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I feel your pain , bitter , lonely , nerdy guys . I really do .\nIt sounds corny to say it like that , but I don ’ t know how to say it and be believed . I know that because , having experienced this emotion from the inside for most of my life , I sure as hell resisted believing it when I heard people saying it .\nThere ’ s no one more resistant to being empathized with or more prone to call attempts to do so “ patronizing ” than the bitter lonely guy , especially when women try to do it but even when other nerdy guys try to reach out . People like Captain Awkward and Dr. Nerdlove and the founders of the Good Men Project spend huge chunks of their lives trying to help nerdy guys , but still get regularly blasted with extreme vitriol as “ feminist SJWs ” by said nerdy guys .\nI ’ ve tried to write sympathetically about this stuff in the past : the guilt , the shame , the constant feelings of inadequacy . Indeed , part of the reason I am so determined to write and speak up and be an activist is a shamefaced admission of how lucky I ’ ve been to get away from where I was a few short years ago , how amazing a turning point 2014 was for me while being a terrible year for everyone else .\nThe viral meme that inaugurated 2015 as the New Year of the Bitter Male Nerd is MIT professor Scott Aaronson leaving an emotionally vulnerable comment on his blog during a heated argument about misogyny and sexual harassment in the STEM community .\nHe talks about how in the “ battle of the sexes , ” awkward shy guys damn sure don ’ t feel “ privileged. ” How he , in particular , was plagued with guilt and fear over approaching women , constantly self-castigating over the possibility that he was a sexual harasser or a rapist , to the point where he asked a therapist about the possibility of chemical castration . He talks of reading Andrea Dworkin and other radical feminists who make him feel , as a man , like a monster .\nAnd he concludes as a result of this that feminism is a destructive force for men like him , that the bias of the world is tilted in favor of women and women ’ s issues because everyone is talking about how to help victims of harassment and sexual assault and no one is talking about how to help him .\nAnd it sucks . I ’ m not trying to deny that it sucks . Although I was never as bad off as Scott Aaronson I ’ ve felt a lot of those feelings and , more importantly , I ’ ve known my share of guys who were that bad off . It seems in every group of nerdy guys I ’ ve known there ’ s one guy who ’ s trapped in a feedback loop of anxiety and self-loathing when it comes to women that goes around and around in circles .\nFeminists on the Internet have tried to respond to Aaronson ’ s piece , some sympathetically , some less so .\nI don ’ t want to rehash all the points Amanda Marcotte and Laurie Penny made . Nor do I have some magic way of squaring the circle and making everything okay for guys like Scott -- for both him and me , high school was a long time ago , and the only thing that really heals these wounds isn ’ t any stirring speech or specific program of self-improvement but just time .\nBut I will say something that , as a guy who ’ s Been There , seems obvious to me and necessary to say .\nNone of the pain Scott talks about came from things that happened to him . They came from things that happened inside his head . He speaks in generalities about “ sexual assault prevention workshops , ” or of feeling targeted by feminist literature -- himself saying that he was perversely drawn to the most radical and aggressive rhetoric he could find , eschewing more moderate writers for the firebreathing of Dworkin and MacKinnon .\nHe doesn ’ t talk about anyone targeting or harassing him personally -- indeed , how could he be targeted by books written by second-wave feminists when he was a toddler ? -- but of feeling targeted , of having an accusatory voice inside his mind tormenting him with a pervasive sense of inadequacy , uncleanness , wrongness . It doesn ’ t seem like anyone in his life was particularly giving him a hard time , but that he was giving himself a hard time and picking up on any critical or negative messages directed at men in general as a way to amplify his negative thoughts .\nAs someone who ’ s no stranger to those conditions we call depression and anxiety , I can relate to Scott . As someone whose circle of friends is also no stranger to those conditions , and as someone who ’ s read David Foster Wallace ’ s seminal take on the topic , I also can ’ t blame anyone for being frustrated with Scott .\nDepression , at its core , doesn ’ t really make sense , but it ’ s really great at hijacking the rest of your brain to make itself make sense , and when the depressed person in question is highly intelligent , you end up with an immaculately logical tower of reasoning for why their depression is wholly rational and inevitable .\nThat ’ s how I feel when I look at Scott ’ s impassioned argument that the dating scene is set up to grind “ shy awkward nerds ” into the dirt while letting jockish “ Neanderthals ” have all the women they want . I could point out plenty of evidence , statistical and anecdotal , that this is not in fact the case , as commenters in that thread in fact do -- but what would be the point ? You can ’ t argue with emotions that deeply ingrained .\nWhat ’ s striking to me is that this comes up because Scott very passionately wants to debate that nerds don ’ t have “ male privilege ” and that nerdy guys are the victims , not perpetrators , of sexism . He is arguing this to a commenter posting under the name “ Amy , ” who argues that shy , nerdy guys are in fact plenty dangerous on the grounds that she has been raped by a shy , nerdy boyfriend , and that in her life experience around shy , nerdy guys she ’ s seen plenty of shy , nerdy guys commit harassment and assault and use their shy nerdiness as a shield against culpability for it .\nTo be blunt , Scott ’ s story is about Scott himself spending a lot of time by himself hating himself . When he eventually stops hating himself and , as an older , more mature nerd , asks women out , no women mace him , slap him or ritually humiliate him -- instead he ends up with a girlfriend who ends up becoming a wife . So far , so typical .\nAmy ’ s story is about being harassed and groped by men in the tech world and , eventually , being raped by a shy , nerdy guy she thought she trusted . So far , so also typical .\nWhat ’ s the biggest difference between Scott 's and Amy ’ s stories ? Scott ’ s story is about things that happened inside his brain . Amy ’ s story is about actual things that were done to her by other people against her will , without her control .\nAnd Scott , and his commenters , are treating the two as worthy of equivalent degrees of scrutiny .\nThis isn ’ t a new or unique instance of this kind of blind spot going on . We all know about the Gamergate firestorm where a bunch of anonymous guys on the Internet felt harassed and insulted by an article making general criticisms about “ gamer culture ” as a whole and deciding to react by harassing specific , individual women , including calling a SWAT team to someone ’ s house , and treating it as though these two things are equivalent .\nIt ’ s similar to an earlier instance when “ nerd persecution ” was cried , when Rebecca Watson talked publicly about being made to feel uncomfortable in an elevator at a conference for atheist thinkers by a guy hitting on her at 4:00 a.m .\nWatson didn ’ t name the guy , didn ’ t share the guy ’ s social media handle , didn ’ t show a photo of the guy . The guy remains anonymous to this day . She wasn ’ t even particularly mean to him -- her “ Guys , don ’ t do that ” is exactly the kind of blunt , well-intentioned advice guys like Scott say they want .\nBut people acted like Watson , by speaking up about something a guy did to make her feel uncomfortable , had viciously attacked the guy -- and , by extension , viciously attacked all shy , awkward guys -- and therefore felt justified in viciously attacking her in return .\nThis turns out to be a pattern . For most of us , sex is a big part of our lives , and our relationship to gender therefore a weighted and fraught thing . We all have hang-ups and neuroses , and they ’ re much more likely to manifest in the way we see sexual attraction and relationships than in the way we do our taxes . No one actually said men have it easy .\nBut men are the ones who by and large get to deal with this as an internal matter . Women are the ones who have to deal with internal hang-ups and , as Laurie Penny points out in her piece , external threats from other people . Guys deal with Women in the abstract , as a category ; women deal with specific men who physically threaten them .\nGuys claim to be harassed more often online than women do , but when guys are “ harassed ” it means being exposed to a generalized atmosphere of nasty comments and rude behavior . By contrast , women are the ones who get singled out , stalked , who become unwilling celebrities with a horde of people dedicated to “ taking her down . ''\nThis is what Laurie Penny means -- or one of the things she means -- when she says that the harm the “ patriarchy ” causes women is “ structural. ” Not that all women have it worse than all men . Not that anyone gets away without getting at least a little screwed up by the arbitrary , unreasonable demands our culture makes of us . But that it ’ s women who disproportionately bear the burden of actual harm , of being directly victimized by other people .\nI don ’ t know what the best way is to help guys like Scott Aaronson who wrestle with internal demons . Internal demons are slippery things . I do know that what could help women like Amy is to find the guys who are doing bad things to her and stop those guys from doing that . That ’ s why feminism is more focused on women ’ s issues than men ’ s , because women ’ s issues are the things happening out in the world where we can do something about them .\nSimilarly , no one gets away without having hang-ups and neuroses about race , but racism -- the systematic denial of access to financial and social capital , the being kept out of jobs , the being harassed and shot by law enforcement -- is something that happens to black people in this country and not to whites .\nThe questions of how to deal with the roles we ’ ve been handed down by our parents and our culture and how we parse how much of it is our own personality problems and our own psychology versus our cultural inheritance -- that ’ s a problem all of us have and maybe will continue to have for the rest of human history .\nBut the problem of people being assaulted , harassed , raped , killed ? That ’ s an external , physical problem . That ’ s something we can do something about .\nI don ’ t know how “ women , ” as a group , can help men with the problems he describes . I can testify from my own experience that getting laid does not , in and of itself , magically make anything better and that if Scott believes ( as he says ) that living in an era when he would ’ ve had an arranged marriage at a young age would ’ ve made his problems vanish , he ’ s probably wrong .\nBut meanwhile , women are getting stalked and raped and killed . That ’ s something that men are doing and that men can stop other men from doing .\nAnd , with apologies to my fellow emotionally tortured guys , that really ought to be our priority . | allsides-corpus-500 |
Many women are left feeling defeated after Elizabeth Warren ’ s exit from the presidential race .\nWith a crushing loss on Super Tuesday , and voter after voter quoted in the media saying they ’ d vote for a woman , just not Warren , it made some wonder if a woman would be president in their lifetimes . Warren spoke about the bind women candidates face while talking with reporters Thursday afternoon .\n“ Gender in this race — you know , that is the trap question for every woman , ” Warren said , standing outside her home in Cambridge , Massachusetts , after announcing she would be suspending her campaign Thursday . “ If you say , ‘ Yeah , there was sexism in this race , ’ everyone says , ‘ Whiner. ’ And if you say , ‘ There was no sexism , ’ about a bazillion women think , ‘ What planet do you live on ? ’ ”\nFor the second time in four years , an exceptionally qualified female candidate lost to her male counterparts — some objectively far less qualified . Warren ’ s loss was not as sudden or shocking as Hillary Clinton ’ s in 2016 . But what stung for many was the depth of voters ’ rejection , so much so that Warren came in third in her home state of Massachusetts on Super Tuesday .\n“ I can ’ t stress to you how tired I am of answering the same questions , ” Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Connie Schultz told ███ in an interview Thursday , after publishing an essay on Warren ’ s loss . “ We ’ ve just asked for one chance for a woman to lead the country . Just once , let ’ s try a woman . ”\nSexism was a big factor in Warren ’ s loss — though it was far from the only one . The specter of President Donald Trump and Democrats ’ obsession with finding the most “ electable ” candidate to beat him loomed over everything in the primary . It also relied on long-held assumptions about what a “ successful ” candidate looks like .\n“ I am so disappointed with voters in this country , I wonder if a woman could win , ” New Hampshire voter Chris Hurley , a self-described progressive woman , told ███ in January . “ I hate to say that . It may be a white middle-aged man . We ’ ve got to beat Trump . ”\nWarren certainly made missteps during the campaign . But America apparently isn ’ t ready for a woman president — at least not yet .\n“ One of the hardest parts of this is all the pinky promises and all those little girls who are going to have to wait for four more years , ” Warren said Thursday , her voice cracking slightly .\nWhat we know about the role that sexism played in the 2020 primary\nThere ’ s no doubt sexism played a major role in the way women running for president were treated throughout the primary .\nCandidates , including Warren , were questioned for their likability , their ambition , and their ability to win in ways men simply were not , echoing long-held double standards that still exist for women candidates . Biases about both gender and race likely intersected on myriad other fronts as well .\nFor instance , a July poll of likely New Hampshire voters found good favorability numbers for both Warren and then-candidate Sen. Kamala Harris ( 67 percent for Warren , 54 percent for Harris ) but dismal “ likability ” ratings for them . Just 4 percent of likely voters thought Warren was “ likable , ” and 5 percent for Harris . Compared to that , 20 percent of likely voters thought Biden and Sanders were likable .\nWhile 38-year-old former South Bend , Indiana , Mayor Pete Buttigieg was rarely questioned about his ambition running for the highest office in the land after governing a city of fewer than 102,000 people , Massachusetts residents registered their displeasure with Warren for her presidential bid before it even started .\nAn October 2018 Suffolk University poll of Massachusetts voters found just 17 percent thought Warren should run for president , compared to 68 percent who said no ( about 10 weeks before she announced her candidacy ) . Warren ’ s favorability ratings in the state were decent , but not many wanted her to try for the presidency . That could be viewed as Massachusetts voters not wanting to lose Warren , but it could also be seen as disliking a woman ’ s ambition .\n“ It ’ s another version of , ‘ Know your place . We ’ ve already given you this thing ; how dare you aspire to more , ’ ” Schultz said . “ I don ’ t see that message telegraphed to men . There should be no guilt about being ambitious . ”\nWomen running for president also needed to prove their qualifications more than the men they were up against .\n“ It ’ s one thing for voters to support a woman as part of a deliberative body , like a legislature , as ‘ a ’ decision-maker . But in order for her to be ‘ the ’ decision-maker , voters have to be that much more convinced she ’ s qualified , ” says Amanda Hunter , a communications and policy director at the Barbara Lee Foundation .\nWomen candidates were more than aware of this expectation , tailoring their speeches and rollouts to highlight their experience , policy bona fides , and track record of winning .\n“ Every office I ’ ve run for — no one like me had ever done the job , ” Harris said in an interview with NBC News . “ Based on gender , based on race . Every time , pundits said the people weren ’ t ready for it . But I won. ” Warren , too , got so many questions about this subject that her campaign signage was tailored to emphasize how she could win .\nClinton ’ s shocking 2016 defeat elicited voters ’ fears that a woman couldn ’ t beat Trump again in 2020 , even though women candidates had won in droves during the 2018 midterms .\n“ When it comes to the difference between the midterms and today , I think voters are terrified of anything that looks or feels similar to 2016 , ” said Democratic strategist Meredith Kelly , the former communications director for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand ’ s presidential campaign , as well as for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2018 . “ And because of that almost blinding fear , I think female candidates were at a particular disadvantage in the race to take on Trump . ”\n“ Male candidates have the benefit of being judged by their potential for greatness , and women have to bring receipts , ” Kelly added .\nPrejudices about women could well have translated to voters ’ decision-making : A study from YouGov ’ s Sam Luks and Tufts University ’ s Brian Schaffner , released in July 2019 , found Democratic primary voters who scored higher on a “ hostile sexism ” scale were less likely to choose either Warren or Harris as their top choice for the primary when polled .\nLuks and Schaffner established this scale by asking voters a battery of questions about their attitudes on gender , a panel developed by social psychologists Peter Glick and Susan Fiske . Voters were asked to agree or disagree with statements like “ most women fail to appreciate fully all that men do for them ” and “ women seek to gain power by getting control over men . ”\nLuks and Schaffner concluded that dealing with such sexism was an obstacle that women candidates in the Democratic primary continued to face with a subset of voters , though they added that voters pushing back against sexism could flock to the Democratic Party during the general election and boost a woman candidate .\nIn an updated survey released this week , Schaffner and Data for Progress co-founder Jon Green polled voters before the Iowa caucuses and found the same trend : Voters who had more sexist attitudes were less likely to support Warren .\nQuestions related to candidates ’ gender were abundant during the primary , particularly on the issue of electability : Throughout the race , women candidates had to answer questions over and over again about electability — even though none of the most prominent women had ever lost an election before .\n“ When people say it shouldn ’ t be a woman this time because a woman lost last time , well , men have been losing the presidency for hundreds of years , ” Hunter told ███ .\nIt is ultimately difficult to pinpoint just how big a factor sexism was during the 2020 primary — and whether it was the factor that hurt women candidates ’ chances .\n“ Gender , broadly speaking , is always interacting with and influencing factors that are important to a candidate ’ s success or defeat , ” says Kelly Dittmar , a political science professor at Rutgers University and scholar at the Center for American Women and Politics .\nFor the five women who have so far dropped out of the 2020 race , there are 20 men who also exited . The Democratic field was massive from the get-go , and male candidates of color like Sen. Cory Booker and Julián Castro struggled to find their footing before ending their campaigns as well .\nJust like the men running in 2020 , the women all had individual strengths and weaknesses that respectively bolstered and impeded their bids .\nWarren , for example , established herself as an effective and detailed policy wonk who has a plan for everything , but she peaked early in the polls and was bogged down at times by the rollout of her health care proposal and her use of a DNA test to try to prove Native American ancestry .\nShe wasn ’ t the only one . Harris was known for being a charismatic leader who struggled with a consistent message and had to reckon with a sometimes-contradictory record on criminal justice reform . Sen. Amy Klobuchar ( D-MN ) , who came in a surprisingly close third in the New Hampshire primary , was dogged by early allegations of staff mistreatment . Despite hammering a message of being electable in Midwestern states that Clinton lost , and rattling off a long list of legislative accomplishments in the Senate , Klobuchar also bowed out . Gillibrand ( D-NY ) , a candidate focused on women ’ s issues , could not shake blowback from the Democratic base and donors alike for her role in the ouster of former Sen. Al Franken ( D-MN ) for his alleged sexual harassment .\nMale candidates have faced electability questions , too . There were plenty of concerns about Biden ’ s spate of gaffes and the Trump administration ’ s intense interest in his son ’ s ties to a Ukrainian energy company ( so much interest , it led to Trump ’ s impeachment ) . There are lingering concerns about Bernie Sanders ’ s October heart attack or whether his ideological agenda is too risky for the general election . But these things were ultimately easier for primary voters to accept than almost all the women candidates when the Republican opponent is Donald Trump .\n“ The electability argument was so frustrating , and is so frustrating , ” Schultz said . “ This narrative had the force of a storm in terms of , you ’ re battening down the hatches instead of throwing the windows open wide to see what the possibilities are . ”\nOne of the most disheartening takeaways from the recent developments in the 2020 race is the feeling that progress around gender equity in politics has remained stagnant .\nColumnist Jessica Valenti said as much in a Medium post :\nLast night , my nine-year-old daughter came over to me because I looked upset . When I told her I was sad because I felt like I would never see a woman be president , she told me , “ Well , you ’ ll see at least one — me. ” I want her to be able to hold on to that optimism because the truth is that I ’ m fresh out of hope to give her .\nWhile it is undeniably — and devastatingly — true that the United States has still yet to elect a woman president , there is progress taking place in the US Congress that is building up an even larger bench of women lawmakers to keep pursuing higher office .\nIn 2018 , Democrats ’ efforts to retake the House were driven heavily by women candidates . Of the 41 seats that Democrats flipped from red to blue during the midterms , 23 were won by women , many of them in purple districts in states like Iowa and Michigan . Both Senate pickups the party had — in Arizona and Nevada — were also won by women . On top of that , four out of seven gubernatorial flips were won by women , including in Michigan , Kansas , and Maine .\n“ I think that people are forgetting the lessons of 2018 , ” Rep. Katherine Clark , vice chair of the House Democratic caucus and a surrogate for Warren , told ███ in a January interview . “ When people are scared , which they are , they kind of look for what they ’ ve always known as the safe choice . ”\nIt ’ s worth noting , too , that after Clinton ’ s run in 2016 , there were a groundbreaking number of women vying for the Democratic nomination this cycle , who helped further normalize the idea of running for president .\nIt ’ s also true that for whoever emerges as the nominee , there will be incredible pressure to pick a woman for the vice presidential spot . As Errin Haines writes for The 19th , female activists have ramped up their focus on the No . 2 slot and called on Biden and Sanders to prioritize choosing a woman for the role .\nAs more women run for office at different levels across the country — a number that spiked dramatically in 2018 — more will be in position to run for executive office down the line . And candidates ’ willingness to call out sexism , though it can be seen as hurting the chances of women candidates in the future , also enables people to confront the problem head-on .\n“ The more that women push these institutions , the more that we see sexism playing a less pervasive role , ” says Dittmar . | allsides-corpus-501 |
HAMBURG — First daughter Ivanka Trump moved up to the front row of global diplomacy Saturday , leading an effort to promote women entrepreneurs and then taking over President Trump 's seat at the G-20 summit .\nAs an unpaid adviser to her father , Ivanka Trump has championed women and family issues like paid leave , child care and a World Bank fund to promote women-owned small businesses in the developing world .\nBut as President Trump stepped away from the a G-20 session Saturday to meet with the president of Indonesia , Ivanka literally took his seat among world leaders , sitting between between Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Theresa May .\nIvanka Trump was caught at the head table by an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin , who tweeted out a photo of the event . The aide later deleted the tweet , but not before it made the rounds on the Internet .\nA White House aide not authorized to speak publicly about the matter confirmed Ivanka Trump briefly joined the main table when the president stepped away . The aide insisted the arrangement was not unusual .\nThe aide also noted the issue being discussed — African development — was one that Ivanka has taken an interest in , and was related to her work on women 's empowerment .\n' I will be going to London , ' Trump says in meeting with U.K. Prime Minister May\nTrump pushes Vladimir Putin on election interference , reaches agreement with Russia not to meddle\nJohn Podesta claps back after President Trump tweets about him at G-20\nPresident Trump himself is using the summit of the world 's top economies to showcase his daughter , who has now played a visible role in each of the seven countries Trump has visited as president . Ivanka Trump could be seen coming and going from several of her father 's one-on-one meetings with world leaders Saturday .\n`` I 'm very proud of my daughter Ivanka , always have been from day one . I have to tell you that , '' Trump said at an event for the women 's entrepreneurship fund . `` If she were n't my daughter it would be so much easier for her . It might be the only bad thing going for her , if you want to know the truth . ''\nTrump lent his support to that effort Saturday by pledging $ 50 million from the United States to jump-start the effort .\n`` By investing in women around the world , we 're investing in families , we 're investing in prosperity and we 're investing in peace , '' Trump said at the G-20 summit in Hamburg , where global leaders embraced the World Bank-led program .\nThe Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative , or We-Fi , will provide loans , mentorship and other services to small businesses run by women around the world , and especially in its poorest countries . The World Bank is seeking $ 1 billion in pledges .\nGerman Chancellor Angela Merkel , who hosted world leaders for two days of meetings in this German port city , said the program will be one of the most lasting accomplishments of the summit .\n“ If everything went so quickly by the World Bank as the creation of such a fund , we 'd have more success on the international stage , ” she said .\nTrump cast the effort in both moral and economic terms , saying that including more women in the workforce would also provide `` a lot more competition for people like me , prior to becoming a politician . '' | allsides-corpus-502 |
Use This Single Loophole to Pay Zero Taxes . See Video\n“ I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss , ” King said on NBC ’ s “ Meet the Press. ” “ A pledge you signed 20 years ago , 18 years ago , is for that Congress . … The world has changed , and the economic situation is different . ”\n“ I will violate the pledge , long story short , for the good of the country , only if Democrats will do entitlement reform , ” Graham said on ABC ’ s “ This Week . ”\nMcCain , meanwhile , said he wants to focus on closing so-called tax “ loopholes ” to raise revenue but stressed he wants no increases to the marginal tax rates . Many observers , however , note that closing loopholes will still represent an effective tax increase . `` We can close a lot of loopholes , '' McCain said on “ Fox News Sunday , ” identifying deductions on charitable donations and on mortgage interest .\nUse This Single Loophole to Pay Zero Taxes . See Video\nUse This Single Loophole to Pay Zero Taxes . See Video\nAs Congress prepared to dive back into `` fiscal cliff '' talks on Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday , there were growing signs that the long-standing Republican resistance to raising taxes is beginning to crack.On Sunday , three leading Republicans — Sens . Lindsey Graham and John McCain , and Rep. Peter King — said they no longer viewed the anti-tax pledge designed by activist Grover Norquist to be binding on them . Their statements followed a similar one Thursday by Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.The decades-old pledge from the Americans for Tax Reform group has been signed by 238 House members and 41 senators in this Congress and has essentially become inescapable for any Republican seeking statewide or national office over recent election cycles , especially in the Republican-controlled lower chamber.But on Sunday , there were signals of a sudden shift : For his part , Norquist on Friday said that breaking the pledge is breaking a promise to constituents who elected their representatives in part on their commitment against tax increases.In a statement to ███ on Friday responding to Chambliss ’ statements , Norquist said , `` Sen. Chambliss promised the people of Georgia he would go to Washington and reform government rather than raise taxes to pay for bigger government . He made that commitment in writing to the people of Georgia . `` If he plans to vote for higher taxes to pay for Obama-sized government he should address the people of Georgia and let them know that he plans to break his promise to them . `` If no deal is reached before the end of the year , a poison pill law of tax hikes and massive spending cuts , including slashes to the military , comes into effect with potentially catastrophic effects for the fragile US economy.After months of stalemate , congressional leaders met on November 16 with President Barack Obama — who is deemed to have a considerably stronger negotiating hand after handily winning re-election 10 days earlier.Just five weeks now remain in the calendar year to conclude an agreement before the expiration of tax cuts put in place during the presidency of Obama 's predecessor , George W. Bush.Obama has said that any deal he concludes would have to include an increase in taxes on wealthy taxpayers , something congressional Republicans so far have rejected.The plan he proposes — and presented to voters on the campaign trail — would raise the tax rate for top earners , but keep Bush-era tax rates for individuals who make less than $ 200,000 per year and families earning less than $ 250,000.Most Republicans still insist raising taxes on the wealthy would be counter-productive and only serve to slow economic growth and ensure that the country continues to be plagued by economic stagnation.They insist that higher taxes would dampen spending and hiring and investment by business owners.The top income tax rate , which now stands at 35 percent , will automatically revert to 39.6 percent at the beginning of 2013 unless there is a new budget deal.Republicans say they prefer to look at ways to bring in more tax revenue by completely overhauling the old and unwieldy tax code , including closing what they say are `` special interest loopholes '' likely to hit the poor and the middle class as well as the rich.But Graham said it was fair to ask his party to do this and raise taxes for Democratic concessions on reducing government spending on social welfare programs , known here as entitlements . `` When you 're $ 16 trillion in debt , the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece , and Republicans -- Republicans should put revenue on the table , '' Graham said . `` I want to buy down debt and cut rates to create jobs , but I will violate the pledge , long story short , for the good of the country , only if Democrats will do entitlement reform , '' Graham added.Graham 's apparent willingness to ignore the no higher taxes pledge came just days after Chambliss , said he would not be not bound by the promise either . `` I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge , '' Chambliss said.King would not predict anything about a deal before it has actually been presented to Congress - so that an actual deal can be made between Obama and House Speaker John Boehner for Congress to discuss , rather than have possibilities batted around killing any potential “ grand bargain. ” “ I don ’ t want to prejudge any of this , ” King said . “ [ The ] bottom line is we can not have sequestration . We ca n't go off a fiscal cliff . We have to show the world we ’ re adults ... I think everything should be on the table . I myself am opposed to tax increases . The fact is that speaker and the majority in leader and the president are going to be in a room , trying to find the best package . I ’ m not going to prejudge it . And I ’ m just saying we should not be taking ironclad positions. ” Added King , “ The world has changed and the economic situation is different . Ronald Reagan and Tip O ’ Neill realized that in the 1980s . I think everything should be on the table , ” he said . “ I , myself , am opposed to tax increases . The fact is the speaker and the majority leader and the president are gon na be in a room , trying to find the best package . I ’ m not gon na prejudge it . And I ’ m just saying we should not be taking iron clad positions . I have faith in John Boehner to put together a good package. ” Economists have said that closing loopholes and ending deductions will likely not generate sufficient money to chip away at the national debt , and that a combination of tax increases and spending cuts will be needed.Speaking on the same program as Graham , Democratic Senator Dick Durbin insisted that tax rates for the highest earners do have to up . `` How in the world are you going to reduce deductions and generate enough revenue for meaningful deficit reduction , '' Durbin said.Some experts said that there need not be a `` grand deal '' by the end of the year , because they could give themselves an extension by passing new legislation . `` Anytime Congress puts handcuffs on itself , it still has the key to those handcuffs . It can open the handcuffs anytime they want , or say . 'OK , we 'll change the lock ' , '' said Roberton Williams at the Tax Policy Center , an independent think tank . | allsides-corpus-503 |
Obama can no longer focus on his predecessor 's role in digging the hole . Obama 's debt problem\nPresident Barack Obama won ’ t be able to enjoy much of a victory lap from his win over congressional Republicans on the fiscal cliff fight .\nThe staggering national debt — up about 60 percent from the $ 10 trillion Obama inherited when he took office in January 2009 — is the single biggest blemish on Obama ’ s record , even if the rapid descent into red began under President George W. Bush .\nObama has long emphasized Bush ’ s role in digging the immense hole . But he owns it now , and it ’ s a significant political liability as he girds for a fast-approaching brawl with the GOP over how to deal with converging deadlines of a new debt ceiling fight and the need to come up with $ 1 trillion in deficit reduction mandated by the so-called “ sequester . ”\n“ The numbers — at some point it ’ s got to catch up or else we ’ re all going to die , ” said Chris Chocola , head of the anti-tax Club for Growth , which opposed the cliff deal . “ We have serious problems that are going unaddressed and we ’ re moving in the wrong direction . ”\nObama was able to splinter his deeply divided Republican opponents over the issue of tax cuts for the wealthy . But a similar fate might await the president and his Democratic allies if he brokers a deal with the GOP that requires massive spending and entitlement cuts .\nDuring the cliff talks , Obama was purposely opaque about what cuts he ’ d ultimately accept , saying only that Republican resistance to a one-shot grand bargain meant he needed to make a deal in pieces — taxes first , spending second .\nThat tactic delayed but didn ’ t eliminate a looming day of reckoning on spending and entitlements that will come within 60 days thanks to the convergence of the debt ceiling deadline and the new deadline for keeping automatic cuts from kicking in .\n“ Republicans — and some Democrats — want to curtail Social Security , veterans benefits , Medicare and Medicaid — that ’ s not a secret — and some of us are going to be fighting to say no , ” said Sen. Bernie Sanders ( I-Vt. ) , author of a letter sent by 29 Senate Democrats in September demanding Obama back off chained CPI , which would reduce Social Security increases indexed to inflation .\n“ It is absolutely imperative the president and Democratic leadership stay strong on this issue . If they do , we will win , ” added Sanders , who wants the president to aggressively push for tax hikes and loophole elimination on corporations .\nFormer Clinton administration official Alice Rivlin , a member of Obama ’ s defunct deficit commission , says Obama “ understands the [ deficit-reduction ] issue ” but “ he ’ s got to deal with his own left wing , which is not enthusiastic about doing it . The real problem … is that Social Security has become kind of [ a ] no-no ” to liberals .\nIn a video message to his 2012 campaign supporters released Wednesday , Obama offered few specifics on how he ’ d approach the coming fight . He reiterated his call for a “ balanced ” approach to deficit reduction despite a cliff deal that contains only a few billion in cuts and may add hundreds of billions to the debt in coming decades , according to the Congressional Budget Office . | allsides-corpus-504 |
Both sides in the federal talks to avert a year-end fiscal crisis signaled late Monday that significant progress had been made , with sources saying President Obama had offered a higher threshold for tax rate increases and with House Speaker Boehner 's office calling it `` a step in the right direction . ''\nThe late-day developments followed a 45-minute meeting between Obama and Boehner at the White House , underscoring the seriousness of the talks as the deadline approaches for a deal to stop massive automatic spending cuts and tax hikes from kicking in at the start of the new year .\nObama 's most recent offer included $ 1.2 trillion in increased revenue over 10 years , with tax rate hikes on individual income above $ 400,000 , a source familiar with the negotiations told Fox News . That would be a sharp departure from the president 's past stance against maintaining the existing low tax rates on any income above $ 200,000 , or $ 250,000 for couples . The latest offer would cut the deficit an estimated $ 2.4 trillion over a decade .\nThe two sides are getting close , but significant issues remain , a Republican source told Fox Business . They are said to have agreed to at least $ 1 trillion in spending cuts and at least $ 1 trillion in new revenue through a mix of tax rate increases on top incomes and tax code reform , though the details have yet to be worked out .\n`` Any movement away from the unrealistic offers the president has made previously is a step in the right direction , '' Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said , though he also criticized the specific mix of spending cuts and tax hikes Obama has proposed , saying it `` can not be considered balanced . ''\nThe speaker last week offered Obama a compromise by proposing a tax rate hike on those making over $ 1 million .\nRaising the debt ceiling also is emerging a sticking point in negotiations , and indeed , a large part of the looming fiscal crisis stems from Congress ' past failure to agree upon an adequate deficit-reduction plan , as mandated by the previous deal to raise the debt ceiling .\nThe speaker 's office insists that Boehner will stand by his condition that the debt ceiling be raised only if Washington cuts spending by an amount greater than the increase .\nBoehner 's office tried to assure conservatives on Sunday that he was not backing off his debt-ceiling demands , following a report in The Washington Post that he offered to push off any battle over the debt ceiling for another year .\nBoehner and other Republicans have so far refused Obama 's demand that he be given the authority to raise the debt ceiling whenever he wants . At issue , though , appears to be whether to include a one-time increase in the debt ceiling as part of this deal . While Boehner may be offering to include an increase that lasts a year , Obama 's latest proposal called for a two-year extension .\nBoehner is asking for $ 1 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years from government benefit programs like Medicare , the federal health care program for the elderly . Those cuts would defer most of a painful set of across-the-board spending cuts set to slash many domestic programs and the defense budget by 8-9 percent , starting in January .\nOn the revenue side , Boehner 's offer calls for about $ 450 billion in revenue from increasing the top rate on million-dollar-plus income from 35 percent to the Clinton-era rate of 39.6 percent . The additional revenue required to meet Boehner 's $ 1 trillion target would be collected through a rewrite of the tax code next year and by slowing the inflation adjustments made to tax brackets .\nIf no deal is reached , the Bush-era tax rates will expire , resulting in a significant tax hike on nearly all Americans next year .\nBoth sides are caught between the demands of the other , and their own parties . Many congressional Democrats want to raise taxes on households making more than $ 250,000 . Boehner 's offer marks a much higher threshold than they prefer .\nWhite House Press Secretary Jay Carney reiterated Monday that Obama believes the only plan that achieves the `` balance '' Obama wants is the plan the president has put forward . Still , he said , Obama `` believes that a deal is possible . ''\nObama also faces opposition from many Democrats to any substantive cuts in Medicare .\nFor his part , Boehner faces another problem . Even if he extracts $ 1 trillion in spending cuts from the president , some Republicans are likely to see this as a trade-off for tax increases -- not a trade-off for a debt ceiling increase . | allsides-corpus-505 |
Led by Patty Murray , progressives on Capitol Hill are already drawing their line . Fiscal cliff : Will liberals jump ?\nA growing bloc of emboldened liberals say they ’ re not afraid to watch defense spending get gouged and taxes go up on every American if a budget deal doesn ’ t satisfy their priorities .\nHere ’ s what these progressives fear : an agreement that keeps lower tax rates for the wealthy , hits the social safety net with unpalatable cuts and leaves Pentagon spending unscathed . In other words , they ’ d rather walk the country off the cliff than watch President Barack Obama cave on long-held liberal priorities .\n“ If the Republicans can ’ t see their way to significant additional revenues targeted toward the people who are best off and targeted toward passive income and other things like that , then we ’ re better off going over the cliff and readdressing this with a better Congress in January , ” Rep. Peter DeFazio ( D-Ore. ) said . “ And we would have plenty of time to fix it . ”\nBolstering the Democrats ’ strategy is the belief that the “ fiscal cliff ” is actually shaped more like a “ slope ” where the economic effects will be felt gradually , not immediately . That theory gives Congress some time at the beginning of 2013 to set tax rates and configure budget cuts in a different political environment and with a new class of lawmakers .\nBut underlying the tough talk is also a sense of liberal angst — the left feels like it was burned by the last extension of the Bush tax rates and didn ’ t get much of what it wanted in the 2011 debt-limit deal .\nIf tax rates snap back to the higher levels from the 1990s and painful budget cuts start to hit the Pentagon , these Democrats — led by Washington Sen. Patty Murray — believe they would wield more leverage over the GOP to enact a budget compromise on their terms . And with a January deal , Republicans would technically avoid violating the no-new-taxes pledge that most of them have signed because they would then be voting to cut taxes .\nRepublicans would most likely bear most of the public blame if policymakers deadlock . The Pew Research Center found that 53 percent of Americans would fault GOP lawmakers if Washington fails to avert the fiscal cliff ; only 29 percent would point the finger at Obama .\n“ This is very , very important that we hang in there to essentially get the revenue component , ” said Rep. Peter Welch ( D-Vt. ) . “ I favor an agreement before Jan. 1 , but I ’ m skeptical that our leadership may be able to reach one . If it ’ s necessary to wait to get a good deal , let ’ s do that . ”\nMurray declared in a speech this summer that she would push budget negotiations into 2013 if Republicans don ’ t cave on taxes for the rich . The fourth-ranking Senate Democrat repeated the threat in a Nov. 11 interview on “ This Week . ” | allsides-corpus-506 |
In Fiscal Cliff PR War , Obama Seeks Help From A Public Already Leaning His Way\nIn Washington 's latest game of chicken , President Obama is counting on voters who see things his way to give him the edge in his quest to get congressional Republicans to accept tax increases on the nation 's wealthiest as part of any fiscal cliff deal .\nTo energize those voters , the president is ramping up a series of campaign-style events meant to educate the public about the stakes , as he sees them , of letting the Bush-era tax cuts for middle-class Americans expire if no agreement is reached by year 's end .\nIt 's all about raising the pressure on Republican lawmakers enough , especially those in the House , so that at least some will soften their opposition to tax increases for families earning more than $ 250,000 . Whether the president 's tactic will work remains to be seen .\nOn Wednesday , Obama added a twist to the White House campaign for public support . He urged voters to use social media to express themselves to members of Congress .\nAt a White House event with a group of everyday Americans serving as a backdrop , Obama even supplied supporters with a new Twitter hashtag for their messages : # my2k . The hashtag incorporated the president 's argument that an average middle-class family would have to pay an additional $ 2,200 in federal income taxes if no agreement is reached .\n`` Call your members of Congress , write them an email , post it on their Facebook walls , '' Obama told his audience . `` You can tweet it using the hashtag 'My2K ' `` Not 'Y2K [ laughter ] . ' 'My2K . ' We figured that would make it a little easier to remember . ''\nFor Obama , the hashtag-slinging public relations effort was the 2012 version of a president 's traditional White House bully pulpit to further his agenda . It was also an attempt to tap into the energy of the president 's supporters , who gave him the opportunity of a second term .\nTo a significant extent , Obama would seem to have an easier PR task than congressional Republicans . According to Election Day exit polls , a majority of voters agree with him that taxes should be increased on the wealthiest Americans .\nAs Obama has repeated since his re-election , the issue of higher taxes on the wealthy was exhaustively debated during his campaign against Republican Mitt Romney — and the president 's side won .\nBecause of that , even a political scientist who has become well known in the field for persuasively arguing that the power of the bully pulpit is overrated gives Obama the edge in the message war with Republicans .\n`` The public favors resolving the fiscal cliff problem in general and by raising tax rates on the wealthy in particular , '' George C. Edwards III of Texas A & M University wrote in an email response to a question . `` So the president does not have to persuade the public on these points . He just has to make pre-existing views more salient to members of Congress . This is an example of a president exploiting an opportunity in his environment without having to create one by changing people 's minds . ''\nObama was clearly counting on a repeat of earlier moments of his presidency , when public pressure caused House Republicans to accept an extension of the payroll tax holiday , among other proposals aimed at helping middle-income Americans .\n`` Some of you may remember that a year ago , during our last big fight to protect middle-class families , tens of thousands of working Americans called and tweeted and emailed their representatives , asking them to do the right thing . `` And sure enough , it worked . The same thing happened earlier this year when college students across the country stood up and demanded that Congress keep rates low on their student loans . Congress got the message loud and clear , and they made sure that interest rates on student loans did not go up . ''\nBut as of Wednesday , while some Republicans , like Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma , indicated a willingness to consider Obama 's proposal , most of the GOP was n't talking about raising tax rates for the wealthy . Instead , they placed their emphasis on spending cuts .\nAt his own news conference Wednesday , House Speaker John Boehner , R-Ohio , said : | allsides-corpus-507 |
Today 's 'Plan B ' Vote : Part Of Posturing Or A Push Over The 'Fiscal Cliff ? '\nWith the House set to vote this afternoon on Republicans ' `` Plan B '' for avoiding the so-called fiscal cliff , the questions that have been asked every day for weeks are being asked yet again , with added urgency :\nAre we headed over that `` cliff '' of automatic spending cuts , tax increases and expiring job benefits ? Or are President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner , R-Ohio , closer to a deal than they 're letting on in public ?\nOn Morning Edition , NPR 's Mara Liasson said the answers may be yes , and yes .\n`` Either we 're one step closer to the cliff or this is just part of the 'two steps forward , one step backward ' process that Congress and the White House have to go through , '' she told host David Greene . Both sides , she added , may just need to show they 're `` fighting as hard as they can before they make the ultimate compromise . '' So , Republicans have put forward their Plan B and the White House has threatened to veto it ( though the odds seem low that it would be passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate ) .\nThere 's even talk , Mara said , about going `` over the cliff a little bit '' — for a few days or so after Jan. 1 — before an ultimate compromise .\nAnd what a compromise might look like is taking shape , she pointed out . Boehner has proposed increases in revenues ( a.k.a . taxes ) of about $ 1 trillion by allowing Bush-era tax cuts on income of more than $ 1 million a year to expire . Boehner 's also proposed about $ 1 trillion in spending cuts .\nMeanwhile , Mara noted , Obama has proposed revenue increases of about $ 1.3 trillion — by letting those Bush-era tax cuts expire on income of more than $ 400,000 a year — and spending cuts of about $ 930 billion .\nAs for today 's vote , here are some of the morning 's other stories :\n-- `` A House vote on the plan , scheduled for Thursday , poses a major political test for Boehner 's leadership team , which is pitching it as a vote of confidence and a way for Republicans to extract more concessions from Obama in negotiations over government spending and taxes . '' ( The Washington Post )\n-- Boehner 's brief statement Wednesday about the scheduling of today 's vote , `` suggested confidence that Republican leaders would have the votes to pass his plan . But lawmakers who were counting votes for the leadership said the tally was short , and House leaders were adding provisions to the speaker 's bill to mollify dissidents . '' ( The New York Times )\n-- `` GOP leadership is considering attaching a package of spending cuts to ride alongside Boehner 's tax rate bill . Republican lawmakers are skittish about voting on allowing taxes to snap to near 40 percent for millionaires without paring back federal spending . '' ( Politico )\nUpdate at 12:30 p.m . ET : GOP Plan Is `` Non-starter '' In The Senate , Reid Says :\nAs we said earlier , it 's unlikely Plan B would pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate .\nSen . Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev. , just called it a `` non-starter . ''\n`` We are going to have the votes '' to pass Plan B in the House , Majority Leader Eric Cantor , R-Va. , just told reporters . He also said the House will not go into recess after today 's vote . | allsides-corpus-508 |
I was just reading an article on the World Net Daily website concerning interviews conducted by the newspaper , The College Fix . It showed a video of students at a supposedly Christian college in Minneapolis , MN , who were answering questions about Thanksgiving .\nI say `` supposedly '' because I could find no reference to the college 's Christian affiliation on its website . These students were asked if it was ok ( or is that kk ? ) to celebrate Thanksgiving . The answers , mostly in the negative , showed just how ignorant these young people are .\nOne kid said : `` I think that Thanksgiving has been misconstrued a lot , especially in textbooks . It 's kind of just based off of the genocide of indigenous people , and I do n't really think that we actually give thanks on Thanksgiving . We just eat a bunch of food , and it 's just a bunch of capitalist bull -- -- . ''\nTo one degree or another , that was how most responded .\nBut aside from an obvious lack of understanding of their own country 's history , what saddened me most about their responses was their lack of awe . Lack of awe that their country , the United States of America , came into existence at all - despite many dangers and unbelievable hardship - with timely `` coincidences '' that allowed the newcomers to survive and live on to lay the groundwork for the freest , most generous , most prosperous nation on earth .\nIndeed , a nation where the oppressed of the world want to come . Yes . It 's the place where the oppressed want to come . It makes me ask : What do these seekers of America know that these young college people do n't ? Something else , for sure , I think , because the kids on this particular campus did n't see anything to celebrate . Instead , they see America as a place only of oppressors and colonizers taking advantage of indigenous peoples .\nThat 's not what Squanto saw when he came out of the woods to greet the Pilgrims in their native tongue . To me , Squanto 's is one of those `` awe-filled '' stories little known in our history , and one these students obviously are missing .\nAs a 12-year-old boy in 1614 , years before the Pilgrims landed , Squanto , a Wampanoag Indian , was kidnapped by an English trader and taken to Spain to be sold into slavery along with about two dozen others of his tribe .\n`` It caused quite a commotion when this guy showed up trying to sell these people , '' historian Charles Mann , the author of `` 1491 : New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus , '' told The Huffington Post . `` A bunch of people in the church said no way . ''\nSquanto , called Tisquantum in his native language , escaped slavery with the help of Christian friars and somehow made his way to England . There he worked for five years as a stable boy with a family named Slaney , waiting for a ship to take him back to the coast of North America , back to his home and family . Finally , his ship really did come in !\nIn an interview that aired on ███ 's The 700 Club , Eric Metaxas , author of `` Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving , '' tells Squanto 's story and how he saved the Pilgrims .\n`` So it 'd be about 1618 , I think . And in that time , of course , he had learned English and he had lived in London . All these years I imagine that he was dreaming and hoping and probably praying that he could come back to his family . And so , miraculously , a ship is provided . He becomes the translator on the ship . They 're going to use him to translate , '' Metaxas recalled .\nBut upon his return , Squanto found his family and most of his tribe dead , killed off , possibly , by hepatitis or smallpox . Alone , with tragedy striking his life once again , he walked out of the woods that day to greet the Pilgrims , as Metaxes recounted , speaking the King 's English .\n`` And it just so happens that he grew up on the very spot where they had settled . This was his home that had been abandoned , and now he was back in his village , and they basically adopted him . He had no place to go . They became his family . And he knew everything there was to know about how you plant corn , '' Metaxes explained .\n`` That 's the famous story about planting corn with the fish as the fertilizer - how to plant the gourd around the corn so it goes up the cornstalk . He knew how to get eels out of the streams , out of the muddy streams . He knew where the lobsters were and where the fish were . He knew everything . And the Lord used him truly miraculously . I mean , if you really think about it , it 's too much for us to understand , '' he continued .\nBut I guess you do n't see the awe unless you see the purpose and the workings of a God who has a plan . I do n't think these kids at a so-called Christian college are getting that . Yes , their country was founded by a flawed , sinful people who made serious mistakes as time went by but by God 's grace , they planted an outpost of freedom and opportunity unlike any seen in world history .\nSquanto was n't the only `` coincidence '' in the founding of this country , an encounter or occurrence that happened just in time . American history is full of those coincidences , too many to recount right now . But they ought to be taught in our classrooms today because ... well because they 're awe-inspiring and make you appreciate that America was and is a good plan . And those Pilgrims at Plymouth with their belief in a God who loved everyone and wanted good for all were key to making it happen .\nThis Thanksgiving , that 's something I 'll be remembering and thanking God for : our friend , Squanto , and the miraculous beginnings of our country . | allsides-corpus-509 |
WASHINGTON – Fourth of July festivities in the nation 's capital were anything but typical this year . It was n't just the military tanks , jet flyovers or the speech by President Donald Trump .\nThe president 's role in what is usually a nonpartisan celebration created what felt like three different events : Protesters who decried his administration and its policies ; a campaign rally where supporters cheered for him to keep the White House for another term ; and those who simply wanted to enjoy hot dogs and fireworks with their families for the annual Independence Day festivities .\nOn a holiday marking America 's birthday , the country 's divisions were on full display .\nThere was a giant blimp depicting the president as an orange infant . There was also a sea of red , `` Make America Great Again '' hats . And there were families spread out along the National Mall with blankets and children anxiously awaiting the fireworks display and not focused on politics .\nWhen the protesters and Trump supporters clashed over a flag burning in front of the White House , there were two arrests , although most confrontations did not go beyond shouting matches .\n'Nothing America can not do ' : Donald Trump touts U.S. military strength in 4th of July speech\nUh-oh : Donald Trump trips up on history in 4th of July speech , mentions airports during Revolutionary War\nTrump 's influence on the annual celebrations were easy to spot .\nSupporters poured into the National Mall throughout the day , many waving `` Trump 2020 '' flags or wearing `` MAGA '' hats . They passed by the heckling of protesters with disgust , some yelling `` SNOWFLAKES ! '' to the crowds gathered in opposition of Trump .\nIn the afternoon at the National Independence Day Parade parade , thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch floats , drum lines and military units march by . As the parade marched on , the heat did too . Spectators migrated towards the shade , picking up ice-cold bottles of water from vendors , to watch the parade .\nHundreds of Trump supporters were part of the crowd that lined Constitution Avenue .\nTrump ’ s new campaign slogan , ‘ Keep America Great , ’ also filled the surrounding streets of the parade . Vendor stands at nearly every corner pushed Trump hats and paraphernalia on energetic supporters .\n'This says something ' : Thousands gather in Washington for Donald Trump 's 4th of July celebration\n'Tanks ' a lot : Trump 4th of July celebration is n't first time armored vehicles have rumbled into DC\nJim Sutton usually attends the parade each year with his wife , Gigi . But the couple , who sported head-to-toe Trump gear , said something felt different this year .\n“ It ’ s just fantastic , ” Gigi Sutton said , in her white Trump T-shirt and flag pants . The pair said the criticism of Trump ’ s use of military equipment in the event was unwarranted .\n“ We ’ ve been having all these problems with Iran , North Korea . This says something , ” Gigi Sutton said . Her husband chimed in , “ It let ’ s the world know our nation ’ s defense is well at hand . ”\nAfter watching Trump 's speech and the military aircraft flyovers for each branch of the military , Amiee LeDoux was left in tears .\n`` That was the first time I ever cried during the Fourth of July , '' LeDoux , who traveled with her family from New Hampshire , said as she started to tear up again . `` I just felt like it really embraced who we are and it just felt like God was really honored , and America was honored and the military was honored . ''\nWearing a blue Trump hat , LeDoux said she thought Trump 's speech helped bring the country together .\n`` I think there was a lot of unity and the mentioning of our history and how rich of a history we have , it was just so beautiful , '' she said .\nWhile the event was mostly peaceful , a fight broke out at a flag burning event in front of the White House that led to at least two arrests .\nTrump supporters , some wearing hats emblazoned with Trump 's `` Make America Great Again '' slogan , charged a circle of protesters who were burning a flag , causing the protesters to topple over . The Trump supporters , some of whom were wearing attire identifying themselves as Proud Boys , a far-right organization , attempted to stamp out the fire .\nBut the flag burning was far from the only act of protest happening in the heart of Washington . Many wore shirts about impeaching Trump or supporting Hillary Clinton , Trump 's Democratic rival in the 2016 election . They carried balloons depicting Trump as a small , orange baby — a miniature depiction of a famous blimp that was briefly inflated on the National Mall .\nMore : Flag burning in front of White House leads to scuffle amid 4th of July celebrations\nMore : 'Baby Trump ' blimp appears grounded for July 4 protest during president 's DC celebration\nAlong with the Baby Trump blimp , the liberal activist organization Code Pink also parked a 16-foot-tall `` Dumping Trump '' robot featuring the president sitting on a golden toilet wearing a MAGA-style hat saying `` Make America Great Again : Impeach Me . ''\nThe robot sporadically shouted out some of Trump ’ s most-used lines , including “ no collusion ” and “ witch hunt . ”\nNearby , Noel Eldridge gathered with the nearly 100 protesters , holding a sign plastered with photographs of migrant detention centers . It read `` Are you proud to be American ? Today ? ''\nEldridge said he grew up in the same New York neighborhood as Trump . `` I know the particular kind of bully and racist he is , '' Eldridge said .\nJust yards away , a miniature baby Trump balloon was locked inside of a metal cage . Linda Berns said she has traveled from her home in Bethesda , Md . each year for 40 years to watch the fireworks along the National Mall . This year , she came to protest .\nShe said she joined the protest against Trump ’ s immigration policies because of her family ’ s history . `` This is a country of immigrants , '' Berns said . `` My grandparents were immigrants . ''\nAnne and Emily Balderson , both waving mini-Trump-baby balloons , came to D.C. from Texas to experience the holiday in the capital but said Trump role in the event was unnecessary and causing more division in the country .\n`` I think it ’ s making 4th of July more of a divisive holiday , '' Emily Balderson said . `` He ’ s making it about himself instead of the country and it should just be about how our country was founded . ''\nAt the opposite end of the National Mall , near the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument , things were different . There were no protests . Scarcely anyone wore Trump attire .\nInstead , families , wearing red , white and blue , sat on blankets , held up small American flags and enjoyed the music from the `` A Capitol Fourth ” concert .\nAfter the last of the military jets flew over the crowd and many left , families were left camped out on picnic blankets , and kids huddled together under umbrellas eager to watch the fireworks display . Some came more prepared than others , with plastic bags to put under their blankets and rain ponchos with hoods .\nDavid Portis was among those camped out . He said there were remarkably fewer people along the Mall than he remembered in past years , which he blamed on the rain and not the additions to the program .\nPortis said he was neutral on Trump ’ s presence during the holiday . `` I even brought my daughter and her friend , '' he said , pointing to an open grassy area near the Washington Monument where a group of children were playing ball barefooted .\nOthers also were n't preoccupied by the politics thrust into the event .\nMitchell Reed , the band director for a group of 99 Florida high school students who attended the concert and played during a parade earlier in the day , said the event took on a different meaning for his group .\n`` It ’ s been crazy , '' he said as he watched the nearby concert . `` But it ’ s a day everyone in our band will never forget . 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President Obama marked Independence Day on Thursday by calling on Americans to follow the example of the patriots who determined the nation ’ s destiny in 1776 .\n“ We , the people , must make their task our own — to live up to the words of that Declaration of Independence , and secure liberty and opportunity for our own children , and for future generations , ” Mr. Obama said in his weekly address .\nThe president , who returned to the U.S. on Tuesday night after a weeklong trip to Africa , said America is a “ global defender of peace and freedom , a beacon of hope to people everywhere who cherish those ideals . ”\nMr. Obama and his family celebrated the holiday by hosting a gathering on the South Lawn of the White House for about 1,200 members of the U.S. military and their families , plus some White House staff and their families .\nThe president and first lady Michelle Obama spoke to the crowd before the evening ’ s fireworks show on the Mall . They shook hands and posed with red , white and blue-clad babies for about 10 minutes . Mr. Obama noted that the day was also his daughter Malia ’ s 15th birthday .\n“ You have fought on our nation ’ s behalf to make the world a better , safer place , ” the president told service members in his earlier address . “ People in scattered corners of the world are living in peace today , free to write their own futures , because of you . ”\nReferring to the Founding Fathers , Mr. Obama said their push for independence 237 years ago “ was a bold and tremendously brave thing to do . ”\n“ They fought a revolution . Few would have bet on our side to win . But for the first of many times to come , America proved the doubters wrong , ” Mr. Obama said .\nIn his own Independence Day message , House Speaker John A. Boehner , Ohio Republican , urged citizens to “ remember above all how fortunate we are to call ourselves Americans . ”\n“ The blessings our founders secured have given the common man and woman a chance to govern themselves and provide for their families , ” Mr. Boehner said , though he added that the pursuit of freedom “ has its challenges . ”\n“ It was Jefferson himself who wrote that ‘ the boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave , ’ ” Mr. Boehner said . “ We will rise above this one , if we embrace the line in Scripture that says ‘ whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant. ’ That is the spirit and the vision of 1776 . ” | allsides-corpus-511 |
“ The 360 ” shows you diverse perspectives on the day ’ s top stories .\nPolitics is one of the most contentious subjects in our society . Political polarization and the intensity of opinions have never been more pronounced . This can create a perfect storm of conflict during the holidays , when people with widely different views are brought together in the same place , and family dynamics can raise the temperature in the room .\nMost Americans dread the thought of political discussions during the holidays . A recent poll found politics to be one of the most likely causes of family fights . Things have only gotten worse in recent years as the country has become more polarized . Things could be particularly intense this year , with the impeachment inquiry into President Trump going on throughout the holiday season .\nThese factors lead many families to avoid political talk over the holidays , either as a formal rule or an unspoken guideline . With there being little chance of anyone ’ s minds changing and a high likelihood of hurt feelings , the belief is that it ’ s better to keep the peace and focus on commonalities rather than divisions . Others say that following political news has become such an all-consuming and exhausting endeavor , it ’ s nice to have a break even if the topic won ’ t lead to a fight .\nOn the other hand , there are some who believe politics ought to be discussed at holiday gatherings . Family members or close friends can help put a human face on opposing views at a time when rival political parties are increasingly treated as radical enemies . The holidays also provide a rare opportunity to interact with people from different racial , social and economic groups . Finally , some experts believe it ’ s important for us to understand things that are important to the key people in our lives . If that means providing room for them to discuss political positions they ’ re passionate about , so be it .\nThis holiday season is coming at a uniquely heated time in American politics , but that doesn ’ t mean there ’ s likely to be any relief next year . The 2020 holiday season will take place in the wake of one of the most pivotal elections in U.S. history . The outcome , Trump being reelected or an incoming Democratic president , might be a tough topic to ignore .\nThis year is a particularly bad time to discuss politics\n“ People feel increasingly uncomfortable around their Fox News-loving grandfather or their New York Times-subscribing granddaughter . And research indicates the solution to this is simply to not engage in political debate . Stick to sports or the weather . But do not mention the White House or its current inhabitant. ” — Yaffa Fredrick , CNN\n“ In 2019 , the most quintessential of American holidays is a time to sheathe the words of rancor . And it is a time to recall why Abraham Lincoln turned what was once a sporadic national occasion into a regular event that draws people together to practice the core meaning of the holiday. ” — Editorial , Christian Science Monitor\nWhoever is hosting is allowed to ban politics talk if they choose\n“ I advise everyone to take a holiday from politics on Thanksgiving . As folks arrive and you take their coats , gently tell them partisan talk won ’ t be on the table with the stuffing. ” — Frank Batavick , Baltimore Sun\n“ The most important thing to keep in mind over the holidays is that you ’ re unlikely to change anyone ’ s mind. ” — Madeline Fry , Washington Examiner\nRelationships with family and friends are more important than politics\n“ A woman recently told me that the reason she and her best friend are still best friends — even though she loves Trump and her friend loathes him — is that they have tacitly agreed not to talk about him . … They also believe their friendship is MUCH more important than Donald Trump , even though Donald Trump himself would undoubtedly disagree. ” — Ann Cannon , Salt Lake Tribune\nWe need to be honest with ourselves about whether our families can handle a political debate\n“ Ideally , we would all be able to gather as families and engage in spirited but respectful conversations regarding the news of the day . I don ’ t know any family that actually manages to do this ( including my own ) . ” — Amy Dickinson , NJ.com | allsides-corpus-512 |
