girls leaped from the balcony and were pulled away from the high flames.
Edgewater Mayor Michel Joseph McPartland says that about 15 girls were treated for minor injuries and told NBC New York it was "one of the bravest things I've ever seen."
The cause of the fire at the building that also houses a hookah lounge and auto body shop wasn't immediately clear.
The fire was contained about two hours later. ||||| Watch Queue Queue
Watch Queue Queue Remove all
Disconnect | – A terrifying video shows several girls jumping for their lives from a balcony at a New Jersey dance studio Monday as flames rage only inches away. A business owner and a police officer helped some of the girls down ladders before they fell during the fire that broke out around 7pm, per the AP. A video shows the aftermath, with girls falling or dangling from the second-floor balcony, a few witnesses below trying to catch them. It was "one of the bravest things I've ever seen," Edgewater Mayor Michael McPartland tells NBC New York, noting 10 to 15 girls were treated for minor injuries. The cause of the fire at the building that also houses a hookah lounge and auto body shop wasn't immediately clear. |
Surrounded by doctors who had helped save her husband, Mrs. Moreno told her story at a press conference at which medical professionals with long years of experience in treating traumatic injuries used words like “miraculous” and “unprecedented” to describe something that seems remarkable: a man who fell nearly 500 feet into a Manhattan alleyway is now talking and, with a little more luck, a few more operations and some rehabilitation therapy, may well walk again.
“If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one,” said Dr. Philip S. Barie, the chief of the division of critical care at New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan, where Mr. Moreno, 37, is being treated.
“We are very pleased — dare I say astonished? — at the level of recovery that this patient has enjoyed so far,” he added, “and although there is more work to be done, we are very optimistic for his prospects for survival.”
Optimistic though they were, the doctors tempered their discussion of Mr. Moreno’s prospects with some pragmatism. He will undergo surgery today to stabilize his spine. Sometime after that, he faces another orthopedic operation. Then there will be long months in rehabilitation.
But they predicted that his recovery would be complete in about a year.
Asked at the press conference whether Mr. Moreno would walk again, Dr. Barie said, “We believe so, yes.” He noted that Mr. Moreno’s pelvis had not been injured in the fall. Dr. Barie also said that all the injuries to Mr. Moreno’s legs — some 10 fractures — had been “repaired” except one.
“Our goal is not just survival, but functional survival,” he said.
Still, Dr. Barie suggested that Mr. Moreno had taken the team treating him into largely uncharted medical territory. Dr. Barie said Mr. Moreno’s medical team had had no experience with someone who had fallen so far. He said that falls from even three stories can be fatal if the victim hits his or her head on landing.
Photo
“Above 10 stories, most of the time we never see the patients because they usually go to the morgue,” Dr. Barie said, though he added that the staff at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell had treated — and had written a medical journal article about — a patient who survived a 19-story fall, less than half the distance Mr. Moreno fell.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
“This is right up there with those anecdotes of people falling out of airplanes and surviving, people whose parachutes don’t open and somehow they manage to survive,” Dr. Barie said in an interview after the press conference. “We’re talking about tiny, tiny percentages, well under 1 percent, of people who fall that distance and survive.”
But Mr. Moreno, of Linden, N.J., confounded the odds from the beginning. He was sitting up when firefighters arrived at the building, the Solow Tower, at 265 East 66th Street. He was “on the borderline of consciousness” when he was wheeled into the emergency room, Dr. Barie said, despite serious injuries to his brain, his spine, his chest and his abdomen, along with several fractured ribs, a broken right arm and two broken legs.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
Mrs. Moreno said her husband’s determination had not vanished that day. “If anything, he keeps me going,” she said.
A moment later she added: “He wants to go to rehab. He wants to start walking.” She also said she had told him he was not going back to his old job.
She said their three children — ages 14, 8 and 6 — had visited their father, the two younger children only once. She said she had wanted to show them that “Mommy wasn’t lying” and that “unlike Edgar, he’s alive.”
Mrs. Moreno said her husband apparently knew all along that his brother had died. She said that she did not tell him, but he mentioned it on Tuesday night. “He doesn’t remember much about that day other than his brother passed,” she said.
A full explanation for how the man survived, while his brother died, remained elusive. One theory is that Edgar Moreno, 30, was thrown from the platform as it sped toward the ground. One official who was at the scene said that part of Edgar Moreno’s body was under the platform when rescuers arrived. But Dr. Barie also noted that Alcides Moreno had landed without striking his head.
Mrs. Moreno was asked more than once at the press conference why she believed her husband had survived. “He was trained,” she said “He knew what to do with the platform” — meaning, according to other window washers, lie flat and ride it down.
But she also hinted that he was all too aware of the risks of the job. “Even knowing about his brother, not a tear came down, and they were very close,” she said. “They lived together. They did everything together.”
Mrs. Moreno said she did not know if her husband and brother-in-law had been worried about the safety of their scaffold that day. After the accident, another family member who is also a window washer, Jose Cumbicos, said they had mentioned their misgivings in a telephone call that morning. Mr. Cumbicos also said that the Morenos’ supervisor had reassured them, saying a mechanical problem with their rig had been taken care of.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
At least three agencies are investigating the accident. ||||| Only half of the people who fall three storeys survive. From 10 storeys almost no-one does. This is the tale of a window cleaner who survived a 47-floor fall from the roof of a New York skyscraper.
"I loved to see the windows really clean," Alcides Moreno says.
"I liked the water and the soap, how you press the squeegee.
"We would start at the top and clean all the way to the bottom, I loved it."
Moreno and his younger brother Edgar set out to clean the windows of the 47-floor luxury Solow Tower building in Manhattan's Upper East side on the morning of 7 December 2007.
They took the lift up to the top and walked out on to the roof, the temperature hovering around freezing.
Image copyright Google
But moments later, disaster struck. When they climbed on to the 16ft-wide (4.9m) washing platform the cables holding it in place "slipped from their attachment point", according to the United States Department of Labor accident report.
The survival rate even from a four-storey fall is not very good, a higher hand was in control here Dr Glenn Asaeda, New York City Fire Department
"On the left side the cable came off first. That was my brother's part. My brother fell off, all the way down," Alcides Moreno says.
Edgar plummeted 472ft (144m), landing in a narrow alley. By the time he reached the ground it's estimated he would have been travelling at more than 120mph. Alcides Moreno's side of the scaffold broke loose soon after, and he too started accelerating towards the ground.
At street level, firefighters and paramedics found a harrowing scene. Edgar Moreno had landed on a wooden fence, his body was severed and he couldn't be helped.
Alcides Moreno was found crouching among a pile of twisted metal, clutching the scaffold controls. Still breathing, he is said to have tried, unsuccessfully, to stand up.
You might also like to read:
Rabbit hole in farmer's field leads to 'mystery caves'
Rock arch featured in Game of Thrones collapses into the sea
Five-year-old girl makes history as youngest US Spelling Bee finalist
Firefighters recall how they began to move him in small increments "like a fragile egg", knowing that one wrong move could have killed him.
The men's safety harnesses and lifelines, together with some soap and a bucket of hot water - the steam still rising from it - were discovered on the roof next to the scaffold rig.
Image copyright NYC Fire Department Image caption Alcides Moreno (centre) met the New York Fire Department members who rescued him in 2008
Alcides Moreno was rushed to a nearby hospital and induced into a coma. He had sustained injuries to his brain, spinal column, chest and abdomen, and had fractures to his ribs, right arm and both legs. He underwent numerous operations, including having a catheter inserted in his brain to reduce swelling. He received 24 pints of blood.
"If you're looking for a medical miracle, this certainly qualifies," Dr Herbert Pardes, the then president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital told a press conference at the time.
"The survival rate even from a four-storey fall is not very good," Dr Glenn Asaeda from the New York City Fire Department said. "A higher hand was in control here."
Find out more
Alcides Moreno spoke to the BBC World Service programme Outlook
Listen again to the interview
Alcides Moreno woke up nearly three weeks later, on Christmas Day 2007, with his wife, Rosario, at his bedside.
"My mind was so blurry," he says.
He has no recollection of the fall itself. Did he know what had happened to his brother?
"I understood that he must be dead because I looked around and saw only me and my wife," he says.
Image caption Alcides Moreno, his wife, Rosario, and one of their sons
An investigation into the accident found that the scaffolding hadn't been properly maintained and that new motorised cables, which attached the window washing platform to the building, had not been properly anchored to the roof.
Accident investigators also concluded that although Alcides Moreno had stepped on to the scaffold without wearing a safety harness, this did not prove that he had refused to use it. Since he had also not yet retrieved his window washing equipment from the roof they said that he might still have intended to go back and put on the harness before starting work.
Speculation continues as to how he survived. By holding tight as he fell, did the scaffolding take most of the impact? Did the scaffolding somehow surf the air? Did Alcides Moreno bounce off the side of the building on the way down, slowing his fall?
The two brothers, originally from Ecuador, had arrived in the US in the 1990s looking for work.
Image caption Edgar Moreno (left) and Alcides
"Losing him was a big deal for me," Alcides Moreno explains.
"Edgar lived with me in New Jersey, and we shared a lot of things. He worked with me and died working with me.
"I believe I felt melancholic for about three years. That's how long it took me to recover and accept his death. It was like losing a child, because he was younger than me."
Alcides Moreno received a substantial compensation payout and he and his family moved to Phoenix, Arizona. He says the warm weather there is good for his bones.
"I have all the scars on my body and because of the back injuries, I can't run, only walk," he says. "I'm not like I used to be. But thank God I can walk, that is amazing for me."
Now 46, Moreno says he would clean windows again if he could - he doesn't have a problem with heights. But he doesn't work for health reasons. He estimates that he is 80% of the person he used to be.
Image caption Alcides Moreno is not afraid of heights
"When I ask something, I don't finish the question," he says. "There are things I don't do well. It must be a consequence [of the accident]."
The experience on 7 December 2007 changed his life in other ways too.
"I used to think a lot about me and only me," Moreno says. "I would provide for the family and think that was good enough. Then I realised how important my wife and kids are."
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Listen: Alcides Moreno describes the moment disaster struck
Last year, Alcides Moreno became a father for the fourth time. He seems overjoyed when talking about his boy of eight months.
"I keep asking myself why I lived. I have a new baby - he must be the reason, to raise this kid and tell him my history."
Additional reporting by Richard Hooper and Ana Pais
Follow Harry Low on Twitter
Join the conversation - find us on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter. | – Some say the window washing platform surfed the air. Others, including a rep for the New York City Fire Department, suspect "a higher hand was in control." Even Alcides Moreno isn't sure how he survived a 47-story fall from Manhattan's Solow Building on Dec. 7, 2007. After all, hardly anyone survives even a 10-story fall, notes the BBC, which caught up with Moreno for a rare interview. "I have a new baby," says the 46-year-old father of four while speculating on why he lived. "He must be the reason, to raise this kid and tell him my history." Moreno spent three weeks in a coma after the fall, which left him with injuries to his brain, spine, chest, and abdomen, along with broken ribs, legs, and a broken arm. And yet he lived: “If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one,” said a doctor treating him, per a New York Times story at the time. Moreno and his brother, Edgar, had been standing on the window washing platform at the top of Solow Tower when the cables holding it "slipped from their attachment point," according to an accident report. An investigation later found the new cables weren't properly fixed to the roof. The left side of the platform dropped first, sending Edgar then Alcides plummeting. But while Edgar's body was severed by a wooden fence, Alcides tried to stand when paramedics found him crouched on the ground, still holding the platform controls. Almost a decade later, Moreno says he's gained much of his health back along with a new appreciation for family. Sometimes he has trouble finishing sentences, and "I can't run, only walk," he tells the BBC. "But thank God I can walk." (This window washer survived an 11-story fall.) |
JERUSALEM (AP) — A hard-line Israeli Cabinet minister says convicted spy Jonathan Pollard opposes being freed from a U.S. jail in exchange for Palestinians prisoners.
Uri Ariel says people close to Pollard have told him that he opposes such a "shameful deal."
Ariel, from the hard-line Jewish Home party, spoke to Army Radio on Tuesday. He says he, too, is against the release of "murderers" for Pollard.
Talk of the possibility of Pollard's early release has arisen as an incentive in the troubled Mideast peace negotiations. The idea is that if he is freed, Israel would make concessions and release more Palestinian prisoners.
Pollard was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy when he gave classified documents to Israeli handlers. He was arrested in 1985 and later sentenced to life in prison. ||||| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, reaches out to shake hands with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry as they meet in Jerusalem on Monday. (Pool/Reuters)
The Obama administration is considering the early release of convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard as part of an effort to keep U.S.-backed peace talks from collapsing, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.
The acknowledgment came as Secretary of State John F. Kerry made an abrupt detour to the region amid a standoff between Israel and the Palestinians that has left the negotiations in peril.
Pollard’s release would be an enormous prize for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, providing President Obama with a significant chit in the U.S.-led effort to create an independent Palestinian state.
The Obama administration, like Republican and Democratic administrations before it, has publicly resisted strong Israeli lobbying to lighten Pollard’s sentence for spying for a friendly country. But Pollard’s fate was always presumed to be a potential element of any U.S.-backed solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Kerry, accompanied by U.S. mediator Martin Indyk, met with Netanyahu for four hours Monday night, postponing a planned late-night meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. He met instead with the Palestinian chief negotiator.
This May 15, 1998, file photo shows Jonathan Pollard speaking during an interview in a conference room at the Federal Correction Institution in Butner, N.C. (Karl Deblaker/AP)
The main subject of Kerry’s emergency visit was how to extend peace talks after an impasse over a delay in the release of Palestinian prisoners. But the separate question of Pollard’s fate, and what his release might buy for Israel and the United States, hung over the discussion.
A U.S. official said that Pollard’s early release is under discussion but that no decision has been made. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing internal debate about a politically sensitive issue.
A senior Israeli government official confirmed that the Israelis were seeking Pollard’s early release as part of negotiations on extending talks.
His release now would probably require a grant of clemency from Obama, but the White House could also recommend an early release late next year, when Pollard becomes eligible for it. The political question for the White House is whether to spend the chit now, later — in what is expected to be a drawn-out peace negotiation — or at all.
Pollard, 59, was a civilian intelligence analyst for the U.S. Navy who was arrested in 1985 after providing classified information to Israeli agents. He pleaded guilty, was sentenced to life in prison and is eligible for release in November 2015. He has served almost 29 years.
Pollard has supporters in Israel across the political spectrum, from old leftists to ultra-nationalists. In 2002, when he was out of office, Netanyahu visited Pollard in prison.
His Israeli backers say that Pollard’s sentence was unduly harsh and that a defendant convicted of the same crime today would receive a maximum of 10 years. The Israelis also note that he was spying not for an enemy state but for an ally of the United States. Pollard, a U.S. citizen, was awarded Israeli citizenship in 1995.
Clemency has eluded Pollard for five U.S. administrations. During the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks at Wye River, Md., in 1998, Netanyahu pushed for Pollard’s early release. Bill Clinton, president at the time, later wrote in his memoirs: “For all the sympathy Pollard generated in Israel, he was a hard case to push in America; he had sold our country’s secrets for money, not conviction, and for years had not shown any remorse.”
George Tenet, then director of the CIA, recalled in his memoirs telling Clinton in a one-on-one meeting that “if Pollard is released, I will no longer be the director of central intelligence in the morning.”
The deal, Tenet wrote, “would reward a U.S. citizen who spied on his own country, and once word got out (and that would take a nanosecond or two), I would be effectively through as CIA director. What’s more, I should be.”
In a January opinion piece in the New York Times, M.E. Bowman, a former Defense Department liaison officer to the Justice Department and the coordinator of an investigation into the damage done by Pollard, wrote that “there are no other Americans who have given over to an ally information of the quantity and quality that Mr. Pollard has” — material that included the top secret Radio Signal Notations manual, which listed all the known communications links then used by the Soviet Union.
U.S. diplomats have pressed the two sides to move beyond issues such as Pollard and Palestinian prisoners and focus on issues such as borders and security arrangements that would allow for two states for two peoples.
“Israelis and Palestinians have both made tough choices, and as we work with them to determine the next steps, it is important they remember that only peace will bring the Israeli and Palestinian people both the security and economic prosperity they all deserve,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday.
Netanyahu refused to carry out the scheduled release this past weekend of about two dozen Palestinian prisoners, and Abbas has threatened to walk out with a month to go before Kerry’s deadline for an outline of a peace deal.
Netanyahu told his Likud party Sunday that he will not allow the release unless Palestinians agree to extend talks, and he warned that he would refuse to do it at all unless assured that the release would be in Israel’s interest.
Over the weekend, reports circulated in the Hebrew and Arabic press that Netanyahu was prepared to offer to free an additional 400 prisoners, including many young offenders and those sentenced to short terms, if the Palestinians would continue the talks.
Kerry is seeking a face-saving way to keep the peace talks going, whether or not the prisoners are released soon. He would not predict the outcome of his efforts ahead of the talks.
“It’s really a question between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and what Prime Minister Netanyahu is prepared to do,” Kerry said Sunday night in Paris. “He’s working diligently, I know.”
Kerry was in Paris over the weekend for discussions with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about the crisis in Ukraine.
Officials close to Israel’s hard-line economics minister, Naftali Bennett, said the plan for peace Kerry has advanced until now “would lead to the dismantling of the current coalition government in Israel.”
Housing Minister Uri Ariel, a member of Bennett’s Jewish Home party, said he will advise his party to leave the coalition if more Palestinian prisoners are freed.
The prisoners are a highly emotional issue for both sides. Israelis say their government is freeing murderers in order to make peace, while the Palestinians view the prisoners as heroes — freedom fighters who have served long sentences in Israeli jails essentially as POWs.
Separately Monday, Israeli lawmaker Isaac Herzog, who as head of the Labor Party leads the parliamentary opposition, traveled to the Jordanian capital, Amman, and met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II.
“There is a one-time opportunity to reach an agreement in the Middle East, and we must find the formula that doesn’t blow up the negotiations,” the monarch told Herzog, according to a statement from Herzog’s office.
Herzog told Abdullah that his party and most of the opposition recognize the need to reach peace. Herzog has said that if Netanyahu’s coalition falls apart over the prisoner releases or the peace negotiations, the Labor Party would be ready to join the government under Netanyahu.
Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| Raising Mr. Pollard’s case now carries extra resonance because this round of talks is in danger of breaking down over whether Israel will release a fourth and final batch of Palestinian prisoners.
The president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has said that unless Israel releases the prisoners as promised, he will not consider any extension past the April target date for negotiating the outlines of a comprehensive treaty. But Israeli leaders, who assert that the Palestinians have yet to make meaningful concessions, have threatened to halt the prisoner release unless the talks are extended — creating a chicken-and-egg problem for Mr. Kerry.
For the second time in a week, Mr. Kerry interrupted visits in European capitals to rush to the Middle East to confer on the peace talks. He met Monday evening with Mr. Netanyahu and later with Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator.
“The Israelis would say to Kerry: ‘You’re asking us to allow the release of prisoners who have 50 deaths on their hands. Surely you can release one man who means a lot to the Israeli people,’ ” said Daniel C. Kurtzer, a former American ambassador to Israel.
In Washington, the arguments against releasing Mr. Pollard are no longer as compelling as they once seemed. After nearly three decades in prison, he is no longer a threat to national security, and his parole is looming. If Mr. Pollard is a chit to be played in the talks, it will lose value over time. Two former secretaries of state, Henry A. Kissinger and George P. Shultz, have called for clemency, as has a former C.I.A. director, R. James Woolsey Jr.
“Many in the intelligence community have opposed out of habit rather than considered argument,” said Dennis B. Ross, a former senior adviser to Mr. Obama on the Middle East. “The instinct will, thus, still be negative but may be less vehement.”
In a measure of the popular support that Mr. Pollard’s case now garners in Israel, the newspaper Yediot Aharonot published excerpts Monday of an impassioned letter to Mr. Netanyahu from Gilad Shalit, an Israeli soldier who was held captive by Hamas in Gaza for five years and released in a lopsided prisoner exchange in 2011.
“I cannot help but feel the great pain of Jonathan Pollard, who has been sitting in prison for about 29 years — more than five times the length of time I spent in captivity, and in the United States, our great friend,” Mr. Shalit wrote, adding, “I am asking you to make it clear to the Americans that before anything else, Jonathan Pollard must go free.” ||||| Obama's push for an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal is well into its second year. Actual progress so far? None. John Kerry is unlikely to change that.
US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Shapiro (l.) greets US Secretary of State John Kerry on his arrival in Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday March 31, 2014, for an unannounced stop to work on talks about the Middle East peace process.
US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Israel today to "salvage" a peace process that has been on the rocks for years. What prompted his abrupt change of plans? A broken promise by Israel over the weekend. Israel had promised to release Palestinian prisoners in four batches as part of a set of confidence-building measures agreed to last July after heavy lobbying by Mr. Kerry and other US officials.
But Israel balked at releasing the last batch of prisoners on Saturday. We are now approaching the end of a renewed set of talks that have steadily moved away from their stated goal. In July, the original plan was for an agreement to be reached by the end of April 2014. As time passed with little progress, much like the past 25 years, Kerry downgraded hopes from an actual deal to a "framework" deal - essentially making the latest round of talks about more talks. The original "framework" of course dates back to the Oslo accords, signed in 1993.
Even that limited ambition now appears unreachable. Israel refused to release the final 26 prisoners over the weekend, essentially in order to create a new bargaining chip. If Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas promises to extend the talks (about talks) another six months, Israeli says it will release 400 more Palestinian prisoners at some point in the future. The Palestinian team has said talks are over on April 29 if the originally agreed upon prisoner release doesn't happen.
So much for "confidence building."
The fact remains that Israeli settlements continue to expand in the West Bank, which along with the Gaza Strip is meant to form an eventual Palestinian state. Israel has insisted that it should be allowed to maintain a military presence in the Jordan Valley as a condition to any deal – something that's probably a deal breaker for Mr. Abbas. And Abbas is as politically weak as ever, with Hamas still in control of the Gaza strip and after his own failure to secure either the Palestinian statehood or United Nations recognition that he promised his supporters.
Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted no deal can be completed until Abbas and the PA recognize Israel as a Jewish state up front. That's something that would amount to Abbas signing away the right of return for Palestinian refugees and their descendants before he had concrete concessions from the Israeli side.
What can Kerry do about this? Not much, given the attitudes of the two sides and US politics. Instead, he's just the latest senior US official to wade into Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking without much leverage and without partners who are serious about making a deal.
It's nice to hope for the best. But force of will or diplomatic charm aren't likely to take Kerry very far, as was made clear by the contempt Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon expressed for Kerry's efforts at the start of the year: "The only thing that can save us is if Kerry wins the Nobel prize and leaves us alone," Mr. Yaalon said, adding that Kerry "is acting out of an incomprehensible obsession and a messianic feeling."
Jonathan Pollard speaks during an interview in a conference room at the Federal Correction Institution in Butner, N.C., May 15, 1998. Karl DeBlaker/AP/File
The 'P-word'
One sign of the problem is how frequently unrelated issues are mentioned as possible ways to move Israeli-Palestinian talks forward. Exhibit A: Jonathan Pollard.
Mr. Pollard, a former civilian intelligence analyst for the Navy, sold US secrets to Israel in the early 1980s, was caught in 1985, and sentenced to life in prison in 1987. The Israeli government and prominent friends of Israel in the US have long lobbied for Pollard's release. And almost every time a US president has tried to restart the peace process, Pollard has been mentioned by anonymous Israeli officials as a key to progress.
Now is no different. Reuters reports from Jerusalem today that an "official" said the US may agree to release Pollard in exchange for Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners it promised earlier to release. Why? To "salvage Middle East peace talks," Reuters writes.
Last December, Israel's Channel 2 cited unnamed officials saying that Mr. Netanyahu was planning on linking Pollard's release to either the signing of a "framework agreement" with the Palestinians on a peace deal, or to promised Palestinian prisoner releases. Netanyahu's office refused to confirm or deny that report.
The actual chances that President Barack Obama will release Pollard under any circumstances are slim. In 2010, retired Navy lawyer Spike Bowman, who was the senior legal adviser to Navy intelligence at the time of Pollard's espionage case, said "no other spy in the history of the United States stole so many secrets, so highly classified, in such a short period of time." Other officials who worked on the damage assessment have since said that material provided to Israel about US intelligence collection in the Soviet Union was meant to be traded by Israel in exchange for the Soviets allowing greater Jewish emigration.
In 1998, when Netanyahu was leaning on then-President Bill Clinton to release Pollard in exchange for progress on peace with the Palestinians, CIA Director George Tenet threatened to quit if Mr. Clinton took the deal, citing the damage Pollard had done to US interests. Anger within the US intelligence community remains today, something President Obama must be well aware of, just as Clinton was then.
What does any of this have to do with Palestinians making peace with Israel, and the possible creation of an independent Palestinian state? Absolutely nothing.
Which is the point.
The "peace process" is something for Israel to manage, and if it can, something for it to game. The Palestinians would indeed like more prisoners released, and don't care at all what happens to Pollard. Israel would dearly like to get their spy out of jail. But his release has nothing to do with the US attempting to broker peace between the two parties, and would likely prove politically crippling for Obama. And what would the US get in return? More talks about talks.
Expensive at the price. | – With Israeli-Palestinian peace talks on the brink of collapse, the US has pulled out a major bargaining chip: jailed spy Jonathan Pollard. The former civilian intelligence analyst for the US Navy is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel, and the Obama administration is considering releasing him early to help get the talks back on track, officials tell the Washington Post. John Kerry arrived in Israel yesterday to try to save negotiations stalled over the release of Palestinian prisoners, reports the New York Times. Pollard, 59, received a life sentence in 1987 following a 1985 arrest for handing classified info to Israeli agents; he'll be eligible for parole in November of next year. The Israeli government, which granted him citizenship in 1995, has long lobbied for his release, but analysts believe the chances of him actually going free anytime soon are slim, the Christian Science Monitor finds. "No other spy in the history of the United States stole so many secrets, so highly classified, in such a short period of time," retired Navy lawyer Spike Bowman, the senior legal adviser to Navy intelligence at the time of the case, said in 2010. And according to an Israeli official, Pollard doesn't want out as part of this "shameful deal" anyway, reports the AP. |
Gertrude Weaver, right, talks with her son Joe Weaver, Thursday, July 3, 2014 at Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation Center in Camden, Ark., a day before her 116th birthday. The Gerontology Research... (Associated Press)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A south Arkansas woman celebrated her 116th birthday Friday with cake, a party and a new title — she's now officially the oldest confirmed living American and second-oldest person in the world, the Gerontology Research Group said.
Gertrude Weaver spent her birthday at home at Silver Oaks Health and Rehabilitation in Camden, about 100 miles southwest of Little Rock. This year's festivities included the new award from the Gerontology Research Group, which analyzed U.S. Census records to determine that Weaver is the oldest living American, rather than 115-year-old Jeralean Talley, who was born in 1899.
The research group, which consults with the Guinness Book of World Records, found that the 1900 Census listed Weaver as 2 years old — putting her birthday in 1898, said Robert Young, the research group's database administrator and senior consultant for Guinness.
That makes Weaver the second-oldest person in the world behind 116-year-old Misao Okawa of Japan and the 11th oldest person of all time, he said.
"Normally, 116 would be old enough to be the world's oldest person," Young said. "There's kind of heavy competition at the moment."
Weaver was born in southwest Arkansas near the border with Texas, and was married in 1915. She and her husband had four children, all of whom have died except for a 93-year-old son. Along with Census records, the Gerontology Research Group used Weaver's 1915 marriage certificate, which listed her age as 17, to confirm her birth year, Young said.
Although no birth record exists for Weaver, she celebrates her birthday each year on July 4 and did the same this year. At her 115th birthday party last year, Weaver was "waving and just eating it all up," said Vicki Vaughan, the marketing and admissions director at Silver Oaks.
"Most people want to know, 'Well, can she talk?'" Vaughan said. "Her health is starting to decline a little bit this year — I can tell a difference from last year, but she still is up and gets out of the room and comes to all of her meals, comes to activities. She'll laugh and smile and clap."
Weaver first stayed at the Camden nursing home at the age of 104 after she suffered a broken hip, Vaughan said. But Weaver recovered after rehabilitation and moved back home with her granddaughter, before returning to the nursing home at the age of 109.
Weaver cited three factors for her longevity: "Trusting in the Lord, hard work and loving everybody."
"You have to follow God. Don't follow anyone else," she told the Camden News this week. "Be obedient and follow the laws and don't worry about anything. I've followed him for many, many years and I ain't tired." ||||| CAMDEN, AR - A local woman did more than just celebrate her birthday Friday, she broke a United States record.
Gertrude Weaver was born on July 4, 1898 making Friday her 116th birthday. It also makes her the oldest person in the country.
She received a plaque from the Genealogy Research Group of Los Angeles with her title on it.
The Mayor of Camden named Friday Gertrude Day. She even received a letter from President Obama.
She says her long healthy life is thanks to a simple philosophy she lives by.
"I treat everyone the way I want to be treated," says Weaver. | – Gertrude Weaver celebrated a birthday this week that puts her into rare company. The Arkansas woman turned 116, and the AP rounds up some of the resulting milestones: She is the oldest person in the US, the second-oldest person in the world, and the 11th oldest person of all time. Weaver, who was born in southwest Arkansas in 1898, is two months younger than Misao Okawa of Japan, notes arkansasmatters.com. One of her four children, a 93-year-old son, is still alive, too. Her advice for longevity? "Trusting in the Lord, hard work and loving everybody." |
Life on the run will make a drug lord thirsty.
Escaped Mexican kingpin Joaquin Guzman enjoyed a beer and relaxed in the cockpit of a plane in photos purportedly leaked by El Chapo’s son following the crime boss’ daring prison break.
The taunting pics, posted on Spanish-language site El Blog del Narco, come just two days after Guzman’s Saturday night escape from his cell in a maximum security Mexican prison.
The 58-year-old Sinaloa cartel chief fled through a mile-long tunnel dug over the course of a year, authorities said.
Escaped drug lord Joaquin Guzman (r) chats with a pilot after his prison escape, according to the site El Blog del Narco, which claims the image came from Guzman’s son. (elblogdelnarco.com)
DONALD TRUMP TURNS TO FBI AFTER TWITTER THREAT FROM EL CHAPO
The photos, which haven’t been verified, would be the first of the mastermind since his escape.
He appeared at ease, casually gripping a bottled brew next to a couple of women in one image and chatting with a pilot in the other.
Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman relaxes with a beer in photos posted on the site El Blog del Narco, which claims the photo came from the crime boss’ son. (elblogdelnarco.com)
Federal drug agents refused to comment on the pictures, but at least one law enforcement expert suspects the images could be part of a hoax.
“I don't think (his son) would leak those photos because that could be used to try and apprehend Chapo, and that would be circumventing his planned escape,” former Drug Enforcement Agent Mike Vigil told the San Antonio Express-News.
BLOODTHIRSTY 'EL CHAPO' CASTS A LARGE SHADOW IN MEXICAN LORE
Inside the safe house and escape tunnel used by Mexican drug lord 'El Chapo'
Guzman is now the target of an international manhunt, but he seems to be enjoying his reclaimed freedom. The Mexican government is offering a $3.8 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The nation's interior minister also announced that he fired the prison's director after the great escape, CNN reported.
The drug kingpin allegedly traded Twitter threats with tough-talking presidential hopeful Donald Trump as he evaded law enforcement for a second day.
Mexico's Attorney General Arely Gomez (2-R) examines the end of the tunnel Mexican drug lord Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman allegedly used on Saturday to escape from prison. (--/AFP/Getty Images) Joaquin (Shorty) Guzman is escorted by soldiers in 2014 in Mexico City. (HENRY ROMERO/REUTERS) Federal Police officers stand guard outside a half-built house used by drug lord Joaquin Guzman to escape from prison near the maximum security prison in Mexico. (Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) The inside of a house where the entrance of a tunnel connected to the Altiplano Federal Penitentiary was found after Joaquin Guzman’s escape. (HANDOUT/REUTERS) Federal policemen inspect a pipe under construction by the Altiplano prison in Almoloya de Juarez, Mexico. (YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)
Guzman spent 13 years on the lam after a 2001 escape. He was captured and returned to prison in 2014.
ON A MOBILE DEVICE? WATCH THE VIDEO HERE.
Sign up for BREAKING NEWS Emails privacy policy Thanks for subscribing! ||||| The elaborate tunnel believed to have played a central part in the daring escape of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman from a Mexican prison probably cost the kingpin millions of dollars and took as long as a year to construct, a former federal official says.
“I would say that the construction of that tunnel started days after Chapo Guzman was sent there,” Michael S. Vigil, former chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Agency, told The Times on Monday.
Vigil, who has been briefed on the investigation, says construction on the tunnel may have begun as early as a year ago, soon after Guzman was sent to Altiplano, a maximum-security prison about 50 miles west of Mexico City.
The secret passage was nearly a mile long and was about 5 feet, 6 inches high, just tall enough for Guzman, who is believed to be 5 feet 5 at most, to stand up.
“Guzman has hired some of the best individuals that deal with mining technology, and he provides them with the resources to buy the best equipment,” Vigil said. “They tailor-made the tunnel for him.”
Guzman escaped from a 20-inch-square opening inside his prison shower and descended about 30 feet to make his way to the mile-long tunnel, which led to a house under construction and surrounded by empty fields.
Photos show the tunnel was reinforced by a wooden frame and contained lights and a ventilation system made out of PVC pipes, Vigil said. Workers also used GPS technology to accurately route the entrance to his cell and a motorcycle-adapted rail system to move the large amounts of dirt being excavated, he said.
It would be difficult to build such an elaborate tunnel without someone finding out. More than 30 prison employees have been detained for questioning.
The second prison escape of the country's most famous drug lord has mortified and embarrassed people in Mexico. In Southern California, home to the largest Mexican community outside of Mexico City, the escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman had a certain saw-it-coming quality to it. The second prison escape of the country's most famous drug lord has mortified and embarrassed people in Mexico. In Southern California, home to the largest Mexican community outside of Mexico City, the escape of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman had a certain saw-it-coming quality to it. SEE MORE VIDEOS
"The tunnel had to cost maybe $5 million. But $5 million to El Chapo would be like $5 to you or I,” Vigil said.
Guzman has become particularly adept at using tunnels and secret passageways to evade authorities – and to run his estimated $1-billion drug cartel.
“Guzman has always utilized tunnels, primarily to funnel tons of drugs into the U.S. consumer market,” Vigil said. His Sinaloa cartel, Mexico’s largest and most lucrative trafficker of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, is believed to control a network of hundreds of miles of tunnels and drainage systems along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Last year, as officials closed in on Guzman, he slipped down a hydraulic-powered escape hatch in the bottom of a bathtub and fled through the vast sewer and drainage system underneath the city of Culiacan. He was on the lam for several more weeks before the Mexican marines captured him in Mazatlan.
“I’m sure that he had already surveyed the drainage system in the event that he had to make an escape,” Vigil said. “Chapo Guzman does not leave anything to chance.”
For more than two decades, federal authorities have been uncovering tunnels that have driven the transnational drug trade near the U.S. border. More than 150 such tunnels have been discovered along the United States’ southwestern border since the early 1990s, according to U.S. officials.
Since 2006, more than 80 sophisticated tunnels have been uncovered, including about 25 near San Diego.
One of the first tunnels was discovered in 1990 and was relatively small but sophisticated: a 270-foot passageway that began under a pool table in a Mexican luxury home and terminated near a border crossing in Douglas, Ariz.
A hidden switch in the home, owned by Mexican businessman Rafael Francisco Camarena, activated a hydraulic system that hoisted the pool table and a concrete slab high into the air, revealing a narrow shaft that extended 30 feet below the ground. The 5-foot-tall tunnel featured concrete reinforcement, side rooms, electrical outlets, lights and a pump to keep it free of water. It was lined with compartments that could store up to 5 tons of cocaine, and a trolley was used to move the drugs along the passage.
At the time, the tunnel was estimated to have cost $1.5 million.
In 2010, two underground passages were found within a block of each other in a San Diego warehouse district, leading authorities to seize a total of 45 tons of marijuana. The second passageway was lined with tongue-and-groove wooden boards that provided a level surface for a cart-and-rail system; its other end was in the kitchen of a Tijuana home.
In 2011, U.S. officials discovered a 600-yard tunnel, with an elevator, wooden flooring and an electric cart-and-rail system, terminating in a produce warehouse just north of the border in San Diego. They seized 32 tons of marijuana, one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history.
On the Mexican side, the tunnel opening was hidden in a building on the edge of the runway at the Tijuana International Airport, and the passageway ran directly under the runway where planes regularly took off.
Jose Sanchez-Villalobos, one of the top members of the Sinaloa cartel, was linked to that tunnel in 2012, in addition to a 2,200-foot tunnel discovered in 2010.
Last year, Glennys Rodriguez, a 73-year-old Chula Vista, Calif., woman, was arrested on suspicion of overseeing the construction of a 600-yard tunnel that ended in an industrial park in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area. It was secured with wooden trusses and equipped with lighting and a crude rail system, as well as a pulley system to help hoist packages from 70 feet below ground.
Later that week, authorities in Mexico discovered a second tunnel just around the corner from the first. It was larger and more sophisticated, with ventilation and a multi-tiered electrical rail system.
And this year, U.S. Border Patrol agents discovered a trafficking tunnel west of the San Ysidro border crossing after a sinkhole gave away its location. The tunnel, which was unfinished, started in Tijuana but never opened onto American soil.
Times staff writers Joseph Serna, Richard Marosi and Tracy Wilkinson contributed to this report.
For more breaking news, follow me @cmaiduc.
ALSO: ||||| ALMOLOYA, Mexico (AP) — The kind of tunnel that led Mexico's most powerful drug lord to freedom would have been more than a year in planning. The digging would have caused noise. The entrance would have to be in a place beyond the view of security cameras at Mexico's toughest prison.
Federal Police man their weapons aboard a pick up truck, near the half-built house where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made his escape through a tunnel from the Altiplano maximum security prison... (Associated Press)
This photo provided by Mexico's attorney general, shows the exit of the tunnel they claim was used by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to break out of the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya,... (Associated Press)
In this photo provided by Mexico's attorney general, authorities guard the construction site where the exit of the tunnel, they claim was used by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to break out of the... (Associated Press)
In this photo provided by Mexico's attorney general, authorities inspect the exit of the tunnel they claim was used by drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to break out of the Altiplano maximum security... (Associated Press)
As authorities hunted Monday for any sign of Mexico's most powerful drug lord, it was clear that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's escape must have involved inside help on a grand scale.
Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong said as much Monday night. He announced that three prison officials had been fired, including Valentin Cardenas, director of the facility known as Altiplano, a maximum security prison 55 miles (90 kilometers) west of Mexico City.
"They had something or a lot to do with what happened, and that's why we made that decision," Osorio Chong said.
Still, he did not say who exactly is suspected of aiding the escape.
The prison has the same high-security standards as those in the U.S. and Canada, he said, and Guzman was given extra surveillance, including a tracking bracelet, although it worked only inside the prison.
Osorio Chong said the 1.5-kilometer (1-mile) tunnel had been dug 19 meters (about 62 feet) below the surface and called it a "high-tech" breach of the prison's extensive security measures, including 750 cameras and 26 security filters.
The Mexican government announced that it is offering a 60 million-peso ($3.8 million) reward for Guzman's recapture. An Interpol alert was sent to 10 countries and at least 49 people have been questioned by the government's organized crime unit, including 34 prison employees.
A tunnel of such sophistication — with lights, air venting, and a customized motorcycle rigged up on a rail line — would normally take 18 months to two years to complete, said Jim Dinkins, former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations.
"When it's for the boss, you probably put that on high speed," he said.
If anyone was capable of pulling off such a feat, it was Guzman, who is believed to have at least a quarter-century of experience in building large, sophisticated tunnels to smuggle drugs under the U.S.-Mexico border and to escape from hideouts as authorities closed in.
His Sinaloa Cartel also has been most successful in coopting officials, said Edgardo Buscaglia, an organized crime expert at Colombia University.
"By far they are the most infiltrated in Mexico's government institutions," he said.
Experts expressed skepticism that such an engineering feat could go on undetected.
Joe Garcia, who retired this year as interim special agent in charge of U.S. Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego, has extensive experience in tunnel investigations. He said the tunnel at Altiplano was longer than any passage ever found on the U.S.-Mexico border.
To pull off such a feat, rescuers likely had intelligence on the prison even before Guzman was arrested, Dinkins said.
Designers and workers would have needed access to sensitive information such as prison floor plans and alarm and camera systems. And just the noise alone as they bored the final 30-foot (10-meter) vertical shaft directly under the prison to reach Guzman's cell would have generated some attention.
"It's not just like someone took a couple tools, shovels and pickaxes. This is a very sophisticated operation," said Alonzo Pena, a former senior official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "How could they be there and not hear that construction was going on underneath? It's just impossible."
The area around the prison is a sprawling construction site, with giant water pipes, trenches and excavation crisscrossing the landscape, and that would have made it easy for the tunnel work to go unnoticed, Garcia said.
"It's the removal of dirt and debris that can cause attention," Dinkins said.
An Associated Press reporter who viewed the partially built house where the tunnel ended observed that the dirt level in the yard surrounding the house was 2 feet to 3 feet higher than the rest of the terrain, indicating workers may have just spread dirt around the property rather than haul it out.
Osorio Chong also said much of the excavated dirt, which he described as fine and thin, may simply have been scattered or compacted at the site.
By Monday afternoon, the search for Guzman in the area near the prison had died down dramatically. Road blocks were gone and Federal Police patrols had lightened. Reporters traveled the area unhampered. Flights at the nearby Toluca airport that had been suspended on Sunday were back to normal.
The prison break is the second for Guzman, who infamously fled a different maximum-security facility in 2001. He was on the loose for 13 years before being captured in February 2014 at a condominium overlooking the Pacific in Mazatlan.
He last was seen about 9 p.m. Saturday as he entered the shower area of his cell, where Osorio Chong said there are "blind spots" from the cameras in respect of human rights. After a time without seeing the prisoner, guards went to look for him and found something else entirely — a 20-by-20-inch (50-by-50 centimeter) leading into the tunnel.
___
Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman reported this story in Almoloya, Mexico, and Elliot Spagat reported from San Diego, California. AP writers Mark Stevenson and Maria Verza in Mexico City and Alicia A. Caldwell in Washington contributed to this report. ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. ||||| On a warm day in May, members of a blossoming Mexican narco syndicate went on the attack. They blocked more than 30 roads with smoldering tankers, boxing in the city of Guadalajara. In broad daylight, they lit ATMs and banks on fire. When the military came after them, cartel members shot down a helicopter with RPGs and then executed the soldiers inside. It was a brazen and terrifying display of power. “There was panic. No one knew what was going to happen next,” says Pedro Guerrero Haro, a forensics investigator who ended up sorting through the mess.
As authorities across North America embark on an epic manhunt for Joaquín Guzmán Loera, the kingpin better known as El Chapo, experts say an even more dangerous figure is on the loose — one who hasn’t been arrested but who is believed to have orchestrated the bloody siege in Guadalajara. His name is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — or just El Mencho. Over the past few years, he’s risen to commanding heights in the landscape of Mexican narcotrafficking, rivaling the power El Chapo once had. The cartel he leads has chosen to seize power by any means necessary — including, apparently, rocket launchers. “He’s the top crime boss right now in Mexico,” according to Tristan Reed, a Mexican security analyst for the global intelligence firm Stratfor.
It takes a certain brilliance to map your way in today’s drug wars, in which erratic and ever-shifting narco networks battle it out in ever more brutal fashion. While the federales have had mixed success in recent years picking off the jefes — the catch-and-release saga of El Chapo is a case in point — even their victories have a downside, in that each one basically creates a power vacuum. A gaggle of smaller cartels are fighting to fill it, wreaking havoc on Mexico’s streets as they compete for market share. The stakes have only grown as the drug supply chain has extended from the U.S. to China to Europe.
All this chaos and change has given El Mencho his chance: He’s shown a foxlike dexterity for adapting to circumstance, whether it’s switching allegiances or moving to meth from heroin — all while going unseen. Indeed, while he hasn’t gotten much press outside Mexico, El Mencho and his Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación have expanded territory from coast to coast, becoming the most global of all the Mexican suppliers. “He’s different from some who might want to be feared but aren’t trying to build a territorial dynasty,” says Everard Meade, director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego. A businessman with a military mindset, El Mencho has focused on tightening and lengthening his supply chain, and demolishing competitors or anyone else who might get in the way.
Nearly as much lore as substance, the kingpin is rumored to be a former police officer originally from Aguililla city or Uruapan, both in Michoacán. The United States Treasury Department, which froze his assets in April, says El Mencho did time in U.S. prison for conspiracy to distribute heroin. Otherwise, he’s managed to evade the authorities, unlike his 24-year-old son, El Menchito, who’s been arrested three times now. Yet even those who’ve studied El Mencho closely can’t agree on his first name; some say it’s Nemesio, others Ruben. The law enforcement background would make sense, though, experts say, given his precise tactics and willingness to wage war against the government. Which, by the way, he seems to be winning.
About 60,000 people were murdered in Mexico between 2006 and 2012, according to Human Rights Watch.