That 's a famous line from the 19th century philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson , but it could also apply to a modern American hero : the Rev . Martin Luther King Jr .\nAs the nation celebrates King 's national holiday Monday , it 's easy to freeze-frame him as the benevolent dreamer carved in stone on the Washington Mall . Yet the platitudes that frame many King holiday events often fail to mention the most radical aspects of his legacy , says Jeanne Theoharis , a political science professor at Brooklyn College and author of several books on the civil rights movement .\n`` We turn him into a Thanksgiving parade float , he 's jolly , larger than life and he makes us feel good , '' Theoharis says . `` We 've turned him into a mascot . ''\nMany people vaguely know that King opposed the Vietnam War and talked more about poverty in his later years . But King also had a lot to say about issues not normally associated with civil rights that still resonate today , historians and activists say .\nIf you 're concerned about inequality , health care , climate change or even the nastiness of our political disagreements , then King has plenty to say to you . To see that version of King , though , we have to dust off the cliches and look at him anew .\nIf you 're more familiar with your smartphone than your history , try this : Think of King not just as a civil rights hero , but also as an app -- his legacy has to be updated to remain relevant .\nHere are three ways we can update our MLK app to see how he spoke not only to his time , but to our time as well :\nWhen former Attorney General Eric Holder spoke at a King commemorative event in 2011 , he described King in an unusual way :\nKing , he said , helped `` plant the seeds for what would become our nation 's now-thriving environmental justice movement . ''\nThere 's a connection between what King was saying in the 1950s and '60s and this explosion of ecological thinking that emerged around 1970 , where everyone was saying it 's all about interconnectedness . Drew Dellinger , author and activist , on King 's environmental legacy\nPeople do n't think of King as an ecological activist . He did n't live long enough to see the environmental movement take off . He died just a few months before the Apollo 8 astronauts took the iconic `` Earthrise '' photo over the moon , which is often credited with sparking widespread environmental awareness ..\nBut he still inspires environmental activists because they say he was so eloquent in articulating a core belief of their movement : the interconnected nature of life .\nOne of the most difficult challenges climate change activists face today is convincing political and business leaders to act on behalf of future generations and people in other parts of the world .\nKing , though , offers a great example of how to address this challenge , some say . He constantly talked about the interconnectedness of life .\nIn his `` A Christmas Sermon on Peace '' just five months before his assassination , King delivered one of his most famous quotes :\n`` All life is interrelated . We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality . Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly . We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality . ''\nActivist and author Drew Dellinger says King 's insight is profound .\n`` That 's the essence of ecology , '' says Dellinger , who wrote an essay for Common Ground magazine entitled , `` Martin Luther King Jr. : Ecological Thinker . ''\n`` The first law of ecology is that everything is connected . ''\nOther environmental activists have noticed King as well . In his essay , Dellinger cites Larry L. Rasmussen , author of `` Earth-honoring Faith '' and a professor emeritus of social ethics at Union Theological Seminary , describing King as `` one of the great ecological thinkers of the 20th century . ''\nKing wrote more about nature and the fragility of life on Earth than people realize , says Dellinger . King once warned that `` cities are gasping in polluted air and enduring contaminated water . ''\nDellinger also cites this quote from King : `` It would be foolhardy for me to work for integrated schools or integrated lunch counters and not be concerned about the survival of the world in which to be integrated . ''\nWhen he was pouring through King 's sermons and books , Dellinger says , he discovered constant references to science and nature . He came across notecards written in King 's hand rhapsodizing about `` all this galaxy of wonder '' and `` stars that guide sailors in storms . ''\nSome activists concerned by melting glaciers caused by climate change have found an unlikely source of inspiration in King 's words .\n`` There 's a connection between what King was saying in the 1950s and '60s and this explosion of ecological thinking that emerged around 1970 , where everyone was saying it 's all about interconnectedness , '' Dellinger says .\nGwendolyn Keyes Fleming , a former EPA regional administrator who wrote about King 's environmental legacy , says King also inspired a generation of activists in the 1970s and '80s who fought to remove landfills that had been placed near communities of color .\n`` If you go back to the beginnings of the environmental justice movement , a lot of those folks were active civil rights advocates at the time , '' says Keys , now a partner in the DC law firm of Van Ness Feldman . `` Even Congressman John Lewis said that environmental justice is one of the modern civil rights issues of our time . ''\nNo . 2 : He was a socialist before it was cool\nThere was a time in American politics when calling someone a socialist was a slur . Not anymore , at least for many younger Americans who are developing a distrust of capitalism .\nOne of the most popular politicians in recent times is Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders , a self-described Democratic Socialist who almost captured the Democratic nomination for president . A 2016 Harvard University poll said 51 % of young Americans -- 18- to-29-year-olds -- oppose capitalism . And a poll conducted the next year by YouGov and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation found that most American millennials preferred to live in a socialist country than a capitalist one .\nYoung Americans drawn to Sen. Bernie Sanders ' message would find that King shared a similar economic philosophy .\nThe reasons why some millennials prefer socialism have been documented . Lingering scars from the Great Recession ; staggering student debt ; the greatest economic inequality since before the Great Depression -- all have contributed to an unease about capitalism .\nMany historians describe him as a `` democratic socialist , '' someone who , according to the Democratic Socialists of America , believes the economy should be shaped `` to meet public needs '' and `` not to make profits for a few . ''\nKing called for universal health care and education , a guaranteed annual income and the nationalization of some industries .\nHe was a big supporter of unions , and while there was no Fight for 15 campaign to raise the minimum wage during his time , he once said even menial workers should make enough `` so they can live and educate their children and buy a home and have the basic necessities of life . ''\nWhen King was assassinated in 1968 , he was about lead a multiracial army of poor people into Washington to force the nation 's political leaders to address poverty .\n`` He saw that changing the laws was important but that was not in itself sufficient , '' says Jerald Podair , a history professor at Lawrence University in Wisconsin . `` There had to be some sort of redistribution of economic power . ''\nHow radical was King 's vision ? He spelled out it on many occasions :\n`` It did n't cost the nation a penny to open lunch counters . It did n't cost the nation a penny to give us the right to vote . But it will cost the nation billions to feed and house all of its citizens . The country needs a radical redistribution of wealth . ''\n`` There must be a better distribution of wealth , and maybe America must move toward a democratic socialism . ''\nToday capitalism has outlived its usefulness . It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes . The Rev . Martin Luther King Jr .\nIn 1964 , after traveling to Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize , King said :\n`` In both Norway and Sweden , whose economies are literally dwarfed by the size of our affluence and the extent of our technology , they have no unemployment and no slums . There , men , women and children have long enjoyed free medical care and quality education . This contrast to the limited , halting steps taken by our rich nation deeply troubled me . ''\nEven one of King ' s most utopian visions -- a guaranteed income -- is getting serious discussion today because of fears that automation will erase many jobs . There 's even a new proposal to give every newborn in the US `` Baby Bonds , '' accounts between $ 500 and $ 50,000 that parents could n't touch until their kids turn 18 , as a way to combat inequality .\nThere are those who say King gravitated toward socialism later in his life . But like many Americans today , he saw its possibilities first as a young man .\nIn a letter to his future wife , Coretta Scott , a 20-something King wrote :\n`` I imagine you already know that I am much more socialistic in my economic theory than capitalistic ... So today capitalism has outlived its usefulness . It has brought about a system that takes necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes . ''\nNo . 3 : He never let a political disagreement turn nasty\n`` Reverend Dr . Chickenwing . '' `` A religious Uncle Tom . '' A `` traitor '' and a `` chump . ''\nThat 's how one prominent black leader described King when he was alive .\nThat leader was Malcolm X . While his denunciations of King and other leaders is well known , here 's a remarkable fact : There is virtually no record of King making a personal or petty attack against Malcolm X or any other black leaders who criticized him .\nThis could be an important lesson at a time of bitter political divisions , which are often made worse by social media .\nWe turn him into a Thanksgiving parade float , he 's jolly , larger than life and he makes us feel good . We 've turned him into a mascot . Jeanne Theoharis , author of `` A More Beautiful and Terrible History : The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History ''\nTwo contemporary leaders in the civil rights movement recently got involved in a Twitter feud that turned personal . The clash between Harvard professor Cornel West and award-winning Ta-Nehisi Coates revolved around political philosophy . But it became so heated that Coates ended up deleting his Twitter account .\nKing received a cascade of petty insults from Malcolm X and other black leaders during his time , but King 's faith tempered his response , says Podair , the historian .\n`` He was a Christian minister , and he talked about trying to love segregationists , and if you try to have empathy for your enemies , you can also do that with your rivals in civil rights organizations , '' says Podair , who writes about race in his latest book , `` City of Dreams : Dodger Stadium and the Birth of Modern Los Angeles . ''\nThere was also a pragmatic side to King 's reluctance to get pulled into public feuds . It preserved alliances and kept the door open to new allies -- including Malcolm X .\nAfter Malcolm broke with the Nation of Islam in 1964 , he started reaching out to King and other civil rights leaders . He traveled to Selma , Alabama , in 1965 , where King was leading the march to Montgomery , to offer support . A friend of Malcolm once said the former Nation of Islam leader believed King `` would be the most responsive '' of all civil rights leaders to his efforts to reconcile .\n`` He had come to believe that King believed in what he was doing , '' A. Peter Bailey told CNN in 2010 `` He believed in nonviolence ; it just was n't a show . He developed respect for him . I heard him say you have to give respect to men who put their lives on the line . ''\nWhen King later learned that Malcolm X had come to Selma to support him , he was quoted as saying , `` Hey , that Malcolm is a beautiful brother . ''\n`` He always had a deep affection for Malcolm , '' says Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob , a visiting international scholar in international studies at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania .\n`` Malcolm obviously challenged and did say many unkind words about King 's philosophy of nonviolence , but their disagreements never turned personal or nasty . ''\nThe only time King and Malcolm X came face to face was this impromptu meeting in 1964 .\nKing 's magnanimous nature did n't just help him deal with other black leaders ' insults . It also helped him deal with something people today may find hard to believe : He was persistently unpopular during his lifetime , says Theoharis , the Brooklyn College political science professor and author of `` A More Beautiful and Terrible History : The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History . ''\n`` One of the things that people erase from history is how unpopular and scared of Dr. King most Americans were at the times , '' she says . `` I 'm not just talking about in '67 and '68 , but I 'm talking about in the early '60s . ''\nTheoharis cites King 's most transcendent moment : The 1963 March on Washington and his `` I have a Dream '' speech . Polls showed that most Americans did n't approve of the march , and the following year -- well before the 1965 Voting Rights Act was passed -- a New York Times poll showed that most Americans thought the civil rights movement had gone too far .\nThe US government thought King was so dangerous they treated him like an enemy of the state .\n`` We now see his March on Washington speech as the greatest American speech of the 20th century , '' she says , `` but we 're uncomfortable grappling with the fact that this is the moment that the FBI decided to have wall-to-wall surveillance of Dr . King . ''\nToday we have wall-to-wall celebrations about King . He 's now on par with American titans like Presidents George Washington and Abraham Lincoln . Americans write tributes and sing songs about how much King has changed America .\nBut here 's one more uncomfortable thought that also explains why King remains so relevant :\nThe country is still divided by many of the same issues that consumed him .\nOn the last night of his life , King told a shouting congregation of black churchgoers that `` we as a people '' would get to `` the Promised Land . '' That kind of optimism , though , sounds like it belongs to another era .\nWhat we have now is a leader in the White House who denies widespread reports that he complained about Latino and African immigrants coming to America from `` shithole '' countries ; a white supremacist who murders worshippers in church ; a social media landscape that pulsates with anger and accusations .\nKing 's Promised Land does n't sound boring when compared to today 's headlines . And maybe that 's what 's so sad about reliving his life every January for some people .\nFifty years after he died , King 's vision for America still sounds so far away .\nCorrection : This story has been updated to reflect that Jacob Udo-Udo Jacob is now affiliated with Dickinson College . | allsides-corpus-513 |
Back in January 2016 , the New Yorker published a cover showing America ’ s most famous presidents recoiling in horror at the image of Donald Trump on the TV screen :\nThe cover was widely mocked by liberal commentators — not because of its attack on Trump but for suggesting that the depicted presidents represented a moral standard worthy of our praise and respect .\n`` What is distasteful about Trump is not that he offends old-fashioned American values , '' wrote Mother Jones ’ s Tim Murphy in one typical reaction . `` Trump is distasteful because he taps into certain old-fashioned American values — nativism , brash tough talk , slow-burning authoritarianism ; family dynasties — that have played a not-inconsequential role throughout our history . ''\nThe criticisms extended to several eras of American presidents . But it was also symbolic of the modern left ’ s drift from the legacy of the Revolution in particular , and toward its fundamental break with the traditional heroes of our national pantheon .\nOver the last generation , liberals have become increasingly emboldened in their denunciations of America 's founders , says Yale historian Steven Pincus . The American left stands poised to throw the Revolution overboard , to dismiss the spirit and legacy of 1776 as merely the cause of a racist , sexist , hypocritical aristocracy we should firmly reject .\nThey ’ d be wrong to do so . The modern left may have fallen out of step with our revolutionary heritage . But it should reclaim it : For all its warts , the Revolution really did unleash an egalitarian vision of America that frontally assaulted economic and social inequality . It ’ s a tradition liberals should celebrate and cherish , while expanding and enlarging its scope and ambitions .\nThe American Revolution ushered in a movement that tore down systems of privilege in favor of more egalitarian ways of organizing society .\nThe Revolution ended structures of primogeniture and challenged the idea of a landed gentry . It made popular sovereignty an inviolable promise of American government , at least in principle . It helped ignite popular movements not just in America but across the globe .\nThe definitive version of this interpretation comes from The Radicalism of the American Revolution , a 1991 book by Brown historian Gordon Wood . The Revolution , Wood writes , `` was as radical and as revolutionary as any in history , '' destroying beliefs about the superiority of the wealthy that had stood for centuries :\n[ The Revolution ] brought respectability and even dominance to ordinary people long held in contempt and gave dignity to their menial labor in a manner unprecedented in history and to a degree not equaled elsewhere in the world . The Revolution did not just eliminate monarchy and create republics ; it actually reconstituted what Americans meant by public or state power and brought about an entirely new kind of popular politics . The Revolution did not merely create a political and legal environment conducive to economic expansion ; it also released powerful and popular entrepreneurial and commercial energies that transformed the economic landscape of the country . In short , the Revolution was the most radical and most far-reaching event in American history .\nWood ’ s book produces an exhaustive chronicle of just how massive the Revolution ’ s social and economic changes were — the explosion of popular religion ; the wrenching of a culture from a monarchy to a republic ; the sudden growth of public education for boys and girls .\nThe most prominent figures in the revolutionary story — the politicians we remember — were indeed wealthier and more vested in protecting their economic self-interest than the modern left would like .\nBut the Founding Fathers are just one small part of the Revolution ’ s story . This is what the American left has forgotten most fundamentally about the American Revolution : that its foot soldiers were anything but aristocrats .\n`` I was part of the civil rights movement , and when I look at the early days of the Revolution I see the same thing : a sweeping , widespread , town-by-town popular uprising , '' says Ray Raphael , author of The Spirit of '74 : How the American Revolution Began , about the Massachusetts farmers who began the movement . `` When people say the Revolution is a pile of shit because it was all elites , they ’ re missing this was really a bottom-up revolt . ''\nMore than 90 percent of people in Massachusetts were behind the Revolution , and Raphael notes that the exception was largely gentry tied through patronage or business to the crown . The leaders at the convention were slow converts to the revolutionary cause , spurred on by overwhelming populist sentiment .\n`` It was the most ground-up expression of democracy you could imagine . That ’ s part of the Revolution , '' Raphael says . `` You do n't want to turn your head on that . ''\nWhy the left has rejected this version of the Revolution\nI should acknowledge the strength behind the most basic objection to celebrating the Revolution : Many of the founders were racist , sexist colonizers determined to wipe American Indians from the continent .\nThose charges are true . No one should ever forget that while opposed to slavery as a matter of principle , many of the founders created commercial fortunes by owning other human beings .\nThat part of the founders ’ story has been erased far too frequently throughout our history . And that ’ s why it ’ s understandable that many on the left have overcorrected by saying July 4 , 1776 , must be understood primarily as an affirmation of that part of their world :\n`` Our Founding Fathers fetish is strangling America : The disastrous consequences of our childish hero-worship , '' writes Elias Isquith in Salon .\n`` Forget the Founding Fathers , '' says Barry Gewen in the New York Times Book Review , in a summary of the major academic research . `` The God-given or nature-given rights they claimed for themselves included the right to hold Africans in bondage. ``\n`` The American Revolution was a mistake , '' added ███ ’ s Dylan Matthews in a piece echoing similar themes .\n`` The typical strategy of those on the left now is either to ignore the Founders — on the grounds that they do n't do elite history — or to point out their hypocrisy — Jefferson , Madison and Washington owned slaves , '' writes Pincus , the Yale professor .\nIt ’ s important to denounce the founders for their racism and acquiescence to slavery . That ’ s obviously correct and necessary .\nThe problem is that by applying 21st-century views on race and gender to an 18th-century context , we risk missing the real legacy of the Revolution . The founders were indeed racists by any modern standard . But even within its own time , the Revolution was a force for both racial and economic equality — and can remain the blueprint for those goals more than 240 years later .\nThe spirit of '76 was the greatest force for emancipation until Lincoln\nWhen the Revolution began in 1776 , slavery was legal in every colony . Only Pennsylvania even had an abolition society . Slavery had existed on American soil for two centuries without being substantially challenged by whites .\nThe American Revolution changed that . Pennsylvania ’ s emancipation act of 1780 , the first of its kind , was written by revolutionary leaders and explicitly cited the fight against British rule as its inspiration . Similar Northern emancipation acts followed : in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in 1783 , and then in Connecticut and Rhode Island the next year .\n`` Politicians , preachers , and propagandists unfurled the rhetoric of natural rights , '' Paul J. Polgar , a historian at the College of William & Mary , wrote in a 2011 essay for the Journal of the Early Republic , `` and the immediate post-Revolutionary period witnessed the emergence of abolition societies as far south as Virginia . ''\n`` Slavery was legal in every colony , and the Revolution led directly to the abolition of slavery in the northern United States , '' says Mary Beth Norton , a professor in Cornell ’ s history department , in an email .\nEven the elites in Philadelphia got swept up by this sentiment . The Declaration of Independence , which has so completely conquered the American imagination that it appears bloodless in a modern context , reflected just how powerful those ideas proved .\n`` The philosophy of the Declaration of Rights not only preached revolution , it preached the universal revolution , '' writes Carl Becker in his 1922 book , The Declaration of Independence . `` Declaring that the inalienable rights were the same for all men and the only sure foundation of political institutions , it implied that the institutions proper to one people were so to all people . ''\nDespite the revisionist attempts of Confederate reactionaries , Becker writes , the declaration 's sweeping odes to equality were meant to apply to both white and black Americans .\n`` It taught that beneath all local and temporary diversity , beneath the superficial traits and talents that distinguish men and nations , all men are equal in the possession of a common humanity , '' Becker says .\nEvery major movement for American progress has cloaked itself in the founders ’ rhetoric\nAbraham Lincoln once remarked , `` I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence . ''\nHe ’ s hardly alone . Indeed , nearly every major movement for social , economic , or racial equality in America has cloaked itself in the rhetoric initially established during the revolutionary era . The modern American left that wants to distance itself from the Declaration of Independence is also thus breaking with :\nFrederick Douglass and the early abolitionists , who spoke about their mission as fulfilling the Revolution ’ s promise of racial emancipation . ( `` In justification of their revolt against the established regime , the abolitionists naturally turned to the Declaration of Independence , '' Becker writes . )\n) The Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 — the launch pad of the women ’ s rights movement in America — where Elizabeth Cady Stanton authored the `` Declaration of Sentiments . '' A huge chunk of it is directly lifted from the Declaration of Independence , and the Seneca Falls delegates explicitly talked about their mission as an extension of the Continental Congress .\nEugene V. Debs , the most successful socialist presidential candidate not from Vermont , who also worked within the framework established by the revolutionaries . `` I like the Fourth of July . It breathes the spirit of revolution , '' Debs said .\nMartin Luther King Jr. , whose lavish praise of the American Revolution is even more over the top than mine .\nRevolutionary , egalitarian movements in the 18th , 19th , and 20th centuries in France , Latin America , Haiti , communist Vietnam ( ! ) , and Hungary that have explicitly cited the American Revolution ’ s egalitarian aims as inspiration .\nI could go on , but the pattern here is clear : The path to progress has come not from rejecting the declaration and Revolution — but by broadening its scope to those the founders wrongfully neglected . | allsides-corpus-514 |
Artists going back and forth with their own faith—between the temptations of worldly fame and the shelter , and strictures , of the church—is a persistent motif in American popular music and in black American music above all . In declaring himself born again and renouncing secular music , as he ’ s done in the lead-up to his new album Jesus Is King , Kanye West is reenacting the story of Little Richard , for example , who channeled the sacred ecstasies of the black pulpit into the salacious come-ons of early rock ’ n ’ roll , then enrolled in theological college in the later 1950s , backslid into the wop-bop-a-loo-bop in the 1960s , then became an evangelical minister . And West is also playing out a conflict central to the soul music that he sampled and manipulated to forge the beloved style ( “ the old Kanye ” ) of his first several albums .\nFoundational soul stars such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin made their names first in great gospel groups and choirs , then had to deal with a backlash from faith communities ( and often their families ) when they switched from extolling divine love to exercising earthier passions in much the same vocal styles . Al Green , for one , eventually repented his choice , after an angry lover scalded him with hot grits , and skedaddled his heavenly pipes more or less permanently back to the altar . Others managed to keep a foot in both camps , with Franklin in 1972 recording the bestselling gospel album of all time , Amazing Grace , without resigning her pop career .\nObservers who mostly know West for his ( as Barack Obama once put it ) “ jackass ” public antics and a few of his hits might be more suspicious of his come-to-Jesus moment—which first started to surface with the weekly “ Sunday Service ” gospel-music events he and his spouse , Kim Kardashian West , have been hosting since January , building to more public versions at the Coachella festival and at churches around the country , and finally Jesus Is King , both the album and an Imax short film release under the same name . He ’ s also promised ( or threatened , depending on your point of view ) a sequel record , Jesus Is Born , to come out on Christmas Day . Plenty of wary church traditionalists and cultural secularists alike have called West out for “ fake Christianity , ” a celebrity self-servingly exploiting the black church ’ s forgiving embrace , sans the substance of the faith ’ s community mission . ( Christians , West raps on the album , “ will be the first ones to judge me/ Make it seem like nobody love me. ” ) Now , it ’ s not like gospel hasn ’ t had its own share of big charismatic egos in the past—consider for instance the superstardom of James Cleveland , whose 1979 song “ God Is ” gets sampled on the Jesus Is King track of the same name , and who was Franklin ’ s musical director on Amazing Grace . Not to mention the womanizing reputation of Franklin ’ s own preacher dad . But perhaps it ’ s true West is just trying to get “ uncanceled ” after all his controversial stances on politics and race the past couple of years , which I won ’ t rehash here .\nJesus Is King makes me wonder both what West has to offer praise music and what it has to offer him .\nAnybody who ’ s followed West ’ s twists and torques closely is unlikely to believe it ’ s that simple . For one thing , West ’ s never been prone to cagey dissemblance—massively unfiltered self-expression accounts for at least five out of seven of his deadliest sins . For another , religion has always been a subtheme in his music , from his name-making 2004 hit “ Jesus Walks ” —which was groundbreaking at the time for rendering it not so uncool to mention God in a rap song—through the visions of supernatural grandeur ( “ I Am a God ” ) he exhibited amid the arresting sonics of Yeezus , to the gospel sounds and references on 2016 ’ s The Life of Pablo . There , West welcomed worship-music star Kirk Franklin and the avidly churchgoing Chance the Rapper as guests and , in essence , chanted along with St. Augustine , “ God make me good—just not yet. ” With Jesus Is King , it seems that “ yet ” has come . A year ago , West was putting out one of the crassest sex raps of his career in “ I Love It ” with Lil Pump . Now he ’ s admonishing his studio collaborators not to curse or have “ premarital sex. ” That story stirs memories of another perverse-turned-pious music legend , Prince , who later in life made musicians and friends pay fines to his “ swear jar ” for the same language that once made his own songs the object of scandalized congressional hearings .\nStill , it ’ s the speed and starkness of West ’ s turnabout that ’ s somewhat concerning . Interrogating his sincerity at this stage seems like a cul-de-sac , but Jesus Is King does make me wonder both what West has to offer praise music and what it has to offer him . Given the revelations last year about his hospitalization and diagnosis with bipolar disorder and his resistance to following medical prescriptions , as well as all the allusions to self-harm on last year ’ s half-finished-feeling album , Ye , not to mention the continuing erraticness of his public statements and inability to get his albums out on time if he gets them out at all , it ’ s difficult not to feel like West finding God at this juncture represents someone being corkscrewed around in an internal hurricane desperately lashing himself to the nearest rock .\nGet ███ Culture in Your Inbox The best of movies , TV , books , music , and more , delivered three times a week . We encountered an issue signing you up . Please try again . Please enable javascript to use form . Email address : Send me updates about ███ special offers . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms Sign Up Thanks for signing up ! You can manage your newsletter subscriptions at any time .\nThe musical productions are often enticing and enveloping in the manner ( if not always to the standard ) of West ’ s best .\nBut isn ’ t that exactly one of the services religion proposes to offer ? When I told an evangelical Christian acquaintance this weekend that I worried whether West was , so to speak , fit to consent to his own conversion , my friend gently replied that the faithful don ’ t believe it works that way—it ’ s God who bestows the revelation , not the convert who rationally selects it . Paul didn ’ t fill out any paperwork to request that intervention en route to Damascus . My friend went on to say that in his circles , lots of people are quite hyped about the hip-hop star joining the righteous path . Which makes sense if you are convinced that everybody needs to be saved—perhaps above all , as West says on the album ’ s second track , quoting from the most famous of gospel hymns , a “ wretch ” like him .\nOn the other hand , personally I don ’ t believe any of that , and it doesn ’ t entirely reassure me about whether musically immersing in and culturally debating West ’ s conversion aren ’ t deriving entertainment from somebody ’ s ongoing public breakdown . But I also don ’ t believe that people with mental health issues—which to varying degrees describes a high percentage of the populace , myself not excluded—aren ’ t entitled to both self-expression and agency over their own life choices . So is it right even to raise such hesitations ? I ’ m not at all sure . But it ’ s hard to avoid while listening to Jesus Is King , where the musical productions are often enticing and enveloping in the manner ( if not always to the standard ) of West ’ s best , while the lyrics—when not directly drawn from Scripture , which supplies some reliable biblical-language zing—seem more leaden and witless than ever before .\nThe line that got the most traction on Twitter and other platforms over the weekend was “ Closed on Sunday/ You my Chick-fil-A , ” which uses the chicken sandwich chain ’ s policy of keeping the Sabbath holy to advocate for the same in family life . ( The “ you ” here seems to be Kardashian West , who hasn ’ t always seemed to be in lockstep with every tenet of West ’ s new lifestyle . ) One snag here is that the song blithely bypasses Chick-fil-A ’ s long-standing association with anti-gay groups ; another is that it ’ s awfully thin stock for fans to be making such gravy of . But the way the half-sung words are overlaid on an exquisite Spanish guitar and cooed vocal sample from vintage Buenos Aires artist Chango Farias Gómez and the Grupo Vocal Argentino makes it more palatable than any track on which a man excoriates “ jezebels ” really has any right to be .\nThe album begins with a track on which West doesn ’ t appear at all vocally , “ Every Hour , ” which on first impression is a straight praise hymn being sung by the Sunday Service choir , directed by Los Angeles gospel and music business stalwart Jason White . White ’ s ensemble is also known as the Samples , which is particularly apt here , because the choir ’ s singing is manipulated in the production , sped up and sometimes seemingly phased out of synch with the accompaniment , to slightly dizzy and frantic effect . That prelude gives way to “ Selah , ” which opens with somber organ chords while West raps in his most breathlessly urgent mode about the general misbehavior ( “ keep perfect composure/ while I scream at the chauffeur ” ) and , to him , maltreatment that led to his spiritual crisis : He tells the “ woke ” that they should “ wake up ” and “ kiss and make up ” with him as a perceived “ Judas. ” As if they wouldn ’ t have already been awakened by the accumulation of floor-shaking drum blasts and the choir ’ s crescendoing hallelujahs .\nThat ’ s followed by one of my two or three favorite tracks , “ Follow God , ” which uses a 1970s gospel sample ( referencing the same “ father stretch my hands ” Scripture that structured two tracks on Life of Pablo ) as the backdrop to a rapid-fire account of a fight West had with his often-absent father over whether he was really being “ Christ-like ” in how he ’ s living out his new faith , climaxing comically , “ He starts spazzin ’ on me/ I start spazzin ’ back/ He said , ‘ That ain ’ t Christ-like , ’ / I said , Ayaaaa ! ” The song has more typical Kanye-level energy than much of the album , but it also feels more true-to-life and less defensive than most of the album ’ s lyrics , just reporting about how starting out on a new path can be tense and tentative . It serves better than most of the lyrics to account for the verbal simplicity of much of Jesus Is King , in that as a newborn in the faith , it ’ s not as though West has much well-considered theological wisdom to dispense , unlike a lot of gospel music written or guided by experienced preachers . The narrative gets somewhat more sophisticated on “ Use This Gospel , ” another highlight ( and one of the remakes of tracks from last year ’ s scrapped-but-leaked Yandhi album ) , via the much-heralded reunion of the brothers of Clipse—West ’ s frequent collaborator Pusha T and his long-absent partner No Malice , who was called just Malice until he underwent his own conversion around the turn of the decade . No Malice , with a couple of Christian rap albums already under his belt , begins his verse , “ A lot of damaged souls , I done damaged those , ” taking a kind of personal ownership of the scales of sin and redemption that West never quite achieves . I am less enamored with the Kenny G sax solo that caps the track ( as Richard Thompson once sang , “ I agree with Pat Metheny/ Kenny ’ s talents are too teeny ” ) , but I appreciate the cosmic absurdity of its existence .\nFor his part , though , West has only the wide-eyed , unsteady-on-his-feet drive of the fresh would-be zealot . If he falls back on old habits , such as narcissistic self-aggrandizement or being a millionaire whining about having to pay taxes ( see “ On God ” ) , that ’ s only human . But he can aspire to better . And he can evoke that aspiration via the illuminated-crystal sonic effects that he consistently pursues here , whether through the arpeggiated synths of “ On God , ” or the horns of the compact closing title track ( partly drawn from 1970s Quebecois prog rocker Claude Léveillée ) , or most of all the spine-tingling layered voices , variously from Ty Dolla Sign ( “ Everything We Need ” ) , Ant Clemons ( “ Water ” and elsewhere ) , gospel star Fred Hammond ( “ Hands On , ” which drags ) , the James Cleveland choir sample ( “ God Is ” ) , and the Sunday Service voices .\nHis main error , I think , is in not relying even more extensively on the choir and developing Jesus Is King into more of a complete gospel album , at the expense of being quite as much of a true Kanye record . Only a few tracks here even break the three-minute mark , and even then West often seems to be scraping the barrel for lyric ideas ( viz . the “ Eve made apple juice ” bit on “ Everything We Need ” ) . Perhaps it was the urge to get in and out fast , leaning on the element of surprise , but West ’ s best work is almost always more extended , trafficking in themes and variations , in diptychs and triptychs . Ultimately , I feel as though I took more gospel feeling away from Life of Pablo , despite its many profane passages . While what ’ s left out of Jesus Is King , in terms of vice and self-indulgence , arguably counts as much as what is there , it suffers by using the Sunday Service choir mostly like a special effect rather than highlighting the individual voices within it across tracks , to lend it the texture and dynamics one hears in a really great gospel ensemble—for an example , you need stray no further than comparing “ Every Hour ” to what you hear from Cleveland ’ s people on “ God Is. ” What ’ s more , putting a spotlight on the choir ensemble would have been more a proof of humility from West than anything he can proclaim verbally .\nThe film is almost comically modest for an artist who ’ s worked in the medium of his own ego as much as he has in music and fashion .\nIntriguingly , that is exactly what happens in Jesus Is King the movie . It takes nearly half its half-hour run before viewers ever see West ’ s face . For the first long while , there ’ s mostly the choir with White within the pastel-lit , keyhole-shaped caverns of artist James Turrell ’ s Roden Crater installation in the Arizona desert . Finally , after about 15 minutes , West joins the singers in rearview and silhouette , bobbing his head to the rhythm . Many minutes later , the choir completes a vigorous round of “ Selah ” hallelujahs , trades embraces , and disperses . Then we find West sweeping the space up with a broom—genuinely putting himself in service—warbling “ Street Lights ” to himself ( from 2008 ’ s 808s & Heartbreak ) . That clip transitions to West singing in a trio with a piano and organ player . Then again to him crooning to his infant son , Psalm , cradled to his naked chest . Cut to credits .\nThe film is almost comically modest for an artist who ’ s worked in the medium of his own ego as much as he has in music and fashion . It ’ s almost a manifesto of anti-narcissism . It ’ s also totally lush and gorgeous . There ’ s an especially striking extended sequence in which the fish-eye lens is staring up at White from below as he conducts the choir , which is off-camera but richly heard . In the next number , the camera zeroes in on one singer ’ s expressive features , not as she sings a solo but as she simply proceeds on through her harmony part . Between the two clips , there ’ s so much conveyed about both the individualism and the collectivity of the tradition , of gospel almost as a verb . The film isn ’ t as complex a text as the album ( in fact , it barely includes any of those songs ) , yet within the throughline of West ’ s creative career , it feels somehow more complete and satisfying . It ’ s a lesson to remember if his identity as a Christian artist is going to be one he sustains . On the other hand , the smart money might remember the many life cycles of Little Richard , and refrain for now from taking that bet . | allsides-corpus-515 |
“ Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules . ”\nOn Tuesday , it seemed like the whole country was up in arms over a publicity photograph featuring comedienne ( using that term quite loosely ) Kathy Griffin holding a facsimile of the bloody , severed head of President Donald Trump . It was an image loaded with lots of symbolism , but the most obvious , and perhaps the most actionable , message was the primal , irrational , bloodthirsty hatred of Trump and the America he represents on the part of the Hollywood and East Coast elite Griffin has made a career of trying to suck up to .\nThe reaction to the photo on the Right was precisely as one might expect it to be — sheer outrage and righteous indignation . That people far less famous than Griffin had used social media to display the same type of low-rent blood-porn images featuring Trump ’ s predecessor Barack Obama on behalf of the Right didn ’ t register with a lot of the currently aggrieved ; for others among the conservative side the previous transgressors are less a concern than those subjected to campaigns of hate among the Left for offenses much less obviously based in bad will .\nMozilla founder Brendan Eich , for example , who was ousted from his job atop the company he started because he gave a check to the National Organization for Marriage . Or Aaron and Melissa Klein , the Christian bakers who had their lives and business destroyed by a mob of leftists for the sin of expressing religious objections over catering to a gay wedding . Or the owners of Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby , whose businesses were put under attack for openly running their privately held companies according to their Christian faith . Or , for that matter , Sean Hannity , who has been subjected to a Media Matters-led bullying campaign aimed at driving his advertisers away because he pursued a questionable-but-not-entirely-disproven theory surrounding the suspicious death of Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich last year .\nThose examples are but a drop in the ocean of ordinary , and sometimes prominent , Americans who over the past several years have found themselves targeted by an army of leftist trolls , often online but sometimes in person , seeking to destroy their professional and personal lives over ideological disagreements . On college campuses it ’ s now fashionable for the trolls to “ de-platform ” conservative speakers — yes , Ann Coulter and Milo Yiannopoulos often engage in some of the same attention-grabbing rudeness as Griffin has made a career of , but if the argument is that it ’ s their provocative speech which justifies violent mobs in Berkeley aimed at shutting them down , then what ’ s the excuse for rioting at Middlebury when social scientist Charles Murray is scheduled to speak ? And no one in a position of responsibility on the Left has said a word .\nThings are so bad that the utterly corrupt , thoroughly gormless , and laughably inarticulate congresswoman from the Los Angeles slums Maxine Waters is now being feted as the voice of The Resistance in many of the Left ’ s fever swamps . While this might indicate a definitive need for a Human Resources Department within that movement , it ’ s also evidence that while the Left has taken much joy in the application of Alinsky ’ s Rule # 4 quoted above it has abandoned any pretense of maintaining its own standards .\nWho ’ s the next political superstar for The Resistance ? Is it Hank Johnson , who worries that a few thousand Marines stationed on Guam might tip the island over ?\nIt isn ’ t like there is a responsible party to pull that side out of its current collective psychosis . Hillary Clinton , whose re-emergence on the political scene has been a spectacle reminiscent of Humphrey Bogart ’ s Captain Queeg muttering about strawberries and disloyal crewmen in front of a naval tribunal in The Caine Mutiny , is a poor candidate for the role . So is the obnoxious fraud Elizabeth Warren , whose rude demagoguery and flouting of Senate rules was rightly dealt with by the adults in the room only to confer upon her some sort of cult status among the perpetually aggrieved . Ditto Rachel Maddow , the wannabe-transgendered purveyor of rumors and hoaxes who has spent the better part of this year spinning cockamamie theories of Trump/Russia conspiracies with none of the backlash the Media Matters astroturfers brought to Hannity ’ s door for a far less debunked theory about Rich ’ s death and purported relationship with WikiLeaks .\nWe won ’ t mention any men among the potential candidates for responsibility on the Left — it seems the Left ran out of men when Fidel Castro finally dropped dead .\nThe Right sees these things , and notes that Rule # 4 is a one-way street . Time was that having standards one may not always live up to was a far more rewarding and virtuous way of life than the alternative , but after decades of ever-coarsening civic society and a culture increasingly driven by the Kathy Griffins of the world , where ESPN becomes less known for college football on Saturday nights than transvestites catching awards for “ courage ” and gay sexual relationships are commonplace plot devices in animated movies for children , many are rethinking those assumptions .\nWhy pursue virtue in a world where virtue is ridiculed and persecuted ? Why not , rather than be victimized by Alinsky ’ s Rule # 4 , flip the table and live the inverse ? Why not live down to the enemy ’ s standards ?\nFor some on the Right , there is double pleasure in this — because after being insulted , calumnied and dropped in a Basket of Deplorables by the Left despite attempting to be one of the Good Guys , there is an element of getting one ’ s money ’ s worth . Kurt Schlichter put this very well earlier in the week…\nWe don ’ t like the new rules — I ’ d sure prefer a society where no one was getting attacked , having walked through the ruins of a country that took that path — but we normals didn ’ t choose the new rules . The left did . It gave us Ferguson , Middlebury College , Berkeley , and “ Punch a Nazi ” — which , conveniently for the left , translates as “ punch normals. ” And many of us have had personal experiences with this New Hate — jobs lost , hassles , and worse . Some scumbags at an anti-Trump rally attacked my friend and horribly injured his dog . His freaking dog .\nSo when Montana Republican congressional candidate Greg Gianforte , who by most accounts to date looks like someone we on the Right ought to be embarrassed by , responded to a little bit of aggressive questioning by an obnoxious UK Guardian reporter by throttling him , the reaction was little more than a yawn — and a congratulatory note on his victory by a comfortable margin a couple of days later . Gianforte might be a sonofabitch , but he ’ s our sonofabitch . And right now , that is enough .\nThere is a palpable sense on the Right , particularly after Trump ’ s election and his survival amid an onslaught of rumors , leaks , hyperbolic idiocies about impeachment , made-up scandals involving scoops of ice cream and “ shovings ” of minor European potentates and other dirty tricks , that playing nice with Democrats and other leftists is a fruitless endeavor . That the other side has asked for it , during the eight years of Obama and particularly since last November , and they ’ re going to get it — good and hard . As Schlichter notes , this is not a good development . It ’ s a sign of cultural and political decline . But while the Right might be responsible for what happens in the future , it ’ s the Left who ’ s responsible for the present .\nIt ’ s far too much to ask that anyone on the Left recognize the Pandora ’ s box which is opening thanks to the constant name-calling , intimidation , and violence they ’ ve indulged in . But it was somewhat encouraging that after Griffin ’ s outrage Chelsea Clinton , whose pronouncements on society have to date been entirely without merit , blasted her on Twitter . That came just before Griffin appeared in a tearful video apologizing for having “ gone too far ” ( which convinced practically no one ) . CNN then gave her the heave-ho after having employed her for its New Year ’ s Eve broadcast . It seems that perhaps she might be made a sacrifice of . That would hardly be enough , but it ’ s a start .\nMaybe Griffin is to be commended to a small extent in that her idiotic performance art was enough to unite the Right and a sizable chunk of the Left in disgust . But with that commendation ought to come a command — namely , that if she ’ s serious about that apology of hers she ought to just retire from show business .\nIt ’ s not like anybody will miss her talents . Whatever those might be . | allsides-corpus-516 |
NEW YORK ( ███ ) - Twenty-First Century Fox Inc has parted ways with star cable news host Bill O ’ Reilly following allegations of sexual harassment , the company said on Wednesday .\n“ After a thorough and careful review of the allegations , the company and Bill O ’ Reilly have agreed that Bill O ’ Reilly will not be returning to the Fox News Channel , ” the conservative network ’ s parent said in a statement .\nThe decision , coming after advertisers had begun to flee his show , ends a more than 20-year career at Fox News for O ’ Reilly , a best-selling author as well as one of the most popular commentators on U.S. television .\nIn an internal memo to Fox News employees seen by ███ , Rupert Murdoch called O ’ Reilly “ one of the most accomplished TV personalities in the history of cable news . ”\nMurdoch , who is executive chairman of Twenty-First Century Fox , also wrote the company is committed to “ fostering a work environment built on the values of trust and respect . ”\nO ’ Reilly , who has been off the air on vacation since April 11 , said in a written statement he was proud of the “ unprecedented success ” at Fox .\n“ It is tremendously disheartening that we part ways due to completely unfounded claims . But that is the unfortunate reality many of us in the public eye must live with today , ” O ’ Reilly said in the statement , which was emailed by crisis communications expert Mark Fabiani .\nO ’ Reilly will be replaced in his prime-time lineup by Fox host Tucker Carlson . Carlson ’ s show had been moved earlier this year to replace “ The Kelly File ” with Megyn Kelly , another Fox News star who left for NBC in January .\nThe New York Times reported on April 1 that Fox and O ’ Reilly paid five women a total of $ 13 million to settle harassment claims . The five women who received settlements either worked for O ’ Reilly or appeared as guests on his program , according to the New York Times story .\nFox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly on the set of his show `` The O'Reilly Factor '' . ███/Brendan McDermid\nO ’ Reilly said in a statement at the time that he had settled only to spare his children from the controversy .\nO ’ Reilly ’ s show , “ The O ’ Reilly Factor , ” is the top-rated show on Fox News . According to ad-tracking firm Kantar Media , it brought in $ 147.13 million in advertising revenue in 2016 . By comparison , Twenty-First Century Fox ’ s last fiscal year , which ended June 30 , 2016 , brought in a total of $ 7.65 billion in advertising revenue .\n“ The O ’ Reilly Factor ” has been the most watched program on Fox News and was coming off the highest-rated first quarter in its history , averaging 4 million viewers , according to Nielsen .\nBut after the New York Times report , advertisers including BMW of North America , Allstate Corp , French pharmaceuticals maker Sanofi SA and T. Rowe Price , pulled their advertising from O ’ Reilly ’ s show .\nO ’ Reilly ’ s exit , which was first reported by New York magazine , follows that of former Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes , who was forced to resign in July after being accused of sexual misconduct by a number of women , including former anchor Gretchen Carlson .\nKelly was also one of the accusers and detailed Ailes ’ behavior in her best-selling book , “ Settle for More. ” Ailes has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing ..\nTwenty-First Century Fox had tapped the law firm Paul , Weiss Rifkind , Wharton & Garrison , which also looked into the allegations against Ailes , to investigate O ’ Reilly ’ s conduct .\nInvestors seemed to take the news in stride . Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox ended Wednesday ’ s trading on the Nasdaq down less than 1 percent at $ 30.39 and analysts said the network ’ s viewers would likely remain loyal .\nO ’ Reilly ’ s departure will not affect Twenty-First Century Fox ’ s overall profitability , said Brian Wieser , an analyst at Pivotal Research .\n“ They could literally go dark during the time his program airs and they would still be profitable , ” said Wieser .\nA bigger issue for investors is what the Murdochs will do to prevent the company being in the headlines again just a few months from now , Wieser said . “ That ’ s bigger than O ’ Reilly , ” he said . “ The cultural issue is a big issue . ” | allsides-corpus-517 |
On Thursday evening , at one of his ego-nourishing rallies , President Donald Trump took aim at Parasite , Bong Joon-ho ’ s South Korean satire that made history as the first foreign film to win the Best Picture Oscar .\n“ By the way , how bad were the Academy Awards this year ? You see ‘ em ? And the winner is…a movie from South Korea . What the hell is that about ? ” bellowed a rather clammy Trump . “ Was it good ? I don ’ t know . I ’ m looking for like , let ’ s get Gone with the Wind . Can we get Gone with the Wind back , please ? Sunset Boulevard , so many great movies . ”\nLet ’ s first address the dog-whistle inclusion of Gone with the Wind . There isn ’ t a snowball ’ s chance in hell that Trump , who has the attention span of a meerkat on high-grade cocaine , has sat through Victor Fleming ’ s four-hour-long Civil War epic . What he may be aware of , however , is how the 1939 film—winner of 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture , and the highest-grossing movie ever when adjusted for inflation—is a neo-Confederate monument ; one that romanticizes slavery and the antebellum South , and envisions its wealthy white protagonists as hallowed victims swallowed up by the chaos of Reconstruction . Hattie McDaniel ’ s Mammy , the head slave of the film ’ s sprawling southern plantation , comes from a long line of racist ( and likely mythical ) stereotypes of “ mammy ” house slaves ( selfless , grandmotherly ) dating back to Uncle Tom ’ s Cabin that were used by Confederate apologists to soften and even attempt to legitimize the unequivocally racist and dehumanizing institution .\nMcDaniel , who eventually became the first Black Oscar winner for her performance , was barred from the film ’ s Atlanta premiere due to segregation , and was seated not with the Gone with the Wind cast and crew but at a small table in the back of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub at the 1940 Academy Awards ceremony ( producer David O. Selznick had to lobby the venue to get her in the building ) . Her dying wish , to be buried in Hollywood Cemetery , was also denied because of its whites-only policy .\nIs this the Hollywood that Trump wants to return to ?\nAlso…Sunset Boulevard ? The film , for the record , didn ’ t win Best Picture , losing to All About Eve , but more than that , are we to really believe that Trump , a sexist monster who publicly mocked Kim Novak ’ s appearance at the 2014 Oscars , empathized with the plight of an aging silent-film actress ? ( Norma Desmond ’ s delusions of grandeur , maybe . )\nThere ’ s a long , strange history of U.S. presidents screening films in the White House . The first , regrettably , was D.W. Griffith ’ s racist celebration of the Ku Klux Klan , The Birth of a Nation , viewed by Woodrow Wilson in the East Room on Feb. 18 , 1915 . Bill Clinton ’ s inaugural screening was Lorenzo ’ s Oil , a crowdsourced pick if there ever was one . Trump ’ s was Finding Dory , whose message of inclusion appeared to be lost on Trump , according to the film ’ s star Ellen DeGeneres .\nOver the past century , presidents have also been queried on their favorite films . Lyndon B. Johnson would watch a 10-minute short about himself , narrated by Gregory Peck , over and over again in the White House , while Ronald Reagan , a former Hollywood actor , would suffer through his own mediocre oeuvre on his birthday each year . Gerald Ford ’ s favorite movie , funnily enough , was said to be Home Alone ( Trump would later make a cameo in its sequel ) . Years ago , when a Twitter user asked Trump to name his favorite films , the then-reality-TV host cited Citizen Kane , Gone with the Wind , and The Good , The Bad and the Ugly . Yet when it comes to Orson Welles ’ magnum opus , chronicling the rise and fall of a power-hungry media tycoon , he ’ s made it resoundingly clear that he has no grasp on the film ’ s central message .\n“ When asked for the one piece of advice he ’ d give Charles Foster Kane , [ Trump ] offered : “ Get yourself a different woman . ” ”\nAs part of the 2002 Oscars , famed documentarian Errol Morris was given the unenviable task of filming influential pop-culture figures discussing their favorite movies . Trump picked Citizen Kane , and , when asked for the one piece of advice he ’ d give Charles Foster Kane , offered : “ Get yourself a different woman . ”\nMorris opened up to The Ringer about the surrealness of that moment . “ So he starts to tell me about Charles Foster Kane , who he identifies with . And what was Charles Foster Kane ’ s real problem ? Was his problem that he was a megalomaniac ? Not so much . Was his problem that he treated people around him miserably ? Nah ! What was his problem ? According to Donald Trump , his problem was the woman he married . ”\nHe later added of the encounter , “ It ’ s obvious : this person is insane . ”\nThough Citizen Kane and Gone with the Wind are fashionable picks , Trump ’ s real favorite movie is rumored to be Bloodsport , the 1988 martial-arts flick starring the Muscles from Brussels , Jean-Claude Van Damme . Writer Mark Singer was the first to document Trump ’ s fixation with Bloodsport in a 1997 profile for The New Yorker .\nWhilst flying around in Trump ’ s tacky , gold-plated private jet , Singer recalled , “ We hadn ’ t been airborne long when Trump decided to watch a movie . He ’ d brought along Michael , a recent release , but twenty minutes after popping it into the VCR he got bored and switched to an old favorite , a Jean Claude Van Damme slugfest called Bloodsport , which he pronounced ‘ an incredible , fantastic movie . ’ ”\nThe bankrupted real-estate mogul ’ s attention span was so low that , according to Singer , Trump would make his then-teenage son , Donald Trump Jr. , fast-forward to all the fight scenes : “ By assigning to his son the task of fast-forwarding through all the plot exposition—Trump ’ s goal being ‘ to get this two-hour movie down to forty-five minutes ’ —he eliminated any lulls between the nose hammering , kidney tenderizing , and shin whacking. ” ( That 19-year-old Don Jr. served as Trump ’ s private jet remote-control servant explains so very much . )\nTrump ’ s questionable taste in movies and culture-war carnival-barking notwithstanding , what we can be certain of is that he is truly , madly , deeply obsessed with the Academy Awards . He live-tweeted the Oscars in 2013 and 2014 , would regularly call in to Fox & Friends to deliver Monday-morning recaps of the show , and has repeatedly lobbied to host the ceremony on Twitter , Instagram , Facebook , and Vine ( RIP ) .\nOccasionally , similar to his Parasite ramblings , he ’ s injected a dose of xenophobia into his commentary . At the 2015 Oscars , which saw Birdman win Best Picture and Alejandro G. Inarritu ( who is Mexican ) take home Best Director , Trump made the following complaint : “ The Oscars were a great night for Mexico & why not—they are ripping off the US more than almost any other nation . ”\nFour months later he ’ d announce his presidential run with an even more racist rant against Mexicans .\nIt ’ s easy to see why Trump wouldn ’ t enjoy Parasite . In addition to his fondness for North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un , whose cult of personality is lampooned in the film , it is a class-warfare comedy about a poor , basement-dwelling family targeting—and exposing the ignorance of—those in gilded cages not unlike the one Trump ’ s lived in for the better part of his adult life . Plus , as the film ’ s distributor Neon pointed out , the film is accompanied by subtitles and Trump is said to have an aversion to reading :\nGiven Trump ’ s apparent love of movies , numerous film cameos—including a Worst Supporting Actor Razzie nod for his pouty turn in a movie about a woman sexing a ghost—and burning passion for the Oscars , an event he begged to host in the three years prior to his White House run , it seems Trump ’ s anger primarily stems not from the Academy ’ s choice of winner but his exclusion from this glamorous soiree , and the Hollywood limelight .\nErrol Morris summed it up best : “ There are certain people that I think suffer—I wanted to have this in some psychiatric dictionary—from ‘ irony deficit disorder ’ : the absolute inability to see irony when it ’ s really stuck right in front of your face . Donald Trump suffers from irony deficit disorder . ” | allsides-corpus-518 |
Alex , let 's go with the category , `` Things that I Already Knew '' for $ 1,000 .\nIf news headlines about Hollywood were an episode of Jeopardy , the categories might be :\nAnyone who does n't know that Hollywood has been the epicenter of filth , perversion , sex , drugs , and other reprehensible behavior has been living in a cave in Afghanistan . Scratch that . The Taliban gave that as one of their reasons for attacking us . So even cave dwellers in Afghanistan are n't immune to the disease Hollywood has spread .\nCan you blame them for their opinion ? If my only exposure to the United States came from what spews from Hollywood , I would hate us , too . Unlike the Taliban , I do n't find it necessary to kill everyone living where the problem emanates . The situation reminds me of an old Star Trek episode where an alien culture completely mimics a book they read about gangsters from the 1920 's . Unlike the aliens in Star Trek , the Taliban wishes to eradicate the outside influence in barbaric ways . As Americans , I hope we can be like Captain Kirk and show that there is a better way than to model ourselves after such a corrupt influence . There are some of us here who hate Hollywood , too , but believe there are better ways to shut them down than by declaring Jihad on their home country .\nThe feigned shock that Harvey Weinstein allegedly had his way with multiple starlets is laughable . Charlie Sheen 's alleged pedophilia should come as no more of a shock than that water is wet and fire is hot .\n`` By their fruits ye shall know them . '' The fruit of Hollywood is rotten to the core .\nCan anyone name a hit TV series currently running where there is n't swearing , sexual innuendo , a gay character , sex out of wedlock , or any other number of situations that would n't have been acceptable thirty years ago ? The only one I can think of is `` The Curse of Oak Island , '' but I do n't know how big of a hit it is . `` Duck Dynasty '' also came to mind , but it 's now in reruns . There are some home improvement shows and some reality TV shows that are close , but even many of those contain too many bleeps .\nHere are some other shortlists , rarely seen among the Hollywood elite :\n1 . Happily married Hollywood couples who are still married and have only been married once\n2 . Major studio film or television shows that were n't offensive to people of faith\n3 . Hollywood men under 50 who served in the military\n5 . Sitcoms where men are n't portrayed as effeminate , slobs , predatory , or stupid\n6 . Films or television shows where chastity and virtue are promoted\n7 . Films or television programming where Jews and Christians are n't stereotyped as odd or are lampooned\nFor decades , Hollywood has spurned traditional values , mocked Judeo/Christian ethics , embraced statist views , promoted and produced sexual perversion , pushed the envelope to new extremes on filth and debauchery ... and all of a sudden everyone is shocked that it is ostensibly full of perverts and pedophiles ?\nLike the NFL , I have n't watched a Hollywood awards show for years . I do n't care about whose dress somebody wore on the red carpet . I do n't care about what some smug actress has to say about politics or what the host blathers on about . These people live in a bubble that needs to be popped . Unfortunately , too many people give them their money , and Hollywood continues to fester like a bad infection . They hit new lows which were unthinkable even a dozen years ago .\nIn a previous piece , I state that the NFL is just another dirty diaper in the landfill that has become the entertainment industry . That landfill is in Hollywood . It 's full . The dirty diapers are being exported to televisions and movie screens near you to be consumed by the primary audience of Hollywood trash , our children .\nThink about this : Miley Cyrus moved to Hollywood when she was 13 and worked for Disney . If they did that to her then , imagine what they have in store for your kids . | allsides-corpus-519 |
LOS ANGELES/SHANGHAI ( ███ ) - The creators of satirical animated series “ South Park ” issued a mocking “ apology ” to China after media reports that episodes of the show were no longer available on some Chinese websites .\nThe “ Band in China ” episode released on Oct. 2 critiqued China ’ s policies on free speech as well as the efforts of Hollywood to shape its movie and television content in recent years to avoid angering censors in the vast Chinese market .\n“ Like the NBA , we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts . We too love money more than freedom , ” Trey Parker and Matt Stone , the creators of the irreverent Comedy Central show , wrote in a Twitter post titled “ Official apology to China . ”\n“ Long live the Great Communist Party of China ! May this autumn ’ s sorghum harvest be bountiful ! We good now China ? , ” Parker and Stone added .\nA ███ search online showed that iQiyi and Youku Tudou , two Chinese video streaming sites , both listed episodes of South Park available to view , but the actual episodes did not play when requested .\nSearching for the show ’ s name on Baidu Tieba , a popular online forum , and on Douban , a popular movie ratings site , did not yield any results .\nSpokespersons for Youku Tudou , iQiyi and Baidu did not immediately respond to requests for comment .\nThe Cyberspace Administration of China , which oversees internet governance , did not immediately respond to a request for comment .\nThe South Park statement followed an uproar in China and the United States over a weekend tweet , which was quickly withdrawn , by the general manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team that backed democracy protests in Hong Kong .\nThe National Basketball Association ( NBA ) has built a large following and burgeoning business in China .\nThe long-running “ South Park ” series is one of cable channel Comedy Central ’ s biggest and most controversial hits , built around the misadventures of four foul-mouthed fourth graders .\nThe episode at the center of the latest dispute saw character Randy Marsh being arrested after trying to smuggle marijuana into China .\nIn jail , he meets two Chinese prisoners called Winnie the Pooh and Piglet , and is subjected to slave labor and re-education .\nChina has in the past proved sensitive about the British children ’ s characters because Pooh is sometimes used as a nickname on social media for Chinese President Xi Jinping . | allsides-corpus-520 |
Marijuana is still a touchy social subject loaded up with decades of baggage . States take the lead on pot\nAmericans are growing more hip to legalizing marijuana . In fact , a House bill to do just that is one of the most viewed proposals on Congress ’ s official legislative tracking site .\nBut the overwhelming feeling on Capitol Hill is to leave the issue to the states . Both Democrats open to the pot experiment and libertarian-leaning Republicans are flying the states ’ rights banner as Colorado and Washington state implement their groundbreaking new marijuana legalization laws .\nMarijuana remains a touchy social subject , loaded up with decades of baggage , from Woodstock to Nancy Reagan ’ s “ Just Say No ” campaign . Still , the willingness of so many members to stay clear of the fight is a powerful reminder why marijuana activists are having so much success in taking their case directly to voters in weed-friendly states .\n“ If the federal government doesn ’ t have to put its nose in the issue , we shouldn ’ t . I ’ m happy to have these states do it , ” said Sen. Ron Johnson ( R-Wis. ) . “ I ’ ll keep my fingers crossed and hope the experiment doesn ’ t create horrible results . ”\nSen. Rand Paul ( R-Ky. ) , a states ’ rights advocate who doesn ’ t endorse smoking marijuana because of its health effects , said the atmosphere on the Hill is changing — slowly . “ I think people overall don ’ t like the idea of teenagers and young men and women going to jail for mistakes , ” Paul said in an interview . “ But I don ’ t think people are ready yet to say , ‘ Oh , it ’ s a great thing and we just need to legalize it . ’ ”\nMarijuana activists are getting the hint . They ’ re planning pot legalization ballot measures in Alaska and Oregon in 2014 , with several more likely to follow in 2016 . Dozens of state legislatures and city councils are considering decriminalization or legalization bills . New York Democratic Gov . Andrew Cuomo on Jan. 8 announced a pilot program for medical marijuana in his state .\nStill , there ’ s little appetite for action at the federal level . The House and Senate committees with jurisdiction over the nation ’ s drug laws say they are too busy with other priorities like government spying , immigration and patent reform . Lawmakers who handle the IRS and banking issues — two areas where questions persist amid the launch of the states ’ lucrative marijuana market — have no immediate plans to dig in .\nAnd aides to House Speaker John Boehner ( R-Ohio ) and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy ( R-Calif. ) took a pass when asked for comment about the legal toking under way with the new year in Colorado and , in a couple of months , Washington .\nPressed on Congress ’ s role , the Senate ’ s No . 2 Democrat , Dick Durbin of Illinois , first gave a long , loud laugh . “ Well , we have to at least step back and look at the big picture and try to find some consistency in the penalties that are being assessed and the message that ’ s coming out when it comes to narcotics , ” Durbin said .\nFifty-five percent of Americans said pot should be legal for adult use — up from 16 percent in 1987 , according to a CNN poll released Jan 6 . A Gallup survey in October found that 58 percent of Americans now support legalization , while just 39 percent oppose it .\nThe issue is “ the equivalent of same-sex marriage for straight people , ” said former Rep. Barney Frank , a longtime proponent of legalizing pot .\n“ The politicians are clearly lagging the public , ” Frank said . “ A lot of politicians on this are suffering from cultural lag — they ’ re still afraid of being accused of being soft on drugs . ”\nCash-strapped states could potentially benefit from legalizing — and therefore taxing — marijuana sales , supporters say .\n“ I think it could be like casinos , ” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky , an Illinois Democrat co-sponsoring legalization legislation .\nBut some hard-on-crime Republicans say the Obama administration is shirking its legal responsibilities to enforce federal drug laws by allowing the Colorado and Washington state laws to take effect .\n“ The long-term problem it creates is I just think terribly unfortunate , ” said Sen. Mike Johanns ( R-Neb . ) , a former governor and George W. Bush-era Agriculture secretary worried about marijuana traveling up the Interstate 76 corridor from Colorado into his state . “ If you think about young people growing up in places where marijuana is now a legal drug , I think it ’ s the wrong message .\n“ You can ’ t really put police officers on the border , ” he added . “ It ’ s not like you ’ re fighting a war . ”\nWith the Obama administration largely on the sidelines — the Justice Department is letting the states ’ laws take effect , but with oversight to ensure things don ’ t get out of hand — grass-roots activists are trying to capitalize on the surge in national interest to expand legal marijuana across the country . They ’ re aiming for legalization initiatives mirrored on Colorado and Washington in at least two more states in 2014 : Oregon and Alaska .\nGroups working on the issue in Alaska reported in December that they have enough signatures to qualify for an August ballot measure . Alaska Rep. Don Young , a 21-term Republican , said he expects the ballot initiative to succeed . “ This is a states ’ rights issue . And states ’ rights in the state of Alaska is very important . The conservatives says [ marijuana is ] wrong , but still it ’ s a state right . That ’ s really where we are . ” | allsides-corpus-521 |
Colorado Gov . John Hickenlooper is asking Attorney General Eric Holder for a clear-cut explanation on how the Obama administration intends to handle changes made Tuesday when voters chose to legalize marijuana for recreational use .\nNearly 55 percent of Colorado voters approved the state constitutional change by voting on a statewide referendum .\nThe Democratic governor talked with Holder by phone on Friday .\nHickenlooper spokesman Eric Brown said the governor and Holder `` emphasized the need for the federal government to articulate what its position will be . ''\nBrown acknowledged a collective `` sense of urgency '' about a state law that defies federal law but said no agreement has been reached and both sides will continue to talk .\nAmendment 64 allows people 21 and older to possess up to an ounce of marijuana , grow six pot plants and over the longer term allows for stores to sell it to recreational users .\nHickenlooper , who opposed the referendum , said earlier in the week , `` it 's hard to imagine the chaos that would result if state by state you had one state legalizing and one state not legalizing . ''\nStill , he acknowledged that Colorado voters have clearly stated they want marijuana `` to be regulated like alcohol . ''\nColorado Attorney General John Suthers said he plans to talk soon with federal officials and that Hickenlooper has no choice but to certify the election results .\nSuthers also said the only possible plan right now is to establish the regulatory structure dictated by the state law , create an agency to facilitate an activity in violation of federal law , `` then wait to see if the federal government decides to do anything about it . ''\nHe said one question is : Will people who grow marijuana be criminally prosecuted because those contemplating going into the business `` need to know . ''\nSuthers also suggested the federal government would not sue the state , and instead prosecute people .\nThe Justice Department declined to discuss the issue but released a statement saying the agency 's enforcement of the Controlled Substances Act `` remains unchanged '' and that officials are reviewing the ballot initiatives .\nDespite what the federal government might or might not do , it could take until 2014 before people can walk into Colorado retail stores and buy pot for recreational purposes .\nThough Amendment 64 has provided the blueprint , the state legislature will have to establish rules and a new system for licensing and revenue collection .\nIn the near future , however , criminal penalties for possession of small amounts in Colorado will be lifted .\nAttorney Brian Vincente , co-director of the 2012 Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol , argued the 55 percent in favor of legalizing the recreational use of marijuana shows widespread support in the state .\n`` That is more voters than voted for President Obama , by quite a few in Colorado , '' he said .\nHe also said supporters are confident the state level change will `` percolate up to the federal government '' and lead to better national policies in the near future .\nUniversity of Denver constitutional law professor Sam Kamin said the vote in Colorado and a similar one Tuesday in Washington `` goes beyond what happened in the other marijuana states . ''\nLarger Colorado cities such as Denver already have a medical-marijuana program . But Kamin suggests that system is not setup to handle the expected change .\n`` To go from an industry that serves at most a 120,000 people to one that serves millions plus tourists , plus people driving across the border , it really is going to be something different , '' he said . | allsides-corpus-522 |
The coming legalization of marijuana , advocated last week by The New York Times in perhaps the most noted editorial in its history , will create a consumer product as sought after as cigarettes ( in their day ) and booze . Hence , legalized marijuana , among its other lucrative effects — including closing gaps in state budgets with certain heavy taxes — offers a gold mine for the media business .\nMedia have , in many ways , never recovered from the loss of cigarette advertising , one of the all-time great revenue generators for newspapers , magazines , television , radio and advertising agencies . Marijuana could be as big a market as cigarettes and , as pot brands try to establish and distinguish themselves , as prodigious an advertiser .\nOn Sunday , the Times ran a full-page ad for a company called Leafly , which describes itself as `` the world 's largest information resource about cannabis '' and `` the Yelp of cannabis . ''\nLegalizing pot means , at least on some level , legalizing its marketing , too . It would seem churlish and merely part of a continuing governmental grudge to forbid pot manufactures from advertising — and counterproductive once pot starts generating major tax revenue . Cigarette advertising was curbed only after the health effects of smoking became known . The legalization of marijuana acknowledges that its benefits , or at least its pleasures , significantly outweigh its negative effects . Why legalize it if you do n't also acknowledge the right to sell it ? ( Is that even constitutional ? )\nCertainly this will be part of the argument that the nascent marijuana industry will make — an argument that , if it prevails , will transform the media business , too . In fact , a good way to benefit from the coming end of the prohibition might be to go long on media stocks .\nStill , even if the federal government , trailing state governments like those in Colorado and Washington , finally accepts the premise that , in the words of The New York Times , pot 's `` casual use by adults poses little or no risk for healthy people , '' there might still be a public policy argument about age-appropriate marketing . Straitlaced regulators and politicians trying to save face will surely take this view .\nBut this presents another media opportunity . Print currently suffers both from a lack of advertising interest and an aging readership . Restricting pot advertising to print , and hence to adults ( mature adults ! ) , might not only be a way to protect the young , but a compromise with positive social implications as well .\nIndeed , the legalization of marijuana , no matter how logical , timely and even righteous , also involves a set of trade-offs . By accepting the realities of science and consumer demand , we also might possibly end up with a vaguer , dumbed-down nation .\nLimiting marijuana advertising to print media performs something of a public policy balancing act . The potential loss of intellectual focus could coincide with a pot-financed renaissance in print media , a resurgence of reading and even linear thought .\nAt the same time , of course , such targeted advertising might lead to a growth industry in media just about pot .\nThere are , too , broader content implications and opportunities related to pot . An ever-growing media problem is the difficulty of reaching the rich market of young men who are distracted by video games and , come to think of it , quite likely marijuana itself .\nVice Media , the video content company that specializes in these otherwise inattentive young men , has recently been valued at $ 2 billion — so the opportunity is clearly vast . Seeing pot culture and behavior more openly expressed by traditional media — in the way , for instance , that it is expressed in so many YouTube videos ( what else explains them ? ) — might reestablish that lost connection between mainstream media and the young .\nIn the 1950s and 60s , in addition to cigarettes being commonplace on television , there was also a general acceptance , if not celebration , of being drunk . Many variety shows featured hosts with ties askew holding an old fashioned glass with clinking ice . The rat pack , or rat pack style , dominated television for a decade , and was mostly about singing and clowning around when drunk . Arguably , the media have never had such a connection to their audience as when they embraced and acted out drunkenness .\nPot might suggest that sort of lifestyle camaraderie and shared joke .\nPot , or pot style , could become part of what is now called content marketing — i.e . using your content to create a symbiotic marketing environment . The closer you can come to representing pot sensibility , the closer you might be to a sweet spot demographic and to attracting the range of products that are willing to pay a premium to reach this group of people , perhaps easier to appeal to and influence precisely because they are high — a double marketing wallop . By this logic , most media might become pot partial .\nOne of the problems with contemporary media is not only the enormous number of outlets competing for the attention of American consumers , but also the fact that , beyond sports , there is no central focus , no common experience , that reliably brings us all together . We each pursue our own varied interests , styles and politics , creating enormous chaos and costs for marketers .\nPot , as the great leveler and unifying cultural principle , could change that .\nMichael Wolff writes about the modern media business . He is a two-time National Magazine Award winner and has written columns for ███ , Vanity Fair , New York magazine , British GQ and The Guardian . He is the author of best-selling books , including The Man Who Owns the News : Inside the Secret World of Rupert Murdoch . | allsides-corpus-523 |
( CNN ) – Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis said she supports medical marijuana use as well easing the state 's legal consequences for possessing small amounts of the drug .\nDavis ' comments echo those of current Republican Gov . Rick Perry , who said he supports less stringent penalties in Texas for marijuana use .\nPerry made the comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland , last month , highlighting his work toward decriminalization .\nDavis , a state senator , said Perry 's approach is `` reasonable , '' according to an interview with the Dallas Morning News that was published Tuesday .\n`` I do believe that Governor Perry 's approach is a reasonable approach , that we as a state need to think about the cost of that incarceration and , obviously , the cost to the taxpayers as a consequence of it , and whether we 're really solving any problem for the state by virtue of incarcerations for small amounts of marijuana possession , '' she said .\nTexas law classifies marijuana possession , even small amounts , as a class B misdemeanor , punishable by fines and jail time .\nAsked her position on medical marijuana use , Davis said she personally supports it but , ultimately , as governor she 'd have to take the temperature of the state on the issue .\n`` With regard to medical marijuana . I personally believe that medical marijuana should be allowed for . I do n't know where the state is on that , as a population , '' she said .\n`` Certainly as governor , I think it 's important to be deferential to whether the state of Texas feels that it 's ready for that , '' she said , adding that it 's worth watching other states experimenting with decriminalization .\nTwo states , Colorado and Washington , have legalized recreational marijuana use . Another 18 states , along with the District of Columbia , allow some legal pot use , primarily for medicinal purposes .\nVoters in Colorado and Washington approved constitutional amendments on their state 's respective ballots in November to legalize pot use . Asked by the Dallas Morning News if she would have voted , as a private citizen , for legalization , Davis hesitated .\n`` From a philosophical position , do I have any objections to the fact that citizens might want to legalize marijuana ? No , I do n't . But I think watching to see how this experiment plays out in other states is probably advisable before I could tell you for sure , '' she said .\nAttempts thus far by lawmakers in Texas to lower state 's penalties for people caught possessing small amounts of marijuana , have failed . Davis said she would have supported a bill easing penalties . As governor , Davis said she would `` consider '' a bill moving marijuana possession from a criminal offense to a civil matter .\nA CNN/ORC International poll conducted in January shows a majority of Americans think marijuana use should be legal . The national survey also indicted the number of people who say smoking pot is morally wrong has plunged .\nIn Colorado specifically , a Quinnipiac poll released Monday shows support for the state 's recreational marijuana law has increased from last month . Though support seems to be trending upwards , a majority of Colorado voters also say the new law is bad for the state 's image .\nIf Davis wins her March 4 primary , she will face likely Republican Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in the general election last this year .\nDavis ' office confirmed to CNN the senator 's comments in the Dallas Morning News interview . | allsides-corpus-524 |
A bill in the House to legalize marijuana faces an uncertain future , the Senate has not moved legislation that would allow marijuana businesses to bank and opportunities to legalize marijuana through state ballot initiatives have winnowed . The result is state legislatures will be the main arena for legalization debates . ( Caroline Brehman/CQ ███ file photo )\nMarijuana legalization campaigns will increasingly run through state capitols as Congress remains stalled , advocates say .\nA bill in the House to legalize marijuana faces an uncertain future , and the Senate has not moved legislation that would allow marijuana businesses to bank . Meanwhile , opportunities to legalize marijuana through state ballot initiatives have winnowed ; while nine other states and the District of Columbia approved commercial sales through ballot initiatives , just 23 states and the district allow such initiatives .\nThe result is state legislatures will be the main arena for legalization debates . This year , commercial sales began in Illinois , the first state to approve them through legislation . Pro-marijuana advocates will have to adapt their strategy accordingly to persuade state lawmakers .\nSmart Approaches to Marijuana , a group that opposes legalization , views the movement toward statehouses and the lengthier legislative process as an advantage .\n“ Our message takes some time to explain in this environment ” of increasing popularity for marijuana legalization , said Kevin Sabet , president of SAM .\nSabet said it can be difficult to defeat marijuana businesses and advocates in a messaging battle .\n“ We like working with state legislatures . It ’ s still not cheap , it still takes up a lot of time and it ’ s a long-slog effort , but a contemplative body that we can have a discussion with is preferable to a ballot initiative and competing catchphrases , ” he said .\nLegalization advocates acknowledged that targeted lobbying can gum up action on marijuana bills but argued that growing interest in their cause will ultimately compel legislators .\n“ It ’ s interesting to hear the opposition acknowledge what they are doing flies in the face of public opinion , ” said Melissa Moore , deputy state director of the Drug Policy Alliance in New York .\nNationally , 59 percent of people support both medical and recreational marijuana legalization , on top of another 32 percent who support its medicinal use alone , a 2019 Pew Research Center survey found .\n“ We know that the perspectives of state legislators can lag behind public opinion . It ’ s disheartening to think you can convince a relative handful of legislators , and through a few votes on a few committees the will of the people can be thwarted , ” said Karen O ’ Keefe , director of state policies for the Marijuana Policy Project .\n[ Legal pot makes it harder to recruit truck drivers , industry leader says ]\nNew Mexico , New York and Alabama could be states to watch on legalization issues in 2020 . New York has sought out collaboration with three neighboring states , recognizing that interstate travel could render major policy differences irrelevant and cultivate black markets .\nNew Mexico appears poised to legalize adult recreational use in a swift 30-day session that began Jan. 21 .\n“ The dialogue has shifted to not if , but when , ” said Emily Kaltenbach , an organizer with the Drug Policy Alliance advocacy group .\nDemocratic Gov . Michelle Lujan Grisham voiced support for legalized adult-use sales in her State of the State address — with caveats that the state ’ s existing medical marijuana program be protected and law enforcement receive a funding boost .\nThe push stalled last year in a Democrat-controlled Senate committee .\n“ This bill is stronger than last year ’ s bill , ” Kaltenbach said . “ We ’ re focused on individuals in the Senate in particular who were on the fence . ”\nThe governor in June 2019 appointed a cannabis working group , whose members included both advocates like Kaltenbach and a county sheriff . The group issued a 16-page report detailing its recommendations .\nState Rep. Javier Martinez , D-Albuquerque , who introduced the bill last year , said in local interviews that he plans to introduce a bill that draws from the working group ’ s recommendations .\nThe bill would immediately expunge cannabis possession convictions . It also would direct some tax revenues to a so-called “ Medicaid for marijuana ” program to subsidize medical marijuana purchases for low-income patients . The bill would also seed small businesses , fund substance abuse treatment , and direct 35 percent of tax revenues to a new fund for public health programs , job training and housing subsidies .\nThe New Mexico Sheriffs ’ Association has not announced opposition to the bill . The measure would create a new fund for state law enforcement underwritten by 16.5 percent of the revenue from taxes on cannabis sales . The bill also would direct 10 percent of the fees the state collects from licenses and penalties from life , general casualty and title insurance business to the police ’ s new fund .\nNew York Democratic Gov . Andrew M. Cuomo threw his weight behind a push for legal cannabis in his State of the State address coinciding with the legislative session ’ s Jan. 8 start . Cuomo has said he wants legalization incorporated into fiscal 2021 budget negotiations in March .\n“ We ’ re heading into session in a different place , ” said Moore . Cuomo convened a summit of Northeastern governors on the issue last fall , so negotiations in New York will be closely watched , as they could set a standard for other states .\n“ New York has an opportunity to set a national model that looks responsive to the tremendous harms of criminalization , ” Moore said , pointing to statistics showing that New York led the nation in marijuana-related arrests and incarcerations .\nCuomo ’ s speech was months in the making after a legalization effort dissolved last session . Proponents grumbled Cuomo didn ’ t push hard enough . Competing stakeholder interests in part led to the clock running out on last year ’ s bill , advocates say .\nSabet concedes defeating legalization in New York “ will be tough ” this year , but he also said the defeat of last year ’ s legislation gives the opposition momentum . The last session proved the assembly ’ s Democratic majority does not guarantee passage .\n“ We ’ re closer to Democrats than Republicans in New York , ” Sabet said . For example , Assembly member Jaime Williams said at a news conference with SAM last year that more research on marijuana is needed , according to local reports .\nThe governor ’ s office said it wants to work in tandem with three nearby states : Connecticut , New Jersey and Pennsylvania .\nAdvocates are also watching initiatives to end penalties for marijuana possession in New Hampshire and introduce commercial sales in Vermont , where homegrown plants are already legal .\nRepublican supermajorities in both chambers will likely take up a bill to create a medical marijuana program in Alabama . Proponents head into the state ’ s session on Feb. 4 armed with draft legislation by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Study Commission .\nLast month , a majority of the commission , made up of medical professionals , attorneys and farmers , concluded that “ there is strong public interest for a medical cannabis program in Alabama. ” The commission grew out of an unsuccessful effort to pass medical marijuana last year . A House committee did not act on a Senate-approved bill . Republican state Sen. Tim Melson , the commission chairman , plans to introduce the bill next month .\nThe tide toward medical marijuana was roiled earlier this month when Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall , a Republican , announced his opposition , arguing it would conflict with federal law and drawing a parallel between marijuana and opioids .\nAnnual congressional appropriations grant a legal safe harbor for state medical marijuana programs . Proponents of the Alabama bill said they would continue to support it when the session starts in February .\n“ I don ’ t think this is going to change that many minds because there is a lot of compelling evidence , ” Republican state Rep. Mike Ball said in a radio interview . “ I do think the people that were opposed to it will remain opposed to it , and this will give them a little extra political cover . ”\nAlabama would join more than 30 states and the District of Columbia that have a medical marijuana program . Tennessee and Kentucky , which started their sessions this month , are also expected to weigh medical marijuana bills this year . | allsides-corpus-525 |
Demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of how black markets work , a Wall Street Journal editorial blames marijuana legalization for vaping-related lung injuries involving illicit cannabis extracts . `` A surge in vaping related lung illnesses this year caught the medical community by surprise , with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) reporting more than 2,500 lung illnesses and 54 deaths , '' the Journal says . `` This is another reminder that America is undertaking a risky social experiment by legalizing and especially destigmatizing cannabis , and the potential effects are hard to foresee or control . ''\nSince those lung illnesses overwhelmingly involve black-market marijuana products , the lesson from the outbreak is exactly the opposite of the one the Journal draws . The CDC 's map of cases shows they are concentrated in states where marijuana remains illegal for recreational use , including Florida , Illinois ( where legal recreational sales do not begin until next week ) , Minnesota , New York , Pennsylvania , Texas , and Utah . The one major exception is California , where illegal dealers still account for nearly three-quarters of the market , thanks to heavy taxes , licensing delays , onerous regulations , and local bans .\nThe CDC itself highlights the dangers of THC vapes obtained from `` informal sources like friends , family , or in-person or online dealers . '' In a CDC survey reported last month , 96 percent of patients who developed respiratory symptoms after vaping THC said they had obtained the products `` informally . '' While two people in Oregon died after vaping THC cartridges they said they had bought from state-licensed shops , those are exceptions to the general pattern . The main problem is a black market in which consumers do not know the provenance and composition of the products they are buying .\nIn a legal market , it is much easier to guard against potential hazards . Legal manufacturers tell consumers the ingredients in their vapes , and they are liable for fraud if they lie . Marijuana regulators in Colorado , Oregon , and Washington have banned the use of vitamin E acetate , a cutting and thickening agent strongly implicated in the lung injuries . State-licensed laboratories in places where marijuana is legal can test products for that ingredient and other potentially harmful additives or contaminants . Vitamin E acetate , which the CDC has found in nearly all of the lung fluid samples from patients it has tested , is a relatively new additive that started showing up in illegal THC cartridges this year , which coincides with the recent outbreak .\nThe Journal 's reasoning , in short , is completely backward . By the same logic , the hazards of black-market booze , such as government-mandated poison in diverted industrial ethanol , would have counted as an argument against repealing alcohol prohibition . | allsides-corpus-526 |
LONDON/WASHINGTON A Tehran-based agency has quietly fed propaganda through at least 70 websites to countries from Afghanistan to Russia . And American firms have helped .\nWebsite Nile Net Online promises Egyptians “ true news ” from its offices in the heart of Cairo ’ s Tahrir Square , “ to expand the scope of freedom of expression in the Arab world . ”\nIts views on America do not chime with those of Egypt ’ s state media , which celebrate Donald Trump ’ s warm relations with Cairo . In one recent article , Nile Net Online derided the American president as a “ low-level theater actor ” who “ turned America into a laughing stock ” after he attacked Iran in a speech at the United Nations .\nUntil recently , Nile Net Online had more than 115,000 page-followers across Facebook , Twitter and Instagram . But its contact telephone numbers , including one listed as 0123456789 , don ’ t work . A Facebook map showing its location dropped a pin onto the middle of the street , rather than any building . And regulars at the square , including a newspaper stallholder and a policeman , say they have never heard of the website .\nThe reason : Nile Net Online is part of an influence operation based in Tehran .\nIt ’ s one of more than 70 websites found by ███ which push Iranian propaganda to 15 countries , in an operation that cybersecurity experts , social media firms and journalists are only starting to uncover . The sites found by ███ are visited by more than half a million people a month , and have been promoted by social media accounts with more than a million followers .\nThe sites underline how political actors worldwide are increasingly circulating distorted or false information online to influence public opinion . The discoveries follow allegations that Russian disinformation campaigns have swayed voters in the United States and Europe . Advisers to Saudi Arabia ’ s crown prince , and the army in Myanmar , are also among those using social media to distribute propaganda and attack their enemies . Moscow has denied the charges ; Riyadh and Yangon have not commented .\nFormer CIA director John Brennan told ███ that “ countries around the globe ” are now using such information warfare tactics .\n“ The Iranians are sophisticated cyber players , ” he said of the Iranian campaign . “ There are elements of the Iranian intelligence services that are rather capable in terms of operating ( online ) . ”\nTraced by building on research from cybersecurity firms FireEye and ClearSky , the sites in the campaign have been active at different times since 2012 . They look like normal news and media outlets , but only a couple disclose any Iranian ties .\n███ could not determine whether the Iranian government is behind the sites ; Iranian officials in Tehran and London did not reply to questions .\nBut all the sites are linked to Iran in one of two ways . Some carry stories , video and cartoons supplied by an online agency called the International Union of Virtual Media ( IUVM ) , which says on its website it is headquartered in Tehran . Some have shared online registration details with IUVM , such as addresses and phone numbers . Twenty-one of the websites do both .\nEmails sent to IUVM bounced back and telephone numbers the agency gave in web registration records did not work . Documents available on the main IUVM website say its objectives include “ confronting with remarkable arrogance , western governments and Zionism front activities . ”\nNile Net Online did not respond to questions sent to the email address on its website . Its operators , as well as those of the other websites identified by ███ , could not be located . Previous owners identified in historical registration records could not be reached . The Egyptian government did not respond to requests for comment .\nSome of the sites in the Iranian operation were first exposed in August by companies including Facebook , Twitter and Google ’ s parent , Alphabet , after FireEye found them . The social media companies have closed hundreds of accounts that promoted the sites or pushed Iranian messaging . Facebook said last month it had taken down 82 pages , groups and accounts linked to the Iranian campaign ; these had gathered more than one million followers in the United States and Britain .\nBut the sites uncovered by ███ have a much wider scope . They have published in 16 different languages , from Azerbaijani to Urdu , targeting Internet users in less-developed countries . That they reached readers in tightly controlled societies such as Egypt , which has blocked hundreds of news websites since 2017 , highlights the campaign ’ s reach .\n· A news site called Another Western Dawn which says its focus is on “ unspoken truth. ” It fooled the Pakistani defence minister into issuing a nuclear threat against Israel .\n· Ten outlets targeting readers in Yemen , where Iran and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia have been fighting a proxy conflict since civil war broke out in 2015 ;\n· A media outlet offering daily news and satirical cartoons in Sudan . ███ could not reach any of its staff ;\n· A website called Realnie Novosti , or “ Real News , ” for Russian readers . It offers a downloadable mobile phone app but its operator could not be traced .\nThe news on the sites is not all fake . Authentic stories sit alongside pirated cartoons , as well as speeches from Iran ’ s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei . The sites clearly support Iran ’ s government and amplify antagonism to countries opposed to Tehran - particularly Israel , Saudi Arabia and the United States . Nile Net ’ s “ laughing stock ” piece was copied from an Iranian state TV network article published earlier the same day .\nSome of the sites are slapdash . The self-styled , misspelled “ Yemen Press Agecny ” carries a running update of Saudi “ crimes against Yemenis during the past 24 hours. ” Emails sent to the agency ’ s listed contact , Arafat Shoroh , bounced back . The agency ’ s address and phone number led to a hotel in the Yemeni capital , Sana ’ a , whose staff said they had never heard of Shoroh .\nThe front page of the 'Yemen Press ' website . Nov. 30 2018\nThe identity or location of the past owners of some of the websites is visible in historical Internet registration records : 17 of 71 sites have in the past listed their locations as Iran or Tehran , or given an Iranian telephone or fax number . But who owns them now is often hidden , and none of the Iranian-linked operators could be reached .\nMore than 50 of the sites use American web service providers Cloudflare and OnlineNIC - firms that provide website owners with tools to shield themselves from spam and hackers . Frequently , such services also effectively conceal who owns the sites or where they are hosted . The companies declined to tell ███ who operates the sites .\nUnder U.S law , hosting and web services companies are not generally liable for the content of sites they serve , said Eric Goldman , co-director of the High Tech Law Institute at Santa Clara University . Still , since 2014 , U.S. sanctions on Iran have banned “ the exportation or re-exportation , directly or indirectly , of web-hosting services that are for commercial endeavors or of domain name registration services . ”\nDouglas Kramer , general counsel for Cloudflare , said the services it provides do not include web-hosting services . “ We ’ ve looked at those various sanctions regimes , we are comfortable that we are not in violation , ” he told ███ .\nA spokesman for OnlineNIC said none of the sites declared a connection to Iran in their registration details , and the company was in full compliance with U.S. sanctions and trade embargoes .\nThe U.S. Treasury ’ s Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC ) declined to comment on whether it planned an investigation .\nIranians burn an effigy of U.S. President Donald Trump in Tehran , Iran June 8 , 2018 . Tasnim News Agency\nThe Kremlin is widely seen as the superpower in modern information warfare . From what is known so far , Russia ’ s influence operation - which Moscow denies - dwarfs Iran ’ s . According to Twitter , nearly 4,000 accounts connected to the Russian campaign posted over 9 million tweets between 2013 and 2018 , against over 1 million tweets from fewer than 1,000 accounts believed to originate in Iran .\nEven though the Iranian operation is smaller , it has had impact on volatile topics . AWDnews - the site with the focus on “ unspoken truth ” - ran a false story in 2016 which prompted Pakistan ’ s defense minister to warn on Twitter he had the weapons to nuke Israel . He only found out that the hoax was part of an Iranian operation when contacted by ███ .\n“ It was a learning experience , ” said the deceived politician , 69-year-old Khawaja Asif , who left Pakistan ’ s government earlier this year . “ But one can understand that these sorts of things happen , because fake news has become something huge . It ’ s something which anyone is capable of now , which is very dangerous . ”\nIsraeli officials did not respond to a request for comment .\nAWDnews publishes in English , French , Spanish and German and , according to data from web analytics company SimilarWeb , receives around 12,000 unique visitors a month . Among others who shared stories from AWDnews and the other websites identified by ███ were politicians in Britain , Jordan , India , and the Netherlands ; human-rights activists ; an Indian music composer and a Japanese rap star .\nHatebook Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar\nFireEye , a U.S. cybersecurity firm , originally named six websites as part of the Iranian influence operation . ███ examined those sites , and their content led to the Tehran-based International Union of Virtual Media .\nIUVM is an array of 11 websites with names such as iuvmpress , iuvmapp and iuvmpixel . Together , they form a library of digital material , including mobile phone apps , items from Iranian state media and pictures , video clips and stories from elsewhere on the web , which support Tehran ’ s policies .\nTracking usage of IUVM content across the Internet led to sites which have used its material , registration details , or both . For instance , 22 of the sites have shared the same phone number , which does not work and has also been listed for IUVM . At least seven have used the same address , which belongs to a youth hostel in Berlin . Staff at the hostel told ███ they had never heard of the sites in question . The site operators could not be reached to explain their links with IUVM .\nTwo sites even posted job advertisements for IUVM , inviting applications from women with “ ability to work effectively and knowledge in dealing with social networks and ( the ) Internet . ”\nOne of IUVM ’ s most popular users is a site called Sudan Today , which SimilarWeb data shows receives almost 150,000 unique visitors each month . On Facebook , it tells its 57,000 followers that it operates without political bias . Its 18,000 followers on Twitter have included the Italian Embassy in Sudan , and its work has been cited in a report by the Egyptian Electricity Ministry .\nThe office address registered for Sudan Today in 2016 covers a whole city district in north Khartoum , according to archived website registration details provided by WhoisAPI Inc and DomainTools LLC . The phone number listed in those records does not work .\n███ could not trace staff members named on Sudan Today ’ s Facebook page . The five-star Corinthia hotel in central Khartoum , where the site says it hosted an anniversary party last year , told ███ no such event took place . And an address listed on one of its social media accounts is a demolished home .\nSudan used to be an Iranian ally but has changed sides to align itself with Saudi Arabia , costing Tehran a foothold in the Horn of Africa just as it becomes more isolated by the West . In that environment , Iran sees itself as competing with Israel , Saudi Arabia and the United States for international support , and is taking the fight online , said Ariane Tabatabai , a senior associate and Iran expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington , D.C .\nHeadlines on Sudan Today ’ s homepage include a daily round-up of stories from local newspapers and Ugandan soccer results . It also features reports on bread prices - which doubled in January after Khartoum eliminated subsidies , triggering demonstrations .\nOhad Zaidenberg , senior researcher at Israeli cybersecurity firm ClearSky , said this mixture of content provides the cover for narratives geared at influencing a target audience ’ s attitudes and perceptions .\nThe site also draws attention to Saudi Arabia ’ s military actions in Yemen . Since Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir ended his allegiance with Iran he has sent troops and jets to join Saudi-led forces in the Yemeni conflict .\nOne cartoon from IUVM published by Sudan Today in August shows Donald Trump astride a military jet with an overflowing bag of dollar bills tucked under one arm . The jet is draped with traditional Saudi dress and shown dropping bombs on a bloodstained map of Yemen . The map is littered with children ’ s toys and shoes .\nTurkish cartoonist Mikail Çiftçi drew the original . He told ███ he did not give Sudan Today permission to use it .\nThis cartoon was copied by IUVM without permission from the artist .\nAlnagi Albashra , a 28-year-old software developer in Khartoum , said he likes to read articles on Sudan Today in the evenings when waiting for his baby to fall asleep . But he and three other Sudan Today readers reached by ███ had no idea who was behind the site .\n“ This is a big problem , ” he said . “ You can ’ t see that they are not in Sudan . ”\nGovernment officials in Khartoum , the White House , the Italian Embassy and the Egyptian Electricity Ministry did not respond to requests for comment .\nIt is unclear who globally is tasked with responding to online disinformation campaigns like Iran ’ s , or what if any action they should take , said David Conrad , chief technology officer at ICANN , a non-profit which helps manage global web addresses .\nSocial media accounts can be deleted in bulk by the firms that provide the platforms . But the Iranian campaign ’ s backbone of websites makes it harder to dismantle than social media , because taking down a website often requires the cooperation of law enforcement , Internet service providers and web infrastructure companies .\nEfforts by social media companies in the United States and Europe to tackle the campaign have had mixed results .\nShortly after being contacted by ███ , Twitter suspended the accounts for Nile Net Online and Sudan Today . “ Clear attribution is very difficult , ” a spokeswoman said , but added that the company would continue to update a public database of tweets and accounts linked to state-backed information operations when it had new information .\nGoogle did not respond directly to questions about the websites found by ███ . The company has said it identified and closed 99 accounts which it says are linked to Iranian state media . “ We ’ ve invested in robust systems to identify influence operations launched by foreign governments , ” a spokeswoman said .\nFacebook said it was aware of the websites found by ███ and had removed five more Facebook pages . But a spokesman said that based on Facebook user data , the company was not yet able to link all the websites ’ accounts to the Iranian activity found earlier . “ In the past several months , we have removed hundreds of Pages , Groups , and accounts linked to Iranian actors engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior . We continue to remove accounts across our services and in all relevant languages , ” he said .\nAccounts linked to the Iranian sites remain active online , especially in languages other than English . On Nov. 30 , 16 of the Iranian sites were still posting daily updates on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram or YouTube - including Sudan Today and Nile Net Online . Between them , the social media accounts had more than 700,000 followers .\nThe address listed for 'Sudan Today ' on one social media account leads here .\n( Corrects to delete two paragraphs in section three - WHO representative was not authorised to speak to the media ) | allsides-corpus-527 |
As with Fox ’ s ubiquitous promotion of its slogan , conservatives ’ appropriation of the “ fake news ” label is an effort to further erode the mainstream media ’ s claim to be a reliable and accurate source .\n“ What I think is so unsettling about the fake news cries now is that their audience has already sort of bought into this idea that journalism has no credibility or legitimacy , ” said Angelo Carusone , the president of Media Matters , a liberal group that polices the news media for bias . “ Therefore , by applying that term to credible outlets , it becomes much more believable . ”\nConservative news media are now awash in the “ fake news ” condemnations . When coverage of Mr. Trump ’ s choice for labor secretary , Andrew F. Puzder , highlighted his opposition to minimum wage increases , the writer and radio host Erick Erickson wrote that Mr. Puzder should have been getting more credit for pointing out that such increases lead to higher unemployment . “ To say otherwise is to push fake news , ” he wrote . ( The effects actually have been found to vary from city to city . )\nInfowars , the website run by the conservative provocateur and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones , labeled as “ fake news ” a CNN report that Ivanka Trump would move into the office in the White House normally reserved for the first lady .\nMr. Trump has used the term to deny news reports , as he did on Twitter recently after various outlets said he would stay on as the executive producer of “ The New Celebrity Apprentice ” after taking office in January . “ Ridiculous & untrue — FAKE NEWS ! ” he wrote . ( He will be credited as executive producer , a spokesman for the show ’ s creator , Mark Burnett , has said . But it is unclear what work , if any , he will do on the show . )\nMany conservatives are pushing back at the outrage over fake news because they believe that liberals , unwilling to accept Mr. Trump ’ s victory , are attributing his triumph to nefarious external factors .\n“ The left refuses to admit that the fundamental problem isn ’ t the Russians or Jim Comey or ‘ fake news ’ or the Electoral College , ” said Laura Ingraham , the author and radio host . “ ‘ Fake news ’ is just another fake excuse for their failed agenda . ” | allsides-corpus-528 |
WASHINGTON — President Trump gave out fake news `` awards '' to six news organizations Wednesday night , capping a much-hyped social media spectacle that matched Trump 's penchant for showmanship with his disdain for the news media covering it .\nNone of the recipients of Trump 's backhanded laurels were surprising : They 've been frequent targets of the president 's scorn for much of his first year in office . Among the news organizations cited : CNN , The New York Times , The Washington Post , ABC News , Newsweek and Time Magazine .\nMost of the stories cited were verifiably false : ABC News retracted its report about former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn 's testimony in the Russian collusion probe , and suspended correspondent Brian Ross . A report from a Time reporter about a missing Martin Luther King Jr. bust in the Oval Office on inauguration day was quickly corrected . And CNN admitted an error in dates that caused it to report that Donald Trump Jr. had access to leaked Democratic emails before they were posted on the website Wikileaks .\nPreviously : Trump to announce 'most dishonest ' and 'corrupt media awards ' next week\nBut the top example of `` fake news '' was actually an opinion piece from New York Times columnist Paul Krugman predicting stock market losses after Trump 's election victory . Instead , the markets have boomed .\nThe media critic-in-chief also cited coverage of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign , which has focused on whether the Trump campaign colluded with agents of the Russian government .\n`` Russian collusion is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people , '' Trump said .\nBut a special counsel investigation led by former FBI Director Robert Mueller has already led to indictments or convictions of at least four people , including Flynn . There 's been no publicly released evidence that Trump knew about his campaign 's contacts with the Russians .\nThe very term `` fake news '' came out of Russian attempts to interfere with the election by — among other tactics — planting false stories on social media . But Trump quickly co-opted the term `` fake news '' to refer to stories that portrayed him in a negative light . But unlike the original meaning of fake news , the stories cited by Trump Wednesday were n't deliberately falsified — even if the reporting relied on false information .\nThe rollout of the awards did n't go smoothly . The awards were delayed nine days because , Trump said , `` the interest in , and importance of , these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated ! ''\nThey were expected to come at 5 p.m . ET Wednesday , but Trump posted a link to the awards on Twitter three hours later .\nThen a series of website errors , presumably from high traffic volume , prevented most people from seeing the post until nearly half an hour later .\nThey were hosted not on the White House website but the Republican National Committee 's . Ethics experts had expressed doubts about whether it was appropriate to use taxpayer resources to promote the awards .\n`` Despite some very corrupt and dishonest media coverage , there are many great reporters I respect and lots of GOOD NEWS for the American people to be proud of ! '' Trump said . `` ISIS is in retreat , our economy is booming , investments and jobs are pouring back into the country , and so much more ! Together there is nothing we can ’ t overcome — even a very biased media . We ARE Making America Great Again ! ''\nAs Trump hyped the event , a growing number of bipartisan lawmakers , First Amendment groups and others rebuked the president .\n`` When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn ’ t suit him 'fake news , ' it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion , not the press , '' Sen. Jeff Flake , R-Ariz. , said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday .\nMore : Sen. Jeff Flake : Trump 'charting a very dangerous path ' with media attacks\nSen. John McCain , R-Ariz. , wrote in an op-ed for The Washington Post that Trump 's anti-press rhetoric was giving cover to repressive regimes around the world .\n`` The phrase 'fake news ' — granted legitimacy by an American president — is being used by autocrats to silence reporters , undermine political opponents , stave off media scrutiny and mislead citizens , '' McCain said . | allsides-corpus-529 |
In this case , the altered video of Biden — who has surged to the front of the Democratic presidential race to face Trump in November — is based on a speech he gave Saturday in Kansas City , Mo . It was then shared on Twitter by Scavino , only edited to make it appear as if Biden inadvertently endorsed Trump for reelection .\nThe version of the video shared by Scavino showed Biden stumbling on a line during a speech , then saying : “ Excuse me . We can only reelect Donald Trump . ”\nBut the edited video deleted the second part of the former vice president ’ s sentence . The whole thing said : “ Excuse me . We can only reelect Donald Trump if in fact we get engaged in this circular firing squad here . It ’ s got to be a positive campaign . ”\nTwitter applied the label to Scavino ’ s tweet at about 5 p.m. Sunday , about 18 hours after Scavino shared the video . The video had at least 5 million views and more than 21,000 retweets as of Sunday evening .\nScavino said on Twitter that the tweet was “ not manipulated , ” and he retweeted another user who said the company was setting a “ dangerous precedent ” by labeling the tweet .\nTwitter ’ s rollout of the label was not without technical glitches , however . The label was not showing up when people searched for Scavino ’ s tweet , though Twitter spokeswoman Katie Rosborough said it was appearing in individuals ’ timelines . She added the company is working on a fix .\nThe “ misleading ” label is one way social media companies are trying to crack down on false and misleading information in 2020 , following a 2016 election in which they were widely blamed for allowing incorrect information to circulate on their platforms , influencing the election and providing Russian trolls and bots with entry into the U.S. political system .\nBut the companies are not acting in tandem , and their policies are inconsistent . Facebook , too , added a warning to the video on Monday morning after it was debunked by one of the company ’ s fact-checking partners .\n“ Fact-checkers rated this video as partly false , so we are reducing its distribution and showing warning labels with more context for people who see it , try to share it , or already have , ” Facebook spokeswoman Brittany Uter said in a statement . “ As we announced last year , the same applies if a politician shares the video , if it was otherwise fact-checked when shared by others on Facebook . ”\nThe company added the label after the Biden campaign blasted its handling of falsehoods on Sunday night .\n“ Facebook ’ s malfeasance when it comes to trafficking in blatantly false information is a national crisis in this respect , ” Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz said . “ It is also an unconscionable act of putting profit above not just our country , but every country . Facebook won ’ t say it , but it is apparent to all who have examined their conduct and policies : They care first and foremost about money and , to that end , are willing to serve as one of the world ’ s most effective mediums for the spread of vile lies . ”\nTwitter ’ s new policy prohibits sharing synthetic or manipulated media that could cause harm . But as in this instance , the company may apply labels to tweets to help people understand their authenticity or to provide additional context . | allsides-corpus-530 |
President Trump ’ s nonstop “ fake news ” trash-talking has taken a heavy toll on the media ’ s image , with less than 10 percent of Republicans saying they trust the press , according to a new survey .\nWhile the news media feasts on the president and the tsunami of scandals around him , Trump ’ s war on the press remains effective as his loyal followers still have zero faith in the fourth estate .\nWhile 55 percent of Democrats say the news media “ deal fairly with all sides , ” less than 10 percent of Republicans feel the same , according to the Poynter Institute ’ s latest Media Trust Survey .\nAs the press reels from Trump hammering them as “ enemies of the people ” — the survey found 31 percent of people agree with this contentious , absurd claim — there is a bright spot for local reporters .\nThe survey found 76 percent of Americans have a “ great deal ” or a “ fair amount ” of trust in their local TV news and 73 percent for local newspapers . But only 59 percent feel that way about national newspapers , 55 percent for network news and 47 percent for online media .\n“ People overall are pretty critical of the national media and more trusting of their local sources or like them better , ” said Rick Edmonds , a media business analyst for the Poynter Institute , a journalism think-tank in Florida .\n“ And then we take Republicans , ” Edmonds said yesterday . “ It ’ s just an enormous gap . They don ’ t like the national media at all , broadcast and newspapers , but they have a lot of confidence , almost as much as Democrats , in local . ”\n“ As a whole , ” the authors of the July report wrote , “ the public supports the press , though perhaps only tepidly . ”\nThere ’ s another bright spot . Americans ’ trust of the news media is on the rise , with 54 percent of Americans having a “ great deal ” or “ fair amount ” of trust in the press , and that ’ s up 32 percent from 2016 .\nThe survey found 66 percent of people believe news organizations “ keep political leaders from doing things that shouldn ’ t be done . ”\nYet 68 percent of people say the news media “ tend to favor one side . ”\n“ We may think we ’ re straight shooters but our audiences don ’ t necessarily , ” said Edmonds .\nSome newspaper editorial page editors have changed how they do things , Edmonds said , including being more engaged in the community and “ dialing way back on telling people what they ought to think . ”\n“ Many steps like that will help regain trust , ” Edmonds said . | allsides-corpus-531 |
The liberal media was almost as bad as last year . Maybe marginally better , but I use that phrase VERY loosely . They were still total garbage in covering this White House . They still suck . They ’ re still sour that Hillary Clinton lost , and as they ’ re consumed with rage , they make mistakes , a great many mistakes . From sitting on information that undercut a serious sexual misconduct allegation against a federal judge to peddling old fake news about AR-15s to push gun control , 2018 was another banner year for the Democrat-media complex . We only have ten . We know there were a lot more . Tweet @ Townhallcom to send us some we might have missed . There were so many it was bound to happen .\nThe Daily Caller 's Amber Athey also compiled an even longer list of fake news screw-ups from the media . Enjoy going down memory lane .\n1 . CNN Peddled An Embarrassing AR-15 Story…Which Wasn ’ t Even New .\nThe liberal media still can ’ t get it right when it comes to reporting on firearms . After the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in February , CNN ’ s Cuomo peddled an old story about some kid who claimed to have bought an AR-15in Virginia in five minutes . The problem : he didn ’ t buy the rifle . He just took a photo with one . That ’ s not the same thing .\n2 . ‘ The Awful Melania Trump Is Chained To A Radiator In Basement Because We Haven ’ t Seen Her And Trump Is Evil ’ Conspiracy Theory\nIt ’ s a fact that many people undergo surgery for a multitude of reasons . For major surgery , say , like a procedure on your kidneys , it requires a prolonged resting phase . First Lady Melania Trump underwent kidney surgery in June and was absent for a lengthy period of time . The media took that as she went “ missing. ” This is a prime example , and there are many more , of why the media is so hated . Katie had the story .\n3 . CNN ’ s Cohen-Russia-Trump Tower Meeting Story Blows Up In Their Faces\nAgain , there is nothing as entertaining than watching CNN fail miserably to peddle its Russian collusion nonsense on a 24/7 basis . We love it when they fail . They suck . They ’ re anti-Trump , anti-GOP , and deserve all the blood the pours from their face when they step on a rake like this . In July of 2017 , sources alleged that ex-Trump lawyer Michael Cohen claimed then-candidate Donald Trump knew about the 2016 meeting that occurred in Trump Tower between his son and some Russians , which turned out to be nothing related to Hillary Clinton , the election , or collusion . It was a colossal waste of time . It ’ s not even a news story . But leave it to CNN to try and resurrect it , as it was some big bombshell and have it collapse in epic fashion . From the get-go there was zero evidence to corroborate Cohen ’ s account . There ’ s your first red flag . The second was the sourcing . It turned out to be Cohen ’ s attorney Lanny Davis , who pretty much took back everything he disclosed .\nThe best is that CNN stood by its trash reporting .\n4 . The Russian Spy That Was In The Oval Office , Except That She Wasn ’ t\nEmily Singer of the now defunct-Mic got the Russia collusion hopefuls frothing at the mouth when she alleged that Maria Butina was photographed inside the Oval Office . Butina , a Russian , was recently arrested and charged with espionage . The problem : it wasn ’ t her . It was some NSC staffer .\nA fmr WH official tells me he thinks the person in this NYT photo is Cari Lutkins , the WH 's deputy director of events , who plans logistics for events like these pic.twitter.com/NZJ0z7IUqt — Lachlan Markay ( @ lachlan ) July 17 , 2018\nThis photo is going around : That is not alleged Russian spy Maria Butina in the Oval Office With Trump . It ’ s an NSC staffer , a NSC source tells BuzzFeed News . pic.twitter.com/k1pDeIBZiK — Tom Namako ( @ TomNamako ) July 17 , 2018\n5 . NPR Is Taken To The Woodshed Over Fake Story About Donald Trump Jr .\nSo , CNN can ’ t read the dateson emails properly , and it looks like National Public Radio has an issue with reading public transcripts . The story is hinged on Michael Cohen supposedly contradicting what Donald Trump Jr. said about a Trump Tower Moscow deal ending in 2014 .\n“ Donald Trump Jr. testified to Congress that the Trump organization ’ s negotiations ’ to develop Trump Tower Moscow ended at the end of 2014 , but that conflicts with Michael Cohen , who said in a guilty plea the negotiations continued well into 2016 , ” in a now-deleted NPR tweet .\n“ This NPR story appears to be wrong . It notes that Trump Jr. told a Senate committee that a deal in Moscow died of `` deal fatigue '' by 2014 .\nBut that was a deal with the Agalarovs . He was also asked if a deal was in the works in 2015/2016 and said yes , ” tweeted Philip Bump of The Washington Post . In fact , a more than a few writers from left-leaning publications noted that this story was not accurate .\nThe article 's `` update '' is not good . Trump Jr. was clearly referring to * a particular deal * as having `` died of deal fatigue '' -- and it 's not the Cohen deal .\nThe fifth paragraph below is the important paragraph , which undercuts the existing headline . pic.twitter.com/Qt8Gkyx13g — Philip Bump ( @ pbump ) November 30 , 2018\nThis story went super-viral . The correction , walk-balk & retraction are barely being noted by those who hyped the original claim . This happens over & over , always in the same direction . Again : anti-media rhetoric can be dangerous , but media outlets often lay the groundwork for it https : //t.co/V8UcoMQovS — Glenn Greenwald ( @ ggreenwald ) November 30 , 2018\nWe all knew the overreach was coming . There were two stories of alleged sexual misconduct against Brett Kavanaugh , both without corroborating evidence . There were not witnesses either . The one that was the strongest against the now-siting Supreme Court justice was Christine Blasey Ford , who couldn ’ t remember anything about her alleged encounter with a teenaged Kavanaugh , except that he supposedly attempted to sexually assault her . She doesn ’ t know how she got to this party , how she got there , who planned it , or how she got home , but she knows for sure that Kavanaugh was her alleged attacker . Yeah , not buying it . I still don ’ t . It was a classic politically orchestrated hit by the Democrat-Media Complex , and Julie Swetnick confirmed that . Her story was straight trash . She was a college-aged woman who hung out with…high school kids , saw some debauchery , alleged that Kavanaugh was part of some gang rape ring , though she never saw him attack anyone , but it obviously wasn ’ t so bad ( or that it never happened ) because she went to several more of these parties . Oh , and she pretty admitted she doesn ’ t know what Kavanaugh allegedly did , nor does she have evidence . Yeah , she was nuts . A gang rape ring ? Give me a break . There was also another woman who admitted to making up sexual assault allegation to get attention . Both Swetnick and her lawyer , Michael Avenatti , have been referred for criminal prosecution for making false claimsto the Senate Judiciary Committee .\n7 . Wait–NBC News Knew Swetnick ’ s Story Was Garbage…And Sat On It .\nIn the NBC News interview that aired on Oct. 1 , Swetnick back-tracked on or contradicted parts of her sworn statement where she alleged she witnessed then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh `` cause girls to become inebriated and disoriented so they could then be 'gang raped ' in a side room or bedroom by a 'train ' of boys . '' NBC News also found other apparent inconsistencies in a second sworn statement from another woman whose statement Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee in a bid to bolster Swetnick 's claims . In the second statement , the unidentified woman said she witnessed Kavanaugh `` spike '' the punch at high school parties in order to sexually take advantage of girls . But less than 48 hours before Avenatti released her sworn statement on Twitter , the same woman told NBC News a different story . Referring to Kavanaugh spiking the punch , `` I did n't ever think it was Brett , '' the woman said to reporters in a phone interview arranged by Avenatti on Sept. 30after repeated requests to speak with other witnesses who might corroborate Swetnick 's claims . As soon as the call began , the woman said she never met Swetnick in high school and never saw her at parties and had only become friends with her when they were both in their 30s . When asked in the phone interview if she ever witnessed Kavanaugh act inappropriately towards girls , the woman replied , `` no . '' She did describe a culture of heavy drinking in high school that she took part in , and said Kavanaugh and his friend Mark Judge were part of that group . [ … ] According to the second woman 's declaration that Avenatti provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee , she said : `` During the years 1981-82 , I witnessed firsthand Brett Kavanaugh , together with others , 'spike ' the 'punch ' at house parties I attended with Quaaludes and/or grain alcohol . I understood this was being done for the purpose of making girls more likely to engage in sexual acts and less likely to say 'No . ' '' The statement also said that Kavanaugh was `` overly aggressive and verbally abusive to girls . This conduct included inappropriate physical contact with girls of a sexual nature . '' But reached by phone independently from Avenatti on Oct. 3 , the woman said she only `` skimmed '' the declaration . After reviewing the statement , she wrote in a text on Oct. 4 to NBC News : `` It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch . I did n't see anyone spike the punch ... I was very clear with Michael Avenatti from day one . '' When pressed about abusive behavior towards girls , she wrote in a text : `` I would not ever allow anyone to be abusive in my presence . Male or female . ''\nPrior to the Christmas holiday , it was reported that and seven-year-old migrant girl had died in Border Patrol custody . Of course , the Trump administration , Republicans , and federal immigration authorities were to blame , except that they weren ’ t . Guy had the story :\n…Politicians and members of the media expressed outrage over the tragic death of a seven-year-old girl who died shortly after illegally crossing the US border with her father . The details of her passing are heart-wrenching . Border hawks blamed her parent for putting her life at risk by bringing her on the dangerous journey , while critics of the president 's approach to immigration policy held up the incident as an example of the administration 's inhumanity and callousness . [ … ] Twitter 's 'AG Conservative ' ( who is worth a follow ) noted that in story after story , headline after headline , wrongdoing by US officials was at least implied . In truth , the young girl had been severely deprived of sustenance for days prior to being taken into custody in a remote area , at which point American border patrol officers and support staff attempted to save her life . After being manually revived twice , she was transported by air to a hospital , where she died .\nThe New York Times tried to slit the throat of then-U.S . Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley for a $ 53,000 curtain expenditure at the official residence . It came at a time when the State Department was undergoing some belt-tightening . Well , it wasn ’ t her fault . The Obama administration approved the purchases . Leah covered it for us :\nNikki Haley , U.S . Ambassador to the United Nations , has come under fire over expensive curtains that were installed in her official residence given the State Department ’ s deep budget cuts and hiring freeze . There ’ s just one problem—the nearly $ 53,000 furnishing was approved under the Obama administration in 2016 .\nAn earlier version of this article and headline created an unfair impression about who was responsible for the purchase in question . While Nikki R. Haley is the current ambassador to the United Nations , the decision on leasing the ambassador ’ s residence and purchasing the curtains was made during the Obama administration , according to current and former officials . The article should not have focused on Ms. Haley , nor should a picture of her have been used . The article and headline have now been edited to reflect those concerns , and the picture has been removed .\nThe 2018 Florida elections were another nightmare . Yes , Gov . Rick Scott booted incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson , and GOP Rep. Ron DeSantis won the gubernatorial race , but the vote tallying in Broward and Palm Beach Counties , both Democratic bastions , were a disaster . They weren ’ t keeping regular updates on the outstanding ballot total as required by law . Elections supervisor Brenda Snipeswas once again at the center on the controversy . Lawsuits were filed , with a judge ruling that the vote counting operation was in violation of public records laws . Allegations of election stealing flew like crazy , and MSNBC ’ s Andrea Mitchell had this bombshell : Snipes is a…Republican ? No , she ’ s not , but it was yet another fake news moment for the media for 2018 : | allsides-corpus-532 |
Chuck Schumer , the Senate ’ s No . 3 Democrat , thinks the Internal Revenue Service hasn ’ t done enough to silence the Tea Party . He wants the White House and the IRS to “ immediately redouble ” efforts to shut down conservative political-action groups through tougher government oversight and enforcement .\nThe Tea Party opposes much of President Obama ’ s agenda , and to Mr. Schumer , that ’ s both a sin and a crime .\nIn a speech last week to the liberal Center for American Progress , the senior senator from New York said , “ There are many things that can be done administratively by the IRS and other government agencies ” to silence groups that obstruct Democratic policies .\nWhen several dozen conservative organizations applied to the IRS for nonprofit status in the run-up to the 2012 elections , they had to struggle through bureaucratic roadblocks and obstacles while the applications of liberal groups sailed through without a hitch . The government insisted this was mere coincidence , but Mr. Schumer ’ s remarks revealed the fire under the smoke .\nIn late November , the Treasury Department introduced a new rule to “ redefine and restrict ” the political activities of nonprofits . The administration says the revised regulations are needed to improve the way such organizations are regulated , but it ’ s obvious the rules were changed to thwart the legitimate politicking of the Tea Party .\nLiberals just can ’ t get over the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court that guaranteed the free speech of everyone . They can ’ t get over the plain and unambiguous language of the First Amendment that citizens have the right of free speech and the right to petition the government , even harass the government , whether the government likes it or not .\nWhat they despise most of all is that the Supreme Court leveled the playing field , enabling conservative billionaires to spend their money as freely as liberal billionaires such as George Soros spend theirs to win friends and influence as many voters as they can .\n“ The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine , ” Mr. Schumer said , “ is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite , plutocrats like the Koch Brothers , want and what the average grass-roots Tea Party follower wants … . Obviously , the Tea Party elites gained extraordinary influence by being able to funnel millions of dollars into campaigns with ads that distort the truth and attack government. ” His solution to a level playing field is IRS harassment .\nThe latest group harassed by the IRS might be the smallest in America ; namely , conservatives in Hollywood . An organization known as Friends of Abe , named for Abraham Lincoln , is trying to get tax-exempt status . The IRS is doing what it can to scuttle the application and wants to see the organization ’ s membership list .\nThe actors , directors and writers who are Friends of Abe are wary of coming out of the closet where traditional values are often hidden in Hollywood . Nothing threatens a promising career in Tinseltown faster than exposure as a Republican or other conservative .\nIn a just world , the Center for American Progress , the 501 ( c ) ( 3 ) nonprofit organization that hosted Mr. Schumer ’ s call for government harassment of conservatives groups , would get similar scrutiny .\nIn the negotiations over the budget , Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell attempted to stop the IRS chicanery . Politico , the Capitol Hill daily , reported that Mr. McConnell submitted language to scuttle the revised IRS rules . Democrats blocked the attempt , even after Republicans agreed to a sweetener of more money for the International Monetary Fund , a Democratic favorite .\nStrengthening the IRS ‘ ability to make trouble for conservatives in politics is a priority for Mr. Obama and Harry Reid , the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate . They regard the IRS scandal not as a scandal , but as a starting point for suppressing enemies . | allsides-corpus-533 |
The Tea Partier 's Quandary : What To Make Of Trump 's Rise ?\nDonald Trump and Ted Cruz have spent most of the presidential race avoiding direct confrontations with each other . But the men are in first and second place in the polls , so that 's been straining the love .\nThis week , as NPR Politics put it , Trump went `` birther '' on his rival , questioning whether Cruz is even eligible for the White House because he was born in Canada . ( Many legal scholars say he is . )\nBut as the two candidates continue to lead GOP polls , some observers on the Republican side have expressed fear that either man — and Trump , in particular — will win the nomination . And that concern has not been limited to those in the party 's establishment .\nCue Matt Kibbe , former head of the tea party group FreedomWorks . Kibbe — who left FreedomWorks to lead Concerned American Voters , a superPAC supporting Sen. Rand Paul — says that while Trump taps into some of the same anxiety shared by tea partiers over political dysfunction , the businessman 's rise also signifies something much more dire .\n`` I think if Donald Trump becomes the nominee , you 're almost guaranteed a third-party challenge , perhaps from the Republican side and the Democratic side , '' Kibbe tells NPR 's Scott Simon . `` And it might also lead to the death of the Republican party . ''\nOn the future of the candidate he supports , Rand Paul\nI think we would all be mistaken if we made any bold predictions about what 's going to happen in Iowa and New Hampshire . It 's a particularly tumultuous primary season , and if you go back and look at 2012 , which was also pretty unpredictable , the people that were winning at this point ultimately did not win in Iowa . I think the ground game matters more than polling , and we 'll have to see what happens .\nThere 's two things going on . One is a clear sense of economic anxiety and the feeling amongst a lot of voters that the country 's headed in the wrong direction — combined with the sense that Washington does n't really give a damn .\nThe other thing that 's going on , which I think is more fundamental , and I think both Republicans and Democrats are struggling to understand this , is a transformational moment in politics . It 's more disintermediated ; the party bosses no longer get to decide who the choice is . And both the RNC [ Republican National Committee ] and the DNC [ Democratic National Committee ] , I think , are struggling with this new reality .\nWith social media , with the ability to raise money online , with the ability to drive your own message and organize your own get-out-the-vote machine without the party 's blessing , all sorts of candidates have become competitive . Donald Trump is definitely part of that , although he 's sort of the odd man out because he 's more of a cult of personality .\nHe 's definitely tapping into the anxiety that Washington is broken and that the economy is headed in the wrong direction . But the fundamental difference between the way I think about the tea party — and I 'm a card-carrying member of the tea party — is that we talked about the rule of law and we worried that President Obama was very much overstepping the powers of the presidency .\nWe wanted to see the power back in the hands of the people . And Donald Trump clearly does n't care about that stuff . He on a regular basis makes it very clear that as president he would do what 's necessary to get the job done .\nOn what Trump 's rise says about the two major political parties\nI think they 're sort of walking on eggshells right now , and it goes back to this question about disintermediation . The two-party system has very much been dependent on the ability of party bosses to control the message , to control the money , to control who the candidates are from the top down . And the party that best understands that that world is no longer there is best going to flourish in this new environment .\nI think in some ways Donald Trump is a creation of the Republican establishment 's unwillingness to accept this new world .\nWe wanted to see the power back in the hands of the people . And Donald Trump clearly does n't care about that stuff .\nOn whether Trump has been a beneficiary of the tea party 's rise\nI 've looked at the data of this , and it depends on how you define the tea party . I talk to tea partiers every day , and he definitely has support from some of them and ... some of his strongest opposition comes from the tea party .\nI think it gets to this question of executive power . But I also think that he 's drawing from a lot of Democrats , a lot of independents , a lot of people that have not been participating in the political process before .\nTo me , that 's part of the interesting part of this new world . You know , can we actually enfranchise more voters , can we engage more people in this process ?\nAnd I should say , we should mention that the same dynamic is happening on the Democratic side . Bernie Sanders is in large part tapping into some of those same anxieties . He has , oddly enough , some of the same positions as Donald Trump on key issues ... on foreign policy , on immigration . Bernie Sanders has a history of being opposed to new immigration . It 's sort of that closed-system view that our best days are behind us .\nAnd , of course , Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary fits in New Hampshire and Iowa . | allsides-corpus-534 |
Far from chastened by the debt debate , tea partyers and conservative groups signaled Thursday they ’ ve concluded they didn ’ t lose , but rather were sabotaged from within by weak Republicans — and they took the first steps to oust one of them .\nMississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced he would challenge U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in the Republican primary next year , a day after the GOP ’ s senior senator voted to end the 16-day government shutdown and grant President Obama more borrowing authority .\nMr. McDaniel immediately saw a flood of support from the outside groups that had rallied against this week ’ s debt and spending agreement .\n“ Our country can ’ t afford any more bad votes that stem from old friends and back-room deals , ” said Daniel Horowitz , deputy political director of the Madison Project . “ And as witnessed from the recent budget battle against Obamacare , we can not win against Democrats if we don ’ t grow our conservative bench in the Senate . ”\nFor the past two weeks , the deep divisions within the GOP have been on very public display .\nSens . Ted Cruz of Texas , Mike Lee of Utah and their allies pushed to withhold all government spending unless Mr. Obama agreed to cancel Obamacare , while party leaders called that a losing strategy and tried to come up with alternatives .\nOn Thursday , the GOP accepted defeat , passing a bill that gives Mr. Obama a “ clean ” bill to reopen government through January , and to raise debt through at least February .\nA majority of Republicans supported the deal in the Senate , but the situation was reversed in the House , where Cruz allies refused to sign off on a series of plans put forward by GOP leaders to end the stalemate .\nAhead of the vote , each side blamed the other for squandering leverage .\nMr. Obama , Democratic leaders and even many top Republicans said they hoped the tea party side had learned some political and tactical lessons , particularly in fighting a fight that now appears to have been futile from the start .\nBut tea party lawmakers say they could have won if all Republicans had stuck together , and the lesson they draw is that they need to oust those who surrendered .\n“ I want my colleagues to imagine simply that Senate Republicans stood together and said : We support the House Republicans in standing with the American people , ” Mr. Cruz said Wednesday on the Senate floor prior to the bill ’ s passage . “ If that had happened , I believe this result would have been very different . ”\nMr. Cruz ’ s battle cry seemed to resonate Thursday across the country with a new generation of tea-party-style candidates who have announced bids to run against veteran GOP lawmakers in 2014 .\nIn South Carolina , Nancy Mace , the first female graduate of The Citadel , lampooned GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham for being the sole Republican in the state ’ s congressional delegation to support the debt deal .\nAnother Graham opponent , state Sen. Lee Bright , also blasted the deal : “ We didn ’ t get anything … We surrendered again . ”\nIn Tennessee , state Rep. Joe Carr accused Sen. Lamar Alexander of violating conservative principles by voting to raise the debt ceiling without any accompanying spending cuts .\nAnd in Louisville , Ky. , Matt Bevin , a wealthy businessman , running against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , praised Mr. Cruz as the new face of the conservative movement and blasted Mr. McConnell , who wrote the final debt deal with his Democratic counterpart , Majority Leader Harry Reid .\n“ This shutdown was completely avoidable if we had real leadership in Washington , ” Mr. Bevin said in a Web video . “ Instead , we have career politicians like Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid that make decisions based on what is political expediency for them , not on principles and not on what is in the best interest of the American people . ”\nFormer Alaska Gov . Sarah Palin , the party ’ s 2008 vice president candidate , also weighed in , urging her supporters via Facebook not to “ be discouraged by the shenanigans of D.C. ’ s permanent political class today . ”\n“ We ’ re going to shake things up in 2014 , ” Mrs. Palin said . “ Rest well tonight , for soon we must focus on important House and Senate races . Let ’ s start with Kentucky — which happens to be awfully close to South Carolina , Tennessee , and Mississippi — from sea to shining sea we will not give up . We ’ ve only just begun to fight . ”\nThe tea party , though , could face an uphill battle in the 2014 campaign season .\nA new Pew Research Center poll that found the popularity of the tea party — including within Republican ranks — has plummeted in recent months and even more so since 2010 when it helped the GOP take over the House .\nNow 49 percent of the public has an unfavorable view of the tea party , compared to 30 percent who hold a favorable view .\n“ The tea party ’ s favorability rating has fallen across most groups since June , but the decline has been particularly dramatic among moderate and liberal Republicans , ” the poll analysis says . “ In the current survey , just 27 percent of moderate and liberal Republicans have a favorable impression of the tea party , down from 46 percent in June . ”\nJim Manley , a Democratic strategist , said that the budget stalemate may have weakened the tea party within Congress , though it hasn ’ t been eliminated .\n“ What ’ s interesting is that more and more senators have had it with the antics of Sens . Cruz and Lee , ” Mr. Manley said . “ The ‘ just say no ’ crowd is down to only 18 in the Senate Republican caucus , a tremendous change from only a few months ago . ” | allsides-corpus-535 |
The event has become more carnival than conservative salon . | AP Photos CPAC muddle mirrors GOP mess\nIt ’ s not hard to make fun of CPAC . From the presence of Donald Trump to a meaningless straw poll to a cavalcade of fringe-dwelling book merchants , the event has become more carnival than conservative salon .\nWhat is more notable about this year ’ s rendition of the annual confab , which begins outside Washington on Thursday , is not the easy caricature but how thoroughly the Conservative Political Action Conference reflects the state of the Republican Party four months after yet another humbling presidential defeat . It is a muddle , but a muddle with meaning .\nEstablishment Republicans are angry that popular GOP governors Chris Christie and Bob McDonnell are being snubbed , but conservatives , seeing Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush invited , are moaning that a traditional movement event has been annexed by the country club crowd .\nFuture Republican bright lights will be in attendance , but so will yesterday ’ s news , most of it with headlines no one wants to read .\nA Republican gay group isn ’ t welcome yet neither are hard-liners on immigration .\nAnd another member of the Paul family is poised , to the frustration of organizers , to again win the presidential straw poll .\nFor decades , perhaps even for a century now , Republicans have grappled with their moderate-conservative divide . But as the CPAC jumble illustrates , the confusion surrounding the party is now more complex than the enduring center vs. right paradigm .\n“ We all need to be singing from same hymnal , ” cautions former Mississippi governor and Clinton-era Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour . “ When the other side has the megaphone of the White House , it makes it all the more important that your side sticks together on message and has more message discipline . We have to have moderate Republicans , conservative Republicans , neo-con Republicans , tea party people all saying , ‘ Here are the thing we agree on and that we should emphasize . ’ ”\nBut as CPAC gets under way , it ’ s the differences that are coming into stark relief . The gathering has long been seen as an early indicator about the state of conservatives and that ’ s no different today . But unfortunately for the right , it ’ s the GOP ’ s identity crisis that now ’ s being reflected by CPAC .\nAnd it ’ s a dark night of the soul that ’ s been building for years . Each of the three legs of Ronald Reagan ’ s venerated Republican stool has gone wobbly in the wake of consecutive White House defeats , as the party grapples with both a core constituency that ’ s increasingly at odds with public opinion and the legacy of its most recentpresident .\nThe pillars of the conservative era ushered in by Reagan — a muscular defense , traditional cultural values and devotion to free markets – are being questioned by leading Republicans , and what could take the place of the Gipper ’ s trinity is now being openly debated in a fashion more reminiscent of the famously fractious Democrats of yore .\nRepublican leaders are questioning the interventionist foreign policy that President George W. Bush and the party ’ s last two nominees paid obeisance to ; party elites are urging a more tolerant or even supportive stance on gay rights and would be just fine if abortion wasn ’ t discussed at all ; and while conservative thinkers muse about a harder line on Wall Street , many GOP governors are bowing to the greatest expansion of the welfare state since the Great Society and their contemporaries in Congress , having just raised taxes at the start of the year , still entertain the possibility of more revenue increases in exchange for a fiscal grand bargain .\n“ We have to , as a Republican Party , get bigger , not smaller , and we ’ re a party that ’ s becoming more regionalized and I think a smaller , less significant national party , ” said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul , deadpanning : “ We ’ re a great red state party . ”\nThe way to compete in blue America , Paul said , is to embrace a more restrained foreign policy and take a federalist approach on values issues .\n“ If you want to get together a majority in California I think your only chance is to be more of a libertarian Republican , ” said Paul , who is considering a presidential bid in 2016 and believes the views of his father , former congressman and long-shot presidential hopeful Ron Paul , are being vindicated . “ So it ’ s funny that those who resisted the influence of libertarian Republicans from 2008 to 2012 – I think we ’ re smart to revisit that . When I talk to the national party I think they ’ re aware of that . ”\nBut while Paul seeks to remake the GOP in his image , other party leaders , such as Barbour , hope to downplay differences and believe consensus is the only way to be relevant in the Obama era . Open internal warfare , this view goes , merely offers aid and comfort to the opposition . In other words , Republicans can ’ t even agree on whether they should litigate their disagreements . | allsides-corpus-536 |