The Mexican drug trade has long existed, of course, but the past 15 years have seen a deadly shift in the balance of power. When Mexico had a one-party political system, the government could more easily set the terms with cartels, Meade says. Typically, the exchange went like this: The government promised to leave cartels alone so long as its agents got their cut. But in 2000, the political system opened up to multiple parties, giving cartels more leverage. Instead of the government taxing the drug runners, it’s now the other way around: “The cartels set the terms,” says Meade. And their use of violence has shifted too. Murder is no longer a way of shielding the black market from public view; it’s become a tool “to terrify local governments and people into submission,” Meade says. According to numbers from Human Rights Watch, about 60,000 people were murdered in Mexico between 2006 and 2012, a death toll El Mencho is only accelerating.
Not long before the helicopter incident, his men assassinated 15 Jalisco police officers, according to Mexican authorities. A YouTube search produces gruesome videos of killing and torture that CJNG takes credit for. One, which was recently taken down, showed a father and his teenage son wrapped in explosives; they detonate the kid first so dad can watch. When businesses don’t pay their “taxes,” it’s a grenade through the front door, residents of Guadalajara say. Yet nothing compares to when El Mencho’s CJNG allegedly killed 35 members of Los Zetas, a rival gang, several years ago. Before killing their victims, cartel members tortured them, cutting off ears and limbs. The victims’ mutilated bodies were dumped on the highway at rush hour, news reports said.
As the past few years have shown, fighting the cartels is a deadly game of whack-a-mole. Take down El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel and a new, more heinous monster rises in its place. Indeed, El Mencho has seemed to learn from the mistakes of his high-profile predecessor, remaining a shadow in an already dark underworld. And as the authorities renew their chase of El Chapo, El Mencho will likely recede further — and flourish. Turns out, says Reed, “El Chapo’s escape may have bought El Mencho some more time to remain at-large.” ||||| MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's most notorious drug trafficker began plotting to break out of prison almost immediately after his recapture at a seaside resort in February 2014.
Soldiers guard a half-built house near the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Monday, July 13, 2015. A widespread manhunt that included highway checkpoints, stepped up... (Associated Press)
A Federal Police officer stands guard on the perimeters of a half-built house near the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Monday, July 13, 2015. A widespread manhunt that... (Associated Press)
This poster provided by Mexico's attorney general, shows the most recent image of drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman before he escaped from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of... (Associated Press)
Mexico's Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong, white shirt, arrives to the half-built house where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made his escape through a tunnel from the Altiplano maximum... (Associated Press)
Soldiers guard the half-built house where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made his escape through a tunnel from the Altiplano maximum security prison in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Monday, July... (Associated Press)
Federal Police man their weapons aboard a pick up truck, near the half-built house where drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman made his escape through a tunnel from the Altiplano maximum security prison... (Associated Press)
Eva Salazar Sanchez's cattle graze in a meadow near the Altiplano maximum security prison, seen in the background, in Almoloya, west of Mexico City, Monday, July 13, 2015. A widespread manhunt that included... (Associated Press)
Internal Drug Enforcement Administration documents obtained by The Associated Press reveal that drug agents first got information in March 2014 that various family members and drug-world associates of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman were considering "potential operations to free Guzman."
The DEA alerted Mexican authorities 16 months ago about the plans, said a U.S. official briefed on the investigation. The official was not authorized to disclose the details and insisted on anonymity to do so.
Mexican Interior Secretary Miguel Angel Osorio Chong denied Monday night that authorities in Mexico were ever informed of potential escapes.
"They themselves have told us that they don't know where that information came from," he said referring to U.S. counterparts and the AP's report.
The Mexican government announced that it is offering a 60 million-peso ($3.8 million) reward for Guzman's recapture and that it has fired three prison system officials, including the director of the prison where Guzman escaped. Forty-nine people have been questioned by the government's organized crime unit, including 32 prison employees.
Widely considered the world's richest and most powerful drug trafficker before his capture last year, Guzman slipped down a shaft from his prison cell's shower area late Saturday and disappeared into a sophisticated mile-long (1.5 kilometer-long) tunnel with ventilation, lighting and a motorcycle apparently used to move dirt.
The DEA documents indicate U.S. agents did not have information about Saturday night's escape, which was the second time Guzman has fled from one of Mexico's highest security prisons.
But the documents revealed that in March 2014 agents in Los Angeles reported a possible escape operation funded by Rafael Caro-Quintero, who helped orchestrate the 1985 kidnapping and murder of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. That plot involved threatening or bribing prison officials. The same investigation revealed four months later that Guzman's son had sent a team of lawyers and military counter-intelligence personnel to design a break-out plan.
In December of that year, agents in the DEA's Houston Field Division reported that a Mexican army general stated "that a deal was in place to release both Guzman-Loera and imprisoned Los Zetas Cartel leader Miguel Angel 'Z-40' Trevino-Morales."
The DEA documents obtained by the AP do not include details of how the previous escape plots would be carried out. In them, Guzman is identified as Guzman-Loera.
A widespread manhunt that included highway checkpoints, stepped up border security and closure of an international airport failed to turn up any trace of Guzman.
Since the 1990s his violent and powerful cartel has been known for digging sophisticated smuggling tunnels under the U.S. border with Mexico. Guzman was first arrested in 1993 but escaped in Jalisco from one of Mexico's top-security prisons in January 2001. He evaded capture in early February 2014 through an elaborate network of tunnels that connected multiple safe houses in Culiacan, in his home state of Sinaloa. He was arrested in the resort city of Mazatlan later that month.
Jim Dinkins, the former head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit, said Guzman's history of tunneling makes Saturday's escape "really ingenious." The sophisticated tunnel described by Mexican authorities would usually take about 18 to 24 months to complete, Dinkins said, suggesting it was started almost immediately after Guzman's arrest in 2014.
The White House said Monday that U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch spoke with Mexico's attorney general the day after the escape was discovered. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. government has offered its full support to Mexico. He pointed out that Guzman has also been charged with serious crimes in the U.S.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said Guzman's "swift recapture by Mexican authorities is a priority for both the Mexican and the U.S. governments."
Along with the 2014 escape plans, the DEA documents reveal Guzman was still directing facets of his drug empire.
"Despite being imprisoned in a 'high security' facility, DEA reporting further indicates Guzman-Loera was able to provide direction to his son and other cartel members via the attorneys who visited (him) in prison and possibly through the use of a cellphone provided ... by corrupt prison guards," the documents stated.
Following Guzman's capture in 2014, according to the documents, his son Ivan Guzman-Salazar became "the de facto leader of the Guzman branch of the Sinaloa Cartel." Guzman's "right-hand man, Damaso Lopez-Nunez," took over one of the four major trafficking organizations that operated under the auspices of the larger Sinaloa Cartel.
___
Associated Press writer Alicia A. Caldwell reported this story from Washington and Katherine Corcoran reported in Mexico City. AP writer Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
___
Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter: www.twitter.com/acaldwellap ||||| Federal investigators are reading into every aspect of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s latest prison break as they intensify their search for the Mexican drug lord.
Interested in ? Add as an interest to stay up to date on the latest news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest
There was a gap of roughly 50 minutes between the time he was last seen Saturday night, when a prison guard gave him his daily medicine, to the moment when he was no longer visible on the internal video camera system, according to the Mexican national security commission.
Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the commission, said Sunday an alert was sent out at 8:52 p.m. and when guards went to his cell, they found a small opening in the shower area of his cell.
Photos have been released from the apparent escape route, but not inside the shower facility where an opening that is 2 square feet is believed to be through which the kingpin escaped, Rubido said.
Eduardo Verdugo/AP Photo
Attorney Generals Office/Reuters
From there, a ladder led to a tunnel that Rubido said was made out of PVC pipe that was just about as tall as Guzman himself, roughly 5-foot-6.
The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Rubido said.
The photos show the tunnel extending into a home outside of the prison's property and there was a similarly small exit found in the floor of one of the building's rooms where the drug lord is believed to have left the tunnel and entered the free world.
Manuel Velasquez/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Attorney Generals Office/Reuters
As "World News Tonight" will report this evening, the half-built house in the Mexican cornfields from where Guzman is believed to have emerged was only under construction for the past five to six months, according to local gas delivery men who supply gas to all the homes in the neighborhood. The developers of the apparent escape house never requested any gas. But the building equipment never seemed unusual because the house was under construction.
There have been no reported sightings or publicized leads in the first day and a half of searching for Guzman, making this his second-known escape from a maximum security prison in Mexico.
Marco Ugarte/AP Photo
The first incident came in 2001 when he escaped from a different prison, and while few details have been confirmed in that case, he is believed to have gotten help from prison guards.
On Saturday night, 18 guards from the Altiplano maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juarez, where the most recent escape occurred, were being questioned. | – Within days of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's arrival at a maximum security prison in Mexico—and perhaps even earlier—work began on the mile-long tunnel he would eventually use to escape, a former drug enforcement official tells the Los Angeles Times. At 5 feet 6 inches high, the tunnel appears to have been made for the 5-foot-5 Guzman, who likely spent $5 million on mining experts and the best equipment for its construction, the ex-official says. But the tunnel could hardly have gone unnoticed, particularly as work began on the 30-foot shaft beneath Guzman's prison shower, from which he would disappear. Officials have the unsurprising suspicion that he had inside help. More: Officials have questioned 49 people, including 34 prison workers regarding the escape. Three have been fired, including the prison director, the AP reports. DEA documents show US agents were aware of a possible escape plan back in March 2014, the AP notes. Officials say they informed Mexican authorities, who argue they were never told of a possible breakout. Officials say Guzman escaped down a 20-by-20-inch hole in his shower, off-limits to prison cameras, then fled down the tunnel, coming out at a nearby home which had been under construction for five to six months, a local says, per ABC News. An AP reporter notes dirt in the yard reached 2 to 3 feet higher than in other nearby areas, suggesting dirt from the tunnel was spread around the property. Once out of the prison, Guzman's tracking bracelet would have been useless. So where is he now? According to taunting photos posted on El Blog del Narco, purportedly leaked by Guzman's son, the drug lord is enjoying life on the outside. They show Guzman drinking a beer and in the cockpit of a plane, reports the New York Daily News. At least one official, however, believes they could be part of a hoax. Meanwhile, Ozy reports about a cartel boss it describes as "worse than El Chapo." |
JUST three days to go now before the royal wedding... and a certain somebody’s a Lil bit miffed.
Lily Allen says she’s “outraged” at not being invited to the nuptials of Wills and K-Middy while Joss Stone has somehow wangled one of the hottest tickets of the decade.
Joss, 24, apparently befriended the prince when she performed at a memorial concert for his mother, Princess Diana. But Lily, 25, possibly with tongue in cheek, tweeted: “Why does bloody Joss Stone get an invite and not moi? I sang at the Diana concert, too!” That gig, at Wembley Stadium in 2007, also featured the likes of Take That and Bryan Ferry. To make Lily feel better, Gary Barlow isn’t on Friday’s Westminster Abbey guestlist either. Nor is Bryan.
Perhaps Joss (right) was busy mingling with all the aristocrats while, if memory serves, Lily left early for a cheeky curry and much-needed ciggy. Or perhaps the invite got lost in the post after Lily’s dad Keith Allen made a documentary about Diana’s death. Just a theory.
And did Wills get an invite to your June nuptials, Lil?
But Joss is no stranger to controversy. She said a few years back: “I smoke weed but I don’t think it’s really a drug. It’s more of a herb...!” When one tweeter pointed out that Joss will “probably behave better on the juice” than Lily, the singer replied: “Yeah, but she’s a stoner, so she’ll probably pull a whitey after her 2nd glass of champers and vom everywhere.” Now THAT would be worth the royal wedding invite alone.
My source tells me: “Joss has made the odd faux pas in the past but she’s much more likely to behave properly than Lily. Plus, Joss and William really hit it off when they met four years ago.”
Lily, Joss let it go, love. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more | – With just three days left before the royal wedding, the inevitable complaints of guest list snubs are coming to the surface. News came out over the weekend that the last two British prime ministers weren't invited, and now the New York Times notes that some of Princess Diana's close friends were also excluded. Some have speculated that Prince Charles's second wife, Camilla, vetoed any potential guests who may have been on Diana's side in the divorce, but palace officials insist that a lack of space is to blame. “This is essentially a personal wedding, albeit with enormous public attention,” says a spokesperson for Prince Charles. Somebody might want to mention that to Lily Allen: The Mirror notes that the English musician is peeved that she was left off the list while fellow musician Joss Stone was included. "well, you can quote me as 'outraged', why does bloody Joss Stone get an invite and not moi? I sang at the Diana concert too!" she tweeted, later adding that Stone is "a stoner." Of course, she later noted that she was "being sarcastic." |
Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), said on the Senate floor Tuesday he would stand against the president's health care law "until I'm no longer able to stand." (The Washington Post)
Sen. Ted Cruz, (R-Texas), said on the Senate floor Tuesday he would stand against the president's health care law "until I'm no longer able to stand." (The Washington Post)
Continuing his vow to keep speaking against the new federal health-care law "until I am no longer able to stand," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) continued with his marathon speech modeled on old-fashioned filibusters Tuesday evening in hopes of slowing debate over a short-term spending measure.
"I rise today in opposition to Obamacare," Cruz announced as he began his remarks Tuesday afternoon, saying he would be speaking on behalf of millions of Texans and Americans opposed to the new health-care law.
"A great many Texans, a great many Americans feel they do not have a voice, and so I hope to play some very small role in providing the voice," he said.
(Watch: Highlights from Cruz's marathon speech (so far) )
Shortly after 8 p.m., Cruz announced he would begin reading "bedtime stories" to his two young daughters, who he said were back home in Texas watching with his wife. Cruz started with the Bible, quoting from "King Solomon's Wise Words" from the Book of Proverbs. Then he read the Dr. Seuss classic, "Green Eggs and Ham," in its entirety, noting that it was one of his favorite children's books.
When he was done reading, Cruz told his daughters: "I love with you all my heart. It's bed time, give mommy a hug and a kiss, brush your teeth, say your prayers and daddy's going to be home soon to read to you in person."
By holding the floor, Cruz and his allies are launching what most Americans know as a traditional filibuster, or the practice of holding the chamber for several hours on end by speaking continuously, an exercise perhaps best epitomized by actor Jimmy Stewart in the movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington."
But even if Cruz were physically capable of speaking for more than 24 hours -- the longest filibuster in U.S. history is 24 hours, 18 minutes by the late Sen. Strom Thurmond (S.C.) and other Southern senators opposed to civil rights laws -- there are already parliamentary procedures in place that dictate that Cruz will have to yield the floor by Wednesday afternoon at the latest.
At that point, the Senate is scheduled to hold a key procedural test vote that is near certain to pass with bipartisan support.
Cruz, a freshman senator, was joined in his efforts by several other Republican senators, including Mike Lee (Utah), David Vitter (La.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.). Paul even sent a callout on Twitter asking supporters to send him questions that he said he would ask Cruz later on the Senate floor. Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.), who is running for an open U.S. Senate seat next year, also visited the Senate to watch Cruz speak.
Aides to the senators gave no sense of when Cruz and his allies would conclude, but Cruz is likely angling to match the duration of two other recent filibusters. One, led by Paul in March, lasted nearly 13 hours, while a filibuster by Texas Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis in June lasted just under 11 hours.
After a little more than two hours, Cruz had discussed an unusual mix of subjects, ranging from opposition to the health-care law; the unemployment rate among African American teenagers; how his father, Rafael Cruz, used to make green eggs and ham for breakfast; a recent awards show acceptance speech by actor Ashton Kutcher; and the fast-food restaurants Denny's, Benihana and White Castle.
When he yielded briefly to take questions, the other senators would give extended remarks on their opposition to the health-care law and then ask Cruz questions that set up the Texas senator to continue his remarks. Meanwhile junior Democratic senators, who by tradition are tasked with presiding over the chamber, sat at the front of the room watching the exchange. Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W. Va.) sat in the chair watching intently, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) was seen using an iPad.
Cruz and Lee have vowed to use whatever Senate procedural tactics are available to slow debate on the legislation. Their marathon speech is the culmination of a strategy they began developing in the summer, when Lee started looking for allies in a move to defund the health-care law by using annual spending bills for federal agencies as potential leverage.
Last week, the House passed a spending measure that would continue funding government operations by also defunding Obamacare, thus avoiding a government shutdown. The bill is now in the Senate, where Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) has vowed to remove language defunding the law before calling a final vote. Cruz and his allies are hoping to stop Reid from doing so.
But Cruz and Lee have clashed with other Senate Republicans, who strongly objected to their plans in the days leading up to the start of the marathon speech. During their weekly luncheon earlier Tuesday, fellow Republicans urged Cruz to stand down and agree to quickly pass the spending measure and send it back to the House for potential amendments, according to two senators in the room.
Cruz refused the request, the senators said, meaning the Senate likely will have to continue debating the measure through the weekend, giving the House just a few hours to pass a new spending bill by the Oct. 1 deadline or face a government shutdown.
Asked as he left the lunch how long he planned to speak on the Senate floor, Cruz told reporters: "We shall see."
Moments later, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) told reporters that he disagreed with Lee's assertions that there is considerable grass-roots support to defund the health-care law.
"There’s a lot of people upset on both sides, and I just don’t believe anybody benefits from shutting the government down, and certainly Republicans don’t. We learned that in 1995," Hatch said, referring to the last time congressional Republicans clashed with a Democratic president over federal spending.
“We’re in the minority, we have to find a way of standing up for our principles without immolating ourselves in front of everybody, in a way when we don’t have the votes to do it," he said.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said he also agreed with other Republicans that the Senate should move quickly to pass the spending measure and return it to the House.
"My own view is that it would be to the advantage of our colleagues in the House, who are in the majority, to shorten the process, and if the majority leader were to ask us to shorten the process, I would not object," McConnell told reporters.
"If the House doesn't get what we send over there until Monday, they're in a pretty tough spot," McConnell said later. "My own view is the House, having passed a bill that I really like and that I support, I hate to put them in a tough spot."
Rosalind S. Helderman and Lori Montgomery contributed to this report.
1 of 53 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Ted Cruz exits the presidential race View Photos Looking back at the Texas senator’s presidential bid. Caption Looking back at the Texas senator’s presidential bid. May 3, 2016 Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with his wife, Heidi, by his side during a primary night campaign event in Indianapolis. Cruz ended his presidential campaign, eliminating the biggest impediment to Donald Trump’s march to the Republican nomination. Darron Cummings/AP Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.
More on this story:
The Fix: How McConnell and Cornyn burst Ted Cruz's bubble
Cruz happy to be outcast in the showdown shutdown
Federal workers could lose pay if the government shuts down ||||| Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Tuesday promised to speak until he can't stand up anymore, which launched an immediate debate on whether his speech is a filibuster or just a really long speech.
Cruz's defenders said the speech about the need to defund ObamaCare is a filibuster. But Democrats repeated throughout the day that it's just a really long speech.
So which is it? It depends who you ask — parliamentary experts say there is no precise definition of "filibuster."
ADVERTISEMENT
Many see a filibuster as talking on the Senate floor for an extended period of time in order to prevent action on measure. If that's the case, Cruz's speech today seems to fall short, because regardless of his remarks, the Senate will vote by Wednesday on whether to end debate on a motion to proceed to the House-passed continuing resolution.In other words, he can talk and talk, but that vote will happen on Wednesday at the latest because Senate Democrats filed cloture on the motion to proceed. Under Senate rules, filing for cloture sets up a firm vote after two days.Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) made it clear today that this is his preferred definition of "filibuster.""I want to disabuse everyone," Reid said this morning. "There will be no filibuster today. Filibusters stop people from voting, and we are going to vote tomorrow."But some say the term "filibuster" can be used to describe any dilatory tactic that delays the legislative process. If that's the case, Cruz's comments can be seen as a filibuster, because his opposition to moving ahead with the bill is preventing senators from reaching a unanimous consent agreement to vote earlier on ending debate on the motion to proceed.The Senate's own website seems to agree that any delaying tactic is a filibuster. The website defines the word as an "informal term for any attempt to block or delay Senate action on a bill or other matter by debating it at length, by offering numerous procedural motions, or by any other delaying or obstructive actions."So while Cruz didn't start his remarks by saying he is filibustering the continuing resolution, experts say he can make that claim. And then, people can disagree with that claim.Under Senate rules, Reid's decision on Monday to file cloture on the motion to proceed means two days must pass before a vote on the motion is held. That vote would be on whether to end debate on the motion to proceed.If the vote succeeds on Wednesday, that will start a 30-hour clock, and when that time expires, a vote on the actual motion to proceed is due.The two-day and 30-hour timelines are firm, but senators can always agree by unanimous consent to speed them up when everyone agrees. This week, many Senate Republicans were seeking to do just that, to give House Republicans more time to deal with the Senate-passed resolution. ||||| Tea party conservative Sen. Ted Cruz on Tuesday vowed to speak in opposition to President Barack Obama's health care law until he's "no longer able to stand," even though fellow Republicans privately urged him to back down from his filibuster for fear of a possible government shutdown in a week.
This image from Senate video show Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaking on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013. Cruz says he will speak until he's no longer able to... (Associated Press)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. returns to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013, after speaking on the floor of the Senate. In a break with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,... (Associated Press)
This image from Senate video show Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaking on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 24, 2013. Cruz says he will speak until he's no longer able to... (Associated Press)
"This grand experiment is simply not working," the Texas freshman told a largely empty chamber of the president's signature domestic issue. "It is time to make D.C. listen."
Egged on by conservative groups, the potential 2016 presidential candidate excoriated Republicans and Democrats in his criticism of the three-year-old health care law and Congress' willingness to gut the law. Cruz supports the House-passed bill that would avert a government shutdown and defund Obamacare, as do many Republicans.
However, they lack the votes to stop Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., from moving ahead on the measure, stripping the health care provision and sending the spending bill back to the House.
That didn't stop Cruz' quixotic filibuster. Standing on the Senate floor, with conservative Sen. Mike Lee of Utah nearby, Cruz talked about the American revolution, Washington critics and the impact of the health care law.
"The chattering class is quick to discipline anyone who doesn't fall in line," complained Cruz, who led a small band of opponents within Republican ranks.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and the GOP's No. 2, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, opposed Cruz' tactic, and numerous Republicans stood with their leadership rather than Cruz. Sen. John Thune, the third-ranking Republican, declined to state his position.
"I think we'd all be hard-pressed to explain why we were opposed to a bill that we're in favor of," McConnell told reporters. "And invoking cloture on a bill that defunds Obamacare, it doesn't raise taxes, and respects the Budget Control Act strikes me as a no brainer."
One Senate Republican said McConnell had suggested in a meeting of rank and file senators that they not speak as long as the rules permit on the legislation, for fear it would give them little time to try to turn the political tables on Democrats or to avoid a possible shutdown.
The lawmaker spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was private.
"Delaying the opportunity for the House to send something back, it seems, plays right into the hands of Senate Democrats," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said. "If I'm Harry (Reid), what I'd hope would happen is you wait until the very last minute to send something over to the House."
Asked whether there were any efforts in the GOP meeting to persuade Cruz and Lee to speed up Senate debate, Corker said, "The discussion came up about the advantage of having House Republicans weigh in again. And there were two senators who did not like that idea, not to name who they are."
The bill would keep the government operating until Dec. 15 and gut Obamacare.
Sen. Dick Durbin, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, said the chamber may come out in favor of a smaller patch for bankrolling the government than the one envisioned in the House bill. The idea would be to get Congress working sooner than mid-December on a more sweeping piece of legislation _ known as an omnibus spending bill _ that he hopes would reverse some automatic spending cuts known as sequestration.
Despite Cruz' effort, a test vote was set for Wednesday. Reid had filed a motion to proceed to the measure, and under Senate rules lawmakers will vote even if Cruz speaks for hours and keeps the Senate in session overnight. Delaying tactics could push a final vote into the weekend, just days before the new fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
The Cruz filibuster, which began at 2:41 p.m., echoed the effort of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who waged a nearly 13-hour filibuster of John Brennan's nomination for CIA director over the president's authority to use drones in the United States. The Senate eventually confirmed Brennan.
Outside conservative groups that have been targeting Republican incumbents implored their members to call lawmakers and demand that they stand with Cruz and his attack on Obamacare.
"This is the ultimate betrayal," the Senate Conservatives Fund said of McConnell and Cornyn in an email Tuesday morning. They pressed their members to "melt the phones," arguing that "we can't let these turncoats force millions of Americans into this liberal train wreck."
The Club for Growth and the Madison Project also pressed lawmakers to back Cruz' effort.
The issue has roiled the Republican Party, exacerbating the divide between tea party conservatives and GOP incumbents who repeatedly have voted against the health care law but now find themselves on the defensive. Republican senators said defunding Obamacare simply won't happen with a Democratic president and Democrats controlling the Senate.
"It will be a cold day in Gila Bend, Ariz., before we defund Obamacare," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., the party's 2008 presidential nominee. "A very cold day. In fact there may be a snowstorm. ... I know how this movie ends. I don't know all the scenes before it ends, but I know how it ends. We don't defund Obamacare."
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said that as long as Obama has the power to veto legislation, "the fate of that bill is pretty much in his control, and we know what he's going to do."
___
Associated Press writers Andrew Taylor, Alan Fram, David Espo and Laurie Kellman contributed to this report. ||||| Ted Cruz finally released his grip on the Senate floor after more than 21 hours of speaking about the need to defund Obamacare.
The Texas Republican seized control of the Senate floor on Tuesday about 2:42 p.m. vowing to “speak in support of defunding Obamacare until I am no longer able to stand.” Cruz could have spoken all the way up to a 1 p.m. procedural vote on moving spending bill forward, but he relented at noon.
Text Size -
+
reset Top 10 Cruz floor quotes Debt ceiling: By the numbers
“It is my it intention to accept the end of this at noon,” Cruz said.
After his 20th hour holding the floor, Cruz asked Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to come to the floor to listen to a pair of requests that sparked a bizarre exchange. Cruz asked to waive Wednesday’s vote and move a high-stakes procedural vote to Friday rather than Saturday to allow more people to watch.
“I think it is better for this country that this vote is visible,” Cruz said. “Sticking it on Saturday in the middle in the middle of football games would disserve that objective.”
Reid ignored Cruz’s requests and asked for far more time to be yielded back to allow the House more time to consider what the Senate will send back.
“There’s a possibility that they may not accept what we send them and they may want to send us something back,” Reid said.
Cruz cut off Reid, accusing him of “making a speech” rather than asking Cruz a question.
Despite his Ironman stand on the floor of the upper chamber, Cruz could not stop a Senate already in motion from eventually returning a clean continuing resolution to the House scant days before a government shutdown is scheduled to take effect on Oct. 1. Under Senate rules, the latest the upper chamber could take the first procedural vote on a House spending bill that defunds Obamacare is 1 p.m. on Wednesday — a reality Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) broadcast to the world Tuesday morning when he opened the Senate and again on Wednesday.
(PHOTOS: Longest filibusters in history)
“This is not a filibuster. This is an agreement that he and I made that he could talk,” Reid said Wednesday.
In other words, from the beginning it was all over save for the theatrics. But Cruz offered plenty Tuesday by holding the Senate floor for hours about why Obamacare should cease to exist. He was flanked at times by Republican Sens. David Vitter of Louisiana, Mike Lee of Utah, Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Pat Roberts of Kansas, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, Jim Risch of Idaho, Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky, who recommended Cruz wear comfortable shoes and not eat food on national television.
Cruz touched on a wide variety of subjects during his marathon, from Dr. Seuss to college kids’ inability to find White Castle burgers during the wee hours because of Obamacare. He read tweets from constituents and related stories from a “lost generation” of young people plagued by the Affordable Care Act.
(PHOTOS: Key quotes from Ted Cruz)
He also read bedtime stories to his children, who he said were at home watching him on C-SPAN. One was the Seuss tale “Green Eggs and Ham.”
Cruz was even joined by Democrats, including Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, who pointedly questioned Cruz both Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Kaine sparred with Cruz for 30 minutes and argued some voters had sent people to Washington to preserve Obamacare. Kaine won his Senate seat in 2012 by besting former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), who had staked his election on repeal.
Durbin on Tuesday explained why he voted for the health care law and argued the law made it easier for one of his constituents to qualify for Medicaid. Durbin asked if — given Cruz’s Ivy League education — he knew he did not have the votes to defund Obamacare in the Senate.
(WATCH: Cruz’s speech: 10 colorful quotes)
“Certainly the senator realizes that it takes 60 votes,” Durbin told Cruz.
“I would note that I’m quite familiar with what is necessary to defund Obamacare,” Cruz shot back.
Cruz bashed his colleagues in Washington for accepting that stopping Obamacare is impossible and charged that the outcome of the drama in the Senate this week is predetermined, comparing it to professional wrestling.
He also dinged anonymous staffers and Republican lawmakers for criticizing him in the press, yet also divulged a conversation between Lee and an anonymous House member. According to Cruz, that lawmaker told Lee of the House sending over its defund bill: “You guys should be grateful. We gave you your vote.”
(QUIZ: Do you know Ted Cruz?)
“Why should we feel gratitude for a vote that’s destined to lose?” Cruz asked of other Republicans, referring to Reid’s procedural upper-hand. “Symbolic votes are great for getting elected.”
A potential 2016 presidential candidate, Cruz is playing to the GOP base as much as he is bashing business as usual inside the Capitol. He said some lawmakers are too concerned with hitting the D.C. cocktail circuit, taking show votes and giving speeches to change the way Washington works, asking at one point: “Where is the outrage?”
“A lot of members of this body have — at least so far — not showed up to battle,” Cruz said, repeatedly referring to the empty chairs in the Senate chamber while he talked. “The chattering class is quick to discipline anyone who doesn’t fall in line.”
(Also on POLITICO: Hillary Clinton defends Obamacare, slams defunding efforts)
Cruz said his speech was meant to “celebrate” the American democratic system and that if senators listened to their constituents back home, he and his conservative allies truly could win.
“The vote would be 100-0 to defund Obamacare,” he said | – It's filibuster-y, but apparently not a filibuster. Sen. Ted Cruz took the Senate floor about 2:40pm Eastern today and promised to speak against ObamaCare until he is "no longer able to stand," reports AP. It sounds like an "old-fashioned talking filibuster," says the Washington Post, although, technically speaking, it's not a filibuster in the eyes of many parliamentarians. The Hill explains: A filibuster holds the promise of a lawmaker speaking long enough to block a vote, but that can't happen here. No matter what Cruz does, the Senate will vote on a procedural motion tomorrow on the House resolution that defunds ObamaCare. "I want to disabuse everyone," said Harry Reid before Cruz started. "There will be no filibuster today. Filibusters stop people from voting, and we are going to vote tomorrow." But even if it amounts to nothing more than a really long speech, Cruz is taking advantage. "I rise today in opposition to ObamaCare,” he began. "This grand experiment is simply not working. It is time to make DC listen." Fellow conservative Mike Lee of Utah gave Cruz his first break after about an hour. Politico's take: "A potential 2016 presidential candidate, Cruz is playing to the GOP base as much as he is bashing business as usual inside the Capitol." |
BY NANCY GIBBS
This is the 90th time we have named the person who had the greatest influence, for better or worse, on the events of the year. So which is it this year: Better or worse? The challenge for Donald Trump is how profoundly the country disagrees about the answer.
Photograph by Nadav Kander for TIME
It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This real estate baron and casino owner turned reality-TV star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Trump is poised to preside, for better or worse.
For those who believe this is all for the better, Trump’s victory represents a long-overdue rebuke to an entrenched and arrogant governing class; for those who see it as for the worse, the destruction extends to cherished norms of civility and discourse, a politics poisoned by vile streams of racism, sexism, nativism. To his believers, he delivers change—broad, deep, historic change, not modest measures doled out in Dixie cups; to his detractors, he inspires fear both for what he may do and what may be done in his name.
The revolution he stirred feels fully American, with its echoes of populists past, of Andrew Jackson and Huey Long and, at its most sinister, Joe McCarthy and Charles Coughlin. Trump’s assault on truth and logic, far from hurting him, made him stronger. His appeal—part hope, part snarl—dissolved party lines and dispatched the two reigning dynasties of U.S. politics. Yet his victory mirrors the ascent of nationalists across the world, from Britain to the Philippines, and taps forces far more powerful than one man’s message.
We can scarcely grasp what our generation has wrought by putting a supercomputer into all of our hands, all of the time. If you are reading this, whether on a page or a screen, there is a very good chance that you are caught up in a revolution that may have started with enticing gadgets but has now reshaped everything about how we live, love, work, play, shop, share—how our very hearts and minds encounter the world around us. Why would we have imagined that our national conversation would simply go on as before, same people, same promises, same patterns? Perhaps the President-elect will stop tweeting—but only because he will have found some other means to tell the story he wants to tell directly to the audience that wants to hear it.
It turned out to be a failing strategy when Hillary Clinton, who loves policy solutions and believes in them, tried to make this race a character test, a referendum on Trump. But it was certainly understandable. He presented so many challenges, so many choices about what America values. Her popular-vote victory, while legally irrelevant, affirmed the prospect of a female Commander in Chief. In fact, she crushed Trump among voters who cared most about experience and judgment and temperament, qualities that have typically mattered when choosing the leader of the free world. Even at his moment of victory, 6 in 10 voters had an unfavorable view of Trump and didn’t think he was qualified to be President.
Paul Moakley for TIME
But by almost 2 to 1, voters cared most about who could deliver change, and in that category he beat her by 68 points. This is his next test. The year 2016 was the year of his rise; 2017 will be the year of his rule, and like all newly elected leaders, he has a chance to fulfill promises and defy expectations.
His supporters and his critics will discover together how much of what he said he actually believes. In the days after the election, everything was negotiable: the wall became a fence, “Crooked Hillary” is “good people,” and maybe climate change is worth thinking about. Far from draining the swamp, he fed plums to some of its biggest gators. Were his followers alarmed? The critics were hardly reassured: nearly half of Americans expect race relations to worsen, and many women fear that his ascent comes directly at their expense. Trump prefers to talk about the alienated workers who flocked to his rallies and believed a billionaire could be their tribune—“I love them and they love me”—and avers that his every action will be on their behalf. But can he devise a New Deal for workers in the age of automation, renegotiate trade deals and reopen factories while simultaneously elevating many of the same people who profit from the trends he denounced?
For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year. ||||| Get the latest from TODAY Sign up for our newsletter
/ Updated / Source: TODAY By Eun Kyung Kim
President-elect Donald Trump, the real estate businessman and political novice whose election campaign made the entire world take notice, has been selected as TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year.
The magazine revealed its choice Wednesday on TODAY.
"To be on the cover of Time as Person of the Year is a tremendous honor," Trump told Matt Lauer in an interview after the reveal.
The president-elect did however take issue with the magazine's choice to refer to him as "President of the Divided States of America."
RELATED: Donald Trump: Mitt Romney is still in the running for secretary of state
"When you say 'divided states of America,' I didn’t divide them," Trump said. "They’re divided now, there’s a lot of division. And we’re going to put it back together."
President-elect Donald Trump is TIME's Person of the Year for 2016 Nadav Kander / TIME
Every year, TIME editors select the person — or idea — who has most influenced the news and the world in the past year, for good or ill.
"So which is it this year: Better or worse? The challenge for Donald Trump is how profoundly the country disagrees about the answer," TIME managing editor Nancy Gibbs wrote in a magazine essay.
Trump beat out 10 other finalists, including his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. TIME declared Clinton their runner-up, and she was also the top pick among TODAY viewers.
The president-elect, shown in his private living room in Trump Tower. Nadav Kander / TIME
This will be Trump’s 10th time on the magazine’s cover, and all but one have been since August 2015. His first appearance on TIME was in 1989.
Donald Trump on the cover of TIME in 1989, 2015, and 2016. Trump has appeared on the magazine's cover 10 times. Hewlett-Packard / TIME
"For reminding America that demagoguery feeds on despair and that truth is only as powerful as the trust in those who speak it, for empowering a hidden electorate by mainstreaming its furies and live-streaming its fears, and for framing tomorrow’s political culture by demolishing yesterday’s, Donald Trump is TIME’s 2016 Person of the Year," Gibbs wrote.
Last year’s recipient was German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Trump was a runner-up. The year before that, 2014, the Person of the Year were the Ebola fighters.
The magazine has made the designation every year since 1927, when aviator Charles Lindbergh was chosen as the first Man of the Year. The title was amended to Person of the Year in 1999.
MORE: TIME's Person of the Year 2015 is German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Over its history, TIME has bestowed the title to many presidents, political leaders and industry trailblazers who often view the designation as an honor. However, the magazine also has selected notorious recipients in the past, including Adolf Hitler in 1938, Joseph Stalin in 1939 and 1942, and Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, because of the impact they had on the world at the time. | – Time is out with its Person of the Year, and it's none other than Donald Trump. "The revolution he stirred feels fully American, with its echoes of populists past, of Andrew Jackson and Huey Long and, at its most sinister, Joe McCarthy and Charles Coughlin," writes Nancy Gibbs in the explanation. The magazine revealed the pick Wednesday morning. "To be on the cover of Time as Person of the Year is a tremendous honor," Trump told Matt Lauer on Today. It's actually his 10th time on the cover, though nine of those have come since August 2015. Mark Zuckerberg and gymnast Simone Biles were among those on the short list. |
In late 2006, when Barack Obama was a first-term senator pondering a long-shot race for the presidency, he asked me to write a strategic memo exploring his prospects. My bullish analysis was predicated on several factors, but rooted in a theory I had developed over decades as a political writer and campaign consultant.
Here’s the gist. Open-seat presidential elections are shaped by perceptions of the style and personality of the outgoing incumbent. Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have. They almost always seek the remedy, the candidate who has the personal qualities the public finds lacking in the departing executive.
A young, energetic John F. Kennedy succeeded the grandfatherly, somnolent Dwight D. Eisenhower, promising “a new generation of leadership.” In a slight variation, a puritanical Jimmy Carter, offering “a government as good as its people,” defeated the unelected incumbent Gerald R. Ford, who bore the burden of the morally bankrupt Nixon era.
Even George H.W. Bush, running to succeed the popular and larger-than-life Ronald Reagan, subtly made a virtue of his own lack of charisma and edge.
The pattern followed in 2008, as Mr. Bush’s son completed his final term in office.
“The most influential politician in 2008 won’t be on the ballot,” I wrote to Senator Obama in 2006. “His name is George W. Bush.”
As the 2008 campaign began, many Americans and most Democrats saw Mr. Bush as rash, bellicose, divisive — oblivious to the demands and opportunities of a rapidly changing world. His presidency had come to be defined by the momentous decision to invade Iraq, which became a quagmire.
Senator Obama had publicly opposed the war from the start, which separated him from most of the Democratic field. But more than that, his profile, temperament and approach offered the sharpest departure from those of the embattled, retiring president he would ultimately replace. For those who found President Bush wanting, Senator Obama was the most obvious remedy.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Today, after seven eventful years, attitudes toward President Obama will shape the selection of his successor.
The Republican base is infuriated by Mr. Obama’s activist view of government and progressive initiatives, from health care reform to immigration, gay rights to climate change.
Beyond specific issues, however, many Republicans view dimly the very qualities that played so well for Mr. Obama in 2008. Deliberation is seen as hesitancy; patience as weakness. His call for tolerance and passionate embrace of America’s growing diversity inflame many in the Republican base, who view with suspicion and anger the rapidly changing demographics of America. The president’s emphasis on diplomacy is viewed as appeasement.
So who among the Republicans is more the antithesis of Mr. Obama than the trash-talking, authoritarian, give-no-quarter Mr. Trump?
His bombast allows no room for nuance or complexity. He proudly extols his intolerance as an assault against “political correctness,” and he vows to bring the world to heel, from Mexico to China to Syria and Iraq.
Mr. Trump has found an audience with Americans disgruntled by the rapid, disorderly change they associate with national decline and their own uncertain prospects. Policies be damned, who better to set things right than the defiant strong man who promises by sheer force of will to make America great again?
Yes, we can? Hell, no!
Just leave it to me, Mr. Trump says. Yes, I can!
The robust condemnations Mr. Trump has received from media and political elites have only intensified the enthusiasm of his supporters, many of whom feel disdained and forgotten by the very same people who regularly mock and chide their man for his boorishness. To his base, he’s a truth-teller, thumbing his nose at conventional politicians, whether they are liberal or conservative. Rebukes from fact checkers and purveyors of civil discourse? They’re just so much establishment claptrap.
Relentlessly edgy, confrontational and contemptuous of the niceties of governance and policy making, Mr. Trump is the perfect counterpoint to a president whose preternatural cool and deliberate nature drive his critics mad.
Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Sign Up for the Opinion Today Newsletter Every weekday, get thought-provoking commentary from Op-Ed columnists, the Times editorial board and contributing writers from around the world. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters.
Mr. Trump may still stumble. His consistent lead in national primary polls may not hold as the Republican field shrinks and potentially coalesces around an alternative. As he himself suggested a few months ago, people may tire of the show. We also don’t know how the ebullient front-runner, who never fails to boast of his gaudy poll numbers, will react when and if he loses primary contests.
Advertisement Continue reading the main story
Unlike in 2008, when Mr. Obama’s appeal reached a majority of independents and even some Republicans, polling suggests that if he were nominated, Mr. Trump would face a steep uphill battle in a general election. As of today, he has the lowest standing, by far, of any major Republican candidate among Democrats and independent voters. His nativist rants have walled him off from the growing Hispanic vote, which could hold the key to several important swing states this fall.
It’s far too early to picture the iconic Trump logo affixed to the White House portico. But as the most ardent and conspicuous counterpoint to the man in the White House today, the irrepressible Mr. Trump already has defied all expectations. So, in the parlance of one of his signature businesses, “Who wants to bet?” ||||| We've detected that JavaScript is disabled in your browser. Would you like to proceed to legacy Twitter?
Yes | – David Axelrod has been among those dismissing Donald Trump's candidacy as a joke all these months—until now. In a New York Times op-ed, Axelrod writes that it's dawned on him that Trump's run is very much like Barack Obama's 2008 campaign in one vital respect. He sums it up thusly: "Open-seat presidential elections are shaped by perceptions of the style and personality of the outgoing incumbent," he writes. "Voters rarely seek the replica of what they have. They almost always seek the remedy, the candidate who has the personal qualities the public finds lacking in the departing executive." A decade ago, Obama's deliberate, cerebral approach proved to be just the right antidote to George W. Bush, writes Axelrod. But now those same qualities are viewed as "hesitancy," "weakness," and "appeasement." So who better to play the role of this election's anti-incumbent than Trump? "Relentlessly edgy, confrontational and contemptuous of the niceties of governance and policy making, Mr. Trump is the perfect counterpoint to a president whose preternatural cool and deliberate nature drive his critics mad," Axelrod writes. What's interesting is that in 2006, then-Sen. Obama asked Axelrod to assess his chances if he were to run, and Axelrod laid out the broad strokes of this theory in a "bullish" analysis for the long-shot candidate. He just failed to apply it anew to Trump. "It's so obvious, I'm embarrassed I missed it," he notes. Click for the full column. |
As the anniversary of 9/11 nears, the world will be reminded of the tragedy that occurred on that crisp, clear September day. But over the last 10 years, New Yorkers have confronted the loss every day as they look at the skyline and register the conspicuous absence of the towers, which rose above the surrounding buildings like oversize Lego blocks. A new Kickstarter project will re-create that image with a free app for iPhone users.
The project, called 110 Stories, is the work of Brian August, a lifelong New York resident, who has been mulling over the concept for a decade. "It occurred to me that there are going to be a whole generation of people growing up and people who never visited New York who will have no conception whatsoever of how big the towers were, how beautiful they were, and how iconic they were, and how many different vantage points there were where you could see them," August says. The technology to give everyone the opportunity to simulate the towers on their phones didn’t exist 10 years ago, nor did crowd-funding, which August has used to raise more than his initial goal of $25,000. With two more days of fundraising left, he has raised his target to $35,000 in order to adapt the app for Android users.
The app works in three steps: It guides the user to point the phone to where the towers once stood. Once properly oriented, it generates an image of the towers — a pencil-like outline during the day, shimmering light at night. The user can then tweak the picture and submit a personal story to www.110stories.com, which will display each photo submission as a pin on a New York City map. Users can scroll over a pin to read the corresponding story.
August hopes to release the app by early September. If you’d like to fund the project, you may do so here before Saturday. ||||| We Did It!
In a mere 21 days, we cracked the $25,000 barrier - a truly impressive goal that wouldn't have happened without all of you! So, Thank You! A special shout out -- none of this would be even remotely possible without the tireless and brilliant work of my development team at Zero Innovates, and more recently, the AR experts at doPanic. Fundraising does not stop here -- instead, I'm aiming for a new goal of $35,000. With the additional funding we're planning on developing for Android, building a better web experience for those outside of NYC, and of course making an even more spectacular app. As a special Thank You for our backer's, I've uploaded a "behind the scenes" walkthrough of the app as it stands today. To see that update, click here. Thanks again for your continued support. Please tell your friends & family about the project, and I'll be back in touch in a few days. -Brian 8/6
About 110 Stories
Hello. I'm Brian August, and I've been obsessed with 110 Stories for almost 10 years. When I started thinking about the idea, Augmented Reality didn't exist, nor did iPhones. But they both do now, and I've assembled a talented team to build the 110 Stories Augmented Reality iPhone App and launch it by the beginning of September. I'm asking for your help to make my obsession a reality. Every penny I am raising will be used to design, build and launch the app. The app will be FREE. The project itself is not intended to make a profit.