It is so nice that the shackles have been taken off me and I can now fight for America the way I want to . — Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) October 11 , 2016\nThat tweet sent shock waves through the political world yesterday . Democrats understood it to mean that the next four weeks are going to be an ugly mud-wrestling contest the likes of which this country has never seen . They donned their hazmat suits and ventured into the mire . The Republicans , on the other hand , understood that Donald Trump had just declared war on their party .\nIn a flurry of tweets , he characterized House speaker Paul Ryan as `` weak and ineffective '' and claimed he provided `` zero support . '' He then accused Sen. John McCain of being foul-mouthed and begging for his support in the past . And he said the GOP was harder to deal with than his Democratic rival declaring , “ Disloyal R ’ s are far more difficult than Crooked Hillary . They come at you from all sides . They don ’ t know how to win — I will teach them ! ” Trump was n't just unshackled , he had staged a prison break and was running screaming through the streets as his many millions of fans cheered him on .\nAll this evidently came as a surprise to the GOP establishment , which apparently assumed it could abandon all pretense of supporting its own presidential nominee with no repercussions . Apparently leading Republicans still do n't understand what is happening to their party . They seem to be under the impression that their only problem is a strange interloper by the name of Donald Trump , and they could n't be more wrong . Their problem is that they have a large and powerful faction of voters who despise them as much as they despise the Democrats .\nWhen President Obama was elected , the Republican base of the party , demoralized and defeated after the mess of the Bush administration , the Great Recession and the euphoria of the Obama campaign , quickly gathered its wits and reformed itself into a new entity they called the Tea Party . At first it simply existed to oppose President Obama 's agenda , the health care reforms in particular . Backed by big special interests and right-wing media , they became a force to reckon with and in 2010 , with the economy still mired in recession and people still feeling desperate , they helped the Republicans win back a congressional majority , along the way unseating some long-term Republican incumbents like Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah and Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina , both taken down by primary challenges from the Tea Party right . They marched into Washington with a mandate to confront the establishment .\nThe new insurrectionists also wanted to blow some things up just to show they could , which led to government shutdowns and `` hostage taking '' and sequestration . It proved they had power to gum up the works but it did n't result in taking back the White House in 2012 , even with Rep. Paul Ryan , every Republican 's dreamboat , on the ticket . That defeat did n't change their strategy one bit . In fact they redoubled their efforts to turn Washington into a combat zone and whatever small amount of comity was left fell completely apart .\nIn 2010 and 2012 , Tea Party candidates repeatedly won primaries against GOP incumbents or more qualified politicians , often leading to bad results in the general election . They tended to nominate extremists and fringe characters like Sharron Angle in Nevada and Richard Mourdock in Indiana who could n't win . To some extent the Tea Party base did n't care whether the GOP won the seat or not . They were happy to flex their muscles against the establishment and put all officeholders on notice that if they did n't toe the line , they could be next .\nThen came the earthquake of 2014 , when the Tea Party and talk radio joined together to help an obscure college professor named Dave Brat take down a very powerful member of Congress . That was , of course , Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia , the House majority leader , who had been touted just a couple of years earlier as one of the conservative Republican `` young guns , '' the future of the party . Pundits and analysts insisted at the time that the reasons were all local in nature and had nothing to do with broader trends . They were wrong . Brat won because of one issue : immigration , which was stimulating the right in a way they had n't seen since the early days of the Obamacare town halls . The primary defeat of Cantor showed the GOP leadership they had targets on their backs too .\nA year later , fellow Young Gun Paul Ryan reluctantly took the speakership after John Boehner sacrificed himself in order to get a budget agreement that would hold through the election . Predictably , Ryan soon became an object of mistrust and disappointment . The base , you see , does n't understand how our government works , and truly believed that if they sent representatives to Congress they could successfully roll back every liberal achievement of the past 60 years . They 've been angry at the GOP for failing to do the impossible for quite some time .\nThis is the same base that today is supporting Donald Trump , the man who reportedly paid someone to listen to talk radio , read right-wing news sites and brief him on them regularly , going all the way back to 2011 . He sensed the potency of the racism Barack Obama evoked among that crowd , which was why he based his aborted 2012 run on birtherism . He understood before anyone else that these people were fundamentally xenophobic white nationalists who were looking for someone to articulate their rage about what they saw as the loss of their rightful social status at the hands of nonwhite non-Christians . He also shared their outrage at what they see as threats to American global dominance from immigrants , Muslim extremists and Asian economic competition . Trump understood the Republican base better than the Republican Party itself did back in 2011 and he understands them better today .\nJust as the congressional leadership has been caught between a rock and a hard place in the House and Senate these past few years , with the normal workings of our governmental system clashing with the angry base 's demand that they unilaterally disable the executive branch , they are caught now between the moderate Republicans and independents they need to keep their congressional majority and their angry base , who love Trump and will once more rebel if those they send to Washington fail to fulfill their wishes .\nThis then is just the latest iteration of a dynamic that 's been going on for years . Trump is simply the first opportunist to take it to the presidential level . That dynamic dictates that when he loses , leading figures of the GOP establishment will be blamed whether they stick with Trump or not , so they might as well do what they think is right . The question after all this time is whether they even remember what that is . | allsides-corpus-537 |
Conservatives have found their candidate for one of 2016 's most important Senate races : Florida Congressman Ron DeSantis .\nSoon after he launched his bid Wednesday , a trifecta of deep-pocketed Tea Party-aligned groups — the Senate Conservatives Fund , the Club for Growth and FreedomWorks — all signaled they would back the two-term congressman in his bid to succeed Sen. Marco Rubio , R-Fla. , who 's running for president .\nFlorida is an important state in 2016 for many reasons . It will not only be a crucial part of any White House campaign , but it will also be critical in the battle for control of the Senate . While Republicans won the majority in 2014 , two years later they will find themselves almost entirely on defense , defending 24 seats — several in blue-leaning states President Obama carried — compared to the just 10 Democrats are defending . Democrats need to flip just five seats to take back the Senate .\nSo with few GOP primaries where they can make a mark , the trio of conservatives groups quickly circled their wagons around DeSantis , who won a competitive GOP primary for a new seat in 2012 . The race sets up what could become the most important Tea Party versus establishment clash next year .\nIn less than three years in the House , DeSantis has staked out a conservative foothold . He was among the founders of the new House Freedom Caucus , created to try and nudge GOP leadership to the right . He 's a Harvard Law grad , who later served in the Navy JAG Corps , and he 's currently the only declared GOP candidate in the Florida Senate contest so far . Several top-tier candidates , who were expected to run , surprisingly passed .\nAn aide with the National Republican Senatorial Committee said it has met with DeSantis , `` respect his candidacy '' and will meet with anyone interested in running . Other Republicans who could enter the race include Lt. Gov . Carlos Lopez Cantera , fellow Reps. Jeff Miller and David Jolly and former state Attorney General Bill McCollum , who lost a 2010 gubernatorial primary .\nIf a split within the GOP does emerge , with conservatives firmly on DeSantis 's side , it could not only hurt Republicans ' chances of holding onto the seat they need for their Senate calculus , but it could harm the party 's presidential nominee , too .\nNational Democrats were eager to paint him as a `` Tea Party extremist , '' calling DeSantis `` wildly out of step with mainstream Floridians . '' They have endorsed moderate Rep. Patrick Murphy , D-Fla. , as their nominee , but he could still face a bitter primary of his own from the more progressive and bombastic Rep. Alan Grayson , D-Fla .\nConservative groups had been making the pitch to DeSantis , who played in the Little League World Series and captained the Yale baseball team , to jump in the race ever since Rubio made his White House bid official and announced he would n't run for reelection to the Senate .\nThese are the same groups that were instrumental in helping now-presidential candidates Sens . Ted Cruz , R-Texas , Rand Paul , R-Ky. , and even Rubio win their primaries . The groups also tried unsuccessfully to oust several incumbents last cycle in Mississippi and Kansas , and they could still take aim at Sen. John McCain , R-Ariz. , this cycle as well .\nBut with few open GOP primaries to play in , DeSantis will have their heavy support . | allsides-corpus-538 |
FILE - In this June 28 , 2019 , file photo , President Donald Trump , right , shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin , left , during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka , Japan . Intelligence officials say Russia is interfering with the 2020 election to try to help Trump get reelected , The New York Times reported Thursday , Feb. 20 , 2020 . ( AP Photo/Susan Walsh , File )\nFILE - In this June 28 , 2019 , file photo , President Donald Trump , right , shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin , left , during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka , Japan . Intelligence officials say Russia is interfering with the 2020 election to try to help Trump get reelected , The New York Times reported Thursday , Feb. 20 , 2020 . ( AP Photo/Susan Walsh , File )\nWASHINGTON ( AP ) — Intelligence officials have warned lawmakers that Russia is interfering in the 2020 election campaign to help President Donald Trump get reelected , according to three officials familiar with the closed-door briefing .\nTrump pushed back Friday accusing Democrats of launching a disinformation campaign .\n“ Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to , after two weeks , count their votes in Iowa . Hoax number 7 ! ” Trump tweeted .\nThe officials , who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence , said Thursday that the briefing last week focused on Russia ’ s efforts to influence the 2020 election and sow discord in the American electorate . The intelligence warning was first reported by The New York Times and The Washington Post .\nA senior administration official told The ███ that the news infuriated Trump , who complained that Democrats would use the information against him . Over the course of his presidency , Trump has dismissed the intelligence community ’ s assessment of Russia ’ s 2016 election interference as a conspiracy to undermine his victory . The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private meeting .\nA day after the Feb. 13 briefing to the House committee , Trump berated the then-director of national intelligence , Joseph Maguire , and he announced this week that Maguire would be replaced by Richard Grenell , a Trump loyalist .\nMoscow denied any meddling . Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday that the allegations are “ paranoid reports that , unfortunately , there will be more and more of as we get closer to the elections ( in the U.S. ) . Of course , they have nothing to do with the truth . ”\nHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi tweeted that , “ American voters should decide American elections — not Vladimir Putin. ” She added that all members of Congress “ should condemn the President ’ s reported efforts to dismiss threats to the integrity of our democracy & to politicize our intel community . ”\nRep. Adam Schiff , D-Calif. , the chairman of the House intelligence committee , tweeted : “ We count on the intelligence community to inform Congress of any threat of foreign interference in our elections . If reports are true and the President is interfering with that , he is again jeopardizing our efforts to stop foreign meddling . Exactly as we warned he would do . ”\nU.S. intelligence agencies say Russia interfered in the 2016 election through social media campaigns and stealing and distributing emails from Democratic accounts . They say Russia was trying to boost Trump ’ s campaign and add chaos to the American political process . Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded that Russian interference was “ sweeping and systematic , ” but he did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign .\nRepublican lawmakers who were in last week ’ s briefing by the DNI ’ s chief election official , Shelby Pierson , pushed back by noting that Trump has been tough on Russia , one of the officials said .\nWhile Trump has imposed severe economic sanctions on Russia , he also has spoken warmly of Russian leader Vladimir Putin and withdrawn troops from areas , like Syria , where Moscow could fill the vacuum . He delayed military aid last year to Ukraine , a Russian adversary — a decision that was at the core of his impeachment proceedings .\nThe Times said Trump was angry that the House briefing was made before Schiff , the panel ’ s chairman , who led the impeachment proceedings .\nTrump on Thursday formally appointed Grenell , the U.S. ambassador to Germany , to replace Maguire as the new acting director of national intelligence . Maguire was required to step down soon under federal law governing acting appointments . The Times cited two administration officials as saying the timing , after the intelligence briefing , was coincidental .\nGrenell ’ s background is primarily in politics and media affairs . He lacks the extensive national security and military experience of Maguire , as well as previous holders of the position overseeing the nation ’ s 17 intelligence agencies .\nHis appointment does little to heal the president ’ s fraught relations with the intelligence community , which Trump has derided as part of a “ deep state ” of entrenched bureaucrats that seek to undermine his agenda . The administration has most notably feuded with the intelligence community over the Russian interference and the events surrounding Trump ’ s impeachment .\nPierson told NPR in an interview that aired last month that the Russians “ are already engaging in influence operations relative to candidates going into 2020 . But we do not have evidence at this time that our adversaries are directly looking at interfering with vote counts or the vote tallies . ”\nPierson , appointed in July 2019 by then-Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats , works with intelligence agencies like the CIA , the FBI , the National Security Agency and the Department of Homeland Security to identify anyone seeking to interfere with U.S. elections .\nPierson told NPR that the U.S. doesn ’ t know exactly what the Russians are planning , but she said it ’ s not just a Russia problem .\n“ We ’ re still also concerned about China , Iran , non-state actors , hacktivists and frankly — certainly for DHS and FBI - even Americans that might be looking to undermine confidence in the elections . ”\nAt an open hearing this month , FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee that Russia was engaged in “ information warfare ” heading into the November election , but that law enforcement had not seen efforts to target America ’ s infrastructure . He said Russia is relying on a covert social media campaign to divide the American public . | allsides-corpus-539 |
President Obama ’ s admission Friday that he asked Vladimir Putin in September to halt Russia ’ s cyber attacks prompted a rebuke by Sen. Lindsey Graham , South Carolina Republican , who said the comment shows how “ weak ” the outgoing executive ’ s handling of the Kremlin has been .\nFielding questions about the hacking campaign during his last scheduled press conference as president , Mr. Obama on Friday said he personally appealed to Mr. Putin earlier this year and told him to stop the cyberattacks or face “ serious consequences . ”\nU.S. officials “ did not see further tampering of the election process ” afterwards , Mr. Obama added . According to Mr. Graham , however , Moscow was hardly deterred by Washington ’ s warning .\n“ Clearly Putin was not impressed by Obama threat in September to cut it out or face consequences , ” Mr. Graham tweeted on Friday in response to Mr. Obama ’ s remarks .\n“ There would be no strong Putin without a weak Obama , ” the senator said in a subsequent tweet . “ President-elect Trump won ’ t become the 3rd American president to misjudge Vladimir Putin , ” he wrote in another .\nA frequent critic of the Kremlin , Mr. Graham has repeatedly called on his congressional colleagues in recent weeks to investigate Russia ’ s purported use of computer hacks and email leaks to influence the outcome of this year ’ s White House race . Earlier this week those pleas took a personal turn when the former presidential hopeful accused Russian hackers of compromising his own recent White House campaign .\n“ Our campaign vendor that we use was hacked , ” Mr. Graham told CNN on Wednesday . “ We were told by the FBI in August that we were hacked in June . ”\nThe U.S. intelligence community announced in October that its investigators were confident that the Russian government ordered a hacking campaign waged against American targets in the run-up to last month ’ s election , including the Democratic National Committee and other organizations and individuals tied to the Democratic Party , and security researchers have since tied those hacking campaigns to similar efforts waged against victims including former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ’ s campaign manager , John Podesta .\n“ I do believe the Russians hacked into the DNC . I do believe they hacked into Podesta ’ s email account . They hacked into my campaign account , ” Mr. Graham told CNN this week .\nThat activity , according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence , was “ intended to interfere with the U.S. election process . ”\n“ Not much happens in Russia without Vladimir Putin , ” Mr. Obama said at Friday ’ s press conference . “ This happened at the highest levels of the Russian government . ”\nMr. Putin has denied the allegations . Nonetheless , the U.S. will retaliate at a “ time and place of our own choosing , ” Mr. Obama said Friday . | allsides-corpus-540 |
Four former U.S. defense secretaries issue a warning about China and a wake-up call to Americans on artificial intelligence .\nAs Secretaries of Defense , we anticipated and addressed threats to our nation , sought strategic opportunities , exercised authority , direction , and control over the U.S. military , and executed many other tasks in order to protect the American people and our way of life . During our combined service leading the Department of Defense , we navigated historical inflection points – the end of the Cold War and its aftermath , the War on Terror , and the reemergence of great power competition .\nNow , based on our collective experience , we believe the development and application of artificial intelligence and machine learning will dramatically affect every part of the Department of Defense , and will play as prominent a role in our country ’ s future as the many strategic shifts we witnessed while in office .\nThe digital revolution is changing our society at an unprecedented rate . Nearly 60 years passed between the construction of the first railroads in the United States and the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad . Smartphones were introduced just 20 years ago and have already changed how we manage our finances , connect with family members , and conduct our daily lives .\nAI will have just as significant an impact on our national defense , and likely in even less time . Its effects , however , will extend beyond the military to the rest of American society . AI has already changed health care , business practices , and law enforcement , and its impact will only increase .\nAs this AI-driven transformation occurs , we must keep our democratic values firmly in mind and at the center of any dialogue about AI . Developers embed their values into their products whether they mean to or not . Social media platforms make tradeoffs between free speech and protection from harassment . Smartphone companies choose whether or not to develop operating systems that block the activation of cameras and microphones without users ’ permission . Just as surely , AI developed by authoritarian governments and the companies they finance will reflect authoritarian values .\nHowever , if designed with American values , AI can empower individuals by freeing them from mundane tasks , by increasing access to information , and by helping optimize decisions , all while respecting individual liberties and fundamental human rights . We ’ ve seen examples of how other AI designs will empower governments , particularly authoritarian governments . Their AI designs value those in power more than their citizens , by amplifying sensors that monitor populations , valuing state access to data more than privacy , and creating automation that empowers central decision makers . Just as a highway system that centralizes major cities naturally increase the cities ’ importance , societies using a network architecture and series of AI models with embedded authoritarian values will begin to reflect those same values .\nAmericans must ensure we deliberately and carefully embed our values into the technology that is already shaping our world . To do so , we need to lead the world in AI research and development , provide commercial and public systems to the world that reflect democratic values , and lead the global conversation on AI standards in concert with our allies , especially regarding AI ’ s use in war .\nThe American people need to play an active role by contacting their representatives , participating in public forums , and shaping private sector decisions . The DoD must invest in research and development in fields with few incentives for private sector investment . It must also lead the world in establishing standards for the ethical and safe use of AI by ensuring AI does not increase the risk of escalation and behaves as its users intend during military operations .\nThe United States has allowed China to begin shaping the conversation about norms . The Defense Department this week issued ethics guidelines for artificial intelligence , but it ’ s only a start . If we do not correct this deficiency , we can not guarantee that the technology that shapes the world our children and grandchildren will live in will reinforce rather than threaten the freedoms we have enjoyed .\nThe government is already working to ensure the United States and our allies lead the world in the development and use of AI . Departments and agencies have launched critical AI initiatives . Congress is playing a prominent role by developing a broad array of legislative initiatives , including the creation of the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence . We urge our fellow Americans in academia , industry , and from across the country to educate themselves about what ’ s at stake , and to work together to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with this emerging technology .\nOur country entered the First World War to help decide the great question of that time : Will humanity make a world safe for democracy ? We didn ’ t seek a world filled with democracies , or even led by democracies , just a world safe for democracies to exist . Today we ’ ve come far , but we must not lose sight of the threats our country and its leaders understood more than a century ago : that the world is not a safe place for nations committed to individual liberties and other fundamental human rights by default , that global stability is not the norm , and that regimes that value their own power over the freedom and rights of their people would persist . AI will play an important role in every American ’ s future . If we do not lead its development and ensure it reflects our values , authoritarian regimes will ensure it reflects theirs . This is not just an issue of technology , it is an issue of national security . | allsides-corpus-541 |
We are often told that law enforcement must have a way to get around strong encryption technologies in order to catch bad guys . Such a `` backdoor '' into security techniques would only be used when necessary and would be closely guarded so it would not fall into the wrong hands , the story goes .\nThe intelligence community does not yet have a known custom-built backdoor into encryption . But intelligence agencies do hold a trove of publicly unknown vulnerabilities , called `` zero days , '' they use to obtain hard-to-get data . One would hope that government agencies , especially those explicitly dedicated to security , could adequately protect these potent weapons .\nA recently released 2017 DOJ investigation into a breach of the CIA Center for Cyber Intelligence 's ( CCI ) `` Vault 7 '' hacking tools publicized in 2016 suggests that might be too big of an ask . Not only was the CCI found to be more interested in `` building up cyber tools than keeping them secure , '' the nation 's top spy agency routinely made rookie security mistakes that ultimately allowed personnel to leak the goods to Wikileaks .\nThe released portions of the report are frankly embarrassing . The CCI cyber arsenal was not appropriately compartmentalized , users routinely shared admin-level passwords without oversight , there seemed to be little controls over what content users could access , and data was stored and available to all users indefinitely . No wonder there was a breach .\nIt gets worse . Because the CIA servers lacked activity monitoring and audit capabilities , the agency did not even realize it was hacked until Wikileaks publicly announced it in March of 2017 . As the report notes , if the hack was the result of a hostile foreign government like , say , China , the CIA might still be in the dark about the hack . Might there be other unknown breaches that fit this bill ?\nThe report recommended several measures the CIA should take to shore up its internal defenses . Among the few that were not redacted : do a better job of protecting zero days and vetting personnel . Okay , so do n't make all of the same mistakes again : got it .\nWell , it looks like even this goal was too ambitious for the CIA . Intelligence gadfly Sen. Ron Wyden ( D–Ore . ) , who first publicized the report , wrote a letter Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe stating that `` the intelligence community is still lagging behind '' three years after the report was first published . He demanded public answers for outstanding security problems in the intelligence community , such as a lack of basic practices like multi-factor and email authentication protocols .\nWhat a snafu . It is absurd enough that the CIA of all places can not even implement basic password protection programs . But when intelligence hacking units can not even manage to protect its own hacking tools , our troubles multiply .\nThe CIA is unfortunately not uniquely incompetent among the intelligence community . The National Security Agency ( NSA ) found itself the victim of a similar zero day link in the 2016 Shadow Brokers dump . These are just two incidents that the public knows about . A culture of lax security practices invites attacks from all kinds of actors . We do n't know how many times such hacking tools may have been discovered by more secretive outfits .\nMany policy implications follow . There is a strong case to be made that intelligence agencies should not hoard zero-day vulnerabilities at all but should report them to the appropriate body for quick patching . This limits their toolkit , but it makes everyone safer overall . Of course , foreign and other hostile entities are unlikely to unilaterally disarm in this way .\nThe intelligence community supposedly has a process for vetting which zero days should be reported and which are appropriate to keep secret , called the Vulnerabilities Equities Process ( VEP ) . Agencies must describe a vulnerability to a board who decides whether it 's dangerous enough to need patching or useful enough for spying purposes .\nFor example , a vulnerability in some technology that is only used in China would probably be kept for operations . Theoretically , a vulnerability in some technology that is widely-used in the United States would be reported for fixing to keep Americans safe . As these incidents show , this does not always happen .\nThe VEP process is clearly insufficient , given these high-profile breaches . The very least the intelligence community can do is appropriately secure the bugs they 've got . Efforts like Wyden 's seek to impose more accountability on these practices .\nThere 's a more general lesson about government efforts to improve security and privacy as well .\nAs implied earlier , we should strongly resist government efforts to compromise encryption in the name of law enforcement or anything else . Some of the most technically savvy government bodies can not even secure the secret weapons they have not advertised . Can you imagine the attack vectors if they publicly attain some master encryption-breaking technique ?\nIt also demonstrates the weaknesses of many top-down proposals to promote privacy or security . Government plans often attempt to sketch out master checklists that must be followed perfectly on all levels to work well . They can be time-consuming and burdensome , which means that personnel often cut corners and shirk accountability . Then when disaster inevitably strikes , the conclusion is that `` people did n't stick to the plan hard enough , '' not that the plan was generally unrealistic to start .\nThere is n't a lot that the public can do about seemingly out-of-control intelligence agencies failing to secure potent cyberweapons beyond making a fuss . `` National security '' and all that . But it does give us a powerful argument against granting more power to these insecure intelligence bodies to break strong encryption . Governments ca n't even protect their secret cyber weapons . They almost certainly will not be able to protect a known backdoor into encryption . | allsides-corpus-542 |
Donald Trump grew testy during the final presidential debate Wednesday night when the topic turned to Russia ’ s alleged interference in the U.S. election . “ [ Hillary Clinton ] has no idea whether it ’ s Russia , China , or anybody else , ” Trump said , referring to a series of cyber-attacks that resulted in WikiLeaks releasing thousands of e-mails belonging to the Democratic National Convention and , more recently , Clinton campaign chair John Podesta . “ Our country has no idea. ” In fact , 17 different intelligence agencies have all concluded that Russia was behind the hacks , as Clinton pointed out . But the high-profile security breach was hardly a Mission Impossible–style operation . Instead , a new report suggests , Podesta unwittingly handed over his e-mail password when he fell for one of the oldest tricks in the hacker playbook .\nSecureWorks , a security firm looking into the hackings , told Motherboard that Podesta had fallen prey to a common phishing attack set up by a Russian hacking ring known as Fancy Bear . According to Motherboard , the group had sent several members of Clinton ’ s inner-circle e-mails in March with a custom Bitly link leading to a fake Gmail login page . Podesta had clicked on the link and entered his password , thus giving the hackers unfettered access to his account .\nFancy Bear , which is also known as APT28 and Sofacy , was also allegedly behind a similar attack on the D.N.C . last summer . Writing for Esquire , King ’ s College professor Thomas Rid explained how the group made its “ gravest mistake ” by forgetting to set the Bitly links to private , thus allowing investigators to see whom else the group had targeted . “ Among the group ’ s recent breaches were the German parliament , the Italian military , the Saudi foreign ministry , the e-mail accounts of Philip Breedlove , Colin Powell , and John Podesta—Hillary Clinton ’ s campaign chairman—and , of course , the DNC , ” he wrote .\nIt is widely believed that the Russian government is sponsoring the attacks , and disseminating the information to Clinton ’ s foes , including WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange . “ There is no longer any doubt that Putin is trying to help Donald Trump by weaponizing WikiLeaks , ” a Clinton spokesman said in a statement Thursday .\nThe threat of Russian espionage has become one of the key issues in the 2016 election—not just because it reveals critical weaknesses in America ’ s cyber-security , but also because it highlights how Russia has sought to tilt the presidential election in favor of Donald Trump . And John Podesta , for one , is not making matters easier . One hopes that the next time the 67-year-old former chief of staff to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama receives an e-mail with a funny-looking link , he thinks twice before clicking . | allsides-corpus-543 |
But the Pentagon report describes something far more sophisticated : a China that has now leapt into the first ranks of offensive cybertechnologies . It is investing in electronic warfare capabilities in an effort to blind American satellites and other space assets , and hopes to use electronic and traditional weapons systems to gradually push the United States military presence into the mid-Pacific nearly 2,000 miles from China ’ s coast .\nThe report argues that China ’ s first aircraft carrier , the Liaoning , commissioned last September , is the first of several carriers the country plans to deploy over the next 15 years . It said the carrier would not reach “ operational effectiveness ” for three or four years , but is already set to operate in the East and South China Seas , the site of China ’ s territorial disputes with several neighbors , including Japan , Indonesia , the Philippines and Vietnam . The report notes a new carrier base under construction in Yuchi .\nThe report also detailed China ’ s progress in developing its stealth aircraft , first tested in January 2011 .\nThree months ago the Obama administration would not officially confirm reports in The New York Times , based in large part on a detailed study by the computer security firm Mandiant , that identified P.L.A . Unit 61398 near Shanghai as the likely source of many of the biggest thefts of data from American companies and some government institutions .\nUntil Monday , the strongest critique of China had come from Thomas E. Donilon , the president ’ s national security adviser , who said in a speech at the Asia Society in March that American companies were increasingly concerned about “ cyberintrusions emanating from China on an unprecedented scale , ” and that “ the international community can not tolerate such activity from any country. ” He stopped short of blaming the Chinese government for the espionage .\nBut government officials said the overall issue of cyberintrusions would move to the center of the United States-China relationship , and it was raised on recent trips to Beijing by Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , Gen. Martin E. Dempsey .\nTo bolster its case , the report argues that cyberweapons have become integral to Chinese military strategy . It cites two major public works of military doctrine , “ Science of Strategy ” and “ Science of Campaigns , ” saying they identify “ information warfare ( I.W . ) as integral to achieving information superiority and an effective means for countering a stronger foe. ” But it notes that neither document “ identifies the specific criteria for employing a computer network attack against an adversary , ” though they “ advocate developing capabilities to compete in this medium . ” | allsides-corpus-544 |
What Barack Obama will see , when on Friday he becomes the first sitting US president to visit Hiroshima , is a large esplanade lined with trees , with a cenotaph monument to the victims of the A-bomb , with the words : “ the error of the past will not be repeated ” . In the memorial park , he will see the gutted , skeletal , dome-shaped building that was once an exhibition hall ; it has been preserved as the only structure left standing in the area where the Enola Gay dropped its charge at 8:15am , on 6 August 1945 . He will also visit a museum exhibiting pictures of the city before and after the blast , as well as descriptions of what its inhabitants suffered in the inferno .\nMr Obama will not offer an apology for the decision taken by his wartime predecessor , Harry Truman – that would mean breaking a decades-old taboo among successive US administrations , and the White House has made clear Mr Obama would avoid such a move . But he will no doubt find the words to make the call that has been a hallmark of his presidency : the call to work towards a “ world without nuclear weapons ” . Mr Obama first pronounced those words in a 2009 speech in Prague , and they helped him secure the Nobel peace prize later that same year . But seven years on , the message – and the dream – has run up against a wall of geopolitical realities .\nThe Japanese have long awaited a US presidential acknowledgement of the horrors unleashed on Hiroshima 71 years ago and then , three days later , Nagasaki . Some may take Mr Obama ’ s visit as vindicating pacifist views , but the strategic context in Asia is not supportive of these . American nuclear deterrence is something many US allies in the region want to see consolidated , not dismantled or diminished . As he burnishes his legacy with this symbolic gesture , the president knows he needs to tread carefully , in an Asia in which China ’ s rise has caused disruptive , and sometimes alarming shifts , in the balance of power . At the heart of this visit is a striking paradox : nuclear weapons are terrifying , but , amid bitter regional standoffs , the nuclear umbrella is as much in demand as ever . And while Japan continues to officially campaign – as Mr Obama has done – for the global elimination of atomic weapons , both it and South Korea actually want to see American defence assurances reiterated , if not strengthened .\nAs well as China ’ s new military assertiveness , US allies in Asia have the unpredictability of North Korea to reckon with . China and Japan have been embroiled in a long-running dispute over ownership of the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea . China has put nerves on edge among its neighbours by building and militarising artificial islands in the South China Sea , and by claiming swaths of water . Earlier this year , North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test and it has pushed ahead with ballistic missile development in defiance of international sanctions .\nSo while Mr Obama will use his visit to Hiroshima to revisit his anti-nuclear ideals , the substantive US-Japanese dialogue will be concerned with nuclear deterrence in the face of China ’ s military build-up . The US commitment to nuclear military power will not have been reduced in any way under the Obama presidency : this year , his administration released budget proposals which include plans to spend an estimated $ 1tn over 30 years on modernising the nuclear arsenal . Those who hoped for substantive gestures towards disarmament will be left just as disappointed as those who had hoped that a 2010 US-Russia agreement on limiting the number of deployed nuclear warheads would be followed by further efforts . Mr Obama ’ s abolitionist message strikes , at best , a discordant note with current policies , and at worst may sound like outright hypocrisy .\nGeopolitical constraints have caught up with Mr Obama . The behaviour of China , North Korea and also Russia , which has indulged in nuclear sabre-rattling across Europe since the Ukraine war , have led some experts to describe a new era of nuclear deterrence , 25 years after the end of the cold war . These are certainly not developments the president wished for , but they are the circumstances that fate has dealt him .\nMore than 200,000 people were killed by the A-bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 . The devastating power of atomic warfare opened up an era where humanity ’ s very survival was suddenly at stake . The world continues to live in the shadow of the bomb , and looks set to do so after the age of Mr Obama , too . It can only be a good thing that , for the first time , a sitting American president will pay respect to Hiroshima ’ s victims . Mr Obama likes symbols and is good at speeches . But the visit also lays bare the daunting gap between a laudable , idealistic vision , and the hard realities and choices that presidents must so often confront . | allsides-corpus-545 |
Iran has declared that it will no longer abide by any of the restrictions imposed by the 2015 nuclear deal .\nIn a statement , it said it would no longer observe limitations on its capacity for enrichment , the level of enrichment , the stock of enriched material , or research and development .\nThe announcement followed a meeting of the Iranian cabinet in Tehran .\nTensions have been high over the killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani by the US in Baghdad .\nReports from Baghdad say the US embassy compound there was targeted in an attack on Sunday evening . A source told the BBC that four rounds of `` indirect fire `` had been launched in the direction of the embassy . There were no reports of casualties .\nHundreds of thousands turned out in Iran on Sunday to give Soleimani a hero 's welcome ahead of his funeral on Tuesday .\nEarlier , Iraqi MPs had passed a non-binding resolution calling for foreign troops to leave the country after the general 's killing in a drone strike at Baghdad airport on Friday .\nAbout 5,000 US soldiers are in Iraq as part of the international coalition against the Islamic State ( IS ) group . The coalition paused operations against IS in Iraq just before Sunday 's vote .\nPresident Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that the US will strike back at Iran in the event of retaliation for Soleimani 's death , and said it could do so `` perhaps in a disproportionate manner '' .\nThe 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran , on life support ever since the Trump administration abandoned it in May 2018 , may now be in its final death throes .\nDonald Trump , throughout his presidential campaign and then as president , has never failed to rail against what he calls his predecessor President Barack Obama 's `` bad deal '' . But all its other signatories - the UK , France , Russia , China , Germany and the EU - believe that it still has merit .\nThe agreement , known as the JCPOA , constrained Iran 's nuclear programme for a set period in a largely verifiable way . But its greatest significance - even more so given the current crisis - is that it helped to avert an imminent war . Before it was signed , there was mounting concern about Tehran 's nuclear activities and every chance that Israel ( or possibly Israel and the US in tandem ) might attack Iran 's nuclear facilities .\nSince the US withdrawal , Iran has successively breached key constraints of the JCPOA . Now it appears to be throwing these constraints out altogether . What matters now is what precisely it decides to do . Will it up its level of uranium enrichment , for example , to 20 % ? This would reduce significantly the time it would take Tehran to obtain suitable material for a bomb . Will it continue to abide by enhanced international inspection measures ?\nWe are now at the destination the Trump administration clearly hoped for in May 2018 . But the major powers , while deeply unhappy about Iran 's breaches of the deal , are also shocked at the controversial decision by Mr Trump to kill the head of Iran 's Quds Force , a decision that has again brought the US and Iran to the brink of war .\nUnder the 2015 accord , Iran agreed to limit its sensitive nuclear activities and allow in international inspectors in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions .\nUS President Donald Trump abandoned it in 2018 , saying he wanted to force Iran to negotiate a new deal that would place indefinite curbs on its nuclear programme and also halt its development of ballistic missiles .\nIran refused , and had since been gradually rolling back its commitments under the agreement . It had been expected to announce its latest stance on the agreement this weekend , before news of Soleimani 's death .\nIranian state media announced on Sunday that the country will no longer respect any limits laid down in the 2015 deal .\n`` Iran will continue its nuclear enrichment with no limitations and based on its technical needs , '' a statement said .\nHowever , the statement did not say that Iran was actually withdrawing from the agreement and it added that the country would continue to co-operate with the UN 's nuclear watchdog , the IAEA .\nIran , it said , was ready to return to its commitments once it enjoyed the benefits of the agreement . Correspondents say this is a reference to its inability to sell oil and have access to its income under US sanctions .\nThe country has always insisted that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful - but suspicions that it was being used to develop a bomb covertly prompted the UN Security Council , US and EU to impose crippling sanctions in 2010 .\nThe 2015 deal was designed to constrain the programme in a verifiable way in return for sanctions relief .\nIt restricted Iran 's enrichment of uranium , which is used to make reactor fuel but also nuclear weapons , to 3.67 % . Iran was also required to redesign a heavy-water reactor being built , whose spent fuel would contain plutonium suitable for a bomb , and allow international inspections .\nBefore July 2015 , Iran had a large stockpile of enriched uranium and almost 20,000 centrifuges , enough to create eight to 10 bombs , according to the White House at the time .\nUS experts estimated back then that if Iran had decided to rush to make a bomb , it would take two to three months until it had enough 90 % -enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon - the so-called `` breakout time '' .\nIran 's current `` breakout time '' , should it attempt to build a nuclear bomb , is estimated to be around a year , but this could be reduced to half a year or even a matter of months if enrichment levels are increased to 20 % , for example .\nThe other parties to the 2015 deal - the UK , France , Germany , China and Russia - tried to keep the agreement alive after the US withdrew in 2018 .\nLate on Sunday , German Chancellor Angela Merkel , French President Emmanuel Macron and British PM Boris Johnson released a joint statement urging Iran to drop measures that go against the deal .\n`` We are ready to continue talks with all parties in order to contribute to de-escalating tensions and re-establishing stability in the region , '' they said .\nEarlier on Sunday Mr Johnson said `` we will not lament '' the death of Soleimani , describing him as `` a threat to all our interests '' .\nEU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has invited Iran 's Foreign Minister , Mohammad Javad Zarif , to visit Brussels to discuss both the nuclear deal and how to defuse the crisis over the Soleimani assassination . | allsides-corpus-546 |
TOBA , Japan -- There is the soaring rhetoric . And then there 's the messy reality .\nWhen President Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe make an historic visit to Hiroshima on Friday -- the first time a sitting U.S. president has visited the site of the first atomic bomb attack -- their words advocating nuclear disarmament will clash with real-world security necessities .\nFar from backing up the vision of a world without nuclear bombs that Obama laid out in a 2009 speech that helped secure a Nobel Peace Prize , his near-finished presidency has seen a multibillion-dollar modernization of the U.S. nuclear force .\nWatching from the audience will be at least three Japanese survivors of the U.S. nuclear attacks , according to the Kyodo news agency .\nJapan 's long postwar commitment to disarmament , meanwhile , is only possible because of its reliance on the so-called American `` nuclear umbrella '' that protects it from antagonistic North Korea and China . Tokyo , should it choose , could probably easily convert its advanced civilian nuclear program into a weapons program , and some conservatives in Abe 's ruling party have argued that the country 's pacifist constitution technically allows nuclear weapons .\nDespite his own mixed record on nukes , Obama likely sees his Hiroshima visit as a worthwhile expenditure of political capital in order to shore up a global nonproliferation effort that seems at times to be crumbling .\nBefore the most recent of a series of nuclear security summits meant to reduce and protect nuclear material , Obama wrote in March that eliminating all nuclear weapons may not happen in his lifetime . `` But we have begun . As the only nation ever to use nuclear weapons , the United States has a moral obligation to continue to lead the way in eliminating them . Still , no one nation can realize this vision alone . It must be the work of the world . ''\nObama 's vision of a world without nuclear weapons was challenged almost immediately .\nHis April 2009 speech in Prague happened within hours of North Korea 's launch of a long-range rocket that outsiders , including the United Nations , called a cover for a test of banned missile technology . Pyongyang is still barreling ahead in its push for nuclear-armed missiles that could reach the U.S. mainland .\nObama secured a deal meant to limit Iran 's nuclear program , if it can be implemented amid mistrust on both sides . But Pakistan and India are still locked in a nuclear standoff . The United States and Russia , which have most of the world 's nuclear weapons , often see their geopolitical jockeying for position interfere with disarmament efforts . And there are growing worries about the security of nuclear fuel sites around the world .\nObama 's trip to Hiroshima also comes amid anxiety that North Korea 's growing nuclear and missile capabilities could lead to the top U.S. allies in Asia , Japan and South Korea , starting their own nuclear weapons programs .\nIt is highly unlikely either country will go nuclear . It could cause huge political and economic damage - crippling sanctions , global condemnation - and jeopardize their alliances with the United States .\nBut a small group in South Korea , including some conservative members of the ruling party , and some in Japan see the North Korean danger as too grave to rely only on the protection of another country . They also question whether , despite rhetoric from U.S. officials about an `` ironclad '' alliance , Washington would really use nuclear weapons and risk the lives of thousands of American troops should a belligerent North Korea attack .\nThe Chosun Ilbo , South Korea 's top newspaper by circulation , said in an editorial weeks after North Korea 's nuclear test in January that discussions in Seoul on acquiring nuclear weapons were inevitable .\nJudging by the level of American involvement in crises in Ukraine and Syria , for example , the newspaper said any U.S. help would come only after Seoul is turned into a `` pile of ashes '' by a North Korean nuclear attack .\nThis fear has been highlighted by Donald Trump , the presumptive presidential nominee for the Republican party in the United States . He has questioned the amount of money the U.S. military is forced to spend to protect its allies , and has suggested that Japan and South Korea should be allowed to develop their own nuclear weapons .\nJapan prides itself on its pacifism and disarmament , but it is only through U.S. nuclear deterrence that the country can live alongside nuclear-armed North Korea , China and Russia , without going nuclear itself .\n`` Some say this is hypocritical , '' said Ralph Cossa , president of the Pacific Forum CSIS think tank , `` but I think it is just common sense and good national security policy . The Japanese would certainly be happier if no one had nuclear weapons , but as long as several of its neighbors have them , they welcome being under America 's nuclear umbrella . ''\nYukio Okamoto , a former Japanese diplomat , said Tokyo `` is in the most difficult position '' because it is a nuclear bomb victim , surrounded by potentially hostile nuclear-armed states and dependent for its survival on U.S. nuclear deterrence .\n`` We have to walk through a very narrow passage of trying our sincere efforts toward total elimination in the long term , but at the same time trying to preserve the alliance with the United States and not to tarnish the security relationship , especially the nuclear deterrence , '' Okamoto said .\nObama finds himself divided between his anti-nuclear vision and the realities of leading a global power .\nWorries about Japan and South Korea producing nuclear weapons mean the United States must offer them nuclear protection , thereby `` going against Obama 's own call for global denuclearization , '' Charles Armstrong , an Asia expert at Columbia University , said . `` At the same time , the U.S. is modernizing its own nuclear arsenal . Thus , U.S. actions and goals are not entirely consistent . ''\nObama 's trip to Hiroshima will be filled with images of the horrors of nuclear war , and lofty statements about the need to eliminate those weapons . But some argue that for the visit to be successful , it must highlight Asia 's real nuclear dangers .\nMichael Auslin , an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute think tank in Washington , told The Japan Times : `` Asia is concerned about how Washington will deal with a more assertive China and a nuclear North Korea , not with an unrealistic aspiration to rid the world of nuclear weapons . ''\nObama may not be able to escape criticism from all sides .\nMany conservatives in the United States believe a Hiroshima visit will be a failure because it will be seen as an apology . Nonproliferation activists believe he has not gone far enough in efforts to `` earn '' his Nobel Prize .\n`` I did think Obama was serious about his nuclear-free world , but that was six or seven years ago . We are no closer today than we were when he took office to achieving that end , '' said Bruce Cumings , an Asia expert at the University of Chicago . `` I 'm sure he will bring up getting rid of nukes in his speech , but he 's in a much weaker position today , because of the ongoing upgrading of American nuclear weapons . '' | allsides-corpus-547 |
GUAM — On Saturday , the customer rush was on at Guam 's Home Depot .\nThe line had already snaked into the paint department by the time general manager Bobby Salcido opened an additional register . People shuffled over , carting batteries , flashlights and bottled water .\nAlthough , as it turns out , Yigo resident Darrell Gose really just needed a new flashlight . And Yigo resident Jesse Cruz , 39 , was restocking bottled water for everyday use around the house .\nIn fact , despite slightly lighter foot traffic during the week , it was `` a regular , everyday Saturday , '' Salcido said .\nIt was n't quite what most people would expect , considering the week Guam has had .\nSince the escalation of threats between the United States and North Korea , the island has been in the international spotlight .\nNorth Korea said it had a plan to launch missiles toward Guam in response to what it considers aggressive rhetoric from the United States .\nMeanwhile , President Trump tweeted Friday that military solutions were `` locked and loaded . ''\nOn Saturday morning , Guam Gov . Eddie Calvo received calls of assurance from Trump and White House Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly .\nIn a subsequent video message , Calvo said that although this is not the first time Guam has been threatened , `` knowing we have a president and a White House that is watching out for us , gives me great comfort . ''\nThe island 's leaders may have been comforted , but alarm on social media has quickly boosted # Guam in the media .\nAmid the concerned Twitterverse , officials advising residents what to do in case of a missile attack and media hand-wringing over what might be said or tweeted next — island residents remained calm .\nGuam residents went fishing . The University of Guam Kid 's Fishing Derby culminated its two-week program with a strong turnout of about 40 registered children , their families , and a handful of unregistered participants who just wanted to join in the fun at Asan Beach Park .\nResidents also went spear fishing , hauling in impressive catches . They went to football practice , to beaches and malls , where parking lots were predictably packed on the sunny weekend .\nAnd some went shopping — but not for what you might expect .\nHome Depot loss prevention manager Andrew Guilliot noticed a few customers stocking up on bottled water , batteries and portable fans — in other words , `` typical things you would see people buy when they 're prepping for typhoons . ''\n`` I do n't know if that has to do with recent developments , or if people are just shopping , '' Guilliot added . `` Nothing beyond basic disaster prep , as far as we 've seen in stores . ''\n`` Typically you 'd expect to see water , generators , batteries , tarps and plastic go out , '' he said , `` but we 're pretty well stocked and I have n't seen any spikes in those categories as of yet . ''\nSo far , then , Guam residents are n't flooding the aisles so much as trickling into them . That goes for the airplane aisles as well . Despite urging from well-meaning friends and relatives off-island , peopel are staying put . A check of online booking services showed seats are still available on departing flights this week .\nTrump : North Korea leader Kim Jong Un 'will regret it fast ' if he threatens U.S. or allies\nWhat war ? U.S. military not mobilizing despite North Korea threats\nNorth Korea threatens missile strike on Guam ; Trump vows 'fire and fury '\nSome residents do have disaster prepping on the brain . Ordot resident David Lessard , 55 , went to Cost-U-Less on Saturday interested in `` looking into '' the idea .\n`` I 've been reading articles a lot lately , and I 'm kind of concerned that people are making threats and North Korea 's got to save face . So either they 're making these threats and they 've got to back them up , or they 're going to have to turn around and not back them up . Either way , they 're going to lose face , '' Lessard said .\nLessard lived through the Mount Pinatubo volcanic eruption in the Philippines in 1991 , and he said he 's been through a lot of other catastrophic events . He said , `` this is probably just another one of those speed bumps in the road . ''\n`` I 've got a lot of friends calling from the states and Philippines and Japan . They 're all saying 'Dave , you better stock up , we 're real worried about you and all our prayers are with you , ' '' Lessard said . `` So we 're looking into getting some canned goods , bottled water . But it 's not a real bad feeling about it . ''\nMalojloj resident Roger Hostetler , 62 , is concerned that the leaders of North Korea and the United States are both `` kind of unstable , and the remarks that they 're making to each other may escalate the situation . ''\n`` We 're on an island . Where are we going to go ? What are we going to do ? If they hit us , I 'd rather be the first to go than one to linger , and all hell 's going to break out if they do fire a missile , I can guarantee you that , '' Hostetler said .\nHostetler , a retired Navy civil service worker , has faith in the THAAD anti-missile system and the combined Japan-U.S. military forces .\n`` I just hope China and Russia do n't get involved on the other side , '' he said .\nFor many Guam residents , however , the explosive threats are just more of the same .\nDededo resident Vicente Bautista , 62 , said he heard similar threats in 1977 when he was an Army infantryman stationed near the Demilitarized Zone .\n`` They always had a missile aiming to Guam ever since , '' Bautista said .\nHe believes that North Korea wants to show off , but does n't have the technology to back up the threats . He 's not prepping , either .\n`` I do n't believe that he 's going to fight the whole world . I doubt they 're going to start something to fire the missile here to Guam , '' Bautista said . `` I do n't think it 's ever going to happen . ''\nDededo resident Mike Soderquist , 44 , is n't intimidated either . Having lived in South Korea for about four years , Soderquist said , this is nothing new .\n`` We get that kind of rhetoric all the time from North Korea . For me , it 's just a bunch of rah-rah-rah , '' he said .\nThe island seems , in general , to agree with the first line of a simple statement issued on Friday by the Guam Chamber of Commerce : `` It is business as usual on Guam . ''\nAt the very least , it was for Soderquist , who was out shopping Saturday .\n`` I 'm just doing some regular shopping , '' Soderquist said . `` I 'm actually going to a barbecue later . '' | allsides-corpus-548 |
All signs may point to a successful and historic summit between President Trump and Kim Jong-un , but the stakes are so high that the U.S. national security community is braced for the possibility of a rapid spiral toward nuclear brinkmanship if the talks between the two men turn sour .\nWith the North Korean side notorious for bizarre antics and sudden walkouts from diplomatic meetings , it remains anyone ’ s guess how Tuesday ’ s face-to-face will ultimately play out — even as most analysts agree that Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim are both driven by domestic political motives to make it appear as a major success .\n“ It ’ s very hard for me to imagine this summit not succeeding , ” said Robert L. Gallucci , a former chief U.S. negotiator with the North Koreans , although he acknowledged that a sudden meltdown in Singapore could trigger a quick reversal to the threat-soaked posturing between Mr. Trump and Mr. Kim just a year ago .\n“ The president of the United States might hop on his airplane and come home pretty unhappy , ” Mr. Gallucci , now a professor at Georgetown University , said Friday at a discussion hosted by the Center for a New American Security in Washington . “ We would be in a situation in which we were once again talking preventive strikes and the South Koreans would be caught in the middle . ”\nOthers have put it more bluntly . Victor Cha , also a former U.S. negotiator and now adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies , has said “ the danger of a failed summit is that it could actually take us a step closer to armed conflict , because there is no diplomacy left after a [ failed ] summit . ”\nMr. Cha made the comment in April to the House Foreign Affairs Committee , arguing that “ a preventative unilateral attack by the United States on North Korea ” would need congressional approval and take into “ sober account ” the possibility of counterstrikes targeting the 350,000 U.S. military personnel and other Americans living in Japan and South Korea .\nWhile Mr. Trump has upped hopes for success — tweeting just before arrival in Singapore of “ a feeling that this one-time opportunity will not be wasted ! ” — his optimism comes against a backdrop in which the summit nearly fell apart just a few weeks ago .\nMr. Trump canceled the summit in late May after North Korea suddenly hurled invective at Washington — and specifically National Security Adviser John R. Bolton — for suggesting that Pyongyang ’ s complete denuclearization must happen quickly along a “ Libya model . ”\nWith South Korea scrambling to mediate , the two sides worked through the hiccup and got the summit back on track . But the danger of a potential collapse felt all the more real when a Pentagon spokesperson told reporters in late May that the U.S. military was “ ready to fight tonight ” should North Korea launch strikes against American interests or allies .\nThe comment was reminiscent of the height of brinkmanship in August , when fears of an armed clash soared amid Mr. Trump ’ s warning that North Korea could face “ fire and fury like the world has never seen. ” He made the threat after reports that Pyongyang had succeeded in building a nuclear bomb small enough to fit inside an intercontinental ballistic missile .\nThe nuclear-tipped ICBM fear rose after an increase in missile and nuclear tests that Pyongyang conducted in 2016 and 2017 , actions that were accompanied by state media threats toward Washington .\nMr. Bolton , who has since become the president ’ s national security adviser , made headlines as a private analyst at the time by advocating for pre-emptive strikes that could target North Korean missile facilities .\nWhile most analysts say the Singapore summit is likely go smoothly , many are skeptical that measurable progress will be made on the issue of denuclearization .\nThe Trump administration has said that in order for North Korea to get sanctions relief , Mr. Kim will have to abandon his nuclear program through “ complete , verifiable and irreversible dismantlement , ” or CVID .\nPyongyang so far has said only that it is willing to pursue a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula , and there are signs that the North ’ s definition of denuclearization differs from what Washington demands .\nIn Mr. Kim ’ s view , the notion is tied to a drawdown in nuclear capabilities across the region , including in China and Russia , said Tara O , an Asia specialist with the Center for Strategic and International Studies .\n“ It ’ s not the same as the denuclearization of North Korea , ” Ms. O said during the Center for a New American Security discussion on Friday .\nPatrick Cronin , who heads the center ’ s Asia-Pacific security program , added that “ President Trump [ will be ] trying to really look into the eyes of Kim Jong-un and say , ‘ Are you serious about [ nuclear ] dismantlement ? Because if you are , I ’ m serious about letting you build your economy. ’ “\nIf that basic level of agreement is achieved , said Mr. Cronin , there will still be major uncertainties . “ Presumably , ” he said , “ Trump and Kim are looking to see whether there is the will on both sides to begin a process that could lead to a road map that could start to be very specific in the months ahead . ”\nMr. Gallucci , meanwhile , also raised questions about denuclearization , arguing that the whole concept of CVID , while “ politically correct , ” is “ physically nonsense . ”\nThe amount of fissile nuclear material needed for a bomb may be about the “ size of a baseball , ” he said . “ So if you think they can ’ t find a place to hide five baseballs in North Korea , there ’ s something wrong here . ”\nMr. Gallucci added that better words for Mr. Trump to push are “ transparency , monitoring [ and ] verification . ”\nBut one former CIA official focused on North Korea said it ’ s hard to fathom that the North Korean leader is serious about abandoning a nuclear program that his father and grandfather worked for decades to build .\n“ Nuclear weapons are a part of North Korea ’ s national identity , ” said Jung H. Pak , who held senior U.S. intelligence positions prior to becoming a private analyst with the Brookings Institution . “ It is the guarantor of North Korea ’ s status , and it ’ s the guarantor of Kim .\n“ Unless we see a difference in the way , or any attempt at shaking down that ideological infrastructure of North Korea ’ s nuclear identity , ” Ms. Pak said at the Center for a New American Security discussion . “ I don ’ t see denuclearization as something that is a realistic goal . ” | allsides-corpus-549 |
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said recently it would be `` game on '' if North Korea were to fire a missile at the United States or its allies , but how fast things would happen is not so clear .\nA leading expert in missile defense told Fox News there would not be much time to decide to shoot down a North Korean missile .\n“ This is a game of minutes , but the initial detection of a launch would be really in terms of seconds , ” said Thomas Karako , senior fellow and director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies .\n“ Keep in mind the entire flight time from North Korea to the United States is well under any hour [ and ] the authority is given in advance . It 's predesignated , ” he added .\nThere are reports that President Trump has already authorized his national security team to act if a North Korean missile is headed toward Guam , Hawaii or the U.S. homeland .\nWhen any missile is launched around the world , it produces a plume and heat signature that is quickly picked up by U.S. military spy satellites . Almost immediately the information is transferred to the North American Aerospace Defense Command , better known as NORAD , as well as the U.S. Strategic Command , which controls the military ’ s nuclear forces .\nKarako says both NORAD and U.S. Strategic Command quickly assess where the missile is going and decide whether it is a threat to the United States , its allies or any U.S. military forces in the region .\nU.S. missile defense has come a long way since its inception 13 years ago . By the end of this year , 44 ground-based interceptor missiles will be housed in silos between two U.S. Air Force bases in Alaska and California .\nThe last two tests of the ground based interceptors have been successful despite a spotty track record previously .\n“ I 'm very confident…that this system can and will defend the homeland if attacked , ” said the former head of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency , Vice Adm. James D. Syring .\nBut even this new technology needs improving . Today ’ s “ kill vehicle ” from the interceptor missiles dates back to the 1990s , according to Karako .\nTo protect South Korea and the U.S. territory of Guam , the U.S. military has deployed the THAAD anti-ballistic missile system .\nRight now THAAD ( Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ) is only operated by the United States military , but there are only a few systems available to deploy .\n“ The United States has only about five or six [ THAAD ] batteries for the world , ” said Karako .\nThe United Arab Emirates has two THAAD batteries and the Saudis have announced they will be purchasing seven batteries , Karako said .\nTHAAD is a perfect 15 for 15 over its lifetime in controlled tests to destroy short or medium range ballistic missiles , including two recent tests from Kodiak , Alaska which shot down ballistic missiles over the Pacific .\nTHAAD missiles intercept ballistic missiles when they re-enter the Earth ’ s atmosphere .\nBut Karako says the THAAD battery currently deployed to South Korea is only “ finite . ”\nTHAAD will not protect the 25 million people living in and around Seoul , but it will buy the military time to strike back , according to Karako .\n“ North Korea has hundreds of missiles , the THAAD battery is not there to defend the entire peninsula , ” said Karako . “ This is not about having a perfect shield and sitting there and playing catch . ”\nThis week , the U.S. Army added four more launchers - over the objections of Russia and China - to join the two already in place bringing the total now to 48 missiles to defend South Korea .\nSitting off shore are Aegis destroyers that are designed to shoot down ballistic missiles outside the atmosphere in space .\nProtecting Japan are Patriot missile batteries to provide a last ditch protection should any missiles get through the Aegis warships deployed at sea .\nThe aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan was put to sea this morning from Tokyo Bay for preplanned training exercises at sea , according to the U.S. Navy .\nSeparately , a ballistic missile defense warship will always be on alert near Japan . Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will join the president and the rest of the cabinet along with their families at Camp David this weekend .\nAnd on Friday , a US Navy official confirmed that four warships had joined the USS Ronald Reagan at sea for a `` routine patrol , '' just a month after the aircraft carrier 's month-long maintenance period in Japan . The official says that two of the four warships are ballistic missile defense ships capable of shooting down North Korean missiles .\nThe four warships carry more than 100 Tomahawk cruise missiles among them .\nAhead of a meeting with Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah at the Pentagon Thursday , Defense Secretary Mattis was asked by a reporter what would happen if North Korea fired a missile at the United States or threatened any allies this weekend . | allsides-corpus-550 |
`` The Framers ... conferred , as against the Government , the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights , and the right most valued by civilized men . ''\nWhile we were all consumed by impeachment , a pernicious piece of legislation was slowly and silently making its way through Congress . It is a renewal of Section 215 of the Patriot Act .\nThe Patriot Act of 2001 has three sections that are scheduled to expire on March 15 .\nOne of those sections is the infamous 215 , which authorizes the federal government to capture without a warrant all records of all people in America held by third parties .\nDo we really want the federal government to spy without warrants ? How can Congress , which has sworn to preserve , protect and defend the Constitution , legislate such a blatant violation of it ?\nAfter the Constitution was ratified in 1789 , it was soon amended to recognize the existence of natural rights and to keep the government from interfering with them .\nAs Justice Brandeis wrote 140 years afterward , the most comprehensive of those rights was the right to be let alone , which today we call privacy .\nThe purpose of the Fourth Amendment was to prevent the government from utilizing general warrants and to require judicially authorized search warrants issued under narrow circumstances .\nJames Madison , who drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights , shared the hatred that colonists-turned-Americans had for general warrants .\nA general warrant was a document issued by a secret court in London authorizing the bearer of the document , usually a British soldier or intelligence agent , to search wherever he wished and to seize whatever he found .\nThe applicant for the warrant needed to demonstrate to the court only that the warrant was intended to unearth something that the government wanted .\nBecause these warrants did not specify the object of the search , there was no limit to them .\nHence Madison 's language in the Fourth Amendment preserving privacy but permitting the government to invade it only upon a showing , under oath , of probable cause of crime , and then requiring the warrant to specify in writing the place to be searched or the person or thing to be seized .\nAfter 9/11 , in the collective spirit of fear , timidity and subservience to the presidency , and in utter disregard for its members ' oaths to uphold the Constitution , Congress enacted the Patriot Act .\nIt permits one federal agent to authorize another federal agent to search and seize whatever the latter wishes to look at and capture so long as it is in the possession of third-party financial institutions .\nOver the years , the definition of `` financial institution '' has been radically expanded by both legislation and presidential executive orders so as to include nearly every conceivable entity that has any records about any person in America — from banks to hospitals to lawyers to merchants to credit card issuers to telecoms and computer service providers and even the post office .\nAt the same time that the Patriot Act was being expanded , the National Security Agency ( NSA ) — America 's 60,000-person strong domestic spy apparatus — was not even pretending to follow legislation . We know from Edward Snowden 's revelations — which have never been disputed by the government — that since 2003 , the NSA has captured not only the records of Americans held by third parties but also the records of every keystroke touched by every person in America and every telephone call transmitted over fiber optic cable .\nThat includes every email , text message and piece of data — even what was deleted . This warrantless mass surveillance continues today unabated .\nAlso unabated and equally unlawful and unconstitutional is the government 's use of cell towers as monitors of movement . Whenever anyone travels with a mobile device in the U.S. , the nearest cell tower picks up signals from the mobile device , even turned off .\nThe government , which either owns the cell towers or under Section 215 , captures all the data the towers amass , can effectively follow any person with a mobile device in real-time .\nThe feds have labored mightily to keep all of these constitutional violations as far from judicial scrutiny as they can . They rightly fear — they know — that all of this violates the Fourth Amendment .\nIf their nefarious behavior , which we know they have used on the president of the United States and on the Supreme Court , comes under judicial scrutiny , the feds will argue that the Fourth Amendment only pertains to criminal prosecutions and not to domestic spying ; thus , they can ignore it when they spy .\nThey have made up this argument out of thin air . There is neither a hint in the language of the amendment nor a whiff in its history to support that argument .\nIt is life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness — not to mention getting into Heaven . How can we do any of this if the government we have hired to preserve our liberty is surreptitiously destroying it ?\nBrandeis ' language about being let alone was written in 1928 , in a dissent to a Supreme Court opinion that failed to recognize the right to privacy .\nToday , his dissent is the law of the land , but the feds ignore it .\nHe wrote that there is more to life than owning material goods .\nThere is the fulfillment of spiritual , intellectual and cultural goals and the achievement of intimate aspirations , none of which are the government 's business .\nWhy do we permit the government to assault our most basic freedoms , under the law or under the table ?\nJudge Andrew P. Napolitano was the youngest life-tenured Superior Court judge in the history of New Jersey . He is Fox News ’ senior judicial analyst . Napolitano has been published in The New York Times , The Wall Street Journal , and numerous other publications . He is the author of the best-seller , `` Lies the Government Told You : Myth , Power , and Deception in American History . '' For more of Judge Napolitano 's reports , Go Here Now . | allsides-corpus-551 |