Orient. Augment. Comment. Activate the app on your iPhone and you'll be guided towards the World Trade Center. Once properly oriented, augmented reality kicks in and renders their silhouette -- in a pencil-like outline during the day and in shimmering light at night. Snap a picture, fine tune the image, add a personal story, and submit it to www.110stories.com.
Once on the website, you'll see a 50 mile, doppler radar-like radius map of New York City, with lower Manhattan in the center. Each photo submission appears as a pin on the map. Scroll over any pin, click, and read that story. Comment and share, via Twitter and Facebook. Users beyond visual range of the Towers can still enjoy 110 Stories by seeing the images of those who are within.
For those of us who are lifelong New Yorkers, its easy to tick off iconic views of the Twin Towers -- emerging disoriented from the West 4th Street subway station, finding the towers, and using them as a compass. On a Fire Island roof deck, 45 miles away, seeing two tiny toothpicks on the horizon, backlit by the setting sun. On I-95, heading home from New Jersey, seeing the Towers looming over the Palisades. Stuck in traffic on the helix approaching the Lincoln Tunnel, marveling at the downtown skyline. The list goes on. These lost views conjure vivid memories in much the same way as hearing a favorite song from the past. "Seeing" the towers come to life through your iPhone will transport you back in time. 110 Stories lets each of us show and tell our personal stories and share them with the world. Simply tell your story, contextualized around a view of the Twin Towers, magnified by the power of crowd-sourcing.
The interactive augmented reality iphone app is merely the beginning of 110 Stories. It will hopefully continue with Phase 2 -- a series of physical art installations. At 110 locations around the NY metropolitan area, there will be identical benches, in locations from which you could once see the Towers. The purpose of each installation is simple - create a structure that, when viewed from the bench, visually places the outline of the Towers, where they once stood, in the right apparent size. Its the real-world cousin of the app, and equally compelling.
DEVELOPMENT: [zero] innovates
VIDEO: @danieldelaney
AR TECHNOLOGY: doPanic
PR: Lane Buschel, First-Person Communications
CREATIVE CONSULTANTS: CultureShockNY
LEGAL: Prof. Jonathan Askin and Team Brooklyn Law School
HOSTING SERVICES: Atlantic Metro Communications
EVENT CONSULTANTS: DigitalFlashNYC
MUSIC: Timmy Thomas "Why Can't We Live Together" 1973
ADVISORS: Natalie Clark Barratt, Jimm Meloy, Mark Skwarek, Kirsten Gronberg, David Barratt, Freddie Laker, Bill Belliveau, Jason Hirschhorn, Gary Vaynerchuk, Marc Ecko, Bill Weir, Debra Anderson, Hugh McGrory | – A smartphone app currently in the works will offer a view of the New York City skyline as it once was. The app will tell you how to aim your phone toward Ground Zero; it then superimposes an image of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as they looked before the 9/11 attacks, FastCoDesign reports. Once you have your image, the app will allow you to share your thoughts with others via a personal story. The program, which will be free on iPhone, is the work of lifelong New Yorker Brian August. “It occurred to me that there are going to be a whole generation of people growing up and people who never visited New York who will have no conception whatsoever of how big the towers were, how beautiful they were, and how iconic they were, and how many different vantage points there were where you could see them,” he says. Using the Kickstarter crowd-funding site, he’s raised more than $25,000 to work on the project, called 110 Stories. He aims to release the program in time for the 10th anniversary of 9/11. |
One of the two shooters who launched a deadly attack on a San Bernardino social services center Wednesday was mistakenly identified in media reports as his brother, a veteran who shares the same name.
In the hours after the mass shooting Wednesday in Southern California, several media outlets including The Daily Beast, incorrectly identified Syed Raheel Farook as one of two killers responsible for the shooting that left 14 people dead and 21 others injured.
Farook is a veteran of the United States Navy with several “awards and decorations,” a spokesperson told BuzzFeed News. He enlisted in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007.
Navy records show he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.
Syed Raheel Farook was an information system technician, third class, serving on the USS Enterprise; in the Surface Warfare Officer School Unit, in Great Lakes, Illinois; and at the Recruit Training Command, in Great Lakes, Illinois.
He was an enlisted surface warfare specialist and was awarded the Good Conduct Medal, records show.
His brother, Syed Rizwan Farook, and sister-in-law were killed Wednesday in a shoot-out with police after the mass shooting in San Bernardino. ||||| SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP) — With a young wife, infant daughter and government job, Syed Farook appeared to have arrived at a sweet-spot in life. Friends knew the 28-year-old by his quick smile, his devotion to his Muslim religion and earnest talk about cars he would restore.
The McIntyre family from Redlands, Calif., hold candles at a vigil at San Manuel Stadium Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in remembrance of the 14 people lost Wednesday in the San Bernardino mass shooting. From... (Associated Press)
Rania Elbanna, 40, left, and Dr. Shaheen Zakaria, friends from Loma Linda, California, hold candles at a vigil at San Manuel Stadium Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in remembrance of the 14 people lost Wednesday... (Associated Press)
A mourner holds a candle during a vigil at San Manuel Stadium, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif. for multiple victims of a shooting that took place at a holiday banquet on Wednesday. A... (Associated Press)
People hold candles during a vigil for shooting victims on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, Calif. A husband and wife opened fire on a holiday banquet, killing multiple... (Associated Press)
San Bernardino Police Lt. Mike Madden, who was one one of the first officers on scene, describes his experience during a news conference near the site of a mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015 in San... (Associated Press)
San Bernardino Police Lt. Mike Madden who was one one of the first officers on scene describes his experience during a press conference near the site of yesterday's mass shooting on Thursday, Dec. 3,... (Associated Press)
California Gov. Jerry Brown reacts as he speaks near the site of Wednesday's shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., during a news conference on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. A husband and wife opened fire on a... (Associated Press)
This undated photo provided by the California Department of Motor Vehicles shows Syed Rizwan Farook who has been named as the suspect in the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings. Farook communicated with... (Associated Press)
Jesus Gonzales, center left, who has been separated with his wife since Wednesday's shooting, is comforted by local church members including Jose Gomez, center right, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in San Bernardino,... (Associated Press)
Two women comfort each other near the scene of a shooting outside a Southern California social services center in San Bernardino, Calif., where one or more gunmen opened fire, shooting multiple people... (Associated Press)
An officer works at the scene in Redlands, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015, as officials executed a search warrant following a shooting that killed multiple people at a social services center for the... (Associated Press)
Muslim Community Prayer Vigil for San Bernadino shooting victims, in Chino, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. A husband and wife opened fire on a holiday banquet, killing multiple people on Wednesday. Hours... (Associated Press)
This photo provided by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department shows weapons carried by suspects at the scene of a shootout in San Bernardino, Calif. Multiple attackers opened fire on a banquet... (Associated Press)
Michelle Zamora , left, is comforted by her sister, Melissa Zamora, of San Bernardino, at a vigil at San Manuel Stadium Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in remembrance of the 14 people lost Wednesday in the San... (Associated Press)
This photo provided by the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department shows ammunition and weapons carried by suspects at a shootout in San Bernardino, Calif. Multiple attackers opened fire on a banquet... (Associated Press)
A group of local church members pray for residents who live in the neighborhood where Wednesday's police shootout with suspects took place, Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, in San Bernardino, Calif. Multiple attackers... (Associated Press)
People hold candles during a vigil for shooting victims on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, at San Manuel Stadium in San Bernardino, Calif. A husband and wife opened fire on a holiday banquet, killing multiple... (Associated Press)
Muslim Community Prayer Vigil for San Bernadino shooting victims, in Chino, Calif., Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015. A husband and wife opened fire on a holiday banquet, killing multiple people on Wednesday. Hours... (Associated Press)
An FBI crime scene truck remains on scene at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino Calif. on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2015, after a mass shooting at the location on Wednesday. A heavily armed husband... (Associated Press)
They didn't know the man authorities say was busy with his wife, Tashfeen Malik, building homemade bombs and stockpiling thousands of rounds of ammunition for a commando-style assault on a holiday party of his co-workers that killed 14 and injured 21.
"This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife and a family. What was he missing in his life?" asked Nizaam Ali, who worshipped with Farook at a mosque in San Bernardino — the city east of Los Angeles where Farook killed and died.
As authorities identified the deceased and details about Farook's life began to take shape, the question of what motivated the slaughter remained unanswered.
The FBI was investigating the shootings as a potential act of terrorism but reached no firm conclusions Thursday, said a U.S. official briefed on the probe. Separately, a U.S. intelligence official said Farook had been in contact with known Islamic extremists on social media. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
At the same time, law enforcement officials from local police to Attorney General Loretta Lynch cautioned it could have been work-related rage. Or a twisted hybrid of religion and personal vendetta.
Farook had no criminal record and was not under scrutiny by local or federal law enforcement before the attacks.
Police said the couple had more than 1,600 bullets when they were killed by authorities hours after Wednesday's attack, and that the shooters had at home 12 pipe bombs, tools to make more explosives, and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
Police Lt. Mike Madden, one of the first officers to reach the room at the social services center, where Farook's colleagues from San Bernardino County's public health department had gathered, said the carnage was "unspeakable," the scene overwhelming: the smell of gunpowder, the wails of the injured, the blood, fire sprinklers pumping and fire alarms blaring. All in a room with a Christmas tree and decorations on every table.
The dead ranged in age from 26 to 60. Among the 21 injured were two police officers hurt during the manhunt, authorities said. Two of the wounded remained in critical condition Thursday.
Nearly all the dead and wounded were county employees.
Syed Rizwan Farook was born in Chicago on June 14, 1987, to parents born in Pakistan. He was raised in Southern California.
In July 2010, he was hired as a seasonal public employee and served until December of that year, according to a work history supplied by the county. In January 2012, he was rehired as a trainee environmental health specialist before being promoted two years later. Among his job duties was inspecting restaurants.
The soft-spoken Farook was known to pray every day at San Bernardino's Dar Al Uloom Al Islamiyah mosque. That is where Nizaam Ali and his brother Rahemaan Ali met Farook.
The last time Rahemaan Ali saw his friend was three weeks ago, when Farook abruptly stopped coming to pray. Rahemaan Ali said Farook seemed happy and his usual self. Both brothers said they never saw anything to make them think Farook was violent.
They remember when Farook announced that he would be getting married, saying he had met his future wife online and that she was Pakistani. Farook told the brothers that he traveled to Mecca in Saudi Arabia last summer.
They said he was gone about a month before returning to the U.S. with his wife. Malik arrived on a K-1 visa for fiancées and with a Pakistani passport in July 2014, authorities said.
The two were married on Aug. 16, 2014, in nearby Riverside County, according to their marriage license. Both listed their religion as Muslim. The couple had a 6-month-old daughter who they dropped with relatives Wednesday morning before the shooting.
Patrick Baccari, who sat at the same table as Farook at the employee party, recalled he was short on words and inclined to talk about cars, not religion.
However, a friend of a man killed in the rampage said Farook had a heated conversation about Islam two weeks before the attack.
Kuuleme Stephens said she happened to call Nicholas Thalasinos while her friend was talking with Farook at work. She said Thalasinos, a Messianic Jew who was passionately pro-Israel, told her Farook "doesn't agree that Islam is not a peaceful religion." Stephens said Farook replied that Americans don't understand Islam.
Stephens added that Thalasinos did not think their conversations would turn violent.
Farook legally bought two handguns used in the massacre and their two assault rifles were legally bought by someone else federal authorities wanted to question. That person's identity was not released.
A profile on a matchmaking website for South Asians that matched Farook's name, California hometown, county health job and Muslim faith said his interests included target shooting in his backyard. Though the date of the posting was not clear, it listed his age as 22.
Details about Farook's upbringing are sparse.
He grew up in a turbulent home but later graduated from California State University, San Bernardino, with a degree in environmental health sciences in 2010.
Divorce records depicted a home divided by abuse. Farook's mother alleged in 2006 that her husband, also named Syed, attacked her while her children were present, dropped a TV on her and pushed her toward a car, according to records.
Rafia Sultana Farook filed a petition for a domestic violence order of protection on July 3, 2006, against her husband. She said she was forced to move out with three of her children because her husband continually harassed her "verbally and physically," according to the divorce records.
The Associated Press could not immediately reach the father for comment and was unable to corroborate the allegations in the records. No one answered the door at a home in Corona where a neighbor said the father lived.
___
Blood reported from Los Angeles and Tucker from Washington. Contributing to this report were AP writers Ken Dilanian in Washington; Gillian Flaccus, Christine Armario and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles; Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Mississippi; Garance Burke in San Francisco; and Jason Keyser in Chicago. ||||| Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife were killed in a shooting with cops. An investigator looks at a Black SUV that was involved in the shootout. (Jae C. Hong/AP) ||||| Farook was born in Illinois, and had worked at the Health Department as an inspector for five years. Malik was born in Pakistan, according to a federal law enforcement source.
Farook traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2013 during the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and also visited Saudi Arabia in July 2014 for nine days to pick up Malik and bring her to the United States on a K-1 fiance visa. Neither trip lasted very long, the official said. The official has seen no record of Farook traveling to Pakistan, as the assistant director for the FBI's Los Angeles field office said in a news conference Thursday. | – Whatever San Bernardino gunman Syed Rizman Farook's problem was, it wasn't the result of his upbringing, if his brother is anything to go by. The brother, whose name is Syed Raheel Farook, was falsely identified as the gunman by some media outlets because the names are so similar, but he is, in fact, a decorated Navy veteran, BuzzFeed reports. The brother joined up in August 2003 and left the service in August 2007, and Navy records state that he received the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon during his service, which included time as an information systems technician on the USS Enterprise. A Navy spokesman tells the New York Daily News that Farook was a computer technician who also received an award for good conduct. Investigators are still trying to piece together a motive for the rampage the other Syed R. Farook allegedly carried out with wife Tashfeen Malik. A "veritable armory," including at least a dozen pipe bombs, was found at their home, and officials say they're probing possible links to Islamic extremists but haven't found firm evidence of radicalization, the Los Angeles Times reports. Associates, including colleagues who survived the massacre, say they simply don't understand how the man they knew could have done this. "This was a person who was successful, who had a good job, a good income, a wife, and a family. What was he missing in his life?" a man who worshiped with him at a mosque in San Bernardino tells the AP. |
Story highlights Four people connected to gunman Amedy Coulibaly have been arrested, official says
A policewoman is among those in custody
Paris (CNN) French police have arrested four people linked to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman and hostage-taker at a Parisian kosher supermarket on January 9, a Paris prosecutor's spokesman said.
A French policewoman is among the four taken into custody, French national police said.
The policewoman worked at the Fort de Rosny-sous-Bois, northeast of Paris, the spokesman said.
Coulibaly killed four hostages in the grocery store before police shot and killed him.
Read More ||||| PARIS (AP) — French police and security officials say four people are in custody over links to the attacks that terrorized Paris in January, including a policewoman.
The two officials, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing, said one man who was detained had ties to Amedy Coulibaly, the gunman who killed a policewoman on Jan. 8 and then four more people at a kosher supermarket Jan. 9 before being killed by security forces. They said the man's girlfriend, a policewoman, was also in custody.
The officials had no details about the two others in custody. No one besides three dead gunmen have been linked directly to the Jan. 7-9 attacks at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and the market, which left 20 people dead, including the gunmen. | – Four people are in custody in connection with the Paris terror attacks in January, the AP reports via unnamed officials. At least one man held is reportedly linked to Amedy Coulibaly, who was killed by security forces after he killed a policewoman and four people at a kosher supermarket. Another policewoman—this one the detained man's girlfriend—is also in custody, the AP reports. CNN, however, reports that all four of those in custody are linked to Coulibaly. |
HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US is an ongoing durational artwork by LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner.
Commencing at 9am on January 20, 2017, the day of the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, the public is invited to deliver the words "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" into a camera mounted on a wall outside the Museum of the Moving Image, New York, repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish.
Open to all, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the participatory performance will be live-streamed continuously for four years, or the duration of the presidency. In this way, the mantra "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community.
On February 10, 2017, the Museum of the Moving Image abandoned the project.
On February 18, 2017, the project relocated to a wall outside the El Rey Theater, Albuquerque.
On March 8, 2017, the project moved to an unknown location. A flag emblazoned with the words "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" will be flown for the duration.
On March 22, 2017, the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology, Liverpool, adopted the project.
On October 16, 2017, le lieu unique, Nantes, adopted the project.
On June 8, 2018, the work was installed in its original format at Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź, for the exhibition 'Peer-to-Peer. Collective Practices in New Art' until October 28, 2018.
On October 29, 2018, the stream returned to le lieu unique. ||||| Shia LaBeouf is no stranger to curious uses of streaming video — this is the guy, after all, who livestreamed himself watching his entire filmography in reverse chronological order in 2015. But the Beef is taking his internet ambitions to new heights today with the launch of a caps-locked piece of performance art entitled HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US, co-created by frequent collaborators Nastja Säde Rönkkö and Luke Turner. It consists of a stationary webcam placed on an exterior wall of New York's Museum of the Moving Image, in front of which people are invited to place themselves and intone the words "he will not divide us." The footage will be broadcast live on the web at hewillnotdivide.us, and the piece will be in operation 24 hours a day for the duration of Donald Trump's time in office. Participants can say the phrase as many times as they want, for as long as they want — the idea is that it will become a "mantra" that "acts as a show of resistance or insistence, opposition or optimism, guided by the spirit of each individual participant and the community." Hey, every little bit counts.
The first participant, as it turned out, was none other than Jaden Smith! An anonymous tipster sent Vulture these on-the-scene photos of the kickoff, in which you can see LaBeouf sitting pensively against the wall.
Jaden Smith and Shia LaBeouf. ||||| Notice
You must log in to continue. | – Shia LaBeouf, actor and performance art fan, has a new project, and it will presumably last for the next four years. At hewillnotdivide.us, LaBeouf is livestreaming people standing outside New York's Museum of the Moving Image. On an exterior wall of the museum, the words "HE WILL NOT DIVIDE US" are painted and a webcam is mounted, Vulture reports. The accompanying website invites members of the public to read those words out loud to the camera, "repeating the phrase as many times, and for as long as they wish." It notes that the "participatory performance" will be livestreamed "for four years, or the duration of the presidency." As of this writing, Will Smith's son, Jaden, was standing in front of the camera repeating the words, and has been doing so since Vulture published its article at 9am ET. LaBeouf is apparently not the only one getting in on the 4-year-long livestream action; see here. |
Malik Taylor, the rapper known as Phife Dawg whose nimble, clever rhymes helped launch A Tribe Called Quest to both commercial and critical success, died Tuesday at the age of 45 from complications resulting from diabetes. Rolling Stone has confirmed the rapper's death.
Related PHOTOS: A Tribe Called Quest: 20 Essential Songs R.I.P. Phife Dawg: Revisit pioneering New York rap crew's best tracks
Taylor had had health issues for years, undergoing a kidney transplant in 2008 to deal with a longtime battle with diabetes. "It's really a sickness," Taylor said in Beats, Rhymes & Life, Michael Rapaport's candid 2011 documentary on the group. "Like straight-up drugs. I'm just addicted to sugar."
"Malik was our loving husband, father, brother and friend," his family said in a statement. "We love him dearly. How he impacted all our lives will never be forgotten. His love for music and sports was only surpassed by his love of God and family."
"Family, my heart is shattered at the loss of my beautiful son," Taylor's mom Cheryl Boyce-Taylor wrote on Facebook. "Thank you for your love and good wishes. Malik made me so proud, and he was a good and humble son. What holds me is that he brought joy through his music and sports, and that he lived a magical life. He is with his beloved grandmother and his twin brother Mikal today. God bless you Malik Boyce Taylor. Please send prayers to my daughter-in-law Deisha."
Related Watch A Tribe Called Quest Reunite for 'Can I Kick It?' Q-Tip and company make first television appearance together in 15 years to celebrate debut LP reissue
Taylor appeared on all five of the group's studio albums, most notably 1991's The Low End Theory and 1993's Midnight Marauders, acting as the high-pitched, gruff vocal counterpoint to Q-Tip's smooth, mellow flow. The group broke up and reunited multiple times since the release of their last album, 1998's the Love Movement. As documented in Beats, Rhymes & Life, the group would sporadically reunite for live shows, but stopped short at recording new material.
Health problems deterred Taylor from recording much solo material, though the rapper released his only solo album Ventilation: Da LP in 2000. Speaking to Rolling Stone last November, Taylor was tentatively optimistic about both his health and future recording plans.
"I am in a good spot, but I have my good days and I have my bad days," he said at the time. "But I'm more or less in a good spot, so I can't really complain." In the same interview, Taylor revealed plans to release the J Dilla-produced "Nutshell," the first single off a planned EP titled Give Thanks. The rapper released a video preview of the song, though a full version has yet to be released. Prior to his death, Taylor had also been at work on Muttymorphosis, his new LP that would have functioned as "basically my life story" that he hoped to have released later this year.
Taylor was born November 20th, 1970 in the Jamaica area of Queens, NY. Living in the same area as Q-Tip, he would meet his future groupmate at the age of 2, with the duo attending the same school and playing little league baseball together. "We were best friends," Q-Tip said in Beats, Rhymes & Life.
As recounted in the film, the rapper would visit his grandmother, a strict Seventh-day Adventist, on weekends and sneak in episodes of Soul Train for his early musical education. "When it came to block parties and hip-hop, once I saw them grab the mics and getting busy, I risked my livelihood getting kicked out of the house and everything just to be a part of it," Taylor said in the film.
At the age of 19, Taylor contributed verses to four songs on A Tribe Called Quest's 1990 debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm, including an iconic verse on the group's third single, "Can I Kick It?" Despite the song's enduring appeal, Taylor himself was not happy with his contribution. "It's hard for me to get into 'Can I Kick It?' ... for the simple fact that I hated my voice back then," he told Rolling Stone. "It was high-pitched and [speaks in high-pitched voice] 'Mr. Dinkins' and I couldn't stand it. It's hard to listen to that album because of my voice. It's almost like, thank God I was only on four records."
Taylor and fellow Tribe member Jarobi had planned to start their own group, but the two would join Q-Tip and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad officially on 1991's Low End Theory. Buoyed by exuberant songs like "Buggin' Out," "Check the Rhime" and "Scenario," Low End Theory's landmark fusion of hip-hop and jazz remains a benchmark for the genre, influencing countless rappers and producers and providing the blueprint for a strain of rap as indebted to Grover Washington, Jr. and Ron Carter as James Brown. "He brought the street to A Tribe Called Quest," said the group's former manager Chris Lighty in Beats, Rhymes & Life. "If Q-Tip was esoteric and on Pluto, Phife would bring them back to the moon so that it was in the realm of human understanding."
The album would eventually earn a spot on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, with hip-hop fans flocking to the vocal interplay between Tip and Phife. "I like the fact that we bounce off of each other like yin and yang, nice and smooth, you know?" Phife told Rolling Stone last year.
Midnight Marauders would appear two years later, equalling its predecessor in lyrical dexterity and organic, layered production. The album would spawn hits like "Award Tour" and "Electric Relaxation" and is often ranked as one of the best hip-hop albums of all-time.
Related Hear Pharrell Remix Tribe Called Quest's 'Bonita Applebum' J. Cole, Cee Lo Green also set to appear on previously unreleased remixes for group's debut album reissue next month
Taylor moved to Atlanta from New York following the release of Marauders, a shift he claimed exacerbated the infighting that had been increasing in the group. Two more albums would follow — 1996's Dilla-co-produced Beats, Rhymes & Life and 1998's The Love Movement — though neither achieved the same success as previous efforts.
Following the group's dissolution, Taylor continued to battle diabetes, reuniting with the group for live shows, in part, to help defray medical costs. "Even though I knew I had [diabetes], I was in denial," Taylor said in the documentary. "I had to have my sugar. You have to accept it. If you don't accept it, it's going to kick your ass."
Last November, the group reissued People's Instinctive as the first of a massive reissue campaign. A Tribe Called Quest's Tonight Show performance of "Can I Kick It?" — their first televised performance in 15 years — would end up being the group's last. ||||| Bryn Mawr, Haverford, and Swarthmore CollegeArchive-It Partner Since: Sep, 2005Organization Type: Colleges & UniversitiesOrganization URL: http://www.haverford.edu Three of the finest liberal arts schools in the country, Swarthmore College, Bryn Mawr College, and Haverford College offer their students a passionate learning community that prepares them for full, balanced lives and effective citizenship through rigorous academic study coupled with an emphasis on social responsibility. ||||| Tweet with a location
You can add location information to your Tweets, such as your city or precise location, from the web and via third-party applications. You always have the option to delete your Tweet location history. Learn more ||||| Published on Dec 5, 2012
A Tribe Called Quest's official music video for 'Scenario'. Click to listen to A Tribe Called Quest on Spotify: http://smarturl.it/TCQSpot?IQid=TCQS
As featured on The Anthology. Click to buy the track or album via iTunes: http://smarturl.it/TCQTAiTunes?IQid=TCQS
Google Play: http://smarturl.it/TCQSPlay?IQid=TCQS
Amazon: http://smarturl.it/TCQTAAm?IQid=TCQS
More From A Tribe Called Quest
Award Tour: https://youtu.be/P800UWoE9xs
Electric Relaxation: https://youtu.be/WHRnvjCkTsw
More great Classic Hip Hop Videos here: http://smarturl.it/CHHPlaylist?IQid=TCQS
Follow A Tribe Called Quest
Website: http://atribecalledquest.com/html/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ATribeCalled...
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ATCQ
Myspace: https://myspace.com/atribecalledquest
Subscribe to A Tribe Called Quest on YouTube: http://smarturl.it/TCQSub?IQid=TCQS
---------
Lyrics:
Here we go yo, here we go yo
So what so what so what's the scenario
Here we go yo, here we go yo
So what so what so what's the scenario
Aiyyo Bo knows this (what?) and Bo knows that (what?)
But Bo don't know jack, cause Bo can't rap
Well whaddya know, the Di-Dawg, is first up to bat
No batteries included, and no strings attached
No holds barred, no time for move fakin
Gots to get the loot so I can bring home the bacon
Brothers front, they say the Tribe can't flow
But we've been known to do the impossible like Broadway Joe so
Sleep if you want, like we'll help you get your Z's troop
But here's the real scoop | – Malik Taylor, the rapper also known as Phife Dawg who helped catapult A Tribe Called Quest to success with such hits as "Can I Kick It?" and "Scenario," has died at the age of 45, Rolling Stone reports. Taylor was known for his rhyming skills and his status as what the magazine calls the "high-pitched, gruff vocal counterpoint to [bandmate] Q-Tip's smooth, mellow flow." Although an official cause of death has yet to be announced, the magazine notes that Taylor had suffered from various health issues, including diabetes that spurred a 2008 kidney transplant. "It's really a sickness," Taylor said in an interview for an ATCQ rap documentary by actor/director Michael Rapaport. "Like straight-up drugs. I'm just addicted to sugar." Taylor helped found A Tribe Called Quest with best friend Q-Tip (whom he grew up with in Queens, NY), Jarobi White, and producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad, and the group put out five studio albums in total, starting with 1990's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm and ending with 1998's The Love Movement. He also released one solo album, Ventilation: Da LP, in 2000 and had been working on a new album, Give Thanks, due out this year. The group performed "Can I Kick It?" live on Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show in November, which was their first TV performance in 15 years. E! Online has compiled social media tributes to the late rapper from fans, friends, and industry icons, including hip-hop magnate Russell Simmons, who tweeted, "Damn. #RIPPhife one of the greatest to bless the mic," and Public Enemy rapper Chuck D, who posted, "Rest In Beats PHIFE ATCQ Forever." |
These are the findings of a preliminary study presented at the British Psychological Society’s Annual Conference in Brighton on Wednesday 3 May 2017, by Dr Martin Graff from University of South Wales.
A total of 340 participants recruited via Twitter and Facebook completed personality questionnaires. They were also asked to say how much they agreed or disagreed with 25 statements relating to the ways people appreciate being valued on social media. For example ‘the attention I get from social media makes me feel good’ or ‘I consider someone popular based on the amount of likes they get’.
Analysis revealed that participants who said they went out of their way to get more likes (such as asking others or paying) were more likely to have low self-esteem and be less trusting. The same was true of those who admitted deleting posts or making a picture their profile picture on account of the number of likes it received.
The results also showed that receiving likes didn’t actually make people feel any better about themselves or make them feel better when they were down.
Dr Graff said: ||||| Adding more evidence to the fact that social media doesn’t make us feel better, a new study indicates those Facebook likes are pretty shallow. According to the preliminary research, receiving attention via likes on social media does nothing to improve mood or make you feel better about yourself.
It turns out, those thumbs up or heart icons don’t make much of a difference when it comes to our happiness. The study also found that people who went to extremes to receive more love, going as far as paying or asking others to like their posts, were more likely to suffer from low self-esteem and to be less trusting. This assessment was also true for those who deleted posts or changed their profile pictures based on how many likes a photo received.
Read: Why Your Mid-20s Is the Best Age For Making Random Choices
Researchers enlisted 340 participants who completed personality questionnaires, in addition to answering how much they agreed or disagreed with 25 statements about self worth and finding value from social media. Examples included assertions like, “The attention I get from social media makes me feel good” and “I consider someone popular based on the amount of likes they get.”
Pixabay
"The proliferation of social media use has led to general concerns about the effects on our mental health,” said lead study author Dr. Martin Graff, Ph.D and psychology researcher at the University of South Wales, in a statement. “Although this is just a relatively small scale study, the results indicate that the ways we interact with social media can affect how we feel and not always positively."
Graff will present this study Wednesday, May 3, at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference.
This definitely isn’t the first time that social media has been found to be inadequate in making us happier. Previous research has shown that using social media can actually make us more depressed. A study from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that those who spent more time on social media were likelier to suffer from depression. The team surveyed 1,787 adults from 19 to 32 years old.
Dr. Brian Primack, MD, Ph.D, and co-author of that study told Cosmpolitan.com there were many factors causing foul moods. FOMO, feeling inadequate compared to others’ “perfect” lives and wasting time browsing the timeline are just a few influences driving that spike in depression.
Read: Irregular Sleep Patterns Could Make You Less Creative And Attentive
Maybe the realization that social media isn’t good for our egos is spurring people to break up with different platforms. A recent survey by the Associated Press found that most teens, about 60 percent of respondents 13-17 years old, have taken a break from popular apps like Instagram and Snapchat.
See Also:
Can Dairy Be A New Way To Treat Depression? Low-Fat Milk And Yogurt Linked To Lower Depressive Symptoms
What's Up With The Freudian Slip, And Does It Reveal My Inner Desires? ||||| FILE - In this Monday, June 4, 2012, file photo, a girl looks at Facebook on her computer in Palo Alto, Calif. Most teenagers have taken a break from social media, according a new poll from The Associated... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Monday, June 4, 2012, file photo, a girl looks at Facebook on her computer in Palo Alto, Calif. Most teenagers have taken a break from social media, according a new poll from The Associated... (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — The common stereotype has teens glued to their phones 24-7. But nearly 60 percent of teens in the U.S. have actually taken a break from social media — the bulk of them voluntarily, a new survey found .
The poll, from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, surveyed teens aged 13 to 17 and found that most value the feeling of connection with friends and family that social media provides. A much smaller number associate it with negative emotions, such as being overwhelmed or needing to always show their best selves.
The survey, released Thursday, found that teens' social media breaks are typically a week or longer, and that boys are more likely to take longer breaks.
Teens were allowed to cite multiple reasons for their breaks. Nearly two-thirds of teens who took a break cited at least one voluntary reason. Amanda Lenhart, the lead researcher and an expert on young people and technology use, said she was surprised by this, as it counters the broader narrative that teens are "handcuffed" to their social media profiles.
Today's teenagers might not recall a time before social media. MySpace was founded in 2003. Had it survived, it would be 14 years old today. Facebook is a year younger. Instagram launched in 2010. For an adult to understand what it might be like for someone who grew up with it to step back from social media, consider disconnecting from email — or your phone — for a couple of weeks.
Among the teens who took voluntary breaks, 38 percent did so because social media was getting in the way of work or school. Nearly a quarter said they were tired of "the conflict and drama" and 20 percent said they were tired of having to keep up with what's going on.
Nearly half of teens who took a break did so involuntarily. This included 38 percent who said their parents took away their phone or computer and 17 percent who said their phone was lost, broken or stolen.
The involuntary break "is sort of its own challenge," Lenhart said. "They feel that they are missing out, detached from important social relationships (as well as) news and information."
About 35 percent of teens surveyed said they have not taken a break, citing such worries as missing out and being disconnected from friends. Some said they need social media for school or extracurricular activities.
"I like to see what my friends and family are up to," said Lukas Goodwin, 14, who uses Instagram and Snapchat every day. He said he took a break from Instagram "a few years ago" but not recently. Now, he says, "I wouldn't want to take a break from them."
Among the survey's other findings:
— Lower income teens were more likely to take social media breaks than their wealthier counterparts, and their breaks tended to last longer. The study points out that educators who use social media in the classroom need to understand that not every teen is online and connected all the time.
— Boys were more likely to feel overloaded with information on social media, while girls were more likely to feel they always have to show the best version of themselves.
— Teens who took breaks typically did so across the board, checking out of Facebook, Snapchat and all other services all at once. And they were no more or less likely to take breaks from social media based on the type of services they use.
— Although they felt relief and were happy to be away from social media for a while, most teens said things went back to how they were before once they returned to social media.
The AP-NORC poll was conducted online and by phone from Dec. 7 to 31. A sample of parents with teenage children was drawn from a probability-based panel of NORC at the University of Chicago. Parents then gave permission for their children to be interviewed. The panel, AmeriSpeak, is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.6 percentage points.
___
Online:
AP-NORC: http://www.apnorc.org ||||| Receiving 'likes' on social media posts doesn't make people feel better about themselves or improve their mood if they are down.
These are the findings of a preliminary study presented at the British Psychological Society's Annual Conference in Brighton on May 3, 2017, by Dr Martin Graff from University of South Wales.
A total of 340 participants recruited via Twitter and Facebook completed personality questionnaires. They were also asked to say how much they agreed or disagreed with 25 statements relating to the ways people appreciate being valued on social media. For example 'the attention I get from social media makes me feel good' or 'I consider someone popular based on the amount of likes they get'.
Analysis revealed that participants who said they went out of their way to get more likes (such as asking others or paying) were more likely to have low self-esteem and be less trusting. The same was true of those who admitted deleting posts or making a picture their profile picture on account of the number of likes it received.
The results also showed that receiving likes didn't actually make people feel any better about themselves or make them feel better when they were down.
Dr Graff said: "The proliferation of social media use has led to general concerns about the effects on our mental health. Although this is just a relatively small scale study the results indicate that the ways we interact with social media can affect how we feel and not always positively." | – Teens aren't necessarily as in love with social media as they're portrayed to be. The results of an AP poll released last week show that nearly 60% of teens in the US have taken social media breaks—most of the time voluntary ones that last at least a week. Now researchers at the University of South Wales have presented findings to the British Psychological Society that suggest even what are perceived to be straightforward perks of social media—such as getting attention via likes—may not exactly elevate the end user's mood. "Although this is just a relatively small-scale study, the results indicate that the ways we interact with social media can affect how we feel, and not always positively," one researcher says. To test this, the team reports in a Science Daily news release that it recruited 340 participants on Twitter and Facebook to complete personality questionnaires and then agree or disagree with 25 statements. Key findings include that people who go out of their way to rack up more likes tend to have low self-esteem and be less trusting of others, and that those likes don't actually lift their mood or how they see themselves. Previous research has looked not at more likes, but at more time, reports Medical Daily. It cites a study published in 2016 that surveyed 19- to 32-year-olds and found "individuals in the highest quartile of [social media] site visits per week ... had significantly increased odds of depression." (Young people average at least an hour a day on social media.) |
I'm a capitalist. It's not my religion, I won't bow before its altar, I won't kiss its ring, but I believe in capitalism. It's an invention of man and it involves money, so it's not perfect, but I've never heard anyone suggest a better system. So I'm a capitalist.
I am not, however, a consumerist. I like the freedom and innovation of capitalism; I loathe the materialism and gluttony of consumerism. There's a popular misconception that capitalism and consumerism are inextricably linked; that one naturally involves and requires the other. But this is a fallacy. Certainly the "stimulus" programs a few years ago ought to have dispelled this notion entirely. The government perverted the free market and elected to hand free money to millions of people, hoping that they'd go out and buy a bunch of stuff with it. This was consumerism at the expense of capitalism, and it revealed our priorities: forget freedom, forget principle -- just buy stuff.
That's our entire economic system: buy things. Everybody buy. It doesn't matter what you buy. Just buy. It doesn't matter if you don't have money. Just buy. Our entire civilization now rests on the assumption that, no matter what else happens, we will all continue to buy lots and lots of things. Buy, buy, buy, buy, buy. And then buy a little more. Don't create, or produce, or discover -- just buy. Never save, never invest, never cut back -- just buy. Buy what you don't need with money you don't have. Buy when you're happy. Buy when you're sad. Buy when you're hungry. Buy when you want to lose weight. Buy an iPhone. Six months have passed, here, buy another iPhone. Go online and buy things. Go to the mall and buy things. On your way, stop and buy some more things. Buy things for every occasion. Buy things to celebrate. Buy things to mourn. Buy things to keep up with the trends. Buy things while you're buying things, and then buy a couple more things after you're done buying things. If you want it -- buy it. If you don't want it -- buy it. Don't make it -- buy it. Don't grow it -- buy it. Don't cultivate it -- buy it. We need you to buy. We don't need you to be a human, we don't need you to be a citizen, we don't need you to be a capitalist, we just need you to be a consumer, a buyer. If you are alive you must buy. Buy like you breathe, only more frequently.
How appropriate, then, that a holiday created by our ancestors as an occasion to give thanks for what they had, now morphs into a frenzied consumerist ritual where we descend upon shopping malls to accumulate more things we don't need. Our great grandparents enjoyed a meal and praised the Lord for the food on the table and the friends and family gathered around it. We, having slightly altered the tradition, instead elect to bum-rush elderly women and trample over children to get our hands on cheap TVs.
For a while, Black Friday and Thanksgiving coexisted. We thanked God for His blessings on Thursday, and then jumped into the consumer mosh pit at Best Buy on Friday. But this Black Friday-Thanksgiving marriage was tenuous and rocky from the start. It was doomed to fail. Thanksgiving offers tradition, family and contentment; Black Friday offers smart phones at drastically reduced prices. In America, we all know who wins that battle. So Black Friday, like a black hole, violently expanded; it absorbed the light that surrounded it and sucked everything into its terrifying abyss, where all substance is torn to shreds and obliterated. Black Friday could not be contained to a mere 24 hours. It is Consumerism. It wants more. It always wants more. Nothing is sacred to it; nothing is valuable. So, now, Black Friday has eaten Thanksgiving alive. Thanksgiving let out a desperate cry as Black Friday devoured its soul, but we barely noticed. It's hard to hear anything when you're wrestling 4,000 other people for buy one get one free cargo shorts at Old Navy.
Many of the big chain retailers will be opening during, or before, dinner time on Thanksgiving. Walmart, Kmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohl's -- all among the many electing to cannibalize Thanksgiving. Kmart will be open starting at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, offering great Black Friday deals for 41 straight hours. This is fortunate because I often walk into Kmart and think, "you know, the stuff in here just isn't cheap enough."
Will the Black Thanksgiving shopper carve a moment or two out of their busy bargain hunting schedule to break bread with their family and friends? Will they make it all the way through grace before dashing out the door, trading in tradition and merriment for cheap electronics and kitchen appliances? "Bless us, O Lord, and these thy gifts yada yada -- gotta go, Walmart opens in 10 minutes!"
I'm willing to bet that the hoarding hordes descending upon shopping malls and retail outlets at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving, would, in a different context, likely speak quite solemnly about the dreaded "commercialization" of our national holidays.
Here's a true story: a few days ago I had a conversation with a friend where we both lamented about the meaning and message of our important holidays being lost in a commercialized haze. Yesterday, this same friend posted on his Facebook page, excitedly announcing Best Buy's earlier Thanksgiving opening time.
Yes, the man who hates the commercialization of holidays decided to become a commercial for the commercialization of holidays.
I admit, it's easy for me to forgo Black Thanksgiving. Stay home, eat food, and drink beer, or wait in long lines at dreary shopping malls, fighting with strangers over half priced Blu-Ray players? Not exactly a tough decision in my book. But even if I stumbled into some demented parallel dimension where the prospect of shuffling like a dead-eyed zombie through Target on Thanksgiving suddenly seemed appealing to me, I'd still pass. If for no other reason, this reason is reason enough: I'm not going to force some single mom to ring up my worthless purchases instead of enjoying Thanksgiving with her children.
These employees will be there, in their name tags and their vests, waiting on impatient mobs of customers while their families eat without them. They will be there with or without me. But I personally can't be among the reasons why they will be there. I understand profit margins and competition, but I think these places ought to respect their workers enough not to rip them away from their kids during one of America's most beloved holidays. And if I think that, I could not possibly go to one of these establishments and make them serve me.
Capitalism is great, but some things are greater. Family is greater. Yes, these folks choose to work at these stores. Yes, they likely knew when they signed up that they'd be sacrificing their Thanksgivings. Yes, at least they have jobs. Yes, sure, and so what? If that's enough in your mind to justify participating in the destruction of a great American tradition -- good for you. But you COULD wait until Friday, couldn't you? And if you did wait until Friday, and if everyone waited until Friday, no store would ever open on Thanksgiving again, right? So you COULD take steps to protect Thanksgiving from the decay of materialism and consumerism, and, while you're at it, give this wonderful holiday back to the customer service representatives who have been forced to abandon it and cater to the stampeding throngs, right?
Right, but then again, those skirts at JC Penney ARE super cheap.
Oh Lord, if you don't go on Thursday to buy stuff, there might be slightly less stuff available on Friday! Think of the stuff! We must get all the stuff! The stuff must be purchased!
Family can take a backseat.
Tradition can wait.
These employees should just be grateful for the opportunity to stand behind a cash register for 14 hours while the rest of us eat our pies and drink our wine.
Thanksgiving is just a holiday.
But stuff, things, toys, gadgets -- these are what life is all about.
Why give thanks for what you have when there's so much you don't have? That's the new meaning of Thanksgiving: count your blessings, and then buy some more blessings and count them again.
Check out more writing by Matt Walsh at themattwalshblog.com.
Also on HuffPost: ||||| Unless you want to have to work on Thanksgiving one day too, argues the president and co-founder of the Families and Work Institute
Luke Sharett / Bloomberg / Getty Images
There’s been a lot of outrage over Macy’s — the retailer most synonymous with Thanksgiving and family with its parade of floats — deciding to open its stores on the day when we are supposed to give thanks. Petitions have cropped up online against other retailers like Target and Walmart lobbying them to stay closed on Thanksgiving.
But there’s an easier way to take a stand. You don’t have to sign a petition or go out and protest in front of stores. All you have to do is do something else on Thanksgiving Day other than opening your wallet.
(MORE: The Big Lie About Shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday)
Clearly, there are many people who have to work on Thanksgiving, including emergency workers in health care, utilities and other essential services, but early holiday shopping is not essential. Consumers have a choice about shopping, but employees in these stores may not have a choice about whether to work or not.
As a society, we’ve agreed that most of America’s workforce should have key holidays — in this case just one day — to be with family and friends, or just to take a breather from work. Holidays are also up there with vacation days as critical to keeping employees healthy and productive, more so than ever. Our research at the Families and Work Institute shows that the nation’s workforce is more stressed than ever, increasing significantly in recent years. Nearly one-third (32%) of employees report that their work has a primarily negative impact on their lives off the job by draining energy, so they don’t have enough left over for their personal and family life. Our research also shows that those who take vacations and holidays return to work more energized and productive. That’s why so many leading employers are encouraging time off for holidays and vacations.
In a statement, Macy’s said the decision to open on Thanksgiving was “in response to interest from customers who prefer to start their shopping early.” And it’s also true that it’s what some employees want as well, especially when retailers offer to pay time and a half, or when labor agreements include provisions for premium pay. But what I want to do is encourage people to look at the bigger work-life picture. Giving up our holidays can negatively impact our well-being and our personal and family lives. Creating traditions with our children and continuing traditions with our elders can also suffer. More important, it further erodes the already faint distinction between our work and our personal lives, and it’s a trend that just may move from retail to white collar jobs. After all, 50 years ago no one would have thought that professionals would be working nights and weekends, and we all know how that turned out.
Some companies seem to realize that this trend has larger implications and remain Turkey Day–selling holdouts. Costco, often cited as an employee-friendly company, is one of those. This article from 247WallSt.com includes a list of seven retailers bucking the trend. One of the retailers mentioned in the piece includes P.C. Richard & Son. A statement on the company’s blog sums up why opening stores on Thanksgiving or shopping at stores that are open on that day may not be a good thing.
It is our opinion that retailers who choose to open on Thanksgiving Day show no respect to their employees and families, and are in total disrespect of family values in the United States of America.
While that may sound a little moralistic, in the end, it really is about values, although not necessarily the obvious ones. It’s about keeping the ever encroaching workweek at bay and preserving the notion that we are all entitled to some rest and rejuvenation.
Ellen Galinsky is co-founder and president of the Families and Work Institute and author of Mind in the Making: The Seven Essential Life Skills Every Child Needs. The views expressed are solely her own. | – Based on the Facebook outrage and all the online petitions, a huge chunk of America is pretty upset about the growing trend of stores opening on Thanksgiving Day. But, uh, the way to fix this has nothing to do with signing a petition and posting it on your Facebook wall, writes Ellen Galinsky for Time. "All you have to do is do something else on Thanksgiving Day other than opening your wallet." It's that easy: "Don't go shopping on Thanksgiving. Just don't." Research—including that done by the Families and Work Institute, which Galinsky co-founded—shows that holidays are "critical to keeping employees healthy and productive." And what's to say the trend of working on Thanksgiving won't eventually shift from retail to non-essential white collar jobs? "After all, 50 years ago no one would have thought that professionals would be working nights and weekends, and we all know how that turned out," Galinsky writes. Matt Walsh had a similar take on the Huffington Post last week: "If you shop on Thanksgiving, you are part of the problem." Click for his full column, or Galinsky's full column. |
CLOSE Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello spoke about the island's preparations for Hurricane Maria and the toll the storms have taken on the area this year. USA TODAY
Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló at a hurricane preparedness meeting in advance of Hurricane Maria. (Photo: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY)
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The ever-growing hurricane trudging toward his island is bigger and potentially more destructive than any recent storms and could lay waste to huge swaths of the island, Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said Monday.
Hurricane Maria, expected to pound Puerto Rico by Wednesday with 150-mph winds, will flood some parts of the island, thoroughly destroy others and leave most of the nation of 3.4 million people without power, Rosselló said in an interview with USA TODAY.
“It will essentially devastate most of the island,” he said.
Puerto Rico is under the unique and challenging position of still recovering from Hurricane Irma — which skated near the island earlier this month but mostly spared the island from widespread damage — while simultaneously prepping for Maria.
The 450 shelters opened for Irma will remain in place and accept thousands of residents fleeing flood-prone areas, such as Ponce to the south and Bayamón to the north. U.S. assets, such as on-the-ground FEMA officials and U.S. search-and-rescue teams, will stay in Puerto Rico to facilitate response and recovery efforts through Maria, he said.
Hurricane Maria: Upgraded to 'potentially catastrophic' Category 5 storm
Related: Yes, this hurricane season has been worse than usual
More: Battered by Irma, thousands flee St. John island in path of the next storm
Rosselló’s biggest concern and challenge is convincing the thousands of Puerto Ricans who fared well through Irma that Maria will be stronger, wetter, slower — and far more dangerous.
“These couple of hours prior to the storm are going to be critical so that we make sure that people are out of harm’s way and we can save lives,” he said.
Late Monday, Hurricane Maria grew to a powerful Category 5 storm and made landfall on Dominica, forging a path where it could re-smash many of the Caribbean islands that were devastated by Hurricane Irma, including the U.S. and British Virgin Islands. It’s expected to continue intensifying over the next two days and sweep across southern Puerto Rico around noon Wednesday.
Across the Caribbean, people continued stockpiling supplies and preparing for Maria’s arrival. In the French Caribbean territory of Martinique, French authorities have ordered residents to stay home as the storm approaches.
In the U.S. Virgin Islands of St. Thomas and St. John, people lined up at docks to try to catch last-minute boat rides off the battered islands. The islands were wrecked by Irma, losing power for months and making hospitals inhabitable. Maria is now expected to cross very near to St. Croix, the only U.S. Virgin Island left largely unscathed by Irma.
“It’s like when you’re in the fourth quarter of a basketball game and you’re down by 50 points and then the team that’s winning hits six three-pointers in a row,” said Chris Currerri, 42, a St. Thomas resident who’s electronic manufacturing business was badly damaged by Irma. “You’re like, ‘Ugh, we’ll never catch them now.’”
He added: “Nobody’s thrilled.”
Federal aid from Washington, both logistically and in actual resources, to Puerto Rico has been “phenomenal,” Rosselló said
He’s been in close contact with officials at Homeland Security, FEMA and the White House, he said. On Monday, when Rosselló asked the Trump administration for a pre-landfall disaster declaration, which frees up federal dollars and assets, he said verbal approval was swift from Washington.
“There can be many other areas where we differ on public policy,” he said, “but I have to say the response from FEMA and the federal response has been phenomenal.”
CLOSE After being hit by Hurricane Irma, U.S. Virgin Island residents in St. John are now trying to leave the island before Hurricane Maria strikes the area. USA TODAY
U.S. disaster officials have promised Rossello “brigades” of energy workers to help Puerto Rico reinstate power on the island after Maria, a crucial concern of leaders here. Irma knocked out power to about 1 million homes here earlier this month. Many still don’t have power.
“We can expect the energy infrastructure is going to take a big hit after this storm,” Rosselló said. “We’re going to need a lot of generators.”
Rosselló said he hopes Americans in the mainland remember how Puerto Rico helped others during Irma, including taking in more than 3,500 U.S. citizens stranded on the islands during that storm.
“After Irma, the people of Puerto Rico stood up and helped others,” he said. “We’ve done our part. But it’s likely we’re going to need a lot of help, a lot of collaboration, after this storm.”
Contributing: Associated Press
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2yamW5g ||||| Men remove a boat from the water ahead of Hurricane Maria in the Galbas area of Sainte-Anne on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, early Monday, Sept. 18, 2017. Hurricane Maria grew into a Category... (Associated Press)
ROSEAU, Dominica (AP) — Hurricane Maria swept over the small island of Dominica with catastrophic winds overnight, starting a charge into the eastern Caribbean that threatens islands already devastated by Hurricane Irma and holds the possibility of a direct hit on Puerto Rico.
Fierce winds and driving rain lashed mountainous Dominica for hours as Maria caused flooding and tore roofs from homes as an extremely dangerous Category 5 storm. A police official on the island, Inspector Pellam Jno Baptiste, said late Monday that there were no immediate reports of casualties but it was too dangerous for officers to do a full assessment as the storm raged outside.
"Where we are, we can't move," he said in a brief phone interview while hunkered down against the region's second Category 5 hurricane this month.
By early Tuesday, Maria weakened slightly to a still major Category 4 storm after pounding the small Caribbean island nation. But forecasters cautioned that fluctuations in intensity were to be expected.
Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit earlier captured the fury of Maria as it made landfall. "The winds are merciless! We shall survive by the grace of God," Skerrit wrote at the start of a series of increasingly harrowing posts on Facebook.
A few minutes later, he messaged he could hear the sound of galvanized steel roofs tearing off houses on the small rugged island.
He then wrote that he thought his home had been damaged. And three words: "Rough! Rough! Rough!"
A half hour later, he said: "My roof is gone. I am at the complete mercy of the hurricane. House is flooding." Seven minutes later he posted that he had been rescued.
Officials in Guadeloupe said the French island near Dominica probably would experience heavy flooding and warned that many communities could be submerged. In nearby Martinique, authorities ordered people to remain indoors and said they should be prepared for power cuts and disruption in the water supply.
Authorities in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico warned that people in wooden or flimsy homes should find safe shelter before the storm's expected arrival there on Wednesday.
"You have to evacuate. Otherwise, you're going to die," said Hector Pesquera, the island's public safety commissioner. "I don't know how to make this any clearer."
Maria had maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph) late Monday as it slammed into Dominica, its eye passing over the island before conditions began easing. Early Tuesday, a hurricane hunter plane found top winds had slightly weakened though Maria remained a still extremely dangerous Category 4 major storm.
The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Maria's top sustained winds were clocked at 155 mph (250 kph) at 2 a.m. and that the eye of Maria was about 45 miles (70 kilometers) west-northwest of Dominica. The storm was moving west-northwest at 9 mph (15 kph).
Before the latest fluctuation in intensity, forecasters had warned Maria would likely intensify over the next 24 hours or longer, noting its eye had shrunk to a compact 10 miles across and warning: "Maria is developing the dreaded pinhole eye."
That generally means an extremely strong hurricane will get even mightier, said Brian McNoldy, a hurricane researcher at the University of Miami. He said it just like when a spinning ice skater brings in their arms and rotates faster.
"You just don't see those in weaker hurricanes," he said.
The storm's hurricane-force winds extended out about 35 miles (45 kilometers) and tropical storm-force winds out as far as 125 miles (205 kilometers).
Hurricane warnings were posted for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guadeloupe, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. A tropical storm warning was issued for Martinique, Antigua and Barbuda, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, St. Lucia and Anguilla.
Forecasters said storm surge could raise water levels by 6 to 9 feet (1.8 to 2.7 meters) near the storm's center. The storm was predicted to bring 10 to 15 inches (25 to 38 centimeters) of rain across the islands, with more in isolated areas.
The current forecast track would carry it about 22 miles (35 kilometers) south of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands late Tuesday and early Wednesday, territorial Gov. Kenneth Mapp said.
"We are going to have a very, very long night," Mapp said as he urged people in the territory to finish any preparations.
St. Thomas and St. John are still stunned from a direct hit by Hurricane Irma, which did extensive damage and caused four deaths on the two islands.
Barry University said it chartered a private plane to carry students and staff from its St. Croix facility to Florida in preparation for Maria. It said 72 people connected to the Barry's Physician Assistant Program and a few pets were on Monday's evacuation flight.
In neighboring Puerto Rico, nearly 70,000 people were still without power following their earlier brush with Irma and nearly 200 remained in shelters as Maria approached.
Gov. Ricardo Rossello said Puerto Rico had 500 shelters capable of taking in up to 133,000 people in a worst-case scenario. He also said the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to bring drinking water and help restore power immediately after the storm, which could hit as a Category 5 hurricane.
"That is catastrophic in every way," said Roberto Garcia with the National Weather Service in San Juan. "People have to act, and they have to act now. They can no longer wait for a miracle."
To the north, Hurricane Jose stirred up dangerous surf and rip currents along the U.S. East Coast, though forecasters said the storm was unlikely to make landfall. Big waves caused by the storm swept five people off a coastal jetty in Rhode Island and they were hospitalized after being rescued.
A tropical storm warning was posted for coastal areas in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, and tropical storm watches were up for parts of New York's Long Island and Connecticut. Jose's center was about 395 miles (635 kilometers) south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, early Tuesday and moving north at 8 mph (13 kph). The storm had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph).
___
Associated Press writers Ben Fox in Miami, Seth Borenstein in Washington and Carlisle Jno Baptiste in Roseau Dominica contributed to this report. ||||| SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters) - Hurricane Maria, the second major storm to ravage the Caribbean in a month, skirted past the Turks and Caicos Islands on Friday, leaving devastation in its wake that included fresh flooding on Puerto Rico two days after pummeling the U.S. island territory.
Maria, which ranked as the most powerful hurricane to strike Puerto Rico in nearly a century, has killed at least six people there and claimed 19 lives on several other Caribbean islands, according to government officials and local news media accounts.
But even as Puerto Ricans struggled without electricity to clean up and dig out from tangles of rubble, uprooted trees and fallen power lines, another potential disaster was unfolding in northwestern corner of the island, where a dam was on the verge of collapse.
The U.S. National Weather Service warned in a series of bulletins that the dam on the rain-engorged Guajataca River, was failing, causing flash flooding in the area and prompting an evacuation of communities below the reservoir by way of buses.
Roughly 70,000 people live in the area downstream from the earthen dam that was under evacuation, the island’s governor, Ricardo Rossello, said in a late-afternoon news conference.
Christina Villalba, an official for the island’s emergency management agency, said there was little doubt the dam would give way.
“It could be tonight, it could be tomorrow, it could be in the next few days, but it’s very likely it will be soon,” she said, adding that authorities were aiming to complete evacuations Friday night.
Maria struck Puerto Rico as a Category 4 storm on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale and cut a path of destruction through the center of the island on Wednesday, ripping roofs from buildings and triggering widespread flooding. Torrential downpours from the storm sent several rivers to record levels.
Officials in Puerto Rico, an island of 3.4 million inhabitants, confirmed six storm-related fatalities: three from landslides in Utuado, in the island’s mountainous center; two from drowning in Toa Baja, west of San Juan, and a person near San Juan who was struck by a piece of wind-blown lumber.
Earlier news media reports had put the island’s death toll as high as 15.
“We know of other potential fatalities through unofficial channels that we haven’t been able to confirm,” said Hector Pesquera, the government’s secretary of public safety.
In and around San Juan, the capital, people worked to clear debris from the streets on Friday, some working with machetes, while others began to reopen businesses, though they wondered how long they could operate without power and limited inventory.
“There’s no water, no power, nothing,” said Rogelio Jimenez, a 34-year-old pizzeria worker.
Motorists lined up for hours outside the few gasoline stations that were open. “I’ve been here for three and a bit hours,” said Angel Serra, sitting in a blocks-long line hoping to fill up his tank.
Long lines also formed at the handful of automated teller machines that appeared to be working in the region.
Locals stand along a street affected by the overflow of the Soco River in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in El Seibo, Dominican Republic, September 22, 2017. REUTERS/Ricardo Rojas
DAMAGE ESTIMATED AT $45 BLN
Puerto Rico was already facing the largest municipal debt crisis in U.S. history. A team of judges overseeing its bankruptcy has advised involved parties to put legal proceedings on hold indefinitely as the island recovers, said a source familiar with the proceedings.
The storm was expected to tally $45 billion in damage and lost economic activity across the Caribbean, with at least $30 billion of that in Puerto Rico, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia.
Elsewhere in the Caribbean, 14 deaths were reported on Dominica, an island nation of 71,000 inhabitants. Two people were killed in the French territory of Guadeloupe and one in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Two people died when the storm roared past the Dominican Republic on Thursday, according to local media outlet El Jaya.
Maria churned past Turks and Caicos and was 295 miles (480 km) east of the Bahamas by 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) on Friday, the NHC said. It was packing sustained winds of up to 125 miles per hour (205 km per hour), making it a Category 3 hurricane, but was expected to gradually weaken over the next two days as it turned more sharply to the north.
Officials on Turks and Caicos, a British overseas territory, had ordered residents to remain indoors and businesses to close on Friday as the hurricane neared, bringing a storm surge of as much as 12 feet (3.7 meters) above normal tide levels. But hurricane warnings were later canceled as Maria passed.
Storm swells driven by Maria were expected to reach the southeastern coast of the U.S mainland on Friday, the NHC said, adding that it was too soon to determine what, if any, other direct effects it would have.
In the Dominican Republic, Maria damaged nearly 3,000 homes and sent more than 9,300 to shelters, local emergency response agencies reported.
Maria passed close by the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix, home to about 55,000 people, early Wednesday, knocking out electricity and most mobile phone service.
Maria hit about two weeks after Hurricane Irma pounded two other U.S. Virgin Islands: St. Thomas and St. John. The islands’ governor, Kenneth Mapp, said it was possible that St. Thomas and St. Croix might reopen to some cruise liner traffic in a month.
Slideshow (20 Images)
Irma, one of the most powerful Atlantic storms on record, killed more than 80 people in the Caribbean and the United States. It followed Harvey, which also killed more than 80 people when it struck Texas in late August and caused flooding in Houston.
More than two months remain in the Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to Nov. 30, although the busiest period is generally from mid-August to mid-October. ||||| (CNN) There is still time for Puerto Ricans to get to a government-run shelter before powerful Hurricane Maria clobbers the island, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló told CNN late Tuesday.
But the window of opportunity is closing.
"There's still time ... but people need to move fast," Ricardo Rosselló told CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360˚," calling the storm the "worst hurricane in modern history in Puerto Rico."
US President Trump tweeted his thoughts to those on the island, a US territory. "Be careful, our hearts are with you," he wrote, calling the storm a "monster hurricane," and pledging assistance.
Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane. Be careful, our hearts are with you- will be there to help!
Maria is a Category 5 storm with sustained winds of 175 mph (281 kph). By late Tuesday, the eye of hurricane was expected to move near or over St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and make landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday morning.
"Winds are starting to pick up, the glass is starting to bow back and forth. We're soon going to take shelter in a safe room," Mike Theiss, a hurricane chaser who is staying in Fajardo, told CNN's Don Lemon.
Maria has already obliterated parts of Dominica and killed at least one person in Guadeloupe.
Rosselló said there are about 500 shelters open. Emergency workers are still out, but will head in when sustained winds reach 50 mph, the governor said.
Most ppl at Pedrin Zorria shelter will lose their home if #HurricaneMaria hits. However, mood is light & everyone helps each other here@CNN pic.twitter.com/J9zFwKcvEa — Jaide Garcia (@Jaide_Garcia) September 20, 2017
Many people live on the eastern half of Puerto Rico, which forecasters worry will endure the brunt of the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the island.
Residents of Puerto Rico, who were spared some of Irma's wrath when that hurricane's core passed north of the island, boarded up homes and businesses Tuesday. People who fled to the US territory as Maria, and before it, Hurricane Irma, which swept through the region just days ago, advanced on their islands sought refuge in hotels and shelters.
Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An apartment building is missing a wall in San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Monday, September 25, nearly a week after Hurricane Maria devastated the US commonwealth. Power is still out in most places, and communications remain almost nonexistent on the island of 3.4 million people. Hide Caption 1 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Yancy Leon rests at the Luis Muñoz Marin International Airport near San Juan on September 25. She's been waiting in line for two days to get a flight out. Hide Caption 2 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An aerial view shows the flooding in San Juan on September 25. Hide Caption 3 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People collect water from a natural spring created by landslides in Corozal, Puerto Rico, on Sunday, September 24. Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló said the island faces a humanitarian crisis. Hide Caption 4 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean An aerial view shows a flooded neighborhood in Catano, Puerto Rico, on Friday, September 22. Hide Caption 5 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A man cleans a muddy street in Toa Baja, Puerto Rico, on September 22. Hide Caption 6 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A man walks on a highway divider while carrying his bicycle through San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Thursday, September 21. Hide Caption 7 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A shack is destroyed in San Juan on September 21. Hide Caption 8 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A gas station's sign is damaged in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, as the hurricane passed just north of the country on September 21. Hide Caption 9 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Rescue workers drive through a flooded road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on Wednesday, September 20. Hide Caption 10 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A mattress that fell from the third floor is surrounded by debris outside a San Juan apartment complex on September 20. Hide Caption 11 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Damage is seen in Roseau, Dominica, on September 20. Hide Caption 12 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People walk through the destruction in Roseau on September 20. Hide Caption 13 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean San Juan is shrouded in darkness after the hurricane knocked out power to the entire island of Puerto Rico. Hide Caption 14 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Power lines are scattered across a road in Humacao, Puerto Rico, on September 20. Hide Caption 15 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Residents move aluminum panels from an intersection in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 16 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Rescue vehicles are trapped under an awning in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 17 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Trees are toppled outside the Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan on September 20. Hide Caption 18 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Members of a rescue team embrace as they wait to help in Humacao on September 20. Hide Caption 19 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A tree is damaged in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 20. Hide Caption 20 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Debris is strewn across a Fajardo street on September 20. Hide Caption 21 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A woman closes her property in Naguabo, Puerto Rico, hours before Maria's arrival. Hide Caption 22 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People take shelter at Puerto Rico's Humacao Arena on Tuesday, September 19. Hide Caption 23 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Two girls play on cots at the Humacao Arena. Hide Caption 24 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Waves crash in San Juan as the hurricane neared Puerto Rico on September 19. Hide Caption 25 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People pray in Humacao on September 19. Hide Caption 26 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A street is flooded in Pointe-a-Pitre, on the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, on September 19. Hide Caption 27 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People stand near debris at a restaurant in Le Carbet, Martinique, on September 19. Hide Caption 28 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People in Luquillo, Puerto Rico, board up windows of a business on September 19. Hide Caption 29 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A boat is overturned off the shore of Sainte-Anne, Guadeloupe, on September 19. Hide Caption 30 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Cars line up at a gas station in San Juan on September 19. Hide Caption 31 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean A motorist drives on the flooded waterfront in Fort-de-France, Martinique, on September 19. Hide Caption 32 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Floodwaters surround cars in Pointe-a-Pitre on September 19. Hide Caption 33 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Soldiers patrol a street in Marigot, St. Martin, as preparations were made for Maria on September 19. Hide Caption 34 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean People buy provisions in Petit-Bourg, Guadeloupe, as the hurricane approached on Monday, September 18. Hide Caption 35 of 36 Photos: Hurricane Maria slams the Caribbean Customers wait in line for power generators at a store in San Juan on September 18. Hide Caption 36 of 36
Fraught journey
Jessica Mangiaracina and Bob Perkins came to San Juan from St. Thomas with their two children. Irma destroyed everything around them and threw the island into chaos.
It took them six days to get off St. Thomas, they said, killing chickens for food and making their way through areas being looted.
This couple journeyed 6 days w/ 2 kids to escape the #HurricaneIrma destruction on St. Thomas...only to face #HurricaneMaria in PR. @CNN pic.twitter.com/Ct48ucGeqk — Jaide Garcia (@Jaide_Garcia) September 19, 2017
They got to Puerto Rico by catamaran, where, like many others, they tried to get a flight out with no success.
Now they are coping with the reality that they've escaped into the middle of Hurricane Maria's angry path.
The couple is among thousands of people in shelters.
When asked what their current plan is, Perkins responded, "survive."
JUST WATCHED Puerto Rico braces for direct hit from Maria Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Puerto Rico braces for direct hit from Maria 02:41
Heather Farrell, a visitor to the island, is on her honeymoon with her husband Luke. They were married on September 9. She says that they had tried to cut their trip short when it became apparent that they were in Maria's firing line.
"We did try to get off, as early as Saturday but all flights were either booked or canceled. We actually are on the ocean -- our room faces the ocean. It's pretty windy but there is no rain. We'll stay inside for now."
She said that hotel staff had asked that all guests that are staying at the hotel come downstairs early Wednesday morning to a safe room that they have set up for them.
"I would rather be home than here but I guess we're making the best of it," she said.
Worst storm in almost 80 years
Millions of Puerto Ricans are hoping to survive what could be the most powerful storm to ever hit the island. Maria likely will be the first Category 4 or 5 hurricane to make landfall in Puerto Rico in more than eight decades.
If the newest NHC forecast holds true, #Maria would be the strongest hurricane ever to make landfall in Puerto Rico. https://t.co/lvkxgxBGZd pic.twitter.com/pch7usfYix — CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) September 19, 2017
"No generation has seen a hurricane like this since San Felipe II in 1928," Rosselló said earlier. "This is an unprecedented atmospheric system."
President Donald Trump said the federal government will aid Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the storm.
"Puerto Rico being hit hard by new monster Hurricane," the President tweeted. "Be careful, our hearts are with you -- will be there to help!"
Maria has already killed one man in Guadeloupe after he ignored orders to stay inside and was struck by a falling tree, the island's government said.
Man killed by falling tree in Guadeloupe
Two other people are missing after a boat sank off the coast of La Désirade, a smaller island near the mainland of Guadeloupe. The government said about 80,000 people, or 40% of the households on the island, are without power.
Hurricane Maria caused widespread flooding Tuesday in Point-A-Pitre, Guadeloupe.
The storm also caused "widespread devastation" in Dominica, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said Tuesday.
The hurricane shredded the prime minister's house overnight and left much of the island -- population 73,000 -- in ruins.
JUST WATCHED NASA watches Maria intensify from space Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH NASA watches Maria intensify from space 00:50
Overseas, relatives were trying to reestablish contact with loved ones on the island.
Petrona Joseph, a public relations consultant who lives in Montreal, told CNN that her sister in Dominica was at home in Roseau, huddling in the bathroom with the rest of the family when they lost their roof.
They thought about trying to go to a neighbor's home but the winds were too strong. Joseph last heard from her sister by text Monday night around 11 p.m.
Maria is now the strongest hurricane on record to make landfall in Dominica, a former French and British colony whose economy relies heavily on tourism and agriculture.
Puerto Rico says Maria 'will be catastrophic'
Maria could bring up to 2 feet of rain and a storm surge of up to 9 feet to Puerto Rico, sparking flooding and mudslides, CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar said.
In the capital city of San Juan, residents cleared store shelves of water and other supplies.
1 San Juan store asking customers to limit to 2 cases of water per person - but shelves empty. Water easy to find in pharmacies last night. pic.twitter.com/VAmfn1fyr3 — Sarah Faidell (@FaidellCNN) September 19, 2017
A CNN producer who was driving from the airport Tuesday said there were still some vehicles on the road. Of the two gas stations she passed, one was open. Many shops were already closed, she observed.
Some tourists from California told her that the hostel they are staying at moved them to an interior room when the men were unable to find flights home.
Gov. Rosselló has declared a state of emergency, and Trump has issued an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico to aid with federal assistance.
Puerto Rico sheltered many of the evacuees who fled from other Caribbean Islands during Hurricane Irma earlier this month. Now those evacuees and native Puerto Ricans are bracing for devastation.
"This is an event that will be damaging to the infrastructure, that will be catastrophic," Rosselló said. "Our only focus right now should be to make sure we save lives."
"We expect to feel storm winds, tropical storm winds, (from) Tuesday up until late on Thursday. That's about two-and-a-half days of tropical storm winds," Rosselló said.
Our hotel in San Juan has put up metal boards to prep for #hurricanemaria pic.twitter.com/lcsmgVHphK — Julia Jones (@juliatjones) September 19, 2017
The Puerto Rico Convention Center in the capital San Juan to the north -- which is still housing Hurricane Irma evacuees from other Caribbean islands -- is preparing to accept thousands of residents as the worst of the storm is felt.
Martinique largely spared
One bit of good news emerged from the Caribbean: The French island of Martinique suffered no major damage, the French Interior Ministry tweeted Tuesday.
Maria knocked out power to about 50,000 homes, and 10,000 homes had no water. But overall, the damage assessment was "reassuring," the French Interior Ministry said.
The director general of French civil security, Jacques Witkowski, said only two people on Martinique suffered minor injuries.
Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Carmelo Mota, a builder, searches for tools in his destroyed home in Charlotte Amalie, US Virgin Islands, on Monday, September 18. Hurricane Irma devastated the US territory and other Caribbean islands in the region, leaving them exposed to new storms brewing in the Atlantic. Hide Caption 1 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean An aerial photo shows the devastation in Road Town, the capital of Tortola, the largest and most populated of the British Virgin Islands, on Wednesday, September 13. Hide Caption 2 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson talks to a resident of Anguilla during a visit on September 13. Hide Caption 3 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People collect food that was delivered by emergency workers in the Sandy Ground area of Marigot, St. Martin, on Tuesday, September 12. Hide Caption 4 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Buildings are destroyed in St. Martin on September 12. Hide Caption 5 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean French President Emmanuel Macron shakes hands with St. Martin residents during a visit to the island on September 12. Hide Caption 6 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean French soldiers patrol St. Martin on September 12. Hide Caption 7 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A person works to clean up a street September 12 after Hurricane Irma flooded parts of Havana, Cuba. Hide Caption 8 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man makes repairs in Havana on September 12. Hide Caption 9 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean This Marigot church was among the buildings destroyed in the storm. Hide Caption 10 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Cubans affected by Hurricane Irma line up to collect drinking water in Isabela de Sagua, Cuba, on Monday, September 11. Hide Caption 11 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Dutch King Willem-Alexander, front right, tours damage in St. Maarten on September 11. Hide Caption 12 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A palm tree sticks out of a pool on the French side of St. Martin on September 11. Hide Caption 13 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A woman stands next to her water-logged belongings that had been laid out to dry in front of her home in Isabela de Sagua on September 11. Hide Caption 14 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People line up for supplies in St. Martin on September 11. Hide Caption 15 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean The skeleton of a boat drifts in St. Martin's Simpson Bay on September 11. Hide Caption 16 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People salvage material from the remains of a house in Isabela de Sagua on September 11. Hide Caption 17 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Members of the British Army provide support on Tortola, one of the British Virgin Islands. Hide Caption 18 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A woman carries a dog at an airport checkpoint in St. Martin on September 11. Hide Caption 19 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People wade through a flooded street as a wave crashes in Havana on Sunday, September 10. Hide Caption 20 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Two men search through the rubble of their St. Martin restaurant on September 10. Hide Caption 21 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People make their way through debris in the Cojimar neighborhood of Havana on September 10. Hide Caption 22 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People board a plane leaving St. Martin on September 10. Hide Caption 23 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man wades through a flooded street in Havana on September 10. Hide Caption 24 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean An overview of Havana shows flooded streets on Saturday, September 9. Hide Caption 25 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A woman surveys flooding in Havana on September 9. Hide Caption 26 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A boat rests in a cemetery after Irma tore through Marigot, St. Martin. Hide Caption 27 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Residents return home after Irma passed through Caibarien, Cuba, on September 9. Hide Caption 28 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man walks in Caibarien on September 9. Hide Caption 29 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man carries a child through a flooded street in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, on Friday, September 8. Hide Caption 30 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man walks on a St. Martin street covered in debris on September 8. Hide Caption 31 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A damaged home is tilted onto its side on the Puerto Rican island of Culebra on Thursday, September 7. Hide Caption 32 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A home is surrounded by debris in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7. Hide Caption 33 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Irma damage is seen in St. Martin's Orient Bay on September 7. Hide Caption 34 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Employees from an electrical company work to clear a fallen tree in Sanchez, Dominican Republic. Hide Caption 35 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A woman makes her way through debris in Fajardo, Puerto Rico, on September 7. Hide Caption 36 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean In this image made from video, damaged houses are seen in St. Thomas on September 7. Hide Caption 37 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean The storm left widespread destruction on the island of Barbuda on September 7. Hide Caption 38 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A flattened home is seen in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on September 7. Hide Caption 39 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Nagua residents ride through an area affected by the storm on September 7. Hide Caption 40 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Trash and debris is washed ashore in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, on September 7. Hide Caption 41 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People walk through damage in Marigot, St. Martin, on September 7. Hide Caption 42 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean People survey damage in Marigot on September 7. Hide Caption 43 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Bluebeard's Castle, a resort in St. Thomas, was hit hard by Irma. St. Thomas resident David Velez sent this photo to CNN on September 7. Hide Caption 44 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Irma ruined these vehicles in St. Thomas. Hide Caption 45 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Waves smash into St. Martin on Wednesday, September 6. Hide Caption 46 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man looks at a vehicle turned upside down in the British territory of Anguilla. Hide Caption 47 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean An aerial view of St. Martin on September 6. Hide Caption 48 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Damaged cars are seen on a St. Martin beach on September 6. Hide Caption 49 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A boat is washed onto shore in St. Martin. Hide Caption 50 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Cars are piled up in Marigot on September 6. Hide Caption 51 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A man walks past damaged buildings in St. Martin on September 6. Hide Caption 52 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean A car is flipped onto its side in Marigot. Hide Caption 53 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Broken palm trees are scattered on a Marigot beach on September 6. Hide Caption 54 of 55 Photos: Hurricane Irma tears through Caribbean Irma floods a beach in Marigot on September 6. Hide Caption 55 of 55
Rapid intensification
In just 30 hours, Maria's intensity exploded from 65 mph on Sunday to 160 mph by Monday night, the National Hurricane Center said.
The British Foreign Office said more than 1,300 troops are on standby, either on affected islands or in nearby locations, ready to help after Maria tears through.
One military team has been deployed to the British Virgin Islands, and a British military reconnaissance team is on standby to go to the British territory of Montserrat.
The HMS Ocean is set to arrive in the area at week's end with 60 tons of government supplies. | – Hurricane Maria slammed into Dominica as a Category 5 storm Monday night, causing what the Caribbean nation's prime minister calls "mind-boggling" damage. In a Facebook post, Roosevelt Skerrit said the storm had left "widespread devastation" and torn the roofs off many homes, including his own. "My focus now is in rescuing the trapped and securing medical assistance for the injured," he said. In an earlier post, he said his house was flooded and he was at the "complete mercy of the hurricane." The National Hurricane Center says Maria, which hit Dominica with winds of up to 160mph, was downgraded to a Category 4 early Tuesday before regaining strength as a Category 5 again, reports Reuters. The NHC says the storm will remain an "extremely dangerous Category 4 or 5 hurricane while it approaches the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico." A state of emergency has been declared in Puerto Rico, where the storm is expected to hit Wednesday, CNN reports. Gov. Ricardo Rosselló tells USA Today that if the storms hits as forecast, it "will essentially devastate most of the island," causing far more damage than Hurricane Irma, which did not directly hit the island. Puerto Ricans in flimsy homes "have to evacuate. Otherwise, you're going to die," says Hector Pesquera, the island's public safety commissioner, per the AP. A state of emergency has also been declared in the US Virgin Islands, where Maria will be closest to St. Croix, the island that suffered the least damage from Irma. |
Article Tools Font size – + Share This
Peter Butera
Peter Butera -- the valedictorian and class president of Wyoming Area’s Class of 2017 -- did an interview with Jimmy Kimmel about having his microphone silenced mid-speech during Friday’s graduation ceremony.
The interview will air tonight at 11:35 p.m. on ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Butera said.
He did the interview via Skype around 7:30 p.m., and it lasted one or two minutes, he said.
"I thought it went pretty well," Butera said.
He said he also did interviews with the Washington Post and CNN.
National and international media picked up the story after an article about his graduation speech appeared Monday in The Citizens' Voice.
Butera had just started to criticize his school's administration when he was approached by Wyoming Area Secondary School Principal Jon Pollard to leave the stage at Sobieski Stadium.
"Peter provided me a copy of his speech on Thursday via email, and we reviewed it in my office the morning of graduation after the final practice," Pollard said in a statement he released after Tuesday's school board meeting. "Protecting the students and staff are my number one concern. When he veered off of the speech he had practiced, I was obligated to act to ensure the remainder of Peter's speech was not demeaning or derogatory to his classmates, the underclassmen, faculty, staff or administration."
Pollard also said he, his wife and children "have been subjected to abusive social media posts, text messages, emails and phone calls from across the nation both at work and home."
He said he "would make the same decision again because it was the right one on Friday" and will be the right decision "the next time a student attempts to hijack the ceremony for their own agenda."
Right before the sound was cut during Butera’s speech, he noted that those involved in student government — from class president to student council — really have no influence in how the school operates and that will hold graduates back in the real world.
“Despite some of the outstanding people in this school, a lack of real student government — and the authoritative nature that a few administrators and school members have — prevents students from developing as true leaders. Hopefully, this will change ... ”
At that point, the audio was turned off. ||||| Peter Butera veered off the preapproved speech at his graduation ceremony on June 16, to criticize Pennsylvania's Wyoming Area School District for its handling of the student government. (Wyoming Area School District)
Peter Butera, class president for the entirety of his life as a high school student — all four often-frustrating years of it — took the stage at Friday’s graduation ceremony after the recital of the class poem, which had offended no one.
When the principal of Wyoming Area Secondary Center in Exeter, Pa., had finished applauding the poem, Butera walked up and laid his speech on the podium: the lines he’d dutifully cleared with administrators, and those he had not.
Butera was 18, bound for Villanova University in a few months. He was his class valedictorian, and he was beginning to get nervous about his plan to go rogue at the last possible minute.
“Good evening, everyone,” Butera began, innocuously enough. “The past four years at Wyoming Area have been very interesting, to say the least.”
[The valedictorian who was kicked off stage for an unapproved speech got to finish it — on Kimmel]
Across the field, by the running track, Butera’s family watched with his girlfriend, who was taking video. In front of the stage sat nearly 200 classmates, nearly all of whom Butera said he knew well, for he had lived here his whole life.
On the chair to Butera’s left sat the principal, Jon Pollard, who barely looked up at him.
“To everyone here today, we cannot thank you enough for everything you’ve done for us,” Butera said.
Pollard scratched his face. So far so good. Butera kept thanking people for a while: Teachers he was close to, “a couple great administrators as well.”
He did not name Pollard among them — an omission not lost on one of the few people there who knew exactly how his speech would end.
“It was always Dr. Pollard,” Albert Sciandra, Butera’s friend and vice president in the student government, told The Washington Post. “He was the one who kept shooting everything Peter wanted to do down.”
The day before the ceremony, Sciandra said, the school had put on a talent show. Butera wanted to do a comedy skit: poke fun at the only teacher who ate the cafeteria lunch, stuff like that.
But such jokes were deemed too extreme, Sciandra said. “Peter rewrote them so many times. Pollard said, ‘You’re not doing it because I said so.’ ”
[A teacher’s decision to be ‘visibly queer’ in his photo with President Trump]
All of high school had been like that, Sciandra told The Post. No matter that they’d both been in student government every single year, he said — any idea that went beyond decorations for some school-approved event got shot down.
So when, a week or so before the ceremony, Butera told his friend that he’d written a secret end to the approved speech — that he planned to expose a system he saw as a sham — Sciandra understood it had to be done.
Though as he sat on the field Friday, Sciandra still doubted his class president would go through with it.
Butera’s speech was now nearing its end. “I have pursued every leadership opportunity available to me,” he told the crowd. He’d been repeatedly elected class president. An honor each time.
“I would like to thank you all for that one final time,” he said. “It really means a lot.”
But it hadn’t meant much to the school, he was thinking, Butera later told The Washington Post. He was remembering the past summer, when he and Sciandra organized protests of a proposed dress code.
“Me and Peter, we went to every council meeting and school-board meeting,” Sciandra said. They packed the seats with students and parents and made speeches, and filled a petition with signatures.
And none of it mattered, the students said: The dress code passed anyway.
“It really means a lot,” Butera continued from the stage.
“However …”
Pollard still was not looking at him, but Sciandra braced in his seat.
“At our school, the title of class president can more accurately be class party planner,” Butera said. “Student council’s main obligation is to paint signs every week.”
At that moment, from his chair, Pollard made what may have been a grimace and finally turned to watch the valedictorian as he hit the climax of his speech.
“Despite some of the outstanding people in our school,” Butera went on, “a lack of a real student government combined with the authoritative attitude that a few teachers, administrators and board members have …”
The principal mouthed something to someone offstage.
” … prevented students from truly developing as true leaders …”
A mechanical bang interrupted his words as the microphone shut down. When Butera spoke his next line, his voice was naked. He had not expected that.
“Hopefully this will change,” he said, speaking louder, trying to be heard.
“Hopefully, for the sake of future students, more people in this school — ”
[A radio host was warned not to criticize President Trump. So he quit.]
Butera would have said more. He would have said he hoped future classes would have more educators who valued empowering students as much as they valued educating them. That leadership is a hard thing to learn within the strictures of a public school system.
“It is not what we have done as Wyoming Area students or athletes that will define our lives,” he had written on the paper his principal had not seen, “but what we will go on to do as Wyoming Area Alumni.”
Butera didn’t get to say the last lines. Now Pollard was on his feet, tapping the student’s elbow, mouthing something above a dead microphone.
“He said, ‘Alright Peter. You’re done,’ ” Butera told The Post.
But neither man could be heard now. The field was erupting with cheers, boos and screams: “Let him speak! Let him speak! Let him speak!”
In the back, by Butera’s mother, father, girlfriend, grandma, aunt and uncle, someone said: “I’m so proud.”
The rest of the ceremony would go more or less as officials had planned. The faculty would take turns making speeches. Pollard would give the Class of 2017 his advice: “Read good books and watch bad movies,” and “Clean your room and learn to do you own laundry.” And “watch what you put on social media.”
Irony. A few days after the ceremony, a grainy video of Butera’s speech spread wildly across the Internet — more than 75,000 endorsements on Reddit alone. Then came the news stories. While Pollard didn’t immediately respond to The Post, superintendent Janet Serino defended his silencing.
“The young man submitted his graduation speech to his principal and delivered a speech different from the speech that was submitted,” she wrote. But she had since reached out to Butera, requesting a meeting to discuss his concerns.
Wyoming Area Secondary Center’s valedictorian for 2017 had not called out his principal or superintendent or anyone else in his speech — not the approved version, or the rogue ending, or even the part he didn’t get to read.
And Butera declined to criticize any school authority by name when he spoke to The Post. He said that hadn’t been the point of his final act as class president.
“I’m supposed to represent the students,” he said.
And on his last day of high school, when the principal cut off his microphone and waved him off the stage and he walked back to his seat through a standing ovation, he felt that he finally had.
More reading:
The story behind a powerful photo of a Czech girl’s contempt for neo-Nazis
How one man’s pause became a haunting symbol of Aleppo’s destruction
Terrorists are building drones. France is destroying them with eagles. | – When Peter Butera got up to begin his valedictorian speech at his high school graduation ceremony in Exeter, Pa., on Friday, he probably never dreamed he'd be finishing it on Jimmy Kimmel Live! four days later. But on Tuesday night the 18-year-old class president appeared via Skype on the late-night talk show to recite the tail end of a speech that had been cut off by Wyoming Area Secondary Center administrators the week before. CBS Philly reports that administrators shut off Butera's microphone after he veered off his pre-approved script to condemn what he called the "authoritative attitude" of some of the school's faculty and staff, an attitude, he said, that "prevents students from developing as true leaders. Hopefully, this will change." At which point his mic went silent. The Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice quotes a statement from principal Jon Pollard in which he explains he felt obligated to stop Butera's speech in order to "ensure the remainder of [it] was not demeaning or derogatory to his classmates, the underclassmen, faculty, staff or administration." The Washington Post talks to a friend of Butera's who says Butera was frustrated by having numerous ideas turned down by Pollard during his four years as class president. (Other off-script lines from Butera: "At our school, the title of class president can more accurately be class party planner. Student council’s main obligation is to paint signs every week.") The Villanova-bound Butera doesn’t think his speech could have gone any better: "I got my point across and them cutting the microphone proved my point to be true." (Valedictorians have had issues before.) |
CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A former Cleveland school bus driver accused of kidnapping and holding three women captive for years pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to hundreds of criminal charges, but his lawyers said they are seeking a plea agreement to avert a trial.
Ariel Castro, 52, is shown in this Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office booking photo taken on May 9, 2013. Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters
A grand jury on Friday added 648 charges to a previous indictment against Ariel Castro, bringing the total number of charges against him to 977.
Castro, 53, is accused of abducting the first of the women in 2002 and holding them captive until they escaped from his house on May 6 along with a 6-year-old girl he fathered with one of the women.
During a brief court appearance, a lawyer for Castro entered the not guilty plea and the judge kept in place an $8 million bond, and an order that Castro have no contact with the three women and the child.
Law enforcement officials have said that the women, Gina DeJesus, 23, Michelle Knight, 32, and Amanda Berry, 27, were kept bound in chains or rope for periods of time and that they endured starvation, beatings and repeated sexual assaults.
The most serious of the charges against Castro, two counts of aggravated murder under a fetal homicide law over allegations he forced Knight to miscarry, could potentially carry a death sentence if prosecutors choose to pursue it.
Joe Frolik, a spokesman for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, told reporters a committee that considers death penalty charges is still deliberating and prosecutors have reserved the right to bring a third indictment that includes a death penalty charge.
According to the indictment, Knight was pregnant at least three times from September 2002 to December 2003. Castro’s aggravated murder charge stems from allegations that he forced her to miscarry in a fourth pregnancy from 2006 to 2007.
But legal experts have said that it would be difficult to prove murder without physical evidence of the miscarriage.
Castro has not sought to delay the start of his trial, which is scheduled for August 5, but defense attorneys again said on Wednesday they are seeking a plea agreement in the case.
“We are preparing for that trial however with the goal in mind to try to resolve this for the fairness of the women as well as the community so everyone can put this behind them,” Castro’s attorney, Craig Weintraub, told reporters.
“Either we are going to have a plea or we are going to have a trial on August 5,” he said.
Ian Friedman, a Cleveland lawyer who defended a teenager who opened fire at an Ohio school last year killing three people, said he would be shocked if the Castro trial begins as early as August 5 because of the complexity and number of charges.
“Ariel Castro will never leave prison to the taste of freedom. This case is only about whether he receives life (in prison) or death,” Friedman said.
Castro is charged with kidnapping the three women from 2002 to 2004 and brutalizing them over the next 10 years. He is also charged with kidnapping the 6-year-old girl and three counts of endangering her.
In Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court on Wednesday, Castro’s lawyers waived a reading of the full indictment, which also includes 512 counts of kidnapping, 446 counts of rape, seven counts of gross sexual imposition, six counts of felony assault, and one count of possessing tools such as a Ruger handgun used to aid in the crimes.
Judge Pamela Barker summarized the charges against Castro. When she asked if he understood the charges, Castro replied, “yes.” Barker several times told Castro, who was wearing orange prison clothes, to raise his head and to open his eyes.
DNA evidence has confirmed that Castro was the father of the girl, who was born to Berry. At a court appearance in early July, Castro asked to be allowed jail visits from his daughter. A judge rejected the request immediately as “not appropriate.” ||||| CLEVELAND, Ohio — Accused kidnapper and murderer Ariel Castro pleaded not guilty this morning to a 977-count indictment (read the full text of the indictment in the document viewer below), but not before he was admonished by a judge to raise his head and open his eyes during his appearance in court.
Castro was charged anew last week in an indictment that covers the entire 10-year period prosecutors say Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were imprisoned and repeatedly raped in Castro's Seymour Avenue home.
In previous court appearances, Castro had kept his head down and would not look up. Judge Pamela Barker, sitting in for Judge Michael Russo, ordered Castro to lift his head and open his eyes, saying she wanted to make sure he understood the reading of his rights.
Castro complied, but when he again dropped his head, Barker again ordered him to raise his head and open his eyes. He raised his head, but after again closing his eyes, Barker admonished him.
"I'm trying," Castro said.