According to Gallup and most other other polling organizations , Americans have record or near-record low rates of confidence in government .\nJust 39 percent of us approved of Donald Trump 's performance in his second quarter as president , almost 25 points off the historical average . A mere 36 percent have a lot of faith in publis schools . Only slightly more than a quarter of us trust the criminal justice system and just 12 percent of us say we have a `` great deal of '' or `` quite a lot of '' confidence in Congress . Trust in most major institutions is lower than it was a decade ago .\nA lot of libertarians and other skeptics of government see this trend and believe that people are finally waking up to reality . But there are good reasons to be concerned about persistently low levels of trust and confidence in government .\nResearchers routinely find that `` people in countries with bad governments want more government intervention '' in all aspects of their lives , even though they do n't trust the government to be fair or effective . One 2010 study found that 82 percent of former East Germans and 92 percent of Russians–two famously `` low-trust '' populations–favored wage controls . Residents in Scandinavia and North America–which are `` high trust '' regions–were far more trusting of market forces .\nSo it turns out that government may be growing not in spite of our lack of confidence in it , but because of our lack of confidence in it . This self-defeating spiral will only get worse if the United States fails to stem its slide toward being a low-trust country .\nThe solution to this does n't have to be nihilism or anarchy . Instead , we need a government that does fewer things but does them better . Government spending is at an already swollen 21 percent of GDP and is predicted to climb to 30 percent over the next three decades . Libertarians rightly want a limited government and we should fight like hell to end cronyism , drug prohibition , and regulatory overreach that does nothing but increase the cost of doing business . We need to keep pushing back against defense spending wasted on elective wars and national security measures that put us under surveillance without making us safer .\nBut we should also point to places where government action is both legitimate and effective and praise policies–like school choice , for instance–that deliver better results at cheaper costs . Ironically , if we can get more people to trust the government , it just might be easier to shrink the size , scope , and spending of the state .\nProduced by Todd Krainin . Written by Nick Gillespie . Cameras by Jim Epstein . | allsides-corpus-552 |
During a hearing Tuesday on President Trump ’ s travel ban , Ninth Circuit Judge Michelle Friedland asked a question .\nWas the Trump administration arguing that the president could do what he wanted on national security matters and the courts had no authority to step in ?\nThe lawyer representing the Justice Department paused , and then answered : “ Yes . ”\nThe answer was shocking to some legal watchers : Since Marbury v. Madison in 1803 , the judiciary has served as the ultimate arbiter of the law and a check on the other branches of government .\nBut in other ways , the answer was simply stating the reality of much of the past century . Until recently , the courts have deferred when asked to check the steadily expanding power of the executive branch . That was a matter for the president to work out with Congress , the legal thinking went .\nBut now there are signs that the judiciary may be increasingly willing to pull back on the reins – at least a bit . And regardless of whether Mr. Trump ’ s individual executive order is upheld or not , the high-profile legal battles over it seem to be drawing more public – and judicial – attention to how executive power has expanded , and its potential consequences .\n“ We need to be aware that the decisions the courts are making , and the assertions the Trump administration is making in these cases , are going to apply not only to these cases but to assertions of executive authority in the future , ” says Steven Schwinn , an associate professor at the John Marshall Law School in Chicago .\nThe growing willingness to scrutinize executive power can be traced at least partly to the recent rise in legal challenges , experts say . As George W. Bush and Barack Obama pushed the limits of executive authority , legal pushback has grown .\n“ The Supreme Court has reined in the more extreme claims of executive authority that we have seen in the last two presidential administrations , ” says Professor Schwinn .\nThere was widespread litigation , particularly from civil liberties groups , over many of Mr. Bush ’ s actions responding to the 9/11 attacks , and Republican state attorneys general systematically challenged many of Mr. Obama ’ s executive actions .\nNow Trump is issuing a flurry of his own executive orders , including the one currently before a panel of the Ninth Circuit . It bars citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States for 90 days . It also prevents entry for all refugees for 120 days and indefinitely halts the admission of Syrian refugees .\nThe Ninth Circuit is considering whether to uphold a federal judge ’ s decision to block the order . Its ruling is expected within days , and the case is considered likely to end up at the US Supreme Court . In a sign of the keen public interest , more than 2.6 million people listened to the hearing , which was streamed live .\nThe Constitution doesn ’ t actually endow the president with much unilateral authority . Coming out of a monarchy and wary of concentrating power in an individual , the Framers granted the president only one independent power : the ability to issue pardons and reprieves .\n“ Obviously that has changed significantly over time , ” says Mark Rozell , dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University and an expert on presidential power .\nMost scholars trace this expansion to Franklin Roosevelt , who entered the White House at the nadir of the Great Depression and launched an aggressive , executive-driven agenda to revive the country . His flurry of actions during his first 100 days in office transformed Americans ’ views and expectations of what the president should do .\nThere is now an “ underlying assumption ” that a president should do as President Roosevelt did , says Dr. Rozell , author of “ Executive Privilege : Presidential Power , Secrecy , and Accountability . ”\nSpecifically , a president is expected to come in “ with a bold vision , an activist agenda , and a plan to bulldoze it through Congress , ” he adds .\nThere may be valid reasons for broadening executive powers , says Ernest Young , a constitutional law professor at Duke University School of Law .\nThe executive branch is inherently the most nimble branch , and can respond quickest to crises and emergencies . As the branch has grown , it has also accrued more expertise on subjects from housing and water quality to space travel and terrorism .\nBut presidents haven ’ t been the only ones to expand executive powers . Most of presidents ’ current powers have been delegated by Congress and upheld by the federal court system .\nPart of Trump ’ s justification for his order , for example , is that the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act , passed by Congress , gives him the power to suspend the entry of “ any class of aliens ” into the US if it “ would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. ” ( Opponents disagree with this interpretation . )\nCongress has also enacted laws giving the president broad discretion in war , national security , and foreign policy . The legislature has also expanded the executive branch itself , creating agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency ( in 1970 ) and the Department of Homeland Security ( in 2002 ) .\nThe court system has largely played along . Part of this stems from the judiciary ’ s fundamental role in government – to not be a rulemaking body , but to assess the legality of rules enacted by Congress and the president . Yet the judicial branch has also arguably facilitated the decades-long expansion of executive power .\nThe Chevron doctrine , for example , originates from a 1984 Supreme Court case . It holds that , if Congress passes an ambiguous law , the executive branch regulatory agencies should be able to interpret those laws – unless the agencies ’ interpretations are unreasonable .\nMeanwhile , for the past 80 years , the high court has essentially ignored the doctrine that there are constitutional limits – to be determined by the judiciary – on the legislative powers that Congress can delegate to the executive . Since 1935 , the court has never found a delegation of power by Congress to the executive unconstitutional .\nEssentially , the court “ has been upholding any and all delegations of power to the president ” since 1935 , says Professor Young .\nBut the increased attention has seen the courts begin to check executive power a bit more .\n“ I ’ m not sure the courts are interested in particular in reining in executive power , but I do think [ they ] are taking a closer look at these cases , ” says Schwinn .\nFurthermore , a number of judges and scholars – including Neil Gorsuch , Trump ’ s nominee to the Supreme Court – have become increasingly critical of the Chevron doctrine . While that doctrine is unlikely to come up in any travel ban litigation , it is another sign that the judicial tide could be turning against the expansion of executive power .\nFor now , Trump ’ s executive orders appear to be drawing even more public attention – and judicial scrutiny – to how executive power has expanded .\n“ Sometimes those delegations [ of power ] are made on the assumption that this power is never going to be exercised by someone who you ’ d worry what they ’ d use it for , ” says Young .\n“ I would love to see one legacy of this be that Congress takes a look at some of these very broad delegations and narrows them . ” | allsides-corpus-553 |
One factor that seems to be consistently true across states with the most and the least benefits is the political climate .\nPoliticians Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan recently introduced a plan to fight poverty by transferring more responsibility to the states . While the federal government offers various assistance programs to U.S. residents in need — anything from unemployment benefits to food stamps — the states provide additional services and benefits .\nRight now , the states already bear a substantial burden . They pay for public pension plans , unemployment insurance , education , Medicaid , and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program ( TANF ) , among other benefits . However , while most states fund many of these social programs , the amounts and levels they spend vary widely . 24/7 Wall St. identified the states that guaranteed the most benefits in these five categories , and the states that guaranteed the least .\nFor the most part , states that spent the most in one program tend to spent the most overall . Rhode Island , which ranked as the top-spending state this year , spent in the top 15 in all five measures we considered . Similarly , states that were close to the bottom of our list for doling out benefits and services spent less than average in nearly every spending category .\nHowever , this was not always the case . States like New York , which spent the most in the country on education per pupil and second-most in the country on Medicaid per enrollee , paid the fourth-lowest weekly unemployment benefits relative to lost wages .\nThe reasons some states spend more than others on benefits and programs is complicated . One factor that seems to be consistently true across the top and bottom spenders is the political climate . Of the 10 states that ranked as the most generous , nine voted Democratic in the last presidential election , with Alaska as the exceptions . Of the 10 states that spent the least on their social programs , all but one — Florida — voted Republican .\nThe political climate can also influence how much a state collects in taxes , with Democratic states collecting more than Republican states . States that spent more on benefits were also more likely to have higher median incomes , which mean that tax bases were also higher . In fact , all five of the states with the highest median income are among the top spenders on social programs . Most of the least generous states have among the lowest median incomes in the country .\nThere does not appear to be a relationship between the relative needs of a state 's residents for social programs and the state 's spending . Of the states that spent the most on weekly TANF cash assistance , for example , the vast majority had among the lowest poverty rates in the country .\nIn an interview with 24/7 Wall St , Michael Leachman , director of state fiscal research at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ( CBPP ) , explained that it 's hard to explain why states that have a greater need for public assistance spend less , while states with better-off populations spend more on benefits . `` You wonder if it is n't to some extent a case of chicken-and-egg , '' he said . `` In the states that have urban , higher income populations… there 's money there , and the politics have evolved to encourage spending on public programs . But it is a difficult question to answer . ''\nIn order to assess how much or how little a state guarantees in benefits and services , 24/7 Wall St. examined spending by each state on a number of different programs . We considered average pension benefit payments per beneficiary as well as per pupil spending , both published by the Census Bureau for the 2011 fiscal year . Pension benefits include both state and local pensions , while per pupil spending reflects the total from all sources of funding .\nThe Department of Labor 's Employment & Training Administration provided unemployment insurance figures , calculated over a 12-month period ending in the third quarter of 2013 . Information on TANF figures is from the CBPP . Medicaid payments per enrollee for fiscal 2010 are from the Kaiser Family Foundation . While states receive partial federal funding for TANF and Medicaid , they have considerable discretion over how to implement these programs . All data used were for the most recent available year .\nVermont collected more taxes per resident in fiscal 2011 than all but three other states . At $ 8,988 per capita , the high tax revenue may help explain the state 's generous benefit programs that year . High state tax revenue — $ 8,988 per capita — may have helped account for Vermont 's generous benefit programs that year . In 2012 , just 6.5 % of Vermont 's population did n't have health insurance , less than half the national rate . And with Vermont officials pushing for universal coverage , health coverage in the state may improve even more . In 2011 , Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law Green Mountain Healthcare , a single-payer plan . The plan is expected to be fully implemented by 2017 .\nHawaii 's unemployment insurance system was the most generous in the country . Unemployed workers received an average benefit of nearly $ 423 , or 52.5 % of the average weekly wage , as of the third quarter of 2013 — both more than any other state . By either measure this was more than any other state . Hawaii also has a two-tiered system of TANF benefit levels , depending on the ability of a family member to work . Even the lower benefit level places Hawaii among the most generous states . Last year , the state also eliminated its asset limit , which had previously left many families unqualified for TANF due to their savings and other assets . Opponents of asset limit believe this discourages saving for emergencies .\nMaryland was one of the wealthiest states in the nation in 2012 , when a typical household earned more than $ 71,000 , the highest of any state . That year , just 10.8 % of residents lived below the poverty line , less than in all but four other states . Like most states , Maryland 's pension program took a hit during the recession , losing 20 % of its value in 2009 . As of the middle of last year , however , the fund had recovered substantially , exceeding $ 40 billion in value .\nBeneficiaries of Pennsylvania 's unemployment insurance program received more than $ 357 per week on average in 2013 , among the most in the country . Since the start of 2014 , Pennsylvania 's unemployed may have a rough time because federally funded unemployment compensation is ending for nearly 90,000 Pennsylvania residents . Pennsylvania was also a top spender on education as of fiscal 2011 . Total per pupil spending was $ 13,467 that year , nearly $ 3,000 more than the national average spending .\nNew Jersey was among the nation 's highest spenders on education as of fiscal 2011 , spending close to $ 16,000 per pupil . This was more than $ 6,000 per student above the national rate . On a per-student basis , the state was also among the highest spenders on both teachers and school system workers . That same year , the average state or local pension beneficiary received more than $ 29,000 per year , one of the largest average benefits in the U.S. During his tenure , Governor Chris Christie has pushed through reforms in both teacher tenure and pension spending . Christie recently began his second term as governor with a `` State of the State '' speech , in which he pushed further reforms to both education and state pensions . New Jersey was also a leader in Medicaid spending per enrollee , ranking third in the nation in fiscal 2010 .\nAlaskans paid more state taxes than any other state in 2011 . Considering their high incomes and the state 's low poverty rate , Alaska residents may have been able to afford it . Median household income in the state was $ 67,712 in 2012 , higher than all but two other states . Due in part to high taxes , the state 's revenue in 2011 was $ 17,630 per capita , by far the highest in the nation that year . During the 12 months through the third quarter of last year , however , Alaska 's unemployed received $ 250 per week , on average , relatively small compared to the rest of the U.S. Additionally , more than one in five people in Alaska did not have health insurance in 2012 , more than nearly any other state . Overall , however , Alaskans have access to very generous benefits . For families living in poverty , the federal food stamp program , together with Alaska 's welfare system , can cover families for more than 80 % of the federal poverty level and the highest combined benefit as of 2013 .\nMassachusetts had $ 6,832 per person in state revenue as of fiscal 2011 , more than all but eight other states . Much of this likely went to support the state 's various social safety net programs . Per pupil spending on K-12 schools was the seventh highest in the nation that year , while the average annual benefit payment to state and local pension beneficiaries was ninth-highest in the U.S . The state was also a high spender on Medicaid , paying $ 6,841 per enrollee as of fiscal 2010 , 12th most in the nation . However , this may have been in part due to the high cost of health care in the state . As of the most recent quarter , only care in Alaska was more expensive , according to MERIC . Despite the high health care costs , just 3.9 % of the state 's population did not have health insurance in 2012 , the lowest % age of any state . The state 's 2006 health care reforms , often considered a model for the ACA , are likely the reason for the high coverage rates in the state .\nConnecticut pension beneficiaries received generous payments in 2011 of more than $ 35,000 on average — the highest in the country . Connecticut was among the highest spenders on education in 2011 , spending more than $ 5,000 more per pupil than the national average . Teacher salaries and benefits were among the highest at that time as well . Connecticut residents were also among the wealthiest in the nation as of 2012 , with more than 11 % earning $ 200,000 or more per year , the highest proportion nationally .\nNew York was one of the top benefit spenders in the nation on a wide range of state programs . New York spent $ 8,910 per Medicaid enrollee in fiscal 2010 , trailing only Alaska . In 2012 , Governor Andrew Cuomo petitioned the federal government to allow the state to keep some of the billions of dollars its Medicaid redesign saved . However , a decision on whether to allow the state to reinvest this money within its own health system is pending . In addition to its high Medicaid expenses , New York also led the nation in per pupil spending as of fiscal 2011 , at more than $ 19,000 . TANF benefit levels were among the highest in the nation as well last year , due in part to a state program that includes a number of different components , including a variable amount for rent that well exceeds what some states give in TANF benefits . Of course , New York must also raise enough taxes to be able to provide these services . The state collected $ 3,500 in fiscal 2011 , eighth-most in the U.S .\nRhode Island was one of just six states to pay pension beneficiaries more than $ 30,000 in fiscal year 2011 ; the state paid $ 31,548 on average . In November 2011 , state legislators enacted the Retirement Security Act , which introduced considerable reforms to the state 's pension program . The act was designed to lower the state 's overall pension liabilities , which were projected to increase under the previous system . Rhode Islanders received another relatively generous benefit . The jobless received unemployment checks worth nearly 40 % of the typical weekly wage on average over the 12 months through the third quarter of last year , among the best compensation nationally .\nCLICK HERE : for a list of the 10 states with the least government benefits\n24/7 Wall St. is a ███ content partner offering financial news and commentary . Its content is produced independently of ███ . | allsides-corpus-554 |
I remember Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ’ s 2018 victory well . I sat at a table in my old Chicago apartment , beer in hand , toggling back and forth between Twitter and the New York Times ’ NY-14 election results page . Then the first returns rolled in and showed a wide AOC lead that never faltered as the night went on . For progressives generally , the reaction was euphoric : “ she did it , she beat the Democratic machine , if she can do it anyone can , hurrah hurrah , etc. ” That night , anything felt possible for the Left .\nIn the 2020 election cycle that followed , the number of candidates trying to be AOC 2.0 skyrocketed . All were looking to punch above their weight against longtime incumbents , win with grassroots energy and limited funds , and go from random nobodies to members of the U.S. Congress . We had dozens and dozens of Left candidates , some of them open socialists , running everywhere .\nThe results have been less impressive than we might have hoped .\nShahid Buttar , Nancy Pelosi ’ s challenger , is entering round two of California ’ s jungle primary with 13 percent to her 74 percent , a margin that could easily mean a victory for Pelosi in November . Anthony Clark , backed by DSA , lost with 13 percent of the vote in his second try at the March IL-07 primary—ditto for Heidi Sloan , who unfortunately brought in 30 percent for her first shot at TX-25 on Super Tuesday .\nOne semi-official group of candidates emerged from this cycle as a perfect representation of the AOC-inspired “ everyone run for Congress anywhere , you never know what will happen ” mentality . Calling themselves The Rose Caucus , this informal slate of candidates ran as socialists in 21 congressional seats total . So far , none of these candidates has won . Some of their percentage vote shares : 23 percent , 22 percent , 13 percent , 8 percent , 4 percent , etc . The trend of defeats looks to continue .\nAnother progressive electoral organization , Justice Democrats , tried a highly pragmatic and selective approach to their endorsements this cycle . They gave the nod to nine challengers , all of whom they clearly vetted early-on for their fundraising capacity and established presence in-district . It proved to be a decent strategy , nabbing a narrow win for IL-03 ’ s Marie Newman ( her second time running for that seat ) and a nail biter loss for Jessica Cisneros in TX-28 , the kind of close defeat that can be turned into a win in 2022 . And in OH-03 , Morgan Harper brought home just 31 percent of the vote .\nThere are still plenty of contests to go ; votes are being cast for Mckayla Wilkes in MD-05 right this very moment . Justice Democrats and DSA-backed candidates might still be able to eke out a House seat or two more this cycle even under a pandemic that prevents grassroots canvassing and rallies . But we can all see this style of victory will be scarce and momentous , not the reliable , consistent victories that we might have envisioned back in 2018 . While many of these unsuccessful runs galvanize organizers and give local Left groups the ability to build and grow , the fact remains that going from regular citizen to Congressperson in one leap is a tremendous feat , and it doesn ’ t constitute a reliable model for building long-term Left electoral power .\nAOC is the most famous member of the Squad because her victory was the most romantic and impressive—a working class Latina went from bartender straight to the U.S. Congress , “ knocking down the House ” and refusing to wait for change one day longer . It ’ s a shame that a similar focus isn ’ t on the victories of fellow Squadmates Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib . The latter would describe herself as a democratic socialist , and both are arguably to AOC ’ s left . Both ran for and won their congressional seats , not as longshot upstarts with no political background , but as established and well-known community members occupying seats in their respective State Houses . Their wins represent a much more boring but reliable path for future Left congressional candidates to follow .\nWithin the confines of electoral politics , this is what a sustainable , serious , long-term strategy for building the Left in the U.S. will look like—not trying to focus only on Congress with political newcomers every cycle , hoping for miracle after miracle—but contesting local and State seats seriously so we have a real bench to push towards higher office in the decades to come . We ’ ll do it like the runup to the Reagan Revolution , starting with school boards and city councils before moving up to the State level and beyond . Municipal and state seats are cheaper to contest than Congress , the win-numbers are smaller , and the incumbents aren ’ t as heavily-guarded by Party establishment figures and powerful lobbies ( although there is still plenty of that ) . The career of Bernie Sanders is actually instructive here : after running for the Senate and failing , Bernie ran for mayor of Burlington—and won . Local office was the springboard to state office , which in turn led to a national presidential campaign .\nOf course this doesn ’ t mean leftists should never consider congressional bids . Especially when a seat opens suddenly and no other leftist candidate can mount a bid , like Samelys López ’ s current campaign for NY-15 , or when a case can be made that the incumbent is truly out of touch with their constituents in one obvious respect or another . And the occasional , high-energy longshot candidate can be a good thing . If a socialist Congressional candidate with no prior electoral background wins in every few dozen races we run , that still remains an astounding feat that can have an outsized impact on the country—look no further than how much AOC has changed the conversation even as a freshman Representative . But if we ’ re in this fight for the long haul , we need to get fired up about the State House too . Having a deep bench of municipal and State officials can turn our activist campaigns into a real movement , and have a tremendous impact on local policy while we ’ re at it . The decision to run for Congress and ask for scarce Left resources should not be taken lightly , especially if there are city and State level seats ripe for the taking in your area .\nThere is cause for Left optimism on the local and state level . New York DSA State Senate candidate Jabari Brisport has outraised his competition nearly twice over and , if he wins , will be joining existing socialist NY State Senator Julia Salazar . In Minnesota , socialist State Senate insurgent Omar Fatah has somehow received the official backing of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party over the sitting incumbent , and in Pennsylvania , socialist State Senate candidate Nikil Saval is endorsed by Bernie Sanders , DSA , The Sunrise Movement , and ( most importantly ) a slew of local unions and elected officials . DSA already has State Reps. in Connecticut , Rhode Island , Pennsylvania , New Hampshire , Vermont , Virginia , Montana , Massachusetts , Maryland , Maine and Hawai ’ i . And who can forget that 12 percent of Chicago ’ s city council seats are now filled by open socialists who took office just a year ago ?\nBernie Sanders is thinking like I am about the far down ballot . While he still might make another round of congressional endorsements , last week he instead chose to back a fresh slate of eight additional State level candidates with upcoming primaries , telling his email list that bringing about transformative change in the U.S. will require “ electing more progressive candidates and advancing progressive policies at the state and local level . ”\nThese smaller wins are where the Left can build power in a sustainable long term way , and we need way more of them . From a bench of municipal and State seats , we will find the Ilhans and the Rashidas of the future . They ’ ll become politicians with an existing voter base and record , well-known and liked by their constituents . They ’ ll be able to run for Congress by melding a locally established reputation with grassroots energy . They ’ ll win the enthusiasm that we know outspoken progressive and open socialist congressional candidates can get . Such leftist congressional candidates will have an easier time establishing themselves as “ serious ” than our current upstarts , consolidating support from local progressive-minded organizations and unions , particularly when they get the chance to run for open seats . And even if they never run for Congress , these lower-level Left officials can provide endorsements and lend public legitimacy to grassroots , movement candidates that otherwise they would never receive . Building towards these future campaigns is the work of a generation , not just a few years .\nThis argument may seem clear and obvious . But I fear we ’ ll see another election cycle in 2022 much like this year ’ s : Progressive and socialist challengers will emerge from obscurity all over the place to plead for scarce resources , endorsements and volunteers in longshot bids for Congress that ultimately net roughly 20 to 30 percent of the vote . All the while likely right-wing and more-easily-beatable State Representatives will face weak challenges .\nAOC taught us that anything is possible for us , but sadly , that doesn ’ t mean anything is probable . We are building a movement that can hold its own and grow for decades . If you are thinking about running for office next cycle , follow Ilhan ’ s footsteps , and run locally before aiming for Congress . | allsides-corpus-555 |
Calls to defund or abolish police departments have become the signature demand of protesters who have taken to the streets in cities across the country over the last few weeks to denounce police violence against Black people . Proponents of such policy measures argue that the U.S. should reallocate much , or even all , of the money spent on law enforcement for anti-poverty initiatives , education , and other public services in order to more humanely address the underlying societal ills that lead to crime in the first place . Implicit in this proposition is the argument that cities spend a disproportionate percentage of their budgets on police departments , to the detriment of other services . Indeed , funding for mental health , education , affordable housing , and other programs has been steadily declining .\nAlready , local officials in cities like Minneapolis and New York have been making plans to slash their police budgets and shift the savings and certain social service responsibilities to other departments.In addition , officials and activists have been scrutinizing whether enough of those police budgets is going toward nonviolent intervention programs . The New York Times additionally found that , over the last 40 years , the average expenditures across 150 large cities for the police have risen 1.2 percentage points—amounting to millions of dollars annually in each of these places .\nTo get a better sense of just how much cities are spending on their police departments , and where within each department that money is going , I pulled the 2020 budgets for Minneapolis ; Los Angeles ; and Dallas—three cities in separate regions of the country with varying population sizes and demographic makeups . In Los Angeles , as in many places , policing makes up the largest chunk of the budget . Elsewhere , other expenses outpace it . For example , Dallas spends slightly more on water .\nSince at least the late 1980s , every mayor of Los Angeles has sought to grow the LAPD ’ s budget—just from 2010 to 2020 , appropriations for the department rose from $ 1.17 billion to $ 1.73 billion . For decades , the city ’ s goal had been to build a force of 10,000 officers , a benchmark that former Democratic Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa eventually passed in 2013 . Even then , Los Angeles officials were still committed to continuing to add to the force . Current Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti included a $ 120 million increase for the LAPD in the city ’ s 2020 budget . The killing of George Floyd and the unrest that followed , however , has prompted current Garcetti to subsequently push for a $ 150 million budget cut for the LAPD , which could lead to downsizing for officers and other personnel . The savings would go toward a $ 250 million fund for youth jobs , health initiatives , trauma healing centers , monetary damages for people who ’ ve experienced discrimination .\nLos Angeles has a population of roughly 4 million people ; the police department has nearly 10,000 officers .\nThe Minneapolis Police Department has been at the forefront of the nation ’ s debate around defunding and disbanding law enforcement after one of its officers killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds . And even before this brutality , police misconduct complaints in the city had risen more than sevenfold from 2008 to 2018 . A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council vowed to dismantle the police department on June 7 . Though many of the specifics haven ’ t been worked out yet , this decision will likely mean that police funding will be diverted to services like mental health and drug addiction treatment ; a smaller force might remain , but will handle far fewer cases . Prior to the current upheaval , the department had been pushing in recent years to recruit more officers to bring the total number to at least 1,000 . The number of officers in Minneapolis has been falling since 2008 due to the financial crisis and a general desire from the city council to reduce the size of the department .\nThe population of Minneapolis is roughly 430,000 people ; its police department has around 800 officers .\nFrom 2010 to 2014 , Dallas had an incredibly high per-capita rate of police-involved shootings , outpacing New York , Chicago , and Los Angeles . Around 2012 , following a high-profile incident in which an officer killed an unarmed black man , the department began undergoing extensive reforms to improve transparency and implement nonviolent community policing practices . Both crime and excessive force complaints plummeted in the ensuing years .\nWhen devising the 2020 budget for the city , the Dallas City Council resolved to pour more funding into the Dallas Police Department as the number of officers in the force had fallen by 700 since 2011 . Local activists accused council members at the time of prioritizing law enforcement over funding for anti-poverty and other social services programs . On Wednesday , the council voted to delay approval for a $ 6.5 million budget increase in the wake of the current police brutality protests .\nThe population of Dallas is roughly 1.3 million people ; its police department has about 3,600 officers . | allsides-corpus-556 |
It was one of the most absurd stories of California ’ s lunacy . In the midst of one of the worst droughts in the state ’ s history , state and federal wildlife officials were depleting a large reservoir in the Sierra foothills to save ( by increasing river flows ) a handful of hatchery-born fish that had virtually zero chance of making it to the Pacific Ocean alive . At a water-board meeting I attended , local farmers and residents were incredulous at officials ’ refusal to prioritize humans over critters .\nThis week ’ s news gives that story a run for its money . California ’ s rat population has been exploding because of post-drought environmental reasons , the spread of filth caused by the growing homeless population , and the refusal of some cities to deal with the problem . If you ignore disease-carrying rats , it won ’ t take long to have more disease-carrying rats . A recent survey of pest-control companies found virtually all of them reporting dramatic increases in rat infestations .\n“ The state is seeing a troubling resurgence of rodents , which can carry a wide array of diseases that have been around since the Middle Ages , ” the Sacramento Bee reported . “ The metropolis of Los Angeles County , for one , has seen skyrocketing cases of one such disease , typhus. ” In fact , the rat infestation had gotten so bad that rats had forced the California EPA to shut down its playground out of fear that workers ’ kids would contract diseases .\nThe agency had first planned to step up the use of pesticides , but after environmental groups objected , the director promised to find ecologically safer alternatives . This is ironic , as the Bee noted , because the building also houses the state Department of Pesticide Regulation . So even when the bureaucrats ’ own offspring are in potential danger , the demands of the environmental lobby always take precedence over the concerns of regular citizens .\nTypical rat poison is effective , but it ’ s an anticoagulant that of course causes internal bleeding . State wildlife officials have found some of its residue in virtually all of the mountain lion carcasses the state has tested . It has also been found in owls and weasel-like creatures around the northwestern marijuana grows . And the Bee further reports that “ In 2017 , a San Francisco coyote died from internal bleeding caused by the toxins. ” Predators are poisoned when they eat poisoned rats , but typically the toxin levels build up but rarely kill the secondary animal .\nThe points made in the above paragraph are interesting from an ecological perspective . In an ideal world , it might be troubling that a coyote died from internal bleeding or that cougars become mangy from eating poisoned rats . Then again , we ’ re talking about coyotes and cougars . When I lived by a canyon in the San Gabriel Valley , the coyotes so regularly feasted on cats and Chihuahuas that wildlife officials ended up exterminating ( via gunshot ) dozens of them .\nBut however sad it is that a male mountain lion kitten with a tracking collar was found dead not long ago , it would be even sadder for a human child to contract typhus — a horribly painful disease . Other diseases , including some that are life-threatening , can be caused by rodent feces or bites . We ’ re all familiar with rabies and , you know , the plague .\nBeyond state officials limiting the use of rat poison around their properties , the Legislature is considering a measure , Assembly Bill 1788 , that would vastly limit the use of these types of pesticides . It would mostly ban powerful second-generation rodenticides . It would also forbid the use of first-generation anticoagulants , which are less likely to kill wildlife after a single feeding of a poisoned rodent , on state-owned land barring a public-health or agricultural rationale .\n“ [ S ] ince the 1980s , and even as most recently as this week the Department of Fish and Wildlife have been warning about the impacts rodenticides are having on all wildlife in the state , ” argued its author , Assemblyman Richard Bloom , D-Santa Monica . The bill passed overwhelmingly in the Assembly . Its clear goal is to protect wildlife . By contrast , opponents were focused on — get this — the impact of rodent-spread diseases on the human population .\nThe environmental community doesn ’ t offer much of an alternative for restaurants , farms , and homeowners affected by the rat crisis . “ Environmentalists say there are other options to manage the state ’ s pests , such as making cities more sanitary ( rodents are often drawn to the trash from the state ’ s growing numbers of homeless encampments , some experts say ) and by using pesticides that are less likely to contaminate wildlife , ” according to that Bee article .\nThat sounds so reasonable , until you follow public debates about the homeless situation . California officials don ’ t have a clue what to do about it , with most of them viewing it as a failure of public spending rather than a complex mishmash of issues involving addiction , poverty , mental illness , and housing regulations . I ’ d bet that an outbreak of the bubonic plague will come well before lawmakers and local governments get any sort of handle on homelessness . And those less-toxic approaches also are generally less effective .\n“ Sustainable control can only be achieved by reducing the rodent carrying capacity of the environment , principally by reducing food and harborage , ” according to the Barn Owl Trust . That also sounds great , but how many typhus outbreaks do we want to endure as we await for the environment to reduce its rat-carrying capabilities ?\nNo wonder California ’ s rat crisis has joined a host of other intractable California crises . And no wonder we ’ re still seeing regular news stories about Californians high-tailing it to Utah or Texas . When your state government places the welfare of coyotes over your children , what more do you need to know ? | allsides-corpus-557 |
In a ruling hailed as historic for wildlife conservation in America , a US judge on Monday ordered that the world-famous grizzly bears living in and around Yellowstone national park be returned to the endangered species list .\nThe move means that a controversial sport hunt of grizzlies in Wyoming and Idaho – outside the boundaries of the park – will be canceled indefinitely , extending protections against hunting that have lasted 44 years .\nTim Preso of the environmental law firm EarthJustice , who served as lead attorney in a case challenging the removal of protection for bears , was ecstatic when reached at his office in Bozeman , Montana , after word arrived of the decision .\nHe called the ruling “ momentous ” , given the high profile of grizzlies and growing threats to their survival in the 21st century , including climate change , which has affected a key grizzly bear food , the seeds inside whitebark pinecones .\nJudge Dana Christensen , who sits on a district court in Montana , had “ had done a huge amount of homework , as was evident by the questions he asked when we presented our case , and , because of that , we were hopeful ” , Preso said . “ This is a case that he will be known for and it ’ s an important part of the legacy of American conservation . He did what a judge does – apply the law without being prejudiced by politics . ”\nThere are four other grizzly populations in the northern Rocky Mountains in the US , only one of which is significant in size . Saving grizzly bears from near-extinction in the Yellowstone area is considered one of the greatest wildlife success stories . Numbers of bears have rebounded to more than 700 from a low of about 135 three decades ago .\nAs such , the three states of Wyoming , Montana and Idaho have aggressively pushed to have bears removed from federal protections .\nA key argument made by Preso and his colleagues is that as an island population of grizzlies , isolated and cut off from other clusters of bears , the Yellowstone bruins face ongoing challenges .\nGoing on a bear hunt : the animal activists signing up to 'shoot ' grizzlies Read more\nTrue biological recovery , as spelled out in the Endangered Species Act , the judge said , means reconnecting the population of greater Yellowstone bears with others in the Lower 48 . That hasn ’ t happened . In fact , the judge labeled the rationale behind the government ’ s case for delisting the bears arbitrary and capricious .\nWildlife officials in the states expressed disappointment . Leaders of the Wyoming game and fish department were eager to authorize the first hunt of bears in two generations , which would have allowed up to 22 to be “ taken ” this year . That plan was met with fierce public resistance , including some 650,000 comments from people across the country and around the world who were overwhelmingly opposed to the sport killing of creatures that have become synonymous with Yellowstone , America ’ s first national park .\nPreso said he expects that lawyers for the states will appeal against Christensen ’ s ruling and will probably be joined by pro-hunting groups such as Safari Club International .\nThe superintendent of Yellowstone national park , Dan Wenk , who is stepping down after 43 years , expressed concern last weekend at his retirement party about the safety of grizzlies that wander beyond park boundaries and could be killed by hunters , like the infamous case of Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe .\nIn an interview in Wyoming last week , the celebrated naturalist Jane Goodall also spoke out in support of the bears .\n“ We should not be killing any animals for fun . We should be celebrating grizzlies being alive not rushing to shoot them . ” | allsides-corpus-558 |
Ken Klippen lives in Philadelphia , but he 's trying to save egg farmers in the Midwest from a ballot measure in California .\nAs the president of the National Association of Egg Farmers , Klippen says that Proposition 12 on the ballot in California this November , will cause `` some major changes in the way eggs are produced . ''\nThe measure , which Klippen calls `` precedent setting , '' is titled the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative . It would ban the sale of eggs in California that come from hens raised in small cages . It would do the same for pigs and calves .\nThat means most farmers who sell their produce in the state of California will either have to change their farming practices or lose one of the biggest markets in the country . The Association of California Egg Farmers and National Pork Producers Council both oppose the measure .\nFox News spoke with a third-generation egg farmer , Chris Nichols of Chino Valley Ranchers , who also opposes Prop 12 .\n`` I would say the people who do suffer in the end are the consumer , '' Nichols explained , `` because your price is going up . ''\nCage-free eggs can cost as much as twice as regular eggs . Some worry that this measure will take away consumer choice , if it passes .\nJosh Balk of the Humane Society of the United States , the group that supports the proposition , disagrees . Balk said that `` everyone from Walmart to McDonald 's to Safeway to Denny 's to IHOP are all switching to cage-free eggs . ''\nKlippen said that although the Humane Society pretends to be a shelter organization , it is simply pushing a secret national agenda : getting people to stop eating meat altogether .\n`` Not only meat , '' Klippen added , `` but stop [ drinking ] milk and stop eating eggs . So , meat , milk and eggs , that 's their agenda . ''\nWhen asked about this assertion , Balk replied that `` everyone from vegans to meat eaters can completely agree , that animals should not be confined in cages . ''\nCages that are often too small to move an inch . | allsides-corpus-559 |
Hindu worshippers have begun slaughtering thousands of buffalo as part of a religious ritual held every five years in southern Nepal , despite efforts to end the practice considered the world 's biggest sacrifice of animals at any one site .\nThe Gadhimai Festival - a two-day festival in honour of the Hindu goddess of power - kicked off in the early hours of Tuesday amid tight security , with the ceremonial slaughter of a goat , rat , chicken , pig and pigeon . A local shaman then offered blood from five points of his body .\nFollowing that , some 200 butchers with sharpened swords and knives walked into a walled arena bigger than a football field that held several thousand animals as excited pilgrims climbed trees to catch a glimpse .\n`` The sacrifices have begun today ... We had tried not to support it but people have faith in the tradition and have come here with their offerings , '' Birendra Prasad Yadav from the festival organising committee told AFP news agency .\nThousands of worshippers from Nepal and neighbouring India have spent days sleeping out in the open and offering prayers ahead of the event in Bariyarpur village , close to the Indian border .\n`` I believe in the goddess . My mother had asked her for the good health of my son , '' one of them , Rajesh Kumar Das , 30 , told AFP , holding a goat in his hand .\nSabu Sahani , 25 , who travelled with his family for a day from India 's Bihar with a goat offering , said he was `` happy to be here '' . `` The goddess listened to me . We did not have children , but my wife has now given birth to a daughter , '' Sahani told AFP news agency .\nAn estimated 200,000 animals , ranging from goats to rats , were butchered during the last Gadhimai Festival in 2014 .\nA volunteer controls a crowd using a stick before the sacrificial ceremony of the 'Gadhimai Mela ' festival at Bariyarpur [ Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters ]\nMany were hopeful the centuries-old tradition would end after temple authorities announced a ban in 2015 and Nepal 's supreme court directed the government to discourage the bloodshed a year later .\nBut animal rights activists say government agencies and temple committees have failed to implement these rulings .\n`` The officials have let their personal beliefs rule over the court orders , they did not do enough to discourage the slaughters , '' animal rights activist Manoj Gautam said .\nLocal priest Mangal Chaudhary , the tenth generation of his family to serve at the temple , did not comment on whether the temple supports this year 's mass sacrifice but said that the numbers in attendance are increasing .\n`` We will follow our traditions and perform the rituals in the temple . But what the devotees do outside is their own wish , '' he said .\nIndian border authorities and volunteers have in recent days seized scores of animals being brought across the frontier by unlicensed traders and pilgrims but this has failed to stop the flow .\nAccording to legend , the first sacrifices in Bariyarpur were conducted several centuries ago when the goddess Gadhimai appeared to a prisoner in a dream and asked him to build a temple for her . | allsides-corpus-560 |
This combination photo shows Brian Wilson performing at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont , Ill , on Oct 6 , 2017 , left , and Mike Love at `` Howard Stern 's Birthday Bash '' in New York on Jan. 31 , 2014 . Wilson , a co-founder of The Beach Boys , has denounced a performance of Beach Boys music at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno , Nev . The concert is being led by The Beach Boys ’ co-founder , lead singer and chief lyricist Mike Love . ( AP Photo )\nThis combination photo shows Brian Wilson performing at the Rosemont Theatre in Rosemont , Ill , on Oct 6 , 2017 , left , and Mike Love at `` Howard Stern 's Birthday Bash '' in New York on Jan. 31 , 2014 . Wilson , a co-founder of The Beach Boys , has denounced a performance of Beach Boys music at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno , Nev . The concert is being led by The Beach Boys ’ co-founder , lead singer and chief lyricist Mike Love . ( AP Photo )\nNEW YORK ( AP ) — One of the co-founders of The Beach Boys has joined a boycott of his own music to protest it being used by another band member at an animal hunting convention .\nBrian Wilson has denounced a performance of Beach Boys music on Wednesday at the Safari Club International Convention in Reno , Nevada . The concert is being led by The Beach Boys ’ co-founder , lead singer and chief lyricist Mike Love .\nIn a tweet , Wilson said he and band member Al Jardine are “ emphatically opposed ” to trophy hunting . He then pointed to a Change.org petition that calls for a boycott of Beach Boys ’ music until the performance is canceled . The petition had garnered more than 100,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon .\nThe annual Safari Club convention has drawn protests by animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the United States for profiting from the hunting of endangered animals and promoting unethical hunting practices . This year ’ s keynote speaker is Donald Trump Jr .\nIn response , Love offered a statement to Pitchfork magazine : “ We look forward to a night of great music in Reno and , as always , support freedom of thought and expression as a fundamental tenet of our rights as Americans . ”\nThe Beach Boys are known for sunny harmonies in such songs as “ California Girls , ” I Get Around , ” “ Fun Fun Fun , ” “ Good Vibrations ” and “ Kokomo . ” | allsides-corpus-561 |
Animal conservation activists said Donald Trump Jr. might have violated a federal wildlife anti-trafficking law when he killed a rare sheep during a recent trip to Mongolia and imported parts of the animal back to the U.S ( Tom Williams/CQ ███ file photo )\nThe U.S . Fish and Wildlife Service said it will review allegations that Donald Trump Jr. , may have illegally killed a rare sheep during a recent trip to Mongolia and imported parts of the animal back to the U.S .\nAnimal conservation activists said President Donald Trump 's eldest son may have violated a federal wildlife anti-trafficking law after ProPublica reported last week that he shot and killed an argali sheep without proper permits during a personal trip in August . The Mongolian government issued a permit for hunting the sheep after the fact , and it ’ s unclear what happened to the animal after it was killed , according to the report .\n[ Spotted : Donald Trump Jr. mistakenly heading toward Pelosi ’ s office in search of McCarthy ]\nA spokesperson for Trump Jr. on Tuesday provided a statement to CQ ███ denying allegations of wrongdoing related to the hunting permit . In the statement , which was also provided to ProPublica , the spokesperson said the hunting trip was purchased in 2015 at a National Rifle Association auction before his father announced his presidential campaign and all permits were secured through a third party hunting group .\n“ Mr . Trump paid for his trip to Mongolia on his own , flew commercial and timely applied and secured all required permits through a third party outfitter — as is standard in the industry , ” the spokesperson said .\nTrump Jr. ’ s spokesperson declined to comment on whether any argali animal parts were imported to the U.S .\nThe Center for Biological Diversity , in a Dec. 13 letter , asked FWS law enforcement to evaluate whether the reported hunt and retroactive permit violated any U.S. or Mongolian laws . Under the Lacey Act of 1900 , it is illegal to import animal trophies in contravention with foreign laws and individuals found in violation can be subject to fines and prison time .\nIn its letter the group also asked if there were any permits pending to import the animal that Trump allegedly killed and noted the argali sheep population in Mongolia is protected under the Endangered Species Act and a 1975 international treaty governing wildlife trafficking .\n“ We urge you to ensure that the protections in place for argali — including from hunters and poachers — are enforced and special access is not provided for wealthy , white hunters from the West , even if their father is the U.S. president , ” the letter reads .\nFWS spokeswoman Christina Meister said in a Dec. 16 email that the agency “ has received the Center for Biological Diversity ’ s electronic letter and is in the process of reviewing this matter . ”\n[ Man to Plead Guilty to Sending Threatening Letters to Trump Jr. , Stabenow ]\nSeparately , the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said it requested records on Dec. 13 from the Interior Department for all licenses to import argali sheep granted to Trump Jr. or Kevin Small , a Republican donor who was reportedly also on the trip . CREW also filed requests for information to the Department of Homeland Security and State Department related to the reported hunt , including communications between U.S. and Mongolian officials and any costs incurred to taxpayers . | allsides-corpus-562 |
Hilary Hoynes is a University of California at Berkeley economist who wrote a particularly notable paper last year . Instead of increasing dependency , as conservative critics have repeatedly claimed , Hoyen 's paper showed that , for women at least , food stamp use during pregnancy and early childhood has exactly the opposite impact of what conservatives allege : It actually increases economic self-sufficiency when children grow up , in the next generation .\nThat was just one of two main results reported in “ Long Run Impacts of Childhood Access to the Safety Net , ” which Hoynes co-authored with Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach and Douglas Almond . As stated in the paper 's abstract , access to food stamps for women leads to `` increases in economic self-sufficiency ( increases in educational attainment , earnings , and income , and decreases in welfare participation ) . ” Hoynes and her colleagues took advantage of the fact that food stamp programs were established county-by-county over a period of years , creating a sort of “ natural experiment ” beginning half a century in the past .\n“ Hoynes ’ work has been timely , innovative and revealing , ” said Arloc Sherman , a senior researcher at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities , which has highlighted Hoynes ' work this year as food stamps and the SNAP program have become a major subject of controversy . “ Hoynes and her collaborators have really broadened our understanding of how programs like food stamps not only relieve hardship in the moment but can trigger long-lasting gains in participating children ’ s later health and education . The implications of the research are considerable . In this long view , such assistance is not only helping struggling families to scrape by , it ’ s a good investment in the next generation of citizens and workers . ”\nHoynes herself said , “ This work indicates that there are important benefits of the safety net that to date have been ignored . They predict that a more generous safety net can reduce health disparities . More generally , the emerging evidence points to an important role for investments in early life -- and those investments generate important returns in terms of better health and economic outcomes in adulthood . ”\nIt 's a startling result in light of the onslaught of conservative claims to the contrary , but it 's somewhat less startling — though still quite illuminating — in light of what 's actually known about the impacts of hunger on childhood development back in the “ reality based community , ” where population-based studies of hunger impacts date back to the 1970s , when researchers first began reporting on the long-term , adult impacts on children born during and shortly after the so-called Dutch “ Hunger Winter , ” a period from November 1944 through May 1945 , when a large part of the Netherlands was subjected to drastically reduced rations under Nazi occupation .\nBut to really appreciate the significance of this research , one must also appreciate two other aspects of Hoynes ' recent research , which combine to provide a three-pronged counterattack on the right 's “ culture of dependency ” narrative . First , she has done previous research establishing short-term benefits — not just for food stamps , but also the for the earned income tax credit — specifically , a reduction in low-birthweight babies , a significant indicator of well-being . This research alone is sufficient to show that safety net programs are achieving the goals of bettering people 's lives , adding more weight to the already well-established statistics on poverty reduction . Second , she has done research into safety net program utilization over the course of economic recession and recovery , research that shows that the current levels of food stamp and other program use are in line with past history , and not a sign of any alleged “ explosion ” in a “ culture of dependency ” under Obama , as the right-wing noise machine would have it .\nThus , Hoynes ' work provides powerful evidence for a three-pronged counterattack against this conservative narrative , which has come to play a dominant role in Republican politics in the post-Bush/Obama/Tea Party era : 1 ) The safety net works in the short term , producing measurable improvements in newborn health ; 2 ) it works in the long term , improving health for both men and women , and reducing dependency among women in the next generation ; and 3 ) it works currently in much the same manner as it has worked in the past . The long-term effects findings are clearly the most remarkable , which is why they 're worth looking into more closely . But it 's the overall combination of evidence — along with the work of others working on other aspects of the safety net — that provides a robust picture of what the real-world safety net actually does to build better lives , pushing back against the onslaught of right-wing lies .\nIn July , for example , when House Republicans were first threatening massive food stamp cuts , the CBPP released a report , “ SNAP Enrollment Remains High Because the Job Market Remains Weak. ” It 's common sense , of course . As the report stated in its very first sentence , “ The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ( SNAP , formerly known as the food stamp program ) historically has been the most responsive federal program after unemployment insurance in assisting families and communities during economic downturns , ” so it stands to reason that our notoriously bad job market would keep tens of millions of people on food stamps . CBPP began its analysis by citing Congressional Budget Office projections that “ as the labor market recovers , SNAP costs will decline markedly . CBO projects that by 2019 , SNAP costs will fall all of the way back to their mid-1990s level , measured as a share of gross domestic product ( GDP ) . ”\nBut as CBPP continued , they supplemented CBO data with the more detailed research that Hoynes took part in : “ In a new piece of research , economists Hilary Hoynes and Marianne Bitler examine the relationship between poverty and fluctuations in economic activity since 1980 and the historical responsiveness of SNAP , UI [ unemployment insurance ] , and other safety net programs over the business cycle . If SNAP had increased more in proportion to the unemployment rate over the past few years than it has historically , that would provide support to critics who claim that SNAP should have come down as the unemployment rate has declined . But that is not what the research shows . Hoynes and Bitler found that ' [ T ] he safety net programs receiving the most attention through the Great Recession ( Food Stamps and UI ) exhibit adjustments very consistent with their behavior during previous historical cycles . ' ”\nThat research is vital for deflating claims of an expanding culture of dependency — and thus for holding the line against deeper cuts to SNAP . But it 's the long-term impacts research that holds the promise of informing a proactive , pro-safety net economic populism that can do more than just respond reactively to the Tea Party . And , indeed , CBPP 's president , Robert Greenstein , cited that research in his testimony to the Senate Budget Committee in February this year . Her research has gotten more attention in the last six months or so than it ever has before , Hoynes said — but if it 's to have the kind of impact that it deserves , this should only be the beginning .\nWhat Hoynes and progressives interested in building on her work are up against is almost 20 years in which empirical data has been relentlessly marginalized . In 1995 , in his first year as speaker , Newt Gingrich dismantled the Office of Technology Assessment ( which had repeatedly dissed Reagan 's “ Star Wars ” missile defense ) , and imposed other internal changes — such as defunding House committee staff — which radically undermined the role of sound information in shaping the nation 's laws . As conservative iconoclast Bruce Bartlett put it , “ Gingrich did everything in his power to dismantle Congressional institutions that employed people with the knowledge , training and experience to know a harebrained idea when they saw it. ” Although Gingrich quickly burned out as speaker , the fact-free culture he promoted has only grown more virulent since then .\nWhile all this was going on in Washington , Hoynes was producing a body of work about the safety net that no longer seemed to matter to those calling the shots in Congress . “ My work , coming from the background and typical approaches of economics , had mostly focused on how ... different kinds of programs [ welfare versus the earned income tax credit , food stamps vs. cash welfare ] lead to differences in employment decisions , poverty outcomes , family structure decisions , how it influences the propensity for kids to be living with 2-parent vs. 1-parent families , you know , these kinds of questions. ” In short , Hoynes was empirically studying the very sorts of outcomes that self-absorbed politicians were busily pontificating about .\nAbout five years ago , Hoynes said , her interests began to shift toward “ calculating the benefits of programs , rather than spending a lot of time talking about the costs of programs . ”\n“ I got interested in thinking about how we could measure how these programs affect well-being of children in the households , or the households more broadly , ” Hoynes said . “ It came from a broader interest in evaluating potential benefits of the safety net , which … had sort of never been thought about before — the sort of cream on the top , if you will. ” It was n't just a new direction for her , she noted , “ There really was n't a whole lot of work on this . ”\nThere was one exception , however : the child health impacts of Medicaid expansion , covering families higher up the income distribution . Of course it makes sense that expanding health insurance would impact children 's health ; that 's the whole point . But Hoynes took things beyond the obvious . “ I sort of thought , 'Well , here are these measures of health and well-being , can we demonstrate that a more cash-based safety net , general redistribution [ program ] can be quantified in terms of effects on health outcomes ? ' So that 's sort of where I was coming from . ”\nHer research agenda has focused on “ the two programs that are the most important programs for low-income families and that is food stamps/SNAP and the earned income tax credit , ” she explained . Her first projects looked at impacts on “ a very common robust important measure of child health , which is their weight at birth . ”\nThis is where she first used the county-by-county rollout approach . “ When food stamps come into your county , we can use the full census of births in America , ” she said , “ comparing women across counties from one year to the next , using the full census of births from the birth certificate data ; we can then look at the weigh of children at birth , their propensity to be a low-birth weight birth and how this varies when food stamps is available versus not. ” This is the short-term food stamp research referred to above . She and her co-authors found a statistically significant reduction in the risk of low birth weight , which tended to concentrate in high poverty counties .\nHer paper on the earned income tax credit used a conceptually similar approach , but instead of using a county-by-county rollout structure for the “ natural experiment ” design , she used changes in the tax law , which changed the incentives involved during the 1990s “ as we reformed welfare and moved away from AFDC/TANF and toward the EITC , as a main way to provide cash assistance to low-income families . ”\nThis is not how Washington understands welfare reform , of course . The decline of AFDC/TANF funding and the expansion of the EITC somehow live in completely separate boxes , and the “ success ” of welfare reform — primarily defined as the reduced number of recipients — has nothing to do with expansion of the EITC , which has helped keep so many millions afloat . But what about the real world ? How did expanding EITC compare to the rollout of food stamps more than a generation earlier ? “ Amazingly , we found very similar results , ” Hoynes said . “ If you provide more assistance through the tax system , using this good variation across a different kind of natural experiment , as it were , we found reductions in low birth rates , more so for families that you would expect to be affected by the EITC , you know , lower education levels , single woman versus married .\n“ I would say it 's a very fertile area right now , that people are interested in trying to quantify these longer-term effects . And now , decades have passed , since that time period and the populations that are affected by them are sufficiently mature that we can really dive in and ask some questions that we had n't be able to do before . ”\nWith all that data out there , and researchers like Hoynes starting to make sense of it , one has to ask if it is n't time for a reality-based political movement to start using what they 're learned to shape a better future .\nIt might seem like a pipe dream now . But it was actually more or less like that before Gingrich “ reformed ” the House . As late as 1992 , authors Fay Lomax Cook and Edith J. Barrett found strong support for the welfare state and its programs , despite negative views of welfare in their highly detailed survey , Support for the American Welfare State : The Views of Congress and the Public . One key factor in Congress was that Republicans in committee leadership positions , who were much more familiar with how programs worked , showed significantly more support than Republicans as a whole . That was how things were before Gingrich went to work . It 's a good indication of what Speaker Pelosi should have undone when she held power from 2007 to 2011 . The next time Democrats do gain control of the House , they will need to prioritize making it friendly to the likes of Hilary Hoynes and her reality-based colleagues . It 's the only way , ultimately , to make it friendly to all the rest of us as well . | allsides-corpus-563 |
Russia announced Thursday that it had banned imports of meat , fish , milk and milk products and fruit and vegetables from the United States , the European Union , Australia , Canada and Norway .\nRussian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced the import ban on orders from the country 's president , Vladimir Putin , in response to sanctions imposed on Russia by the West over the crisis in Ukraine . The ban has been introduced for one year .\nThe decision shows that Putin has no intention of bowing to Western pressure over Ukraine and will instead try to strike back at the West . It also demonstrated that the Kremlin is ready to inflict damage on Russia while pursuing its course in Ukraine .\nMedvedev also said that Russia is considering banning Western carriers from flying over Russia on flights to and from Asia -- a move that would significantly swell costs and increase flight time . He said the decision on that has n't been made yet .\nRussia may also introduce restrictions regarding imports of planes , navy vessels and cars , Medvedev said , but added that the government will realistically assess its own production potential .\nThe move follows the latest round of sanctions against Russia imposed by the EU last week , which for the first time targeted entire sectors of the Russian economy . The U.S. and the EU have accused Russia , which annexed Ukraine 's Crimean Peninsula in March , of fomenting tensions in eastern Ukraine by supplying arms and expertise to a pro-Moscow insurgency , and have imposed asset freezes and loan bans on a score of individuals and companies .\nMedvedev argued that the ban would give Russian farmers , who have struggled to compete with Western products , a good chance to increase their market share . But experts said that local producers will find it hard to fill the gap left by the ban , as the nation 's agricultural sector has continued to suffer from poor efficiency and shortage of funds .\nWhile the government claimed it will move quickly to replace Western imports by importing more food from Latin America , Turkey and ex-Soviet nations to avoid empty shelves and price hikes , analysts predicted that it will further speed up inflation .\nRussia depends heavily on imported foodstuffs — most of it from the West — particularly in the largest and most prosperous cities such as Moscow , where imported food fills an estimated 60-70 percent of the market . Food and agricultural imports from the U.S. amounted to $ 1.3 billion last year , according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture , and in 2013 the EU 's agricultural exports to Russia totaled 11.8 billion euros ( $ 15.8 billion ) .\nMedvedev made it clear that Russia hopes that the sanctions will make the West revise its policy and stop trying to pressure Russia with sanctions .\n`` Until the last moment we hoped that our partners would understand that sanctions only lead to a deadlock , and no one needs them , but they did n't , '' he said . `` We hope our partners will put a pragmatic economic approach above bad policy considerations , and they will start thinking instead of trying to scare us . '' | allsides-corpus-564 |