The new indictment includes charges from a previous 329-count indictment against Castro, to which he pleaded not guilty. Craig Weintraub, one of Castro's attorneys, has previously said there are some charges against Castro that cannot be refuted and that a plea deal can be reached if Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy J. McGinty does not seek the death penalty.
After today's arraignment, Weintraub reiterated his desire to resolve the case and said there have been discussions with the prosecutor's office all along. He also said that the trial will commence on Aug. 5 as scheduled if a deal is not reached.
Neither Weintraub nor Schlachet would comment on Castro's demeanor in court.
The two charges against Castro that could call for the death penalty are for aggravated murder. They stem from accusations that Castro beat and tortured one of the three women into suffering a miscarriage.
McGinty said previously that he may seek the death penalty for Castro, but so far neither indictment includes death penalty specifications. McGinty reserves the right to add them later.
The new indictment of Castro includes 512 counts of kidnapping and 446 counts of rape, as well as three counts of child endangerment.
Berry gave birth to a child during her imprisonment that was fathered by Castro.
Castro appeared before Judge Barker because Judge Russo is off this week. | – Ariel Castro insists he's an innocent man, despite the 977 charges filed against him in the Cleveland kidnapping case. He pleaded not guilty to all of them in court today, reports Reuters. Maybe the most interesting part of the arraignment was the judge ordering Castro to keep his head up and his eyes open, because she wanted to make sure he understood what was going on. When he flagged at one point, she told him again, and he responded, "I'm trying," reports the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Two of the charges against Castro—of aggravated murder, stemming from a miscarriage suffered by one of the women he had allegedly beaten—carry a potential death sentence, and Castro's attorneys are hoping for a plea deal that would keep prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. The judge today kept Castro's $8 million bond in place and continued to forbid him from seeing the 6-year-old girl he fathered with one of the women. (The three victims say they're doing fine in a video released last week.) |
BOSTON (AP) — Police say a doctor was shot inside a prestigious Boston hospital before the shooter died of a self-inflicted wound.
(Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.)
ADVERTISEMENT (Click Prev or Next to continue viewing images.)
Boston Police Superintendent-in-Chief William Gross, center left, walks through a revolving door as he departs the Shapiro building at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015 in Boston. A... (Associated Press)
Medical personnel walk past law enforcement officials, right, as they depart the Shapiro building at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2015. A person was critically shot at the... (Associated Press)
Boston Police Commissioner William Evans says the physician was shot twice and suffered life-threatening injuries.
Evans says police were on the scene at Brigham and Women's Hospital within seconds after getting the first calls at about 11 a.m. Tuesday.
Officers conducting a room-by-room search found the suspect in an examination room dead of a self-inflicted wound. The gun was also found.
No names have been released, and Evans did not disclose a motive.
The hospital, affiliated with Harvard Medical School, said in a statement that the shooting took place in its Shapiro building, a cardiovascular care and research center. ||||| Dr. Michael Davidson
Dr. Michael Davidson, a cardiovascular surgeon who was shot twice on the second floor of Brigham and Women’s Hospital this morning, has died. The suspected shooter, Stephen Pasceri, died earlier of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Davidson, 44, of Wellesley, was shot at the hospital’s Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center. The incident began just after 11 a.m., when police say Pasceri came into the building asking for Davidson. Police said they don’t yet know what the suspect’s motive was.
“There’s something in the past that upset this guy to come in looking for this particular doctor,” Police Commissioner William Evans said at a press conference.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Updates below:
12:01 a.m.:
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh offered his condolences on Davidson’s death in a statement from his office:
I am deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr. Michael Davidson.” Mayor Walsh said. “This tragedy is the result of a senseless act of violence that has no place in our City. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during this difficult time
11:30 p.m.: Brigham and Women’s has also released a statement.
This evening, Dr. Michael J. Davidson, director of Endovascular Cardiac Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, has tragically died as a result of the gunshot wounds he sustained this morning during the shooting event at the Shapiro Cardiovascular Center. Dr. Davidson was a wonderful and inspiring cardiac surgeon who devoted his career to saving lives and improving the quality of life of every patient he cared for. It is truly devastating that his own life was taken in this horrible manner. At this time, Dr. Davidson’s family has requested privacy, and we ask for your support in honoring their request during this very difficult time.
10:53 p.m.:
Davidson died after being treated for gunshots, Boston Police announced in a statement on their website:
[S]everal witnesses... stated that the suspect entered the Shapiro Building and asked to speak with a specific doctor employed by the hospital. Investigators believe that at some point during his meeting with that doctor, Pasceri produced a firearm and shot the victim.
5:41 p.m.: Boston Police have confirmed the suspect in today’s shooting is Stephen Pasceri, a 55-year-old Millbury resident.
5:04 p.m.: WBZ TV has identified the surgeon shot this morning as Dr. Michael Davidson of Wellesley.
5 p.m.: The suspect in this morning’s shooting at Brigham and Women’s Hospital has been identified as Stephen Pasceri, 55, of Millbury, according to WCVB.
1:15 p.m.: The victim suffered two gunshot wounds, Police Commissioner William B. Evans said in a press conference. “It was a great response not only by my officers but by the hospital,” he said. “Everyone was doing exactly what we trained for.”
1:10 p.m.: The suspect has died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police say.
12:19 p.m.: Brigham and Women’s says hospital operations have returned to normal.
BWH Security & Boston Police confirm that active shooter situation is under control. Hospital operations are back to normal. — Brigham and Women's (@BrighamWomens) January 20, 2015
11:59 a.m.: Boston Police say the shooting victim suffered life-threatening injuries. A gun has been recovered.
11:47 a.m.: 7 News is reporting the suspect is male and the victim is a male doctor. According to WBZ, the victim is a male cardiac surgeon.
11:33 a.m.: Boston Police report that the situation is under control.
#BPDCommunityAlert: Suspect in Brigham & Women's shooting in custody. Hospital not in lock down. Situation under control. — Boston Police Dept. (@bostonpolice) January 20, 2015
11:30 a.m.: Massachusetts State Police reported that roads have been closed in the area around the hospital. Massachusetts State Trooper Dustin Fitch tweeted that Boston Police had one person in custody. ||||| BOSTON (CBS) — A cardiac surgeon who was shot at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Tuesday morning has died.
The doctor, identified as 44-year-old Michael Davidson, was shot twice in the Shapiro building, where the cardiovascular unit is located. He suffered life threatening injuries and was later pronounced dead.
Related: Hospital Visitor Says ‘It was Panic’
Dr. Davidson, of Wellesley, was the director of Endovascular Cardiac Surgery and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School.
The suspected shooter, identified as 55-year-old Stephen Pasceri of Millbury, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a second-floor examining room, next to the weapon believed to be used in the shooting, Boston police said.
“Dr. Davidson was a wonderful and inspiring cardiac surgeon who devoted his career to saving lives and improving the quality of life of every patient he cared for,” Brigham and Women’s Hospital said in a statement. “It is truly devastating that his own life was taken in this horrible manner.”
Police say Pasceri came into the hospital asking for Dr. Davidson.
“There was a particular reason why he targeted this doctor,” Boston Police Commissioner William Evans said. “Why and for what particular reason, we’re looking into.”
Sources say the motive may have been due to the care Pasceri’s mother received from the doctor.
Related: Memorial Fund Established For Doctor’s Family
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh says he was saddened to hear of the doctor’s death. “This tragedy is the result of a senseless act of violence that has no place in our City,” Mayor Walsh said. “My thoughts and prayers are with his family and his colleagues at Brigham and Women’s Hospital during this difficult time.”
Police said they received a report that a doctor had been shot in the area between the waiting room and examining rooms in the Shapiro Center at 11:07 a.m. Evans said people barricaded themselves in their offices while police searched the floor and secured the area.
“His colleagues got him as quickly as possible over to the emergency room,” Evans said.
Watch: Police Address Hospital Shooting
Hospital staff and police have done several training exercises based on this scenario.
“We prepare for these sorts of emergencies,” said Dr. Betsy Nabel, president of the hospital. “The reason we prepare is so we can respond in a rapid and appropriate manner.”
There are no metal detectors at Brigham and Women’s, a hospital spokeswoman said, adding she believed other Boston hospitals do not use them either. ||||| ...
any patient that has had difficulty getting an IV inserted. We not only just put IVs in, but we also do a lot of critical thinking and problem solving. We manage PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) lines, maintain vascular access for patients, check to make sure lines are open and not blocked, access patients’ IVs during code situations, and access and de-access ports. We also teach staff on the unit what to look for in certain situations and when to call for us. Our expertise helps improve the patient experience and contributes to them getting the care they need. “Being able to help a patient who has really tough access and seeing the relief on their face when I’m able to help them is a special part of my job. As someone who has anxiety with needles, I don’t like getting shots so I know how they feel. I try to calm their anxiety, and hopefully that makes them more comfortable. It’s a happy moment to see a patient who is at their most vulnerable state be at ease when I’m able to accomplish what I was trained to do.” – Lauren MacMurdo, RN, Brigham and Women’s Hospital # IVNurseDay | – A male cardiac surgeon is in critical condition after a shooting this morning at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital, reports CBS. The hospital confirmed the incident via Facebook post, saying, "There has been a shooting in the Shapiro building, and the suspect has been apprehended. The Shapiro Center has been locked down, and all staff are asked to remain in place." Boston police describe the situation as "under control," adds the AP, though now the Boston Globe is reporting that the suspect is dead, apparently of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. "A security guard came in and said we need to evacuate the building immediately," says one witness. "People started yelling 'get down, get down.'" CBS reports that a weapon was recovered from the scene in the hospital's second-floor cardiovascular unit; the Globe adds that the hospital is again operating normally. No motive is known as yet, though Police Commissioner William Evans says the suspect specifically asked for the doctor this morning. Says Evans, "There's something in the past that upset this guy to come in looking for this particular doctor." The doctor was shot twice. |
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. (AP) — Police say a getaway car ran out of gas after an armed robbery near Atlanta, leading to the speedy arrest of two suspects.
Gwinnett County police Cpl. Michele Pihera says 18-year-old Najee Logan and 21-year-old Justin Larry were charged with armed robbery after their arrest early Tuesday after officers found the car on empty.
Pihera's statement says the victim surrendered a wallet to two men at gunpoint in a grocery store parking lot about 1 a.m. Tuesday in a greater Atlanta suburb. Police say officers found the car about 15 minutes later with Logan and Larry inside.
Both men were jailed, and police didn't say if they have lawyers.
Pihera says it's fortunate the victim wasn't hurt, chalking up the arrests to what she called "poor planning" by the suspects. ||||| Just One More Thing...
We have sent you a verification email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your AJC.com profile.
If you do not receive the verification message within a few minutes of signing up, please check your Spam or Junk folder.
Close | – Police say a getaway car ran out of gas after an armed robbery near Atlanta, leading to the speedy arrest of two suspects. Gwinnett County police Cpl. Michele Pihera says 18-year-old Najee Logan and 21-year-old Justin Larry were charged with armed robbery after their arrest early Tuesday after officers found the car on empty. Pihera's statement says the victim surrendered a wallet to two men at gunpoint in a grocery store parking lot about 1am Tuesday in Stone Mountain, Ga., reports the AP. Police say officers found the car about 15 minutes later with Logan and Larry inside; they had made it about two miles down the road before running out of gas, notes the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Both men were jailed, and police didn't say if they have lawyers. Pihera says it's fortunate the victim wasn't hurt, chalking up the arrests to what she called "poor planning" by the suspects. |
A record 65.6 million people worldwide were forced from their homes due to conflict or persecution by the end of 2016, the United Nations said on Monday.
More on this: Tide of refugees from South Sudan rising fast - UN
Also read: What are aid groups' priorities for 2017? ||||| The relentless civil war in Syria and a surge of South Sudanese fleeing the collapse of peace efforts in their country helped propel the global population of displaced people to a postwar record in 2016, the United Nations refugee agency said Monday.
The agency’s annual Global Trends report, a statistical assessment of refugees, asylum seekers and people forcibly displaced from their homes, reflected a worsening of conflict, mayhem and persecution.
The new total of 65.6 million people displaced from their homes is 300,000 higher than the 2015 number, which had been the highest since World War II and its aftermath.
“By any measure this is an unacceptable number, and it speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises, and ensuring together that the world’s refugees, internally displaced and asylum seekers are properly protected and cared for while solutions are pursued,” Filippo Grandi, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees, said in releasing the findings. ||||| War, violence and persecution have uprooted more men, women and children around the world than at any time in the seven-decade history of UNHCR according to a report published today.
The UN Refugee Agency's annual Global Trends study found that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2016 – a total bigger than the population of the United Kingdom and about 300,000 more than last year.
It noted that the pace at which people are becoming displaced remains very high. On average, 20 people were driven from their homes every minute last year, or one every three seconds – less than the time it takes to read this sentence.
“By any measure this is an unacceptable number." UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi
“It speaks louder than ever to the need for solidarity and common purpose in preventing and resolving crises, and ensuring together that the world’s refugees, internally displaced and asylum-seekers are properly protected and cared for while solutions are pursued.”
UNHCR Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2016
In each of the past five years, annual increases to the global displacement total have been in the millions. While the 2016 total is high – representing an enormous number of people needing protection worldwide – it also shows that growth in displacement slowed last year.
The total figure includes 40.3 million people uprooted within the borders of their own countries, about 500,000 fewer than in 2015. Meanwhile, the total number seeking asylum globally was 2.8 million, about 400,000 fewer than in the previous year.
However, the total seeking safety across international borders as refugees topped 22.5 million, the highest number seen since UNHCR was founded in 1950 in the aftermath of the Second World War.
“My husband was killed in the war ... which made me decide to leave my home, everything, behind.”
The conflict in Syria, now in its seventh year, was the world’s biggest producer of refugees (5.5 million). However in 2016 the biggest new factor was South Sudan, where the disastrous break-off of peace efforts in July of that year contributed to an outflow of 737,400 people by the end of the year. That number has continued to rise during the first half of 2017.
Nyawet Tut, a South Sudanese mother of five in her 30s, described how soldiers set fire to her village and she had to run for her life with her own five children and five others of relatives killed in the conflict.
“My husband was killed in the war which, in addition to the shortage of food, made me decide to leave my home, everything, behind,” she told UNHCR staff during an interview at a temporary way station in Ethiopia.
In terms of overall displacement, Syria still accounts for the biggest numbers, with 12 million people (65 per cent of the population) displaced internally or living outside the country as refugees.
Leaving aside the long-standing Palestinian refugee situation, Colombians (7.7 million) and Afghans (4.7 million) remained the second- and third-largest displaced populations, followed by Iraqis (4.2 million). In total, about 3.3 million South Sudanese had fled their homes by the end of the year, in what has become the fastest-growing displacement of people in the world.
South Sudanese refugee Nyawett, accompanied by 10 children, shortly after reaching Gure Shombola camp, in Ethiopia. © UNHCR/Diana Diaz
Syrian refugee Aya, 4, has spina bifida, meaning she is paralyzed from the waist down. She has been resettled in Laval, north-west France with her family. © UNHCR/Giles Duley
Eight-year-old unaccompanied minor Issa Aj sits alone in Fufore camp for internally displaced persons in Adamawa State, north-east Nigeria. © UNHCR/George Osodi
A Honduran family enters the town of La Técnica, Guatemala, which lies across the Usumacinta River from Mexico. © UNHCR/Tito Herrera
Particularly heartbreaking is the plight of children, who make up half the world’s refugees, and continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the suffering, mainly because of their heightened vulnerability.
Tragically, 75,000 asylum claims were received from children travelling alone or separated from their parents, among them youngsters like Tareq, 16, who dodged armed combatants to walk out of Syria into neighbouring Turkey.
“There was no future where we lived,” he told UNHCR. “There was no university and no work. There were troops grabbing young children like me, and they send them to war, and they get killed. I wanted to study.”
Last year, much of the news coverage focused on refugee resettlement to developed countries, including efforts by some states to restrict access and even erect border barriers.
However, figures in the report showed that, worldwide, most refugees – 84 per cent – were in developing or middle-income countries at the end of 2016, with one in every three (4.9 million people) being hosted by the world’s least developed countries.
"There were troops grabbing young children like me ... I wanted to study.”
This huge imbalance reflects several things including the lack of consensus internationally when it comes to hosting refugees, and the proximity of many poor countries to regions of conflict.
It also illustrates the need for countries and communities supporting refugees and other displaced people to be properly resourced and supported, the absence of which can cause instability, have consequences for life-saving humanitarian work or lead to secondary displacement.
UNHCR estimates that at least 10 million people were without a nationality or at risk of statelessness at the end of 2016. However, data recorded by governments and communicated to UNHCR were limited to 3.2 million stateless people in 75 countries.
Faced with another year of a record displacement, devastating the lives of millions of men, women and children, one thing is clear: “We have to do better for these people,” Grandi said. “For a world in conflict, what is needed is determination and courage, not fear.”
(Additional reporting by Diana Diaz in Ethiopia) | – The world broke a grim record last year, with 65.6 million people living forcibly displaced from their homes, an increase of 300,000 over 2015. Most of those people—40.3 million—were displaced but still living within their own countries, per a new report by the UN refugee agency. The rest had fled their native countries, with that figure broken down into 22.5 million refugees and 2.8 million people "seeking asylum." Of the total 65.6 million people displaced, 10.3 million of them became so in 2016. The statistics reflect dire situations in countries such as Syria, which has been ravaged by a six-year civil war, and South Sudan, which, the UN report states, has suffered from a “disastrous breakdown of peace efforts.” The New York Times reports that Syria produced the most refugees last year, with 5.5 million, while nearly 750,000 fled South Sudan. Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees (2.9 million), with Lebanon taking in the most displaced persons relative to the size of its population (one in six), reports Thomson Reuters. One glimmer of good news in the UN report is that there has been a slowing in the growth of displacement worldwide. The number of people uprooted within their own countries was down slightly last year, as was the number of asylum seekers. Those numbers were offset, however, by an increase in the number of refugees to 22.5 million, the highest number reported since the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office was formed in 1950. |
SEOUL—Hours after U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillersonpraised him for exercising restraint, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared in state media visiting a missile-development factory and ordering the production of more warheads and rocket engines.
Mr. Kim’s visit, the date of which wasn’t disclosed by Pyongyang in its report on Wednesday, underscores North Korea’s continued investment in its ability to threaten the continental U.S. with a nuclear-tipped long-range missile.
... ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| (CNN) Newly released photos appear to reveal unexpected advances in North Korea's missile program, experts say, including a previously unseen type of projectile.
On Wednesday, North Korean state media KCNA announced leader Kim Jong Un had visited the country's Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Sciences.
"He instructed the institute to produce more solid-fuel rocket engines and rocket warhead tips by further expanding engine production process," the statement said.
But it was the photos of the inspection released by state media which missile analysts seized upon immediately.
"This is the North Koreans showing us, or at least portraying, that their solid-fuel missile program is improving at a steady rate," David Schmerler, research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey's James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told CNN.
One photo of Kim reveals a poster on the wall clearly mentioning a missile called "Pukguksong-3," a potential successor to the previous two versions of the missile which were both solid-fuel, medium-range projectiles.
North Korea's desire to build solid-fuel missiles is driven by their need for projectiles they can launch quickly and subtly, said Michael Duitsman, also a research associate at the James Martin Center.
"Solid fuel missiles are much faster to deploy ... a solid fuel missile is always fueled so all they have to do is drive it to the place they want to launch it," he said.
"It's much easier to put into action, much harder to catch before it launches because they're a lot less in terms of launch preparations that could be done."
All ballistic missiles owned by the United States and Russia are solid-fuel models, according to Duitsman.
In another, the North Korean leader stands next to a large copper-colored container, which experts said could be a wound-filament reinforced plastic rocket casing.
"It's not a missile test but it's still very disconcerting for people who look at the North Korean ballistic missile program," Duitsman.
"Seeing the casing ... is sooner than I expected."
Both experts said the wound-filament casing seen in one photo would be lighter than previous metal versions, allowing North Korea's missiles to fly further.
Left: fuel tank from Kim's visit to the Chemical Institute today.
Right: Aramid fiber seized en route to DPRK by Russian customs last year. pic.twitter.com/vHPDNXFmlb — Michael Duitsman (@DuitsyWasHere) August 23, 2017
When the US Navy first switched to the lighter casing during the 1960s their missiles flew an additional 500 miles, an increase of about 50 per cent, Duitsman said. "They also switched the propellant (though)," he added.
Schlermer said it was unlikely that either the revelation of the new missiles or the filament casing were a mistake by Pyongyang.
"I don't think there's any accident about this, the shot clearly shows Pukguksong-3, this was the North Koreans showing us what we could possibly see soon," he said.
8/ Thus, the ability to produce large wound-filament casings was crucial to the development of Soviet road-mobile ICBMs & IRBMs. pic.twitter.com/zWQcWMjtg7 — Michael Duitsman (@DuitsyWasHere) April 21, 2017
Trump: Kim is 'starting to respect us'
High-profile US leaders have praised Pyongyang for showing "restraint" in pulling back from its previous pledges to launch missiles into the sea around Guam.
One week ago, US President Donald Trump sent a tweet saying Kim had made a "wise decision" not to launch a missile , adding the alternative would have been "both catastrophic and unacceptable."
JUST WATCHED Trump believes Kim Jong Un respects US Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Trump believes Kim Jong Un respects US 00:43
Speaking at a rally in Arizona Wednesday, Trump claimed Kim was "starting to respect us."
"I respect that fact very much. Respect that fact. And maybe probably not, but maybe, something positive could come about. (The media) won't tell you that. But maybe something positive could come about," he told supporters.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has also presented a more conciliatory face to North Korea in recent days, saying the US was open to dialogue with the rogue state
This undated picture released from North Korean state media shows leader Kim Jong Un visiting the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science.
"I think it is worth noting, we have had no missile launches or provocative acts on the part of, or provocative actions, on the part of North Korea since the UN Security Council resolution" sanctioning Pyongyang on August 5, Tillerson said Tuesday.
"I am pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has demonstrated restraint. We hope this is the signal we have been looking for, that they are ready to restrain provocative acts. And perhaps we are seeing a pathway in the near future to having some dialogue" | – So much for restraint? North Korean state media published photos and a report Wednesday that show Kim Jong Un visiting a chemicals institute, and it was apparently more than a meet-and-greet. Yonhap reports that while there, Kim upped the production of rocket engines and warhead tips for ICBMs. The Wall Street Journal reports the timing of the visit to the Chemical Material Institute of the Academy of Defense Science wasn't given, but the timing of the release is notable: It comes one day after Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a news briefing that he was "pleased to see that the regime in Pyongyang has certainly demonstrated some level of restraint that we have not seen in the past." It has been 26 days since the country's last missile launch. "A two-week adherence of North Korea to UN prohibitions against missile tests hardly counts as a significant indicator of benign intent by the regime," is the assessment of one expert on the region to the Journal. CNN spotted something potentially more worrisome: The photos released by the Korean Central News Agency show diagrams that seem to depict two unknown and potentially in development missiles. One, the Pukguksong-3, seems to be a solid-fueled missile, as its predecessors were. This type has an advantage over liquid-fueled ones in that it doesn't need to sit on a launchpad for a length of time—during which it would be exposed to a preemptive strike—to fuel. "This is the North Koreans showing us, or at least portraying, that their solid-fuel missile program is improving at a steady rate," a researcher tells CNN. |
The Nokia 3310 is one of the most iconic cellphones of the early mobile age. It’s known for its nearly indestructible design, indefatigable battery life, and Snake II — and it might be making a modern-day comeback. The news comes from notable phone leaker Evan Blass, who reports over at VentureBeat that HMD Global — the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones — will be announcing a relaunch of the classic 3310 phone at MWC that will allegedly cost just €59 (roughly $62.61).
Along with the rumored 3310 remake, Nokia has already teased new Android phones for MWC, in addition to the currently China-only Nokia 6 that was announced late last year. According to Blass, those will be the Nokia 5 and Nokia 3, two more midrange devices running Android Nougat and rumored to cost €199 (roughly $210.87) and €149 (roughly $157.89), respectively. The Nokia 5 is said to have a 5.2-inch 720p screen, 2GB of RAM, and a 12-megapixel camera, along with the same Snapdragon 430 processor as the 6. Less is known about the Nokia 3, except that it’s meant to be the budget model of the line.
If correct, those specs are a bit of a disappointment for anyone looking for a flagship Nokia device, as it would make the 5 a step down from the already midrange 6, which has a 1080p, 5.5-inch display, 4GB of RAM, and 16-megapixel camera for €249 (roughly $263.85).
We’ll find out if resurrection of the 3310 is real, along with confirmation of these rumored Android devices, when Nokia and HMD Global have their formal event at MWC on February 26th. ||||| Adriana Lima's Store
Break into the new year with Adriana’s fitness favorites. | – Perhaps it isn't just flip phones that are making a comeback. HMD Global, the Finnish company that produces Nokia phones, reportedly hopes to make a splash in the tech world this month by reintroducing a model first presented in the Y2K era. VentureBeat reports the company plans to unveil four new cell phones at Mobile World Congress on Feb. 26—including the Nokia 3 and Nokia 5, said to be budget versions of the Nokia 6, currently only available in China. They'll sell for $158 and $265, respectively. But coming in at the more affordable price of $63 is reportedly an updated version of the iconic Nokia 3310, first introduced in 2000. The Nokia 3310 was "perhaps the best-loved and most resilient phone in history," according to the Independent. Users especially loved its solid build, long-lasting battery, and the included game Snake II, reports the Verge. However, little is known about the updated version. VentureBeat simply notes its price point means the phone might appeal to "nostalgic former owners for use as a second phone." The release is aimed at European users, and there's no word on when the new devices could be available in North America. But if you're impatient, the Independent notes Nokia 3310s are still available on Amazon and come with a clock, calculator, and four games. |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
/ Updated By Jonathan Allen, Pete Williams, Nicolle Wallace and Julia Ainsley
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, whose job hangs in the balance, will meet with President Donald Trump on Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Monday.
"We'll be determining what's going on," Trump said Monday afternoon before a meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in New York. "We want to have transparency, we want to have openness. I look forward to meeting with him." The president also said he had talked with Rosenstein earlier Monday.
Rosenstein had been expected to learn his fate during a visit to the White House on Monday, but, with Trump in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, any decision on his future was postponed. Rosenstein attended a regularly scheduled meeting at the White House and was still deputy attorney general when he left at midday.
The deputy attorney general spoke on Saturday with White House Counsel Don McGahn and the subject of Rosenstein's departure came up, NBC News' Pete Williams reported, though it was unclear who raised it first. Rosenstein made clear he would not accept being terminated by John Kelly, the chief of staff, according to one personal familiar with the conversation, and said it needed to come from the president himself.
However, multiple sources told NBC News that over the weekend, Trump made the decision, in conversations with staff and outside allies, not to fire Rosenstein. Among those advising Trump on this matter were the Fox News host Sean Hannity and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. Meadows wants Rosenstein to testify under oath about whether he ever contemplated wearing a wire in the presence of Trump or discussed a plan to win support from other Cabinet members to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president.
A person close to the White House described the current situation among the president's allies as "chaos." A second person close to the president said that if Rosenstein leaves, under any circumstances, "then the burden's on President Trump to make sure that Mueller is allowed to finish his job without interference."
Sources close to Rosenstein say he spoke to friends and former colleagues over the weekend as he raised the possibility of resigning in the wake of The Times story. One person said Rosenstein felt personally betrayed by the sources for the story, calling it a "knife in the back." Another person said Rosenstein continued to defend himself by calling the allegation that he suggested using the 25th Amendment against the president "absurd."
Rosenstein's hold on his job was imperiled after reports surfaced last week that he had discussed wearing a wire to record Trump and the possibility of organizing a push to remove the president through a process outlined in the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
"At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories," Sanders said in a statement. "They will meet on Thursday when the president returns to Washington, D.C."
Thursday is also the day Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were in high school, are scheduled to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Kavanaugh has denied her allegation.
Rosenstein's departure would throw into doubt the future of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe — including whether Mueller's eventual report is ultimately delivered to Congress and made public. Trump has long been frustrated with Rosenstein over that investigation and the Justice Department's lack of action in investigating agency officials who the president believes conspired against him.
Jay Sekulow, one of Trump's personal lawyers, said on his radio show Monday that Rosenstein's ouster would demand a re-examination of the special counsel's probe.
"I think it's really important that there be a step back taken here, and a review, and I think it's a review that has to be thorough and complete, and a review that has to include an investigation of what has transpired," Sekulow said, terming such a reassessment "a timeout on this inquiry."
A new deputy attorney general should "look at all of these allegations that are both surrounding this inquiry, and that initiated this inquiry, including the Christopher Steele dossier, and the appointment of the special counsel, and how all that plays in," he said.
But it was the discussion of a wire and the 25th Amendment, first reported by The New York Times, that formed the proximate cause for Trump to justify forcing Rosenstein out.
Rosenstein said Friday that there is "no basis" for finding the president unfit to serve and that he never pursued any effort to record Trump.
Two administration officials told NBC News Friday that Rosenstein had talked about a wire sarcastically, but people who have discussed the matter with then-Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who was in the meeting in question with Rosenstein, say he recalls the deputy attorney general being serious about surreptitiously taping conversations with Trump.
In an interview with Geraldo Rivera taped over the weekend, Trump said he was considering removing Rosenstein.
"Certainly it's being looked at in terms of what took place, if anything took place," Trump said. "I’ll make a determination sometime later but I don’t have the facts."
Democrats were quick to argue that Congress should intervene to shield Mueller from interference by the president.
"Congress must take immediate steps to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law — which protects all of us — by shielding the Mueller investigation against President Trump’s obstruction," Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., said in a statement released before the announcement of the Thursday meeting between Trump and Rosenstein.
McCabe, who was fired by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, made a similar appeal.
"There is nothing more important to the integrity of law enforcement and the rule of law than protecting the investigation of Special Counsel Mueller," he said in a statement. "I sacrificed personally and professionally to help put the investigation on a proper course and subsequently made every effort to protect it. ... If the rumors of Deputy AG's Rosenstein’s departure are true, I am deeply concerned that it puts that investigation at risk.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he had "no comment" when asked about Rosenstein on Monday. Mueller's office also declined to comment on reports that Rosenstein might soon be out. ||||| ‘As You Were’
WASHINGTON—In a shocking development revealed just moments ago, sources confirmed that—oh, wait, sorry, false alarm. Multiple reports confirmed that, despite late-breaking suggestions to the contrary, you can actually forget about this news item and return to whatever you were doing before seeing this. In fact, sources have now informed reporters that we kind of jumped the gun on publishing this article at all, let alone labeling it “breaking” news. Frankly, sources concluded, this was our bad for getting you all worked up over nothing. Although, hold on one second, because several reports are now suggesting that it might still be worth keeping an eye on this story to see if—no, hold on, on second thought, just forget we said anything. ||||| Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein to meet with President Trump Thursday over Times article 4:41 PM ET Mon, 24 Sept 2018 | 01:25
President Donald Trump will meet with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday amid swirling reports that the No. 2 Justice Department official's departure is imminent.
"At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
"Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns to Washington, D.C."
Axios published a bombshell report Monday that Rosenstein is resigning, citing sources with knowledge.
But the report was contradicted by other news outlets, including from NBC News' Pete Williams, who reported that Rosenstein would not resign of his own accord after his off-the-cuff comments about possibly recording and removing Trump were revealed last week.
He will only depart if the White House fired him and will refuse to resign if asked to do so, Williams reported. News of Rosenstein's potential departure was a "huge shock" to the Justice Department, Williams added.
Although Trump has sharply criticized Rosenstein over the Russia probe, his departure could create a big problem for the White House: filling the position six weeks before the crucial midterm elections.
A Justice Department official told The New York Times that if Rosenstein is out, then Solicitor General Noel Francisco would oversee the Russia investigation.
Shortly after the resignation reports, Rosenstein was at the White House for a previously-scheduled principals meeting, a Justice Department official told NBC. Trump arrived in New York City on Sunday for the United Nations General Assembly. He was scheduled to have dinner with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that evening. ||||| FILE - In this July 13, 2018 file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Rosenstein is expecting to be fired, heading... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this July 13, 2018 file photo, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein speaks during a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington. Rosenstein is expecting to be fired, heading to White House Monday morning.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — The Latest on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (all times local):
1 p.m.
The White House says President Donald Trump and his embattled Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein spoke on Monday and will meet Thursday at the White House amid uncertainty about Rosenstein's fate.
Thursday is the same day that Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh, and a woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her when they were teenagers, are set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Trump and Rosenstein had "an extended conversation" Monday "to discuss the recent news stories" at Rosenstein's request.
Rosenstein, who oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia election meddling, had been expecting to be fired Monday following after critical comments he made about Trump.
Trump is currently in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, so the two will meet Thursday "when the President returns to Washington, D.C."
__
12:01 p.m.
Former Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe says that if Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein leaves his post, it puts the special counsel's Russia investigation "at risk."
The Associated Press has confirmed that Rosenstein is heading to the White House with the expectation that he will be fired. Rosenstein oversees special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russia election meddling and has been the probe's chief public defender.
The development comes just days after reports that in the days after the firing of FBI Director James Comey, Rosenstein had raised the idea of secretly recording President Donald Trump and of invoking the 25th Amendment to have the Cabinet remove the president from office.
McCabe says in a statement that he had "no role" in providing information of "any kind" for those news reports.
__
10:50 a.m.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is expecting to be fired Monday at the White House, after critical comments about President Donald Trump.
That's according to a source familiar with his thinking who wasn't authorized to speak on the record and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
It follows reports Friday that Rosenstein floated the idea of secretly recording Trump last year and that he raised the idea of using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump as unfit for office. Rosenstein has denied the reports.
___
10:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump has not decided whether to fire Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein for reportedly questioning the president's fitness to serve.
Trump told Geraldo Rivera in an interview aired Monday that he's looking at what, if anything, to do about Rosenstein's reported actions. The New York Times first reported that in 2017, Rosenstein had proposed secretly recording Trump and suggested his removal from office. Trump laid blame for the controversy at the feet of his attorney general.
"He was hired by Jeff Sessions," Trump said in the interview, which was aired on "Fox & Friends." As for Rosenstein's future, Trump says, "We will make a determination. It's certainly a very sad story."
Rosenstein issued a pair of denials, saying The Times report is inaccurate. ||||| FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at Springfield-Branson National Airport before attending a campaign rally in Springfield, Mo. Trump polled staff,... (Associated Press)
FILE - In this Sept. 21, 2018, file photo, President Donald Trump gestures as he arrives at Springfield-Branson National Airport before attending a campaign rally in Springfield, Mo. Trump polled staff, called his outside network of advisers and kept a careful eye on what his favorite hosts on his favorite... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein headed to the White House on Monday expecting to be fired by President Donald Trump, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.
Trump himself was in New York for a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly.
The development comes three days after news reports indicating that last year Rosenstein had raised the idea of secretly recording Trump and of invoking the Constitution to have his Cabinet remove him from office.
Any termination or resignation would have immediate implications for special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible collaboration between Russia and the Trump campaign before the 2016 election. Rosenstein appointed Mueller and oversees his investigation.
Trump had previously contemplated firing Rosenstein in April after FBI raids of the office and home of the president's longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, who has since pleaded guilty to several felonies and taken part in hours of interviews with Mueller. But the latest move comes after a New York Times report of Rosenstein comments early in 2017. That report and an unsigned opinion piece by a senior official in the Republican administration played to some of the president's worst fears about a secret "Deep State" trying to undermine him from within the government.
The administration official, whom Trump has called for a federal investigation to unmask, wrote that there was a group of officials working to safeguard the country from the president's most dangerous impulses. And Trump's behavior had prompted "whispers" in the Cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, a move that was backed away from due to concerns it would "precipitate a constitutional crisis," the writer said. ||||| SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email
President Donald Trump said he’s looking forward to meeting with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Thursday to discuss his future, after a person familiar with the matter said Rosenstein told Chief of Staff John Kelly that he was resigning.
“We’ll be determining what’s going on,” Trump told reporters at the United Nations on Monday. “We want to have transparency, we want to have openness and I’m looking forward to meeting with Rod at that time.”
Rosenstein’s current status and future intentions were mired in confusion on Monday afternoon in the aftermath of reports that he’d suggested to colleagues last year that he would secretly record conversations with Trump.
Rod Rosenstein Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
Kelly and Rosenstein discussed the veteran prosecutor’s resignation late last week, and the White House accepted it and considered Rosenstein’s departure a done deal, the person said. A second person familiar with the matter said earlier Monday that Rosenstein had been expected to be gone from the job by day’s end.
But the second person now says Rosenstein is still the deputy attorney general and no formal resignation was tendered.
Trump didn’t answer a question about what may happen to Rosenstein.
“I spoke with Rod today and we’re going to have a meeting on Thursday when I get back to the White House,” he said.
Rosenstein, who oversees the Russia probe run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, visited the White House Monday for a previously scheduled meeting. Other media reports said that the deputy attorney general expected to be fired.
“At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.
The disputed details of what Rosenstein discussed with his colleagues last year about covertly taping the president set off a firestorm in Washington.
A person who was present at that meeting said he was joking, but the New York Times, which first reported the incident on Friday, cited secondhand accounts indicating Rosenstein was serious about the proposal. The Times said Rosenstein also discussed identifying cabinet members willing to invoke the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president who’s unfit for office.
The departure of Rosenstein, who named Mueller to be special counsel in May 2017, has enormous implications for the Russia investigation and for the president. A successor to Rosenstein would have the power to fire Mueller or rein in his investigation. Rosenstein’s resignation was reported earlier Monday by Axios.
QuickTake: All You (and Trump) Should Know About Impeachment
Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said Mueller’s probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election -- including whether anyone close to Trump colluded in it and whether Trump sought to obstruct the inquiry -- needs additional protection in light of Rosenstein’s expected departure.
Protecting Mueller
“The Senate must step up to protect the Special Counsel immediately,” she said in a tweet. “We must pass the bipartisan bill to protect the Mueller investigation. The American people deserve answers about Russian interference in our democracy.”
Current and former government officials, including lawmakers, had long warned Trump against firing or pushing out Rosenstein. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned Trump against seizing on the report that Rosenstein suggested covertly taping him.
Robert Mueller Photographer: Eric Thayer/Bloomberg
“This story must not be used as a pretext for the corrupt purpose of firing Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein in order install an official who will allow the president to interfere with the Special Counsel’s investigation,” Schumer said. He added that many “White House and cabinet officials have been reported to say critical things of the president without being fired.”
A number of Republicans also voiced support for Rosenstein.
John Cornyn, the second-ranking Senate Republican, said Rosenstein has “done a good job in a tough position. But it’s not my call.” He added, though, that it would be “problematic” for Trump to win Senate confirmation of a successor as deputy attorney general.
Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said,“I like Rosenstein, and I think the president does too.”
‘Witch Hunt’
Mueller has charged 25 Russian people and companies for election interference. He also has won guilty pleas and cooperation agreements from people around Trump, including former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Trump has often dismissed as a “witch hunt” the inquiry into possible collusion with Russia and whether Trump conspired to obstruct justice.
Rosenstein made the decision to name a special counsel days after he took charge of the Russia probe, which he inherited when Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself from the matter. Trump has mocked and criticized Sessions for doing so.
Naming Replacement
Trump can install a temporary replacement as deputy attorney general until he nominates a successor to Rosenstein who would have to be confirmed by the Senate.
Donald Trump Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg
However, the Justice Department has a line of succession that could let Solicitor General Noel Francisco assume control of the investigation. One question is whether that would be considered inappropriate given that Francisco is a former partner of the Jones Day law firm, which has represented Trump for years.
As solicitor general, Francisco has staunchly defended Trump administration policies while pursuing long-held conservative legal goals.
He successfully defended Trump’s travel ban, drawing criticism for saying at argument that the president had “made crystal clear” he wasn’t trying to impose barring Muslims. Francisco later sent the court a letter saying he had misstated the date on which Trump supposedly made those comments.
He reversed what had been the Obama administration’s position on a number of high-profile issues in the court’s last term.
Earlier this year, Francisco was photographed having dinner in downtown Washington with Sessions and Rosenstein in what some viewed as a show of support for an attorney general who was being sharply criticized by the president.
Francisco has been studiously silent about the Mueller probe, at least in public.
Rosenstein, 53, was chosen by Trump to be the No. 2 official at the Justice Department last year. He previously served for 12 years as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland during the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Rosenstein joined the Justice Department in 1990 and has been viewed as a respected public servant, credited with helping reshape the department’s priorities.
Republican Critics
In May, he stood up against Republican lawmakers who drafted articles of impeachment against him for refusing to turn over internal Justice Department documents that they said would reveal the questionable origins of the Russia probe.
“There are people who have been making threats, privately and publicly, against me for quite some time,” Rosenstein said at a Law Day event in Washington. “I think they should understand by now the Department of Justice is not going to be extorted. We’re going to do what’s required by the rule of law.”
Republican Representative Jim Jordan, a House Judiciary member who has been among the lawmakers most critical of Rosenstein and the Russia probe, said on Twitter Monday that the deputy attorney general needs to appear before the panel regardless of whether he keeps his job.
“You can’t have the head of the Justice Department (even if it’s sarcasm) talking to subordinates about recording the Commander in Chief,” Jordan said. “He needs to answer our questions.”
But Rosenstein also riled some of Trump’s critics in 2017, when he wrote a controversial letter outlining the case for firing then-FBI Director James Comey, saying he made “serious mistakes” in his handling of the probe into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server. Trump cited Rosenstein’s letter in firing Comey, although he later said it was because of the Russia investigation.
Trump grew increasingly angry at Mueller’s investigation, and at Rosenstein’s supervision of it. He discussed dismissing Rosenstein with aides at the White House in April, a person familiar with the matter said.
Trump and some Republican lawmakers have pressed the argument that Mueller’s inquiry should be shut down because it was irreversibly tainted by improper actions early in the inquiry, well before Mueller was appointed.
Rosenstein named Mueller as special counsel after Trump fired Comey, who had been overseeing the investigation. Rosenstein took control of the inquiry because Attorney General Sessions, an early Trump campaign supporter, recused himself from any matters related to the 2016 election, a move the president has openly derided.
“I don’t have an attorney general. It’s very sad,” Trump said in an interview with Hill.TV, the Capitol Hill newspaper’s online TV channel, that aired on Sept. 19.
— With assistance by Terrence Dopp, Jennifer Epstein, and Sahil Kapur ||||| Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, expressed more consternation, saying on Twitter that she was “concerned” by reports of Mr. Rosenstein’s fate and that he “plays a critical role” overseeing the Russia inquiry.
On his radio show on Monday, the president’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said he did not know whether Mr. Rosenstein was going to be pushed out. But he used the confusion to call for a pause in the Russia investigation, saying that if Mr. Rosenstein did resign, it “clearly becomes necessary and appropriate” that “there be a step back taken here” and a “time out on this inquiry.”
Word began leaking out of the White House that Mr. Rosenstein had joined a previously scheduled meeting of top administration officials in the West Wing — evidence that he had not resigned or been fired. At the Justice Department, Mr. Sessions returned around the time it became clear that Mr. Rosenstein was not being fired.
Speculation continued until 12:48 p.m., when Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, tweeted a statement that said that Mr. Rosenstein had requested a conversation with the president.
“Because the president is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the president returns to Washington,” Ms. Sanders said.
Within the hour, Mr. Rosenstein left the White House and was captured by news cameras being escorted to his black SUV by Mr. Kelly. The motorcade swiftly drove back to the Justice Department, where the deputy attorney general went back to his scheduled meetings, including one on white-collar crime, and other law enforcement officials turned back to preparing for Tuesday’s meeting between Mr. Sessions and state attorneys general about tech companies.
The release that Ms. Flores drafted did not go out.
But the fact that Mr. Rosenstein may be on the job for at least another 72 hours is unlikely to be the end of the story. A departure by Mr. Rosenstein this week would thrust the administration into further turmoil only weeks before the midterms. ||||| White House officials said Monday that Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein will stay in his job for now, following a chaotic morning of speculation that he was about to resign — a development that would have further destabilized a Justice Department already under siege because of the Russia investigation.
Job insecurity has been a regular feature of Rosenstein’s life for more than a year, as the president and his allies have publicly attacked him over special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign and whether any Trump associates conspired with those efforts.
But his hold on his job never seemed as tenuous as on Monday morning, after reports last week that Rosenstein, the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, had suggested secretly recording the president and mounting an effort within the Cabinet to remove him from office. Rosenstein has disputed the accuracy of those accounts, but his denials have left plenty of room for interpretation.
Now, President Trump plans to meet with Rosenstein on Thursday to discuss the situation — and the deputy attorney general’s fate remains uncertain.
[A chaotic opening to what could be a fateful week]
Multiple officials said that during weekend conversations between and among White House and Justice Department officials, Rosenstein indicated that he was considering resigning. During some of those conversations, Rosenstein said his resignation might be warranted to end the controversy, according to people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk about internal deliberations.
Some Trump aides had counseled the president against quickly firing Rosenstein, arguing that such a move could be exploited politically by the Democrats and would be better done after the midterm elections.
Friday night, Rosenstein spoke with White House counsel Donald McGahn, according to a person familiar with the discussions. In that conversation, Rosenstein said he was willing to resign, but McGahn urged him to wait until they could talk further Monday morning, this person said.
By Sunday, some senior Justice Department officials had concluded that Rosenstein was about to be out of his job and began planning for Solicitor General Noel Francisco to take over supervision of the Russia probe. As part of that contingency plan, Matthew Whitaker, chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, was slated to assume the other responsibilities of the deputy attorney general, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
When Rosenstein went to the White House on Monday morning, senior Trump advisers expected him to resign, according to several advisers. A Justice Department official, however, said Rosenstein had no intention of resigning but went there expecting to be fired.
Before the meeting, one news outlet reported that Rosenstein had “verbally resigned.” That led Justice Department officials to believe he was going to be forced out, and they drafted a statement about his expected departure.
As often happens in government, the two sides heading for a high-stakes confrontation decided instead to hold another meeting. “At the request of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, he and President Trump had an extended conversation to discuss the recent news stories,” White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. “Because the President is at the United Nations General Assembly and has a full schedule with leaders from around the world, they will meet on Thursday when the President returns to Washington, D.C.”
After Rosenstein met with White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, he went to a meeting of senior administration officials, the first sign that, at least for now, he was staying on the job.
[McCabe memos say Rosenstein considered secretly recording Trump]
Rosenstein appointed and has been overseeing Mueller, and ousting the deputy attorney general would probably raise concerns that the president or his allies were kneecapping the Russia investigation.
One Trump adviser said the president has not been pressuring Rosenstein to leave. The person said Rosenstein had expressed to others that he should resign because he “felt very compromised” and the controversy hurt his ability to oversee the Russia inquiry, said a person close to Trump.
Trump’s attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Monday that if Rosenstein is replaced, “they should put a brief hold on the investigation and review it from beginning to end.”
Rosenstein has been a target of Trump’s public ire and private threats for months, but uncertainty about his future deepened after it was revealed Friday that memos written by Andrew McCabe, then deputy FBI director, said that in May 2017, Rosenstein suggested secretly recording the president and invoking the 25th Amendment to replace him.
McCabe memorialized discussions he had with Rosenstein and other senior officials in the stress-packed days immediately after James B. Comey’s firing as FBI director. At that moment, the bureau was deeply suspicious of Rosenstein’s role in the decision, and the Justice Department was worried that it had lost credibility with Congress for giving Trump a memo that said the FBI needed new leadership.
Others involved in those May 2017 discussions said Rosenstein’s comments about secretly recording Trump were sarcastic and came as McCabe was pressing the Justice Department to investigate the president’s firing of Comey as possible obstruction of justice.
[How removal under the 25th Amendment works: A beginner’s guide]
In statements Friday, Rosenstein denied that he ever seriously contemplated secretly recording Trump or pursuing the 25th Amendment to replace him, as was first reported by the New York Times.
“The New York Times’s story is inaccurate and factually incorrect,” Rosenstein said. “I will not further comment on a story based on anonymous sources who are obviously biased against the department and are advancing their own personal agenda. But let me be clear about this: Based on my personal dealings with the president, there is no basis to invoke the 25th Amendment.”
In a second statement hours later, Rosenstein said: “I never pursued or authorized recording the president and any suggestion that I have ever advocated for the removal of the President is absolutely false.”
That second statement was issued after a tense meeting at the White House between Rosenstein and Kelly, according to people familiar with the encounter. Those people said Kelly had urged Rosenstein to issue a more forceful denial, but officials in the White House and the Justice Department said they thought the second statement was in some ways weaker than the first — putting Rosenstein on even thinner ice.
For more than a year, Trump’s comments about the Russia investigation have fueled demands on the right that Rosenstein be forced out of his job — countered by alarm on the left that his removal would signal a collapse of the traditional independence of the Justice Department.
Trump congressional allies who have been hammering Rosenstein over access to Justice Department documents, including McCabe’s memos, said reports that he might resign or be fired highlight their need to see such documents.
“The latest reports on Rod Rosenstein underscore the desperate need for transparency at the DOJ,” Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) wrote in a tweet Monday. “Release the documents. Declassify everything. Stop the games and show Americans the truth about this Russia investigation. If they have nothing to hide, they should act like it.”
Meadows and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) have also called for Rosenstein to come back to Capitol Hill to testify this week, as the House is set to break for the campaign season soon.
“We’ve got to have Rod Rosenstein in front of the Judiciary Committee answering questions,” Jordan said in an interview.
There are no indications that leading Republicans have agreed to call Rosenstein to testify, and House Judiciary Committee Democrats said Monday that they had received no notice from Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) about an official summons.
That makes it unlikely that Rosenstein will head to Capitol Hill before his expected meeting with Trump on Thursday to discuss his fate.
Democrats said Rosenstein should hang tough. “Under no circumstances should Rod Rosenstein resign,” Adam B. Schiff (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, wrote in a tweet. “This would place the Mueller investigation in even greater jeopardy. Rosenstein should continue to do his job, protect the independence of the DOJ, and if the President intends to obstruct justice, force Trump to fire him.”
Rosenstein, a Republican and career Justice Department official who served under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, came into office on a wave of bipartisan support, but Comey was fired soon afterward, and Rosenstein was immediately drawn into fierce partisan battles surrounding the Russia inquiry.
He became deputy attorney general in April 2017 and assumed oversight of Mueller’s investigation after Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who did not disclose to Congress that he had met during the 2016 campaign with Russia’s ambassador to the United States — recused himself from the inquiry.
Just days into his job as the No. 2 official at the Justice Department, Rosenstein wrote a memo criticizing Comey’s handling of the earlier investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server for government work when she was secretary of state.
The White House used Rosenstein’s memo to justify Comey’s firing. Days later, Rosenstein appointed Mueller, and the special counsel has since been examining the firing of Comey and whether it was part of a pattern of behavior that amounts to obstruction of justice by the president.
Karoun Demirjian, Josh Dawsey, Robert Costa, Sari Horwitz, Matt Zapotosky and Robert Barnes contributed to this report. ||||| Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has verbally “offered to resign” in discussions with White House Chief of Staff Kelly, according to a source close to Rosenstein, but as of now, it’s unclear whether his resignation has been accepted.
Background: Rosenstein talked last year about invoking the 25th Amendment and wearing a wire during Trump meetings, the N.Y. Times' Adam Goldman and Michael S. Schmidt reported last week. He denied both allegations.
Clarification: This article and headline have been updated to add that it's unclear whether the resignation offer has been accepted. | – That Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein would end the day without a job seemed all but certain Monday morning, with major media outlets variously reporting he had either resigned, planned to do so, or would be fired before the day was out. Instead, it looks like he'll end Monday still in his job, with NBC News reporting a decision on his job status has been "postponed." Though Rosenstein visited the White House Monday, President Trump is in New York for a UN General Assembly meeting. Sarah Sanders says the two will now meet Thursday, which NBC News points out will likely be a very newsy day. The AP reports that Sanders said the men did speak Monday, however, in an "extended conversation" that occurred at Rosenstein's request. The developments come in the wake of reports that Rosenstein had floated the idea of clandestinely recording President Trump. A sampling of the jumping-the-gun that occurred in the AM (now being roundly mocked by the Onion): Axios reported by way of one source that Rosenstein verbally resigned to chief of staff John Kelly. Bloomberg's sources also said he resigned and the White House had accepted that resignation. The Washington Post's sources said he told the White House he would be willing to resign. The New York Times reported it was unclear whether he'd resign or be fired. CNBC reported that NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams said Rosenstein would actually refuse to resign. The AP reported Rosenstein was expecting to be fired. |
A Secret Service agent stands guard as U.S. President Barack Obama departs on the Marine One helicopter for travel to Colombia for the Summit of Americas, from the White House in Washington April 13, 2012.
WASHINGTON |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Secret Service said on Monday it revoked the top security clearance of 11 agents and uniformed division personnel over alleged misbehavior in Colombia, and a U.S. official said more than 10 military service members may also have been involved.
George Ogilvie, a Secret Service spokesman, said of the 11 agency personnel: "Pending investigation, their top secret clearance has been revoked."
The 11 Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave following alleged misconduct involving prostitutes, in an incident that marred President Barack Obama's weekend trip to Colombia and brought unwelcome attention to the Secret Service.
Before Obama arrived on Thursday, some U.S. agents brought a number of prostitutes back to a beachfront hotel in Cartagena near where the president was due to stay, according to a local police source, setting off the scandal.
Initial reports from Colombian police said five U.S. military service members also were involved in the incident.
But Army Colonel Scott Malcom, a spokesman for U.S. Southern Command, said an interim investigating officer who began working to collect evidence in the case found information indicating more than five may be involved. One U.S. official, who asked not to be named, told Reuters it was "probably more than ten."
Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to say whether the service members involved were members of the Army, Navy, Air Force or Marines. But one Pentagon source said all four services were involved.
Little also declined to describe the nature of the service members' role at the summit Obama was attending, saying only that "they were not associated with presidential security" and "they were performing a support mission to the U.S. Secret Service."
The top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, said that the service members had let Obama down by distracting from Obama's meeting with Latin leaders in Cartagena, and had embarrassed the Pentagon's top brass.
"LET THE BOSS DOWN"
"We let the boss down because nobody's talking about what went on in Colombia other than this incident," Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a news conference with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. "I can speak for myself and my fellow chiefs, we're embarrassed by what occurred in Colombia."
Panetta said General William Fraser, the head of Southern Command, had begun an investigation to determine the facts of the incident.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers said they were shocked and upset by the allegations, pointing to the security risks involved.
"I am having a call this evening with the director of the Secret Service, because I find this to be so appalling," said Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which shares jurisdiction over the Secret Service with the Judiciary Committee.
"I can't help but think what if the women involved had been spies, what if they had been members of a drug cartel, what if they had planted equipment or eavesdropping devices?"
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said that although he did not want to prejudge Sullivan, "it starts at the top, really."
"If the allegations are true, or close to being true, then obviously you've got a leadership problem because things like that don't happen if people are somewhat afraid," he said.
Graham, a former Air Force lawyer, said he believed any members of the military that were involved would be "dealt with severely" if the allegations are true.
The Secret Service agents were sent home, but the military service members stayed through the summit and finished their work while confined to their rooms, officials said.
The only charge against the service members is that they violated curfew. That could mean they were not in their rooms when they should have been, or showed up late or had someone in their room who should not have been there, Malcom said.
(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell. Editing by Warren Strobel and Christopher Wilson) ||||| Investigators have determined that as many as 20 U.S. Secret Service and military personnel might have been involved in the hotel misconduct in Cartagena, Colombia, as the scandal that erupted during President Obama’s trip to the country last week put high-level officials on the defensive.
A preliminary investigation by the Defense Department, which included a review of video from hotel security cameras, found that nine military personnel were possibly involved in the carousing at the center of the probe, congressional sources familiar with the probe said. Already, 11 Secret Service agents have been placed on leave amid allegations they entertained prostitutes, potentially one of the most serious lapses at the organization in years.
Two of the Secret Service personnel are paid at one of the higher levels of the federal pay scale, meaning they are senior officials potentially in supervisory positions, according to a congressional official with knowledge of the investigation.
The accusations are triggering scrutiny of the culture of the Secret Service — where married agents have been heard to joke during aircraft takeoff that their motto is “wheels up, rings off” — and raising new questions at both the agency and the Pentagon about institutional oversight at the highest levels of the president’s security apparatus.
“We are embarrassed,” Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters in a briefing at the Pentagon. “We let the boss down, because nobody is talking about what went down in Colombia other than this incident.”
At the same time, details emerged about the night of partying Wednesday that led to the scandal. People in Cartagena familiar with the matter said that some of the Secret Service agents paid $60 apiece to owners of the Pleyclub, a strip club in an industrial section of Cartagena, to bring at least two of the women back to the Hotel Caribe, where Obama’s advance team was staying.
The following morning, one of the women demanded an additional payment of $170, setting off a dispute with an agent that drew the attention of the hotel, the Cartagena sources said.
According to the Pleyclub’s registry at the local chamber of commerce, one of the club’s owners is named Michael Adam Hardy, whom chamber officials described as either American or Canadian.
On Monday, the Secret Service moved to revoke the top-secret security clearances of all 11 men from the agency who are under investigation, spokesman Edwin Donovan said.
The revocation of such clearances is not uncommon, he emphasized, and security clearances can be reinstated after internal investigations are complete, depending on the findings.
In a letter to all agency employees, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan stressed that it is “imperative . . . to always act both personally and professionally in a manner that recognizes the seriousness and consequence of our mission.”
Sullivan promised a “thorough and fair” investigation and concluded by saying that “in the wake of this embarrassing incident, it is my hope that each of us will be steadfast in our efforts to ensure that our performance and behavior mirror the oath we have sworn to uphold.”
The Secret Service personnel under suspicion include a mix of special agents who provide personal protection for the president and uniformed officers who perform building security and logistical support. They were part of a U.S. advance team of up to 200 people sent ahead to prepare for Obama’s arrival.
After the allegations of misconduct came to light Thursday, when hotel staff notified the U.S. Embassy, the service removed the 11 agents and replaced them with a new team. In addition, the military confined five of its personnel to their rooms at the hotel, pending the investigation. Military officials did not say how many more of its personnel might now be suspected of participating in the alleged misconduct.
Prostitution, legal and regulated, is a booming business in the Caribbean tourist hub of Cartagena, a city of about 1 million inhabitants that is famous for its Spanish colonial heart and a modern stretch of Miami-style high-rises. As a byproduct of its lure of cruise ships and conventioneers, Cartagena draws prostitutes from both the city’s poor and upper-class echelons — as well as from different cities around the country.
Before the summit, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos asked the city health department for an action plan outlining disease prevention efforts with prostitutes ahead of the gathering of 30 hemispheric leaders.
Officials at Cartagena’s health department said that there are about 80 streetwalkers in the city’s colonial district, which features bountiful nightclubs, boutique hotels and elegant restaurants. Another 550 women, who will spend the night with a client for about $250, are estimated to be available at 15 nightclubs, officials said.
The Pleyclub touts its services by distributing small, glossy advertisements featuring nearly naked women to taxi drivers who drive visitors around town. The ads, in Spanish, promise: “We’re the best good time in the city.”
Inside the Pleyclub, there is a stage with two poles and a glass-enclosed shower in which women perform strip shows.
Several hotel workers said some of the Secret Service agents spoke good Spanish.
The Hotel Caribe, like most hotels in Cartagena, permits overnight visitors to join hotel guests. But there are rules: Young women brought for the night must come after 11 p.m.; cannot spend time in public areas, such as the lobby; must present identification to prove they are adults; and must leave by 6 a.m., two hotel employees said. The hotel also levies a $60 surcharge for each overnight visitor, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the management.
Hotel management declined to comment about the incident, saying that it must protect the privacy of its guests.
Even though Secret Service officials have said Obama’s security was not compromised, lawmakers who oversee the agency have grown increasingly outraged as new allegations surface.
“I find this to be so appalling,” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. “I can’t help but think, what if the women involved had been spies?. . . It’s such a breach of trust, and it’s virtually unbelievable. I’m truly shocked.”
Staff writers Rosalind S. Helderman, Ed O’Keefe, Jason Ukman and Craig Whitlock and special correspondent Juan Forero contributed to this report. Wilson and Forero reported from Cartagena. ||||| WILLIAMS: Good evening.
BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: Mention the US Secret Service to most Americans and it will conjure up an image of the brave and silent protectors of the president, the men and women wearing suits and earpieces and sunglasses, who have sworn to take a bullet for the person they're protecting if it comes to that. But after this weekend most mentions of the US Secret Service have to do with an unfolding scandal. The members of a joint Secret Service military advance party , who were in Cartagena , Colombia , prior to the president's trip there this weekend. They were sent home after allegations of an altercation involving prostitution . And as we'll report here tonight, it's getting worse and it's widening, and it's triggering questions about the very culture of a special organization. We begin tonight with our White House correspondent Kristen Welker , who accompanied the president to Colombia and back. Kristen , good evening.
KRISTEN WELKER reporting: Good evening, Brian . Well, investigators at the Secret Service , the Pentagon and on Capitol Hill are trying to figure out exactly how this could have happened. And tonight, we are learning that all 11 Secret Service personnel have had their security clearances pulled. According to US officials, at least 11 Secret Service and more than five military personnel are involved in the widening prostitution scandal . NBC 's national investigative correspondent Mike Isikoff has been working this story.
MICHAEL ISIKOFF reporting: Sources tell us among those involved were two Secret Service supervisors, three members of the elite counter-assault team, whose job it is to repel attacks on the president's motorcade, and three members of the counter- sniper team , those officers with rifles who scout for threats from the tops of buildings.
WELKER: They were all a part of an advance team, preparing security for the president's diplomatic trip to Colombia . Isikoff says investigators are looking into the possibility that more may be involved.
ISIKOFF: We're told all of those involved had hard copies of the president's day-by-day, minute-by-minute schedule. And if the prostitutes had access to that, they could have potentially given it to a foreign intelligence service , a drug cartel or even a terrorist group.
WELKER: It happened last Wednesday night when the advance team allegedly brought prostitutes back to their hotel, just a few minutes from where the president would eventually stay. The hotel learned about the incident the next morning after one of the women fought with an agent over money. The hotel alerted local authorities and eventually it went all the way to the White House .
President BARACK OBAMA: We're representing the people of the United States . And when we travel to another country I expect us to observe the highest standards.
WELKER: Sources tell NBC News the military officials under investigation include bomb disposal experts and dog handlers from the Army , Navy and Marines .
General MARTIN DEMPSEY (Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman): We're embarrassed by what occurred in Colombia . We let the boss down.
WELKER: In a statement the Secret Service said, "These actions have had no impact on the Secret Service 's ability to execute a comprehensive security plan for the president's visit to Cartagena ." Representative PETER KING (Republican, House Homeland Security Committee Chair): And this certainly could have compromised the president's security, it could have compromised national security .
WELKER: The scandal is the latest incident that has fueled the agency's most vocal critics' questions about its effectiveness.
Mr. RON KESSLER (Author of "In the President's Secret Service"): There's a culture in the Secret Service that's fostered by the management of just nodding, winking, favoritism.
WELKER: Now, prostitution is legal in parts of Colombia but all of the agencies involved say the alleged misconduct is a clear violation of their
standards. Brian: Kristen Welker starting us off at the White House . Kristen ,
WILLIAMS: | – Secret Service agents had copies of President Obama's schedule in their hotel rooms while they were allegedly entertaining prostitutes in Colombia last week, sources have told MSNBC. The latest information about agent hijinks raises the disturbing issue of serious security breaches. "I can't help but think what if the women involved had been spies, what if they had been members of a drug cartel, what if they had planted equipment or eavesdropping devices?" said Senator Susan Collins of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Eleven agents suspected of hiring prostitutes were yanked from duty in Cartegena, where they were providing security for the Summit of the Americas, and were stripped of their security clearances, reports Reuters. The Secret Service members involved include both elite special agents who protect the president and uniformed officers who provide security for buildings and logistical support. At least five military servicemen are now also being investigated for their role in the "carousing at the center of the probe," reports the Washington Post. The situation underlines a troubling culture among Secret Service agents, whose married members sometimes joke during travel: "Wheels up, rings off," notes the Post. "We are embarrassed," said General Martin Demsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The situation came to light when one of the prostitutes complained to local police that she hadn't been paid. The president has called for a through investigation. |
"We are still investigating," DWR director Greg Sheehan said, "but it seems initially that it was a case of mistaken identity."
Sheehan said the hunter could face citations for killing the animal, federally protected in that part of Utah under the Endangered Species Act. The Fish & Wildlife Service will conduct the probe.
The weekend shooting is the first documented killing of a gray wolf in Utah by a hunter since officials reintroduced the animals into Yellowstone National Park and Idaho in the mid-1990s.
A 3-year-old male wolf was found dead in a leg-hold trap in Box Elder County in 2006. Another collared male wolf was found alive in a trap near Morgan in 2002 and taken back to Yellowstone.
"This is a very sad day for wolf conservation and for Utah," said Kirk Robinson, executive director of the Salt Lake City-based Western Wildlife Conservancy. "All competent wildlife biologists already know that coyote hunting, including our state bounty program, is ineffective, and therefore a waste of money — and now we see that it is also a threat to other wildlife and to wolf recovery."
Utah offers a $50 bounty for coyotes under the Mule Deer Preservation Act. In the second year of the program, which concluded June 30, more than 7,000 coyotes were turned in for the monetary reward.
Earlier this month, someone took a picture of what appears to be a wolf crossing Highway 14 east of Cedar City. It is possible, Sheehan said, that the wolf killed Sunday was the same animal spotted in Cedar Canyon and the Grand Canyon.
The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity says the proximity of Beaver to the North Rim makes it likely that the dead wolf, named Echo in an online naming contest, came from the Grand Canyon area.
"It's heartbreaking that another far-wandering wolf has been cut down with a fatal gunshot," the center's Michael Robinson said in a release. "This female wolf could have helped wolves naturally recover in remote regions of Utah and neighboring states. Federal authorities need to conduct a full investigation into this latest killing, which is part of a disturbing pattern."
Biologists say the collars on the animal killed Sunday and the Grand Canyon wolf appear to be different.
In August, wildlife officials confirmed a wolf sighting in northeastern Utah's Uinta Mountains. That animal, believed to be a large male that had been collared near Canada's border with Idaho, has not been spotted since September. His radio collar was failing at the time and there have been no new sightings of that wolf.
brettp@sltrib.com
Twitter: @BrettPrettyman ||||| This wolf, photographed near the Grand Canyon in October, is feared to be dead after a coyote hunter in Utah mistakenly shot a gray wolf in Utah over the weekend.
Credit: Courtesy of the Center for Biological Diversity View full size image
After a 500-mile (800 kilometers) trek across the West, a lone wolf's journey may have come to an end this weekend.
A coyote hunter in Utah mistakenly shot and killed an endangered gray wolf, which wildlife groups worry was the same wolf photographed near the Grand Canyon this fall. That animal had strayed from its pack in the northern Rockies and was the first of its species to roam Arizona in 70 years.
The slain wolf, which was wearing a radio collar, was shot near the south end of the Tushar Mountains near Beaver, Utah, on Sunday (Dec. 28), the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) said in a statement. [In Photos: The Fight Over Gray Wolves' Endangered Status]
When the hunter realized the animal wasn't a coyote, he alerted state officials who then contacted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The federal agency confirmed the animal was a 3-year-old female gray wolf that had been outfitted with its collar near Cody, Wyoming, earlier this year. Wildlife groups are still waiting to hear whether DNA tests will confirm that the wolf was really the lone female they had been tracking since October.
"This was a worry of ours," said Michael Robinson, with the Center for Biological Diversity. "Personally, I'm very saddened by it."
Gray wolves were wiped out from Arizona in the 1940s. That's why Robinson and other conservationists were excited by the news this past October that a gray wolf was repeatedly spotted near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Federal officials failed to capture the wolf to remove its radio collar, but DNA tests of the wolf's feces confirmed that it was a female from the northern Rocky Mountains population.
Although gray wolves have been removed from the endangered species list (and are even legally hunted) in some parts of the country, they still receive federal protections in many states, including Arizona and Utah. It's not clear whether the hunter will face any charges.
"This shows how vulnerable gray wolves are and how important real protection is," Robinson told Live Science. "What we need is a response that follows the Endangered Species Act and prevents these kinds of occurrences from happening again. We think a thorough investigation is imperative."
Robinson added that better education programs could help teach people what gray wolves look like and make people aware that the animals are endangered.
Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. | – A hunter in Utah says he got a startling surprise this weekend after killing a coyote: The coyote turned out to be a gray wolf, a rarity in those parts. The hunter notified state wildlife authorities, who confirmed that he had indeed shot a 3-year-old female wolf near the city of Beaver. Though there's no way to be certain, it's believed to be the same wolf spotted near the Grand Canyon this fall, the first such visitor there in 70 years. Because gray wolves are protected in Utah, the hunter could face charges. "We are still investigating, but it seems initially that it was a case of mistaken identity," a state official tells the Salt Lake City Tribune. The wolf had been wearing a tracking collar that had been placed around her neck in Cody, Wyoming, in January of this year. The best guess is that she then split from her pack and wandered more than 500 miles south. "This shows how vulnerable gray wolves are and how important real protection is," an official with the Center for Biological Diversity in Arizona tells LiveScience. "What we need is a response that follows the Endangered Species Act and prevents these kinds of occurrences from happening again." (Another tale of a wandering wolf had a happier ending.) |
Cody Williams was arrested in late August, charged with the sexual battery of someone younger than 12.
The 18-year-old Clay High School student spent 35 days in jail.
One problem: He was the wrong Cody Williams.
Three officers have received formal counseling for their role in the wrongful arrest and another officer faces a 10-day unpaid suspension and a transfer from investigations to patrol.
Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hawkins of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office will learn Tuesday if he will receive that punishment.
“As a result of your incompetence, an innocent man was arrested for an offense that he did not commit,” Sheriff Rick Beseler told Hawkins in a February disciplinary letter.
Hawkins’ phone number was not listed or available Monday evening to seek comment.
A girl younger than 12 told Clay Sheriff’s officers in 2013 that on or around Halloween 2012 she had sex with an older boy she identified as Cody Williams. The girl’s exact age at the time wasn’t released by authorities.
The girl told police investigators what the boy looked like and where he attended school. Without showing her any photos of possible suspects, the sheriff’s office sought the arrest of Cody Lee Williams.
Cody Lee Williams, of Green Cove Springs, was arrested two months later on a sexual battery charge.
He was 17 at the time of the reported crime and was promptly charged as an adult by State Attorney Angela Corey’s office.
Williams, who has had legal trouble in the past with marijuana, said he was aghast by the charge when he was arrested at his home.
“I can’t even tell you the horror of hearing those words,” said Williams. “My heart just started beating really fast and all my insides just kind of dropped.”
Sheriff Rick Beseler said his department has policies in place intended to prevent these types of wrongful arrests.
“If those policies had been followed then this wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “This is not a routine problem. That’s why the supervisors are even being held accountable. We take this stuff very seriously.”
Beseler noted such an occurrence is rare, considering that the office arrests between 7,000 and 8,000 people a year. Jim Pimentel, department general counsel, said in the past 10 years there was only one other allegation of wrongful arrest.
In December, the sheriff’s office requested Cody Lee Williams’ arrest in the case be expunged.
When Hawkins, who interviewed the victim, thought Cody Lee Williams was the suspect, he failed to show her his photo to confirm he had the right person, according to an internal report on Hawkins’ investigation.
“He stressed that he usually will show a photo lineup but could not explain why he did not in this incident,” according to the report.
It wasn’t until Williams went to court in early October and was given documents with the details of the charges against him that he put the pieces together. He called his mother from jail and told her he believed police were actually seeking someone else named Cody Williams.
Both teens attended the same schools since seventh grade and were born the same year, Cody Lee Williams said. He said he knew Cody Raymond Williams, but didn’t run in the same social group.
“We were just two guys with the same name at the same school,” he said.
The two students shared the same teacher, though in different classes, and that teacher called them by their middle names to avoid confusion.
After Cody Lee Williams called his mother from jail, she reached out to Hawkins, who immediately began looking into the matter and conducted a photo lineup with the victim.
Hawkins included Cody Lee Williams’ photo in the lineup and asked the victim if she saw the person she had sex with in the lineup.
“She stated he was not there and then pointed at Cody Lee Williams and stated, �?I do know this Cody Williams but this is not the one,’ ” according to an October report by Hawkins.
Hawkins said he asked the girl why she didn’t mention that there was another Cody Williams during earlier conversations and “she had no answer,” according to the report.
The internal investigation found that Hawkins failed to properly identify a suspect, failed to properly document information obtained in the investigation, made inaccurate statements in reports and failed to properly document actions taken in an investigation.
Attorney Kristopher Nowicki, who is representing Williams in his potential civil action, said a photo lineup could have prevented Williams’ arrest.
“It seems that there was no investigation done other than my client’s name,” he said. “It is not Cody Williams’ obligation to investigate crimes on behalf of the state of Florida.”
Deputy Sheriff Jason Wright, Sgt. Daniel Moreland and Sgt. Eric Twisdale will all receive formal counseling for their roles in the Williams case that will permanently be placed in their files.
Cody Raymond Williams, the one police were looking for from the beginning, is due to appear in court on the sexual assault charge on March 3.
Topher Sanders: (904) 359-4169 ||||| They arrested the wrong Cody Williams, and then kept him in jail for more than a month.
The Clay County, Fla., Sheriff's Office punished a deputy Tuesday for the wrongful arrest of 18-year-old Cody Lee Williams, who didn't even share the same middle name as a man accused of having sex with a young girl.
“Other than the name, there’s no other similarities," Kris Nowicki, Cody Lee Williams' attorney, told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday. “Cody Williams had never met this girl and didn’t know anything about her."
According to the Florida Times-Union, which first reported on the story, a girl younger than 12 told investigators that she had sex with an older boy named Cody Williams on Halloween in 2012.
Williams was arrested on Aug. 30 and languished in jail until Oct. 4, the day his mother pleaded with the Clay County Sheriff's Office to release her son, according to investigators' records, which the Sheriff's Office provided to The Times.
“Not only did they not do a photo lineup, but further … they put him directly into adult court, filing an affidavit that not only is it this guy, but he did something" so serious that he should be charged as an adult, Nowicki said. (Williams, the wrongly arrested, would have been 17 at the time of the crime.)
State Attorney Angela Corey's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
After the mixup was discovered, three deputies received counseling for their role in the arrest, the Times-Union reported.
On Tuesday, a fourth official, Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hawkins, was suspended without pay for 10 days and transferred out of the investigative division, according to the Sheriff's Office.
“As a result of your incompetence, an innocent man was arrested for an offense that he did not commit,” the sheriff, Beseler, told Hawkins in a February disciplinary letter obtained by the Times-Union.
In a statement made after the punishment was announced Tuesday, Beseler said: “In fairness, let me say Deputy Hawkins has a good record with our agency. He has no prior discipline and many commendations in his file.
"In this case, however, he took short cuts and didn’t do a thorough investigation. The result was an innocent man was accused of a terrible crime he didn’t commit. Arresting an innocent person is something we fear far more than letting a guilty person get away. I extend to Cody Lee Williams my apology for this error and we will seek to make things right for him."
Officials later tracked down Cody Raymond Williams, 18, and arrested him on suspicion of sexually assaulting a girl younger than 12.
According to the Clay County clerk's office, he was charged on Jan. 23 and was scheduled for a pretrial hearing on March 4.
“They have protocol put in place that prevents this kind of stuff, threshold requirements that you would expect an officer to accomplish to arrest someone for this serious of a crime,” said Nowicki, the attorney for Cody Lee Williams. “I would support any kind of action that would support this kind of harm from happening in the future."
Part of the confusion over why Cody Lee Williams remained in jail for so long may have come from his past criminal record, according to records from the Sheriff's Office, which said Williams would have likely faced charges for an unrelated probation violation.
Cody Lee Williams had been on probation for a drug possession conviction and had failed a drug test shortly before his wrongful arrest on the sex-assault charge, the records stated. He was charged with the probation violation after his arrest on the sex-assault charge.
Five days after being released from jail on the sex assault charge in October, he admitted to violating his probation to a judge, who credited him for time served and dropped the case, the records said.
Follow LATimes National on Facebook
Follow LA Times National on Facebook
ALSO:
On video: Former police chief eats evidence to protect tip
Kansas, Arizona win proof-of-citizenship requirement in voting suit
Report: New York man 'basically baked to death' in Rikers Island jail ||||| Clay County Sheriff Rick Beseler publicly apologized Tuesday to a Green Cove Springs teen who was wrongfully arrested and spent more than a month in jail on a sexual battery charge.
Cody Lee Williams, 19, spent 35 days in jail last year after Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hawkins failed to show the victim a photo of Williams to get a positive identification.
Williams was charged with having sex with someone younger than 12. After seeing court documents, Williams realized police were actually seeking a different Cody Williams.
Cody Lee Williams and Cody Raymond Williams were born the same year and went to the same high school. Cody Lee Williams told his mother from jail that he believed police were looking for someone else.
She relayed the information to Hawkins, who determined the department had arrested the wrong person.
Beseler said Hawkins has a good record with his department but took short-cuts in the Williams’ investigation.
“The result was an innocent man was accused of a terrible crime he didn’t commit,” he said. “Arresting an innocent person is something we fear far more than letting a guilty person get away. I extend to Cody Lee Williams my apology for this error and we will seek to make things right for him.”
Hawkins was suspended for 10 days Tuesday and transferred to patrol for his role in the wrongful arrest and jailing of the teen.
The punishment is the most serious disciplinary action he has handed out as Sheriff short of termination, said Beseler through his spokeswoman Mary Justino. Beseler’s letter to Hawkins on the discipline called Hawkins’ police work incompetent.
Three other officers received formal counselling for their parts in the Williams’ investigation.
After investigators realized they had arrested the wrong person, Cody Lee Williams was released from jail and the charges were dropped.
The sheriff’s department asked the Florida Department of Law Enforcement in December to expunge Williams’ record.
The teen has hired an attorney and has put the sheriff’s department on notice he intends to file a lawsuit.
Cody Raymond Williams, the one police were looking for from the beginning, is due to appear in court Monday on the sexual assault charge.
Topher Sanders: (904) 359-4169 | – A Florida teenager spent 35 days in jail on sex-assault charges because it apparently never occurred to his arresting officers that two people might have the same name, reports the Florida Times-Union. Cody Lee Williams, now 19, was arrested last August and charged as an adult after a young girl told police that a "Cody Williams" had sex with her in 2012. Turns out, police were looking for Cody Raymond Williams, who attended the same school. Clay County deputies never showed the girl a photo after the arrest. "Other than the name, there’s no other similarities," the attorney for the wrongly arrested teen tells the Los Angeles Times. Cody Lee Williams "had never met this girl and didn’t know anything about her." It was Williams himself who figured it out while looking over documents during a court appearance. Afterward, he called his mother, who helped set things straight. “We were just two guys with the same name at the same school,” he says. The other Cody Williams is due in court Monday. Three deputies had to attend counseling, and Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hawkins got suspended for 10 days without pay and transferred from the investigative unit. Hawkins apologized for the error yesterday, saying "arresting an innocent person is something we fear far more than letting a guilty person get away." The Times-Union reports that Williams plans to sue. |
US Representative Barney Frank, the state’s highest-profile congressman and one of the nation’s leading liberal voices after being among its first openly gay elected officials, announced today that he will not seek reelection next year.
The Newton Democrat faced the prospect of a bruising reelection campaign next year after surviving a brutal battle in 2010. He also would have run in an altered district that retained his Newton stronghold but encompassed more conservative towns like Walpole.
In addition, Frank lost New Bedford, a blue-collar city where he had invested a lot of time and become a leading figure in the region’s fisheries debate.
“I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I don’t like,” the famously irascible Frank told reporters and supporters during an early afternoon news conference at Newton City Hall.
Turning serious, he said: “It would have been a rough campaign,” adding, “I don’t like raising money.”
As for his future plans, he answered with a barely veiled shot at Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich.
“I will neither be a lobbyist nor a historian,” said Frank, noting two jobs that have enriched Gingrich since he stepped down as House speaker. Frank said he intends to pursue “some combination of writing, teaching, and lecturing.”
He also offered an interesting regret: “I voted against President Bush, the first, request to go into Iraq,” he said of the congressional vote that preceded the 1991 Persian Gulf War after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990.
“If we were back again, I would have voted for that,” said Frank.
The current president, fellow Democrat Barack Obama, said, “This country has never had a congressman like Barney Frank, and the House of Representatives will not be the same without him.”
Obama credited Frank with helping to pass the Dodd-Frank Act, “the most sweeping financial reform in history designed to protect consumers and prevent the kind of excessive risk-taking that led to the financial crisis from ever happening again.”
Frank’s campaign manager last year said his withering 2010 re-election effort spurred the congressman to think seriously about retirement, even saying a few days after the election that it would be his last one.
Frank wanted to announce that this would be his final term immediately afterward, but decided against it, said Kevin Sowyrda, the campaign manager.
“We looked him right in the face and said, ‘You can’t resign,” Sowyrda said. “In fairness to Barney, he was emotional about it. He said, ‘I know I’ve got to stay.’”
“I believe that Barney felt an obligation to come through for the (supporters) people that came through for him,” said Sowyrda.
But retirement has been on his mind ever since.
“After that election, he began the process of contemplating a different future with different challenges,” Sowyrda said.
John Walsh, chairman of the Massachusetts Democratic Party, said in a statement: “In a state that has sent many great leaders to Washington, Barney Frank will take his place in history as a shining son of Massachusetts.”
Former party head Philip W. Johnston told the Globe: “He was brilliant, funny, acerbic, strategic, and unashamedly liberal. And they’re in short supply these days.”
The Massachusetts Republican Party reveled in the announcement.
“It is clear that Congressman Frank was not looking forward to another hard-fought campaign after losing his gerrymandered district and spending nearly every penny he had in 2010. Republicans were already gearing up for a strong race, and Frank’s sudden retirement injects added optimism and excitement into the election,” said party Executive Director Nate Little.
Frank, 71, was raised in Bayonne, N.J., but schooled at Harvard University and Harvard Law School, endowing him with a street-fighter’s mouth and an academic’s wit.
He was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1972 and the US House eight years later.
He ultimately became a cable TV favorite with his pithy, fearless comments. Once remarking about the nearly $15 billion Big Dig cost, Frank said: “Wouldn’t it be cheaper to raise the city than to depress the Artery?”
In 1987, he became the first member of the chamber to voluntarily acknowledge he was gay. Another Massachusetts congressman, US Representative Gerry Studds, had been forced to acknowledge his homosexuality in 1983 after disclosure of a sexual relationship with a House page.
In 1989, Frank was involved in a scandal after the revelation that a live-in boyfriend had formerly operated a gay prostitute service from his home. The House ended up reprimanding Frank for fixing parking tickets on behalf of the prostitute.
More recently, he has been one of President Obama’s most important allies but also a target of Republicans. They accuse him of helping create the country’s housing collapse by pushing the government and banks into approving loans to unqualified buyers.
Frank faced a stern reelection challenge last year from Republican Sean Bielat, prevailing 53 percent to 43 percent but only after a blistering campaign.
He also shifted from chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to its top-ranking minority member when Republican regained control of the House of Representatives in last year’s midterm elections.
Frank, who co-authored the law overhauling financial regulation and spearheaded its passage as chair of the Financial Services Committee last year, acknowledged himself in February that he had contemplated retirement after last year’s race.
But he said after GOP lawmakers took over the House and began targeting the financial overhaul he authored, he decided he needed to try to keep his job.
“Some very important programs are at risk,’’ he said then.
The announcement comes a week after Governor Deval Patrick signed a law creating the new state congressional districts. Another Democrat in the delegation, US Representative John Olver, announced in October that he would not seek reelection next year amid the specter of being forced into a showdown with US Representative Richard E. Neal of Springfield.
Frank has depended on his hometown of Newton, as well as Brookline and the Democratic strongholds of Fall River and New Bedford to keep his seat the last three decades. But he lost New Bedford and picked up additional conservative voting towns west and south of Boston and in Bristol and Norfolk counties.
Bielat is weighing a second campaign, and a bevy of Democrats are expended to seek the suddenly open seat. Brookline School Committee member Elizabeth Childs has already announced her candidacy for the GOP nomination.
A longtime supporter and friend, Provincetown resident Ann Maguire, who is openly gay, said she was first inspired to support Frank in the early 1970s when he publicly announced his support for gay rights, even though he had not come out yet.
“He was running to be state rep, and he was going to be supporting gay rights, and I was like, ‘Wow.’ Here he was taking that first step. ‘Here is someone who has the courage and strength who is willing to go out and fight for something he believes in.’”
She said his retirement is an “incredible loss.
“I think he is one of the brightest, if not the brightest, representatives we have,” she said.
Maguire touted his intellectual prowess, noting that he went to law school at the same time he was a state representative.
“Over the years, people - other reps in Massachusetts - who were not even on his side on stuff would call him to ask him what bills were all about,” said Maguire, who has hosted fundraisers for Frank and hosted the congressman and his partner during vacations on the Cape. “They trusted him, and he would be very honest with them and they always could respect that.”
Frank also has inspired many openly gay people to run for office, including New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the first openly gay council president in the city.
“He really showed that this was something that was possible, that you could make a difference and be yourself,” said Quinn, who first was elected to the council in 1999. “I think Barney Frank really changed the world for a lot of people, but he certainly changed the world for LGBT individuals. ...He’s really a hero to all of us.”
Brian C. Mooney of the Globe Staff contributed to this report. Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globeglen. Noah Bierman can be reached at nbierman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @noahbierman. ||||| Updated at 1:56 p.m. ET
Citing the political challenges he faced because of congressional redistricting, prominent Democratic Rep. Barney Frank on Monday announced he will not seek re-election in 2012.
"I don't want to be torn [between] a full-fledged campaign... and my obligation to my current constituents," Frank said from the Newton, Massachusetts City Hall.
The 16-term congressman first took office in Massachusetts' fourth district in 1980 and served as chairman of the House Financial Services committee from 2007 to 2011, during which time he spearheaded work on the landmark Dodd-Frank financial regulation legislation, which rewrote the rules for Wall Street after the 2008 financial crisis.
The 71-year-old congressman faced one of his toughest re-election bids in 2010, when conservative groups made significant investments to back his challenger, Republican Sean Bielat. Frank defeated Bielat, 53 percent to 43 percent. He faced a potentially even more difficult race in 2012, now that the 4th district has been redrawn to include more conservative towns.
Frank pointed out today that the new 4th district includes 325,000 residents he does not currently represent. "Nobody ought to expect to get elected without a contest," he said. He added, however, that "the fact that it's so new makes it harder."
Frank had already raised just over $760,000 for his next campaign, but he said today he'd have to raise a couple more million dollars in order to compete in the new district.
President Obama praised Frank for his more than three decades of service, saying the House of Representatives "will not be the same without him."
"Barney has been a fierce advocate for the people of Massachusetts and Americans everywhere who needed a voice," Mr. Obama said in a written statement, noting that Frank helped make housing more affordable and fought to end discrimination against lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered Americans.
Frank said he considered announcing that this would be his last term earlier but decided against it so his influence in Washington wouldn't be weakened. He said he was particularly concerned the new Republican House majority would leave military spending untouched as it cut other government programs and that the GOP would undo the financial reforms he worked to enact.
"A funny thing happened on my way to retirement," Frank said. "A very conservative Republican majority took over the House... [and] the things I fought hardest for could be in jeopardy."
Frank, considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States, is known as an outspoken liberal with a sharp tongue. His liberal positions have made him a target of conservatives, particularly after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act.
He's been engaged in particularly pointed verbal jousts with Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich, which he continued Monday.
"I did not think I had lived a good enough life to be rewarded by having Newt Gingrich be the Republican nominee," Frank said, alluding to Gingrich's recent rise in the polls and the fact that many Democrats consider the former House speaker unelectable.
With respect to the issue of gay marriage, Frank said Gingrich, who has been married three times, "is an ideal opponent for us when we talk about just who it is threatening the sanctity of marriage."
Frank took another shot at Gingrich when asked whether he would work as a lobbyist after retiring from Congress. "I will neither be a lobbyist or a historian," Frank said, alluding to Gingrich's claims that he worked as a historian -- but not a lobbyist -- for mortgage giant Freddie Mac.
"There is no way I would be a lobbyist," Frank said, adding that one of the advantages of being out of Congress and away from K Street is, "I don't even have to pretend to be nice to people I don't like."
Frank said he intends to spend his retirement writing, teaching and lecturing.
Frank was profiled in 2008 by 60 Minutes: | – Barney Frank has decided not to run for reelection next year, he announced today at a typically feisty press conference in Newton, Mass. “It would have been a rough campaign,” he said, according to the Boston Globe. “I don’t like raising money.” Frank has $760,000 in his campaign coffers, but said he’d need a few million more to compete in his newly redrawn district, which lost the working-class city of New Bedford and gained several conservative towns. Frank said he’d wanted to announce his retirement last year, but waited for fear of looking weak in Congress. “A funny thing happened on my way to retirement,” he said, according to CBS. “A very conservative Republican majority took over the House... [and] the things I fought hardest for could be in jeopardy.” So what’s next for Frank? “I will neither be a lobbyist nor a historian,” he said, poking fun at Newt Gingrich’s Freddie Mac ties; instead, the 71-year-old will do “some combination of writing, teaching, and lecturing.” The best part? “I don’t have to pretend to be nice to people I don’t like.” |
Uppsala University uses cookies to make your website experience as good as possible. Read more about cookies. OK ||||| Image copyright SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Young children who have a pet dog in the home are less likely to go on to develop asthma, a large Swedish study has found.
Exposure to a dog in the first year of life was linked to a 13% lower risk of asthma in later childhood among the 650,000 children the authors tracked.
The findings, in JAMA Pediatrics, support the idea that pets can bolster the immune system and prevent allergy.
More evidence is still needed - past studies have found conflicting results.
Certainly, for a child who is already allergic to dogs, buying a puppy would not be a good idea, say the Swedish researchers.
Man's best friend?
Pets are a common cause of allergy, with half of all asthmatic children allergic to cats and 40% allergic to dogs, according to the charity Allergy UK.
When animals groom themselves, they lick. Skin cells covered in saliva - animal dander - are shed along with loose fur. It's the dander to which some people become sensitised.
The findings of this latest study suggest exposure to dog dander in infancy might actually be beneficial.
Children who had grown up with a dog in their home were less likely to have asthma at the age of seven than children without dogs.