Direct government subsidies for farmers have shrunk in recent years . | Graphic by Julia Haslanger Senate advances farm bill\nA new five-year farm bill advanced toward final passage Tuesday , after a strong bipartisan Senate vote Monday night to limit further debate and expedite action .\nThe 72-22 vote caps two years of struggle that badly split the old farm and food coalition . The final product represents a landmark rewrite of commodity programs , but even now , all eyes are returning to corn prices and three sets of numbers that will tell a lot about the topsy-turvy world facing the new law before spring plantings .\nIndeed , never before has there been a farm bill with such a robust crop insurance program combined with a price-sensitive commodity title , all in a period of changing prices .\nThe first data dump could come as early as Tuesday morning when the Congressional Budget Office will release its updated budget forecast , which many expect will show an increase in costs under the old policies of the 2008 farm bill .\nThe second will follow quickly in early March , when crop insurance premiums will be set for Midwest corn states for the coming 2014 crop year . And third , CBO will come back weeks later with an updated baseline that will project the costs of the new farm bill once it has been signed into law by President Barack Obama .\nHow much CBO will make public Tuesday is still unclear — coming just hours before the Senate ’ s scheduled afternoon vote on passage . But its numbers are expected to show a spike in commodity program costs because of the drop in corn prices over the past year .\nAt one level , this is an academic exercise since much of the increase is attributed to higher participation in the ACRE revenue protection program which is now expiring . But because ACRE is a forerunner of the corn-backed Agriculture Risk Coverage or ARC program in the farm bill , the numbers are a harbinger of troubles that could lie ahead .\nAt the same time the crop insurance premium for corn — which represents close to 40 percent of the total premium for all crops — will almost certainly go down this year with the lower price for corn . That will in turn reduce the cost of taxpayer subsidies in that title of the farm bill .\nFor the Midwest Corn Belt , these annual premium calculations are based on the February average of prices on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange for futures contracts for corn delivered in December at the end of the year .\nIn 2013 , that average was $ 5.65 per bushel and the premium $ 4.7 billion . But futures contracts for December 2014 are now running close to $ 4.50 per bushel for corn , a 20 percent drop that should produce a reduced premium since the insured assets will be that much less .\nAll this makes the March CBO forecast more challenging , but it also illustrates an important new dynamic in the farm bill .\nThe new commodity title reflects a landmark rewrite , making the bill much more an engine of countercyclical aid to farmers . The nearly 18-year-old system of direct cash payments — tied to the land not markets — is ending . Instead , producers must choose between two replacement options that will trigger only when prices decline .\nAt the same time , the crop insurance title is shielded from major changes and only grows in size with the addition of new products tailored to cotton and farmers looking for a lower cost supplement based on countywide losses . Even organic crops have a small piece of the action .\nThe end result is a decided shift . Just a few years ago , when CBO projected spending for the next five years , 2014-2018 , the commodity title was still an equal match for crop insurance . The picture now is one in which the crop insurance title is almost double the level of spending for commodity programs .\nThis creates two levers that can counterbalance one another to some degree . Crop insurance premiums go up with rising prices and down when prices fall . The new commodity title is the opposite , costing less when markets are good but much more when prices fall .\n“ Farm program taxpayer costs go up when prices go down , but crop insurance costs go down when prices go down , ” said Keith Collins , former chief economist for the Agriculture Department and now an adviser to the crop insurance industry . “ The new safety net means these offsetting effects may result in more stability for the taxpayer on safety net costs . ”\nThis is not a small change . For sure , target prices and countercyclical programs were standard fare for many farm bills before the current system of direct cash payments began in 1996 . But nothing like today ’ s crop insurance existed then , and in many cases , it wasn ’ t even a separate title in the farm bill .\nIn 1997 , for example , the total premium for corn was $ 461 million compared with $ 4.7 billion in 2013 . Even when adjusted for inflation , that ’ s a sevenfold increase .\nAfter subtracting what the farmer pays on the same premium , the net indemnities distributed on crop insurance policies are now a big part of the farm safety net .\nThis can be seen by breaking down the traditional government commodity and conservation subsidies versus net crop insurance indemnities as a percentage of net cash income for farmers .\nThe old-style subsidies have fallen as a rule and are dramatically less than past years like 2000 and 2001 . But in 2012 and 2013 , the net indemnities paid on crop insurance were almost as big as the traditional commodity and conservation payments .\nFor example , data collected by the Agriculture Department show that $ 10.6 billion was paid out directly by the government in 2012 but an additional $ 9.2 billion came in net indemnities on crop insurance policies . In 2013 , the government paid $ 11.4 billion , while the net indemnities on crop insurance were $ 11 billion .\nAdverse weather and drought conditions are part of this picture . But the numbers underscore the magnitude of crop insurance now as part of the farm safety net . And to the extent premiums are tied to crop prices , this can be some counterweight to the new countercyclical programs in the commodity title .\nInstead of direct cash payments , producers will have two options linked to real market losses . But they will lock themselves into one path for each crop in their base production for five years , a big decision that will most likely mean consultation with bankers whose operating loans are needed each spring .\nARC is the first option and promises a temporary cushion for growers once prices fall at least 14 percent below the rolling average for the prior five years . In this regard , its design is like ACRE and is a formula that ’ s very advantageous to corn given the fat years growers have enjoyed amid the ethanol boom .\nThese high prices mean the threshold now at which ARC payments will be triggered for corn in 2014 is near $ 4.55 per bushel . Cash sales are already running 40 cents per bushel below that marker , and it seems almost certain that some subsidies will flow in 2014 .\nIf prices fall to about $ 4.35 per bushel , the farmer would get something close to the current direct payments . But if corn were to drop to $ 4 per bushel , ARC subsidies could be twice what corn receives now per acre in direct cash payments .\nThe catch is that if corn prices were to stay at $ 4 per bushel , the ARC payments could run out in the space of three years . The idea is that this window buys time for the farmer to make adjustments . But it could also lead nervous growers to take a look at the second option known as price loss coverage or PLC .\nThis approach fits the more classic countercyclical model of fixed , government-set target prices — not a rolling market average . In the case of corn , prices would have to drop to $ 3.70 per bushel before any assistance is provided . But unlike ARC , PLC promises a more permanent floor to try to cover a farmer ’ s production costs .\nThe corn lobby and its soybean allies actively promoted the ARC approach , suggesting most of their growers will go in that direction . But wheat farmers are sure to be more divided , and rice growers lean toward price loss coverage .\nFor example , the PLC target price for wheat is $ 5.50 per bushel , about 22 cents below the ARC threshold but a much smaller gap than seen in the case of corn and soybeans .\nFor growers of medium-grain rice in California , the numbers break more in favor of PLC but will still mean that farmers must absorb a much larger price drop than corn .\nBecause of higher production costs , California growers get an extra 15 percent adjustment , which gives them a target price of $ 16.10 per hundredweight . And for a farmer to recoup what he is now getting in direct payments , the California Rice Commission estimates that prices would have to drop to $ 14.24 .\nThat means a roughly $ 5 per hundredweight loss compared with current market prices . For a 750-acre farm that would mean a revenue loss of more than $ 310,000 to get a PLC payment of $ 115,000 . | allsides-corpus-565 |
LISTEN TO ARTICLE 3:03 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Share Tweet Post Email\nTerms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars . Sign up here .\nChina and the U.S. agreed on the text of a phase one trade deal that includes the removal of tariffs on Chinese goods in stages , Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said , as President Donald Trump confirmed that some levies will be reduced and said the next round of talks will start immediately .\nChina will increase imports from the U.S. and other countries , Wang said at a briefing in Beijing Friday . Vice Chairman of the National Reform and Development Commission Ning Jizhe added that the specifics of agricultural purchases would be released later , as the text of the agreement is still under review .\nThe comments were China ’ s first response to a deal signed off by Trump on Thursday that would halt higher tariffs planned for Dec. 15 and represent the first phase in defusing the trade war that ’ s shaken the global economy .\nTrump tweeted , “ we have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China . They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product , Energy , and Manufactured Goods , plus much more . The 25 % Tariffs will remain as is , with 7 1/2 % put on much of the remainder ... ”\nWe have agreed to a very large Phase One Deal with China . They have agreed to many structural changes and massive purchases of Agricultural Product , Energy , and Manufactured Goods , plus much more . The 25 % Tariffs will remain as is , with 7 1/2 % put on much of the remainder .... — Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) December 13 , 2019\nBy keeping much of the existing tariffs in place , Trump told reporters later Friday that the U.S. would have leverage in the next round of talks .\n“ We ’ ll use them for future negotiations on the phase-two deal , ” Trump said , adding that his administration was planning to wait until after the 2020 election for the next step . “ They ’ d like to start them sooner than that , and that ’ s OK . ”\n..... The Penalty Tariffs set for December 15th will not be charged because of the fact that we made the deal . We will begin negotiations on the Phase Two Deal immediately , rather than waiting until after the 2020 Election . This is an amazing deal for all . Thank you ! — Donald J. Trump ( @ realDonaldTrump ) December 13 , 2019\nU.S. stocks initially rallied , with the S & P 500 Index jumping to a record , but were little changed after the announcements . The world ’ s two largest economies have been in a trade war for about 18 months involving nearly $ 500 billion in products shipped between the two nations .\nThe deal text , which comprises nine chapters , includes sections on intellectual property , forced technology transfer , food and agricultural products , finance , currency and transparency , boosting trade , bilateral assessment and dispute resolution , according to Chinese officials .\nBoth sides agreed to finish the final stages such as legal review and translation as soon as possible and work on arrangements for the final signing , said Wang .\nFirst announced by Trump on Oct. 11 , the interim deal with China offers a short-term political victory for the president and will allow him to claim that his tariffs have paid dividends , at the risk of being accused of postponing tougher issues like China ’ s industrial subsidies . Unfolding along with the trade news on Friday was the House Judiciary Committee ’ s recommendation to impeach Trump .\nRead More : Trump Impeachment Advances as Historic Vote Sends Case to House\nFor Beijing , reducing even some of the tariffs that have been imposed since last year represents a win for President Xi Jinping , who is also facing pressure to not give in to the other side .\n“ Without doubt , to implement the agreement , our imports of American agricultural goods will increase significantly , ” Vice Agriculture Minister Han Jun said .\nTrump told reporters he thought Chinese purchases of agricultural goods would hit $ 50 billion “ pretty soon . ”\n— With assistance by Lucille Liu , Miao Han , Sharon Chen , James Mayger , Josh Wingrove , and Katia Dmitrieva | allsides-corpus-566 |
While the Obama administration has been working overtime to push their sequestration-scaremongering campaign , all about how $ 85 billion in cuts means that we won ’ t be able to afford White House tours or as many border patrol agents , it is amazing to me that stuff like this somehow never even gets a mention . Hey , how about the federal government stops playing sugar daddy to a bunch of entrenched special interests and tries allowing the free market to function like it ’ s supposed to , maybe ? Is that too radical , do you think ?\nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture runs a whole host of farm-and-rural programs and subsidies that in practice function as little more than corporate welfare for agribusiness , but one of the most onerous results of the government ’ s persistent interference is that the American sugar market now operates like a federally-sponsored racket , to the benefit of a handful of farmers but the detriment of the economy at large . The feds have piled on complex loan programs , import barriers , and production quotas , all of which are specifically meant to help keep domestic sugar prices artificially high — which means that not only are Americans ’ taxes being devoted to protecting domestic sugar producers from free-market competition , but that consumers across the country are paying higher prices , too .\nBut of course , government interference reliably begets still more interference . Behold , the unnecessarily complicated and self-defeating vicious cycle that is the federal government ’ s unwavering support of the U.S. sugar market , via the WSJ :\nThe U.S. Department of Agriculture is likely to buy sugar in the domestic market this year in order to drive prices up and prevent defaults on loans made to sugar processors , according to a USDA economist . The USDA estimates it would need to buy 400,000 tons of sugar to boost prices to an “ acceptable level , ” said Barbara Fecso , an economist at the department . A purchase of 400,000 tons would amount to about 4.4 % of projected U.S. sugar production in the marketing year that ends Sept. 30 . … To entice ethanol producers to buy the sugar , the USDA ’ s Commodity Credit Corporation is expected to sell it at a loss of about 10 cents a pound , or $ 80 million total , Ms. Fecso said . “ If we acquire [ sugar ] in a down market , we have to get rid of it because we don ’ t want to own sugar , so we ’ re going to lose money , ” Ms. Fecso said . “ No matter how we dispose of it , there ’ s going to be a loss , so if we sell it [ to ethanol producers ] , at least we ’ re getting something in return for it . ”\nGee , thanks . It ’ s really too magnanimous of you to determine exactly what an “ acceptable level ” of sugar prices looks like on our behalf , the economic ripple effects be damned . | allsides-corpus-567 |
The U.S. livestock market is about to simmer with new business – and more competition .\nIn what they hope to be the first of many deals that would further open the world ’ s largest market of middle-class consumers , President Trump and his trade team , led by Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross , began taking steps to settle two prominent trade disputes with China that have stumped the American livestock business for years .\nU.S. announces trade progress with China in 10 key areas\nStarting later this year , U.S. cattle ranchers will be able to sell their beef in China , which has refused American imports since the mad cow disease breakout in 2003 . Trade bans of U.S. beef around the world , including China , contributed to the value of U.S. beef exports falling from $ 3 billion in 2003 to $ 1.1 billion in 2004 , according to trade publication Food Safety News .\nThe U.S. beef industry has been lobbying for years to reopen the Chinese market . A breakthrough came in September when China announced its intent to lift the ban without specifying a time period , and further negotiations on technical details began .\nThe push to reopen the Chinese beef market likely was aided by the U.S. approval to allow fully-cooked Chinese chicken to enter the U.S. , a deal that was also announced Thursday . Chinese chicken has been banned in the U.S. due to sanitary and health concerns .\nLivestock industry officials welcomed the announcement . U.S. beef producers will sell more to Chinese customers who are increasingly willing spend on foreign meats , including Australian and Brazilian imports .\nAllowing Chinese chicken to be sold in the U.S. would mean more global competition , but it could lead to the end of a ban on U.S.-produced chicken in China , says Jim Sumner , president of USA Poultry & Egg Export Council , an advocacy group . China stopped accepting American chicken imports in 2015 due to fears of bird ( avian ) flu . “ It ’ s more important for us get that market back , ” Sumner says .\n“ We ’ re making a lot of progress ” on China , he says . “ We can ’ t produce enough chicken wings to satisfy demand here . So it ’ s all good . We ’ re glad to see it happen because our industry believes in free , open trade . ”\nChinese chicken farmers got a huge break last year when Agriculture Department inspectors completed a review of China ’ s poultry slaughterhouse inspection systems and concluded that its sanitary and food safety standards were adequate .\nSumner says opening the U.S. chicken market is gradual . Fully cooked chicken from China won ’ t be sold directly in grocery stores and are used mostly by restaurants and pre-packaged food manufacturers as ingredients for other meals , such as soup , he says . “ Any imports from China would be very limited and ( serve ) special variety niche markets , ” he says .\nSome critics of imports say concerns about Chinese chicken processors are valid . Outbreaks of the avian flu have been frequent in the country , and its labeling standards are lagging , they say .\nStill , accepting Chinese chicken imports -- a top priority of Chinese officials -- likely was in exchange for lifting China 's ban on U.S. beef , Sumner says . And American beef producers are eager for more business .\n“ China has really become a major importer of beef over the last few years . We certainly missed out on that without having access , ” says Kent Bacus , director of international trade and market access for the National Cattlemen 's Beef Association . “ This is something we ’ ve been working on for the last 13 years . ”\nAsian consumers tend to favor certain cuts that aren ’ t as popular in the U.S. – chuck roast , tongue , stomach , short ribs and heart – and demand for these items in China could help raise the value of U.S. cattle , he says .\nWith more Chinese consumers seeking western restaurants , U.S. beef producers also are hoping to see their beef in steakhouses in Beijing and Shanghai . “ We ’ re going to get better prices , ” Bacus says . | allsides-corpus-568 |
Advertisers are grappling with a stark realization : After spending years courting U.S. consumers with aspirational images of upscale urban living , they may have misjudged the yearnings of much of their audience .\nIn the wake of Donald Trump ’ s election as U.S. president with a wave of support from middle American voters , advertisers are reflecting on whether they are out of touch with the same people—rural , economically frustrated , elite-distrusting , anti-globalization voters—who propelled the businessman into the White House . Mr. Trump ’ s rise has them rethinking the way they collect data about consumers , recruit staff and pitch products .\nA few days after the Nov. 8 election , the chief executive of the ad agency giant McCann Worldgroup summoned top executives to discuss what the company could learn from the surprising outcome . One takeaway for him and his staff was that too much advertising falsely assumes that all U.S. consumers desire to be like coastal elites .\nMore Marketing Coverage Facebook Reaches Proposed Settlement in Video Measurement Lawsuit\n“ Every so often you have to reset what is the aspirational goal the public has with regard to the products we sell , ” said Harris Diamond , McCann ’ s CEO . “ So many marketing programs are oriented toward metro elite imagery. ” Marketing needs to reflect less of New York and Los Angeles culture , he said , and more of “ Des Moines and Scranton . ”\nSome marketers , concerned that data isn ’ t telling them everything they need to know , are considering increasing their use of personal interviews in research . Meanwhile , some ad agencies are looking to hire more people from rural areas as they rethink the popular use of aspirational messaging showcasing a ritzy life on the two metropolitan coasts . One company is also weighing whether to open more local offices around the world , where the people who create ads are closer to the people who see them .\n“ This election is a seminal moment for marketers to step back and understand what is in people ’ s heads and what actually drives consumer choice , ” said Joe Tripodi , chief marketing officer of the Subway sandwich chain .\nEven as many ad agencies try to improve their gender and racial diversity , industry executives say they also need to ensure their U.S. employees come from varied socioeconomic and geographic backgrounds .\nA diversity hire “ can be a farm girl from Indiana as much as a Cuban immigrant who lives in Pensacola , ” said John Boiler , chief executive of the agency 72andSunny , whose clients include General Mills Inc. and Coors Light . The agency plans to expand its university recruitment programs to include rural areas .\n“ [ A diversity hire ] can be a farm girl from Indiana as much as a Cuban immigrant who lives in Pensacola . ” —John Boiler , chief executive of the agency 72andSunny\nGiven how polling underestimated Mr. Trump ’ s support , the election underscores the limitations of “ research methodologies that even in the era of big data are subject to human bias , ” said Antonio Lucio , the chief marketing officer of HP Inc .\nAs a result HP , the personal computer and printer arm of the former Hewlett-Packard Co. , is re-evaluating its reliance on research techniques like online polls and seeing if it needs to increase its use of personal interviews and ethnography , which is when researchers try to understand how people live by visiting them in their homes or work environments .\nDavid Sable , global chief executive of Y & R , a creative agency owned by WPP PLC , said the election is a lesson for marketers and agencies that have become too infatuated with big data . Mr. Sable said that Y & R will “ double down ” on its eXploring program , which involves spending time with consumers in their own habitats . For example , the agency has in the past done laundry with families in London as part of its research for a packaged-goods company .\n“ If you want to understand how a lion hunts you don ’ t go to the zoo , you go to the jungle , ” he said .\nDavid Droga , creative chairman and founder of Droga5 , whose clients include Yum Brands Inc. ’ s Pizza Hut and J.P. Morgan Chase , said the election validated its immersive approach . The shop this year sent employees to Johnsonville headquarters in Wisconsin to interview many of the sausage company ’ s employees for an ad campaign . “ We really want to make sure we not just understand our demo , but the mind-set of our demo right now , ” Mr. Droga said . ( Droga5 also did work for Hillary Clinton , including a TV spot that depicts her fighting for children throughout her public life . )\nAdvertising executives also said the surprising outcome to the election would likely hamper advertising spending next year , as marketers try to figure out what implications the new administration ’ s decisions will have on businesses .\n“ I believe there will be a slowdown ” in the first quarter as marketers take a “ wait and see ” approach to Mr. Trump ’ s policies , said Maurice Lévy , chief executive officer of Publicis Groupe SA .\nWPP ’ s GroupM , the largest ad buying firm in the world , had been anticipating U.S. ad spending would grow 3 % to $ 183.9 billion next year . Kelly Clark , global CEO of GroupM , now said he anticipates ad spending growth in the U.S. will likely decline a few percentage points over the next six months . “ We do believe that investment decisions will be delayed , ” said Mr. Clark .\nIf agencies internalize the societal changes the election reflected , the content or tone of advertising could change , some ad executives predicted .\n“ The election will have spooked the liberal elite away from high concept , ‘ make the world a better place ’ ” advertising to “ a more down-to-earth ‘ tell me what you will do for me ’ approach ” said Robert Senior , worldwide chief executive of Saatchi & Saatchi , a creative firm owned by Publicis Groupe .\nMr. Senior said the change will likely manifest itself in less use of fantastical imagery and escapism and more real world and real people in ads .\nMr. Tripodi of Subway says marketers are too focused on aggregating people into broader groups and painting them with the same brush . He said global marketers such as Subway should try to do more local marketing and advertising that can better reflect the concerns of specific communities .\nMr. Diamond of McCann says the ad industry ’ s move to have regional hubs servicing large patches of the world is now out of sync with movements in many countries—the U.S. , U.K. , and China , for example—where citizens seem frustrated with aspirational globalism . He said McCann , which has offices in about 90 countries , had been moving toward more regional hubs . It now wants to beef up its local creative teams .\nIn a world “ demanding local distinctiveness , you have to have creative that reflects that , ” Mr. Diamond said .\nSome advertisers weren ’ t caught off guard . Susan Credle , global creative chief of ad agency FCB , relayed a conversation she had before the election with a marketer who felt that an aspirational message would hurt its business .\n“ If we were having that conversation today , it would be an even stronger point , ” she said . | allsides-corpus-569 |
Back in 2000 , Diallo Shabazz was surprised to see himself on the cover of the University of Wisconsin admissions booklet . But there he was , cheering in the stands at a football game he never attended , just behind a group of white students .\nSome employees in the marketing department had decided to photoshop his face into the image ; this , they thought , was a great way to project a diverse image to prospective students .\nThe decision might seem innocuous to many — a clumsy but well-intentioned attempt by a university to promote diversity . But according to Nancy Leong , a law professor at the University of Denver who focuses on civil rights and discrimination , it happens all the time . And it breeds even more racial resentment in society .\nIn 2013 , Leong wrote a lengthy article in the Harvard Law Review in which she labeled this practice “ racial capitalism ” : the use of nonwhite people by corporations and institutions to make money or boost their brand .\nThink of the controversial 2018 Super Bowl commercial in which Dodge used a Martin Luther King Jr. speech to peddle Ram trucks ; it was one of those uniquely late-capitalist moments where an act of protest or a racially progressive speech was reduced to a bland commercial prop .\nI reached out to Leong to talk about how racial capitalism exploits nonwhite people and why she believes the practice is bad for both individuals and society as a whole . A lightly edited transcript of our conversation follows .\nRacial capitalism is the process of getting some sort of social or economic benefit from someone else ’ s racial identity . In the United States , this usually , though not always , involves white people benefiting from nonwhite racial identity . This is because white people in the US are more likely to have the power and resources to use another person ’ s identity to benefit themselves .\nCan you give me some specific examples of racial capitalism in practice , things that would be familiar to most readers ?\nA common example of racial capitalism is a school or a company intentionally putting photos of people of color on its website to inflate its appearance of diversity . This happens all the time . Sometimes schools have even been known to photoshop people of color into their brochures .\nRacial capitalism could also be something as simple as claiming that you can ’ t be racist because you have a black friend , or including a token minority character in a movie . Or it could be something like quoting Martin Luther King Jr. on Twitter when you ’ ve recently been accused of white supremacist views , like Rep. Steve King ( R-IA ) just did this past MLK Day .\nRacial capitalism is very common , and it ’ s often done by well-intentioned people who are completely unaware they ’ re doing it .\nWhy is racial capitalism problematic from your point of view ?\nToo frequently , racial capitalism is all show and no substance . We have a big problem with race relations in America . Racial capitalism doesn ’ t help , and it sometimes makes things worse .\nRacial capitalism breeds racial resentment . People of color know when they ’ re being showcased to benefit someone else — for example , a student of color whose photo is plastered all over their school ’ s website often resents the school for using them .\nThis is especially true if the student perceives that the school isn ’ t actually doing anything substantive to improve race relations , like providing funding to bring speakers to campus or taking the initiative to recruit racially diverse faculty members .\nI ’ m trying to imagine all the possible motivations for racial capitalism . Is it greed and cynicism ? Is it about signaling , however disingenuously , a commitment to diversity ?\nI think there are a lot of overlapping motivations . One is virtue signaling : “ Look at how inclusive and diverse this company is. ” Another is as a defense against racism : “ I can ’ t be racist because my best friend is black. ” Another is purely economic : “ Our movie will bring in a bigger audience if we cast this popular actor of color , even in a small role . ”\nWhen did this become a thing ? When did nonwhiteness acquire market value and become a commercial prop ?\nI trace it to a 1978 Supreme Court decision called University of California v. Bakke . That decision upheld race-based affirmative action programs but also said the only constitutional justification for affirmative action is promoting racial diversity . So ever since then , “ diversity ” has become a prominent part of our national conversation about race .\nAnd if diversity is a good thing , that gives people a reason to engage in racial capitalism . Of course , this is not to say that diversity is a bad thing , but the fact that the Supreme Court focused on it drew attention away from other important issues .\nFor example , if the Supreme Court had instead held that past discrimination could justify affirmative action — what lawyers call the “ remedial rationale ” — then we as a country would be more likely to have a necessary and painful conversation about race that would include everything from slavery to Jim Crow to redlining to the discriminatory administration of the GI Bill after World War II .\nThis is basically capitalist enterprises reducing race to a brand , in the same way they peddle lifestyles to targeted demographics .\nYes , absolutely . I think you could go even go further and say it is reducing diversity to a brand . This is one of the reasons that racial capitalism is problematic : It treats racial identity and diversity like commodities , which gives the impression that they are just like anything else you could buy or sell .\nIn what sense does whiteness carry inherent economic value in our culture ?\nIt ’ s the default setting . Law professor Cheryl Harris has written a wonderful article about this called “ Whiteness as Property. ” Whiteness has value in almost every setting due to conscious and unconscious bias .\nResearch shows that you are more likely to get a job interview if you have a white-sounding name . White people get better deals when they buy used cars and make more money when they sell things on eBay . Research even shows that professors are more likely to respond to an identical email when they think it was sent by a white student . Law firm partners rate an identical memo higher when they think it ’ s written by a white associate .\nI could go on and on , but you get the point .\nDoes the phenomenon you ’ re describing ever work in the reverse direction ? That is , do nonwhite people and institutions ever use whiteness to acquire social and economic value ?\nOccasionally , it could happen in the other direction . You might see a group that is predominantly people of color including some white people to try to help give legitimacy to the group . White people are sometimes seen as more authoritative even when they aren ’ t , and that can be valuable to nonwhite people .\nIt ’ s because of the way power is distributed in America . The most powerful people in politics , business , education , entertainment , and so on tend to be white — although this is slowly changing — and that means those people are in a position to make decisions that result in commodifying people of color . People of color are less likely to have that position of power .\nAll of this might seem counterintuitive to people , since whiteness has always been such a reliable source of value and power in this country .\nI agree , and it mostly still is . My point is that because of the increased focus on diversity , nonwhiteness also has a certain type of value now too . White people are also increasingly concerned about being labeled racist , and forming relationships — even superficial ones — with nonwhite people might seem like a defense against that .\nThere ’ s something very insidious about the inversion you describe here . For most of our history , nonwhite human beings were assigned value and sold as commodities . Today , a well-intentioned diversity rationale is being used to re-commodify and re-exploit racial differences .\nThis is one of my greatest concerns with racial capitalism . Racial capitalism feeds racial resentment — it ’ s not like nonwhite people don ’ t know what ’ s going on here — and this is like throwing gasoline on the fire of racial tensions .\nAnd , of course , the irony is that the value of nonwhiteness is still largely measured by its worth to white people and predominantly white institutions .\nOne of the big problems with racial capitalism is the way it constrains nonwhite people . If you know your company hired you partly because you are Asian , you might feel pressure to allow your photo to be used all over the website or to attend every diversity event even when you ’ re swamped just doing the work for your actual job .\nWhite people , who aren ’ t usually pressured to do this kind of racial work , can just concentrate on their jobs . This has happened to me , when I am expected to mentor students of color , serve as the faculty adviser for racial affinity groups , or attend diversity events .\nI love doing those things , but it ’ s real work that is not always acknowledged by the institutions to which I ’ ve belonged . Racial capitalism leads to a lot of extra racial work for people of color .\nThere ’ s an example in your article of a largely white college that photoshopped an image of a black student onto a brochure in an attempt to offer the illusion of diversity on campus . I ’ m trying to be as generous as possible here , so I ’ ll just ask : Is this necessarily a bad thing ? Is it possible that they ’ re genuinely seeking to become more diverse and perhaps they just chose a clumsy way of doing it ?\nI do have some sympathy for colleges that do this . I think the generous construction is sometimes true : Colleges want to signal that this is a good place for people of color , but the fact is that they don ’ t have very many students of color , which is why we end up with this photoshopping .\nI ’ d suggest , though , that a more honest approach is better , backed up with a real economic commitment . What that might look like is a college that says , “ We care about diversity and we know we need to do better . That is why we are offering 50 full-tuition scholarships to people who will bring diversity , including but not limited to racial diversity , to our campus . ”\nI think people would find something honest and substantive like that very refreshing .\nIs the problem , then , a superficial commitment to diversity , in which nonwhiteness is just a commodity , a way for white people to profit from a loose affiliation with nonwhiteness ?\nYes . I think the superficiality is part of the problem . If you want to do something good for nonwhite people , put some real resources into it .\nDo you think our societal effort to promote diversity has had the unintentional effect of degrading nonwhiteness ?\nMaybe . If nonwhiteness is just a commodity that can be bought and sold , isn ’ t it just like cereal or ballpoint pens or anything else you can buy and sell ? I worry that people look at nonwhiteness as just another thing to acquire . You want some nonwhite friends at your party , just like you want great lighting and fancy decorations .\nThis is the question that keeps me up at night . I think the example I gave earlier relating to college recruiting highlights two things that will help : honesty and resources . If a school wants more students of color , it should come out and say so , and then show it ’ s sincere by putting some money into the problem .\nOur country is going down the wrong road when it comes to race . We have a president who is a consummate racial capitalist . He goes out of his way to tweet photos of himself with Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas in the Oval Office , yet he hasn ’ t appointed a single black woman to the federal judiciary , constantly vilifies brown immigrants , and called white supremacists in Charlottesville “ very fine people. ” You couldn ’ t find a clearer example of the divide between show and substance . As a country , we are getting hung up on the show and missing the mark when it comes to the substance .\nIn 2018 , a poll found that 64 percent of Americans think racism is still a major problem in American society and politics . Another 30 percent think racism is a problem . So almost everyone agrees that race relations in America are troubled . But glossy brochures with photos of smiling , racially diverse people aren ’ t going to heal our culture .\nWe need to come up with real , substantive solutions — not use racial capitalism as a way of avoiding the hard questions . | allsides-corpus-570 |
The corporate world , perceived by social activists as the belly of the capitalist beast , might have been expected to be the most difficult for left-wing activists to tame . On the contrary , it has been a soft target .\nOn August 20 , the Wall Street Journal reported that the Business Roundtable , which includes the chief executives of many of the largest U.S. corporations , has ruled it no longer considers the purpose of a corporation to obtain profits for its shareholders but instead to act in accordance with the interests of “ all stakeholders , ” that is , society in general — which in practice means in accordance with social activists ’ enthusiasms of the day .\nThis can only make even more difficult the life of Justin Danhof , the lone ranger trying to restore the concept of traditional fiduciary responsibility to corporations steadily lurching leftward . The outcome of that effort will have a major impact on the many millions of Americans who depend in their retirement on funds that have been invested in the market .\nDanhof directs the Free Enterprise Project at the National Center for Public Policy Research . According to Danhof , the National Center was founded in 1982 by Amy Moritz Ridenour with “ a really great mission ” — to be a voice for the conservative movement wherever the movement was quiet . And it has certainly been quiet when it comes to countering the coordinated pressure campaign on corporations to adopt the Left ’ s positions on so-called ESG ( environmental , social , and governance ) issues , and , in the last few years , to dissociate from any pro-business organizations .\nIn a recent conference call organized by Steve Soukup of the Political Forum , Danhof called the landscape in which he operates “ ridiculous. ” There are 80 to 90 left-wing groups , most part of the As You Sow network , coordinating shareholder resolutions , while he is the lone shareholder trying to hold the fort on the conservative side . Working 80 hours a week , he says he can file 20 shareholder resolutions a year as against the 400 to 500 a year the Left files annually . While Danhof did not single it out , the example of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility highlights the imbalance . Created by the National Council of Churches in 1971 , its first high-profile target was the Nestlé Corporation for its marketing of infant formula in the third world . ( The Interfaith Center argued breastfeeding was much less expensive , healthier , and more appropriate for third-world mothers. ) . Today the Interfaith Center boasts of filing 300 resolutions a year and representing $ 200 billion in investor capital .\nFor 10 years Danhof has struggled to get companies “ back to neutral , ” meaning out of social and cultural battles that have nothing to do with their businesses . His task was made immeasurably harder a few years ago when Institutional Shareholder Services ( ISS ) and Glass Lewis , which together comprise 97 percent of the market for proxy advisory services , shifted to the left and began supporting ESG proposals . Danhof reports a recent example of what he calls “ the black-and-white nature of their bias. ” Shareholder activist groups have been pushing affirmative action policies , supported by ISS and Glass Lewis , for appointments to corporate boards . But when he introduced shareholder resolutions calling for increased viewpoint diversity on corporate boards , both ISS and Glass Lewis opposed him .\nGiven that so many institutional investors — including public service union pension , BlackRock , and Vanguard funds — outsource their votes to the proxy advisors , their recommendations have a huge impact . Before the proxy advisors ’ leftward shift , says Danhof , shareholder resolutions , whether his or those of “ progressive ” opponents , typically received only 2 to 3 percent of shareholder votes . But with the support of proxy advisors , last year the Wall Street Journal reported the median level of support for the left ’ s ESG proposals rose to 24 percent .\nThat ’ s only part of the story . The groups advancing these resolutions seek to negotiate an agreement with the company before they get on a proxy statement , and , indeed , the Journal reported in the same article that 48 percent of ESG proposals filed in 2018 were withdrawn . Generally a withdrawal means the company preemptively caved to the Left ’ s demands .\nTo be sure , in many cases , executives and corporate boards are in sympathy with the activists . This is increasingly the case now that some of the search firms used by Fortune 500 companies , says Danhof , only identify liberal candidates for open board spots . The global warming apocalypse , the focus of much of the environmental proposals , doubtless has plenty of board-room believers . To a large extent , says Danhof , the corporation is turning into the college campus , run by liberals , for liberals .\nEgged on by their own success , activists in the last few years have pressed corporate America to dissociate from pro-business organizations . Danhof describes the activists ’ modus operandi in the case of the American Legislative Exchange Council ( ALEC ) , which works on model legislation to reduce the regulatory burden on corporate America .\nBecause ALEC worked at one point on voter ID legislation — beyond the pale in the leftist worldview — the activists declared ALEC “ racist ” and flooded corporations with shareholder resolutions declaring they should not belong to ALEC because of “ reputational risk. ” That it was a circular argument — the activists decried ALEC as racist without evidence and then those same activists insisted corporations must not put their reputations at risk by belonging to it — did nothing to impair its effectiveness , Danhof notes . One hundred eighteen corporations left ALEC as a result of the campaign . The success of this smear tactic has provided the activists with a model to use against any trade group they choose to target . The corporations that weakly caved on ALEC , says Danhof , are now bombarded with proposals to leave the Chamber of Commerce , the National Association of Manufacturers , and even the National Restaurant Association ( dubbed by activists “ the other NRA ” ) .\nThe “ index ” is another device the activists employ to great effect as both carrot and stick . The CPA-Zicklin Index , for example , is the product of the Center for Political Accountability at the University of Pennsylvania ’ s Wharton School . Funded by George Soros and ostensibly seeking to ensure transparency in the political activity of corporations , the index is used as a stick to keep corporations from engaging with groups like ALEC and the Chamber of Commerce , Danhof says .\nThen there ’ s the Corporate Equality Index , produced by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation ( HRC ) to rate American businesses on their treatment of gay , lesbian , bisexual , and transgender individuals . Danhof says he can ’ t tell you how many shareholder meetings he ’ s attended in which the company has boasted about its perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index .\nBut the HRC keeps moving the goalposts . Danhof reports that about three years ago the HRC tweaked the index to demand an “ outward-facing ” event promoting the LGBTQ community each year . If not , the company would forfeit 10 percent on its score . This , he explains , accounts for the recent plethora of LGBTQ Super Bowl ads replacing the humorous ones to which viewers were happily accustomed . The HRC subsequently upped the demand to three “ outward-facing events ” annually . Last year , Danhof says , the Corporate Equality Index was tweaked yet again : if a company opposed a shareholder proposal that the HRC supports , the company would automatically lose 25 percent on the index .\nCorporations not only bend quickly under pressure but also produce the desired results much more quickly than courts or legislatures . Danhof offers as an example the fate of Georgia ’ s 2016 “ religious freedom ” bill , which affirmed the rights of those who opposed same-sex marriage on religious grounds to withhold services . Both houses of the Republican legislature passed the bill , which needed only the ( willing ) Republican Gov . Nathan Deal ’ s signature . The activists could have launched legal challenges , but that would have taken years with uncertain results . Instead the liberal activist network flew into action . Georgia was hoping to be selected to host the Super Bowl in 2019 or 2020 , and the National Football League announced it would be out of the running if the governor signed the bill into law . AMC Networks announced it would not film the seventh season of its hit series The Walking Dead in Georgia , and Disney threatened to stop all filming in Georgia . Gov . Deal did not sign the bill .\nWhile the liberal activist network mobilizes the troops , Danhof notes that those who oppose some of the most flagrant corporate decisions — like the decision by Nike to ditch its sneakers with the Betsy Ross flag because Colin Kaepernick told them to do so — confine themselves to personal expressions of outrage on Twitter .\nWith corporations , including the country ’ s largest , lining up to throw out traditional notions of fiduciary responsibility to shareholders in favor of responsibility to everyone and everything up to and including the planet ( reversing climate change is a favorite cause of the activists ) , is there anything that can be done to reverse the anti-business tide that has taken root within the corporations themselves ? At the outset , conservatives must finally begin to take notice and address the problem seriously .\nDanhof says that over the past five years he has personally attended more than 150 shareholder meetings , filed over 130 shareholder resolutions , and had over 200 meetings with corporate executives . His law degree comes in handy as he also does all the legal battling , much of it involving corporate filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission . But however admirable the lone ranger is ( Danhof has an occasional Tonto who will go to a shareholder meeting for him if in the event of schedule conflicts ) , he can not carry the day alone against the activist behemoth .\nDanhof offers a host of measures that conservatives could and should take . They can start their own rating systems to counter the activist indexes . Why , he asks , are companies rated on how much they promote the LGBTQ community while there is no liberty rating system ? Why isn ’ t the Heritage Foundation rating companies on cronyism ? Why isn ’ t the NRA rating companies on how they engage in Second Amendment issues ?\nHow about developing fast-action social media response teams to counter the Left ’ s outrage machine , which so often produces corporate action ? That way conservative anger would not be dissipated in ineffective bursts of emotion on Twitter .\nDanhof says there should also be an effort to elevate business-minded conservatives to corporate boards rather than leaving the shaping of these boards to people like Eric Holder , who is currently working to get as many former Obama people as possible on corporate boards .\nThere should be an effort to engage corporate managers . Even those sympathetic to favored activist causes can be persuaded , Danhof believes , that it is in their interest to keep power and control over decisions , not to outsource them to groups that don ’ t care about their shareholders and in many cases would shut down the business tomorrow ( think fossil fuels ) if they could . He urges them : Don ’ t adopt a policy based on flawed studies that made it into a shareholder resolution .\nMost important of all , according to Danhof , is finding a way to deal with the radicalized proxy advisors , which he calls an existential threat . If he had a silver bullet , he says he would buy the Institutional Shareholder Services because its role in increasing the impact of the shareholder resolution can not be overstated .\nOne piece of good news is that the SEC has finally issued new guidance limiting the usefulness ( and thus the power ) of the proxy advisor . No longer will investment advisors be able to simply outsource their recommendations to the proxy ; they will still be responsible for doing their own due diligence . And the proxy advisors will now be legally on the hook for false and misleading communications . While Danhof does not believe the SEC rulings will have much impact in the short term , the Wall Street Journal in an August 28 editorial treats this ruling as a significant sign the SEC is looking out for shareholders , not political stakeholders .\nOrganized advocacy of “ stakeholder ” over shareholder rights is relatively new , going back to the Ralph Nader-created and inspired so-called “ public interest ” groups of the 1960s , which sought to politicize the corporation by turning it into a miniature government whose decisions were to be made by a “ legislature ” that included the public affected by the corporation . At the time this was dismissed as fringe chatter . Now that the vast majority of the corporate leaders of the Business Roundtable have adopted the then-far-out notion of satisfying the “ stakeholder ” as their central mission , many in the media simply shrug , dismissing it as inconsequential window dressing . In the Hill , Danhof points out that , on the contrary , the Roundtable has provided “ the rope that the Left can use to put around the necks of its corporate members. ” Indeed he envisions shareholder proposals being fashioned right now demanding Roundtable member companies leave the Roundtable because some of its pro-business advocacy is contrary to the positions of some ESG “ stakeholders . ”\nThe notion that stakeholders trump a corporation ’ s shareholders may be new . Much older is the pithy observation of Adam Smith in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations that “ I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good . ”\nRael Jean Isaac is the author ( with Erich Isaac ) of The Coercive Utopians : Social Deception by America ’ s Power Players ( Regnery ) and ( with Virginia Armat ) Madness in the Streets : How Psychiatry and the Law Abandoned the Mentally Ill ( The Free Press ) . | allsides-corpus-571 |
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi will step down after 12 years leading the food and beverage giant , ending a tenure marked by efforts to adapt to changing consumer tastes and fending off pressure from activist investors .\nPresident Ramon Laguarta , 54 , will succeed the 62-year-old Nooyi effective Oct. 3 , becoming Pepsi 's sixth CEO . Nooyi will remain as chairman until early 2019 .\n`` Growing up in India , I never imagined I 'd have the opportunity to lead such an extraordinary company , '' Nooyi said in a statement . `` PepsiCo today is in a strong position for continued growth with its brightest days still ahead . ''\nPepsi stock gained cumulatively 79 percent since she assumed the CEO role in October 2006 , according to FactSet . That 's less than both the S & P 500 , which gained 112 percent , and Coca-Cola , which gained 108 percent . It grew net revenue from $ 35 billion in 2006 to $ 63.5 billion in 2017 .\nIt also faced challenges from upstart brands that continue to threaten its market share , including once-dominant drinks like Gatorade . Pepsi 's North American beverage business has been more challenged than its stalwart snacking business , continuing to provoke questions about whether the giant would consider splitting the two .\nActivist investor Nelson Peltz had taken a stake in the Pepsi and pushed for a split of the two businesses before backing off and exiting the company in 2016 after a multi-year battle .\nUnder Nooyi , Pepsi steadfastly kept the two businesses together , arguing in favor of the combined leverage it gives the company over retailers . It sought to revive its North American drink business by throwing more support behind its core brands . It said it erred in giving up prime shelf space in favor of supporting its younger drinks and lagging behind Coca-Cola in advertising spend .\nEfforts to reinvigorate its largest brands include its Pepsi Generation advertising campaign , the re-release of Mountain Dew Baja Blast and the launch of calorie-free Gatorade Zero .\nIt has also continued to support its snack business , announcing in May the acquisition of baked fruit and vegetable company Bare Foods . The deal may also serve as a building base for the broader business of plant-based snacks .\nNooyi is the second female CEO of a food and beverage company to leave the post since May , following Campbell Soup 's Denise Morrison . She is also the latest in a growing list of departures of chief executives across the food and beverage industry , as it faces the unprecedented challenge of remaking decades-old companies under the glare of the public eye .\nLaguarta , a 22-year veteran of the company , has been president since September , overseeing global operations , corporate strategy , public policy and government affairs . Prior to that , Laguarta served in leadership positions in the European and sub-Saharan Africa divisions .\nThe international markets have been a strong point for Pepsi amid slowing growth and tougher retailers in countries like the U.S. Pepsi this quarter reported 7 percent organic revenue growth in Europe Sub-Saharan Africa and 6 percent growth in Asia , Middle East & North Africa .\nWith Nooyi 's departure , the rest of PepsiCo 's senior leadership team will remain unchanged , the company said . | allsides-corpus-572 |
Amazon ’ s decision to raise workers ’ minimum wage to $ 15 per hour was welcome news , even Sen. Bernie Sanders praised the move .\nBut for some Amazon employees , the excitement didn ’ t last very long as they learned that existing financial incentives and bonus programs , including stock and monthly bonuses , that usually boost paychecks will be eliminated starting November 1 .\nSeveral Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. , who spoke to Yahoo Finance on the condition of anonymity fearing reprisals , talked about how the change will negatively affect them . After the removal of these perks , some workers said they will be making less . Most of the workers who voiced concerns have been working for the company for more than two years , and have been earning close to $ 15 an hour before the raise .\nWhile these workers ’ hourly rates will rise modestly , they said they could lose thousands of dollars that they would have collected from the stock and monthly-bonus programs . Amazon said those who are already making $ 15 an hour will see an increase in pay but did not specify how much .\nAn employee earning $ 15.25 an hour who has worked for Amazon for more than three years in Arizona crunched the numbers . Although he is getting a $ 1 an hour raise , which would equate to as much as $ 2,080 in additional pay a year , he said he could have earned a few thousands of dollars more from the incentive programs . “ Amazon isn ’ t giving its employees a raise , they ’ re taking money from us , ” he told Yahoo Finance . “ It only looks good if folks don ’ t know the truth . ”\nAn Amazon spokesperson said “ all hourly operations and customer service employees will see an increase in their total compensation as a result of this announcement . In addition , because it ’ s no longer incentive-based , the compensation will be more immediate and predictable . ”\nNot everyone at Amazon is happy about the wage increase . ( photo credit/Time ) More\nIn the past , Amazon had used stock options as a major selling point during the recruiting process . “ One of the ways we foster ownership among employees is through Restricted Stock Unit ( RSU ) awards . RSUs are a key part of our global compensation program , which has been carefully designed to help us attract , motivate and retain employees of the highest caliber , ” according to an Amazon brochure about the program .\nUnder RSUs , full-time warehouse workers usually receive two or three shares each year after a two-year vesting period . Amazon stock ( AMZN ) has been on a bull run — the share price has more than tripled since 2016 and now is around $ 2,000 . Amazon said it ’ ll replace RSU with a “ direct stock purchase plan ” but didn ’ t offer any specifics .\nAnother major perk that Amazon is phasing out is employee ’ s monthly bonuses , called Variable Compensation Pay ( VCP ) . An employee can earn up to 8 % of their monthly income , but it depends on how many hours they work and the facility site ’ s production goals . An average worker usually receives $ 1,800 to $ 3,000 a year through the VCP program , according to employees who talked to Yahoo Finance . Some said it ’ s especially frustrating to see the program removed now , since VCP doubles during peak months in the holiday season .\nAmazon warehouse employees go wild as news breaks of the company ’ s new $ 15 minimum wage . ( Screenshot/Youtube ) More\nAmazon said its decision to eliminate the financial incentive program was based on employees ’ feedback . “ We ’ ve heard from our hourly fulfillment and customer service employees that they prefer the predictability and immediacy of cash to RSUs , ” the company wrote in a blog post . “ The net effect of this change and the new higher cash compensation is significantly more total compensation for employees , without any vesting requirements , and with more predictability . ” | allsides-corpus-573 |
Apple CEO Tim Cook stands in front of a depiction of the new Apple headquarters building in Cupertino , Calif. , in 2016 . ( Stephen Lam/Reuters )\nOur politicians reliably fetishize two constituents of American life : the middle class and small business . The Democrats used to talk a bit more about the poor before they became the Harvard party — poor people are lousy donors , as it turns out — and the Republicans used to be a lot warmer toward Big Business before the GOP became a right-wing farmer-labor party and Big Business came to mean Howard Schultz , Mark Zuckerberg , and Lloyd Blankfein .\nBut the fact is , America needs Big Business — maybe more than Big Business needs America . There are lots of markets out there .\nThe relationship between Big Business and small business is complicated . Big Business now employs the majority of American workers , and a lot of small-business employees are Big Business employees at one degree of separation , working for smaller firms that get most — or all — of their sales from a single client , usually a much larger firm . The textbook example is the automotive industry , in which smaller companies provide specialized components and services to the big marques . Which is to say , Big Business relies on smaller businesses for inputs — about 25 percent of the inputs for big U.S. businesses are supplied by small U.S. businesses , according to a Business Roundtable study .\nIt is a delicate ecosystem , and the political desire to lean toward one group of businesses at the expense of others — for reasons that have a lot more to do with rhetoric than with economics — helps no one .\n“ Job creation ” is a questionable metric — abolishing high-tech agricultural equipment would create a lot of jobs but leave us no better off — but the numbers are worth appreciating : The biggest 1 percent of U.S. companies create about a third of the new long-term jobs . Big is beautiful , and so is new : Successful startups have for years made the difference between positive and negative net job growth in the United States . Big businesses pay better , offer better benefits , and offer more-stable long-term employment than their smaller cousins . And the small businesses that have the biggest impact on wealth , wages , and employment are the little ones that end up being big ones : Apple , Google , Microsoft , Facebook , Amazon .\nThe good news is : We ’ re really good at making Big Business work , and making it work for us . Just how good we are at that is something few Americans appreciate .\nOf the world ’ s 100 most valuable companies , the majority — 54 — are domiciled in the United States , according to a PwC report . Nobody else is even close : No . 2 is China , with a bare dozen . The United Kingdom boasts five . In 2009 , Japan was home to six of the world ’ s 100 largest companies . Today , it is home to one . Continental Europe combined has only 16 of the largest 100 : four in Germany , four in France , three in Switzerland , two in Spain , and one each for Belgium , the Netherlands , and Denmark .\nMost of those big European companies have something in common : They are elderly . The biggest U.S. firms are relatively new high-tech companies : Apple , Facebook , Alphabet , Microsoft , with only a few old-school companies such as Johnson & Johnson and JPMorgan near the top of the list . Europe ’ s biggest companies are corporate geezers such as Unilever , Nestlé , and Roche . Quick : What ’ s the most important German technology startup from a global point of view ? Daimler ? Bosch ? Some other 19th-century company ?\nThere are no European companies — zero — in the top ten worldwide , eight of which are U.S. firms .\nThe United States is home to the biggest , most valuable companies , which are getting bigger and more valuable faster than those in any other country . The market-valuation gains for those U.S. companies amounted to $ 1.3 trillion in just one year , from 2017 to 2018 . Of the 20 companies worldwide that saw the largest market-cap gains from 2017 to 2018 , 13 were U.S. companies . Zero were European companies . Zero were Latin American companies . Zero were Canadian companies . Zero were Middle Eastern , Japanese , Indian , or South Korean companies .\nFrom the 2008–09 financial crisis to 2018 , the U.S. firms in the top 100 worldwide added about $ 8.6 trillion in value — nearly five times what their Chinese counterparts did and 28 times what those of Europe ’ s best performer , Switzerland , added in the same period . The big U.S. firms added 41 times as much value as those of the vaunted economic powerhouse of Germany . Of the 20 firms worldwide that added the most value in those years , 15 were U.S. firms . One — Anheuser-Busch InBev of Belgium — was in Europe . Only two were in China .\nEuropean firms show up on the list of companies that lost the most value in that period : Roche , Sanofi , Siemens . So do a bunch of rickety old American companies : General Electric , AT & T , Procter & Gamble , Walt Disney , IBM , Philip Morris , and PepsiCo .\nRobert D. Atkinson and Michael Lind make the case for bigness in Big Is Beautiful : Debunking the Myth of Small Business , reviewed in these pages in May by Cato ’ s Ike Brannon , who notes the authors find that Big Business has “ proven to be better at achieving all that both the Left and the Right deem important to the U.S. economy : Big businesses pay higher wages , provide better benefits , have higher worker productivity and more innovation , do more research and development , export more , and achieve more in terms of environmental protection , worker safety , training , tenure , and diversity . In short , if the Left and the Right were to examine business solely by outcomes , both would more forcefully advocate that the government do more for big business . ”\nBut Big Business doesn ’ t so need a positive advocate in government — the absence of outright active hostility toward big , globe-bestriding firms probably would do . The members of the 2020 Democratic field are at the moment feverishly trying to out-radical one another when it comes to class warfare : Senator Warren proposes gradually expropriating the assets of wealthy Americans , Senator Harris talks about raising corporate taxes , and Senator Sanders — well , Comrade Muppet , the reddest Brooklyn socialist ever to represent Vermont , will never change . ( Except on immigration . Don ’ t ask him about those 2016 union-hall meetings ! ) Newbies such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Representative Ilhan Omar debate among themselves whether taxes should be jacked up to 70 percent or 90 percent and about exactly how the U.S. energy and manufacturing sectors should be put out of business . ( Green New Deal , indeed . ) Poor old Howard Schultz ( I. , Frappuccino ) is a candidate for crucifixion . The Democrats positively bristle with resentment .\nBig Business is not without its sins . But between Big Business and Big Envy , the choice is not difficult . Envy never put any bread on the table . Capital just wants to be loved , and it will go where it is loved . The blessings of Big Business are invisible to Americans for the same reason water is invisible to fish — but we ’ ll miss them when they ’ re gone . | allsides-corpus-574 |
San Francisco is one of America 's richest cities , yet it has a major problem with homelessness and crime . An average of 85 cars are broken into daily , yet fewer than 2 percent lead to arrests .\nThe homeless themselves are often harassed . `` They run around and they shout at themselves , '' one man who usually sleeps on the streets told our crew . `` They make it bad for people like us that hang out with a sign . ''\nSince store owners ca n't rely on city cops for help , some have hired private police to patrol their stores . There used to be hundreds of these private cops citiwide—and then the city 's police union complained . There are fewer than 10 left .\nSan Francisco 's politicians have promised to help the homeless going back decades . In 1982 , Mayor Dianne Feinstein bragged about creating `` a thousands units right here in the Tenderloin . '' In 2002 , Mayor Willie Brown said `` you got ta do something about it . '' In 2008 , Mayor Gavin Newsom boasted about moving `` 6,860 human beings off the street . '' In 2018 , San Francisco passed a new local tax to help pay for homeless services .\nWhy have the results been so lackluster ? One ███ : San Francisco has the nation 's highest rents .\nLaura Foote runs the non-profit `` YIMBY Action , '' which stands for `` yes in my backyard . '' The organization promotes policies that encourage more housing construction as a way to bring down prices .\n`` Let me build , '' said developer John Dennis . He spent years trying to get permission to replace a graffiti-covered , long-defunct meat-packing plant with a 60-unit building . He eventually got permission—but it took 4 years .\n`` And all that time , we 're paying property taxes and we 're paying for maintenance of the building , '' Dennis told Stossel .\nThe views expressed in this video are solely those of John Stossel ; his independent production company , Stossel Productions ; and the people he interviews . The claims and opinions set forth in the video and accompanying text are not necessarily those of ███ . | allsides-corpus-575 |
'T is the season of joyful children , the unfortunate addition of candy canes to coffee drinks , and fancy DVD sets given by people who apparently are n't aware of streaming video . And also , pleas to help the homeless .\nThe way that last part repeats , year after year , can make it seem like homelessness is an entrenched , unchanging part of our society . But data from recent years shows the nature of the problem is shifting dramatically before our eyes .\nAccording to HUD , the number of people on the streets and in shelters on a single night in January has fallen for the past four years straight . Even more remarkably , the category that HUD terms chronic homelessness — people with mental or physical disabilities living without a home for extended periods , or repeatedly — has dropped 30 percent since 2007 , even as the nation went through a severe recession .\nBut there 's also another story about homelessness in America , told by a report from the National Center for Family Homelessness , that shows a record number of children are now homeless . That 's based on data from the Department of Education , which measures homelessness quite differently from HUD . Instead of just surveying streets and shelters , the DOE includes anyone who 's living doubled-up , couch-surfing with friends or extended family . Because of that , the scale of the problem depends on which source you 're looking at — almost 1.3 million homeless students by the DOE 's count , compared with HUD 's point-in-time estimate of 578,424 homeless people of all ages .\nStill , the way the two sets of numbers are trending reflects something kind of mind-boggling : As a nation , we may be on our way to solving the problem of homelessness for the toughest people to serve . Yet , at the same time , homelessness is on the rise among a separate group of people , with problems that seem , on the surface , much simpler .\nThat veteran who used to sleep under a bridge ? There 's a good chance he now has his own place , with access to health care and counseling . But meanwhile , a mom with a couple of kids down the street has moved in with her sister 's family , and one more fight over shared bedrooms could send them looking for somewhere else to stay .\nThe improvement in chronic homelessness is thanks largely to the adoption of `` housing first '' approaches that give people a place to live and then offer help with substance abuse and disabilities . Research has found this works much better than trying to offer services to people on the street before finding them housing . Over the past decade , groups working with the homeless have responded to the data and shifted gears .\n`` We 've gotten a lot better across the board , I think , with people with very special needs , '' said Nan Roman , president and CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness . `` There 's kind of a technology around that , permanent supportive housing . It turns out it 's really cost effective . ''\nLooking at recent victories , like the fact that both New York and New Orleans have cut veteran homelessness in half in just three years , Roman said she 's cautiously optimistic that homelessness among people with the greatest needs could be entirely eliminated .\nBut she said addressing homelessness among families is a whole different matter . Homeless families , mainly women and their kids , don ’ t experience mental health and substance abuse problems at anywhere near the rates of homeless individuals , so they don ’ t really need the same types of supports . In fact , homeless families look almost exactly like other low-income families .\n`` What you 're seeing is this massive pool of poor people who ca n't afford housing , '' Roman said . `` Some percent every year will have a crisis and fall into homelessness… . This is not really about homelessness ; this is about resolving housing crises for poor people . There 's going to be more of it because we 're just not dealing with the income-housing gap — people not having a living wage . ''\nEven though homelessness driven by economic need seems like a simpler problem than the chronic sort , it could be much harder to solve . Only a certain number of people live with serious disabilities . But , as pay rates at the lowest rungs of the economy stagnate , there are an almost unlimited number who could end up evicted after a few more rent hikes .\nThis is n't to say that no progress has been made in fighting family homelessness . Nationwide , by HUD 's count , the number of parents and kids living on the street is less than half what it was in 2007 , and the number in shelters has n't grown enough to account for this drop .\nMary Cunningham , a senior research associate at the Urban Institute 's Metropolitan Housing and Communities Center , said it 's not altogether clear where those families go when they leave the street . In some cases , they may be getting support from various agencies to help them stay in their own apartments .\nBut there 's also a suggestive bit of data in the HUD numbers : While family homelessness has generally fallen , there are a few places it 's risen steeply . In Washington , D.C. , HUD reports that the number of homeless parents and children rose from 1,603 in 2007 to 3,795 this year . In New York City , it jumped from 29,015 to 41,633 .\nRents in these cities are extraordinarily high , and rising fast , which may partly explain why they stand out . But Cunningham notes that there 's another difference . Both D.C. and New York have an unusual law guaranteeing a shelter bed to anyone who needs it — at least in dangerously cold weather . That means families that might otherwise be doubled-up or living in some other makeshift situation are more likely to end up in a shelter and get counted as officially homeless .\nPerhaps partly because of their right-to-shelter laws , Cunningham said , some shelters in the two cities have evolved to look kind of like very low-quality apartments .\n`` So in some ways the shelter has become de facto affordable housing for people who do n't have other options , '' she said . `` That is n't great because the quality is n't there . ''\nBut are these shelters worse than the alternative ? That 's not clear . Cunningham said that , in cities without the right to shelter , more doubling up may create other problems , including a stressful environment for everyone involved .\n`` Those are not healthy situations either , '' she said . `` It makes it hard for kids to go to school , stay on track in class . ''\nSakina Thompson , senior policy advisor for D.C. 's Department of Human Services , said the city has recently moved toward combining programs for families that are officially homeless and those that are simply poor , recognizing that they typically have the same needs .\n`` Families seeking homeless services look just like the families who don ’ t who also have low income , '' she said .\nFor example , Thompson said , city workers now assess the housing needs of every family that applies for the welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families . It turns out that more than half of them are doubled-up and at risk of homelessness . Now the city can connect them with housing resources before they end up in a shelter .\nThe question is whether D.C. , and other high-cost communities , can provide enough support to keep families in their own apartments .\nThe largest federal affordable housing program for low-income people is Section 8 subsidies , which pay a portion of a household 's rent each month . But there are a limited number of the vouchers , and only a quarter of eligible families nationwide receive them . D.C. also has various affordable housing programs of its own , but Thompson said these resources are just not enough . The city 's housing authority had to close its wait list for public housing a year and a half ago because it had gotten so long .\nThe mismatch between affordable housing and the people who need it is only getting worse . Nationwide , more than a quarter of renters pay 50 percent or more of their income in rent , and the percentage has risen substantially in recent years .\n`` That puts people at higher risk , '' said Cunningham . `` If you 're paying too much for housing , you 're either making very difficult trade-offs about what else you 're forgoing , like food or health care , or you 're falling behind on your rent and you 're putting yourself at risk for becoming homeless . ''\nSo if we want to help the homeless this Christmas , the best thing we can do might be to work for justice for all Americans living with those choices . | allsides-corpus-576 |