Living on a farm with lots of animals seemed to confer even more protection, cutting the risk of asthma by about 50%.
Lead scientist Prof Tove Fall, from Uppsala University in Sweden, said: "Our results confirmed the farming effect and we also saw that children who grew up with dogs had about 15% less asthma than children without dogs."
She said this fits with the hygiene hypothesis which favours exposure to dust and dirt to improve our tolerance of common allergens. The findings should also provide some reassurance for parents.
"That's important information for parents who are pregnant or are planning to have a baby, that they should not worry about getting a dog or a puppy if they would like to.
"But if you have an allergic child you should not get a dog to cure your child. It won't work and will probably make the allergy worse."
If you are allergic and live with pets, there are things you can do to cut your risk of having an allergic reaction.
Asthma UK advises:
Try to keep pets out of your bedroom and where possible living area
Regular grooming and bathing of cats and dogs can help
You could try using air filters and an efficient vacuum cleaner. This might be helpful for people who have cat allergies; however the evidence on the benefit of these remains unclear
No breed of dog is completely "non-allergic" because they all shed dander
Amena Warner of Allergy UK said: "There have been a few studies that have alluded to this but not such a longitudinal study with so many children so from that point of view this is quite a powerful study. It's very welcome."
Erika Kennington of Asthma UK, said more research was needed to better understand the effects so that it could be turned into practical advice for parents of young children. ||||| Importance The association between early exposure to animals and childhood asthma is not clear, and previous studies have yielded contradictory results.
Objective To determine whether exposure to dogs and farm animals confers a risk of asthma.
Design, Setting and Participants In a nationwide cohort study, the association between early exposure to dogs and farm animals and the risk of asthma was evaluated and included all children born in Sweden from January 1, 2001, to December 31, 2010 (N = 1 011 051), using registry data on dog and farm registration, asthma medication, diagnosis, and confounders for parents and their children. The association was assessed as the odds ratio (OR) for a current diagnosis of asthma at age 6 years for school-aged children and as the hazard ratio (HR) for incident asthma at ages 1 to 5 years for preschool-aged children. Data were analyzed from January 1, 2007, to September 30, 2012.
Exposures Living with a dog or farm animal.
Main Outcomes and Measures Childhood asthma diagnosis and medication used.
Results Of the 1 011 051 children born during the study period, 376 638 preschool-aged (53 460 [14.2%] exposed to dogs and 1729 [0.5%] exposed to farm animals) and 276 298 school-aged children (22 629 [8.2%] exposed to dogs and 958 [0.3%] exposed to farm animals) were included in the analyses. Of these, 18 799 children (5.0%) in the preschool-aged children’s cohort experienced an asthmatic event before baseline, and 28 511 cases of asthma and 906 071 years at risk were recorded during follow-up (incidence rate, 3.1 cases per 1000 years at risk). In the school-aged children’s cohort, 11 585 children (4.2%) experienced an asthmatic event during the seventh year of life. Dog exposure during the first year of life was associated with a decreased risk of asthma in school-aged children (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.81-0.93) and in preschool-aged children 3 years or older (HR, 0.90; 95% CI, 0.83-0.99) but not in children younger than 3 years (HR, 1.03; 95% CI, 1.00-1.07). Results were comparable when analyzing only first-born children. Farm animal exposure was associated with a reduced risk of asthma in both school-aged children and preschool-aged children (OR, 0.48; 95% CI, 0.31-0.76, and HR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.56-0.84), respectively.
Conclusions and Relevance In this study, the data support the hypothesis that exposure to dogs and farm animals during the first year of life reduces the risk of asthma in children at age 6 years. This information might be helpful in decision making for families and physicians on the appropriateness and timing of early animal exposure. | – In perhaps the largest study of its kind, researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden are reporting in the journal JAMA Pediatrics that early childhood exposure to dogs and farm animals is linked to lower asthma rates. The team was uniquely poised to study the question in Sweden, where every citizen has a unique identification number that helps track every visit to a physician, every prescription, and even dog ownership registration, which became mandatory in 2001. (Once the data is de-identified, it's free for researchers to use in, say, large longitudinal studies.) In this massive study, researchers followed all 11 million children born in Sweden from 2001 through 2010. Previous research has been conflicting, but as many other studies have already suggested, this one finds that early exposure to dogs, at least in Sweden, results in a 13% lower risk of asthma in later childhood. The link was dramatically stronger in farm animals—where exposure in early childhood resulted in a 50% lower risk of asthma later. Still, that doesn't mean that kids who have an animal allergy should be further exposed; in fact, that can exacerbate the allergy, the researchers say. "There have been a few studies that have alluded to this but not such a longitudinal study with so many children, so from that point of view this is quite a powerful study," a rep from Allergy UK tells the BBC. "It's very welcome." (Canines might have a probiotic effect on us.) |
Abstract Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disrupting environmental contaminant used in a wide variety of products, and BPA metabolites are found in almost everyone’s urine, suggesting widespread exposure from multiple sources. Regulatory agencies estimate that virtually all BPA exposure is from food and beverage packaging. However, free BPA is applied to the outer layer of thermal receipt paper present in very high (~20 mg BPA/g paper) quantities as a print developer. Not taken into account when considering thermal paper as a source of BPA exposure is that some commonly used hand sanitizers, as well as other skin care products, contain mixtures of dermal penetration enhancing chemicals that can increase by up to 100 fold the dermal absorption of lipophilic compounds such as BPA. We found that when men and women held thermal receipt paper immediately after using a hand sanitizer with penetration enhancing chemicals, significant free BPA was transferred to their hands and then to French fries that were eaten, and the combination of dermal and oral BPA absorption led to a rapid and dramatic average maximum increase (Cmax) in unconjugated (bioactive) BPA of ~7 ng/mL in serum and ~20 µg total BPA/g creatinine in urine within 90 min. The default method used by regulatory agencies to test for hazards posed by chemicals is intra-gastric gavage. For BPA this approach results in less than 1% of the administered dose being bioavailable in blood. It also ignores dermal absorption as well as sublingual absorption in the mouth that both bypass first-pass liver metabolism. The elevated levels of BPA that we observed due to holding thermal paper after using a product containing dermal penetration enhancing chemicals have been related to an increased risk for a wide range of developmental abnormalities as well as diseases in adults.
Citation: Hormann AM, vom Saal FS, Nagel SC, Stahlhut RW, Moyer CL, et al. (2014) Holding Thermal Receipt Paper and Eating Food after Using Hand Sanitizer Results in High Serum Bioactive and Urine Total Levels of Bisphenol A (BPA). PLoS ONE 9(10): e110509. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110509 Editor: David O. Carpenter, Institute for Health & the Environment, United States of America Received: August 13, 2014; Accepted: September 23, 2014; Published: October 22, 2014 Copyright: © 2014 Hormann et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability: The authors confirm that all data underlying the findings are fully available without restriction. All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: This work was supported by a grant from The Passport Foundation (no URL available) and by NIEHS grant ES018764 to FvS (NIEHS website http://www.niehs.nih.gov). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Introduction Bisphenol A [BPA; bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane; CAS #80-05-7] is one of the highest volume chemicals in commerce with 15-billion pounds produced per year [1], and based on the presence of BPA metabolites in urine, it can be concluded that virtually everyone is exposed [2], [3]. BPA has estrogenic and other endocrine disrupting activities [4], [5]. BPA molecules are polymerized to make polycarbonate plastic used for food and beverage containers, epoxy resins used to line cans, and dental composites and sealants, but free (unpolymerized) BPA is also used as an additive (plasticizer), such as in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) products. Our interest is in the use of BPA in thermal paper, which is used for airline ticket, gas, ATM, cash register and other types of receipts (Figure 1). The print surface of thermal paper is coated with milligrams of free BPA per gram paper as a heat-activated print developer [6], and it appears that free BPA is readily transferred to other materials that the thermal paper contacts [7]. PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image ( )
larger image ( ) TIFF original image ( ) Download: Figure 1. Schematic diagram of thermal receipt paper identifying the thermal reactive layer that contains BPA as a developer and a leuco dye, as well as stabilizers and binders (not shown). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110509.g001 While small lipophilic compounds such as BPA (logP = 3.4; molecular weight 228 Da) can pass through skin [8], [9], regulatory agencies have assumed that this route of human BPA exposure should not be significant in spite of the lack of data and acknowledged “significant uncertainties” around the issue of human exposure to BPA from thermal paper [10]. However, a factor that has not been considered in estimating transdermal exposure to BPA from thermal paper is that hand sanitizers are now commonly used, particularly in fast-food restaurants where people may handle thermal receipts before eating or ordering food. Hand sanitizer and other skin care products may also be used by cashiers while working. Exposure to BPA from thermal paper goes beyond just transdermal exposure and consumption of food that is picked up and eaten with a BPA-contaminated hand. The transfer of a chemical directly from hand-to-mouth (mouthing behavior) has been proposed to be an important variable for estimating total chemical exposure in humans [11], particularly in young children [12]. The use of hand sanitizers and other skin-care products, including soaps, lotions and sunscreens, is significant because some contain mixtures of chemicals that are also used as dermal penetration enhancers to increase the transdermal delivery of drugs. Drugs and chemicals that are suitable for transdermal delivery and are impacted by dermal penetration enhancers have a LogP>1.5 and a molecular weight <500 Da [9]. There are many factors that impact the ability of compounds to pass through skin in addition to molecular weight and lipophilicity, including differences arising from the location of skin on the body, gender and age [13]. Mixtures of dermal penetration enhancing chemicals can act synergistically to increase by up to 100 fold the dermal penetration of small lipophilic molecules such as estradiol [8], [9], with which BPA shares physical-chemical and biological properties [4]. For example, Purell hand sanitizer (Gojo Industries), which we used in the current study, contains a number of dermal penetration enhancers, such as isopropyl myristate and propylene glycol, and is (63% w/w) ethanol. The use of hand sanitizers has increased in recent years and is now about a 200 million dollar a year industry just in the USA [14]. The impact of the use of personal care products such as moisturizing lotions that contain dermal penetration enhancing chemicals on exposure to environmental chemicals has been identified as a concern [15]. To assess the relevance of this research to real-world behavior, we conducted a preliminary observational study in fast-food restaurants, food courts and shopping malls in Columbia Missouri. Receipt contact time varied widely, but was sometimes substantial. In one restaurant, we found that receipt contact time ranged up to 65 sec for people purchasing food that was eaten in the restaurant; the 75th percentile for time holding the receipt was >12 sec, and the 90th percentile >32 sec. In a fast-food restaurant that is part of an international chain, take-out food was placed into a bag and the top of the bag was folded, then the thermal receipt was stapled to the top of the bag; the result was that the print surface of the receipt (coated with BPA) was grabbed when the bag was picked up. The contact time between the hand and thermal receipt was thus considerably longer than would be the case for food eaten in the restaurant. In a food court we observed that some fast-food restaurants had hand sanitizer dispensers available for use by customers next to the cash register, and customers were observed using the hand sanitizer before handling the thermal receipt. The estimate is that 50 million people eat in a fast-food establishment every day in the USA [16]. Finally, our experiments here are also relevant to occupational exposures, because we observed in a national chain big-box store that all cash registers had a hand sanitizer dispenser next to them for use by the cashiers. Our objectives were to examine the impact of having dry hands vs. wet hands due to using a popular hand sanitizer that contains dermal penetration enhancing chemicals on extraction of BPA from the surface of thermal receipt paper coated with BPA. We also measured (using a LC/MSMS assay) unconjugated, bioactive BPA (uBPA) and its conjugated metabolites, BPA-glucuronide (BPA-G) and BPA-monosulfate (BPA-S), in serum and urine in adult male and female subjects after holding a thermal receipt. To determine the proportion of thermal receipts that contained BPA, we examined receipt papers for the presence and amount of BPA. We also examined receipts for the most commonly used BPA replacement chemical, bisphenol S [bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)sulfone; BPS; CAS #80-09-1].
Methods Ethics statement The University of Missouri School of Medicine Institutional Review Board approved all procedures involving human subjects, and sample collection was conducted by licensed personnel in the Clinical Research Center (CRC) within the University of Missouri School of Medicine. Subjects were informed of the procedures, and provided written consent. The signed consent forms were retained. The University IRB approved the consent procedure. Subjects Participants for the different experiments in this study were recruited through a weekly University of Missouri campus-wide email newsletter. Candidates (men and women) were pre-screened by age, height, weight, and health status. Participants selected were 20–40 years old (average 27.0 yrs), and an attempt was made to select those with average height, weight and normal-range body-mass index. Participants selected were not taking any prescription or non-prescription medication other than oral contraceptives; the type of oral contraceptive used was recorded. To ensure that pregnant women were excluded from the study, all women were administered a pregnancy test when they arrived at the CRC. For all studies participants were asked to refrain from touching thermal paper receipts, consuming food or beverages stored in polycarbonate or other types of plastic containers as well as canned food and beverages during the 48 hr prior to participating in the study, in order to reduce background BPA levels in body fluids as much as possible. The participants also filled out a questionnaire concerning their activities during the prior 48 hr (see Section S3 in File S1 for questionnaire). For experiments in which there was hand contact with thermal receipt paper, subjects were required to wash their hands with soap and water, rinse thoroughly, and then dry using Kimwipes (Kimberly-Clark, Irving, TX). A number of soaps were screened for BPA content and/or chromatographic interference prior to the start of the study, and the soap chosen was Softsoap “Aquarium series” (Colgate Palmolive Company, Manhattan, NY), which showed no detectable BPA or chromatographic interference with the assay of BPA. Standard brown laboratory paper towels were tested and found to contain BPA at around 6 µg/towel. Because of this, Kimwipes, which tested negative for BPA, were used throughout for drying hands. Water from faucets used in the CRC was tested and found to be below the limit of detection (LOD) for BPA content (detection limit was 10 pg/mL by HPLC with CoulArray detection based on C-18 extraction of 250 ml of water). Sample analysis Analysis of BPA in extracted samples occurred within an accredited facility (Veterinary Medicine Diagnostic Laboratory) within the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri. Reagents. Solvents (methanol, acetonitrile) and water were HPLC grade, and were obtained from Fisher Scientific. BPA, bisphenol S (BPS), and BPA monosulfate (BPA-S) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis MO; purity >99%, 98% and 95% respectively). C13-BPA was obtained from Cambridge Isotope Laboratories Inc. (Andover, MA; purity 99%), and both BPA-G (purity 98%) and BPA D-glucuronide (BPA-DG; purity >99%) were provided by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Research Triangle Park, NC. Ethanol (200 proof) used for hand swipes was obtained from Decon Labs, Inc. (King of Prussia, PA). Total receipt BPA and BPS content. Weighed samples of each receipt (3×3 cm) were incubated overnight in methanol at room temperature. The methanol extracts were diluted in methanol, typically to a final dilution of 1/10,000, and BPA content was analyzed by HPLC with CoulArray detection (see Section S1 in File S1 for details). We also analyzed the same receipt sample extracts for BPS using LC/MSMS (see Section S1 in File S1 for details). BPA levels in Kimwipe hand swipes. Kimwipe swipes were incubated in methanol at room temperature overnight, and aliquots were taken from the methanol extract for analysis. BPA in the methanol extract was determined by HPLC with CoulArray detection. BPA levels in French fries. French fries were incubated individually in methanol overnight. The fries were then removed, and the samples centrifuged briefly to separate any solid and/or oily matter, and a sample of the clear methanol extract was assayed. Equal volumes from the 10 extracts from the 10 French fries touched by each participant were pooled, and a single measurement was made for each participant. Quantitation was made by HPLC with CoulArray detection. Serum sample collection and extraction. Multiple-point blood samples were collected via IV catheter into 10 mL syringes, and the syringes were emptied into the same uncoated vacutainer tubes (for details and catalog numbers of collection materials Section S1 in File S1). Single point blood samples were collected by venipuncture into uncoated glass vacutainer tubes (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lakes, NJ). All blood samples were allowed to clot at room temperature for 15–30 min and then refrigerated until centrifugation at 4°C for 15 min. The serum was transferred with glass Pasteur pipets into 15 mL centrifuge tubes and then frozen at −20°C. Samples were extracted using C18 SPE as previously described [17]; see Section S1 in File S1. Procedural blanks were also run alongside the samples to monitor for reagent contamination or interference. Serum extracts were analyzed by LC/MSMS. Urine sample collection and extraction. All urine samples were collected directly into Samco polypropylene specimen cups (Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) and were immediately refrigerated (4°C for 2–5 hours) until they could be transferred to the research laboratory, at which point they were frozen at −20°C. The total BPA concentration (representing a combined measure of unconjugated and conjugated BPA) was measured by LC/MSMS (see Section S1 in File S1). Assay of creatinine in urine. To calculate creatinine-corrected urine BPA concentrations, urine creatinine was measured using an ELISA kit (R&D Systems Inc., Minneapolis, MN), according to manufacturer’s instructions. Sensitivity of this assay is 0.02 mg/dL. Field blanks. The possibility of BPA leaching from each piece of equipment used in the collection or processing of samples identified above was determined by passing BPA-free water through all collection equipment, which was then handled and assayed for BPA as described below for the actual samples. All equipment and sample handling was determined to not leach detectable BPA before any sample collections occurred. Statistical methods and calculation of pharmacokinetic parameters For both uBPA and BPA-G, the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) up to the last measured serum concentration above the LOQ, i.e. AUC (0–90 min), was calculated by using the linear trapezoidal rule. The average AUC (0–90 min) (ng/mL) was calculated by dividing AUC (0–90 min ng/mL)/90 min. Time (Tmax) of maximal plasma BPA concentration (Cmax) was directly obtained from the raw data. Comparisons of men and women were conducted using the Mann-Whitney U test or ANOVA. Statistical significance was set a P<0.05, two-tailed test. All data are presented as mean±SEM. Experiment 1: Measurement of BPA and BPS in 50 used thermal receipt papers The objective of this experiment was to determine the amount of BPA and BPS in thermal receipt paper and to determine the proportion of receipts that contained BPA or BPS, which is the most commonly used BPA replacement chemical. Thermal paper sales receipts were obtained by purchasing items from 41 different vendors in Columbia, MO and from a further 9 vendors in Southern Missouri (50 receipts total). Weighed portions of each paper were extracted and assayed for BPA by HPLC with CoulArray detection and for BPS by LC/MSMS. After screening, an unused roll was obtained from a vendor from which a BPA-positive receipt had been identified. The BPA content of paper from this roll was confirmed prior to being used for testing with human subjects in Experiments 2, 3 and 4. Experiment 2: BPA transferred to a hand with and without using hand sanitizer due to holding a thermal receipt for different lengths of time The objective of this experiment was to determine the amount of BPA extracted by a hand from a standard piece of thermal receipt paper immediately after using Purell hand sanitizer (Experiment 2-A) or with dry hands (Experiment 2-B). Subjects in both experiments cleaned and dried their hands prior to the experiment and between each trial. For Experiment 2-A the subjects (2 men and one woman) each held the thermal paper for different lengths of time: 2, 15, 30, 45, 60 or 240 sec (in 6 separate trials for each subject). Both hands were wetted by applying three “squirts” of Purell to each hand, and the hands were then briefly rubbed together to distribute the hand sanitizer evenly across both palms and fingers, but the sanitizer was not allowed to dry prior to holding the receipt paper. In experiment 2-B the subjects (2 men and 2 women) held the receipt with dry hands for 60 or 240 sec (2 separate trials for each subject). In both experiments an 8×12 cm portion of thermal paper cut from an unused receipt roll that was obtained from a local merchant (previously identified as containing 27.2 mg BPA/g paper) was placed BPA-coated (print surface) side down into the right hand. The hand was swiped 3 times each with 3 ethanol-soaked Kimwipes, and BPA was extracted from the Kimwipes with methanol and measured by HPLC with CoulArray detection. Experiment 3: Serum and urine BPA in men and women before and after transdermal and oral exposure to BPA from thermal receipt paper after using hand sanitizer The objective of this experiment was to measure the transfer of BPA from thermal paper receipts to hands, and the amount of BPA remaining on the surface of a hand 90-min later, after using Purell hand sanitizer (as described in the prior experiment) in 5 male and 5 female subjects. In addition, we measured the amount of BPA transferred from a BPA-contaminated hand to 10 French fries, and measured blood and urine concentrations of uBPA, BPA-G and BPA-S before and after ingestion of the French fries and BPA absorption through skin. The design of the study is shown in Figure 2. PPT PowerPoint slide
PowerPoint slide PNG larger image ( )
larger image ( ) TIFF original image ( ) Download: Figure 2. Schematic diagram of the protocol for Experiment 3 in which thermal receipt paper containing BPA was held with a hand wet from using Purell hand sanitizer, after which the subjects picked up 10 French fries and ate them, resulting in both oral and transdermal routes of exposure. Of the 5 male and 5 female subjects, 7 subjects had serum collected from the cubital vein in the arm with a contaminated hand that contained the BPA from holding thermal paper. Three subjects had blood collected from the cubital vein in the unexposed arm that did not have BPA on the hand throughout the 90-min test period during which blood was collected. Urine samples were obtained before and at the end of the test period. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110509.g002 The background level of BPA on the dominant hand was determined when the subjects first arrived at the CRC. The dominant hand was swiped 3 times with 3 separate Kimwipes soaked with ethanol, from which we extracted BPA for analysis by HPLC with CoulArray detection, and the hands were then cleaned. The subjects’ weight and height were determined, after which they provided a baseline urine specimen, an IV port was inserted into the cubital vein, and a baseline blood sample was collected. Purell hand sanitizer was applied to the hands as described in Experiment 2. An 8×12 cm piece of thermal paper cut from an unused receipt roll (used in Experiment 2) was then placed BPA-coated side down into each hand with the hands still wet. The subjects held the receipt papers for 4 min in each hand. The dominant arm of each subject was determined based on whether the person was right or left handed, and in this experiment the non-dominant hand remained contaminated with BPA for the duration of the experiment. Blood was collected from the cubital vein in the contaminated arm of one set of subjects (N = 7) and from the cubital vein in the non-contaminated arm of other subjects (N = 3). We note that the phlebotomist did not handle the thermal paper for either Experiment 3 or Experiment 4. The study coordinator who did handle the paper wore gloves to do so and did not touch the blood tubes of other equipment. A separate person swiped the subjects’ hands after thermal paper exposure and wore fresh gloves for each swipe session and discarded them immediately afterwards. French fries that had been purchased from a local fast food restaurant and had been found to not contain detectable BPA were briefly warmed in a toaster oven. Immediately after holding the thermal receipts in each hand, the subjects picked up a French fry in each hand, and held both fries for 10 sec. The fry held in the dominant hand was placed into a labeled glass tube, and the fry that was held in the non-dominant hand was eaten. A total of 10 French fries was handled by each hand and either placed in a test tube or eaten using this same procedure. Approximately 4 min elapsed between removal of the receipt paper from the hand and consumption of the last French fry. Thus, it took about 8 min from the time that the thermal receipt paper was first touched and consumption of the last French fry. After the last French fry was consumed, the subject’s dominant hand was swiped with 3 ethanol-soaked Kimwipes to clean BPA off the hand and for determination (by extracting BPA from the Kimwipes) of the amount of BPA remaining on the hand immediately after holding the 10 French fries that were placed into test tubes. The non-dominant hand was not cleaned after holding the receipt paper and eating French fries, and thus was a continuing source of transdermal BPA exposure over the following 90-min period of blood collection. Blood samples were collected from the cubital vein from the still contaminated arm of 7 subjects, 4 males and 3 females, and from the uncontaminated arm of 3 subjects, one male and 2 females. The blood collected from the BPA-contaminated arm provided direct information about BPA absorbed from the hand on which BPA remained for 90 min, since the cubital vein is one of the major veins draining the hand; this blood is not subject to first-pass liver metabolism prior to going to the heart and being transported in the arterial circulation to tissues. The blood collected from the uncontaminated arm provided information about BPA in the systemic (mixed) circulation. Blood was collected from the IV port before holding the thermal paper (baseline) and at 15, 30, 60 and 90 min after consumption of the last French fry. The non-dominant contaminated hand (from which the French fries were eaten) was not allowed to touch anything during the 90-min after holding the receipt paper and then picking up the 10 French fries; this hand was swiped with 3 ethanol-soaked Kimwipes after the final 90-min blood collection at the end of the study. After these swipes were obtained, both hands were thoroughly cleaned and a second urine sample was collected. Experiment 4: Serum and urine BPA in men and women before and after transdermal exposure to BPA from thermal receipt paper with dry hands The objective of this study was to examine the amount of BPA transferred to a clean dry hand and then present in serum and urine without using hand sanitizer. In this study we examined 12 adult men and 12 adult women subjects. The subjects washed and dried their hands and provided a baseline blood and urine sample as described in Experiment 3. The non-dominant hand was swiped 3 times each with 3 ethanol-soaked Kimwipes to obtain a baseline measure of BPA on the hand prior to holding a thermal receipt. After the hand was dry, subjects held an 8×12 cm piece of thermal receipt paper (from the roll used in Experiment 1) with the non-dominant dry hand for 4 min. Thirty minutes later a second blood sample was collected from the contaminated arm, after which the BPA was swiped from the contaminated hand with ethanol-soaked Kimwipes as described previously. As above, the contaminated hand was not allowed to touch anything during the 30-min period prior to the second blood collection. The hands were washed, and a second urine sample was collected 60 min after holding the receipt paper.
Conclusions Thermal paper requires a chemical in the surface coating as a print developer. The current preferred developers, BPA and BPS, have both been shown to have estrogenic activity [45], [46]. This is leading to widespread exposure to both of these endocrine-disrupting chemicals [7], [47], and BPS is more persistent in the environment relative to BPA and is thus an unacceptable replacement for BPA [18], [48]. A recent EPA report examined 19 alternative chemicals, including BPS, that could potentially replace BPA as a developer in thermal paper and concluded that “No clearly safer alternatives to BPA were identified in this report; most alternatives have Moderate or High hazard designations for human health or aquatic toxicity endpoints” [18]. The report identified that “decision makers may wish to consider alternative printing systems”. Two of the papers screened for our current study employed a developer other than BPA or BPS that was not estrogenic in a MCF-7 human breast cancer cell proliferation assay (data not shown), but lack of estrogenic activity does not imply safety, as indicated in the EPA report. Thermal paper is a major source of BPA contamination in recycled paper, and its use results in the widespread contamination of other products and the environment [49] due to the presence of large amounts of free, unpolymerized BPA in the surface coating of thermal paper (Figure 1). Further, our findings are consistent with other data reporting that BPA can be transferred from the surface of thermal paper to items it contacts. Because no safe alternatives to the use of BPA or its primary replacement chemical BPS in thermal paper have been identified, our findings provide support for the EPA’s recommendation that thermal paper should be replaced with other safer technologies [18]. Our study provides the first data that thermal paper may be a significant factor in accounting for high levels of bioactive BPA in human serum and total BPA in urine that have been associated with diseases that are increasing in frequency in human populations [21], [34]. Our findings also suggest that the impact of the use of dermal penetration enhancing chemicals in skin care products on transdermal absorption of environmental contaminants should be taken into consideration in risk assessments and should be a priority for future research.
Supporting Information File S1. Section S1: Sample handling, extraction and assay methods. Section S2: Table of individual BPA and BPS values for 50 thermal receipt papers. Section S3: List of questions asked each subject. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110509.s001 (DOCX) ||||| Bisphenol A (BPA) is used to manufacture polycarbonate plastics. This type of plastic is used to make some types of beverage containers, compact disks, plastic dinnerware, impact-resistant safety equipment, automobile parts, and toys. BPA epoxy resins are used in the protective linings of food cans, in dental sealants, and in other products.
How People Are Exposed to BPA
General exposure to BPA at low levels comes from eating food or drinking water stored in containers that have BPA. Small children may be exposed by hand-to-mouth and direct oral (mouth) contact with materials containing BPA. Dental treatment with BPA-containing sealants also results in short-term exposure. In addition, workers who manufacture products that contain BPA can be exposed.
How BPA Affects People’s Health
Human health effects from BPA at low environmental exposures are unknown. BPA has been shown to affect the reproductive systems of laboratory animals. More research is needed to understand the human health effects of exposure to BPA.
Levels of BPA in the U.S. Population
In the Fourth National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals (Fourth Report), CDC scientists measured BPA in the urine of 2,517 participants aged six years and older who took part in CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) during 2003–2004. By measuring BPA in urine, scientists can estimate the amount of BPA that has entered peoples’ bodies.
CDC scientists found BPA in the urine of nearly all of the people tested, which indicates widespread exposure to BPA in the U.S. population.
Finding a measurable amount of BPA in the urine does not imply that the levels of BPA cause an adverse health effect. Biomonitoring studies on levels of BPA provide physicians and public health officials with reference values so that they can determine whether people have been exposed to higher levels of BPA than are found in the general population. Biomonitoring data can also help scientists plan and conduct research on exposure and health effects.
Additional Resources
Department of Health and Human Services
Bisphenol A (BPA) Information for Parents
https://www.hhs.gov/safety/bpa/
Food and Drug Administration
Food Ingredients & Packaging | Bisphenol A
https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodIngredientsPackaging/ucm166145.htm
https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodIngredientsPackaging/ucm166145.htm Bisphenol A (BPA): Use in Food Contact Application
https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/PublicHealthFocus/ucm064437.htm
National Toxicology Program ||||| The Facts About Bisphenol A
In 2008, the possible health risks of Bisphenol A (BPA) -- a common chemical in plastic -- made headlines. Parents were alarmed, pediatricians flooded with questions, and stores quickly sold-out of BPA-free bottles and sippy cups.
Where do things stand now? Have plastic manufacturers changed their practices? How careful does a parent need to be when it comes to plastics and BPA? Here's the latest information we have about possible BPA risks.
BPA Basics
BPA is a chemical that has been used to harden plastics for more than 40 years. It's everywhere. It's in medical devices, compact discs, dental sealants, water bottles, the lining of canned foods and drinks, and many other products.
More than 90% of us have BPA in our bodies right now. We get most of it by eating foods that have been in containers made with BPA. It's also possible to pick up BPA through air, dust, and water.
BPA was common in baby bottles, sippy cups, baby formula cans, and other products for babies and young children. Controversy changed that. Now, the six major companies that make baby bottles and cups for infants have stopped using BPA in the products they sell in the U.S. Many manufacturers of infant formula have stopped using BPA in their cans, as well.
According to the U.S. Department of Health, toys generally don't contain BPA. While the hard outer shields of some pacifiers do have BPA, the nipple that the baby sucks on does not.
BPA Risks
What does BPA do to us? We still don't really know, since we don't have definitive studies of its effects in people yet. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration used to say that BPA was safe. But in 2010 the agency altered its position. The FDA maintains that studies using standardized toxicity tests have shown BPA to be safe at the current low levels of human exposure. But based on other evidence -- largely from animal studies -- the FDA expressed "some concern" about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate glands in fetuses, infants, and young children. | – Thought you'd cut your risk of BPA exposure by ditching plastic water bottles? You might have to add "stop asking for receipts at the store" to the list. Scientists tested the skin, blood, and urine of people before and after they handled receipts and other thermal papers that use bisphenol A as a print developer—and found that levels of the chemical rose, Forbes reports. Although the CDC won't definitively acknowledge BPA's risks—"More research is needed" is the official hedge on its fact sheet—WebMD points to various studies that have linked BPA to a variety of health issues, including a higher risk of cancer, heart problems, and brain and behavioral issues in babies and young children. Researchers who conducted the new study in PLoS One had participants handle receipt paper, then asked some of them to eat French fries using their hands. BPA levels in the skin spiked to 581 micrograms of BPA within 45 seconds (and 40% of that was absorbed in just two seconds). Urine and blood BPA levels were also strikingly higher 90 minutes after holding the receipts—and numbers here were on par with those from previous studies that were linked to Type 2 diabetes and heart disease, Forbes notes. Levels were even higher for subjects who had used hand sanitizer before handling the receipts; scientists attribute this to sanitizers (and toiletries like sunscreen and lotion) making hands more absorbent. Forbes notes the study was "quite small and more research will be needed," while a spokesman for the American Chemistry Council notes the study's "unrealistic experimental conditions" and that "much of the data presented in this new study has very limited relevance to the potential for human exposure to BPA from handling thermal receipt paper." (Your BPA-free water bottle may still not be safe.) |
A 22-year-old Oklahoma man fatally shot himself with his gun on Saturday while on a family ski vacation in Colorado, according to reports from the Summit County sheriff's and coroner's offices.
The family of the man, Luke Gregory Goodman, is blaming his suicide on the multiple doses of marijuana-infused edibles he ingested just hours before his self-inflicted death, according to witnesses and reports.
Goodman, a Tulsa resident and graduate of Oral Roberts University, would have turned 23 in April. He died just after 4 a.m. Tuesday morning at St. Anthony's Hospital in Lakewood after more than two days on life support, according to Summit County Coroner Regan Wood.
Luke Gregory Goodman, 22 (via the Summit Daily)
"It was 100 percent the drugs," Goodman's mother, Kim Goodman, told Denver TV station CBS4, noting her son was well-adjusted. "It was completely because of the drugs — he had consumed so much of it."
Wood said "the circumstances and manner surrounding the death are consistent with a suicide." The cause of death, the coroner said, is a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Summit County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Taneil Ilano said the case is still under investigation.
As for the presence of marijuana's psychoactive ingredient, THC, in Goodman's system, Wood is awaiting a toxicology report, which could take three weeks to be finalized. But Wood did note that witnesses said Goodman "had consumed a large amount of edible marijuana candies prior to his death."
Advertisement
If medical personnel find a significant amount of THC in Goodman's system and think it attributed to his taking his own life, it would make for the second suicide ascribed in part to edible marijuana since recreational sales started in January 2014.
In March 2014, 19-year-old Wyoming college student Levy Thamba became agitated after eating pot-infused edibles and leapt to his death from a Denver hotel balcony.
On Saturday, Goodman and his cousin Caleb Fowler had bused from Keystone to Silverthorne to buy some legal cannabis. "He was excited to do them," Fowler told CBS4.
Once back in their Keystone condo at the Black Bear Lodge, they ate some of the edibles, with Goodman eating several "peach tart candies" that individually were infused with the state-mandated dose of 10 milligrams, Fowler told the station. When Goodman didn't feel anything, he ate a couple more — ingesting a fifth edible, which would be five times the state's recommended dose for cannabis.
Reading from the police report, Ilano said another friend said "he did consume edible marijuana candies that day. He ate four edibles, described as gummy bears."
A few hours later, Fowler told CBS4, Goodman became "jittery."
"He would make eye contact with us but didn't see us, didn't recognize our presence almost," Fowler said. "He had never got close to this point. I had never seen him like this."
When Goodman's family left the condo that night, he refused to go along. Once his family was gone, Goodman retrieved a handgun "he typically traveled with for protection," according to the station, and killed himself. A 911 call for possible shots fired came in at around 10 p.m. Saturday, according to the Summit County Sheriff's Office.
Kim Goodman told the station that her son hadn't likely read the warnings on the edibles packaging about the standard 10-milligram serving size and the potential delay of its effects. She also said "there was no depression or anything that would leave us being concerned."
When contacted by phone Thursday, Kim Goodman declined to comment because she's talking exclusively with a Tulsa television station about her son's death.
Goodman's friends and family have been remembering a kind, spiritual and friendly young man on his Facebook page in the last few days.
"You were hated by no one and loved by all," one friend remembered on Tuesday. Another friend recalled, "He always made time to hear out his friends and he enjoyed the greatest adventures God made available on this earth."
Kim Goodman, who is planning a memorial service for her son on Friday in Tulsa, is now calling for action against Colorado's still-controversial marijuana laws.
"I would love to see edibles taken off the market," Kim Goodman told CBS4. "I think edibles are so much more dangerous."
Oklahoma is one of the states that have asked the Supreme Court to strike down Colorado's legalization law. The lawsuit filed in December by Oklahoma and Nebraska officials says the states have had an increase in costs from arrests and enforcement in their states when pot leaves Colorado.
Ricardo Baca: 303-954-1394, rbaca@denverpost.com or twitter.com/bruvs ||||| DENVER (CBS4) – The family of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, man who shot himself Saturday night in Keystone is blaming his suicide on his ingestion of edible marijuana candies.
“It was completely a reaction to the drugs,” Kim Goodman said about her son Luke’s Saturday night suicide.
Luke Goodman’s death is now the third death in Colorado linked to marijuana edibles.
The 23-year-old college graduate was in the midst of a two-week ski and snowboard vacation with family members. Saturday afternoon he and his cousin, Caleb Fowler, took a bus from Keystone to Silverthorne where Fowler says they bought $78 worth of edibles and marijuana.
“He was excited to do them,” Fowler told CBS4.
When the young men got back to Keystone, Fowler said they began ingesting the edible pot. He said his cousin favored some peach tart candies, each piece of candy containing 10 mg of the active ingredient in marijuana, the recommended dose for an adult consuming an edible.
But when Goodman consumed several and experienced no immediate effects he kept gobbling them up.
“Luke popped two simultaneously” after the first two didn’t seem to do anything, said Fowler.
Then he said Goodman took a fifth candy, five times the recommended dose. His mother says her son likely didn’t see the warning on the back of the container which says, “The intoxicating effects of this product may be delayed by two or more hours … the standardized serving size for this product includes no more than 10 mg.”
Several hours later Fowler said his cousin became “jittery” then incoherent and talking nonsensically.
“He would make eye contact with us but didn’t see us, didn’t recognize our presence almost. He had never got close to this point, I had never seen him like this,” Fowler said.
Fowler says Goodman became “pretty weird and relatively incoherent. It was almost like something else was speaking through him.”
When family members left the condo Goodman refused to join them. After they left he got a handgun that he typically traveled with for protection, and turned it on himself.
Summit County Coroner Regan Wood says the preliminary cause of death is a self-inflicted gunshot wound. As for the impact of the marijuana edibles, she said, “That’s what we’ve heard consistently.”
She said the impact the edibles had on Goodman will be more clear when toxicology results come back in a few weeks.
“It’s still under investigation,” said Wood.
RELATED STORIES: Marijuana Legalization Story Archive
While definitive answers may be weeks away, Kim Goodman, Luke Goodman’s mother, told CBS4 she knows why her son took his own life.
“It was 100 percent the drugs,” she said. “It was completely because of the drugs — he had consumed so much of it.”
She said her son was well adapted, well-adjusted and had no signs of depression or suicidal thoughts.
“It was completely out of character for Luke … there was no depression or anything that would leave us being concerned, nothing like that.”
Caleb Fowler echoed the feeling saying he fully believed the ingestion of so much marijuana laced candy triggered the suicide.
“He was the happiest guy in the world. He had everything going for him.”
A year ago a Wyoming college student jumped to his death from a Denver hotel balcony after eating a marijuana cookie. Witnesses said Levy Thamba Pongi was rambling incoherently after eating the cookie. The Denver coroner ruled “marijuana intoxication” was a significant factor in Pongi’s death.
Richard Kirk of Denver faces first-degree murder charges stemming from the fatal shooting of his wife in Denver last year. Before her death his wife called 911 and said her husband had eaten marijuana candy and taken prescription medication and was hallucinating.
Luke Goodman’s family is now planning a memorial service for Friday in Tulsa. His mother says she remembers her last interaction with her son.
“We both said ‘I love you’ and I said ‘Have a great week.’ ”
Kim Goodman told CBS4 she believes marijuana edibles should be removed from store shelves.
“I would love to see edibles taken off the market … I think edibles are so much more dangerous.”
CBS4 Investigator Brian Maass has been with the station more than 30 years uncovering waste, fraud and corruption. Follow him on Twitter @Briancbs4. | – A 22-year-old man shot himself to death while on a ski vacation in Colorado, and his family is certain it knows why: "It was 100% the drugs," the mother of Luke Goodman tells CBS Denver. "It was completely because of the drugs—he had consumed so much of it." Kim Goodman is referring to the edible marijuana her son ate before his suicide. He and a cousin bought pot-infused candy from a legal shop Saturday, and the cousin says Goodman quickly put down four 10mg chews—and soon a fifth when he felt no effects. Then things changed. “He would make eye contact with us but didn’t see us, didn’t recognize our presence almost," says Caleb Fowler. "He had never got close to this point, I had never seen him like this." Goodman's mother says her son likely didn't see a warning on the package that the drug's effects might be delayed for a few hours. He refused to leave the rental condo later when the family went out that night, then shot himself with a gun brought along for protection. He died Tuesday. The coroner agrees the death is suicide and is awaiting toxicology reports before weighing in on whether marijuana might have contributed. If the link is confirmed, it would be the second time since legalization in 2014 that a person committed suicide after consuming edible marijuana, notes the Denver Post. Goodman, a graduate of Oral Roberts University who lived in Tulsa, had no history of depression, says his family. (In the first fatal incident, a student jumped to his death while on spring break.) |
Latest News from Vulture
Yesterday at 5:37 p.m.
The Cast of Kids on Sex, Death, and the NC-17 Movie’s 20th Anniversary
Rosario Dawson, Chlöe Sevigny, Larry Clark, and Harmony Korine catch up.
Yesterday at 4:52 p.m.
Seth Meyers Would Love to Have ‘Joke’ Candidate Donald Trump on Late Night
"We've had some issues in the past."
Yesterday at 3:54 p.m.
Emilia Clarke on Game of Thrones’ Violence Against Women: Don’t Take It Too Seriously
The mother of dragons weighs in.
Yesterday at 3:42 p.m.
Are You a Top Gear Superfan? Prove It With This Quiz
Pooooooweeeeeeer!
Yesterday at 2:33 p.m.
Kirk and Spock Will Not Die in Star Trek 3, Will Live to See Star Trek 4
Or maybe they'll die and come back. Who knows!
Yesterday at 1:58 p.m.
‘Mystery Show’ Is Your Next Podcast Obsession
And it actually solves mysteries!
Yesterday at 1:57 p.m.
Bryan Fuller Had Asked Jodie Foster to Direct Hannibal
Slow-motion teardrops for days.
Yesterday at 1:31 p.m.
Feminism Wins: Lucy and Columbiana Sequels Are in Development
Thank you, Furiosa.
Yesterday at 1:24 p.m.
Jimmy Fallon Cancels Tonight Show Taping After Hand Injury
The injury required minor surgery.
Yesterday at 1:21 p.m.
Movie Review: Escobar: Paradise Lost Could Have Used More Escobar
There’s a good idea floating around somewhere inside this thing.
Load More ||||| Police report sheds light on Simon, Brickell dispute
Video: Paul Simon, wife arrested in New Canaan
Edie Brickell told police Paul Simon did something that "broke her heart," according to a newly released police report outlining their April 26 dispute, which led to the couple being arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct at their Brookwood Lane home.
Brickell, 47, told officers that the argument started when she confronted Simon, who was in their home's music studio. She said Simon, 72, cannot "handle being criticized in any manner and became confrontational with her," according to the document.
The report stated that he shoved Brickell and then called 9-1-1 after his wife slapped him in the face.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer sustained "a superficial cut to his ear" while his musician wife had "a small bruise on her right wrist," the report stated.
window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-5', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 5', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true});
window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-10', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 10', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true});
window._taboola = window._taboola || []; _taboola.push({ mode: 'thumbnails-c', container: 'taboola-interstitial-gallery-thumbnails-12', placement: 'Interstitial Gallery Thumbnails 12', target_type: 'mix' }); _taboola.push({flush: true});
Photo: Contributed Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Image 1 of 12 Allan Cramer, the attorney representing Paul Simon and his wife, Edie Brickell, following an alleged domestic dispute, speaks to reporters outside of Norwalk Superior Court Monday, April 28, 2014. Staff Photo/Nelson Oliveira less Allan Cramer, the attorney representing Paul Simon and his wife, Edie Brickell, following an alleged domestic dispute, speaks to reporters outside of Norwalk Superior Court Monday, April 28, 2014. Staff ... more Photo: Contributed Image 2 of 12 Singer Paul Simon, left, and his wife Edie Brickell appear at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday, April 28, 2014, in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers investigating a family dispute at their home in New Canaan, Conn. less Singer Paul Simon, left, and his wife Edie Brickell appear at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday, April 28, 2014, in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by ... more Photo: AP Photo/The Hour, AP Image 3 of 12 Singer Paul Simon leaves Norwalk Superior Court after a hearing on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. Simon and his wife Edie Brickell were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers investigating a family dispute at their home in New Canaan. less Singer Paul Simon leaves Norwalk Superior Court after a hearing on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. Simon and his wife Edie Brickell were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers ... more Photo: AP Photo/The Hour, AP Image 4 of 12 Singer Paul Simon, left, and his wife Edie Brickell appear at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers investigating a family dispute at their home in New Canaan. less Singer Paul Simon, left, and his wife Edie Brickell appear at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by ... more Photo: AP Photo/The Hour, AP Image 5 of 12 Image 6 of 12 Singer Paul Simon, left, leaves Norwalk Superior Court with his attorney Stephen Hayes after a hearing Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. Simon and his wife Edie Brickell were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers investigating a family dispute at their home in New Canaan. less Singer Paul Simon, left, leaves Norwalk Superior Court with his attorney Stephen Hayes after a hearing Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. Simon and his wife Edie Brickell were arrested Saturday on ... more Photo: AP Photo/The Hour, AP Image 7 of 12 Singer Paul Simon, left, holds hands with his wife Edie Brickell at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges by officers investigating a family dispute at their home in New Canaan, Conn. less Singer Paul Simon, left, holds hands with his wife Edie Brickell at a hearing in Norwalk Superior Court on Monday April 28, 2014 in Norwalk, Conn. The couple were arrested Saturday on disorderly conduct charges ... more Photo: AP Photo/The Hour, ASSOCIATED PRESS Image 8 of 12 Paul Simon and his wife, Edie Brickell, were both arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct Saturday, April 26, 2014, according to New Canaan police. Paul Simon and his wife, Edie Brickell, were both arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct Saturday, April 26, 2014, according to New Canaan police. Photo: Lisa Weir/File Photo, ST Image 9 of 12 Edie Brickell.