The US Department of Agriculture runs a housing program for low-income residents in rural areas that is shrinking , even as the need expands . Two reports this year found that the program – housing an estimated 435,000 people – faces a dark future . In the early 1960s , federal lawmakers directed the USDA to create and expand low-income housing for the country ’ s large rural population by extending 30- to 50-year loans to developers to build multifamily dwellings outside urban areas . But the agency ends rental assistance when property owners fulfill their loan obligations , and the loss of subsidies leads most of them to leave the program and raise rents . “ In many small communities , these properties are the only kind of affordable housing , ” says Lance George of the Housing Assistance Council in Washington , D.C. “ If they disappear , there are no other options. ” His concern is echoed by Kathleen Griffin , who lives in an apartment subsidized by the USDA in Winters , Calif. “ Without this building and without the rent help , I ’ m not sure how I ’ d get by , ” she says .\nThe town of Winters lies 30 miles from California ’ s capital of Sacramento and half that far from three other cities with a combined population of almost a quarter-million people . Despite its proximity to urban areas , Winters , with 7,300 residents , qualifies as a rural area under federal guidelines , and like small towns across the state and country , it faces an acute shortage of affordable housing .\nThe municipality has designated 235 housing units for low-income residents . Six apartment complexes account for that total , including Winters Senior Apartments , where Kathleen Griffin moved in three years ago .\nThe two-story , 38-unit building , tucked into a leafy neighborhood a few blocks from the city ’ s tidy downtown , provides subsidized housing through the US Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) . The agency ’ s rural housing service supplies financial aid to low-income tenants that typically covers 70 percent of their rent .\nFor Ms. Griffin , who pays a third of the $ 820 monthly rent on her one-bedroom apartment , the assistance enabled her to return to her hometown and look after her elderly mother , who lives nearby . Before the unit opened at the Winters complex , she had languished for months on the waiting list of another subsidized apartment building while she stayed with a relative .\n“ We feel a little forgotten here in rural America , ” Griffin says . A retired mental health counselor , she copes with severe neck , back , and knee pain and survives on a monthly $ 1,000 disability payment . “ Without this building and without the rent help , I ’ m not sure how I ’ d get by . ”\nHousing advocates across the country share a similar concern , as the precarious state of low-income housing in rural areas threatens to deteriorate over the next decade – and from there descend into a full-blown crisis .\nThe USDA ’ s rental housing inventory comprises 416,000 subsidized units with an estimated 435,000 residents . Two reports this year found that , in the absence of more federal funding and better planning , the program will shed some 20,000 units by 2027 . At that point , analysts predict , the loss rate will accelerate through 2050 with up to another 380,000 units expected to exit the program , gutting the overall supply by 90 percent or more .\n“ We want to sound the alarm , ” says Lance George , director of research for the Housing Assistance Council , a nonprofit advocacy and policy group based in Washington , D.C. , that conducted one of the studies . “ In many small communities , these properties are the only kind of affordable housing . If they disappear , there are no other options . ”\nThe separate reports from the council and the Government Accountability Office identify maturing mortgages and early repayment of loans on USDA properties as the primary causes of the program ’ s troubles . The agency has seen its housing stock decrease by 29,000 low-income units in the past decade and has lacked funding to build new housing since 2011 .\nThe projected drop-off in affordable housing would hit hardest in the Midwest and Southeast , where two-thirds of the agency ’ s properties are located . At the same time , California could lose nearly 27,000 units , more than any other state .\nThe country ’ s most populous state seldom receives mention in discussions of rural issues , and likewise , the plight of rural areas seldom receives mention in discussions of California ’ s affordable housing shortage . Yet advocates warn of the fallout in Winters and other small towns statewide if the USDA program unravels .\n“ The impact will be gigantic , ” says Rob Wiener , executive director of the California Coalition for Rural Housing in Sacramento . “ Without these properties , those residents will have nowhere to live . ”\nThe problems plaguing the USDA ’ s rural housing service trace to its origins in the early 1960s . Federal lawmakers directed the agency to create and expand low-income housing for the country 's large rural population by extending 30- to 50-year loans to developers to build multifamily dwellings outside urban areas .\nThe program gained momentum in 1978 when the agency began offering rental assistance to tenants and limited their monthly payments to 30 percent of their adjusted income . The USDA picks up the difference , ensuring an equitable return to landlords on occupied units .\nThe subsidies spurred construction of low-income housing through the 1990s , and the USDA now manages properties in more than 85 percent of US counties . The units alleviate a profound need . The average income of tenants falls below $ 14,000 , and almost two-thirds are seniors , disabled , or both .\nBut the demand for affordable housing contrasts with the thinning supply as property owners pay off their USDA loans . The agency ends rental assistance when property owners fulfill their loan obligations , and the loss of subsidies leads most of them to leave the program and raise rents , an increase that can force out residents on fixed incomes .\n“ Homelessness in rural areas isn ’ t usually as visible as it is in cities , ” Mr. Wiener says . “ What ’ s already happening is more people are couch surfing with neighbors or relatives or living in cars or RVs as more of the affordable housing is going away . ”\nSome 3 million renter households in California – more than half the statewide total – meet the federal standard of “ rent-burdened , ” spending at least a third of their income on housing . The figure includes 550,000 low-income seniors , and those living in rural areas could be imperiled by the USDA ’ s shrinking housing inventory .\n“ They are the most vulnerable , ” says Gideon Anders , a senior staff attorney with the National Housing Law Project in San Francisco . “ People who are 70 or 80 years old and subsisting on Social Security can ’ t afford the market-rate rent in the community . ”\nRents in the state ’ s less populated areas have climbed in recent years as more residents seek to escape the high cost of urban living . The migration of people into towns once considered remote has enticed landlords to hike rents and , in turn , pushed low-income residents closer to the margins .\nGloria Rhodes struggled to find a new home in Winters two years ago after the owner of the guest cottage that she rented for $ 700 a month died . Unable to afford a market-rate apartment in town – monthly rent on a one-bedroom unit averages $ 1,000 – she placed her name on the waiting lists of Winters Senior Apartments and two other low-income housing complexes .\nIn the meantime , Ms. Rhodes , a retired customer service supervisor for a phone company , had to move 30 miles away to the city of Fairfield , where she lived in a cramped apartment in a run-down neighborhood . When a one-bedroom unit finally opened last spring at Winters Senior Apartments , she recalls , “ It felt like I was going to heaven . ”\n“ People talk all the time about the housing crisis in California , ” she says , sitting in her wheelchair in her apartment , the walls decorated with framed photos of her children and grandchildren . “ But when was the last time you heard about what ’ s happening in rural areas ? And especially what ’ s happening with seniors in places like Winters ? It ’ s like we don ’ t exist . ”\nThe USDA mortgage on the Winters complex will mature in 2045 . The distant date holds little relevance for Rhodes and other older tenants . But the prospect of the property one day losing its rental assistance worries Kate Laddish , 48 , who was diagnosed with a complex array of muscle , organ , and neurological disorders that qualify her for disability payments and low-income housing .\nMs. Laddish has lived here since 2006 , and while distinguished by age from most of her neighbors , she shares their gratitude for the stability the housing provides . “ When you ’ re elderly or disabled , you ’ re already coping with uncertainty , so knowing you have a home , a safety net – it ’ s invaluable , ” she says .\nLaddish ’ s condition derailed her career as a college professor and cost her the market-rate apartment where she lived . The rent subsidy enables her to remain close to her doctors and support network , and her experience informs her alarm over the failure of federal officials to address the bleak future of the USDA housing program .\n“ Services for seniors and people with disabilities don ’ t get a lot of attention in Washington , ” she says . “ Poor people can ’ t hire lobbyists . ”\nThe growth of the country ’ s urban population over the past 20 years has siphoned off public and political attention from rural housing concerns . The ticking clock on the USDA ’ s housing loans has gone unheard by federal lawmakers and President Trump , whose inaction follows that of predecessors Barack Obama and George W. Bush .\nThe Housing Assistance Council ’ s report on the program outlines remedies to preserve the supply of properties . The group proposes that the agency offer various tax incentives to landlords to remain in the program and continue rental assistance for tenants after mortgages mature to reduce the odds that owners will convert properties to market-rate housing .\nThe changes would require congressional approval and additional funding . Bob Rapoza , executive secretary of the National Rural Housing Coalition in Washington , worries that ongoing “ bipartisan neglect ” could doom the program ’ s chances of survival . ( USDA officials refused interview requests for this report . )\n“ There is a window of time for Congress to come up with ways to solve this problem . And it is solvable , ” he says . “ But Congress doesn ’ t usually deal with something until it has to . ”\nAnother answer to the program ’ s woes involves transferring properties from private owners to nonprofits , which manage 18 percent of the USDA ’ s affordable housing units nationwide . In northern California , the Community Housing Improvement Program operates three low-income apartment complexes that the USDA subsidizes .\nKris Zappettini , the group ’ s interim president , explains that each one took an average of four years to complete , and she suggests that simplifying the process would draw more nonprofits into the program . “ If it was easier , ” she says , “ everyone would be doing it . ”\nThe declining supply of low-income housing units threatens to obscure a related challenge for the USDA . The agency reported in 2016 that the program needs $ 5.6 billion over the next 20 years to maintain and upgrade its aging properties .\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy\nAWI Management Corporation , the owner of Winters Senior Apartments and dozens of other properties in California , Arizona , and Hawaii that are subsidized by the USDA , renovated the complex two years ago . The bright hallways and manicured grounds create a buffer between residents and their economic hardship , giving them a sense of independence .\n“ Apartments like this one allow people to live with dignity , ” Laddish says . “ They can live here and not feel like they ’ re being a burden on anyone . Everyone deserves that . ” | allsides-corpus-577 |
It was another chapter in a dismal saga of Nimbyist urban mismanagement that is crushing American cities . Not-in-my-backyardism is a bipartisan sentiment , but because the largest American cities are populated and run by Democrats — many in states under complete Democratic control — this sort of nakedly exclusionary urban restrictionism is a particular shame of the left .\nThere are many threads in the story of America ’ s increasingly unlivable cities . One continuing tragedy is the decimation of local media and the rise of nationalized politics in its place . In America the “ local ” problems plaguing cities are systematically sidelined by the structure of the national media and government , in which the presidency , the Senate and the Supreme Court are all constitutionally tilted in favor of places where no one lives . ( There are more than twice as many people in my midsize suburban county , Santa Clara , as there are in the entire state of North Dakota , with its two United States senators . )\nThat ’ s why , aside from Elizabeth Warren — who has a plan for housing , as she has a plan for everything — Democrats on the 2020 presidential trail rarely mention their ideas for housing affordability , an issue eating American cities alive . I watched Joe Biden ’ s campaign kick off the other day ; the only house he mentioned was the White House .\nThen there is the refusal on the part of wealthy progressives to live by the values they profess to support at the national level . Creating dense , economically and socially diverse urban environments ought to be a paramount goal of progressivism . Cities are the standard geographical unit of the global economy . Dense urban areas are quite literally the “ real America ” — the cities are where two-thirds of Americans live , and they account for almost all national economic output . Urban areas are the most environmentally friendly way we know of housing lots of people . We can ’ t solve the climate crisis without vastly improving public transportation and increasing urban density . More than that , metropolises are good for the psyche and the soul ; density fosters tolerance , diversity , creativity and progress . | allsides-corpus-578 |
Others argue that “ Biden was almost the only one on the stage who talked like a normal person . There was a point near the end of the debate when he was talking about getting men involved in stopping domestic violence and he said that we need to keep ‘ punching ’ at it… I knew that the twitterati and the analysts would tut tut . Ol ’ Joe is just out of touch ! He doesn ’ t know you can ’ t use words like that . Meanwhile , every non-political junkie watching the debate thought there was nothing wrong with this . Biden was just using ordinary language , not worrying too much if it was fully approved by the woke brigade. ” Kevin Drum , Mother Jones\nRegarding Pelosi , “ [ her ] talents have always lain in the less glamorous , less public side of politics : she is good at whipping up votes in her caucus and she is good at disciplining dissenters . She is good at offering incentives and punishments to get Democratic members of Congress to do what she wants them to do… To rip up the speech on television was a bit of theatricality , sure – a ploy designed to get attention . It also worked . The day after Trump made a long speech full of misinformation that tried to make a case for his re-election , no one is talking about him . Instead we are talking about the speaker of the House . That , too , is a skill , one that Pelosi seems to be honing. ” Moira Donegan , The Guardian\n“ If we ’ re really lucky , this might be the occasion for some significant reform . The absolute minimum that should be done is for Iowa to switch from a caucus to a primary… What would be even better is if we finally took the opportunity to end Iowa ’ s first-in-the-nation status… We have to release ourselves from the tyranny of this state and its stubborn voters . Let me speak for those of us in the other 49 : We ’ re pretty sick and tired of you Iowans telling us how it ’ s so important that you have this privilege for all eternity because you ‘ take it so seriously. ’ If you took it seriously , you wouldn ’ t use this insane voting process . And maybe more than 16 percent of you would actually turn out to vote… No one state deserves the status Iowa took for itself , and it has shown it can ’ t manage it . The country needs to take control of the election out of Iowa ’ s hands. ” Paul Waldman , Washington Post\n“ If Democrats can ever achieve a consensus on housing policy , they can do as they wish at present , since the Donkey Party has supermajorities in both chambers in the legislature . But… suburbanites from both parties are wary of disturbing the status quo … the road to enactment of ‘ upzoning ’ legislation remains rocky and winding . If you ’ re homeless in California , or are struggling to afford a mortgage payment or rent , help is not quite yet on the way. ” Ed Kilgore , New York Magazine\n“ Apartment bans are a case of rich vs. poor , longtime resident vs. newcomer , and , all too often , white vs. black , but they are something else too : generational warfare , a showdown in which older homeowners are telling younger renters that there ’ s no more room . Seen that way , the housing affordability crisis serves as a useful framework for understanding a handful of urgent American issues that have stalled out , particularly intraparty conflicts on the left like those over student debt and climate change… It doesn ’ t feel like an accident that the youngest woman ever elected to Congress has done more to advance climate change discourse in Washington in six months than Democrats have done in a decade… Young people in college , at planning meetings in Palo Alto , or protesting in Dianne Feinstein ’ s office , aren ’ t asking for anything radical—just for what their parents and grandparents already had. ” Henry Grabar , Slate\n“ When the cost of living is taken into account , billionaire-brimming California ranks as the most poverty-stricken state , with a fifth of the population struggling to get by . Since 2010 , migration out of California has surged… At every level of government , our representatives , nearly all of them Democrats , prove inadequate and unresponsive to the challenges at hand . Witness last [ month ] ’ s embarrassment , when California lawmakers used a sketchy parliamentary maneuver to knife Senate Bill 50 , an ambitious effort to undo restrictive local zoning rules and increase the supply of housing… “ Where progressives argue for openness and inclusion as a cudgel against President Trump , they abandon it on Nob Hill and in Beverly Hills… Not-in-my-backyardism is a bipartisan sentiment , but because the largest American cities are populated and run by Democrats — many in states under complete Democratic control — this sort of nakedly exclusionary urban restrictionism is a particular shame of the left. ” Farhad Manjoo , New York Times\n“ ‘ This is unregulated capitalism , unbridled capitalism , capitalism run amok . There are no guardrails , ’ says Salesforce founder and chairman Marc Benioff , a fourth-generation San Franciscan who in a TV interview branded his city ‘ a train wreck ’ … For decades , this coruscating city of hills , bordered by water on three sides , was a beloved haven for reinvention , a refuge for immigrants , bohemians , artists and outcasts . It was the great American romantic city , the Paris of the West . No longer . In a time of scarce consensus , everyone agrees that something has rotted in San Francisco . ” Karen Heller , Washington Post\nThe right blames liberal policies for harming the quality of life of California ’ s residents .\nThe right blames liberal policies for harming the quality of life of California ’ s residents .\n“ The top California income-tax rate is 13.3 percent ( the nation ’ s highest ) . The state ’ s average sales tax is ( conservatively ) about 8.5 percent ( ninth in the nation ) . California ’ s bewildering combined array of gasoline taxes are about 55 cents per gallon and rising ( second-highest in the nation ) . In exchange , California public-school test scores rank between 44th and 46th in the nation . Its roads and infrastructure are rated in various surveys between 42nd and 45th . Driving from the state ’ s interior to the coast on roads mostly unchanged from 45 years ago takes about twice the time as in the past — if carefully planned at particular times and days of the week . ”\n“ The quality of life in California is in free fall thanks to liberal policies exactly like those [ Democratic presidential ] candidates want to impose on the entire nation… California ’ s energy costs are already the second-highest in the nation ; the renewables mandate may scratch an environmental itch , but it will surely mean residents soon pay more for gasoline , or heating oil and electricity…\n“ These are policies that lead to high prices for housing and energy , a laissez-faire approach to law and order that leads to tent cities and rising crime , rising spending that demands exorbitant taxes and big government programs that mean diminished personal freedoms . ”\n“ San Francisco is the nation ’ s leader in property crime . Burglary , larceny , shoplifting , and vandalism are included under this ugly umbrella . The rate of car break-ins is particularly striking : in 2017 over 30,000 reports were filed , and the current average is 51 per day… the poor bear the brunt of low-level and property crimes . ‘ In the Tenderloin we have vulnerable populations—people of color , the most children , the second-highest concentration of elders , and they are held hostage by drug dealers and theft , and the city tells them these crimes are not that bad , ’ says [ former prosecutor Nancy ] Tung . ‘ We are failing to protect them . The police do a good job , because the criminals are caught , only to be released back on the streets over and over . ’ ”\nCalifornia “ has the worst ranking for homelessness , 8th worst for roads , and worst for teacher-to-student ratio . Its prisons are so crowded that the Supreme Court determined them to constitute cruel and unusual punishment , and it suffered the worst budget crisis of all the states during the Great Recession…\n“ Residents are so mesmerized by the amazing weather and beauty of the place that they tend to overlook the quality of the services . And as a result , management does not change . The state has been under the same Democratic Party management for years . Their monopoly on power is so safe that they now hold supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature despite California ’ s worsening condition . Management has no incentive to change when it keeps getting re-elected . ”\nIt ’ s worth noting that “ conservative ideas were much more popular when not associated with the Republican party . In Washington State , voters narrowly rejected bringing affirmative action back to state contracting and university admissions… “ In Seattle , the self-proclaimed socialist city-council member appears to have lost her seat to a pro-business challenger . In Colorado , voters gave fiscal conservatives a big win by rejecting letting the state keep any tax revenues above the state spending cap , money that the state Taxpayer ’ s Bill of Rights currently guarantees as refunds to taxpayers . In Sussex County , N.J. , voters approved , by a 2-to-1 margin , a referendum directing the local freeholder board to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement . ( Washington , Colorado , New Jersey — notice these are places where Republican candidates have had no luck lately . ) ”\n“ If a dozen drones or missiles can do the kind of damage to the world economy as did those fired on Saturday—shutting down about 6 percent of world oil production—imagine what a U.S.-Iran-Saudi war would do to the world economy . In recent decades , the U.S. has sold the Saudis hundreds of billions of dollars of military equipment . Did our weapons sales carry a guarantee that we will also come and fight alongside the kingdom if it gets into a war with its neighbors ? … the nation does not want another war . How we avoid it , however , is becoming difficult to see . John Bolton may be gone from the West Wing , but his soul is marching on . ”\nOthers note , “ I ’ d hate to be a Democratic member of Congress trying to convince Joe Sixpack that this is a whole new ballgame . The transcript shows Trump being Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky trying to ingratiate himself with the big dog by , for instance , mentioning that he stays at Trump hotels . Trump ’ s conversation is typically scattershot , wandering all over the field , leaving a reasonable listener puzzled about what the takeaways are supposed to be… “ I think Joe Sixpack ’ s response is going to be a hearty shrug . After all that has emerged about Trump so far , his approval rating is closely tracking Obama ’ s approval at the same point in his presidency . To get Mr. Sixpack ’ s attention you are going to have to do better than this . ” | allsides-corpus-579 |
Charlie Click was homeless and living in his car in Austin , Texas , when a stranger in a white truck offered him a sandwich and a fresh pair of socks . When he was in his late 50s , Click had lost his home and most of his possessions after a yearslong spiral that included four prison terms and two cancer diagnoses . The ordeal had left Click alone and dependent on pills and alcohol to cope , but the stranger 's kindness started a chain of events that would reverse the course of his life .\nThe Good Samaritan had been dispatched by Mobile Loaves & Fishes , a faith-based charity that delivers food to needy Austin residents . The organization had also constructed a village nearby for homeless people . Urged on by the socks-and-food-delivering stranger , Click applied for residency and was accepted . He drove the vehicle where he had been sleeping to Community First ! Village , a neighborhood with neat rows of micro-homes and R.V.s situated on the outskirts of town , northeast of central Austin . Freshly paved roads and tree-covered walking paths passed by wooden porch swings , a community center , and gardens bursting with produce . There was a barbershop , an art studio , a chapel , and an outdoor movie theater . Click moved into a single-room cottage with canvas walls , essentially a glorified tent— '' the cheapest thing going , '' he says—and found work on-site . After years of wandering , he was home .\n`` I 'm in a place where I can not only be secure , but I can be secure until I die , '' Click recalls thinking . `` I ca n't describe when that feeling hit me—'wow , I do n't have to go anywhere . ' ''\nSet on a 51-acre parcel of land eight miles from the Texas State Capitol , Community First ! Village opened its doors in late 2015 and has become one of the nation 's most renowned private programs for alleviating homelessness . The property houses more than 180 formerly homeless people in a tightknit neighborhood . Each residence has a porch facing a public space that encourages interaction with neighbors , a crucial design feature for a vulnerable population recovering from years of isolation .\nMonthly rents range from $ 225 for a micro-home to $ 430 for a family-sized R.V . The streets have names like `` Peaceful Path , '' `` Goodness Way , '' and `` Grace & Mercy Trail . '' Residents support themselves financially by working in maintenance , cleaning , landscaping , gardening , animal husbandry , auto mechanics , woodworking , blacksmithing , and hospitality for visitors who rent some of the tiny homes through Airbnb . To keep rents down , the least expensive units come without bathrooms or kitchens , so residents use shared bathhouses and open-air cooking pavilions that are dispersed less than a minute 's walk from each doorstep . Founder Alan Graham calls it `` an R.V . park on steroids . ''\nGraham , a 63-year-old former real estate developer , co-founded Mobile Loaves & Fishes with friends from his church in 1998 . The ministry began as the truck delivery program and branched out into housing years later . The secret to the village 's success , he says , is providing more than a roof and a bed . It 's a matter of absorbing homeless people into a community where they can find support , mentors , friendships , and reliable paid work .\nA `` housing first '' philosophy of homeless care does n't go far enough to fix the problem , Graham says . `` Housing will never solve homelessness . But community will . ''\nTo encourage a sense of community , public spaces abound : The Alamo Drafthouse sponsored a 500-seat outdoor amphitheater where movies are projected from an Airstream trailer . Residents tend organic gardens and harvest eggs from chickens . Volunteer groups from Austin serve meals regularly at long , covered communal tables . Community members have access to a health clinic , counseling , drug and alcohol rehabilitation services , and hospice care . An on-site columbarium with ashes of deceased neighbors serves as a reminder that they are welcome to stay for life . Around 50 volunteers who have never been homeless , referred to as `` missional '' residents , live in the community full time and provide support to vulnerable residents struggling with the transition to permanent housing . They lead Bible studies , host cookouts , and pay regular visits to sick or isolated neighbors .\n`` We call our community a 250-bedroom , $ 18 million mansion , '' Graham says . `` We all live in the same house . Your bedroom happens to be your 200 square feet over there . ''\nGraham lives on site with his wife in a 399-square-foot tiny house . He wears the same uniform almost every day : a long-sleeved Columbia fisherman 's button-down with the Mobile Loaves & Fishes logo above one breast pocket and the word Goodness over the other . A silver crucifix hangs prominently over his chest . He wears glasses and a Papa Hemingway–style white beard across his face , which is almost always shielded—indoors and out—beneath a ball cap that also bears the group 's emblem .\nA native of southeast Texas , Graham speaks with a kindly drawl . He 's devoutly Catholic but cusses when it 's necessary and exudes a calming air of approachability . Despite a former life as a developer in one of America 's hottest real estate markets , he has slept outside on Austin 's streets more than 250 times to gain a better understanding of the homeless plight .\nIn the late 1990s , Graham and four parishioners from St. John Neumann Catholic Church bought a used pickup truck from which to pass out meals and supplies to homeless people . They faced a steep learning curve . All of the founders were white and wealthy ; they knew little about the lives of the people they were trying to serve . `` We were clueless , '' Graham wrote in Welcome Homeless , a memoir about his life .\nThe group needed someone who knew what it was like to live on the streets without family , food , and hope . They found their man in Houston Flake , a homeless and illiterate man who took Graham into an urban forest in South Austin—a wooded green space where many of the city 's homeless choose to live , a community of cardboard box shelters and tents . `` I was a traveler in a foreign land , '' Graham wrote in his book . Flake introduced Graham to a woman named Marge , a former junkie who had spent time in prison and now lived in the woods . After Flake wrapped her in a bear hug and kissed her , Graham felt reluctant to even shake her hand . `` Where had that hand been ? '' he recalled wondering .\nIf he really wanted to help homeless people , Graham realized , he would need to be willing to touch them .\nIt was n't long after the launch of the charity food truck that Austin 's homeless people began to recognize it on the streets . The ministry expanded into a full-time nonprofit , which today dispatches 12 pickup trucks that roam Austin 's streets 365 days a year . Since 1998 , the trucks have served more than 5.5 million meals . As he built relationships with the homeless people who visited the truck , Graham also began raising money to shelter them in R.V.s throughout the city .\nOver time , Graham developed an understanding of his homeless neighbors ' needs . Even well-intentioned public efforts to provide housing and shelter , he concluded , were systematically ill-equipped to deal with the deep personal challenges that lead to chronic homelessness .\n`` Government can not mitigate this problem , '' says Graham , who describes his political views as `` conservative , but probably more libertarian . '' Americans , he says , `` are abdicating this responsibility to city hall , the state government , Washington , D.C. That is unfair . They do n't have the money , they do n't have the ability , they do n't have the understanding of why this is happening . Government housing is a transaction . The government builds or supports the creation of housing , but there 's no community involved in the life of those developments . ''\nToday , Austin is a boomtown , with well-funded tech companies clamoring to plant their flags there . Drawn by Austin 's warm weather , a thriving music scene , and the state 's lack of personal income tax , well-paid college graduates and families have poured into the area . Festivals like Austin City Limits and South by Southwest draw thousands of visitors each year , marking the city as a cultural hub . For three years in a row , U.S. News & World Report has named Austin the best place in America to live .\nThe rapid growth and popularity , however , have drastically increased the cost of living . The Austin Board of Realtors reported that the city 's median home price reached $ 410,000 in July , compared to the national median price of $ 280,800 . Despite recent efforts to ease building restrictions , Austin 's zoning rules limit high-density housing and restrict building heights in some areas of the city , which reduces the number of units available and , naturally , drives up the cost of living .\nFrom 2018 to 2019 , Austin 's homeless population rose from 2,147 to 2,255—a 5 percent increase—according to an annual count conducted by the Ending Community Homelessness Coalition , an Austin-based nonprofit . Nationwide data collected by the Department of Housing and Urban Development show a 2 percent increase in homelessness over a similar time period .\nLawmakers in Austin have taken notice . In August , the city appointed a `` homelessness czar '' to oversee programs and initiatives to reduce the number of people sleeping on the streets . In June , after hours of debate at city hall , the City Council voted to overturn a law banning urban camping , making it legal for people to pitch tents in most public areas as long as they do n't block traffic or cause a hazard .\nLocals who oppose the new rule fear it could leave Austin looking like San Francisco , whose highly visible homeless population has surged by 30 percent in the last two years . `` We have to act decisively and deliberately and in a big way now , '' Austin Mayor Steve Adler said after a July trip to West Coast cities facing the worst of the homelessness crisis . `` Because if we do n't , this is a challenge that will spiral out of control . ''\nYears before , Graham saw this coming . While the mobile food truck served an important role in alleviating the symptoms of homelessness , it could go only so far to address its root causes . He had an idea : Instead of just providing food and shelter , what if he could build an entire neighborhood for people who were chronically homeless ? More than a house for one person or family ; a community for hundreds , together .\nAfter decades working in Austin real estate—negotiating deals , securing permits , navigating the city 's zoning rules , and gaining approval from the right bureaucrats—Graham knew the system well and had relationships with Austin power brokers . Building an R.V . park would be nothing compared to the projects he had already seen through hundreds of times . How hard could it be ?\nIn 2006 , Graham drew up a detailed plan for a community that he intended to build on undeveloped land owned by the city . The first stages of planning showed promise . He presented the idea to Austin 's then-mayor , Will Wynn , who was sympathetic and supportive—his own grandfather had been a homeless alcoholic . Graham had another powerful champion in Mike Martinez , a City Council member , who helped him find 17 acres in East Austin for the first phase of building . In spring 2008 , the Council voted unanimously to grant Graham 's nonprofit a long-term lease .\nGraham 's excitement at the project 's rapid momentum lasted only until the first neighborhood meeting that summer , where he presented the idea to the public . It was a disaster . More than 50 neighborhood residents came to stop the plan .\nThe Austin Chronicle reported that Graham and his allies were `` under siege . '' Before the meeting began , a man angrily confronted Graham , and when Martinez tried to step in , the man called him a `` filthy pig . '' Graham says he watched another person spit on Martinez .\n`` It just flat turned into Armageddon , '' Graham says . `` It was awful . The police were called . ''\nA long line of speakers rolled out the typical NIMBY ( `` not in my backyard '' ) tropes , warning that Graham 's project would bring in drug addicts , rapists , and murderers—or , worse , lower property values . People attacked Graham personally , unveiling tax documents with his family 's home address .\n`` The comments were vicious , '' Graham says . `` It 's NIMBYism at its highest level . It 's an infection and an indictment on our culture . ''\nAt the meeting , some asked why Graham was n't building the mobile-home park next to his house in Westlake , one of the city 's wealthiest enclaves . ( At the time , Graham and his wife were using their spare bedrooms to shelter homeless people until the R.V . park could be built . ) At least one person affiliated with Graham 's project acknowledged that this critique hit home .\n`` I do n't know if I would want a homeless community in my neighborhood , I really do n't , '' Bruce Agness , a member of the Community First board who also lives in Westlake , says . `` I get that , even though I co-founded this thing . ''\nAt the end of the meeting , the neighborhood voted unanimously , 52–0 , in opposition .\nThe intensity of the meeting spooked Martinez , whose seat on the City Council could have been jeopardized if he did n't change course . He called a press conference the following day and announced that the project would be postponed .\nGraham and his team were deflated by the response . The exhausting process convinced Graham that he could not work within the city government apparatus if he wanted to succeed . Austin had too many regulations , too many rules , too many restrictions , and too many NIMBYs . `` I think government ought to get out of our way and let the people do what we can do , '' Graham says . But in order for the government to get out of his way , Graham needed to get out of the government 's way . And he found a clause in Texas land law that would allow him to do just that .\nHaving exhausted his political capital and most options for viable land within Austin 's city limits , Graham determined that he could no longer wait on the city 's political process . Four years had passed since he had the idea for a mobile home park , and , having been run out of every neighborhood where he proposed a site , he had little to show for his work . He devised a plan to build in a place where city council members and zealous NIMBYs could n't stop him .\nUnlike most urban areas , unincorporated Texas land is n't bound by strict zoning rules . The region surrounding Austin is a frontier-like place when it comes to architectural experimentation , and if Graham could find a tract of land beyond city limits , he could do virtually whatever he wished .\n`` When that revelation hit me , it was 'Katie , bar the door , ' '' Graham says . `` We 're gon na get this done , and there 's nothing that NIMBYs can do to stop us . ''\nWith a private blessing from Lee Leffingwell , the new mayor , Graham found and raised money to buy an available tract less than 10 miles from downtown . Austin transitions from urban to rural quickly , allowing access to a vast homeless population that 's concentrated downtown . When Graham and his team visited , they found `` a crummy , crap-filled piece of land '' full of weeds and three tons of trash and debris . Over several weeks , volunteer crews hauled away more than a thousand used tires and filled 20 dumpster trucks with garbage . They even discovered two stolen cars among the weeds .\n`` It was just what we needed , '' Graham recalls . They broke ground and started building . The first residents moved into their tiny homes in 2015 . Graham 's dream had become reality .\nA day in the village is not unlike any small neighborhood . But here , residents live much of their lives in the open . On any given afternoon , the air fills with noise of conversations from porch to porch , the occasional clang from the blacksmith workshop , or the grind of a power tool in the community garage . When you 're outside , it 's almost impossible to be alone—and that 's the point . Unlike in modern suburbs , where so much of life is hidden behind closed doors and privacy fences , problems in this neighborhood never remain hidden for long , which allows the community to respond quickly .\n`` Most people in the United States today live in these hermetically sealed single-family sarcophaguses that we call the American dream , in these isolated subdivisions , '' Graham notes . `` You do n't know your neighbors . You do n't know if they 're battling addictions . You do n't know if they 're wanting to put a shotgun in their mouth and pull the trigger with their big toe . In our community , we know everything . ''\nLife in the village , Graham says , is `` absolutely peaceful , with a side salad of tension . ''\nNo one claims that Community First ! is a utopia . Disputes do break out . One of Graham 's own neighbors tried to sue him twice—once for $ 20 and the other time for $ 5—over small tenant issues that were later settled privately . ( Graham and the man today remain neighbors and friends . )\n`` Every now and then there 's a fight , '' Graham says . `` People yelling and screaming at each other sometimes . Some of that is fueled by mental health issues going back to traumatic childhood backgrounds . '' Community leaders work with offenders by practicing restorative justice , an approach to conflict resolution that involves reconciliation and repairing the harm caused , but they call the police when needed .\nSince the first residents moved in , crimes have occurred , but mostly of the petty variety : a stolen debit card here , a missing bicycle there . There have been no reports of rape , murder , or serious violence , Graham says . Guns are not allowed . When one resident held up a neighbor with a knife , he was caught , charged , and convicted . He did not return .\nIn cases of attempted crime on the property , it 's almost impossible to get away with anything here anyway : Security cameras record the property 's open areas , and life is so public that few misdeeds go unnoticed .\nApplicants are screened before being accepted for residency , with prerequisites that they have been homeless for at least a year in the Austin area and that they undergo a background check . A history of substance abuse does not disqualify someone , nor does a criminal record like Click 's . But people convicted of murder , kidnapping , or sex-related crimes are not admitted . Those who continue to struggle with addiction are provided with access to rehab options , counseling , support groups , and relationships with missional residents to help them along .\nFaith was a driving force in the founding and remains a sustaining one within the community , although participation in services is not required for residents . Most of the missional residents come from Christian backgrounds , and there 's a chapel on site for worship and contemplative prayer . Church groups visit and volunteer time or serve meals .\n`` We 're driven by God , '' says Agness , the board member . `` A lot of people gloss over that . ''\nFor some residents , the transition from a life on the streets to a warm bed is difficult . `` It takes some people three or four or five months to get used to having a place to go to where they can close the door and not worry about somebody coming in and taking their belongings , '' Agness says . `` For some people , it takes two or three months before they 'll sleep on the bed . They sleep on the floor . ''\nResidents who have lived for years in isolation also can take time growing accustomed to being in close proximity to others . Click , for instance , holed himself up for months before beginning to engage with his neighbors . Others are known to go out of their way to avoid seeing other residents en route to meals or the bathhouses .\n`` Some guys are such introverts that they get off the bus , walk along the property line , jump the fence , and go into their tiny house . They do n't want to see anybody , '' says Nancy Miller , a missional resident who has lived in the village since 2015 . `` And that 's cool . They do n't have to be like us and want to hang out with everybody . ''\nWith homelessness rates increasing , the village is growing . Construction crews broke ground in October 2018 to expand the enterprise , bringing the population to about 500 people , with 20 percent of the units for missional residents . Once everyone is moved in , which the organization expects will occur around three years from now , the ministry will house one-fourth of Austin 's chronically homeless population , defined as those without a home for more than a year .\nAbout 15,000 people volunteer at Community First ! every year . The organization hosts a quarterly symposium to share strategies for replicating the village 's success that draws representatives from local governments and nonprofits across the nation . Mobile Loaves & Fishes has helped spawn food truck ministries in other cities around the country , including New Orleans , Nashville , and San Antonio .\nIn 2019 , Click 's life took another turn for the better . He met a woman , Tracy , who also lives in the Community First ! Village . They had a May wedding in the neighborhood 's Unity Hall , and he traded his bachelor 's canvas home for a family-sized place up the hill , on Grace & Mercy Trail . | allsides-corpus-580 |
Some worry his populist brand of politics is thin on specific proposals – and , in fact , not unlike Mr. Museveni ’ s , when he first came to power . But others see him as the man to herald a newly empowered youth movement to reinvigorate democracy .\nToday , the once brash Mr. Wine has left behind the strut and swagger of a bad-boy rap star . Over the years , his lyrics addressed social issues , and eventually became overtly critical of the government . During a crackdown last year , he was arrested and charged with treason ; he says he was tortured by security officers .\nThat may be stretching things . But a number of long-serving rulers have made way for successors in the past two years , from Zimbabwe to Sudan – though rarely with good grace .\n“ Young people are standing up ” across the continent , proclaims Mr. Wine , who hopes to defeat President Museveni in the 2021 elections . “ Africa is shaking . ”\nParliamentarian Bobi Wine , with his signature red beret and his “ People Power ” movement , has seized the young generation ’ s imagination here . Across Africa , the median age is 19 – but young people generally play little role in politics .\nUgandan President Yoweri Museveni has kept a grip on power for more than three decades . Can a rapper-turned-politician change that ?\nThe dirt road running through this ramshackle village is packed with a rapturous crowd of cheering young men and women . Car horns shriek . Dance music blares from sound systems . Pandemonium reigns as Bobi Wine , rapper-turned-politician , pushes through the mob .\nAs security men carve a path for him through the adoring throng , Mr. Wine , in his signature red beret , acknowledges the adulation with a smile and a clenched-fist salute . But today he makes no fiery speeches that might provoke a response from the Ugandan government , with which he has often clashed . He is simply here to plant a small tree in memory of his driver , who was shot dead exactly one year earlier , and his demeanor is as grave as his admirers are boisterous .\nOn a continent where the median age is 19 but where dispossessed young people generally play little role in politics , Robert Kyagulanyi ( who goes by the stage name Bobi Wine ) has seized the imagination of a generation . And he plans to use that energy to propel himself to the presidency of Uganda .\nHis popularity has already swept him into Parliament , where he has been a member since 2017 . Now he is preparing an audacious bid to topple Yoweri Museveni , one of Africa ’ s towering “ Big Men ” who has been in office for 33 years , in 2021 elections . His fame and appeal have crossed borders , garnering him fans well beyond Uganda .\n“ Bobi Wine has emerged as a figurehead for a generation of thwarted aspirations , ” says Ben Shepherd , an Africa expert at Chatham House , the London-based think tank .\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Supporters of Bobi Wine , a leading opposition figure in Uganda , attend a prayer service for his driver , who was shot and killed one year ago .\nAnd as the enduring strongmen blamed for dampening those dreams leave the stage – from Algeria to Zimbabwe – could Mr. Wine be the man to herald a newly empowered youth movement in Africa to reinvigorate democracy ?\nHe would like to think so . “ Young people are standing up ” from Sudan to South Africa , he proclaims . “ Africa is shaking . ”\nThat may be stretching things . But there have certainly been rumblings over the past two years as a number of long-serving African rulers have made way – rarely with good grace – for their successors .\nIn Zimbabwe , President Robert Mugabe ( who died in September ) was forced from office in 2017 , his grip on power finally pried open for the first time in 37 years since the end of the guerrilla war he and his allies had waged successfully .\nAlso in 2017 , José Eduardo dos Santos stepped down after 38 years as president of Angola , though he left two of his children in key government posts .\nThat same year , Yahya Jammeh , president of Gambia , relinquished power under military pressure from neighboring West African states , which forced him to accept that he had lost an election . He had ruled since leading a military coup 23 years earlier .\nIn April 2019 , Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir – in power for 30 years – was ousted in a military coup after months of widespread popular protests . The coup leaders have since negotiated the formation of a civilian-military transitional government , which includes opposition figures .\nAbdelaziz Bouteflika resigned as president of Algeria earlier this year as well in the face of sustained demonstrations against his decision to run for a fifth consecutive term . Young people are still protesting in large numbers every Friday , demanding greater democratic freedoms .\nStudents and other youth were at the forefront of efforts to unseat General Bashir and Mr. Bouteflika , but the ultimate outcomes in Sudan and Algeria are still unclear . And a number of historic Big Men – plus younger leaders apparently attracted to their style of governance and status in office – remain in power . Equatorial Guinea ’ s Teodoro Obiang Nguema is still ruling 40 years after he headed a military coup . In Rwanda , Paul Kagame shows no sign of leaving office , even 25 years after the rebel army he led ended the Rwandan genocide .\nHere in Uganda , President Museveni has used the ruling party ’ s overwhelming majority in Parliament to eliminate presidential term limits and abolish the age limit of 75 that would have stopped him from contesting the 2021 presidential elections . With the army loyal to him , a tame Electoral Commission , and extensive powers of patronage , Mr. Museveni has kept a firm grip on power for more than three decades .\n“ It ’ s clear he has no intention of leaving and he has all the power , so how are you going to win elections against him ? ” asks Joachim Buwembo , a political commentator in Kampala , the capital .\n“ Young people are very frustrated by the president , ” says one senior Western diplomat here . “ He ’ s been there forever . They see no future and they wonder how do they get him out . They are frustrated , but they don ’ t have solutions . ”\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Bobi Wine ( center , in white ) and his supporters walk to a prayer service for his driver , who was killed a year ago .\nIt took getting beaten up to spark Mr. Wine ’ s interest in politics .\nAbout 10 years ago , when he was famous only as a rapper , he drove to a nightclub in his new Cadillac Escalade SUV – the only one of its kind in East Africa . As he was leaving the club he was jumped by a young man , he says , “ who beat me up so bad , and asked me why I was showing off as if I didn ’ t know that this country had owners , ” referring to its rulers .\n“ I was the hot boy of the night until I was deflated by that beating , ” he says . “ That night was a very transformative night for me . Now we want to say that this country has owners and those owners are all of us . ”\nToday , the once brash Mr. Wine has left behind the strut and swagger of a bad-boy rap star . His heavily tattooed arms recall his past , but the dreadlocks are gone , and during an interview in the garden of his home outside Kampala , he is straightforward , speaking softly , in measured tones .\n“ I had to grow up much faster than my age , ” says the 37-year-old of his political education .\nAs a rapper , Mr. Wine made a name for himself across eastern and southern Africa and toured European capitals . He also amassed a small fortune : He is reportedly one of the richest musicians in East Africa .\nToday he lives behind high gates in Magere , a village 30 miles north of Kampala , in a whitewashed villa whose pillared terrace overlooks a well-watered lawn , immaculately trimmed by a gardener . It is decorated with a flock of plump guinea fowl .\nThe compound is a long way from the Kampala slum where he grew up , the sixth of 10 children , but he says he is “ proud that I came from the ghetto. ” To press the point , he sports a vanity plate on his Escalade that says GHETTO , and he has nicknamed himself the Ghetto President .\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Clenched-fist supporters of Mr. Wine , acting as his escort on motorcycles , arrive at his home in the village of Magere outside Kampala .\nAs Mr. Wine became more politically engaged , his lyrics grew more purposeful . In songs he branded “ edutainment , ” he sang about social issues and promoted personal hygiene and public health . Gradually , he became overtly political and critical of the government .\nWhen , in 2016 , Mr. Museveni won elections that international observers found neither free nor fair , “ I thought it was high time I stopped being a spectator or only a talker , ” Mr. Wine explains . So he ran for Parliament as an independent and won comfortably .\nPolitical success has turned his life upside down . For a start , he complains , the Museveni government has forbidden him to stage concerts and banned his songs from being played on Ugandan radio and TV . That hasn ’ t kept him out of his studio in Kamwokya , the slum where he was raised . He is currently recording an album to be called “ Forbidden Music , ” he says , that his fans will all be able to listen to on YouTube , regardless of the broadcast ban .\nAs we speak , a crowd of those fans and supporters can be heard in the road outside the gates , revving their motorcycle engines and demanding to be let in . They are the escort that will accompany Mr. Wine to the ceremony later that afternoon marking the anniversary of his driver ’ s death .\nThe escorts are a motley crew of young men , most of them wearing the red berets that signal their membership in the People Power movement , but they switch their engines off and glide quietly down the drive when they see that their hero is occupied .\nYasin Kawuma , the driver , was shot in the northern town of Arua last year during a crackdown by soldiers after Mr. Museveni ’ s motorcade was allegedly pelted with stones by opposition supporters following a campaign rally . Mr. Wine , who was in town campaigning with other opposition figures , was arrested along with his colleagues in a hotel far from the disturbance . He says he was beaten severely with iron bars and then tortured in the military vehicle that took him to jail . Detained for two weeks , he was charged with treason ( a charge that is still active ) before traveling to the United States for medical treatment .\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Wearing his trademark white caftan , Mr. Wine and others pay tribute to his late driver .\nThe violence of the government ’ s reaction , he says , suggests that the authorities are rattled . ( That impression would be strengthened a few weeks after our interview , when the government banned civilians from wearing red berets like Mr. Wine ’ s trademark headgear , on pain of life imprisonment . ) “ They are very scared of us and in a very shaky position , ” he insists , lapsing – as he occasionally does – into the royal “ we. ” “ As much as they ’ ve been able to intimidate a few people , ” he adds , “ they ’ ve also succeeded in emboldening us . ”\nThat doesn ’ t mean he doesn ’ t fear for his life . “ The regime is extremely threatened by the challenge we pose , ” he says . “ They seek to eliminate us once and for all . The regime in Uganda wants me dead as soon as yesterday . ”\nBut as long as he is alive he can be playful , despite the tension . “ Can I just kiss my wife ? ” he asks as Barbara Itungo Kyagulanyi , a social worker credited with raising Mr. Wine ’ s political consciousness and polishing his public image , appears from the house .\nWhy does Mr. Wine think he poses such a threat to the government ? “ Because we are the energy that seeks to unite all change-seeking forces in Uganda , ” he answers . “ We are the gum that seeks to bind all those other [ opposition forces ] so that we can exalt the people. ” The strategy is working , he claims , pointing to a string of parliamentary by-elections over the past two years in which candidates he backed were victorious .\nPeople Power , in Mr. Wine ’ s version of it , does not have the far-left connotations that the slogan carried in 1970s America . Rather , it sets “ the people ” against an autocratic president . People Power is not a political party , but a movement driven by young people . Its only ideology is embodied in the name itself .\nThe movement here is not the first of its kind in Africa , nor is this generation of youth the first to have been frustrated by a lack of opportunities . Yet Mr. Wine believes this wave of activism is different , both because of the number of young people involved and their ability to communicate .\n“ We are many . We are much more informed and connected than we have ever been , ” he says . “ I am placed in a generation that is unstoppable . ”\nBut first , the young people need to gather momentum , he adds . “ They have the power only if they choose to open their eyes to that reality . Our message has always been ‘ assert your power , claim your power through your vote . ’ ”\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Kampala , the capital of Uganda , is a throbbing city of 1.6 million people that sprawls among rolling hills .\nAnd that will take organization . Voter registration drives will be key , Mr. Wine says , but mounting such initiatives in Uganda ’ s rural areas , where the vast majority of voters live , is not easy . The countryside has always been the stronghold of Mr. Museveni ’ s National Resistance Movement political party and his supporters control much of local government , not to mention the army and police . “ The government makes it extremely , extremely complicated for us to organize , ” Mr. Wine says . “ But we always find a way , clandestine-style . ”\nThe government could certainly manipulate the elections in a way that ensures Mr. Museveni ’ s victory , as Mr. Wine is well aware . He lays out what he thinks would be the consequences if it did so .\n“ If he tries to rig the elections , the people of Uganda will make sure it ’ s not business as usual , ” Mr. Wine says . “ He is going to lose to the people of Uganda by any ... legal and constitutional means necessary. ” He prefers not to specify what that might mean , other than to forswear violence .\nNor is he very specific about what exactly he would do if he were elected , since the People Power movement has no policy platform . Mr. Wine is impatient with efforts to press him on this issue and brushes them off . “ We don ’ t have institutions here ; we have Museveni , his family , and his hangers-on , ” he says . “ In a country where institutions are empowered and allowed to work , solutions will be there .\n“ Telling people that are enslaved in their own country , asking them for their policy alternatives is like asking a person that has not had a meal for a week whether they ’ ll have their eggs scrambled or otherwise , ” he says . “ All they want is to eat . And for starters all we want to be is free . We want to matter . We want our voice to count . ”\nThat ’ s as much of a policy statement as Timothy Ssimbwa needs to hear .\nA 26-year-old who teaches middle school history and religion , Mr. Ssimbwa has taken time off from marking exams to turn out today as a member of Mr. Wine ’ s motorcycle escort . Resplendent in bright red overalls and green beret , he explains that he likes Mr. Wine simply “ because he ’ s my hope . He ’ s a youth like me .\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff Mr. Wine ’ s SUV bears the vanity plate GHETTO , which is a nod to the rapper ’ s upbringing in the slums of Kampala .\n“ He ’ s ordinary ; he grew up in the ghetto , ” Mr. Ssimbwa says , as he waits patiently in the shade of a garden awning for Mr. Wine to finish a series of press interviews . “ Since he ’ s ordinary , he ’ d be a good leader . ”\nMr. Wine ’ s appeal is not unlike Mr. Museveni ’ s in the days when he was leading a bush rebellion against Uganda ’ s then-President Milton Obote , suggests Aili Tripp , who teaches African politics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison . “ It ’ s all centered on an individual , ” Professor Tripp says , and carries a strong populist message . “ That ’ s hard to escape without a stronger tradition of democratic institutions . ”\nYet in order for Mr. Ssimbwa and other members of the youth movement to translate their passion into power , they will have to remain unified and persevere in challenging authorities . Young Africans “ haven ’ t had the organizational capacity or ideological connectedness ; they are still scattered , ” says Mwambutsya Ndebesa , a professor of history at Makerere University in Kampala . “ They are aware , but not conscious , ” he says , drawing a distinction noted by Brazilian educator Paulo Freire . “ Aware of being young people with unmet needs , but not conscious enough to take action . ”\nStill , Mr. Wine could be crucial in helping Uganda ’ s youth find their voice . While most young people are simply frustrated but don ’ t know more than to say they are unhappy with their situation , “ Bobi Wine and other younger politicians who are willing to say ‘ we don ’ t agree ’ are creating a coherence in what people say ” beyond just their desire for jobs , according to the Western diplomat .\nThat kind of direction will be particularly important given the pervasive power of the government . “ Turning anger into consistent mobilization and demonstrations will take a high level of leadership ” in the face of official hostility , says Perry Aritua , who runs the Ugandan branch of the Women ’ s Democracy Network , a nongovernmental organization encouraging young women to run for political office . “ In Uganda we ’ ve yet to see the level of resilience needed to organize civic action . ”\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff “ Politicians don ’ t listen to young people . We are just seen as pawns during election campaigns. ” – Julius Kateregga , president of the Makerere University Students Guild , who ran for election as a People Power candidate\nA lot is at stake , should leadership falter . “ Youth has not always been on the side of good things here , ” says Mahmood Mamdani , head of the Makerere Institute of Social Research . “ They ’ ve provided the storm troopers for warlords and for government youth wings. ” The nature of any new youth wave “ will depend on what kind of leadership emerges , ” Professor Mamdani says .\nMr. Wine ’ s leadership of a national organization has yet to be tested , but he has proved he can be adaptable . Five years ago , the rap star was denied a visa to enter Britain , where he was due to play two concerts , because some of his song lyrics were violently homophobic – matching the prevailing culture in socially conservative Uganda .\nToday , in his songs and public statements , Mr. Wine expresses greater tolerance . “ He ’ s a genuinely curious person who wants to learn , ” says Jeffrey Smith , founding director of Vanguard Africa , an NGO promoting democracy in Africa , who has hosted Mr. Wine in Washington . “ I was skeptical about him ; I expected another brash guy who was all talk , but in fact he was here to listen and learn. ” While some young African populist political stars , such as Julius Malema in South Africa , have been accused of playing on divisions and fear , “ Bobi Wine is all about bringing disparate voices to the table , ” Mr. Smith says .\nMr. Malema is not the only young African leader whom Mr. Wine sees as a kindred spirit . He mentions the names of Nelson Chamisa , the opposition leader in Zimbabwe , Saulos Chilima – currently challenging the results of last May ’ s elections in Malawi – and jailed South Sudanese human rights activist Peter Biar Ajak .\nThere is little sign , though , that such disparate rising figures could lead a continentwide movement such as the Pan-African wave that swept post-colonial Africa . “ There is a concerted effort in different countries to talk to the youth , but the ideological approach of these young leaders , what ’ s driving them , is not clear , ” says Yona Kanyomozi , a former Ugandan government minister . “ That makes it difficult for them to work together . ”\nMelanie Stetson Freeman/Staff “ Bobi Wine started in music ; that can really make youth engage in something productive. ” – Agili Prisca , a first-year student at Makerere University ( center ) , who sits with students Esther Adeke ( left ) and Asiimwe Dhurufah\nThere is certainly a huge potential following for such leaders : 78 % of Uganda ’ s population is under age 30 . At current growth rates , those under 24 across Africa will rise by more than 50 % , to 945 million , by 2050 .\n“ There is a big structural change in population across the continent , ” says Mr. Shepherd of Chatham House . “ Young people have very different outlooks and aspirations from their parents – they are globally connected and they do not want to be farmers .\n“ I see turbulence ahead , ” he adds . “ The big dynamic of the next two decades is how transformative this will be , whether the old guard will be able to absorb the momentum of this wave of change . ”\nRiding that wave , and trying to control it , will require different skills than merely stirring young people to action . “ Bobi and other young politicians understand that they have to show that they can be disciplined leaders when they may not have all the skills needed to be disciplined leaders , ” says the senior Western diplomat .\nGet the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox . By signing up , you agree to our Privacy Policy\nMr. Wine says he is working on it . As he readies himself for his Muslim driver ’ s memorial service , slipping into a white caftan over his jeans and T-shirt , he reflects on his fate . He is not reveling in the moment , he says . How could he enjoy the concert ban , the beatings , and the endless court cases to which he has been subjected ?\n“ But because this is the predicament , this is the destiny , I am trying to learn to enjoy the struggle , ” he says . “ Because the struggle has become the way of life I ’ ve had to adjust to . Life is the way it is . Because this is it . ” | allsides-corpus-581 |
Female genital mutilation ( FGM ) will not be eradicated unless women are economically empowered to make their own decisions , an activist stressed today , as the United Nations released data warning that the ancient practice may take centuries to eliminate .\nDespite world leaders promising to eradicate the practice by 2030 , FGM remains as common today as it was 30 years ago in Somalia , Mali , The Gambia , Guinea-Bissau , Chad and Senegal . `` Some countries are not moving at all , and those that are moving are not moving fast enough , '' said Claudia Cappa , an analyst at the United Nations Children 's Fund ( UNICEF ) .\nEstimated to affect at least 200 million girls and women globally , FGM causes multiple mental and physical health problems . A 12-year-old girl recently died in Egypt after undergoing FGM . The practice typically involves the partial or total removal of the external genitalia . Sometimes the vaginal opening is sewn up .\nJaha Dukureh , a survivor of child marriage and FGM , said that while it is `` not unrealistic '' to make the promise to end the practice by 2030 , people must `` put their money where their mouth is '' and stop wasting funding on ineffective aid programmes .\n`` The best way women can stand up for themselves and their rights is if they are able to earn a little more , '' said Dukureh , who in 2013 founded the advocacy group Safe Hands for Girls , which works in The Gambia , Sierra Leone and the United States .\nShe said that all too often , politicians shy away from the sensitive topic of FGM , with the responsibility falling on charities to do the work . What is more concerning is that foreign donors often fund international organisations that do not understand local customs and practices .\n`` I do n't know why anyone expects change if that 's the way the development sector is going to continue funding these issues , '' she said .\nFGM is most closely linked to 30 predominantly African countries , but UNICEF said it may be practised in about 50 countries including those in Asia , the Middle East , Latin America and Eastern Europe .\nAlthough no high-prevalence country is on track to meet the 2030 goal , Cappa said attitudes are changing in many places .\nIn countries affected by FGM , seven in 10 women think the practice should end , and half of women who have themselves been cut would like to see it stop , according to the report published on Thursday , February 6 - the International Day of Zero Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation .\nThe most dramatic decline in recent decades has been in the Maldives , a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean , where FGM used to affect nearly 40 percent of girls and women , but has now been virtually eradicated .\nUNICEF also voiced concern about increased `` medicalisation '' of FGM hampering global efforts to end the practice .\nAbout a quarter of girls and women who have undergone FGM were cut by a doctor , midwife or other health worker as opposed to a traditional circumciser , UNICEF said .\n`` Doctor-sanctioned mutilation is still mutilation . Trained healthcare professionals who perform FGM violate girls ' fundamental rights , physical integrity and health , '' said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore . | allsides-corpus-582 |
With reports that two Americans have now been diagnosed with the Ebola virus while working to help Africans in Liberia , Western focus has shifted to the dangers of an Ebola outbreak . According to Samaritan ’ s Purse , the group for which both Americans work , doctor Kent Brantly contracted Ebola and then isolated himself ; Nancy Writebol , an employee of Serving in Mission , was helping Ebola patients as well when she was infected .\nThe World Health Organization , according to CNN.com , has measured the current outbreak in West Africa as the “ deadliest ever , ” including at least 1,093 people in Guinea , Sierra Leone , and Liberia . CNN states , “ Of the 1,093 confirmed , probable and suspected cases , 660 people have died . ”\nTransmission . Scientists speculate that original outbreaks come from human-animal contact . The World Health Organization states :\nEbola is introduced into the human population through close contact with the blood , secretions , organs or other bodily fluids of infected animals . In Africa , infection has been documented through the handling of infected chimpanzees , gorillas , fruit bats , monkeys , forest antelope and porcupines found ill or dead or in the rainforest .\nWhile Ebola transmission is not airborne , according to the Centers for Disease Control , it can be transmitted by “ direct contact with the blood or secretions of an infected person , ” as well as “ exposure to objects ( such as needles ) that have been contaminated with infected secretions. ” That is why medical personnel are in a more dangerous position than members of the general public – they routinely deal with bodily fluids . As the CDC notes , Exposure to ebolaviruses can occur in health care settings where hospital staff are not wearing appropriate protective equipment , such as masks , gowns , and gloves. ” Ebola can be spread via semen for up to 7 weeks , according to WHO .\nUSA Today reports that according to Michael Osterholm of the Center for Infection Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota , “ Ebola is actually much harder to spread than respiratory infections , such as influenza or measles . Those viruses pose a much greater threat on a plane or in any confined space . ”\nIncubation Period . The typical incubation period for the virus is somewhere between eight and ten days after exposure , although symptoms could appear , according to CDC , “ anywhere from 2 to 21 days. ” It has been measured to survive in semen up to two months .\nSymptoms . Symptoms mimic those of the typical flu virus , until they spiral out of control . Symptoms begin with fever , headache , weakness , diarrhea , vomiting , and muscle aches . Ebola then can accelerate to include internal and external bleeding .\nKill Rate . According to the World Health Organization , “ EVD outbreaks have a case fatality rate of up to 90 % . ” A history of Ebola outbreaks shows incidents ranging from 280 deaths in Congo ( out of 318 diagnosed ) in 1976 to 224 dead out of 425 diagnosed in Uganda in 2000 . That makes this the largest outbreak in history.Treatment . There is no vaccine for Ebola . The only treatment , as Medecins Sans Frontieres states , “ consists of hydrating the patient , maintaining their oxygen status and blood pressure and treating them for any complicating infections . ”\nWill It Spread ? CNN talked to MSF epidemiologist Kamiliny Kalahne . She said Ebola has not reached first world countries because “ people generally transmit the infection when they are very sick , have a high fever and a lot of symptoms — and in these situations , they don ’ t travel . And even if they do get sick once they travel to a developed country , they will be in a good hospital with good infection control , so they are very unlikely to infect others . ”\nAll of this , of course , assumes that people don ’ t travel when they ’ re sick…or immigrating . It assumes a level of distance between immigrants and non-immigrants . Should we all start wearing masks ? Probably not . But that doesn ’ t mean we should be nearly as blithe about the situation as our government seems to be .\nBen Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of ███ and author of the new book , The People vs. Barack Obama : The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration ( Threshold Editions , June 10 , 2014 ) . He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org . Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @ benshapiro . | allsides-corpus-583 |
( CNN ) -- Hundreds dead . Many more infected . Pervasive fear and denial are challenging authorities in west Africa who are trying to assess and address the Ebola crisis .\nSo far , it has killed more than 650 people , says Doctors Without Borders .\nThat 's the highest death toll the World Health Organization has recorded in an Ebola outbreak . And it 's getting worse .\nThe swelling numbers prompted heads of state to cancel travel plans on Thursday to direct their full attention toward fighting the outbreak of the virus that has crippled parts of Liberia , Sierra Leone and Guinea and stirred palpable concerns that it will spread around the region and the world .\nLiberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Sierra Leone 's President Ernest Koroma both canceled trips to the United States , and Koroma declared a state of emergency .\nHe announced a action plan that addressed many of the barriers international medical workers complain they face while fighting disease .\nSome residents in affected villages have accused them of bringing the disease into the country and have barricaded their towns or otherwise blocked access to Ebola hemorrhagic fever victims .\nA nurse with Doctors Without Borders , Monia Sayah , told CNN , `` the most challenging '' aspect of trying to help people is that `` we go into communities where we are not necessarily welcome , '' because people do n't want to believe they or their loved ones have Ebola -- in part because `` they understand now that the survival rate is not very high . ''\nKoroma said he will deploy police and military to accompany the aid workers .\nThey will search house to house for the infirm and enforce orders designed to curb the virus ' spread .\nWhat is the risk of catching Ebola on a plane ?\n`` The matter has reached a crisis point , '' Liberian Information Minister Lewis Brown told CNN 's Richard Quest . `` ... The dire prognosis is that it will get worse before it gets better . ''\nThe dangers are so real that some humanitarian organizations are pulling out to protect their own .\nSamaritan 's Purse -- an international evangelical Christian humanitarian agency -- and the missionary group Serving in Mission have recalled all nonessential personnel from Liberia .\nThe Peace Corps announced Wednesday it is doing the same , removing its 340 volunteers from that country , as well as Sierra Leone and Guinea .\nWhile there are no confirmed cases , a spokeswoman for the agency did say that two volunteers did come in contact with someone who ended up dying from the virus .\nThose Americans have n't shown signs of Ebola but are being isolated just in case , with the spokeswoman saying they ca n't return home until they get medical clearance to do so .\nOne American , 40-year-old Patrick Sawyer , died in a Nigerian hospital earlier this month -- having come from Liberia , where he was a top Ministry of Finance official , and before he could go back home to Minnesota to celebrate his daughters ' birthdays .\nBut the vast majority of those afflicted are Africans . They come from big cities and small villages , some of them falling ill without really knowing what hit them .\n`` This epidemic is without precedent , '' said Bart Janssens , director of operations for Doctors Without Borders , a group also known as Médecins Sans Frontières . `` It 's absolutely not under control , and the situation keeps worsening . ''\nAs of now , the outbreak has been confined to west Africa . But there are rising concerns that it could spread , especially since a person may not know they have Ebola or show symptoms for two to 21 days after being infected .\nSawyer , for example , collapsed getting off a plane in Lagos , Nigeria . He very well could have made it out of the region , perhaps to the United States , before showing symptoms of Ebola ; it 's only then that the virus spreads .\nTo further complicate matters , signs of Ebola include fever , headaches , weakness and vomiting -- symptoms that also define many other ailments , from malaria to the flu that Brown notes often pop up `` at this time of year . ''\nFor all these reasons and more , Janssens says , `` If the situation does not improve fairly quickly , there is a real risk for new countries to be affected . ''\nEbola spreads through the transmission of bodily fluids . Those most at risk are loved ones of those infected , as well as health care workers tending to the ill .\nSawyer is believed to have been infected by his ailing sister , who he spent time with in Liberia -- even though neither likely knew she had Ebola -- according to Brown .\nThen there are those like Dr. Sheik Humarr Khan , who fell ill early last week while overseeing Ebola treatment at a Sierra Leone hospital and died days later .\nTwo Americans affiliated with Samaritan 's Purse who also were infected `` have shown a slight improvement in the past 24 hours '' though both are in serious condition , according to the Christian humanitarian agency .\nOne of them is Dr. Kent Brantly , a 33-year-old who last lived in Fort Worth , Texas . He has been the medical director for the Ebola Consolidated Case Management Center in Monrovia , Liberia , where he has been providing care for Ebola patients since October . After testing positive for the virus , Brantly went into treatment at ELWA Hospital .\nThe other is Charlotte , North Carolina , resident Nancy Writebol , a Serving in Mission member working with Samaritan 's Purse to help fight the Ebola outbreak .\nIt is believed one of the local staff was infected with Ebola and came to work with the virus on July 21 and 22 , Samaritan 's Purse Vice President Ken Isaacs said . That staff member died Thursday .\n`` We think it was in the scrub-down area where the disease was passed to both Nancy and Kent , '' he said .\nBrown , the Liberian information minister , noted Brantly and Writebol 's fight in his CNN interview , as well as Liberia 's need for more health care workers like them .\n`` We join the families in prayers that they can come through this and become ... shining examples that , if care is taken , one can come out of this . ''\nOn Monday , the CDC issued an alert warning travelers to avoid hospitals with Ebola patients and funerals for those patients in Liberia , Sierra Leone and Guinea due to the outbreak .\nThe United States is considering raising the alert to discourage `` nonessential '' travel to those three countries , a spokesman said .\nLiberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has told the Ministry of Health to consider quarantines in some areas and cremating bodies in an attempt to prevent further infection , according to Brown .\nThe president also urged residents to avoid public amusement and entertainment areas , and set aside Friday `` for the disinfection and chlorination of all public facilities . ''\n`` My fellow Liberians , Ebola is real . Ebola is contagious . And Ebola kills , '' Sirleaf said . `` All of us must all take extra measures announced by the Ministry of Health to keep ourselves safe .\n`` The government will do its part . But you must do yours . '' | allsides-corpus-584 |
One of two American doctors infected with Ebola arrived in the United States on Saturday , the first time anyone infected with the deadly virus has been brought into the country .\nDr. Kent Brantly was being treated in a special isolation unit at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon after landing late in the morning at Dobbins Air Reserve Base in Marietta , Ga .\nA second American infected with the virus , Nancy Writebol , is likely to arrive in the USA within a few days . Brantly and Writebol were serving in Liberia as medical missionaries when they became infected with the virus .\nDoctors are confident the two can be treated without putting the public in danger .\n`` We have an inordinate amount of safety involved ... no one is in any way at risk , '' said Emory University 's Bruce Ribner , who will oversee the isolation unit . `` You need to appreciate Ebola is not spread by some magic mechanism . ''\nThe hospital is located just down the hill from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and is one of only four sites in the country capable of handling high-risk patients .\n`` This special isolation unit was previously developed to treat patients who are exposed to certain serious infectious diseases , '' Emory University said in a statement Saturday afternoon . `` It is physically separate from other patient areas and has unique equipment and infrastructure that provide an extraordinarily high level of clinical isolation . ''\nOn Saturday , Amber Brantly , Brantly 's wife , expressed her happiness in having her husband back in the USA .\n`` It was a relief to welcome Kent home today , '' Amber Brantly said in a statement . `` I spoke with him , and he is glad to be back in the U.S . I am thankful to God for his safe transport and for giving him the strength to walk into the hospital . ''\nEarlier this week , an Emory emergency medical team evaluated the patients in Liberia , deeming both stable enough for the trip to Atlanta , Ribner said . Officials said the Americans would travel on a Gulfstream jet fitted with a collapsible , clear tent built to transfer CDC employees exposed to contagious diseases .\nBrantly , 33 , of Fort Worth , had been working in Liberia for Samaritan 's Purse overseeing an Ebola treatment center . Writebol , of Charlotte , was working at the center on behalf of the faith group Service in Mission.Samaritan 's Purse is paying for their evacuation and medical care .\nThe hospital 's isolation unit has its own laboratory equipment so samples do n't have to be sent to the main hospital lab . The university says it uses standard , rigorous infection control procedures to protect patients , workers and the public .\n`` Emory University Hospital physicians , nurses and staff are highly trained in the specific and unique protocols and procedures necessary to treat and care for this type of patient , '' the university said in a statement .\nThere 's no specific treatment for Ebola so doctors try to ease symptoms , including fever , headache , vomiting and diarrhea . Some cases suffer severe bleeding .\n`` If there 's any modern therapy that can be done , '' such as better monitoring of fluids , electrolytes and vital signs , workers will be able to do it better in this safe environment , said Philip Brachman , an Emory University public health specialist who for many years headed the CDC 's disease detectives program .\n`` That 's all we can do for such a patient . We can make them feel comfortable '' and let the body try to beat back the virus , he said .\nEbola is considered one of the world 's deadliest diseases . The current outbreak in Liberia , Guinea and Sierra Leone has sickened more than 1,300 people and killed more than 700 this year .\nThe virus is spread through direct contact with blood , urine , saliva and other bodily fluids from an infected person . It is not spread through the air so it is not as infectious as a germ like the flu . | allsides-corpus-585 |
KADUNA , Nigeria — More than 300 boys and men , some as young as five and many in chains and bearing scars from beatings , have been rescued in a raid on a building that purported to be an Islamic school in northern Nigeria , police said on Friday .\nMost of the freed captives seen by a Reuters reporter in the city of Kaduna were children , aged up to their late teens . Some shuffled with their ankles manacled and others were chained by their legs to large metal wheels to prevent escape .\nOne boy , held by the hand by a police officer as he walked unsteadily , had sores visible on his back that appeared consistent with injuries inflicted by a whip .\nSome children had been brought from neighboring countries including Burkina Faso , Mali and Ghana , police said , while others had been left by their parents in what they believed to be an Islamic school or rehabilitation center .\n“ This place is neither a rehab or an Islamic school because you can see it for yourselves , ” Kaduna state ’ s police commissioner , Ali Janga , told reporters . “ The children gathered here are from all over the country… some of them were even chained . They were used , dehumanized , you can see it yourself . ”\nKaduna police spokesman Yakubu Sabo said seven people who said they were teachers at the school had been arrested in Thursday ’ s raid .\n“ The state government is currently providing food to the children who are between the ages of five and above , ” he said . It was not clear how long the captives had been held there .\nReports carried by local media said the captives had been tortured , starved and sexually abused . Reuters was not immediately able to confirm those details .\nOne young man , Hassan Yusuf , said he had been sent to the school because of concerns about his way of life following a few years studying abroad .\n“ They said my lifestyle has changed – I ’ ve become a Christian , I ’ ve left the Islamic way of life , ” said Yusuf , who did not specify the nature of his relationship with the people who sent him to the center .\nAs news of the raid spread , some relatives gathered near the compound , where a sign over the gate , topped with rolls of barbed wire , read : “ Imam Ahmad Bun Hambal Centre for Islamic studies . ”\nHassan Mohammed told Reuters he was the uncle of three of the freed children who had been sent to the school by their mother after their father died . He said he grew suspicious about what was going on after the family was denied access to them .\n“ I begged , they said no , we can ’ t see these children until three months . When we went back home… we said the only thing now is we should report this issue to the police station , that is exactly what we did , ” said Mohammed .\nThe rescued children have been moved to a temporary camp at a stadium in Kaduna and would later be moved to another camp in a suburb of the city while attempts were made to find their parents , police said .\nIslamic schools , known as Almajiris , are common across the mostly Muslim north of Nigeria – a country that is roughly evenly split between followers of Christianity and Islam .\nParents in northern Nigeria , the poorest part of a country in which most people live on less than $ 2 a day , often opt to leave their children to board at the schools .\nSuch schools have for years been dogged by allegations of abuse and accusations that some children have been forced to beg on the streets of cities in the north .\nEarlier this year , the government of President Muhammadu Buhari , himself a Muslim , said it planned to eventually ban the schools , but would not do so immediately .\n“ Any necessary ban on Almajiri would follow due process and consultation with relevant authorities , ” said Buhari ’ s spokesman Garba Shehu in a statement issued in June .\n“ The federal government wants a situation where every child of primary school age is in school rather than begging on the streets during school hours , ” the statement said .\nA presidency spokesman did not immediately respond to calls and text messages seeking comment on the raid in Kaduna and whether it would alter the government ’ s approach to such schools .\nProfessor Ishaq Akintola , director of the Nigerian human rights organization the Muslim Rights Concern ( MURIC ) , said around 10 million children across the north of the country are educated at Islamic schools .\n“ Those responsible for abuse , if found guilty , should be held accountable but these schools should continue because shutting them down would deprive so many students of an education , ” he said .\nAkintola said Islamic schools needed funding to train teachers and improve the buildings . | allsides-corpus-586 |
Kaci Hickox went for a bike ride Thursday , defying Maine 's “ voluntary ” quarantine that she ’ s fought against for the past week . The nurse 's refusal to stay in her home has ignited debate over whether she should be considered a hero for volunteering to fight Ebola in West Africa or a selfish danger to the public .\nTV personality Piers Morgan made his opinion clear in a harshly worded opinion piece in the Daily Mail in which he called Hickox “ utterly selfish. ” “ Nurse Hickox should stop her pathetic squealing , fire her lawyer , get off TV , thank her lucky stars she 's not got Ebola , and stay inside her damn home for the next couple of weeks to ensure there 's not a tiny scintilla of chance she could infect a fellow American , ” he argued .\nOthers sought to quell fears . Charles Blow , of the New York Times , said Hickox “ is a paladin being treated like a leper , ” and that mandatory quarantines would discourage health workers from volunteering in West Africa .\nHickox , a 33-year-old nurse , spent a month treating Ebola patients in West Africa with Doctors Without Borders and returned to the U.S. last week through Liberty International Airport in Newark , New Jersey . Airport screeners found she had a 101-degree Fahrenheit fever and New Jersey state authorities quarantined her shortly after .\nHickox fought fiercely against the quarantine and criticized New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie for enforcing it . At the time of her travels , a New York doctor tested positive for the virus after returning from treating Ebola in West Africa , prompting Christie and New York Gov . Andrew Cuomo to announce a new policy requiring any health care workers returning from treating Ebola patients to be quarantined for 21 days . Hickox was released on Monday , reportedly following pressure on Christie from the Obama Administration . She was allowed to go home to Maine , where she was expected to stay in isolation .\nShe tested negative for the virus while in quarantine in New Jersey , but Hickox ’ s blood wouldn ’ t test positive for the virus until she was symptomatic , so there ’ s still a possibility that she does have Ebola . The widely accepted practice is to have potential Ebola patients self-monitor and report symptoms immediately , but some don ’ t trust workers to do so . Maine Gov . Paul LePage said he will allow Hickox to stay out of quarantine if she agrees to take a blood test .\nWhile most Americans have virtually no chance of contracting Ebola , the fear that health care workers returning from fighting the disease in West Africa will spread it in the U.S. continues to concern the public . A Pew Research study found that 41 percent of respondents were “ worried that they themselves or someone in their family will be exposed to the virus , ” and 17 percent said they are “ very worried . ”\nAs the first health care worker to be quarantined under the new travel policies , Hickox has become a focal point of the national debate on how to stop Ebola . The general consensus in the medical community is that a quarantine is unnecessary . Dr. Arthur Caplan , director of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center , said the quarantine is more about quelling public fear than it is about containing the virus .\nBut some dissenting voices have made themselves heard . Dr. Marc Siegel , an internist and media figure , said a mandatory quarantine would calm the public and keep people safer . “ We need a consistent policy to protect and reassure us at least until our confidence in the public health response to Ebola stabilizes , ” he said .\nMaine Nurse Kaci Hickox Can Swap Quarantine for Blood Test , Governor Tells ABC News via ... http : //t.co/Q5b3f7UxNz pic.twitter.com/ogrl6R1sbO †” bonnie ( @ boniemylurv ) October 30 , 2014\nMany Americans have expressed anger with Hickox for leaving her home and potentially exposing others to Ebola . TV personality Geraldo Rivera said Hickox was `` squandering the goodwill that she righteously earned in Africa by being arrogant . ''\nAll Kaci Hickox is , is a spoiled brat who wants her way . And her way only . — GoSpursGo ( @ Jason_Wacker ) October 30 , 2014\nKaci Hickox making good doctors and nurses look bad with her selfish publicity stunt .... http : //t.co/0ts7G3gliW # Ebola # KaciHickox — LoneWolf ( @ SurlyBull ) October 30 , 2014 Hickox obviously getting the attention she seeks . It 's too bad we ca n't ignore her dangerous precedent . The next defier could be a spreader — greybeard ( @ greybeard411 ) October 30 , 2014 Kaci Hickox on a bike ride Quarantine ? Will I not abide Accused of being a shrew She tells the world , FU ! Now her rep smells like low tide — Seamus ( @ SeamusTx ) October 30 , 2014 | allsides-corpus-587 |
DALLAS — A health care worker who cared for the Ebola patient who died last week tested positive for the deadly virus , sending health officials scrambling Sunday to find the `` breach in protocol '' that resulted in her infection .\nThe woman was among caregivers for Thomas Eric Duncan , who died Wednesday at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital . A state test finding that she had Ebola was confirmed Sunday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , making it the first known case transmitted in the U.S .\nCDC chief Thomas Frieden said his agency will investigate how a worker in full protective gear contracted the virus .\n`` At some point there was a breach in protocol , '' Frieden said . `` That breach in protocol resulted in this infection . ''\nThe White House said President Obama discussed the news with Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell , directing that the CDC `` investigation into the apparent breach in infection-control protocols at the Dallas hospital move as expeditiously as possible . ''\nDallas Police officers stood sentry outside the two-story beige-brick apartment building Sunday in the leafy East Dallas neighborhood where the patient lived . Across the street , a scrum of news media lined up along the curb . A few neighbors wandered over to survey the scene .\nLynda Edwards , who lives down the street , said she became alarmed when helicopters began hovering overhead around 7 a.m. and news crews began arriving .\n`` It 's scary , '' she said , adding that televised news conferences from the CDC have n't eased her fears .\n`` It does n't sound like we have a plan , '' Edwards said . `` The public needs to know what the plan is . ''\nThe phone call from the CDC of the Ebola confirmation reached Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings around midnight Saturday , triggering a new round of decontamination and new steps to reassure residents .\n`` I was disappointed but not surprised , '' Rawlings told ███ . `` The odds were we would have another one . ''\nFor the next seven hours , members of the Dallas Fire-Rescue Department descended on the apartment building where the infected medical worker lived and decontaminated everything outside and in the common areas of the building , including the laundry room , entrance way , elevator and hallways , he said . They did not enter the worker 's apartment .\nAs workers in hazmat suits scrubbed nearby , Rawlings personally walked through the neighborhood , talking to residents . As a precaution , the workers were ordered to do a second cleaning of all common areas .\n`` We knew the patient was being taken care of at the hospital , '' Rawlings said . `` We focused on the safety of the city . ''\nCity and county officials , who are heading the response effort , will be increasing the number of people monitored by CDC staffers in Dallas , Rawlings said . At least 19 hospital staffers who dealt with Duncan during his two hospital visits were monitoring themselves for signs of Ebola . Now that group will be closely monitored by the CDC team , which includes taking their temperature twice a day , daily visits by CDC staff and restrictions on their movement , he said .\n`` This shows the system 's working , '' Rawlings said . `` That 's what 's making me feel most comfortable . ''\nRawlings said the patient 's dog , still inside the apartment , will soon be sent to a new location to await a reunion with its owner . There were no plans to euthanize the dog as Spanish officials did in a case last week , he said .\nThe Ebola epidemic has killed more than 4,000 people in West Africa , the vast majority of them in Liberia , Guinea and Sierra Leone . In the U.S. , tougher scrutiny for Ebola began Saturday at New York 's Kennedy Airport , where federal Homeland Security officials began screening travelers from those nations , taking their temperature and observing them for other Ebola symptoms .\nThe program will be added at four more U.S. airports in coming days . Rep. Michael McCaul , R-Texas , said more action might be needed .\n`` There 's a lot of talk about banning flights , '' McCaul said on CBS ' Face the Nation . `` I think we need to ... look at the idea of potentially temporarily suspending the 13,000 visas that would be coming out of this region . ''\nSen. John McCain , R-Ariz. , speaking on CNN 's State of the Union , said the U.S. needs `` some kind of czar '' to take charge of the Ebola response . `` Americans have to be reassured , '' he said .\nThe Dallas caregiver reported having a fever Friday night and was hospitalized , isolated and referred for testing within 90 minutes , Clay Jenkins , Dallas County 's chief executive and its Homeland Security director , said at a news conference .\n`` While this is obviously bad news , it is not news that should bring about panic , '' Jenkins said . `` We knew it was a possibility that a second person would contract the virus . We had a contingency plan in place . ''\nThe woman , who requested anonymity , was listed in stable condition , Jenkins said .\nFrieden cited four steps being taken by the CDC : ensuring the woman is cared for safely , identifying her contacts , treating all health care workers who cared for Duncan as having potentially been exposed , and reviewing procedures used to protect health care workers who treat Ebola patients .\nFrieden called the positive test `` very concerning '' but stressed that the protocols for the care of Ebola patients are safe if done properly . He said that removing the protective gear incorrectly , for example , raises risk .\nThe news hit the region 's health care community hard , said Steve Love , president and chief executive of the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council . The area 's 85 hospitals have been training constantly for an Ebola case and holding conference calls to discuss such things as what to do if a child with Ebola shows up at an emergency room , he said .\n`` We were hoping and praying there would not be any additional Ebola cases , '' Love said . `` But it is not surprising that this happened . ''\nDan Varga , chief clinical officer for the hospital group that includes Texas Health Presbyterian , confirmed that the woman had worn full protective gear when working with Duncan . He said the woman was not one of the 48 health care workers who were being most closely watched and that the number of workers being monitored could be expanded .\nDuncan initially sought treatment Sept. 25 and was sent home with antibiotics , despite informing health workers he had recently been to West Africa . He returned three days later in an ambulance and was diagnosed with the deadly infection .\nDuncan was the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the U.S .\nEbola is spread through direct contact with bodily fluids of a sick person or exposure to contaminated objects such as needles . People are not contagious before symptoms such as fever develop . The health care worker who tested positive , along with the others who dealt with Duncan , was self-monitoring — watching for symptoms consistent with early signs of Ebola , Varga said . The monitoring guidelines include taking a temperature twice a day .\n`` That health care worker is a heroic person , '' Jenkins said . `` Let 's remember as we do our work that this is a real person who is going through a great ordeal , and so is that person 's family . ''\nLast week , the hospital defended the quality of care it provided Duncan , saying treatment was not affected by the man 's nationality or lack of health insurance .\n`` Our care team provided Mr. Duncan with the same high level of attention and care that would be given any patient , regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care , '' said Wendell Watson , the hospital 's director of public relations , in a statement .\nBacon reported from McLean , Va . Contributing : William M. Welch in Los Angeles | allsides-corpus-588 |
Story highlights The outbreak of the Ebola disease has become a wild card issue in the midterm elections\nTwo candidates in high-profile Senate races sat on panel holding Ebola hearing Thursday\nSeveral House Democrats in competitive races have come out supporting travel restrictions\nCandidates who did n't attend the hearing used the timing to make campaign statements\nThe campaign trail for two candidates in top-tier Senate races took a detour Thursday to a Capitol Hill committee room for a high-profile hearing on Ebola\nThe outbreak has become a wild card issue in the midterm elections , and both Iowa Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley and Colorado Republican Rep. Cory Gardner were eager to question top Obama administration officials about the federal response at a hearing that was carried live on most television networks .\nBraley is running neck-and-neck for the open Senate seat against GOP state Sen. Joni Ernst , who repeatedly tries to tie him to President Barack Obama and his policies .\nBut Braley used his opening statement to criticize the federal efforts to date , saying , `` the administration did not act fast enough in responding in Texas . ''\nBraley also name-dropped an Iowa company that is working on an Ebola vaccine and pressed Dr. Anthony Fauci , director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , for information on how quickly the government could help advance the company 's research .\nJUST WATCHED Congressman : CDC has to do a better job Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Congressman : CDC has to do a better job 03:43\nJUST WATCHED Frieden : No single answer for Ebola gear Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Frieden : No single answer for Ebola gear 02:06\nJUST WATCHED Rep. Upton : We should not allow people in Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Rep. Upton : We should not allow people in 02:48\nLike many other GOP Senate candidates , Gardner , who is competing against Democratic Sen. Mark Udall , came out in favor of a travel ban for those flying to and from countries in Africa fighting the Ebola epidemic . He used his time at Thursday 's hearing to question Tom Frieden , the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention , about his reluctance to put more limits on travel . Federal officials worry that a travel ban would make it harder to track people because they could take circuitous routes to get into the country .\n`` Their reasons today are basically the same thing as saying that all children with chicken pox stay in school so we know who they are . It simply makes no sense . We must make sure we are protecting the American people by making sure that travel from the affected area is restricted , '' Gardner said .\nIt was clear that members of both parties who traveled back to Washington during a week when Congress was n't in session wanted to show voters back home they are responding to the crisis and holding federal officials accountable .\n`` It 's become the top issue , '' the No . 3 House Republican leader , Rep. Steve Scalise , R-Louisiana , said about Ebola and the midterm elections , which are just 19 days away .\nRob Collins , the executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee , told reporters Thursday that concern about Ebola is showing up in his party 's internal polling and that GOP candidates are responding to the public 's worries about the spread of the disease .\n`` It think the Republicans have been offering pretty concrete leadership on this issue , including calls for travel bans and such that you 're starting to see the Democrats mirror , '' he said .\nOn Thursday , a pair of House Democrats -- Reps. John Barrow of Georgia and Nick Rahall of West Virginia , who are in competitive races -- also publicly called for the administration to enact travel restrictions . Barrow also recommended a 21-day voluntary quarantine for those traveling to the United States from countries affected by Ebola .\nLouisiana GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy , a physician who is running against Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu , did n't return to Washington for the hearing , but he scheduled a conference call with reporters Thursday afternoon . He said that voters are approaching him as he travels around the state , and he slammed Obama 's handling of the issue .\n`` It seems to be part of a broader narrative that that administration lacks leadership , and that the senator whom I 'm running against frankly enables the administration and is part of their lack of leadership , '' Cassidy said .\nLandrieu focused her response to the Ebola outbreak by calling on the federal government to increase airport screenings .\n`` I urge the administration to expand the current screenings from five to all 20 airports in the United States where tourists , international workers and business leaders from West Africa arrive , '' Landrieu said . `` In addition , it is important to remember , in the face of constant calls for budget cuts , that the investments we make today in our health care system , NIH research and emergency response training at our hospitals can help prevent and quickly contain diseases like Ebola . '' | allsides-corpus-589 |
As Maine officials said they were preparing to get a court order to enforce a mandatory quarantine , Ebola nurse Kaci Hickox said tonight she is not willing to `` stand here and have my civil rights violated . ''\n`` You could hug me , you could shake my hand [ and ] I would not give you Ebola , '' she said outside her Fort Kent home , standing alongside boyfriend Ted Wilbur .\nAsked whether she would try to fight the court order , she said , `` My lawyers and I will discuss that and then decide . ''\n`` I did n't sign up for this , '' Hickox added . `` I flew into Newark [ Airport ] on the wrong day . ''\nThe comments came a few hours after Maine officials said they would seek to force Hickox , 33 , to obey a 21-day quarantine , although the order would first need to be approved by a judge before it could be enforced .\n`` When it is made clear by an individual in this risk category that they do not intend to voluntarily stay at home for the remaining 21 days , we will immediately seek a court order to ensure that they do not make contact with the public , '' Maine Health Commissioner Mary Mayhew said during a news conference this evening .\nBut legal experts say it 's not clear whether such an order would be approved by a judge .\n“ The state has the burden of proving that she is infected , or at least was credibly exposed to infection , and also that by her own behavior she is likely to infect others if not confined , ” said public health lawyer Wendy Mariner , who teaches at Boston University School of Law .\n“ The state is not likely to have any evidence of that , ” Mariner said , adding that Hickox should be able to prove that she is n't infected and plans to take precautions to not expose anyone to her bodily fluids .\nEarlier today , Maine 's governor and other officials said they were are seeking legal authority to enforce what started out as a voluntary quarantine . They also said state police were monitoring Hickox 's home `` for both her protection and the health of the community , '' according to a statement today from the Maine governor 's office .\n`` We are very concerned about her safety and health and that of the community , '' Maine Gov . Paul LePage said . `` We are exploring all of our options for protecting the health and well-being of the healthcare worker , anyone who comes in contact with her , the Fort Kent community and all of Maine . While we certainly respect the rights of one individual , we must be vigilant in protecting 1.3 million Mainers , as well as anyone who visits our great state . ''\nHickox was treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone for Doctors Without Borders . She returned to the United States on Friday , landing in Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey , where she was questioned and quarantined in an outdoor tent through the weekend despite having no symptoms .\nHickox registered a fever on an infrared thermometer at the airport but an oral thermometer at University Hospital in Newark showed that she actually had no fever , she said .\nAfter twice testing negative for the deadly virus , Hickox was released and returned home to Maine on Monday . The following day , the state 's health commissioner announced that Maine would join the handful of states going beyond federal guidelines and asking that returning Ebola health workers self-quarantine .\n`` Our true desire is for a voluntary separation from the public . We do not want to have to legally enforce an in-home quarantine , '' Main Health Commissioner Mary Mayhew said in a statement . `` We are confident that the selfless health workers , who were brave enough to care for Ebola patients in a foreign country , will be willing to take reasonable steps to protect the residents of their own country . However , we are willing to pursue legal authority if necessary to ensure risk is minimized for Mainers . ''\n`` I will go to court to attain my freedom , '' Hickox told `` Good Morning America '' today via Skype from her hometown of Fort Kent . `` I have been completely asymptomatic since I 've been here . I feel absolutely great . ''\nThe U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does n't consider health workers who treated Ebola patients in West Africa to be at `` high risk '' for catching Ebola if they were wearing protective gear , according to new guidelines announced this week . Since they have `` some risk , '' the CDC recommends that they undergo monitoring -- tracking symptoms and body temperature twice a day -- avoid public transportation and take other precautions . But the CDC does n't require home quarantines for these workers .\nSomeone is n't contagious until Ebola symptoms appear , according to the CDC . And even then , transmission requires contact with bodily fluids such as blood and vomit .\nGet real-time updates as this story unfolds . To start , just `` star '' this story in ███ ' phone app . Download ███ for iPhone here or ███ for Android here . To be notified about our live weekend digital reports , tap here . | allsides-corpus-590 |
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered all military personnel returning from Ebola response missions in West Africa to be held in a 21-day quarantine .\nHagel signed the order Wednesday morning , accepting a recommendation from the Joint Chiefs of Staff . The Army days earlier had imposed such a policy on its own servicemembers , but the new order applies to all branches .\n`` The fact is the military will have more Americans in Liberia than any other department , '' Hagel said , explaining his decision at Wednesday 's `` Washington Ideas Forum . '' He also said military families had discussed the idea , and `` very much wanted a safety valve on this . ''\nThe decision by Hagel further drives the divisions among the White House -- which has downplayed the need for mandatory quarantines -- and a range of other policymakers , particularly at the state level .\nCalifornia , the latest state to enact a tighter policy than the federal government , on Wednesday announced a 21-day quarantine for travelers from the hot-zone in West Africa who came in contact with infected individuals .\nIn Maine , the returning nurse who battled New Jersey Gov . Chris Christie over her mandatory quarantine also is now battling her home state after returning to Maine .\nMaine health officials are in the process of filing a court order to force Kaci Hickox to comply with the state 's `` voluntary '' 21-day quarantine period for health care workers who treated Ebola patients . Hickox , on Wednesday , told NBC 's `` Today '' that she does n't `` plan on sticking to the guidelines '' and is `` appalled '' by the home quarantine policies `` forced '' on her .\n`` I truly believe this policy is not scientifically nor constitutionally just , and so I 'm not going to sit around and be bullied around by politicians and be forced to stay in my home when I am not a risk to the American public , '' she said , saying she 's in `` perfectly good health . ''\nPresident Obama and his top health advisers also have played down the need for blanket quarantine policies for health care workers . The White House , though , has left open the door for the Pentagon to impose its own policies , arguing that the military and health workers are two entirely separate issues .\nHagel noted , for instance , that many of those in the military are not `` volunteers '' for the Ebola mission .\nPentagon spokesman Col. Steve Warren said the number of troops quarantined at a base in Italy is now at 42 , up from 11 a day earlier .\nA statement issued from the Pentagon said all returning servicemembers would be subjected to a 21-day `` controlled monitoring , '' which is effectively a quarantine .\nHagel ordered the Joint Chiefs to develop a detailed implementation plan for review within 15 days .\nHe also wants the Joint Chiefs to conduct a review of the new policies within 45 days -- from there , they 'll determine whether to continue the quarantines . | allsides-corpus-591 |
Maine Gov . Paul LePage said Thursday he is ready to flex his legal powers to rein in a 33-year-old nurse who worked with Ebola patients , after she practically dared the state to seek a court order to quarantine her by enjoying a morning bike ride and refusing a deal that would bar her from public spaces .\nThe standoff between the Republican governor and Kaci Hickox is shaping up as a test case in the national struggle to balance public health and fear of the deadly Ebola virus against the personal liberties of volunteers returning from the outbreak ’ s epicenter in West Africa .\nMr. LePage , who is up for re-election on Tuesday , said state attorneys tried to work with the nurse , but negotiations failed .\n“ As a result of the failed effort to reach an agreement , the governor will exercise the full extent of his authority allowable by law , ” Mr. LePage ’ s office said in a midafternoon statement . “ Maine statutes provide robust authority to the state to use legal measures to address threats to public health . ”\nThe Republican governor remains “ ready and willing ” to “ reasonably address the needs of health care workers meeting guidelines to assure the public health is protected , ” officials added , but they did not specify what Mr. LePage plans to do .\nMs. Hickox insists she doesn ’ t pose a threat , as she has no symptoms of Ebola since returning from Sierra Leone and is not considered contagious . She refuses to be cooped up in her house , and has left her home twice in the past 24 hours while police could only watch .\nThe drama is playing out in a remote corner of the state near the Canadian border , roughly 600 miles from the buzz of New York City , where the positive Ebola test of Dr. Craig Spencer , also recently returned from West Africa , sparked a wave of public concern about the unchecked movement of Ebola workers .\nFears in the Big Apple set off a domino effect of state-mandated quarantine rules , starting with New York and New Jersey before extending to several other states . The virus has killed nearly 5,000 people in countries such as Liberia , Sierra Leone and Guinea , and governors said they would not take any chances with public health .\nIn West Africa , Liberia is making some progress in containing the Ebola outbreak while the crisis in Sierra Leone is going to get worse , the top anti-Ebola officials in the two countries said , according to The Associated Press .\nU.S. U.N . Ambassador Samantha Power , just returned from a visit to the region , told reporters in Belgium that the efforts by the United States and other countries to combat the spread of the deadly virus have begun to bear fruit but that “ we each have to dig deeper . ”\nMs. Hickox fell under New Jersey ’ s new quarantine mandate when she returned to the U.S. through Newark Liberty International Airport and registered a fever .\nShe insisted the reading was faulty and that she should not have spent the weekend in a Newark hospital tent . From her confinement she traded public barbs with Republican Gov . Chris Christie , who let her return to Maine on Monday after she had been symptom-free for 24 hours .\nMr. LePage ’ s office said it outlined new terms in line with the “ some risk ” category outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week .\nThe guidelines would let a returning health care worker leave home to ride a bike or go for a walk , “ but would prevent such a person from going into public places or coming within three feet of other people in non-congregate gatherings , ” according to the governor ’ s office .\n“ Unfortunately , an agreement was not reached , ” Mr. LePage ’ s office said . “ The governor remains willing to enter into such an agreement , on a case-by-case basis , with traveling health care workers who meet this definition . ”\nPresident Obama traveled to Maine Thursday to campaign for Democrats but had no plans to meet with Ms. Hickox or wade into the fight .\n“ Ultimately , it ’ s states and local officials who have the authority for implementing these policies , ” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said .\nMr. Obama has indirectly rebuked state leaders for pushing quarantine rules that go beyond the science of Ebola contagion .\nBut governors are not backing down — particularly Mr. Christie , who said this week the nation does not need “ seven-minute lectures ” from the White House and that returning workers who were exposed to the virus must quarantine for 21 days .\n“ That ’ s what we ’ re doing and we ’ re not changing , ” he told reporters . “ I don ’ t care what happens . ” | allsides-corpus-592 |
In 1959 the prolific author and professor of biochemistry Isaac Asimov wrote an essay about the formation of ideas and how to spur creativity . Fifty-five years later , the essay was found by Asimov 's friend , the scientist Arthur Obermayer , and published by MIT Technology Review .\nThe essay was the author 's sole formal contribution to a research group funded by the Advanced Research Projects Agency `` to elicit the most creative approaches possible for a ballistic missile defense system . ''\nAsimov eventually left the group as he did not want to be privy to classified or secret information , according to Obermayer . This essay on creativity , however , remains , and in the face of surmounting obstacles it remains as relevant as ever .\n`` How do people get new ideas ? '' Asimov muses . Asimov himself wrote and edited more than 500 works and was famed for his science fiction novels . One can surmise that he was not short on ideas -- or a method of cultivating creativity .\nAsimov instead looks at how Darwin and Alfred Wallace came up with the theory of evolution via natural selection , and breaks down the essentials of creativity . Just as important as Darwin and Wallace 's background and travels was their ability to make connections between granules otherwise detached :\n`` Obviously , then , what is needed is not only people with a good background in a particular field , but also people capable of making a connection between item 1 and item 2 which might not ordinarily seem connected . ''\nThe `` cross-connection '' Asimov explains is specially cultivated from certain personality and societal factors .\n`` Making the cross-connection requires a certain daring . It must , for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a 'new idea , ' but as a mere 'corollary of an old idea . ' '' `` It is only afterward that a new idea seems reasonable . To begin with , it usually seems unreasonable . It seems the height of unreason to suppose the earth was round instead of flat , or that it moved instead of the sun , or that objects required a force to stop them when in motion , instead of a force to keep them moving , and so on . '' `` A person willing to fly in the face of reason , authority , and common sense must be a person of considerable self-assurance . Since he occurs only rarely , he must seem eccentric ( in at least that respect ) to the rest of us . A person eccentric in one respect is often eccentric in others . ''\nDespite writing `` that as far as creativity is concerned , isolation is required , '' Asimov does write at length for the rest of the essay on how best to foster creativity in groups -- five is a good number , he suggests . To cultivate group creativity he believes the perfect human petri dish is one of ease and relaxation :\n`` But how to persuade creative people to do so ? First and foremost , there must be ease , relaxation , and a general sense of permissiveness . The world in general disapproves of creativity , and to be creative in public is particularly bad . Even to speculate in public is rather worrisome . The individuals must , therefore , have the feeling that the others won ’ t object . ''\nAsimov wrote this before radical changes were made to office structures , before Steve Jobs and Pixar , before Silicon Valley and the culture of start-ups were perverted and mass marketed . His ideas seem far before his time .\nYet his essay was published at the exact right moment -- a moment when our society may need to be reminded of this simple prescription . We need to shed some of the manic hype for the `` next thing '' and take a moment to make true , daring new connections . To be informed and eccentric .\nThis line stands out : `` It must , for any cross-connection that does not require daring is performed at once by many and develops not as a 'new idea , ' but as a mere 'corollary of an old idea . ' '' | allsides-corpus-593 |
Annoyed by how often your cellphone needs recharging ? Stanford researchers say they 've made a major step toward the `` holy grail '' of energy storage — a pure lithium battery .\nA team that includes former Energy secretary Steven Chu says it 's building a lithium anode battery that might give electric vehicles a 300-mile driving range and triple a cellphone 's juice.Stanford professor Yi Cui says it will likely take three to five years , though , to bring the product to market .\nTheir work is partly of an intensifying push to build a better battery — not only for portable electronics but also for storing solar and wind power for times when the sun does n't shine and the wind does n't blow.Universities , start-ups and major companies are working with new materials , such as vanadium , or tweaking the lithium-ion battery that Sony introduced more than 20 years ago .\nIn a new breakthrough , the Stanford team says it 's using nanotechnology to create a pure lithium battery — an advance sought for decades because of its light weight and superior efficiency .\n`` If we can triple the energy density and simultaneously decrease the cost four-fold , that would be very exciting , '' Chu said in a university announcement . `` We would have a cellphone with triple the battery life and an electric vehicle with a 300-mile range that cost $ 25,000 — and with better performance than an internal combustion engine car getting 40 mpg . ''\nToday 's lithium batteries only have lithium in the electrolyte , which is one of three basic parts of a battery . The electrolyte provides electrons , while the anode discharges them and the cathode receives them .\nThe Stanford team is also putting lithium in the anode . This is tricky , because while silicon and graphite — two commonly used materials in anodes — expand during charging , lithium expands even more and can also eat up the electrolyte .\nThe solution ? Cui 's lab has built a honeycomb-like microscopic layer — called `` nanospheres '' — that creates a flexible non-reactive film to protect the unstable lithium . It describes the work in a study published this week in the journal Nature Nanotechnology .\nThe layer improves battery efficiency . To become commercially viable , batteries generally need to put back 99.9 % of the lithium lost in use during recharging . Previous anodes of unprotected lithium got about 96 % efficiency , but Cui says his version is approaching 99.6 % , and he expects it can reach 99.9 % in two years .\nSome experts are skeptical . John Goodenough , who helped invent the original lithium-ion battery of the late 1970s and is still working to improve the technology , said Cui 's protective layer is not an `` ideal '' solution .\n`` It 's not clear he has achieved that goal with a sufficiently cheap process , '' says Goodenough , now a 92-year-old professor of materials science at the University of Texas-Austin .\nThe battery world , like other cutting-edge technology , has seen its share of failures . In October 2012 , lithium-ion battery manufacturer A123 filed for bankruptcy after spending $ 132 million in federal stimulus funds . Two months later , Wanxiang America , the U.S. arm of a Chinese automotive parts giant , bought A123 's technology .\nYet Cui , whose lithium anode work has not yet received any federal funds , knows how to commercialize his research . He 's the founder of Silicon Valley start-up Amprius , which received $ 30 million in venture capital in January — in addition to prior funding — to sell a new type of long-lasting lithium-ion battery . Amprius ' board includes Chu , who won the 1997 Nobel Prize in physics and returned to Stanford after leaving the Obama administration . | allsides-corpus-594 |
Use of fossil fuels is down 45 percent ( and net greenhouse gas production , by weight , is down 60 percent ) , he said , while sales are up 49 percent . Globally , the company ’ s carpet-making uses one-third the water it used to . The company ’ s worldwide contribution to landfills has been cut by 80 percent .\n“ He bet his entire company , ” said Bob Fox , an architect who specializes in “ green ” buildings and who , like Mr. Anderson , is a member of the advisory board of the Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment . “ It worked out probably better even than he hoped . He has set the mark for every other corporation in this country . ”\nAnd in the process , Mr. Anderson has turned into perhaps the leading corporate evangelist for sustainability . He had a head start , he acknowledges , because he ran his company and controlled its voting stock . But he can make the case effectively , he said , because his Interface experience teaches that sustainability “ doesn ’ t cost , it pays ” — in customer loyalty , employee spirit and hard cash . He says Interface sustainability efforts have saved the company more than $ 336 million since 1995 .\nIn fact , sustainability has been such a successful strategy that Interface established a consulting arm last year , to market its methods to other companies .\nAs befits an evangelist , Mr. Anderson , a trim 72-year-old , has taken his message on the road , preaching the sermon of sustainability in at least 115 speeches around the world last year alone .\nSince last year , when he turned operating responsibilities over to Dan Hendrix , his successor as chief executive , selling sustainability has been “ pretty much my full-time job , ” Mr. Anderson said , and several people on the company payroll work more or less full time on it too , handling his schedule and fielding inquiries . “ I think he was a typical corporate executive : the bottom line was everything , ” said Eric Chivian , director of the Harvard Center . “ He really did not think about the impact of his work . ”\nBut today , Dr. Chivian said , Mr. Anderson is “ a model of creative thinking about sustainable business practices . ”\nWhen Mr. Anderson began his crusade , there were those who thought it was quixotic , and some in the company worried that he was a bit too intense about it . Others thought carpet tiles — squares of nylon pile glued ubiquitously underfoot in offices , classrooms , hospitals , airports and elsewhere — were an unlikely focus for an effort to change the way business does business .\n“ Well , he won us all over , ” said Jo Ann Bachman , one of Mr. Anderson ’ s assistants .\nFor one thing , he is a carpet tile enthusiast . After a short stint at Procter & Gamble , Mr. Anderson , a Georgia native and 1956 graduate of Georgia Tech , was working in the carpet division of Callaway Mills when he discovered carpet tiles on a trip to England that he also describes in his book “ Mid-Course Correction ” ( Chelsea Green , 1998 ) .\nIt was the early 1970s , he said , and “ the office of the future was just then emerging , ” with more and more electronic equipment fed by more and more wires running under the floors , as walls gave way to cubicles . Carpet tile allowed businesses to move equipment at will , and the tiles could be replaced individually as they wore out . “ It just made so much sense , ” he said .\nSo he put together the necessary financing and started Interface in 1973 . Today , the company says it has about $ 1.1 billion in annual sales and 38 percent of the global market for carpet tiles .\nBut when it comes to the environment , he eventually realized , carpet “ is a pretty abusive industry . ”\nCarpet makers use lots of petroleum and petroleum derivatives , both as components of synthetic carpet and to power its production . Dyeing carpet is water- and energy-intensive . And when people are finished with the carpet , “ it goes into landfills where it lasts probably 20,000 years , ” Mr. Anderson said . “ Abusive . ”\nSo he challenged his employees to find ways to turn all of that around . And he forestalled objections from his own stockholders , he said , by making the elimination of waste the first target . “ We saved money from Day 1 , ” he said .\nHe acknowledges that some of the advances the company has made so far are relatively obvious and easy , and that some of its claimed progress relies on steps , like carbon credits , that are far from ideal . For example , the company pays to plant trees that , in theory , take up enough carbon to compensate for the greenhouse gas generated by airplane flights on company business .\n“ All you are really doing is inventorying the carbon for 200 years , ” Mr. Anderson said of the company ’ s tree-planting efforts , which it subcontracts to a company in the carbon credit business . “ It ’ s better than nothing , but it ’ s temporary . ”\nNewsletter 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 .\nIn the future , he said , progress will come “ in a lot of little steps and a few very big ones . ”\nDeveloping recyclable nylon — “ that ’ s a big step , ” he said . ( Whoever does it will get all his company ’ s business , he has said . ) Substituting “ carbohydrates ” — using corn dextrose instead of petroleum — would be even bigger . Renewable energy at a reasonable price would be another big step . Transportation remains “ a huge issue , ” in spite of the carbon credits .\nEven so , customers responded to the campaign , he said , noting that it was questions from customers that prompted the sales force to ask for his environmental views in the first place . “ In the aggregate , our products are not costing any more , ” he said , and customers do not seem to resist those that are more expensive . “ Our profit margins are up , not down , ” he said .\nOne key to the effort ’ s success , he said , was its comprehensive , across-the-board approach to the entire company . “ If you begin with a company and say , ‘ We are going to green this company by bolting on these green programs , ’ you are going to end up with costs up , not down , ” Mr. Anderson said . “ We stepped back and said , Let ’ s look at the whole system . ’ ”\nThe audiences for his speeches are changing , too , he said . In the beginning , he often found himself preaching to the choir , he said , but in the last five years , his audiences have more often been business groups .\n“ I always make the business case for sustainability , ” he said . “ It ’ s so compelling . Our costs are down , not up . Our products are the best they have ever been . Our people are motivated by a shared higher purpose — esprit de corps to die for . And the goodwill in the marketplace — it ’ s just been astonishing . ”\nMr. Anderson , who has two grown daughters from a first marriage , commutes to his office in a Toyota Prius . He and his second wife , Pat , also have a home on 86 acres in the mountains near Highlands , N.C . It is off the grid , its landscaping designed to minimize environmental disruption .\nAnd after an argument with the landlord , Interface ’ s office space here is now illuminated with low-energy , long-life light bulbs .\nMr. Anderson is also proud to say that as a member of an advisory council at Georgia Tech , he persuaded the institution to modify its mission statement to proclaim the goal of “ working for a sustainable society . ”\nBut there is a lot that even business can not accomplish on its own , he said .\nFor example , he said , the tax code is “ perverse , ” in that it puts heavy taxes on good things , like income and capital , and leaves a lot of bad things , like energy use , relatively unscathed . And economists typically underestimate the true cost of doing business because they exclude “ externalities , ” like environmental damage from pollution .\nIf it were up to him , he said , he would reduce income taxes and raise the gasoline tax ( with subsidies for the poor ) . But he conceded that the Clinton administration , which he served as co-chairman of the Council on Sustainable Development , could not get an energy tax through Congress .\n“ The country wasn ’ t ready for it , ” Mr. Anderson said , adding that when the sustainability council had a cocktail party for members of Congress , only a handful of members showed up , some of them possibly drawn more by drinks than doctrine .\nBut since then , he said , environmental groups have been spreading the message . He gives them credit for the success of Al Gore ’ s global warming documentary , “ An Inconvenient Truth . ”\n“ Their work created a supersaturated solution , ” he said in the language of chemistry . “ Gore drops his crystal in it , and the whole thing precipitates . ”\nThe movie was “ fabulous , ” he added . And would he support Mr. Gore for president ? “ Oh , in a heartbeat ! ”\nMr. Anderson ’ s schedule is only getting more hectic . He is on track to easily surpass last year ’ s speech-giving pace , he said , “ and I don ’ t have to send an invitation , they just keep finding me . ”\nBut the effort is worth it , he said , not just for the opportunities he has to spread his message , but for its business-building effect . His favorite audiences are “ rich in potential customers , ” he said , and among them the sustainability effort “ has done more to lift the company ’ s image than all the advertising we have ever done . ”\nAll of which makes him smile when he looks back on that sales meeting of 1994 .\nAfter the speech , he said , “ I heard the whispers , ‘ Has he gone round the bend ? ’ ” Mr. Anderson recalls proudly how he confessed at once that he had . “ That ’ s my job , ” he said . “ To see what ’ s around the bend . ” | allsides-corpus-595 |
The future of medicine got a giant step closer Wednesday with the publication of new research showing what may be a much easier way to turn regular cells into flexible stem cells , without destroying embryos .\nStem cells have long been looked at as the future of medical care , offering the possibility of mending a damaged heart , replacing brain cells lost to Alzheimer 's or repairing the spinal cord of someone who 's been paralyzed . But that potential has been limited — first by the controversial need to destroy embryos for the research , and more recently by the expensive and cumbersome techniques used to make stem cells without embryos .\nIn two papers published Wednesday in the journal Nature , researchers from Japan and Harvard showed they could make stem cells cheaply and easily , simply by damaging mature cells with acid .\n`` If this pans out , that means ( for ) almost any person who has a medical problem , researchers could easily make stem cells from that person 's skin or blood , and those cells could be a really powerful therapy , '' said Paul Knoepfler , a stem cell biologist and associate professor at the University of California-Davis , who was not involved in the work .\nIn theory , a doctor could , say , scrape some cells off the arm of a heart attack patient and turn the cells into stem cells , which could then become healthy heart cells . Eventually the healthy heart cells could be implanted into the heart where they could take over for the damaged ones .\nTo date , the benefits of stem cells are mostly theoretical . Bone marrow transplants are the primary use of stem cells in therapy today , although clinical trials are underway for other uses .\nThe new research also suggests that the body has a previously unrecognized ability to heal itself , and upends our understanding of biology by suggesting that adult cells may be able to revert to stem cells after they 've been damaged , said Charles Vacanti , the Harvard Medical School stem cell and tissue engineering biologist who led the new research .\nResearchers might someday be able to capitalize on this healing ability to create effective treatments and even battle cancer , said Vacanti , also of Brigham and Women 's Hospital in Boston .\nIn the new research , Vacanti and colleagues produced cells they call STAP cells ( for stimulus-triggered acquisition of pluripotency ) by putting mouse white blood cells under various stressors , such as a low-pH , acidic solution . Vacanti said he has since made STAP cells from human skin cells .\nRudolf Jaenisch , a stem cell biologist at the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , said he found the team 's results quite surprising and cautions that more research is needed before the potential of this new approach can be understood . `` I think it 's a first step , '' he said . `` Quite a lot of questions were unresolved . ''\nOther researchers not involved in the work said they have no reason to question the results , but science requires replication .\n`` This is Day One . We 'll have to see how this goes , '' Knoepfler said . | allsides-corpus-596 |
We could go to Venus tomorrow with the technology we have today , urged a NASA scientific advisory group , and the group 's members would like to get a mission off the ground as soon as possible .\nRepresentatives from the Venus Exploration Analysis Group ( VEXAG ) made a presentation to NASA 's planetary science advisory committee on Sept. 24 , recommending that the agency prioritize a mission to Venus , the second-closest planet to the sun .\nMars is a popular destination for NASA missions , both due to the possibility of life on the planet and because the agency may send astronauts there as soon as the 2030s . That said , NASA does have separate calls for proposals to send missions to other solar system locations . Excluding flybys , Venus has n't been visited by a dedicated NASA spacecraft in 25 years , even though scientists subsequently sent several mission proposals to the agency .\n`` The Mars program has 'followed the water ' and continued to look for evidence of life , but Mars only had liquid water present on its surface for a few hundred million years , [ about ] three billion years ago , '' said Darby Dyar , who made the VEXAG presentation and who is chair of astronomy at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts , in an email to Space.com .\n`` Moreover , the Mars program has long united around a single goal , '' Dyar added , `` which is to bring samples back from Mars . NASA Headquarters is supporting that goal with planning now . So my feeling is that although many outstanding science questions about Mars remain , they are second order compared to the dire state of knowledge about Venus . ''\nSo VEXAG hopes that NASA 's current call for smaller Discovery missions will bear some fruit . The announcement of opportunity , which closed July 1 , includes at least three Venus proposals . The Step-1 selections should be announced around January 2020 .\nThe Venus proposals include DAVINCI ( Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases , Chemistry , and Imaging ) to measure the chemical composition of Venus during a descent ; the VERITAS ( Venus Emissivity , Radio Science , InSAR , Topography , and Spectroscopy ) orbiter to examine the surface of Venus in high resolution ; and Hyperspectral Observer for Venus Reconnaissance ( HOVER ) to examine Venus ' clouds , chemistry , dynamics and surface to better understand its climate .\nA pressing question for the Venus community involves finding out how similar the planet may have been to Earth in the planets ' early histories . Venus ' size is similar to Earth 's and its distance to the sun would have put the planet in the `` habitable zone '' — the location where liquid water could exist on the surface — when the sun was younger and dimmer . Although Venus is now a raging inferno , the story for life billions of years ago could be more optimistic .\nVenus scientists want to know whether ( as some suspect ) the planet had liquid water for 3 billion years , what kind of surface geology and rock types it has , the nature of its dormant plate tectonics ( which might be key to sustaining life ) and how similar Venus might be to rocky exoplanets very close to their parent stars .\nTemperatures at the surface of Venus can melt lead under normal circumstances and would cook a lander in moments . Highly shielded Soviet Venera spacecraft made it to the surface in the 1970s and 1980s , generally lasting anywhere from a few minutes to around an hour . But advancements in technology , the VEXAG group said , make it possible for a reasonably priced mission to survive longer today .\nVEXAG 's 15th meeting in 2017 , for example , pointed to NASA 's High Operating Temperature Technology ( HOTTech ) program , which aims to create components in environments that are roughly 900 degrees Fahrenheit ( 500 degrees Celsius ) or higher . A call for proposals cited at that time ( in 2017 ) funded research in technology for solar cells , power generation , electronics ( which can be quite sensitive to temperature fluctuations ) and batteries . The individual projects were expected to complete their current phase of funding between 2018 and 2020 , so results are still being analyzed in some cases .\nSome other technologies are close to maturity , such as NASA 's Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology ( HEEET ) project , which is designed for environments including Venus . It includes a high-density , all-carbon layer for the entry interface and a lower-density insulating layer to protect delicate spacecraft components . HEEET was testedat NASA 's Ames Research Center and is listed at technology readiness level ( TRL ) 6 . ( A component reaches TRL 7 when it is tested in space , and TRL 8 following tests on the ground and in space . )\nAnother team at NASA 's Glenn Research Center is working on high-temperature electronics designed for Venusian temperatures . These are based on silicon-carbide semiconductors that could last up to 4,000 hours on the surface . In 2016 , engineers tested some of the circuits in the Glenn Extreme Environments Rig ( GEER ) , which simulates the conditions of Venus , for nearly 22 days . ( The test was ended at that time only for scheduling reasons , according to NASA ; similar oscillator circuits have worked for thousands of hours . )\nVEXAG 's recent technology road map ( released along with a technology plan ) indicates that the community could respond to a variety of different NASA opportunities today with viable missions , ranging from orbiters to small satellites to atmospheric entry probes and skimmers . Another possible option could be a short-lived surface platform or some sort of an aerial platform floating in a more temperate climate on Venus , which is to be found at an altitude of 34 miles ( 55 km ) . Longer-lived surface platforms could be ready in the medium term , before 2032 , the community suggested .\nBut VEXAG must also be responsive to available funding , which happens when NASA makes calls for proposals for cheaper Discovery missions , more expensive New Frontiers missions , and ride-along or international opportunities . In its report , the community recommends responding to the predicted proposal cadence before 2022 with orbiters or an atmospheric entry probe . And between 2023 and 2032 , VEXAG recommended adding surface platforms ( long- and short-lived ) and aerial platforms to the wish list .\nNASA 's last Discovery call for proposals was in 2014 , which generated five finalists — including two Venus missions : DAVINCI and VERITAS . According to Dyar , neither Venus mission was selected `` for unclear reasons , '' although both were deemed selectable — meaning that they could have flown immediately . The proposals lost out to Psyche and Lucy , two missions that will study asteroids .\nThe last New Frontiers opportunity was in 2016 , and the community submitted a Venus mission called VOX ( Venus Origins Explorer ) , which would focus on high-resolution topography or altitude maps of the surface . While VOX was deemed selectable , NASA did not choose it as a finalist ; the winner of that opportunity is Dragonfly , which will fly on the surface of Saturn 's moon Titan .\nNASA 's last dedicated mission to Venus was Magellan , which entered orbit in October 1990 and was deorbited four years later . The agency has flown by the planet since with Galileo , Cassini and MESSENGER en route to other planets . Meanwhile , the European Space Agency operated Venus Express at Venus between 2006 and 2014 , and Japan 's Akatsuki mission successfully entered orbit there in 2015 on its second attempt . Akatsuki is the only operational mission at Venus right now . | allsides-corpus-597 |
On October 21 , U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ) Administrator Jim Bridenstine told the House Committee on Science , Space and Technology that he foresees NASA will land astronauts on the moon by 2035 . “ We need to learn how to live and work in another world , ” he told lawmakers . “ The moon is the best place to prove those capabilities and technologies . ”\nThe article that follows comprises the sixth instalment in “ Our Martian Moment , ” a multi-part ███ series in which our authors discuss what kind of society humans should build on Mars if and when we succeed in colonizing the red planet .\nFor science-fiction writers , Mars always has been a blank slate on which to write our hopes and project our fears . Ray Bradbury imagined a Mars settled by farmers who cover the red planet with idyllic midwestern American towns . Robert Heinlein , swept up in 1960s counterculture , imagined a Mars where gnostic aliens teach free love , spiritual wisdom and psychic powers to a hippy messiah . More recently , Kim Stanley Robinson ’ s Red Mars trilogy—science fiction ’ s War and Peace—imagines a Mars strangely like Berkeley , with a gig economy that allows citizens to spend an inordinate amount of time hiking and pursuing other outdoor recreations . Entrepreneurs , too , use Mars as their canvas—including Elon Musk , who imagines a Martian society that features a system of direct democracy stripped of terrestrial bureaucracy .\nIn a distant , idealized future , life on Mars will be normalized , with the dangers inherent in interplanetary colonization having been mitigated by redundant infrastructure , a steady supply of food , water and air , and a growing wealth surplus . At such a time , we can suppose , some utopian project would be possible and even likely . But until such time , Martian lives will depend on delicate and unpredictable technical processes and life-support systems . And so the organization of Martian society will have to be based around a disciplined and rigorously meritocratic technocracy . The political overlay , whose decision-making protocols would be invoked only in regard to non-critical issues , would have to be an extension of our terrestrial government : To experiment with new forms of government during the perilous start-up period would be dangerous .\nHere , the vision of Star Trek is closer to the truth than the writings of Bradbury or Robinson . Star Trek portrays an overarching organization—the United Federation of Planets—which delegates enormous power to Starfleet , a uniformed space force characterized by military discipline and a strong tradition of meritocracy . Civilian administrators assert their primacy in the Star Trek universe , but typically only in contexts where there are no acute military , logistical or environmental risks .\nMars is a harsh world . The atmosphere is so thin that it might as well be a complete vacuum , and temperatures can get low enough to freeze carbon dioxide . There is negligible protection from radiation . Gravitational acceleration on the surface of Mars is only about 40 % of Earth ’ s gravity , which may present long-term dangers to any species that evolved on our planet . It is not at all obvious that Martian soil could ever grow Earth crops . For the first settlers , death by asphyxiation , hypothermia , dehydration and starvation will always be a clear and present danger . And so every aspect of operations will have to be conducted in a way that minimizes risk .\nOur best model for a Martian colonization program is the Apollo program , which landed the first humans on the moon—though even in this case , technical compromises were made in order to keep the program funded . For example , manufacturing and development were spread around the United States during the 1960s as a means to attract the support of federal legislators who might otherwise cut funding . Each stage of the Saturn V rocket had a different manufacturer , complicating integration and assembly . And the tight timeline that John F. Kennedy had demanded entailed unnecessary risks . It required , for instance , an “ all up ” testing strategy for the Saturn V ( as opposed to testing each stage individually and repeatedly ) , a dangerous gamble that fortunately paid off .\nIn other respects , however , the program was run on a technically rigorous basis . NASA required that astronauts be well-educated ( preferably with a degree in engineering ) and have extensive flying experience ( preferably as a test pilot ) . Candidates were expected to have repeatedly demonstrated an extraordinary ability to remain calm under pressure . They also had to be in perfect health . ( Deke Slayton , one of the best performing astronauts , was grounded for years because of an irregular heart rhythm . )\nConsider the pedigree of the most famous of the Apollo astronauts , Neil Armstrong . As a child , he was obsessed with science , engineering and flight . He worked odd jobs to raise enough money to pay for flying lessons in Wapakoneta , Ohio , and hitchhiked to a nearby grass airstrip to take lessons . He earned his junior pilot license at 16 , before he could drive . He served as a pilot in the Korean war , and during one mission over North Korean airspace , lost part of a wing . Armstrong somehow managed to climb from treetop level to 14,000 feet , and fly his crippled F9F Panther back to South Korean airspace before ejecting .\nDuring the Gemini 8 mission , a short circuit caused a yaw thruster to misfire , sending Armstrong ’ s ship into a roll and then a tumble that reached a frequency of one rotation per second . Armstrong ’ s voice was eerily calm as he explained the problem and wrested back control , all the while—as he euphemistically put it later— “ physiological limits were being approached . ”\nReaders can watch on YouTube as Armstrong aborts a 1969 flight on the LLTV ( Lunar Landing Training Vehicle ) , an ungainly machine meant to approximate the experience of piloting the Lunar Landing Module , little more than a jet engine that the pilot balanced atop . On one training flight , Armstrong ’ s LLTV controls failed and the vehicle began to roll over . He ejected at the last possible moment . As the LLTV exploded and burned , Armstrong brushed himself off , answered a few questions , and then drove to the office for a full day ’ s work . The other Apollo astronauts had similarly impressive back stories .\nYet our era has a complicated relationship with the idea of meritocracy , which some now present as an illusion that operates as a mask for privilege . One prominent academic tours the United States advising colleges on their human-resources policies , instructing academics that the words “ I believe the most qualified person should get the job ” comprise a form of “ microagression. ” Other university professors claim that even the articulation of “ objective ” baselines can be seen as part and parcel of “ white supremacy culture . ”\nThis shift in attitude was illustrated by coverage of the fiftieth anniversary of the Apollo landing in the New York Times . Much of the coverage was dedicated to attacking Apollo ’ s lack of diversity . One widely criticized article , for instance , was titled “ How the Soviets Won the Space Race for Equality : The U.S.S.R. sent women and people of color to space years before the U.S . ”\nThe Apollo astronauts were chosen largely from the then-available pool of college-educated test pilots . There were no women and few African Americans contained in that pool . I wish that black test pilot Ed Dwight ( the subject of a lengthy New York Times profile ) had been on Apollo 11 . And I wish there ’ d been a female astronaut with him . But given the fierce competition for these roles , and the lopsided demographics of the pool from which NASA was recruiting , it wasn ’ t surprising that the selected individuals were all white men .\nThe fault lay less with NASA than with the racism and sexism that caused the talent pipeline to be so constrained . And once NASA and related organizations managed to diversify the talent entering that training pipeline , they went on to have a laudable record of diversity . As the Times itself quotes Ed Dwight , “ I don ’ t know any person with determination and will that can ’ t go to space . ”\nIf the Apollo program were organized today , its astronauts would be diverse—not because NASA would artificially skew the selection process to please The New York Times , but because the application of meritocratic principles would yield that result . This is an important distinction : Our modern fixation on diversity is focused on optics , while the integrity of any highly demanding , high-risk technical mission ( of which interplanetary travel is perhaps the ultimate example ) demands a focus on meritocracy , with diversity emerging as a beneficial byproduct .\nIt is often said that the world of Star Trek , like other idealized science-fiction worlds , is based on the conceit of a post-scarcity economy . But we will never be able to take even baby steps to this vision if we embrace a post-competence approach to engineering and project management . A post-competence mindset may be acceptable in rarefied cultural , academic and aesthetic milieus in which success and failure are not applicable concepts . But it would be disastrous in a world where a single mistake can result in the deaths of whole communities .\nThose who travel to Mars will not need to debate free markets , bureaucracy , or state control of the means of production . They will not care about the ethnicity or gender identity of their peers . They will be too busy figuring out how to survive . Someday , they may choose libertarianism or socialism , or they may wade into identity politics , just as we ’ ve done here on earth . But first , they will need the skills to make a lifeless planet bloom .\nCraig DeLancey is a writer and philosopher who teaches at the State University of New York . Follow him on Twitter at @ CraigDeLancey .\nFeatured image : NASA image produced to promote the Artemis moon-landing program . | allsides-corpus-598 |
Most of the responsibility for food safety lies currently with the F.D.A. , which has oversight for about 80 percent of the food that Americans eat , including seafood , vegetables , fruit , dairy products and shelled eggs . The Agriculture Department oversees meat , poultry and processed eggs . But the two agencies perform their inspections duties differently .\nInspectors for the Agriculture Department are stationed at processing plants daily , inspecting carcasses as they pass by on processing lines . By law , meat and poultry plants are not allowed to operate unless an Agriculture Department inspector is present . In contrast , because of the sheer volume of food they must inspect , F.D.A . inspectors visit plants much less frequently , often only when there is a problem .\nThe differences in inspecting food from abroad are even more stark . Countries that want to export meat to the United States are supposed to prove their inspection system is equivalent to the Agriculture Department ’ s programs . But the F.D.A . rarely inspects overseas plants to verify those claims , and F.D.A . food sleuths examine less than 2 percent of the food that arrives at American ports . A law passed in 2010 is supposed to strengthen the F.D.A. ’ s ability to inspect both foreign and domestic foods .\nBut food safety inspectors at the Agriculture Department still see the F.D.A. ’ s program as nowhere near as rigorous as theirs , and they worry that consolidating inspection functions into a single agency would inevitably weaken the Agriculture Department ’ s standards .\n“ This would drag us down to their minuscule standards , ” said Stan Painter , an Agriculture food safety inspector in Alabama , who is president of the inspectors ’ union . “ They don ’ t do inspections . They run in for a visit . ”\nDr. David Acheson , a consultant for food and beverage companies who has worked on food safety at both the Agriculture Department and the F.D.A. , said the two inspection systems could be combined without harming food safety .\n“ It ’ s the way we need to go , ” he said , shrugging off the meat inspectors ’ claims . “ We are burning through dollars where we have F.D.A . and Agriculture Department in the same plants doing different things . ” | allsides-corpus-599 |
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