Edie Brickell. Photo: Contributed Image 10 of 12 Image 11 of 12 Edie Brickell and her husband, Paul Simon, were both arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct Saturday, April 26, 2014, according to New Canaan police. Edie Brickell and her husband, Paul Simon, were both arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct Saturday, April 26, 2014, according to New Canaan police. Photo: Mark Conrad Image 12 of 12 Police report sheds light on Simon, Brickell dispute 1 / 12 Back to Gallery
The couple appeared Monday in Norwalk Superior Court, where Judge William Wenzel considered issuing a limited protective order against both of them. But after the pair insisted they weren't a threat to each other, the judge declined to issue the order.
New Canaan police responded to the couple's residence at 8:20 p.m. Saturday after receiving a 9-1-1 hang-up call, Police Chief Leon Krolikowski said at a press conference Monday. When the first officer arrived at the scene, he heard "the occupants of the residence loudly screaming at each other," the report stated.
The couple told police that they were having a verbal argument that escalated, according to the document. Brickell told police Simon "was acting like a spoiled baby by calling 9-1-1 and that he did not care about their children," the report stated. The couple has three children, ranging in age from 16 to 21. Simon has a son from a previous marriage.
Police said Brickell had "a strong odor of alcohol on her breath" and became agitated at times. She alluded to there being other physical confrontations in the relationship, but she refused to elaborate or answer any questions, police wrote in the report.
At one point, Brickell bent her head over toward one of the officers, grabbed his hand and placed it on the back of her head so he could feel a lump, according to the document. The officer did feel the lump and asked Brickell if Simon had caused it, but "she just became emotional and continued to say she would never jeopardize their children's well-being," the report stated. Police did not find evidence to suggest Simon caused the lump on her head or that it occurred that night, according to the report.
Simon and Brickell were not taken into custody, police said, and were issued misdemeanor summonses.
The couple was allowed to return to the house, but Simon agreed to spend the night in their Manhattan residence, according to police. Officers left as soon as they determined the situation was under control and that both Simon and Brickell were safe, Krolikowski said.
Attorney Steve Hayes, who said he's represented the family for 20 years, said in court Monday that any type of protective order would be unnecessary because both Simon and Brickell don't feel like they're threatened by the other.
Simon also spoke in court saying he and his wife are fine.
"We're going to go back home and watch our son play baseball," he said. "This argument was very atypical of us ... I don't feel I need to be protected from her."
Brickell also spoke in court stating that Simon "is not a threat" to her.
Based on their testimony, Wenzel said the couple didn't pose a continued threat to each other and declined to issue the protective order as long as there are no acts or threats of violence.
Attorney Allan Cramer, who is representing the couple in this case, said the court assigned a mediator who will sit down with them to determine whether a problem exists. The mediator is expected to file a report with the judge before the couple returns to court May 16.
Outside of Norwalk Superior Court, Cramer said he didn't know what the argument was about or whether or not the couple had been drinking.
"It was a normal husband and wife discussion, and Paul didn't want to discuss it, and she wanted to discuss it," Cramer said. "It's as simple as that. He kind of tried to leave, and she kind of blocked the door."
Cramer also said the argument was minor.
"Brickell is from Texas and he's from Queens," he said. "And you know what ... there are ways of settling things down in Texas and there are ways of settling things down in Queens."
Cramer said he believes Brickell's mother was in the house and she's the one who tried to call 9-1-1.
"They've never had anything but a happy marriage," Cramer said, adding that "on a scale of 1 to 10, the argument was a 1."
"I know a fair amount about celebrity marriages, and a lot of them are not so good," Cramer said. "This is one that is good. These are wonderful people."
The couple has been married since 1992 and purchased their New Canaan home, which police said is gated and surrounded by a 7-foot-high barbed wire fence, in 2002.
Brickell's mother, Larry Linden, was at the house during the altercation, the police report states.
Krolikowski said the incident was "minor in nature" but "sufficient to require an arrest."
"It was a very common domestic incident that occurs all the time," Krolikowski said.
He added that there were "minor" injuries, but would not elaborate. New Canaan EMS wasn't dispatched.
Krolikowski said this was the first time police dealt with the couple regarding a domestic dispute. He said they're "quiet" and "great people."
"It's unfortunate that this incident occurred," Krolikowski said. "But we were obligated to make an arrest when it occurred."
Simon, a 12-time Grammy winner, started his career with Simon & Garfunkel in 1964.
In September, he performed in a benefit honoring local first responders that raised money for Staying Put in New Canaan.
Brickell is best known for her 1988 hit "What I Am," with the band Edie Brickell and New Bohemians.
Krolikowski said 32 family disputes have been reported in New Canaan this year, a 68 percent increase compared to this time last year. He said it is unclear whether more residents are reporting domestic violence or if the number of incidents is actually increasing.
noliveira@bcnnew.com;
203-330-6582, @olivnelson | – Wondering what in the world Paul Simon and his wife of 22 years, fellow musician Edie Brickell, could possibly have done to get arrested on disorderly conduct charges Saturday? Well, the police report is out, and it explains everything: Seems Brickell, 47, confronted Simon, 72, in the music studio at their home. But Simon can't "handle being criticized in any manner" and got "confrontational," Brickell told officers. She says he pushed her, she slapped him in the face, and he called 911, the Stamford Advocate reports. He hung up, but officers responded anyway, and heard the couple "loudly screaming at each other," according to the report. Brickell smelled strongly of alcohol, the report continues, and implied past fights between the couple may also have gotten physical. The scuffle ended with a superficial cut on Simon's ear and a small bruise on Brickell's wrist, the report says. But the couple insisted at a hearing Monday they aren't a threat to one another, so no limited protective order was issued to keep them away from each other. "We're going to go back home and watch our son play baseball," Simon said during the hearing. "This argument was very atypical of us ... I don't feel I need to be protected from her." Next up, the couple will sit down with a mediator before appearing in court again on May 16. And don't worry about them too much, because they just released a new duet. |
Among the cache of documents from Osama bin Laden’s bookshelf released to the public Tuesday is a curious letter, apparently written by the late al-Qaeda founder, enjoining the American people to undertake a “great revolution for freedom,” liberating the then-recently inaugurated President Barack Obama from the chokehold of lobbyists, allowing him to take action against both corporate control and climate change.
The letter, which is unsigned but the Office of the Director of National Intelligence attributes to bin Laden, is addressed “to the American people […] specifically to those who support real change, especially the youth.” The main topic of the letter, bin Laden wrote, “is the overwhelming control of capital […] and its effect on the ongoing war between us.”
The letter is undated, but references to current events place its writing early in Obama’s first term.
The somewhat disjointed address touches on a wide range of topics, including a court decision (possibly the January 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court ruling), which he described as a “decision by the court in favor of corporations to intervene in the political arena” and “not [a victory] for the American people except for the big corporations.”
In the letter, bin Laden blamed the “tyranny of the control of capital by large companies” for the 2007-2008 economic crisis. “Your financial system in its totality was about to collapse within 48 hours had not the administration reverted to using taxpayer’s money to rescue the vultures by using the assets of the victims,” he wrote.
Rampant capitalism, he argued, was also to blame for the Iraq War and the United States’ unflagging support of Israel:
Iraq was invaded in response to pressure from capitalists with greed for black gold, and you continue to support the oppressive Israelis in their occupation of our Palestine in response to pressures on your administration by a Jewish lobby backed by enormous financial capabilities.
The letter asserts that the then-new administration of President Obama was unlikely to effect a change in policies, noting the insidious influence of lobbyists in American politics, and the adverse effect corporate interests have on national security and the American economy at large:
The course of the policies of the present administration in several areas clearly reveals that whoever enters the White House, even with good intentions to safeguard the peoples’ interest, is no more than a train operator. His only task is to keep the train on the tracks that are laid down by the lobbyists in New York and Washington to serve their interests first, even if it is counter to your security and economy. Any president who tries to move the train from the lobbyist’s tracks to a track for the American people’s interests will confront very strong opposition and pressures from the lobbyists.
As the letter goes on, bin Laden explains the need for a “great revolution” to release President Obama from corporate control in order to take action on climate change:
The way for change and freeing yourselves from the pressure of lobbyists is not through the Republican or the Democratic parties, but through undertaking a great revolution for freedom: not to free Iraq from Saddam Hussein but to free the White House and to free [President Barack Obama] so he can implement the change you seek. It does not only include improvement of your economic situation and ensure your security, but more importantly, helps him in making a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful [greenhouse] gases that threaten its destiny.
Osama bin Laden’s concern about climate change was also apparent in documents made public last May.
The letter was among the documents seized from bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan by Navy SEALs Team Six in 2011 during the same operation in which the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks was killed. It was translated into English from the original Arabic, submitted to lengthy interagency review, declassified, and made public Tuesday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. It is the second tranche of such documents to be declassified and released. The first batch was released last May; the next is expected to be released later this year.
The letter signs off by advising that, “The United States shall pay for its arrogance with the blood of Christians and their funds.”
[image via Wikicommons]
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com ||||| WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden wrote a letter calling on the American people to help President Barack Obama fight “catastrophic” climate change and “save humanity”, in the latest evidence of his worries about environmental issues, newly released documents show
A previously unreleased video of slain former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden is seen in this still image taken from a video released on September 12, 2011. REUTERS/SITE Monitoring Service via Reuters TV
The letter was among materials that were seized in the May 2, 2011, U.S. raid on bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan that killed the al Qaeda chief and which were released on Tuesday by the Obama administration.
The undated, unsigned letter “to the American people,” which U.S. intelligence officials attributed to bin Laden, appeared to have been written shortly after Obama began his first term in 2009, based on the letter’s references to events.
Bin Laden’s preoccupation with climate change also emerged as a theme in the first tranche of documents from the raid that was declassified in May 2015, as well as in an audio recording released via the al Jazeera network in January 2010.
In the rambling letter made public Tuesday, bin Laden blamed the 2007-8 U.S. financial crisis on corporate control of capital and corporate lobbyists, and the U.S.-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He called on Americans to launch “a great revolution for freedom” to liberate the U.S. president from those influences.
That would enable Obama to make “a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny,” bin Laden continued.
In a separate letter, bin Laden urged a close aide to launch a media campaign for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that included a call for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Bin Laden contended that the world would be better off fighting climate change than waging what he claimed was a war against Islam.
“...the world should put its efforts into attempting to reduce the release of gases,” said the undated, unsigned letter to someone identified as Shaykh Mahmud that U.S. intelligence officials said they believed was written by bin Laden.
“This is a struggle between two of the largest cultures on Earth, and it is in the shadow of catastrophic climate conditions.” | – Climate change activists seeking drastic change have an ally about as welcome as a mountain of burning tires: Osama bin Laden. In a newly released letter seized during the 2011 raid that killed the al-Qaeda leader, he urges Americans to launch a "great revolution for freedom" to untether President Obama from the influences of corporate lobbyists and fight climate change, Reuters reports. Getting rid of lobbyists would let Obama make "a rational decision to save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny," he writes. The rambling letter, which is addressed "especially [to] the youth" of America, appears to date from early in Obama's first term and includes references to the 2008 economic crisis, Mediaite reports. Bin Laden apparently wasn't a fan of bank bailouts: America's financial system was 48 hours away from collapse when the administration used taxpayer money to "rescue the vultures by using the assets of the victims," he writes. In another letter, he argues that reducing greenhouse gas emissions would be a good way to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, saying the world "should put its efforts into attempting to reduce the release of gases" instead of fighting Islam. Both letters are unsigned, but US intelligence officials have attributed them to bin Laden. Also among the documents released Tuesday: a handwritten will that explained where his millions should go. (An earlier release of bin Laden letters included love notes and warnings about sinister dentists.) |
CLOSE Tim and Faith announce Soul2Soul World Tour 2017. Larry McCormack / The Tennessean
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw on the red carpet at Music City Center in Nashville before the start of the 51st annual CMA Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017. (Photo: George Walker IV, The Tennessean)
NASHVILLE — Unlike many other country music stars, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are speaking their minds about guns.
In a new interview with Billboard, the superstar couple reflected on the mass shooting in Las Vegas — at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival — and talked about their support for gun control.
“Look, I’m a bird hunter — I love to wing-shoot," said McGraw. “However, there is some common sense that’s necessary when it comes to gun control. They want to make it about the Second Amendment every time it’s brought up. It’s not about the Second Amendment.”
Hill said they knew "a lot of people" at the Route 91 Harvest festival.
More: Still reeling from Las Vegas shooting, country music gathers in Nashville to heal
"The doctors that (treated) the wounded, they saw wounds like you’d see in war," she said. "That’s not right. Military weapons should not be in the hands of civilians. It’s everyone’s responsibility, including the government and the National Rifle Association, to tell the truth. We all want a safe country.”
When it comes to political opinions, McGraw and Hill have stuck their neck out more than most country stars, who are often tight-lipped about the subject.
In 2008, McGraw expressed his support for Barack Obama, telling People magazine, “It’s innate in me to be a blue-dog Democrat.”
Follow Dave Paulson on Twitter: @ItsDavePaulson
More: CMA Awards: The biggest moments, performances from the show
Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2i0I9Jg ||||| Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are hosting a meet-and-greet before their Friday-night concert at the Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C. As is the custom for touring artists, they make jovial chitchat with fans, many of whom have bought VIP packages; then everyone poses for a photo, which likely ends up as part of the family’s Christmas letter.
Hill, who hasn't toured in over 10 years, can be skittish with strangers, but when fans -- mostly couples -- enter the black-draped photo area, McGraw puts them at ease. “You look like trouble,” he chirps at one guy with a goatee, who hasn't been trouble in a few decades. To a woman who’s much slimmer than her man, he says, “You could have done a whole lot better than him.” The photographer snaps a photo, and the husband exits, delighted -- as does the wife, perhaps with a new idea in mind.
Toward the end of the 20-minute event, two parents urge their shy 9-year-old into the photo area. Hill squats down and exclaims, “Oh, you’re so cute!” McGraw kneels too, and the boy smiles anxiously. “You’re not that cute,” declares McGraw.
Snap. Another great photo.
With a combined 100 years of life on earth and nearly as many hits, Hill and McGraw are as familiar as relatives to country fans, their images and reputations well defined: mischievous but sensitive Uncle Tim and gorgeous, sensible Aunt Faith, who put her music career aside to raise their three daughters.
After 20 years of duets, they’ve released their first joint album, The Rest of Our Life, and launched the third iteration of their co-headlining Soul2Soul Tour, which continues well into 2018. Onstage, McGraw is deferential to Hill, if not worshipful. Offstage, he’s all that, but salty too.
“I don’t see myself as a performer, just as a singer,” says Hill. “But I feel more relaxed onstage now than in the past. To be onstage with one of the greatest performers in our generation --”
McGraw interrupts. “Who’s going to be here?”
Hill: No, Tim is really a master at --
McGraw: Garth Brooks is coming tonight? Kenny Chesney?
Hill: Tim’s a master at his craft, and I wish he wasn't sitting here to hear me say this, because he can get a little cocky.
In his 20s, McGraw says, he found it easy to sleep on a tour bus, but not anymore. “This is another part of getting older, because we’re both over 50 now, and...”
It’s Hill’s turn to interrupt: “We’re 50. Not over 50. Let’s make that real clear.”
“No, we’re past 50. Fifty’s gone,” insists McGraw.
He doesn't sound sad about it.
McGraw and Hill were on parallel tracks in their lives even before they knew each other. He released his first album in April 1993; hers followed six months later. When they met for the first time, backstage at a Country Radio Seminar showcase for new artists at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville on March 5, 1994, he was with a girlfriend, and she was separated from her first husband.
“For me, there was an intense physical attraction. I guess my girlfriend saw it in my eyes,” admits McGraw. “She said, ‘I don’t want you around her.’”
It’s just before 2 p.m. and we’re all in Hill’s dressing room, which is decorated in soothing shades of taupe and cream. Both are eating a late lunch: salad from the backstage buffet. “All right, let’s tear into this salad,” says McGraw, with more enthusiasm than lettuce deserves.
By 1996, Hill was engaged to her record producer, and McGraw was popular enough to start his first major headlining tour. Innocently or not, he picked Hill as his opening act. The tour started in March. By May, they were sharing a duet and a not-brief kiss onstage. In October, they married. For her next album, Hill hired a new producer.
Aside from their careers, what bonded the pair so quickly, says Hill, were the unusual details of their raising. “Although our stories are very different, there was a missing link within our souls that we both related to.”
“I had a very dysfunctional childhood,” says McGraw. “So I wanted what I didn't have: a stable family.”
Until he was 11, McGraw thought a man named Horace Smith was his father. The two took long drives in his 18-wheel truck, hauling cottonseed, listening to 8-track cassettes of Merle Haggard and George Jones. “I remember sitting in countless truck stops, before the sun came up, listening to the jukebox. That was my education in country music.”
Then one day, he found his birth certificate in a drawer. Name of father: Samuel Timothy McGraw. Occupation of father: baseball player.
The summer before her senior year in high school, McGraw’s mother, Betty, had a fling with “Tug” McGraw, then an obscure minor-leaguer, and got pregnant. By the time Tim was born, Tug was a trail of dust. When she told him he had a son, Tug denied paternity -- and withheld child support. She married Smith, who said he wanted to take care of her, and had two kids with him. But Smith was a physically abusive drunk.
“My mom got the brunt of the abuse,” says McGraw. “I got abuse too, because I wasn't his. All he could see was somebody else’s kid -- not to mention a baseball player’s kid, and here he is, a truck driver in Louisiana. He was envious.”
After Tim found his birth certificate, Betty contacted Tug again, and he agreed to meet them in Houston during the baseball season. Tug was friendly but aloof, and didn't stay in touch with Tim.
The following year, Tim and his mom drove to Houston again, but “he wouldn't see us.” Tim was wearing a replica jersey with his dad’s name and number on it. “He was warming up in the bullpen. I kept yelling at him, but he wouldn't look at me. I didn't see him again until I was 18.
“I didn't think it bothered me that much. But the older I get, the more I think about it.”
Later, the two grew close, and Tim and Hill cared for Tug after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. When he died, in 2004, Tug, who had gone on to pitch for 19 years in the National League and won a World Series with the Philadelphia Phillies, was living at the couple’s farm outside Nashville. Tim still wondered why his dad had ignored him for so long, but didn't feel it was fair to interrogate a dying man. “I was hoping he’d bring it up. That’s one of my biggest regrets, that we never had that conversation."
“I knew I had that instability and dysfunction in me, from the way I grew up,” says McGraw. “And when I met Faith, I knew I needed her in my life -- to keep me stable, solid and on track.”
Hill’s parents, Edna (a bank teller) and Ted (a factory worker), never hid the fact that they had adopted her, though they claimed her mother put her up for adoption because she’d had an affair with a married man, which wasn't true.
“I used to think there was some kind of conspiracy, that I must be the daughter of one of my aunts. And of course I used to dream I was Elvis’ daughter,” Hill says with a laugh. “I have a great family: salt of the earth, hardworking. But I’m a gypsy at heart. I had a spirit that was completely outside what my family was. I didn't know anyone I was related to, biologically, which gives you a sense of not knowing who you are.”
In her early 20s, after Hill moved from Star, Miss., to Nashville, she began to look for her birth family. She located her biological mother, a professional painter, and learned she had a full brother too. Knowing her mom was an artist helped Hill understand why she had felt like a misfit, but the two didn't become close. “I kept the relationship at bay,” she says. “They were just getting to know one another better,” adds McGraw, when White died in 2007. (Hill’s father died first, in a car accident.)
When Hill and McGraw began dating, they spent hours talking about how their relationship would never work. Marriages between artists, she notes dryly, “don’t have a good track record.” Nonetheless, they started a family right away.
In the late ’90s, Hill, with her torchy, grown-up voice, had the more successful career: “This Kiss,” “Breathe” and “The Way You Love Me” topped Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart and crossed over to the pop charts. “While she was doing press, I hung out with the kids. I was just ‘Mr. Hill,’” recalls McGraw.
Around 2001, Hill’s crossover success faded, and her chart results regressed to the mean. McGraw, however, was in the midst of a winning streak: He placed 23 consecutive singles in the top 10 of the Hot Country Songs chart, including five No. 1s in a row. So McGraw went on tour, and Hill stayed home with the girls.
Hill: He’s a legit touring machine. Had the tables been turned...
McGraw: I would’ve stayed home.
Hill: That was the best choice for our family. I don’t regret it at all.
McGraw: That’s the only reason she married me, so she could have kids and stay home.
Hill: Wow. Did you really just say that? Are you kidding me?
McGraw: I’m kidding!
Hill: I don’t mean I sat home on my butt and ate bonbons.
McGraw doesn't have a classic country voice -- “There are people working at 7-Eleven who can sing circles around me,” he likes to say -- but he’s unmatched at picking highly emotional songs that also tell the story of his own maturation. Many of his early tracks were borderline novelties (“What Room Was the Holiday In,” “Refried Dreams”) until the 1995 hit “I Like It, I Love It,” about a guy who loses interest in his rowdy male friends and becomes happily domesticated.
Since then, while country has been dominated by songs about endless summer nights, McGraw has distinguished himself by picking the kind of tunes that soundtrack milestones in people’s lives: weddings, graduations, funerals. Two of his biggest smashes, “Live Like You Were Dying” and “Humble and Kind,” are about hard-earned wisdom. Earlier in 2017, he and Hill released “Speak to a Girl,” a remarkable ballad in which they instruct men to respect women and tell women to demand that respect. At a time when toxic masculinity stretches from the country charts to the White House, McGraw has challenged Nashville’s restrictive gender roles. Along the way, he has lost a few fans: “When did Tim become such a pansy?” one wrote earlier this year on a country music website.
Country stars, on average, are more liberal than their fans, and most keep their political opinions to themselves to avoid alienating anyone. Speaking less than two weeks after a man with an arsenal of legally purchased military-grade guns shot and killed 58 people at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas (but before the Sutherland Springs, Texas, church shooting that killed 26), McGraw and Hill both make it clear: They support gun control.
“Look, I’m a bird hunter -- I love to wing-shoot,” says McGraw. “However, there is some common sense that’s necessary when it comes to gun control. They want to make it about the Second Amendment every time it’s brought up. It’s not about the Second Amendment.”
Hill adds, “In reference to the tragedy in Las Vegas, we knew a lot of people there. The doctors that [treated] the wounded, they saw wounds like you’d see in war. That’s not right. Military weapons should not be in the hands of civilians. It’s everyone’s responsibility, including the government and the National Rifle Association, to tell the truth. We all want a safe country.”
In 2008, McGraw -- who has a nice sideline in acting, including The Blind Side and the Friday Night Lights movie -- had a role in Four Christmases as Vince Vaughn’s doltish brother. When McGraw saw the film’s trailer with his daughters, they gasped at how bloated he had become and told him to lose weight.
A guy who by his own account lives in extremes, he had gone too far with booze and drugs, and ballooned to 215 pounds. Hill, trying to keep him stable and solid, gave him an ultimatum: Partying or having a family. Pick one, buddy.
McGraw stopped partying and gave up carbs and sugar, too. He lost 40 pounds and developed topographical-map abs. Lots of music stars hire personal trainers, but to maintain his 30-inch waist, McGraw tours with Roger Yuan, a martial arts expert who trained Daniel Craig for Skyfall and Henry Cavill for The Immortals. Afternoon workouts help him “sort of build into the character by the time we hit the stage,” he says.
Today, McGraw and Hill have invited me to join their 3:30 p.m. workout. Foolishly, I accept.
Inside one of the weight rooms at Capital One Arena, which is home to three pro sports teams, Yuan leads us through a training session that mixes yoga, martial arts and CrossFit; a one-hour whirlwind of burpees, Hindu pushups and other exhausting exertions. One involves rotating an iron plate 360 degrees over your head; Yuan grabs 45-pound plates for himself and McGraw, then sizes me up and hands me a 25-pound plate. I’m more relieved than insulted.
At precisely 4 p.m., Hill leaves to begin the hours-long process of becoming a stage-ready goddess. I resist the urge to join her.
At the end of the hour, after I have succeeded in not dying, McGraw claps me on the back and says I did well. I feel proud -- until he mentions it’s the third workout he and Yuan had done that day.
McGraw is comfortable in arenas, he told me earlier, because he was an athlete. He entered college on a baseball scholarship, but then pawned his high school ring to buy a guitar. Pretty soon he had dropped out and moved to Nashville. He sounded almost surprised that he’s now a headlining country singer, and his explanation of how it happened led to another episode of revealing marital banter.
McGraw: I didn't really teach myself to play guitar until my freshman summer of college. That’s when I started.
Hill: It was a way to get girls. That’s why he did it.
McGraw: It was a good way to get laid. That was the whole point.
Did it work?
“It worked pretty good!” He looks at Hill. “Sorry, Mama.”
Hill just shrugs. “I already knew,” she says patiently.
Two Soulmates, Three Tours, 260 Million Bucks
2000
The first Soul2Soul outing -- though Hill had opened for McGraw’s Spontaneous Combustion Tour in 1996.
Grosses $47.8 million and sells nearly 969,000 tickets to over 65 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore.
Cover: Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way.”
2006-2007
The Soul2Soul II Tour becomes the highest-grossing country tour of all time, earning over $141 million.
With three kids by this point, Hill says it’s “probably the last time for a really, really long time” that the couple will tour together.
Opener for select dates: noted McGraw fan Taylor Swift.
2017
Soul2Soul: The World Tour kicked off in New Orleans in April and will end in Sacramento, Calif., in July 2018, after more than 100 shows.
Grossed $71.3 million and sold over 838,000 tickets (for shows through Oct. 7).
Cover: George Michael and Aretha Franklin’s “I Knew You Were Waiting for Me.”
Watch Tim McGraw and Faith Hill play a couple's version of 'First Best Last Worst,' where they recall dancing together for the first time in the '90s and talk about the last stage mishap they had (hint: ripped pants):
||||| Two weeks after last month's tragedy in Las Vegas, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill voiced their support for gun control in an interview with Billboard magazine.
Interested in Gun Control? Add Gun Control as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Gun Control news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest
In October, a lone shooter opened fire at a music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others.
"Look, I’m a bird hunter -- I love to wing shoot. However, there is some common sense that’s necessary when it comes to gun control," McGraw told Billboard magazine.
"They want to make it about the Second Amendment every time it’s brought up," McGraw added of violent incidents. "It’s not about the Second Amendment."
Michael Tran/FilmMagic via Getty Images
McGraw and Hill, both 50, are promoting their first album together, "The Rest of Our Lives," out Nov. 17.
"In reference to the tragedy in Las Vegas," his wife continued, “we knew a lot of people there. The doctors that [treated] the wounded, they saw wounds like you’d see in war. That’s not right."
"Military weapons should not be in the hands of civilians," Hill said. "It’s everyone’s responsibility, including the government and the National Rifle Association, to tell the truth. We all want a safe country."
Since their interview with Billboard, a gunman in Texas targeted churchgoers last Sunday and killed 26, according to police, who have included an unborn child in the death count. | – In the wake of last months deadly shooting in Las Vegas, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are speaking out in favor of gun control—an unusual move for country stars, USA Today reports. “Look, I’m a bird hunter," McGraw tells Billboard. “However, there is some common sense that’s necessary when it comes to gun control." Hill says the couple knew "a lot of people" at the Route 91 Harvest festival that was targeted in the shooting that left 58 people dead. "[Doctors] saw wounds like you’d see in war. That’s not right," Hill says. "Military weapons should not be in the hands of civilians." Hill says they want a "safe country," and McGraw adds that "it's not about the Second Amendment." Hill concludes: "It’s everyone’s responsibility, including the government and the National Rifle Association, to tell the truth." Hill and McGraw, who are promoting their first album together, spoke to Billboard about gun control before a shooter killed 26 adults and children in a Texas church last weekend, ABC News reports. It's not the first time the couple have gone out of their way to take a political stance. In 2008, McGraw openly voiced his support for Barack Obama. |
So what will be the must-see moments at the Sochi Olympics?
In this image provided by Loudmouth Golf, members of the Norway's Men's Olympic Curling Team from left Thomas Ulsrud, Torgor Nergard, Christoffer Svae, and Havard Vad Petersson wear their new Sochi 2014... (Associated Press)
How about snowboard star Shaun White performing his latest trick — the front-side double-cork 1440. Or Evgeny Plushenko's quad jump, the signature move of the Russian figure skating superstar. And be sure not to miss Mikaela Shiffrin — the American skiing sensation — slicing her way through the women's slalom.
When it comes to curling, there's no doubt what the show-stopper will be.
Yes, Norway's men's team is back with their crazy, funky pants. And they'll be more outrageous than ever when the players emerge for their first game at the Ice Cube.
"Put it like this, you'll not see me wearing them," Norway coach Pal Trulsen told The Associated Press. "Except maybe at a bad-taste party or something."
The Norwegians — Thomas Ulsrud, Torgor Nergard, Christoffer Svae and Havard Vad Petersson — caused a stir at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010 when they took to the ice for the tournament's opening game against Canada sporting bold, diamond-printed golf pants in their nation's colors. With curlers having always worn basic black uniforms, tradition was thrown out of the window.
Spectators couldn't believe what they were seeing. The pants became one of the talking points of the games, quickly going viral. Even the Norwegian monarch, King Harald V, received a pair.
A Facebook page dedicated to 'The Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants' peaked at 695,000 followers during the games, according to its founder Anthony D'Orazio — that figure is currently back down to close to 540,000 but is sure to grow before and during Sochi. Two of the biggest clusters of followers are in China and Brazil.
Norway's emboldened curlers — trend-setters in their own right — are taking some new patterns over to Russia.
Four have already been revealed — one has a zig-zagging chevron print, and another is black and flowery and called "rosemaling" — and several more will be unveiled throughout the Olympics. It's all very top-secret at the moment, but prepare to be amazed.
"Because we know them, we probably won't be shocked," said British curler Anna Sloan, who has become good friends with the Norwegian team. "But trust me, it will be good."
Initially stunned, World Curling President Kate Caithness has embraced the pants, which have added a whole new dimension to curling.
"I am a traditionalist, I must be honest," Caithness said in a telephone interview with the AP. "But after I saw them in Vancouver, I actually liked them. They brought focus to our sport, these crazy pants.
"It would be awful if all the teams were wearing them — it would look like a circus. But I think it's a trademark of the Norwegian team only and we like it that way."
Svae hopes so, too. After all, it was he who came up with the idea in the first place.
The long-time Norway international curler was unhappy at the black-and-gray colored uniform his team had been given for Vancouver, and asked its equipment sponsor a month before the Olympics to make them some colored pants. There wasn't enough time, so he went online to find some goofy golf pants.
He happened upon Loudmouth, an American sportswear company known for its flamboyant attire. Golfer John Daly and rock singer Alice Cooper are customers.
"It's definitely been life-changing for us," Svae said. "Not so much in the everyday but when we travel around the world for curling, it doesn't always matter if we do well or not, people still think that we win stuff because we are always in the media."
"I don't think you'll see a lot of the other teams do the same that we did," Svae added, "they feel it's our thing."
Larry Jackson, the CEO of Loudmouth, says his company's server went into meltdown several times during the 2010 Olympic final, such was the onslaught of traffic from customers wanting to snap up some pants.
"Sales have gone off the charts," said Jackson, who adds that Loudmouth has "a few interesting pants" planned for Sochi.
"It's all red, white and blue. I do believe it's going to be considered even more loud."
Norway's men will be among the favorites for gold in Sochi. But even if they come up short for the second straight Olympics, they have already made their mark in curling's long history.
"It feels as in some way we have contributed to the development of the sport," Svae said. "Maybe not so much on the ice, but certainly off it." ||||| Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period. | – This may be the best (or at least second-best) Olympic photo so far: Norway's men's curling team, decked out in their fantastic new outfits. The team was a sensation at the Vancouver Olympics when members competed wearing boldly-colored, crazily-patterned golf pants instead of the standard black uniform curlers normally wear. This year, they have a bunch of new pants for Sochi, the AP reports: Think zig-zagging chevrons, a flowery pattern, and more. Though she's a "traditionalist," World Curling President Kate Caithness admits, "I actually liked them. They brought focus to our sport, these crazy pants. It would be awful if all the teams were wearing them—it would look like a circus. But I think it's a trademark of the Norwegian team only, and we like it that way." |
US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, right, stands with Danish Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen, during a press conference, in Copenhagen, Denmark, Tuesday, May 9, 2017. Mattis said he had open... (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will arm Syria's Kurdish fighters "as necessary" to recapture the key Islamic State stronghold of Raqqa, despite intense opposition from NATO ally Turkey, which sees the Kurds as terrorists.
The decision is meant to accelerate the Raqqa operation but undermines the Turkish government's view that the Syrian Kurdish group known as the YPG is an extension of a Kurdish terrorist organization that operates in Turkey. Washington is eager to retake Raqqa, arguing that it is a haven for IS operatives to plan attacks on the West.
Dana W. White, the Pentagon's chief spokeswoman, said in a written statement that President Donald Trump authorized the arms Monday. His approval gives the Pentagon the go-ahead to "equip Kurdish elements of the Syrian Democratic Forces as necessary to ensure a clear victory over ISIS" in Raqqa, said White, who was traveling with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Europe.
The U.S. sees the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, or SDF, as its most effective battlefield partner against IS in northern and eastern Syria. White said they're "the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future."
While White did not mention the kinds of arms to be provided to the Kurds, other officials had indicated in recent days that 120mm mortars, machines guns, ammunition and light armored vehicles were possibilities. They said the U.S. would not provide artillery or surface-to-air missiles.
The officials weren't authorized to publicly discuss the matter and demanded anonymity. They described no firm timeline, with the American intention to provide the new weapons to the Syrian Kurds as soon as possible. A congressional aide said officials informed relevant members of Congress of the decision on Monday evening.
The Obama administration had been leaning toward arming the Syrian Kurds but struggled with how that could be done without torpedoing relations with Turkey, which is a U.S. ally in NATO and a key political actor in the greater Middle East. The issue has come to a head now because battlefield progress this year has put the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces nearly in position attack IS in Raqqa, although they are still attempting to isolate the city.
Even with the extra U.S. weaponry, the Kurds and their Syrian Arab partners are expected to face a difficult and perhaps lengthy fight for control of Raqqa, which has been key to the extremists' state-building project. Raqqa is far smaller than Mosul, which is still not fully returned to Iraqi control after months of combat.
Senior U.S. officials including Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have met repeatedly with Turkish officials to try to work out an arrangement for the Raqqa assault that would be acceptable to Ankara. The Turks have insisted that the Syrian Kurds be excluded from that operation, but U.S. officials insisted there was no real alternative.
In her statement, White said the U.S. prioritizes its support for the Arab elements of the SDF.
"We are keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner Turkey," she said. "We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the U.S. is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally."
Other officials said Trump's authorization includes safeguards intended to reassure the Turks that the additional U.S. weaponry and equipment will not be used by the Kurds in Turkey. The intent is to restrict the distribution and use of the weaponry by permitting its use for specific battlefield missions and then requiring the Kurds to return it to U.S. control.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is to visit President Donald Trump in Washington next week. An Erdogan adviser, Ibrahim Kalin, met on Tuesday with Thomas Shannon, the State Department No. 2 official.
And in Denmark earlier Tuesday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said he had useful discussions with Turkey and described the two countries as working out differences over a U.S. alliance with Syrian Kurds in fighting Islamic State militants.
"That's not to say we all walk into the room with exactly the same appreciation of the problem or the path forward," Mattis told reporters after meeting with officials from more than a dozen nations also fighting IS. Basat Ozturk, a senior Turkish defense official, participated.
"We're going to sort it out," Mattis said. "We'll figure out how we're going to do it."
Tensions escalated last month when Turkey conducted airstrikes on Kurdish bases in Syria and Iraq. The Turkish military said it killed at least 90 militants and wounded scores. The Kurdish group in Syria said 20 of its fighters and media activists were killed in the strike, which was followed by cross-border clashes.
The instability has concerned Washington, which fears it will slow the effort to retake Raqqa.
"We've been conducting military and diplomatic dialogue with the Turks and it was a very, very useful discussion today," Mattis said at a press conference with Danish Defense Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen.
_
Baldor reported from Copenhagen and from Vilnius, Lithuania. Associated Press writers Richard Lardner and Matthew Lee contributed from Washington. ||||| Ms. White added that the United States would take steps to ensure that Turkey did not face “additional security risks.”
There was no immediate comment from the Turkish government, which considers the Kurdish force to be terrorists, and it remains to be seen whether the assurances the Trump administration is offering the Turks will be sufficient to ease the concerns of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is scheduled to meet with Mr. Trump in Washington next week.
The weapons that the United States will provide Kurdish and Arab fighters in the anti-Islamic State coalition include heavy machine guns, mortars, anti-tank weapons, armored cars and engineering equipment.
American military officials have said that weapons are needed to help the lightly armed Kurdish and Arab fighters cope with urban warfare in Raqqa against unyielding Islamic State militants who are equipped with car bombs and even some tanks they captured from the Syrian Army.
To address Turkish concerns that the arms might be used against their forces one day, the supply of weapons and ammunition will be limited to what the Kurds and Arab fighters need to carry out specific operations, American officials said.
After the battle is over, an effort will be made to retrieve any excess equipment. American advisers will also monitor the weapons that are provided to the Kurds and will cut off the supply if they discover that they are being smuggled for use elsewhere or misused, United States officials said.
To further mollify the Turks, most of the fighters who will be involved in the assault on Raqqa are expected to be Arabs, and the Pentagon said the Y.P.G. would not occupy the city after Islamic State fighters had been ousted. “Raqqa and all liberated territory should return to the governance of local Syrian Arabs,” Ms. White said. “We do not envision a long-term Y.P.G. presence.” |||||
Troops from Kurdish militia units known as the YPG stand guard next to U.S. fighting vehicles near the Syrian-Turkish border. (Youssef Rabie/European Pressphoto Agency)
President Trump has approved a plan to directly arm Kurdish forces fighting in Syria, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, inflaming already strained ties with Turkey and putting the U.S. military a step closer to seizing a remaining Islamic State stronghold.
Pentagon spokeswoman Dana W. White said the president made the decision Monday, describing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a diverse group dominated by Kurdish fighters, as “the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future.” For more than a year, the U.S. military has been advancing plans to capture Raqqa, the Syrian city that is the Islamic State’s de facto capital, as the final major step in its nearly three-year effort to defeat the militant group.
“We are keenly aware of the security concerns of our coalition partner Turkey,” White said in a statement. “We want to reassure the people and government of Turkey that the U.S. is committed to preventing additional security risks and protecting our NATO ally.”
[Inside the Kurdish fighting forces: the U.S.’s proxy ground troops in the war against ISIS]
The decision, which was first reported by NBC, is sure to enrage Turkey, which views the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which make up the largest share of the SDF, as an existential threat. Ankara has repeatedly rebuked the United States for supporting the YPG, which has emerged as the Pentagon’s premier partner force against the Islamic State in Syria.
Ankara sees the YPG as an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which is considered a terrorist group by both Turkey and the United States.
The Turkish position has created a dilemma for U.S. military officials, who see no viable alternative force in Syria capable of and willing to mount an assault on Raqqa, a city where they say militants are plotting attacks against the West. Already, the YPG has received air support from the United States and, indirectly through Arab fighters, some U.S. weaponry.
[U.S. military aid is fueling big ambitions for Syria’s leftist Kurdish militia]
Trump is expected to officially inform Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of his decision next Tuesday, when Erdogan visits the White House.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer on May 9 commented on President Trump's decision to arm Kurdish forces in Syria. Spicer says the administration is "keenly aware" of Turkey's concerns about the plan. (Reuters)
The Trump administration — nor the Barack Obama administration before it — had not made any secret of its intention to give the Syrian Kurds a primary role in attempting to seize Raqqa. Defense officials have said repeatedly the Raqqa operation would require direct weapons shipments and upgraded equipment as local forces maneuver though minefields and other obstacles leading into the city.
While Turkish officials have continued to complain publicly about a strategy they say enlists one terrorist group to fight another, they have privately acknowledged that the matter appeared to be decided.
Even so, Turkey has continued to lobby the Trump administration to change course ahead of Erdogan’s visit, dispatching to Washington top Turkish officials, including Gen. Hulusi Akar, the military chief of staff, and Hakan Fidan, the intelligence chief. A Turkish delegation briefly met with Trump on Monday, according to a report in the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper.
[What Turkey was looking for when Trump called Erdogan]
To soften the blow, senior U.S. officials have been in near constant contact with their Turkish counterparts to assure them the Kurdish troops will not have any role in stabilizing or ruling Raqqa after the operation. The force leading the battle into the city, officials have said, will comprise Arab fighters who also form part of the SDF.
“The United States fully supports returning Raqqa to the care and governance of local Arabs,” White said. “We do not envision a long-term YPG presence, and governance in the city is acceptable or consistent with the wishes of the local population.”
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis spoke by phone with his Turkish counterpart, Fikri Isik, on Tuesday, White said, reiterating the U.S. pledge to seek to head off additional risks to Turkish security.
Such promises are unlikely to allay concerns in Turkey, which has charged that the YPG has used its battlefield gains to claim territory traditionally dominated by Syrian Arabs and Turkmen. Its goal, Erdogan has said, is to create a Kurdish canton that can join with PKK separatists in Turkey.
Late last year, the Turkish leader moved military forces into northern Syria, ostensibly to fight against the Islamic State, but equally to ensure that YPG forces did not consolidate along Turkey’s southern border. More recently, Erdogan has suggested he would send Turkish troops deeper into Syria, toward Raqqa, despite American plans to support a Kurdish-dominated offensive.
Speaking earlier Tuesday, Mattis suggested that the United States hoped to continue some sort of military partnership with Turkey in Syria.
[Syria: From civil war to multi-factional tinderbox]
“Our intent is to work with the Turks, alongside one another to take Raqqa down,” Mattis said during a news conference in Denmark. “We’re going to sort it out, we’ll figure out how to do it, but we’re all committed to it.”
Mattis, who also met with Turkish Undersecretary of Defense Basat Ozturk on Tuesday, declined to elaborate on the possible Turkish involvement. “NATO allies stick together,” he said. “That’s not to say we all walk into the room with same appreciation of the problem.”
Officials said Trump’s decision authorizes Mattis to move ahead with arming the Kurdish fighters, rather than setting a specific timeline for doing so. A Defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the new decision, said authorized weaponry would include small arms, ammunition, heavy machine guns, and equipment to counter vehicle-borne bombs, a tool frequently used by the Islamic State.
In a reflection of the Trump administration’s attempt to minimize Turkish objections, White said equipment provided for the Raqqa operation would be “limited, mission-specific, and metered out incrementally as objectives are reached.”
The White House decision comes as Turkey ramps up its military operations against PKK and YPG fighters in Iraq and Syria. Last month, Turkish warplanes launched assaults on Kurdish fighters in both countries, killing more than a dozen people, and prompting a public outcry from Washington. In the latest airstrikes, Turkey said that it had destroyed “PKK terrorist camps” in northern Iraq on Tuesday, according to Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolia news agency.
The attack on YPG partner forces was especially objectionable for American Special Operations forces, who are deployed alongside the Kurdish fighters in different areas of Syria. The SDF is now locked in a pitched battle with the Islamic State around the town of Tabqa on the Euphrates River, a battle that U.S. officials say is a key steppingstone to the Raqqa offensive.
The U.S.-backed campaign against the Islamic State is just one of several parallel conflicts unfolding in Syria after more than six years of civil war.
Kareem Fahim contributed to this report from Istanbul. Gibbons-Neff reported from Vilnius.
Read more:
A Russian-backed deal on ‘safe zones’ for Syria leaves U.S. wary
As Turkey’s Erdogan savors new powers, there are whispers of dissent among his loyalists | – President Trump will provide heavier arms to Syrian Kurds in a move certain to anger Turkey, the New York Times reports. The US will supply YPG with things like anti-tank missiles and heavy machine guns so the Kurdish militia can help take Raqqa, a Syrian city serving as the capital of the Islamic State. According to the Washington Post, Defense Department spokesperson Dana White says YPG is "the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future." Here's the problem: Turkey says YPG is tied to the Kurdistan Workers' Party, and both Turkey and the US consider the Kurdistan Workers' Party to be a terrorist group. The Obama administration had been considering arming YPG but wanted to figure out how to do it while preserving the US' relationship with Turkey, the AP reports. "We're going to sort it out," Defense Secretary James Mattis says. The Pentagon states the US will arm YPG "as necessary." It won't supply the militia with surface-to-air missiles or artillery and may require it to return the weapons after specific missions to keep them from being used in Turkey. US officials say they've assured Turkey that YPG won't be part of establishing a new government in Raqqa following the fighting. Meanwhile, Turkey is complaining about the US arming terrorists to fight terrorists. |